Clear Grit

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mkeogh76
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Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:49 pm

Clear Grit

Post by mkeogh76 »

I had taken a hiatus from SOW: Gettysburg and its progeny to focus on the Waterloo modules and other stuff such as real life. However, I returned to it and again was "wowed" by what an amazing game it truly is especially when playing in HITS mode.

I've been working through the Antietam battles. After suffering a minor defeat as Stonewall Jackson in "Old Jack's Left Wing," I moved onto the Union version of that scenario, "Clear Grit," where the player takes the role of "Fighting Joe" Hooker commanding the AoP's I Corps. (I know this wall-of-text is definitely TL:DR material, but I had just a blast fighting this scenario that I couldn't resist writing about it.)

As Hooker, I command three infantry divisions with a total of 9,500 men and 44 guns. My three division commanders: Doubleday, Ricketts, and Meade are all experienced with decent leadership stats, but none of them would be described as "hard-chargers."

After reviewing my commanders and their troop numbers, quality, and locations, my first decisions are which brigades and batteries are to be detached from their divisions. I detach for two reasons: 1) to keep already well-positioned units in their place or 2) to be corps level reserves. As to the former, I detach Meade's 1st Brigade commanded by Truman Seymour. Seymour's Pennsylvania Reserve brigade is already sitting on a victory location, the East Woods, and being forward of my main line it will be instantly engaged at dawn. I don't want Meade ordering it away from the victory location and I don't want him moving it forward without support which would happen due to Seymour being so far forward. I want to avoid piecemeal attacks. I also detach Ricketts' only two artillery batteries, Matthews' and Thompson's, due to both already being in positions with terrific fields of fire. No reason for Ricketts to move them.

As for corps level reserves. Doubleday's 1st Brigade under Col. Phelps has five veteran regiments which are woefully understrength at just 425 men. To send it forward as part of a divisional attack would result in it quickly being routed. So, it's detached to be the corps reserve. It's not much of a reserve, but it can be used to hold victory locations as other units move forward. I also detach Reynolds' six gun 3" battery from Doubleday. It's well to the rear of the corps. I'll move it to the far right flank to trade and draw fire with the Rebels on Nicodemus Hill. Finally, Cooper's 4 gun 3" battery of Meade's division is detached. It's way over on the east side of Antietam Creek. I'll order to move to a hill near the creek to maybe get some long-range shots. However, it's so far away that it's unlikely to play much of a role in this 60 minute scenario especially due to relaying orders through couriers.

After waiting for the detachment order couriers to reach their destinations, I order my attacks. I have four objectives: East Woods, the Cornfield, the West Woods, and Dunker Church. I order a straightforward frontal assault upon the first three with the hopes of having enough strength to move onto Dunker Church. After the detachments, Doubleday has three brigades and 18 12lb Napoleons, Ricketts has three brigades, and Meade has two brigades and 8 12lb Napoleons. I order Doubleday to attack the West Woods, Ricketts to attack out of the East Woods, and Meade to take the Cornfield.

Meade moving his two brigades through fairly open terrain advances quickly into and past the Cornfield threatening the Rebel center. Meade is greatly assisted by fire from Seymour's troops in the East Woods and Matthews' and Thompson's 3" gun batteries firing in support from the sloping ground north of the cornfield. Meade doesn't handle his two 12lb Nap. batteries well. (The AI is rather inept with artillery often leaving it sitting idle in the rear.) I have to detach Meade's batteries (Ransom's and Simpson's) and move them to locations where they can actually support the attack. They take up positions near Thompson and Matthews and start to get to work with lots of targets of opportunity due the Rebels moving forward to tangle with Meade's infantry.

The attacks by Ricketts and Doubleday don't go as well as Meade's. Ricketts' attack through the East Woods is slowed badly by the terrain. By the time his men finally emerge into the fight, they're fatigued and run into DH Hill's counterattacking division hitting my left flank. Ricketts gets into real trouble and, as casualties mount, he appeals for support. I'm forced to call-off his attack and order him to defend the East Woods.

On the other hand, Doubleday's cautious nature results in an anemic and sluggish attack on the West Woods. With three understrength brigades, 18 guns, and an open right flank, Doubleday decides to be extra cautious. He leaves his 2nd Brigade (Hoffman) in reserve and uses his 4th Brigade (Gibbon) as a flank guard. That leaves what was supposed to be a divisional assault into an attack by a single brigade- the 3rd (Patrick.) Doubleday also uses two of his 12lb Nap. batteries to fire upon Nicodemus Hill. Doubleday's attack goes no where as shown by his relatively slight casualty tally: 237 men.

Meade's initial attack was a success, but attacking up the gut of the Rebel position with just two brigades is too much. Even with all the artillery support and the sharpshooting of the 2nd USSS, which I detached from Phelps' reserve brigade, Meade's Pennsylvanians are brought to a halt and then driven back. I call-off Meade's attack and order him to move to the East Woods. Fortunately, I had moved Phelps' tiny brigade to the Cornfield objective after Meade's troops had pushed forward. Phelps and his boys would rack-up a ton of points as Meade's troops battled with the Rebs to their front.

Late in the battle, I overrode Doubleday's reserve order on Hoffman and ordered him to join Patrick in attacking the West Woods, but it was too little, too late. I also overrode Doubleday having Gibbon guarding the right flank and taking Reb arty hits from Nicodemus Hill by ordering him to move to my crumbling center as Meade fell back, but that was also a late order. In Gibbon's place as flank guard, I moved Doubleday's third 12lb Nap. battery to exchange fire with Reb guns. (By scenario's end, I had four batteries (24 guns) engaging the Reb arty and cav units on Nicodemus.)

When the scenario ended, I had won a Victory. Out of 9,500 men, I lost nearly 2,800 in an hour's fighting. Most of the casualties were among Meade's and Ricketts' divisions. However, I controlled the East Woods throughout the scenario and took the Cornfield relatively early and was able to hold it. Those two objectives allowed me to garner enough points for the victory, but I couldn't get close to either the West Woods or Dunker Church.

This is such a brilliant game. Watching as Joe Hooker from the artillery positions north of the Cornfield, I was just "wowed" by the panorama of the battle before me. Trying to gauge the "pulse" of the fight through the smoke, my "binoculars" (the helpful "Z" key), and glances at the OOB screens (since my AI commanders don't send status reports), it's just awesome. Dorkily, I felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when I saw that Victory screen. Usually, I don't feel that way about the results of a PC game, but I did for this contest.
Last edited by mkeogh76 on Mon Nov 07, 2016 3:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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