Greetings, a while back we had a thread about the computer game, Forge of Freedom, and I said I was do an After Action Report(AAR) of the game to show those who might interested in it what it's like and how the game is played. Well that time has finally come. I will be playing the side of the Union. The game starts in July, 1861. I'll provide a ton of screenshots to illustrate what I'm saying as my story telling ability is the artwork equivilant of stick figures. Feel free to follow along, make comments, flame my piss poor generals and root against me as I foolishing continue to throw army after army at Richmond.
Aaaand we're off. The game starts in Late July, 1861. Basically just as the first Bull Run is about to be fought. Eash game turn is 2 weeks long. Here's a screenshot of the startup screen. Note the name of the Confederate Player. The first turn is not full of very much. neither side has large forces adn they are woefully organized. Here's a screenshot of the Eastern Front. The Flag boxes are Army groups. Two "X"'s denotes a division, three a Corp and four an Army. Forces with a general in them will have that over their heads as well. The west is very quiet. Here is where I will make a lot of noise come next spring. Most of the rest of this year will be spent drilling my armies and organizing them. And here we have the diplomatic screen. The coins represent money spent trying to get the Europeans on your side. Battles have a much larger effect though. I'll easily outspend the rebels here, but if I keep getting my ass handed to me on the battle field(likly), European support for the cause will go up. The higher the support the Confeds get the more supplies the Europeans run through the blockade. If it ever gets high enough they will enter the war. I'm royally fucked if that happens. Most of my first turn I spend railroading groups of men to either front. With that done I hit the end turn button and wait to take my licking at Bull Run. I've played this game tons of time and I never win this battle as the Union or lose it as the rebels.
Early August 1861 At the beginning of each turn where there are command levels open I can promote lower generals. Sadly my choice is only Banks and he like most Union generals, sucks Ramen's balls. Next is the turn report. Shockingly I got my rear end kicked at Bull Run. 10 to 1 losses however hurt a lot more. No matter, one thing I will never lack is men. In better news calls for volunteers went up around the nation and 10 cities responded with 2,000 men each. Now some governors, namely border states one, start out the war not really wanting to help the war terribly much, so my call for volunteers there resulted in their relationship with the Fed going down. Unhappy governors are pains in the asses. Most of the time it's wise to keep them as happy as possible, though as the war drags on that becomes harder and harder to do. Other good news is that Kentucky joined the war on the side of the Union. Rebel invasions have a way of doing that. And despite pouring a ton of money into European relations the rebels gain a relation point with all three factions. The rebel seige of Pensacola is of no matter to me. I can't do anything about it so it will fall eventually. The west is starting to come together. Most of the new recruits will be sent out there. Right now an army of 65,000 is earmarked for the western theater with orders to start the trek down the Mississippi River. By the spring they should be ready. It looks like Bragg has command in the west for the rebels. Scouting in this game is a crapshoot for the Union. There is no possible way they have that many men under Bragg's command, but I will have to get used to guesswork with rebel forces.
Is there any sort of battle or is it all simulated? It'd be cool to see a Total War style of implementation.
Yeah, is there a tactical level here? As the Confederates, I've kicked the Union's ass in other games (I damned near wiped Meade out at Gettysburg). Being able to oversee the battles goes a long way in games like this.
You can play out each battle if you want to, I'd be playing this game for months if I did that though so I'm auto resolving each battle. When I get to the gamebreakers I will play those out.
It's a old style hex map. I bought this game upon the recommendation of ehire, but I just sat there befuddled. Rather complex, but maybe I just need to give it another go. Powa, I can loan it to you if you want.
The tactical level is incredibly complicated, yes. When a fort isn't on the map though, flank charges are money in the bank against the cpu, especially when you run a feint on one flank then hammer the other one. As far as the strategic level goes, the manual helps a lot with that.
^Maybe a quick glance wasn't enough then. I would've liked to see the option to expand the theaters of warfare; the map is too small for a "What If?" game.
One step at a time. Considering I think this is the first even passable civil war game on a strategic level...I can wait to see if there are expansions into the whatif realms.
