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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 9:31 pm 
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Location: United Kingdom
I`m trying to find the thought process players would use when selecting a target.Here is a hypothetical situation.Player 1,the attacker has a stack of 3 units in a hex,each unit is 300 men.
Player 2, the defender has a stack of 3 units in adjacent hex,each unit is 300 men,each unit is disrupted.One unit is morale B,one is morale C and the other is morale D.
How would you distribute your offensive fire and why?
Many thanks
Lt Col Andy Taylor
4/1/111
AOG CSA


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:31 pm 
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I often like to spread the hits around a bit because it's more realistic and also because you will eventually arrive at a situation when the enemy hasn't many fresh (low fatigue) units left. But if I do single out a unit for special attention it is sometimes either the largest unit (disrupt that one and he has much less firepower and melee ability) or the unit with the lowest morale (a higher chance of routing it and spreading disruption to neighbouring units, with resulting decrease of firepower and melee potential).

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[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acwgc/acw.htm"]General Antony Barlow[/url]
[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acwgc/western_theater.htm"]Commander, Western Theater, Union Army[/url]


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 12:17 am 
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My first shot would be at the D quality unit. Depending on how many casualties I caused on it I would either shoot it one more time or start working on that B rated unit. I'd want to make sure I caused what I hoped was enough casualties to the D unit to hopefully get it to rout and maybe take the other two units with it. Then I'd work on the B unit figuring it would be the first to reorder and I'd either want to cause it enough losses to keep from doing that or if it did it's numbers would be reduced and it would be less effective.

General Mark Nelms
6/3/IX/AoO
"Blackhawk Brigade"
Union Military Academy Instructor
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 12:41 am 
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It would depend on terrain as well for me. Granted I would tag the D unit for routing purposes.At least one shot in there dirrection. I would also take into consideration as to the affect of terrain. -40 in woods can make a difference to that 0 in the clear.

LTC. Charles Babb
COLD STEEL!
6th Brigade,3rd Division
XXIII Corps
Army of the Ohio


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 1:08 am 
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Because of the chance of causing defensive fire to my stack, with each fire, I would fire the entire stack at the unit most likely to rout.

Terrain does matter, but if I am not going to melee, then I would fire regardless of the terrain factors.

<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands
General, Commanding, Army of Ohio
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 2:42 am 
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Exactly as Ernie says

Lt. Col. Richard Walker
I Corps
Army of the Mississippi
2nd Brigade, 3rd Division
"Defenders of Tennessee"


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 5:06 am 
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OFFENSIVE FIRE. WHICH TARGET?


<font color="blue"><font size="6"><b>Any Reb you can see. Reload and repeat til no more Rebs in sight</b>.</font id="size6"></font id="blue">

[;)]

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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 5:17 am 
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First, if you are playing Turn based you fire the stack as a block against the "D" unit.

If you are playing Phased game then you should fire at the "D" unit repeatedly until you cause it more than 25 casualties. I try for 50. If I still have units left that haven't fired then I would target the "B" unit.

Note this is for offensive fire only. In defensive fire you always target nondisrupted units with the highest morale.

Reasoning: On offensive fire you want to cause the enemy to have to check morale and have a high probability of failing the check so a route will occur. In HPS games the odds of causing a morale check is equal to (# Lost) / (25 - (# Lost)). You have to kill at least 25 men to get a 50% probability there will be a morale check. By focusing fire on the disrupted "D" unit you increase the chance this unit will have to make a morale check. Choosing the lowest morale unit in the stack (also being disrupted is important) you increase the probability that if it checks it will fail and route. When it routes it will force the other units to check as well.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 7:25 am 
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bill Peters</i>
<br />Note that nothing in here says anything about 25 men....
...Thus "1" man will cause a morale check. And there is no calculation as per the Panzer series where the losses have anything to do with the serverity of the test...
...Thus if you lose 1 man or 200 men it doesnt matter. Same test.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Bill, I believe you are correct in saying that there is no difference in severity of the actual morale test based on the number of casualties suffered. However, the formula on the probability of <b>causing</b> a morale test that Kennon gave can be found in the 'Combat Results' section of the manual:


