Gettysburg - Experiences of Players

[CanuckGamer]

My friend and I are playing Gettysburg PBEM and the Union just finished their 1420 turn July 1. It looks like the Rebs are going to take Little Round Top which was defended by 11th Corps units and Culp's Hill which was also defended by 11th Corps troops. Their units certainly rout easily. In hindsight maybe the Union should use 1st corps units to defend Little Round Top and Culp's Hill. However they come on before 11th Corps so do you just give up Gettysburg and try to hold the south of the town in between the town and Cemetary HIll?

As in any game it is difficult to recreate the historical events because no player is going to be hesitate like Heth and Ewell. In our game the Rebs are advancing hell bent and it has been a blood bath. Current casualties are :

Union infantry - 1157
Union cavalry - 1135

Reb infantry - 2530

I think historically Buford's cavalry only had 170 casualties but tough to do that unless you they just run away allowing the Rebs to advance even quicker. As Buford's men had carbines which could be loaded quicker and while they were laying down maybe they should be more difficult to hit and have more punch with their carbines because of their rate of fire.

I would be interested in hearing how other people's games have played out. The Union have the larger force so wondering if they can take back objectives like Little Round Top and Culp's Hill later if the Rebs suffer too many casualties. In any case I would think that any Reb commander in this game would be very aggressive the first day. In your experience does the game favour the Rebs or the Union?

Thank you in advance for any comments.

[mihalik2]

In no three-day Gettysburg battle have I ever been able to overcome the Union advantage in men, guns and ammunition.

[rahamy]

The Union has a LOT of help coming... and the Rebs have lost more men, despite gaining ground - which they can't afford to lose. Seems like things are progressing about as expected. And the Carbines do have more punch, but the numbers and aggressiveness of the Rebs obviously pressed through it, which they should have done historically.

[DS52#]

Gettysburg seems to hold a hypnotic fascination for gamers, which is odd because if it is accurately simulated as a game (as WDS does), with historical OOBs and timings, and equally competent players, then the Confederates can never win it. Because of that its suitability as an actual ‘game’ could be called into question! And yes, to be in with even the tiniest chance at all the Rebs have to be wildly and recklessly aggressive right from the start, as if they knew what was coming!
Over the years I have played it as the Rebs a dozen times and won it just once, and only then because my opponent was a novice who handled his units very poorly at the tactical level.

[Steel God]

I have played the full 3 days a few times (my preference is for scenario 007 which has a much larger map and thus more room to create your own history). My experiences are that Buford can not ever effectively recreate his performance on July 1st because the CSA player knows whats in front of him and isn't as hesitant as Heth was historically. Therefore the choices are stay and give up casualties (and Cav losses are very expensive in VPs) or retreat as slowly as you can, but it will never be slow enough. In my best performance as a CSA player I combined pushing hard with Heth with sending Pender hard and fast as possible to cut the Emmittsburg Road and delay Union reinforcements, he can usually get there before more than a brigade or two get past. This allowed time for Ewell's Corps to come down and push the Union off of Culps and Cemetery Hill. That's where I stopped and prepared for the Union assaults. Although there was action elsewhere, the pivotal battle happened against Ewell as wave after wave of Union troops tried to push them off (and in truth by 7PM the CSA was holding onto the crest of the hills by their fingernails when night fell. CSA artillery had been exhausted by 3PM, and only Longstreet's Corp was in any shape to fight. I started withdrawing as soon as night fell and kept retreating down the Chambersburg Pike with Pickett's Division and my Cavalry providing a screen to delay Union Pursuit. By the time the Union Forces had caught up to me what remained of the ANV was at high elevation behind breastworks on the mountains north of the Pike and practically invulnerable to Union fire due to the elevation and breastworks. This is was a CSA "victory" because the VPs earned on Day 2 from repelling the Union assaults were sufficient to give me that level and lead, but if I had stayed for day3 I'd have been routed. Clearly in an historical sense the ANV was beaten and would be considered the loser, but in game terms it counted as a win.

I have said on more than one occasion that Gettysburg is unwinnable in military terms I don't care what conditions you attach to it. All the Jackson lived scenarios and what not don't change the basic fact that the ANV in July 63 was losing it's qualitative advantage to the point where offensively it couldn't do what it had done before. Even in the game I outlined above the Union Army was forced on the offensive (as Longstreet wanted) against as good a position as I could ask for, and still in the end I was overwhelmed by Union numbers (albeit at frightful cost to them).

The "Gettysburg" scenario I really like is called Collision in Maryland and is fought on the Pipe Creek map, but both armies are moving roughly parallel to the east towards Westminster, with several rivers in play it is a truly wonderful meeting engagement that plays out slightly different every time you play it. It gives the ANV a bit of help by having the entire Army moving en masse, to included being screened by Stuart so that they are not meeting the AotP piecemeal when action is brought on. And the Federals are still basically on the defensive (once they pick a place they want to defend and set it up) because the VPs for the CSA to win are earned either by exiting off the eastern edge of the map (a very tough thing to achieve) of beating the AotP in the field.

[ultradave]

Currently playing the Day 1 scenario PBEM as the Rebels. Heth and Pender have taken quite a beating, Heth more so, but the Union has a good defensive line there and neither of us can press the advantage - each attempt ends up with 10 or so routed units on each side. In the north, Ewell is pressing south to Gettysburg hard, and one division is north of Gettysburg while the other flanks to the east between Gettysburg and Culp's Hill. My hope is that that move will force the Union to pull back some units from in front of Heth and Pender to counter, hopefully too little too late. We shall see. So far it's roughly a stalemate - Rebel minor victory. I've taken more casualties but he was very liberal in his use of Buford's cavalry and those loss points add up fast. It's been fun so far.

[VictorLEH]

In no three-day Gettysburg battle have I ever been able to overcome the Union advantage in men, guns and ammunition.

That was the Historical result.