American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I am also working on a variant that features a staff officer and a courier for each army and corps. If you think of anything else cool (with in the established engine of the game) send your ideas to me, and I might could incorporate them!
John Ferry
Overland codesigner

John, How about squadrons for cavalry for the big scenario? It will allow for more recon and soften the blow of losing a recon cavalry unit. With a move range of 24 hexes on a road and 12 in the open/paths it is too easy to trap one cav unit with a brigade of cav. 450-600 man cav units cost a lot of points and due to the limited number of cav units, make for a big prize to eliminate..

Almost all units in the game consist of two battalions or squadrons. The second battalion is activated when the first battalion goes below 50% strength. The other stand-alone scenarios feature two squadrons in the field, but I felt that there were already plenty of units without adding more in the Monster.
Also, cavalry is not as valuable in Overland as in most other games. Costs are 10 for infantry, 12 for cavalry, and 15 for artillery. I wanted Overland to be more about tactics and less about accumulating points.
John Ferry
Overland co-designer

I had not noticed it was worth less, but it still has extremevalue as the eyes of the army..

Another thing I might point out are the units that I call "memo" units. They are one-man strong, and tell you when units and brigades are activated or sent home, things like that. There is no restriction on using them for whatever you want. There also "units" like Frank Stringfellow, a spy for the Confederacy. He can go wandering around, armed with a captured Henry rifle, and can give good intel until his number comes up.
Also adding couriers and staff officers. Staff officers can lead a column just like the commander can with the mouse and alt button. Couriers could be useful especially in MP games to send orders and messages with a realistic time lapse.
One lesson learned is to not send your cavalry too far afield. Also you have Mosby's regiment as a good intel-gathering asset.
John Ferry
Overland co-Designer

Thanks John, I was unsure about those 1 man units. One real challenge, as you mentioned earlier, is the timing of bringing up the replacements. I mean, I hope I will win an overwhelming victory before they are necessary but the timing of getting them to the right place at the right time is going to be a real mind puzzle. It is one thing to rotate front line brigades or even front line divisions, but this is another order of planning and complexity.

One thing I am finding difficult is conceptualizing the map south of the Spottsylvania Courthouse battlefield. What I mean is the tangle of roads and paths west and east of it, and then south of that position. the zoom out 2d does not show the roads well and the 2d regular does not show enough map....

I might want to clarify the replacement system. You really have no control over them, EXCEPT that when a unit takes the hit that sends its strength below 50%, that is when its counterpart starts the long trek from the repple depple (replacement depot for those unversed in WWII slang) CSA artillery units can receive their replacement sections as soon as they lose a gun. Some brigades pop up all at once, at the Union's supply bases for instance. You will end up with a long string, like an umbilical, from the depot or bases, to your army.
Maybe somebody has come up with a map mod that shows roads better in zoom out 2D
Anyone out there???

Bill Peters had made a mod for roads, pikes, paths and that helped a lot.

I am FAIRLY certain you can find it at the Scenario Design Center.

If not, I have a copy stashed someplace.

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General Ernie Sands
President ACWGC -Sept 2015- Dec 2020
7th Brigade, 1st Division, XVI Corps, AoT
ACWGC Records Site Admin

"If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there."

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Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

Hi, John,

How does it work with all the supply units in the replacement pool?

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MG Mike Mihalik
Forrest's Cavalry Corps
AoWest/CSA

Supply, in the long run, is one of those untested factors.
If not needed, those supply units can just stay on the east side of the Potomac. However, if you check out the reinforcement schedule, you will see that supply also comes in at the bases (S.Richmond, Aquia Creek, Belle Plain or Port Royal) on a regular basis. If not needed, they could also stay at Richmond or in the Union's case, be evacuated over the Potomac.
It should be understood that the replacement depots should be off limits to enemy offensive action. The crossings of the Potomac represent USN transport. They are not "bridges" to be used by the enemy.
In MP games, the commanders, or a designated subordinate, should be responsible for logistic "housekeeping," such as dealing with supply units and reinforcements. One person should move reinforcing units to the battlefield, not releasing them to their corps until they are on or very near the battle field. This is because units moved previously will end up parked in the path of another unit, thus costing some of the road bonus or even blocking the progress of follow on units.

John Ferry
Overland Scenario Designer

Thanks for the prompt reply.

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MG Mike Mihalik
Forrest's Cavalry Corps
AoWest/CSA

Hi, John,

I have noticed that the Confederate artillery ammo is only 11,000+ rounds for the whole month vs over 200,000 rounds for the Union. I know the Rebs had a supply disadvantage, but was it that bad?

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MG Mike Mihalik
Forrest's Cavalry Corps
AoWest/CSA

Mike
I did not realize it was that big a difference. I do not believe that either side in any scenario should ever run out of artillery ammunition. In most scenarios, in other games, the amount of artillery ammo allowed is pretty much a subjective number, not based on data because there is not much that can be quantified into a scenario. If anybody runs out in any Overland scenario, contact me and I will increase it.
I will check out the monster's numbers, pdq.
John Ferry
Overland co-designer

Mike
could you take another look at the ammo totals you mentioned?
I allocated 5000 "rounds" to each side, which on a per tube basis equates to 20, 722 Union and 11,319 Confederate. Somewhere you came up with an extra "zero" for the Union.
There are a lot of artillery replacements coming on for the Union--entire brigades, to reflect their reorganization during the campaign, but a factor of ten is a stretch. Still, let me know where you saw it.
John Ferry
Overland co-designer