Bull run 1 how to beat?

[L4 of the West]

i beat bull run when the game first realised but since the patchs it has become impossible for me to beat it, not even getting a draw, any suggestion on what to do to beat it?

campiaghn

[Koro]

Which side and difficulty?

[L4 of the West]

sorry was really frustrated and tired at the time i posted, it was union, and it was "easy" i think i'm messing up the pregame or something because i can't fight my way to the objective i away get stuck on the other side of the river from the hill i need to take. also any tips on how to take the stone bridge would be welcome.

[Koro]

No problem.
Usually you don't want to go very hard for the Stone Brigde if at all. The second crossing is almost impossible to take as well without support from the left. This is historically accurate and not needed either. You do want the AI to spot your forces there as it can distract them a little so send them forwards to let them be spotted.
The scouts can cross the river further north.

You main push comes from your forces to the west. Usually I wait to line up allmost all of the infantry, line up the center and push around the flanks to deal with any supporting brigades and artillery around Matthew's Hill. If you feel you can muster enough brigades to capture Matthew's Hill, you can send 1 brigade to flank the river position too so Sherman can cross more easily.
After dealing with most of the support, you can charge the farm stronghold on top of the hill.
After pushing them back from Matthew's hill they will usually retreat from the river crossings in the next phase, especially if you threaten their flanks. If they don't, there are just fewer troops for you to deal with on Henry HIll.

Line up artillery in close support just west of the rover and make the first push on to the hill in the woods. This gives you a base of cover to force the Confederates back and from there, you can also stop any forces that didn't make it to the hill from getting back to their army.

Then it's a matter of trying to either outflank them on the hill or make 1 large push towards the top of the hill.
If they do retreat from the river crossing and let you cross, you can push from both sides at once, still using the forest as a base for your attacks.

The battle is rather hard for the Union and if you feel that circumstances are not in your favor, you can decide to go for a draw or not waste your army trying to achieve an impossible victory.
In my tips for new players I write a little about this if you hadn't checked it out.

Video of 1. Bull Run on normal if you want to watch what I described in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDa9aFJ-hTc&list=PLoPX2_CJyvsFVjkLQt2kfPXiasgxZ5hjo&index=3

[Koro]

You can also check out the guides, not made by me, in the guide section, giving you a detailed overview of the battle and the entire Union campaign

[Harconn]

I agree that after the update this mission can be hardcore.

Maybe my Let's Play on normal difficulty can help you (it's german though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpkEU--u9R8&t=3s

[L4 of the West]

Thank you final won that battle when i focused on taking the woods first. lost every one at stony bridge, i had thought the rebles had pulled back like they had further up the river and sent them in to death trap

[Koro]

Excellent, well done :).

[Detail]

Good finding, take the bridge immediatly but keep your troops on the top of Matthews hill and don't move them in the initial phases. The AI will not attack them. Later in the battle the troops further up the river will be overrun by your reinforcements coming from the NW so don't bother with them until then.

[ClubRoyal]

At start dont use the troops on the bridge, march them up north and cross them there unapposed. Combine the 3 brigades into 1 en anchor them on the right to the river and move south. Keep the scouts on the left flank of that group. Meanwhile attack the hill objective with the arrived troops.

Once you get them of the hill it's a drive :)

[Detail]

You can easily overwhelm the troops on the bridge and destroy all their cannon in the process at the start of the battle.

[Guernica]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErpF79Rlxxk

Here's what I did in the video:

Combine two regiments into a brigade. Use arty to soften up the bridge defenders. Then charge with the full brigade with the detached skirmishers focusing on the arty piece. Do this before they receive Hampton's Legion. These guys will hold out at the farm near the bridge (90-100% cover) until Keyes and Sherman arrive.

Meanwhile, up North, my main army is arriving. I envelop the CSA position on the hill using skirmishers to get around towards the back and hit arty. Once I've pushed them off the hill, they will retreat back to Henry Hill.

At this point, rather than pursue directly, I send my units to the Southwest. There is little cover on Henry Hill from this direction and a coordinated attack from Sherman, Keyes, et al. pinches the CSA between. It's pretty much a full route of Beauregard and Jackson's troops at this point.

Not wanting my flank to be completely vulnerable to Johnson's reinforcements, I leave 4 brigades and artillery at the very bottom of the map, setting up a line between the trees and a farm house. It gets a bit dicey here, but I'm able to maneuver reinforcements to fill the gaps and Johnson's troops end up in a full rout as well.

[Detail]

Well I think I finally figured out how to get screen shots on so here's a first attempt.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/106230098532949155/EA8E86D7BA6A866AC5345FEB78EED6BA498EC0BB/

You can see my position on Matthews hill after the assualt, cost me about 500 men after storming the CSA positions, but the CSA artillery unit is dead at the base of the hill and after some fients by confederate calvary no CSA units will try to contest my position.

As I said I don't worry about the unit down by the bend of the river because it will be assualted and overun by my reinforcements as they arrive later in the battle. At this point I turn my attention to my units arriving on the opposite side of the map for the assualt on the next hill which is pretty easy.

If you move to the base of Mathews hill, you will attract CSA units to your position and then you will have a major attack on your position, I don't recommend it because it doesn't add anything to the final outcome, and will distract you from the assualt on the opposite side of the map.

[Detail]

Opps didn't Imbed let me try this

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=819211141

[Detail]

Defending Henry Hill

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=819229500

[Renown]

One thing,

don't follow the 'suggestions'. The 'suggestions' lead to costly battles no matter what side you are or what map you are on.

I play "hard" battles and have won the majority of the conflicts with barely fighting the enemy. If I can win a battle without killing the enemy, I will do it.

You have the benefit of hindsight and wisdom, don't just follow what the generals did in history.

On the particular battle you are discussing I put my entire effort (from the start) on the western objective, and I surrounded and killed three infantry brigades and an artillery regiment before the enemy knew what was up. I completely ignored the bridge, and it was the last spot on the map the enemy had units. I let them cross from the bridge to the final objective and used their own defensive positions against them. It was a slaughter. By the time their reinforcements arrived, I had lost less than a thousand men.

I will even use skirmisher detachments to pull enemy units out of line.

Mostly... ignore ANYONE who tells you "don't use this unit , or this.." because every single unit in the game has it's purpose or utility. Melee cavalry can utterly ruin the enemy when used wisely. Skirmisher units can rack up 2-5x as many kills as they have men. I have one skirmisher unit of 500 men (started as a group of 60 snipers) that has a collective total of 15k kills by the end (currently) of the union campaign, and less than a hundred casualities. I have a cavalry unit with 30k kills, and less than 1k casualties. Infantry brigades HOLD lines, and PUSH lines, but it's every other unit that wins the game with low casualities.

All these people who say "use more infantry" etc etc... are lazy and stupid. Find your own way.