How to beat first CSA mission on hard (potomac fort)?

[Lilificent]

Alright, so I want to try hard mode, but the initial mission is just downright impossible.You already start at a huge tactical disadvantage, you have to storm the fort and there's basically no way not to take heavy losses, and then day 2 is just impossible. I can handle the first day well enough - run your guys up quick and take out the union reinforcements before they reach the fort, wait for your own reinforcements to arrive, and then assemble and assualt the fort. But then the second day is impossible. Your army is beat up, half of your brigades are teleported away for no reason, and the Union gets a whole fresh new army that's bigger than yours would be even at full strength. It forces you to use like 800 men to defend against 3000 fresh yankess. How on earth are you supposed to win?

[Lilificent]

In the normal campaign missions, I can easily beat armies twice my size when I'm able to actually set up my own army composition and deployment, but this first mission just gives you awful troops in the worst possible spot

[Kristoph42]

That battle is one of the hardest you will fight, IMO. It took me a few tries on MG to get past it. Many saves, a lot of micro slow time, and luck. General advice . . . combine brigades if necessary. Have a brigade south of the fort so it can hit the flanks of the attacking Yankees. The Cav guy have him go west to distract Yankee ART and if you are lucky 1 INF brigade might follow. Less troops attacking the fort. Only defend the west wall of the fort. 1 INF in fort works and 1 INF behind them. Move the ART unit a little south of the fort with an INF or 2 for support near the fort just a bit south of the fort. Have the ART hold fire so it is only cannister the enemy. That southern INF brigade have him a bit away so the Yankee INF will attack the fort. The ART and its INF a little behind the main line of fort works so the Yankees will focus on the fort. It takes luck to win the battle and some skillfull flank shots.

[Harry Flashman]

Alright, here goes:

1) it's crucial to destroy the enemy skirmishers before they retreat into the fort but Crocker is too weak to simply ride 'em down. Try this: move your general north the moment the mission starts while Hexamer, Crocker and the two detached skirmishers move north west to cut off the relieving Union troops. Place him about two hundred yards east of the first farmhouse. The enemy skirmishers will move forward to murder your general (who drifts eastwards, pulling them farther forward). When they are halfway across the river, your two infantry blocks rush forward with 'do not fire' activated (worth learning the 'r and h' hotkey sequence, you're gonna use it a lot) and massacre the skirmishers while they're waist-deep in water. Crocker can double back to collect surrenders. Then Hexamer changes direction and moves to the farmhouse just north of the eastern bridge to cut off the third skirmisher. Once that skirmisher (Miles) is weak, Crocker rides him down. (the key to this phase is keeping Crocker and Hexamer hidden while they cross the river in the west before looping back... you want your foe focussed on your general).

2) with the skirmishers dead, you can now destroy the Ohio brigades at your leisure... choose the ideal ground and try to give kills to Kemper and Sigfried. Make sure your have about half an hour for the fort assault and that everyone is rested. Time is a more formidable foe than those brigades at this point.

3) for the fort assault, use four skirmisher units in east to circle around and knock out the artillery while your infantry blocks surround and capture the last Ohio brigade. Crocker can help with that but shouldn't be used much.

4) Okay phase two is tougher. You need to buy time (about 90 minutes) with detached skirmishers and the enemy skirmisher unit (Battle) is a pain in the ass here. I favour the northern farmhouse just before the river and the clump of trees to the northeast of the ford is very useful: you can put Birney's skirmishers in there with the parent unit behind... once the skirmishers take too much damage, they can pull back, be assimilated, re-detached and take their place again. Allen and Canfield will arrive after 40 minutes and their skirmishers rush north to help Birney's. Leave Crocker in the southern forests.

4.5) this is odd but once the first shots at the ships are fired, swap the two guns: the ironclads will shoot Merritt but will leave Cabel uninjured.

5) once the ships are sunk, fall the skirmishers back but don't return them to the fort. Instead, they break off southwards and double back behind the Union lines. They will encircle the enemy artillery once all his units are commited.

6) holding the fort is easy enough: place Allen and Birney on the west-facing sides (entrenched behind the wall) with Canfield backing them up. Sigfried and Kemper prosper on the flanks (they edge forward and shoot unanswered volleys at any advancing troops). You can, if desperate, use a silly dodge: you shoot less well from fortifications but reload fast, so right after an enemy unit shoots, press 'space bar' to leave fortifications, keep 'run' on', target the offending unit with a full volley and then jump back into the fortifcations. Repeat.

7) your victorious skirmishers and Crocker return from killing artillery to encircle the hapless bluecoats and prevent any escape from the ensuing rout.

That should do it. I re-did this battle a lot in order to finally get a commander with extra speed and infantry bonuses (and it was a lot of fun).

[Caramirdan]

Originally posted by Sheldon Cooper:

. . . I re-did this battle a lot in order to finally get a commander with extra speed and infantry bonuses (and it was a lot of fun).

(I'm beginning to think you might be the real Sheldon . . . . )

[Kristoph42]

@Caramirdan . . . LOL. His advice is solid and good. It is a lot better detailed than my advice.

[jlb2600]

Try this: (helped me win the battle every time with no problem on any diffuculty)
-Get on you tube and watch col kellys legendary campaign playthrough of the potomac fort battle.
After watching try it a few times and you can get it with minimal loss to the the units you take with with you after battle.