A newby's experience: wow, what a simulation in HITs!

[apoll]

Fellows SoW'ers...thought I'd just pass along an experience I had last night with this excellent simulation. So addictive and is really drawing out real feelings of panic, relief, chaos and satisfaction when it (rarely) goes well. THAT is the unmistakable mark of a well crafted strategy simulation IMHO....when it can evince feelings like that.

I am frantically learning this beast...playing on HITs, which is one of the most likeable and addicitive - yet devilishly hard - aspects of the entire simulation. I'm in sandbox with my CSA division on the Antetiem map...marching along roads to get near the town. There is long ridge in front of me and I place my division on the road to let them recover (most regiments were close to exhausted after the walking march from the edge of the board, and I certainly did not want to take them into battle in such a state).I leave them in column of march...perhps a risky thing to do so close to the town while I go off and see what's 'on the other side of the hill'. There are no signs yet of the Union army so I take a risk to let them recover, and not tire them out further with getting into battle formation which may be completely uncessary. One of the frequent command decisions one has to make in this simulation. But I'm up for the risk...

Anyway, I go over the ridge to see if I cannot spot any sign of the Unio army. Nothing. Wait...what's that trundling down the road? A Union supply wagon! I watch it go as I stay on the top of the ridge. Then I see coming up from te town Union cavalry..lots of cavalry and guns. Picture this: I have my blown and exhausted division resting on the road just on the other side of the ridge. On a road paralleling this road, with a ridge inbetween so we can't see each other, comes the entire Union army neatly marching up the road. The head of the Union column is already drawing level with the tail ed of my column, where all my vulnerable artillery is. They don't see me...but Yikes! I decide to remain quiet and hidden as much as possible: my division has still not recovered fully from its earlier march and they are in no condition to launch a major attack. But the question of whether to leave them in road column is now redundant: it would be irresponsibleof me not to deploy quietly just in case I am spotted and an angry Union arnmy comes spilling over the ridge down onto me. I scamper back...hurridly get my artillery in line on the high ground behind the road...align my brigades into line and then....just sit. We all hold our breadth. Nothing happens. The tension is palpable. Surely the Union army has seen us? Apparently not. It continues on its way serenly up the road...unaware that the entire CSA division it is looking for is but 40 yards away over the ridge. That Union commander needs rootin', shootin' and electrocutin' as far as recon is concerned! But I'm not complaining. The Union army goes up the road and disappears around the bend; the last I see of it is the guns slowly turning the corner into the bush. A ghigantic sigh of relief is heard. Ok...that's better...I am still living. Now I can start a chase or decide where to place the army on ground of my own choosing. A battle plan forms in my mind, having been relieved of the necessity of having to fight a hasybattle not of my own choosing. I figure I'm probably going to have to tweak the tail of that long column though...as it has sailed off into the sunset completely unaware of our position...and I get a brigade, my most rested and one of the best, ready to cut cross country and draw its attention. They will then scamper back, hopefullyleading the Union army into a trap where I have my brigades lined up on the reverse slope of a ridge. AI have chosen my ground and the ridge I plan to line up on. The plan calls for the Union army to be led downthe road I rested on...all hinges on hat. That's the plan....

At this point I save the game, and will return to it tonight. No doubt it is going to require some tweaking, but I MUST get them to march down the road I'm on. Hopefully, my 'attacking' brigade will be too much of a temptation...and they'll follow. If I'm really lucky, they'll do it ,arching in column...and I'll catch them in that formation. We shall see. Excviting, isn't it?

apoll out

[con20or]

I love HITS

Let us know how it turns out!

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Well done...so far. Getting the attention of the enemy artillery won't be hard. They will stop and unlimber when you get into range. The infantry probably won't take the bait. They almost always march to their destination unless someone gets within rifle range. A number of times I've marched my men 250 yd or so behind the enemy for long distances and they always ignored me. Try running a single regiment up close, fire a volley and then march them back to your ambush point. You may get the AI to send a brigade after you. Good luck.

[apoll]