Speaking of "what if's" this just came to my attention today: http://www.totalwar.com/asset_library/Videos/Low_Resolution/Kingdoms_Trailer_Low.wmv can't wait.
Late August 1861 So we start with another promotion. The pickings are small again. Burnside gets the nod and will be given command of the whole of the Western Theater. Ugh. The CSA continues to seige forts located in Virginia and in Florida. Not much I can do about either of them really. The casualties they are taking and more than worth the forts themselves. 8,000 more men answer the call for volunteers which is good. Ship them out west. The CSA continues to gain support in Europe. British support is up to 4. That's dangerous. Once it gets above 5 it's really hard to lower below that and the Brits will start helping the CSA more with supplies and technology. As you can see France gave them 20 money. Most times at this point in the game the CSA might make only 50 or 60 on its own a turn, so that's huge. Another very quiet turn. I spent most of it railroading around my volunteers to the armies that I am starting to build. I took a screenshot of Kentucky, but forgot to paste it into photoshop. Oops.
Late August 1861 Another turn another promotion, this time only two stars. My choices are awe inspiring again. Wooo look at all those dead rebels. Taking that many casualties on a fort seige probably means they tried to storm it and failed. With my side taking 2,000 itself I've only got around 1,000 left in that fort. It's probably going to fall next turn. Another facet to raise funds is through Impressment of city resources. The people don't usually like it, but I need more iron to expand the railroad network. Unfortunatly, Springfield would rather riot than give it. When a city is under unrest it produces nothing and sometimes destroys stuff. It also can spread. Now only two turns shouldn't be a problem unless it spreads. My first building was complete, a hospital. What they do is help with disease and wounded. Disease sucks balls. Turns an fierce army into the armed equivilant of Diacanu. The governors of New Hampshire and Missouri very much like me so they both have positive aspects going now. Basically goof relations with the states is represented by that government working in harmony with the war effort. This turn was spent trying to get the Army of the Potomac together. The rebels have wayyyy too many forces in Virginia for me to just ignore right now. By the end of the turn the Army was a healthy 75,000 with more on the way. It still needs a commander, but I'll worry about that when I actually want to use it.
Too complex for an entire campaign. If I buy this (and I'm pretty sure I will), I'll probably self run some battles, but leave most to the computer. The idea is to play as Lincoln or Davis.
Late Sept, 1861 What happened to Early Sept, 1861 you ask? I forgot to take screenshots. Not much happened. I'll detail it in the next few posts. The seiges go on. The one in Virginia is going to end soon. Generally when forts get that low one good charge will take em down. Reports have anywhere from 20,000 to 60,000 Confederates there, far outnumbering the meager force in the fort. A Hospital has been built in annapolis. Going to need a lot more of those as the game goes on. And I got a camp on the Ohio River. Camps increase the amount of reinforcements I get each turn to replace the dead. Gov Andrew of Mass really likes me, supporting Impressment is awesome. It's carte blanche to rape the state of resources, which I plan on doing if anything of note is available. Most of this turn was spent gathering more of my forces in the west. I ordered the construction of two Corp containers so when the time comes I can split up the western armies efficently. The march down the Mississippi River must be swift and brutal. I also ordered the construction of two batterys of seige artillery in Chicago. Here's a screenie of how large the Army of Tennessee has grown.
Early Oct, 1861 Winter is almost here. After pondering I've decided not to go after Bragg and risk a winter battle, which heavily favors the defenders. Well Ft. Monroe surrendered. Not surprising, but not welcome either. That was a pretty good assortment of guns that the rebels now have. None of the other armies in the area are doing anything of note on the rebel side. Rebels will need more men to take the one in Florida though, for now I'll be content to bleed them some more. Last turn I busted down Banks to two stars and promoted Brannan up to three stars. Banks...well he blows ass as a corp or army commander, but isn't a horrid division commander. A freshly minted Corp container is moved to Burnside and Brannan is given command of it. When the time comes to divide up the army, Brannan will lead that section. Cleveland builds a barracks. Whoop de do. Fucking governor of Kansas. He wants 15 brigades to be stationed in his state which is just a waste of three divisions. Now to piss me off he's meddling. By "Opposing Horse production" I lose 15 horses a turn. Horses are crucial in the early game. I'm going to have to break off three divisions from Burnside and ship out west. Asshole. More consolidating out west and by the end of this turn Burnside now has quite an army under his command.
