American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Gentlemen of both sides <salute>

I am bedeviled by trying to get across a river on a narrow bridge. I try to get past the enemy in column and get routed every time. Any ideas would be appreciated. Is bring every artillery piece to bear the only one that works?

(You would think a bloody engineer could get across a bridge!)

Lt. Col Elkin
Chief Engineer AoT

“I have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies. . . . Let us study the probable lines of retreat of our opponents, and leave our own to take care of themselves. Let us look before us, and not behindâ€

In real life it was exceedingly difficult to cross a bridge under fire so don't be surprised. You have to suppress the enemy fire and artillery or mass volley fire is the only way I know in the game. If they blow the bridge then you are sunk because you can't repair the bridge if your troops are disrupted by fire.

Maj.Gen. Drex Ringbloom,
AotS Chief-of -Staff,
2nd Division Cmdr, "Corcoran's Legion", VIII Corps
Army of the Shenandoah

ARC LIGHT

MG Al "Ambushed" Amos, Commanding Officer
1st Div, I Corps, AoP, USA

David,

You should have come to me first for advice.[:p] You could choose not to cross[:D]

Major General Cam McOmish
Commander Western Theater
Confederate States of America

It's almost impossible to cross a contested bridge. By contested I mean if the enemy has really decided to defend the crossing and has the troops to back it up.

Whether you can force a crossing against strong resistance depends on fields of fire available to you. You must be able to lay down heavy fire on all hexes near the bridge so that you can drive the enemy well away from the bridge exit hex. You must have enough artillery close support to insure that once across your bridge head won't be a trap when they counter attack.

How much force you need depends on which game system you are using, Turn or Phased. In Turn play because you can cross in column then switch to line on the other side you can make a crossing without as strong of supporting force as Phased. But either way you must be able to cross a force in one turn at least equal to the opposing force.

Also there is diminishing return as the size of the two forces increase. I aim for 3:1 odds for a bridge crossing but I have seen terrain situations where a brigade with artillery support could stop a Corps from crossing. Usually no crossing can be made against a division size force because you simply can't get enough troops across to prevent them from crushing you in a counter attack.

The crossings on White Oak Swamp in the Pennisula games are a good example of crossing that can be easily defended by a brigade with good artillery support.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
2/3/IV AoM (CSA)

Call in airsupport.

General Don Golen

I Corps /Army of the Potomac
"The Iron Corp"