Pender to the Seminary

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mkeogh76
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Pender to the Seminary

Post by mkeogh76 »

This was probably my best handled battle as a HITS commander so I just feel like writing about it. (Yeah, it's definitely TL:DR material, but it's a lazy Sunday so what the heck!)

"Pender to the Seminary" is one of the bonus pack scenarios. The player takes on the role of Dorsey Pender as he commands his division on the first day. The objective is Seminary Ridge.

The first thing I did was look over my command. My 6,209 man division consists of four brigades: Lane's North Carolinians, McGowan's [Perrin] South Carolinians, Thomas' Georgians, and Scales' North Carolinians. My four brigade commanders consist of two relatively experienced commanders (Lane and Thomas) and two inexperienced ones (Scales and Perrin.) However, despite his inexperience Colonel Perrin is an outstanding commander. General Lane has experience and ability. General Thomas is competent. General Scales isn't a wretched commander, but his mediocre leadership abilities combined with his inexperience means he'll bear close watching. Plus, he's commanding the 2nd smallest and 2nd least experienced brigade in the division.

The smallest and least inexperienced brigade is Thomas' Georgians. Those facts combined with General Thomas being the only brigade commander who isn't audacious (Lane and Perrin) or even daring (Scales) has that brigade delegated as the divisional reserve. (One of my first orders is to detach it from the division.)

Brigade strengths and average regimental experience (9 is the highest and 1 is the lowest):

Lane: 1,730, EXP: 5.4
Thomas: 1,244, EXP: 4.2
Scales: 1,347, EXP: 4.8
McGowan: 1,878, EXP: 5.2

My plan is simple:

1) Detach Thomas to act as the divisional reserve. He'll follow in the rear and only be called upon for the final push to the seminary

2) General Lane is a good commander with my best troops. So, I also detach him and move him to my far right flank. He's to be the guard for the divisional right flank which will be hanging in the air, but he's also to work as a threat to the enemy's left flank. I move him to the Herbst Farm where he has no enemy to his front. From there he'll be given advance orders until he runs into something or finds himself beyond the enemy's flank.

4)General Pender advances towards Willoughby Run and gives a divisional order to form a line upon himself. With Lane and Thomas detached, this results in McGowan's and Scales Brigades forming the line with McGowan's Brigade on the on the left and Scales on the right. General Heth's division is on Pender's left.

5) Advance into Herbst Woods.

With Heth's assistance, Col. Perrin and his South Carolinians have great success against the Iron Brigade and Roy Stone's Bucktails. (Every single one of Perrin's units have a positive score by scenario's end. Just a bang-up job!) Scales' unit find itself out in the open advancing on a poorly supported Federal battery positioned on McPherson's Ridge south of Herbst Woods. General Scales' advance isn't as smooth as Col. Perrin's. His 16th NC is exhausted before it even gets into combat and has to be detached to rest. Meanwhile, his 24th NC is hit hard by canister and retreats without orders- the only unit in the entire division that suffered such a fate. Still, Perrin and Scales with Heth's men drive the enemy from McPherson's Farm, Herbst Woods and McPherson's Ridge. Meanwhile, General Lane is keeping apace on the far right with a "no orders" stance to allow him the freedom to go on the attack if he runs into anything.

The enemy start to regroup on Seminary Ridge with several artillery batteries and a reforming Iron Brigade. By this time, Perrin's men are exhausted. I decide to put them on a hold to rest and protect my left. Scale's men continue to press forward including the return of the laggard 16th NC. However, more Federals start to debouch from Seminary Ridge and threaten Scales' right. Yet, that in turn exposed their flank to the audacious Lane. Without even being ordered, Lane switches to an all-out attack stance and slams into the Federals' left, rolling it up.

With both flanks secure but with Perrin's and Scales' effectiveness waning, I order forward General Thomas from his reserve position to attack Seminary Ridge. This was my one big mistake. I waited a minute or two too long in ordering forward Thomas. Alongside Heth's men and Scales', Thomas' fresh men broke the Federal defenses on Seminary Ridge. General Pender advanced to the victory location, but only racked-up enough points for a "minor" victory. (I just needed one more minute on the victory location to get a major victory, but, as I said, I waited too long to get Thomas into action.)

My final casualty tally: 654 out of 6209 effectives as battle start.

A few side notes:

1) In history, Gambles' cavalry brigade frustrated Lane's attempts to overcome the Federal left on Seminary Ridge. Gambles' brigade didn't even appear in this scenario! It certainly made things easier for me, but I also admit that I was also happy not to see it because I don't like how cavalry in SOW functions against infantry. SOW cavalry all too often act like Napoleonic cuirassiers rather than as the mounted lite-infantry they were in the Civil War. Watching Buford's sabre-wielding cavalry bearing down on infantry with minimal losses from McPherson's or Seminary Ridge is absurd. (I know cavalry got some boosts through patches over the years in order to make the East Cavalry Field and Brandy Station scenarios more playable, but their melee effectiveness against infantry is over-the-top. This is Gettysburg not the 1864 Shenandoah or 1865 Appomattox campaigns.)

2) I'm fuzzy about how to request support. Do you need to type anything other than "Request Support...." when you send a courier off to a superior or commander of equal rank? I requested artillery support from AP Hill, but never got any. In fact, the III Corps artillery barely contributed anything to the fight.
Last edited by mkeogh76 on Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Marching Thru Georgia
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Re: Pender to the Seminary

Post by Marching Thru Georgia »

This is indeed one of the better scenarios for HITS play. The player can follow behind the front line and see his entire division in action. The first thing to stop worrying about when playing HITS is the point system. That's only interesting when observing the battle from above and using instant communications. The more important question would be, after you secured Seminary ridge, did you have a viable fighting force left? If you can answer yes, then you won the battle. Given your casualty total it looks like you did a fine job. Did you take out the Union gun line on Seminary Ridge? That's usually a pretty expensive task.
I'm fuzzy about how to request support. Do you need to type anything other than "Request Support...." when you send a courier off to a superior or commander of equal rank? I requested artillery support from AP Hill, but never got any.
Requesting support doesn't work in canned scenarios. It's only useful in sandbox games. To answer your question, you can only ask for support in general, (Request Support). It is the only command in the support menu that works. You cannot ask specifically for arty or infantry support. Those requests are only for messages going to other human players. The AI doesn't process them.
I can make this march and I will make Georgia howl.
mkeogh76
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Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:49 pm

Re: Pender to the Seminary

Post by mkeogh76 »

First, thanks for answering my question as to requesting support. I did not know that it was pointless in the stock scenarios which will save me the bother from here on.

Secondly, I don't agree with "stop worrying" about the point system. Personally, I find the point system a big part of the fun of playing SOW. HITS or no HITS. It's the goal to strive for which creates the challenge. Yes, some scenarios are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to "win" while playing HITS, but it's still something I always enjoy keeping in mind. And with this scenario a major victory was definitely obtainable, but I was too slow in making my final push for the Seminary. I like "worrying" about the point system. Different strokes....
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