Blood in the Run questions

[MrSpkr]

I have played this several times and can't seem to get above about 2600 points. A moment asgo, I finished, had occupied the woods victory flag (worth 200 points per minute) for nearly 20 minutes of the game, had routed EVERY confederate infantry on the map, kept my casualties to a minimum (and no routs and only one retreat in the whole game), killed Archer for a few bonus points -- and only got 2600 points. This raises a few questions.

1) I see that there are two flags, but I only have one leader. I presume this means I can only get points for one flag at a time, right? I have been going for the 200 point flag in the woods.

2) Why do the two victory flags vanish about ten minutes before the end of the match? I don't recall them doing this in TC2M. Are they supposed to do that, or is this a bug?

3) Tactically, I have been activating the reserve regiment almost immediately and marching all five regiments to the fence line nearest the 200 point flag, then charging into the woods to seize the position. It seems to work well, gets me control quickly, and generally turns into a rout of Archer's boys and Pettigrew's reinforcements. I have occasionally sent a courier asking for help from wadsworth, but this doesn't seem to do anything for me.

Thoughts, anyone?

Steve

[ADukes]

MrSpkr wrote:

2) Why do the two victory flags vanish about ten minutes before the end of the match? I don't recall them doing this in TC2M. Are they supposed to do that, or is this a bug?

This could be a bug.

[MrSpkr]

If it is, it is persistent in nature. I've played that scenario about half a dzoen times and seen it happen every single one of them.

Steve

[Rich Mac]

I played the McPherson's Ridge scenario. I drove the rebs from the woods and took the victory location, only to have it immediately disappear. I never received a single point for holding it. I thought that it might reappear once I brought Sol Meredith over to the location, but it never did.

I wasn't sure if this was part of the scenario or a bug. I only played that scenario once, so I don't know if this duplicates. I also took the location with the 6th Wisconsin, the reserve that Reynolds told me not to use unless necessary (which I thought it was ), so I thought it might have been removed since I used them.

I'll try playing it again today and see if I can duplicate the effect.

Edit: I just realized that this WAS the Blood in the Run scenario. For some reason I thought I was playing a different scenario.

[DrMike1997]

I have played this scenario a couple of times (my thread on scenario variations is based on this scenario, or rather two very different variations of the scenario B)
And in both instances the vp sites disappeared with about 10 minutes left in the game. The first time it stopped me from getting a major victory. The second time it didn't matter because I was busy fighting off the whole damn reb army!

[Little Powell]

The OBJ disappears with 10 minutes to go, it's intentional.

I thought it was a bug too when I first noticed it. I reported it, but no change. So it's supposed to be that way.

[MrSpkr]

Little Powell wrote:

The OBJ disappears with 10 minutes to go, it's intentional.

I thought it was a bug too when I first noticed it. I reported it, but no change. So it's supposed to be that way.

Interesting. I'd love to hear from anyone who got a major victory (absent the cascading officer kills bug) in this one -- how did you do it? The best I can manage, while driving off all rebels and seizing the objective in Herst Woods within 8 minutes of the scenario start, is 2681.

Steve

[MrSpkr]

Okay, just beat it (after having one abortive start in which Archer camped his whole brigade on the Herst Woods spot and I restarted after 5 minutes of gameplay).

The second time around, it seems that Archer kept his units to the eastern part of the woods, leaving the victory location uncovered. I was able to advance to the location with all five regiments and set up a modified line with flank support. Within a minute or two, I managed to get control of the victory location and keep it for three minutes. I then lost it for thirty seconds, retook it and kept it for the remainder of the game.

Meanwhile, it seems like ALL the Confederate reinforcements came in piecemeal against Cutler's men to the north. This was fortuitous, as it allowed me to sit in Herst woods and rack up victory points for the maximum amount of time.

In the end, I won a decisive victory with 3309 points. I'm not sure it would have been possible without the fortuitous event of the AI both (a) leaving the location uncovered at the beginning of the match; and (b) sending all his reinforcements to the other side of the battlefield. In previous matches, I saw a brigade of Confederate reinforcements hit Herst Woods at just about the time I was able to drive off Archer's initial forces, making it very difficult to grab the Herst Woods location prior to about 10:40ish a.m.

I like the dynamic AI; not sure if I like the fact that the promotion victory level is so dependent (apparently) on getting a fortuitous AI setup and response.

One final question -- in this scenario, you only have control of one brigade; however, the forces listed include both Meredith and Cutler's brigades, as well as the artillery battery. Given that there are two victory locations (though it is impossible to gather points from more than one at a time in the scenario as currently constituted), was this scenario initially designed as a division scenario (or at least a multiple brigade scenario)? To me, that would make more sense -- and make it a little easier to win, given that one could fight for the primary victory location in the Herst Woods while securing and holding the lesser victory location at the farm and reaping an additional 1500 or so points by using Cutler or Wadsworth as the victory point leader for that location. It would also make it easier to achieve your goals in this scenario regardless of the AI set up or reinforcement pattern.

Just curious. Enjoyed the scenario massively, in any event -- I've always thought the fighting on the morning of July 1 was the most interesting of the battle.

Steve

[bscottskangum]

Here is my story of how I obtained a major victory in the scenario:

TC'd all regiments in the brigade, took two regiments double quick straight into the woods. This pinned/attracted the confederates directly to my front, they immediately brought up any support they had in the woods to fight these two regiments off.

I simultaneously took the rest of my brigade and double quicked them around the right flank of the enemy (my left) in the woods, just skirting the tree line. My men came upon the flank of the arriving support as I entered the woods to capture the flag.

At this point it only took a couple of minutes to route the enemy as they were split into two parts in the middle of the woods and were taking fire from all kinds of directions.

This pin and maneuver strategy not only allowed me to capture the flag extremely quickly but it allowed me to capture any of the initial regiments my decoy was able to engage and later rout.

[RebBugler]

Yep, wanted to tell you guys to "get there the fastest with the mostest", but you figured it out. Plus, there are a lot of randoms for replay value...worked, didn't it?

The double VP's is a feint...HEH HEH HEH

Take it up with the designer.