Late Oct, 1861 We start this turn with another undeserved promotion. I choose Buell because well, gah everybody else blows more chunks. Buell is ordered east to take command of the Army of the Potomac. Next comes another way the states get in the way of making war. Often when you have good relationships with a governor they will want to put a stooge into one of the divisions thereby making the command ratings worse. As I already suffer from bad command this is not needed, but I need to keep those governors high so I can delay giving them other things. So I accept and hope to make the rating up on the battlefield. Whole lot to report this turn. First off, the rebels moved a whole lot more men into the seige in Florida. That one should fall next turn. There's not very much left of it to begin with. Now remember when I said because of that fuck in Kansas I had to impress some horses? Well Chicago didn't like that too much, so there's a riot going on there. I'm going to break off a division from Burnside to help quell the unrest. That many turns without Chicago can't happen and with enough troops you can shorten or end a riot. I got another Academy in Mass. That should be enough of those for now. More importantly two railroad depots were completed. The training ground to drill fresh troops will also be a boon. Wow this turn report is getting better so far, what could possibly go wrong? Awww fuck, looks like someone let Ramen into the barracks again and he gave everybody AIDS. Disease is a pain in the ass when it hits big armies like that. Luckily Burnside will be on the move next turn or the one after so I kick Ramen and his sore posterior outta the Cumberland River. France really is pissing me off. They are feeding the Rebels tech and with the relations for France bing only +3 for the CSA, this shouldn't be happening so much. Bad luck I guess. So after doing some more rearranging and ordering the building of five gunboats on the Mississippi River I end my turn.
Early November, 1861 We start with another undeserving promotion. I choose Benton and ship him off to Kentucky for reasons you will see shortly. Pensacola continues to hold out for reasons I don't understand. The fort is basically gone, but another 263 southern mothers must now bury their sons and I'm okay with that. Another railroad station is completed. Soon I should have enough of them to move armies around at will. I took another hit on British support, argh bad luck. At this rate one major battle loss and I will have to worry about Europeans sticking their noses in more. During the last turn the Corp that took my fort in Northern Virginia began moving around. I wasn't sure where it might be headed, but now I know. This will have to be dealt with. Along with Benton another freshly formed division will head to Kentucky to help the one I have there. Another Corp container is ordered to help organize them together. And even though it's getting to be winter I don't want to sit on Burnside's army too much longer. So I order him to the Cumberland River. His further orders will be to take the two forts that lead to Nashville. There he will rape the women and sack the first Confederate Capital. I'm pretty sure by now I have a sizable manpower advantage over Bragg. If a fight comes, I think I can win.
Re: Early November, 1861 *Ahem* The first Capital of the CSA was Montgomery, AL. In fact, to this day the Confederate White House is across the street from the Capital building and our Governors take their oaths of office on the same bible Jefferson Davis used when taking the oath of office of the President of the CSA.
Late Nov, 1861 The winter is getting interesting. We start with that seige continuing to drag on and on and in Florida. End it already. I also went 5 for 6 with volunteer musters. Another 10,000 men added to the fold. The first river gunboat is completed and sent to join Burnside who begins a seige on the Confederate fort blocking entry into Tennessee. I really want this to be a fast seige. Hopefully the guns in this fort are nothing special. A Mine and another Academy complete this turn, I really hope more generals start showing up soon. Some state elections were held this turn as well. Nothing great happened. Everywhere a guy that hated me was kicked out another one that hated me just as much replaced him. The big blow was Massachussets. Gov. Andrew loved me and lost. Not a good break. The money leaning on the Europeans is finally starting to pay off and the rebels lose a point with both of them. I accidentally erased the screenshot but that army that was heaidng out of Virigina was railroaded all the way to the Mississippi River. This is worrying. My numbers advantage is now gone. Next turn I'll take a shot of it. This has to mean Viriginia is more open. If not it means sending a Corp from the Army of the Potomac out west asap to cover the new force out there. When my turn ended I was able to pick a few new tech upgrades, Here they are:
