American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

How many gamers are actually into Campaign Play? What is the general perception of Campaign Play? I would imagine that Campaign Play would be hundreds if not close to a thousand turns or so! WOW!!! A Campaign could take in excess of a year or two years to complete.....Just to think of the promotion one could achieve upon completion....I'm tempted to begin a Campaign but that comes with a degree of committment!!! I may wait until the Fredericksburg-Chancellorsville Campaign comes out....

Fld.Lt.R.E.Daley
1st Corp of the ANV
3rd Calvary Divsion,
3rd Brigade
"We are the Midnight Riders"

I prefer Campaign play because it add's in the element of "tomorrow" to the game. You aren't just fighting out a single battle, but you must be able to have an army left to face the next challenge.

And every games is a commitement, so why not jump into a Campaign?!



LGen. Hamilton
II Corps
ANV, CSA
Signal Corps - Editor in Chief

I play a lot more campaigns than battles, and when you get a good opponent that exchanges files regularly, they are a lot of fun. If you lose a battle you get a chance for revenge in the next battle. The committment is no more than a battle, just be sure that each player understands how many turns to expect each week before you start, and get any other ground rules ironed out in the begining.
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Col. David Groce
3/2/1 AoP

So when I do a Campaign, how do I register it? I went to the reg site and put in Campaign, but it has zero turns. I don't know ho many turns the game will be. So how does the system track the Campaign? I have just been puttin in the individual battles.

CPT D.H. Smith
3/1/III Corps,AotM,CSA

http://users.adelphia.net/~sapper99/index.htm

You need to report each individual scenario as you play it...see this thread on how to find out the appropraite scenario name:

http://www.wargame.ch/board/acw/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8239



LGen. Hamilton
II Corps
ANV, CSA
Signal Corps - Editor in Chief

I like the Campaign play in Gettysburg and Pennisula but the time commitment is a problem. If your opponent can't pretty consistently turn around 2-3 turns a week it is going to be difficult to ever reach the end. Also, as bad decisions are made resulting in significant scenario losses there is a tendancy for the players to quit early. So far I have only had one campaign game go to the final battle and it was surrendered early.

BG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
III Corps, AoM (CSA)

Kennon,

I have Gettysburg re-installed now. How about we start a new a campaign?

al

MajGen Al 'Ambushed' Amos
3rd "Amos' Ambushers" Bde, Cavalry Division, XX Corps, AoC
The Union Forever! Huzzah!

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Rich Hamilton</i>
<br />You need to report each individual scenario as you play it...see this thread on how to find out the appropraite scenario name:

http://www.wargame.ch/board/acw/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8239



LGen. Hamilton
II Corps
ANV, CSA
Signal Corps - Editor in Chief
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Thanks Rich!!

CPT D.H. Smith
3/1/III Corps,AotM,CSA

http://users.adelphia.net/~sapper99/index.htm

Ohhhh! Reporting each scenario within the Campaign is stirring my interest.....and Dave, you are so right about the file exchange...more exchanges does make the game fun!!!!

Fld.Lt.R.E.Daley
1st Corp of the ANV
3rd Calvary Divsion,
3rd Brigade
"We are the Midnight Riders"

I have played each of the three main Ozark campaigns, but the scenarios are all relatively small and, IMHO, tend to favor the Rebs over the long haul. Have played a couple of Corinth campaigns, but completed only one, and thatwas a draw after the third scenario. In another, my whole army routed at sunset and was eventually surrounded and captured. That was when I swore I would never play with rout limiting off again. Campaigns have their good points, but you are essentially limited in your options to the choices presented. When given the choice between playing the Seven Days as a campaign or a scenario, Kelly Ross and I chose the scenario, because it gives you more flexibility. Most campaigns can't be carried out on a single map, though.

MG Mike Mihalik
1/III/AoMiss/CSA

I too prefer the "all on one map" ala Waterloo, Eckmuhl & Peninsula, but as noted most campaigns don't lend themselves to that.

I've played a couple of Gettysburg campaigns, at least three Corinth campaigns and an Ozark campaign...and hope to start some more up before too long. [:)]

LGen. Hamilton
II Corps
ANV, CSA
Signal Corps - Editor in Chief

I've played 3 Gettysburg campaigns, one Corinth and the first game of a Franklin campaign (some advice on Springhill for the Yanks, don't try to win this one by holding ANY objectives). By far, i liked the Gettysburg campaigns the best. I played the Corinth campaigns against a very superior opponent without a lot of experience with the HPS turn system and got destroyed in multiple scenarios by the melee in column blitzkreig. I'm currently engaged in the second battle (Mill Springs) of a Shiloh campaign and so far like it A LOT. I'd like to play Corinth campaign again now that i'm more experienced with turn play but would probably never play the Franklin campaign again.

Some advice. Campaigns are good if both players are equally experienced and capable in the dynamics of the turn system and somewhat careful not get decisively whooped in the first battle(s). As long as you can maintain some equilibrium the campaigns are very interesting in that they provide hypothetical battles that you have never fought. But, in Corinth at least, once things start to go south you may be in for a long year of gaming with decreasing hope of ever turning things around - that is the real drawback of the campaigns, if you badly loose a major battle you are probably in trouble for the next scenario(s). Also, be careful not to use the end game function too much or too early. I played one Gettysburg campaign where the Civil War's most decisive battle ended as some cavalry skirmishing on an unknown back road of Maryland. One tip, once the monster game appears in a campaign fight it to the end.

P.S. I'm currently playing the 407 turn 7 Days rather than the Peninsula campaign. In my opinion the campaign only makes sense for the Rebs - as a Yank, i think there are much better (and more interesting) strategies than the one McClellan used historically (as played out in the campaign scenarios).

Col Ed Lytwak
2/2/XV/AoT/USA

I prefer the campaign play for the same reasons stated by Rich, but also because you don't know quite what you are going to get at each stage of the campaign, leading to some interesting scenarios which you might not choose to play in isolation, but which are fascinating within the campaign context. So far I've played one Gettysburg (as Union) and two Corinth (1 reb and 1 union) campaigns.

General Antony Barlow
Army of the Cumberland

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Al Amos</i>
<br />I have Gettysburg re-installed now. How about we start a new a campaign?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Al, you are currently in the inactive/hospital section on the Union OOB, following your request for leave a few months ago. Do you want assigning to another active brigade in the AoC? The one in your signature is taken by someone else now but there is another vacant. It would be good to have you back[:)]

General Antony Barlow
Army of the Cumberland

I'm still on the fence regarding the campaign format. I've played 3 in this club, about a dozen in total.

I like the need to play for the duration and not just a single battle.

I like the idea of losses carrying forward, but since we all tend to cause a lot of casualties, that can significantly reduce the troops in later scenarios. In a Battle of Corinth in the 5th game of a Campaign both sides are around 50% of what they are in the standard scenario.

I like the inclusion of some "strategic" choice at the beginning of each scenario, but often the choices are limited.

I dislike how long some campaigns can be and have found the longer ones did not go to conclusion -- I currently have a Corinth Campaign that is a around 150 turns (over 15 months) and a couple of Nap Campaigns that went that far as well, but this seems to be about my limit.

Big maps or a campaign in one scenario can provide interesting maneveur opportunities, but you can spend a lot of turns just moving units and I think you could see some moves that are more "gaming" then historical, but it can be interesting.


Lt Gen Bob Breen
Commanding 4th Bde, 2nd Div, VI Corps, AoS
"Where we lead, the Army follows" - VI Corps