<font face="Arial">When Morale Checks are applicable, they are determined based on a probability using the given loss as:

loss / (loss + 25)

Thus a unit that takes a loss of 25 men has a 50% chance of requiring a morale check and a unit that takes a loss of 100 men has an 80% chance of requiring a morale check.</font id="Arial">



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[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acwgc/acw.htm"]General Antony Barlow[/url]
[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acwgc/western_theater.htm"]Commander, Western Theater, Union Army[/url]


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:42 am 
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Battleground is based on step loses of 25 men. Any step loss caused the unit to be flagged for a morale check. HPS introduced tracking casualties to the man. They changed to the casualty test for fire combat so that a one man kill won't cause a thousand man regiment to run no matter how much they liked the guy.[:D] Well a 1 in 26 chance they might like him so much they might quite the field.[xx(]

This also brings up an important tactic. Melee always causes a morale check regardless of number of men lost. Sometimes you may want to melee a stack for no other purpose than to force the morale check.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 3:31 pm 
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Dear Lt Col Andy Taylor,

I will give you a slightly different answer. My choice of target depends on what I want my opponet to do. If I am out shooting him on the fire line then I will always fire at the largest high quality unit to reduce my opponets fire effectiveness. This also keeps him on the line so I can continue to fire at him. IF we are even or he is leading in casualties I will concentrate all my shots on the low quality unit entirly to get just him to rout and disrupt the rest. I usually fire all my men in a hex at a single target, I believe that is more historical and this also hides the possibility that I may be low on ammo.

Lt Gen Joseph C. Mishurda

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Lt General Joseph C. Mishurda,
"Killer Angels"
VI Corps, AoS, USA


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PostPosted: Wed May 21, 2008 7:52 am 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I also find it hard to believe that three units of 300 men could fire from one hexSIDE. I much prefer the way that SPI handled it with what I think was no more than 400 men being able to fire through one hexSIDE.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Yes. Keeping in mind that SPI - Richard Berg's "Great Battles Of The American Civil War" (GBACW) - generally permitted a maximum stacking of 1200 SP's in a <i>clear</i> terrain hex - hence, 400 SP's p/hexside.

An overhaul of the ACW battle-line-building-block modeling was already long in the tooth by the time Battleground Gettysburg® was released. [:(] Still, it's kinda reasurring (hopeful) to see someone from this site, no less, raise this too oft-(and long)-neglected tactical point once more. ==Denny

Fld. Lt. shoeless
1st Tenn Provisional Army
CSA Secretary of the Cabinet (Retired)



<center><i>From a certain point onward there is no turning back. That is the point that must be reached.</i> --F. Kafka</center>


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PostPosted: Thu May 22, 2008 5:38 am 
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As a long time opponent of Lt Col Andy Taylor i would like to suggest he distributes his fire on everything grey and leaves my boys alone[:D]

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1st Lt Col Stewart Crisp

3rd Bde
1st Division
XIV Corps


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PostPosted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:50 am 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Ernie Sands</i>
<br />Because of the chance of causing defensive fire to my stack, with each fire, I would fire the entire stack at the unit most likely to rout.

Terrain does matter, but if I am not going to melee, then I would fire regardless of the terrain factors.

<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands
General, Commanding, Army of Ohio
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ACWGC Cabinet Member
ACWGC Records Site Administrator
</b></font id="gold">

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

I generally follow this same strategy.

Gen. Den McBride
ANV
swampfox_csa(at)yahoo.ca


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PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2008 1:04 pm 
I'd fire the entire stack at the "B" grade unit in an effort to either disrupt or at least fatigue the more powerful troops. Of course, I lose more than I win so take it for what its worth. [:D]

Lt. Gen. M. Conrad Smith
4th Division, III Corps
Army of Georgia


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