Well, here's what has happened so far. The Union column marched up the road away from my division and I followed by myself, leaving the division deployed and standing still. I am glad I arranged the artillery...but more on that later. I followed the union troops just to see where they were going; it looked like they were heading to the edge of the map. Then, suddenly, they did a right turn to the west and took one of the side roads. Hmmm...not sure where they are going here... I kept following and lost they for a while in the folds of the ground. I was not sure which road they took... Wait! What was that? Minutes passed. It sounded like....artillery! The distant booming of artillery. Could it be that they had doubled back and blundered into the tail end of my formation? I really hoped not...here I was ranging around the countryside and I didn't want to think what would happen if, indeed, the Union army had somehow doubled back and attacked my stationary division. Like any good general, I galloped toward the sound of the artillery, which became louder and more intense as I moved closer. Yep. The worst had happened, and I feared my division would be scrambling under the chaos of being attacked in the tail by the Union forces. I crested a hill and came upon the back end of the Union lines, laid out in battle formation and clearly under artillery fire. I thanked my foresight to lay out the artillery in line before I left. By now, it was clear my plan had unraveled, and a hasty battle had, after all, been forced upon me. There was now no talk of ambush; merely survival..or so I thought. I made a note: these back roads led me directly to the rear of the Union lines. I might be able to send a brigade or town this way and attack them from the rear. I hoped I had enough of a division left to do this. I galloped around the Union lines and came at last back to my division. I was pleasantly surprised. I had laid the division out two up, one back with the artillery behind the front lines at the tail end of the division. I saw they had all unlimbered of their own accords and were pouring a concentrated fire into the advancing Union lines. The Union advance had caught me at right angles...but my two lead brigades had swung round and were now doing battle with the Union lead brigades. The battle was not lost...and there was no chaos...the artillery was firing and my two lead brigades were holding them. So...I decided to swing two brigades around the end of the union lines marching by the road on the other side of the ridge I had just come down, and I detached Archer and Heth to just that and off they marched down the road. There was a copse of woods on the east of the Union lines that made for a perfect cover and line of departure..so I sent them there to line up and wait. Meanwhile, I took the battle in hand and started pushing another brigade up to start slowly pushing the Union lines back. All I had to do was hold in front to give time for my two flanking brigades to get in position. This is where it stands at present: Heth and Archer have reached the copse at the end of the Union lines and are now shaking out into lines. The Union lines are holding in front...but so far, they don't seem to have realised the danger on their flank. My front brigades are holding them but taking loses and the artillery, as ever since this battle started, continue to bang away. I have no reserves at this point...if the front fails, as I see a few regiments starting to file backwards, then all is lost. I now see more long lines of blue cresting the hill in the distance; more Union brigades are filing into the front lines... Soon they will bring unbearable pressure on my exhausted and depleted front brigades. I hold them and try and sort them into a line... This is going to be very close. I wish my flanking brigades would hurry up...I can see a spot of grey in the trees as they shake out. Almost ready... I hit the orders courier button for a general advance from the tree line and the couriers race away to deliver the orders. This is going to be close..

apoll

[Marching Thru Georgia]

apoll observes:

I have no reserves at this point...if the front fails, as I now see more long lines of blue cresting the hill in the distance; more Union brigades are filing into the front lines

It's a rare thing that the AI would bring his reserves up this early in the battle. The few times I've seen it, I've regretted it. I've made some popcorn and will enjoy seeing if you escape in the final reel. :laugh:

[apoll]

Well, it senses a weakness in the front perhaps. Come to think of it, my left side is actually doing quite well..pushing that bit if the Union line back a bit. Perhaps it is bringing the reserves up to give aid to that bit of the line. Escape in the final reel? Hey, so far, it's going quite well...about to launch my knock out blow. Let's see.... As I see it, the only thing that can go wrong now is if my centre collapses...that would be bad....or the flank attack stalls or gets caught in a counter attack on its own flank by yet more Union reserves coming up...I remind myself that I actually don't know how big this force is and I can't see over the crest. He may have considerable reserves waiting... I've actually split my force without knowing for sure the size and disposition of the enemy front...any tactics instructors would be going nuts by now, methinks. But it feels...the thing to do.

apoll

[apoll]

Final report: Hmmm. Well, the flank attack worked sort of. Managed to roll up the Union right and they fell back...the centre was relieved. BUT...it did seem a little too easy in the end. I noticed that most of the troops were cavalry and they couldn't stand the regular brigades I had. The reinforcements I saw were cavalry soldiers dismounted. I beat them and they ran in the end. But where is the main force? I scoured the map but cannot find the main force of infantry. I am assuming of course that where there is cavalry, there is always a main force somewhere and the cavalry is to screen. Am I right here? IN a sandbox game, can I assume, a division against a division, that cavalry will always be paired with infantry? It just seemed to easy in the end. I had plenty of brigades and the enemy lines seemed to falter too quickly and I discovered they were all cavalry. That doesn't seem right. And yet, I'll be a monkey's uncle if I can find any other Union troops in the map.

apoll

PS: Love the flanking move. Seemed to work quite well. Will be using that one again.

[con20or]

No - theres a cavalry division you can get paired against, particularly if you have unticked 'balance forces'.

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Congrats on your victory. All the Richmond papers will be heralding you as the new Napoleon. That's better than that board of inquiry you seemed to be headed for after your 2nd report. :laugh:

Unless you make a custom OOB and remove the cavalry units, you'll often end up fighting against them in a division-sized battle. Instead, try a corps sized battle with you as a division commander. You'll still get to fight with a manageable force with the advantage of being able to ask for help if things begin to go south. Or north in your case.

[apoll]

Ha! New Napoleon...hardly. The cavalry is easier to beat than regular forces...that's my conclusion. The next time I face the Union, it will be a regular division and we'll see if I am successful there. This one was good for practising the flank move. That really worked. I need to go around the flank myself and recon a way in...then align myself and set the brigades to march around, line up in the right direction and off they go. I'll want to be careful with the timing though...too soon and won't have much of an effect...too late and I'm already lost. And I worry about their own flank...best to work out as much as I can the totality of the force being opposed. I'll use the hold and fix and then flank trick. I will now set up a game against a regular division and see if I can't replicate it...

Thanks for all advice.

apoll