American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I'm playing one of the big scenario's on the HPS Gettysburg disk: Armageddon on the Potomac. It's 272 turns long and is the kind of situation that I normally steer well clear of. I'm playing as Union and am having to effect a crossing of the Antietam creek against a full strength Rebel army that is well fortified on the opposite side.
I was ready to quit after just a few turns but have promised my opponent to at least see out the first day.

One of the problems I am experiencing is to do with supply. I have III Corps in action at one of the crossings with Artillery positioned to pound the Reb guns at short to medium range and Infantry to force a crossing if possible. It is turn #17 and out of a total of 38 Regiments in the Corps, 8 are on 'LOW AMMO' and 2 are on 'NO AMMO' already! This is wholly unacceptable and not remotely realistic for a Union Army level engagement in 1863 Maryland/Pennsylvania. The 2x300 supply wagons attached to III Corps are stilling crawling up to the front and will be totally used up the moment they arrive. The entire Corps will have no supplies left before lunchtime on day 1 of 5.

The ammo rules don't seem adequate for all situations. Surely the Union had supply assets at the Corps and Army level that should be represented in the big scenario's?

Lt.Col. Jim Wilkes.
2nd Brigade, Cavalry Division, XX Corps.
AoC. U.S.A.

<font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4"><font color="orange">Colonel Wilkes Sir! <salute>

Welcome to the Reb side of supply. This very thing takes place for us in the HPS Gettysburg battle on the 1st Day. No supply wagons at all with both Heth and Pender to start the battle out. Lots of other scenarios have the same problem. One of the first things I do when starting a new battle is goto the <font color="beige">A/I</font id="beige"> of the toolbar and then select <font color="beige">Adjust Auto Defensive Fire</font id="beige">. This way my Artillery is not wasting ammo shooting at anything that moves and my Infantry is not doing the same.

But sometimes this is not enough. In a current HPS 3 Day battle at Gettysburg 4 out of 5 Regiments in Archer's Brigade are low ammo. Very frustrating!

Regards,</font id="orange"></font id="size4"></font id="Book Antiqua">

<font color="orange"><font size="4">Nick Kunz

General
Commanding
Eastern Theatre Command
Confederate States of America</font id="orange"></font id="size4">

The problem isn't the supply rules per se (though yeah, you can argue that a unit should have to fire a certain number of times before ammo can run out), but the scenario design.

Ideally, there should be at least one supply wagon allocated per division, and then Corps and Army trains. The overall number can be bounced up and down a bit to represent the situation (if an army has outmarched its supply assets, eg Van Dorn at Pea Ridge), but I'd use that as a base rule of thumb.

Major General Gary McClellan
1st Division, XXIII Corps
AoO,USA

I did not have an ammo problem during that one. I was not in any particular hurry (except to race into position) and had plenty of time to maneuver, including bringing up ammo wagons. The Union generally has the ability to ... wait a minute, is that Reb at the other table listening to us? Dang, he's one ugly dude. What did you say - SHE!!! No wonder the population down South is so small.

Lt Gen Ned Simms
1/1/VIII/AoS/USA
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

Colonel Wilkes,

Now you see why armies did not move at the speed of the fastest elements all the time, but at the speed of the slowest which were usually the supply wagons.

Good Luck.

MajGen Al 'Ambushed' Amos

The Union Forever! Huzzah!

General Kunz, Sir <salute>

Are all players allowed to adjust the A/I Auto Defensive Fire in any scenario or must it be something done with mutual consent?

Major Blair
Eureka Bde
2/2/I AoA

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Blair</i>
<br />General Kunz, Sir <salute>

Are all players allowed to adjust the A/I Auto Defensive Fire in any scenario or must it be something done with mutual consent?

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

It is an individual option and either player may use the option or not, in any campaign or scenario. You may change your "A/I Auto Defensive Fire" options during the game, as you wish.

<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands
General, Commanding, Army of Ohio

ACWGC Cabinet Member
ACWGC Records Site Administrator
</b></font id="gold">

<font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4">Major Blair,

As General Sands reported you can change the A/I Auto Defensive Fire any time during your turn. There are times when I would like my artillery to maybe take some long range pot shots at advancing reinforcements. Getting a disruption on one of the lead units in column could delay their advance to the front.

Regards,</font id="size4"></font id="Book Antiqua">

<font color="orange"><font size="4">Nick Kunz

General
Commanding
Eastern Theatre Command
Confederate States of America</font id="orange"></font id="size4">

I'm not sure of the historic accuracy, (I do think Al makes a very good point about the speed of army movement being restricted by supply logistics), but I look at this as simply a game management challenge. And I don't see it chiefly as a Reb problem - certainly I wonder why no wagons for the Rebs on the first day of Gettysburg, but I'm finding in my Atlanta campaign that small arms supply appears more a problem for the Union in most scenarios. So I manipulate the A/I autodef fire, and on offense choose my shots carefully.

Gen. Matt Perrenod
<i>The Blue Ghost</i>
Commandant, Union Military Academy
1st Brigade, 2nd Division, VIII Corps, Army of the Shenandoah
UMA Class of '01