Burnside Takes Command - Scenario #3 - The Battle of Fredericksburg

[@RichardHampson-Smith]

Patrick I was crying for you. You did not sacrifice the required virgin to the dice gods did you. Roger well played ,destructive counter attack !!

[@brendanirvin4277]

The dice gods were not on your side Patrick. Can't do much about that sadly. Will say, you managed to recreate a historical result! Lol. Will mention one quibble about Roger's Cav retreat of Jones at 36:52. The first 2 hexes were fine, p4a, p3. 4112 should be the next hex (p2) as 4211 is p4a. Looking forward to seeing what Roger can make of it! :)

[@IRLBemused]

I have no issues with the vagaries of the dice in short scenarios. Reading the history leaves one scratching one's head over why certain commanders ignored/misinterpreted orders even when the overall commander was on the field. The initiative system is design for effect but it seems to work well for its intended purpose. With that in mind it strikes me that keeping lines coherent and units reasonably close together is required to avoid isolation and being punished by a series of initiatives on your opponent's part. As gamers, people will often try to push their luck and over extend. The system can/will punish this. Seems reasonable to me!

[@ericbrosius7606]

Patrick, what makes you think the USA should do better than they did in real life? Also, if you had built one bridge right across the river into Fredericksburg, you could have gotten +1 flanking bonus in the assault at 0:47:00.

[@holgerschulz2107]

Another failed moral check? Well, this time you were at least far enough into the endgame that I can understand the decision. And Patrick, yes, you had bad luck (Reynolds e.g.) but also bungled up some things. Some things also rules-wise: First, I have an issue with Howard’s special ferry move. Yes, you stayed within the six hexes range. But my copy of the old Skirmisher no. 2 originally introducing BTC also has the condition line: “This hex must be adjacent to a Union unit …” You did not have a unit there. Was this condition overwritten in a newer incarnation of BTC? Otherwise, I fear Howard's outreach to Salem church was too surprisy and in fact illegal. A preparational move of a CAV to the north bank of the intended landing would have been sufficient and would have worked within the three-initiatives-in-a-row pattern. (Whether it would have been wise to do this kind of operation seeing Longstreet’s later crushing counterattack with hindsight is a different question.) Furthermore, on the bridge building at the end of day one: Can you really place three additional bridges in freely chosen locations? My Skirmisher reads “up to two more”. The total of four is IMO only achievable with one starting and one more placed upon the clearing of Fredericksburg downtown. If you did not enjoy the later, that does not enable you to place all up to four; it is still just “two more”. See forward to the rematch. I will quite surely be very different. And that for entertainment as well as for tutorial aspects is a very good thing. And after that I am so happy to hear that you are also heading for the real stuff: The campaign! Regards Holger

[@PatricksTacticsTutorials]

Holger, thanks for the feedback and corrections. I believe you are correct, in that I misread the intent of the 'adjacent to' a Union unit. I interpreted that as it must START adjacent to a union unit before it makes the attempt, because I saw the Fatigue 0 part. The way you have pointed out does make more sense. Roger and I will discuss it ahead of the replay. Yes, I believe that the 'fourth' pontoon bridge is conditional upon Fredericksburg being cleared. Only two additional can be built at the end of Turn 1 Recovery. I know Roger will utilize my mistakes to improve his attempt!