On Sunday I got myself the demo and had a couple of test games on the first tutorial with normal settings. Winning the second one of these I decided it was time and bought the game and the expansions. I then started different scenarios to look at them and test the courier system. Once I was satisfied that grognard was the best setting for me (since it dispatched couriers to the regiments) I started my first real game.
What an epic experience!!
I did the tutorial again (since it is a very good brigade level battle and I had not played it with version 1.5).
From the saddle it was a bit stressful to position my men around me, the line got formed in time consisting of my two starting regiments and the rebels moved up to engage. To my surprise the rebels put up a fierce fight and I only managed to break one of their regiments after my third regiment moved up and flanked them on the other side of the stream (one of my own regiments had withdrawn and re-engaged).
From my vantage point then things looked quite scary, not knowing where friendly forces where located the woods that the rebels withdrew into did not look inviting.
I then gathered my entire brigade and marched towards Hill´s artillery in the hope to reach it quickly and perhaps make contact with Meredith´s brigade.
The rebels advanced towards the same road and cut me off, at first it was a raging battle where I was doing well. I wanted to force my way up that road. Soon the rebels had a brigade of their own in the field and I was forced to realign myself and forget about breaking through where I wanted. This would mean that I could not get into contact with Meredith´s brigade.
After withdrawing to better ground (stone walls) and a series of desperate counter attacks I was able to hold my own well enough to rotate the most worn out regiments in and out of the line of fire as needed.
Cheered on by my own limited success I became terrified once it dawned on me that the rebels where rotating FRESH regiments into their line. To my horror I realized that I was facing a full division and not a similar sized force.
At this point alot of thoughts went through my mind. If I conserved the lives of my men and pulled back.. how would history judge me? Would my name go down in infamy as the commander who cost the North yet another battle... perhaps Meredith is racing towards the rear of the opposing regiments.. had my couriers made it to him? With a limited (and shrinking) viewpoint I ended up doing my best to hold ground and hope that some of my couriers where getting through.
In the end I held out for what seemed like eternity while slowly giving ground, regiments performed incredible acts of bravery, became shattered and reformed again only to melt away later under the grey tide.
In the end my forces where spent, a single depleted regiment stood ground at a stone wall far from where the action had been but linking up with a friendly cavalry regiment. From my vantage point I could hear cannons (or gunfire) somewhere in the distance... perhaps my boys had bought a better chance for other forces by depleting the rebels... more likely was the fact that I would go down in history as the commander who bleed away the finest men of New York on a futile last stand that served no real objective.
The command from the saddle and he couriers give the player incredible immersion and I enjoyed my crushing defeat immensely. I did learn later
that grognard was a very poor choice, using custom would have given me a better chance at the same courier level. Big thanks to the Devs and the community for keeping this gem in circulation.