Jackson's II Corps Scenario

[MarcusC]

I agree, this is a most enjoyable scenario! The 7th or 8th time was the charm for me, had several abortive attacks before this gem of a win. I've found that pushing hard and quick with AP Hill to take the Knoll works wonders, had the Union arty in my possession and the Union routed and/or on it's heels. Early appeared on the field right afterward so I had him shore up left flank as I could see a heavy column of blue coming up Newville Road. Daniel Hill met some resistance right off the bat on Mummasburg Road and I decided to attack hard up the gut. Fortunately my gamble paid off and I was able to move and occupy Seminary Ridge quickly. Then Colston arrived-things were shaping up perfectly. I decided to have him come up around AP Hill's right flank and attack down Mummasburg with Daniel Hill advancing as well. A nice idea, but the Union column attacking my left flank had diverted most of it's forces right to that area-along with another division coming up hard and fast! Unfortunately I'd screwed up with "ye olde mouse" causing Colston to be delayed while I was attending to other matters. It was looking quite grim. Made a good recovery, got plenty of artillery placed just in time to avoid a disaster.

Without going into an "after battle" report, Colston's division turned the tide and I was able to make an often slow, but very steady advance to (and through) Gettysburg and ended up with over 13,000 points! Probably one of my best strategic wins yet. I was really pleased with how cohesive the attack went but I was about 5 minutes too late to capture the Cemetary Hill objective. I had the victory page come up before I'd taken the town and thought I had 9,000 at the time so I returned to the battle.
After I finished the battle with every Union regiment routed off of the battlefield (the last one surrendered) I was dismayed to see that I'd only gotten a high score of a little over 8600, when I was thinking I had a promotion. Does this mean that after the Victory page comes up you can't score any more points towards a promotion? Somewhat demoralizing to have such a nice victory and not get a promotion. I have tried doublequicking troops at times to Cemetary Hill and taken it in earlier battles but have been unable to hold it. I've wondered if it's really possible to get enough troops up there earlier in the scenario without fatiguing them too much. I didn't have enough reinforcements in either battle--the death knell. Looks like there is still room for improvement. Anyway, it certainly is a very challenging and interesting scenario.

[MrSpkr]

I beat this a while back, so details are sketchy, but I remember the core of my plan was to avoid fighting in the streets of Gettysburg. I pressed forward with my men, engaging the federals along a line to the north of Gettysburg. I then held one division in reserve to exploit whatever breakthrough I could make on the federal flank. They finally gave way on the right, and I marched my division (Colston's, I believe) on a double quick march about 200 yards south of the town. I ran into a large force of federal artillery and cavalry; fortunately, the cavalry broke off and ran before engaging. I was able to rout the artillery with the loss of only a couple of regiments and solidly ensconce my men in defensive positions on Cemetery Ridge with about 20 or 30 minutes left in the scenario. The federal line collapsed soon afterwards as the Federals attempted to react to my seizure of the Ridge. There was mass panic in the streets of Gettysburg, and mass slaughter of the Federals against my positions on the Ridge.

I had forgotten how much fun this was. I need to play it again.

Steve

[MarcusC]

Steve-good point on avoiding fighting on the streets of Gettysburg. I hadn't considered keeping a division in reserve, it's nice to know that it's possible to achieve a good push and/or breakthrough without one in action. I'll have to give your strategy a try. This scenario is alot of fun, it's nice to have several divisions of reinforcements at your disposal.

[garyknowz]

What makes this scenario so great is the seemingly infinite re-playability. There are so many variables that almost anything can happen.

I'd like to see a Meade equivalent though (i.e., Jackson attacking and variable arrival times for Slocum). If only I have the awesome skills of some of our modders here. Sadly, I don't know the first thing about modding.

[MrSpkr]

Okay, jsut replayed this -- and wish I had been doing it on Grognard as this iteration was EASY!.\

I started out with only Colston's division, so I sent him against Blucher's Knob. As he pressed forward, I noticed that the federals were sending an entire division up the Mummasburg Road. At about twenty minutes after, DH Hill showed up, just in time to meet the Federal I corps, II division. In thirty minutes of hard fighting, he completely destroyed that division as a fighting force and moved forawrd to McPherson's Ridge, unfortunately arriving too late to get any points.

Meanwhile, at 40 after, AP Hill's division showed up. I immediately moved him to Colston's right, where he engaged a large portion of the XI Corps moving up to attack Colston. Things were shaky for a bit, but, at the one hour mark, Early showed up. I moved him down the road about halfway to Gettysburg, then swang him Right to box in the federals from the east. Meanwhile, I moved DH Hill's men to take them from the west. Surrounded (in amny cases), or at least receiving fire from two sides, I managed to quickly destroy Shurz's entire division at little loss to myself.

I then ordered all four divisions to advance on Gettysburg, aggressively destroying Federal forces as they were encountered. I never got to Cemetery Ridge, but did manage a respectable 11K points.

I tried to limit my commands to divisional generals only, with one exception -- I TC'd a brigade from Colston to sit on the Blucher's KNob location until the victory points were no longer available.

Overall, it was a slaughter -- I lost 8K, the federals lost 13K. But, a fun scenario.

If only I had been doing it in Grog!

Steve