Is the Overland Campaign a slog for anyone else?

[StrategicEngineer]

I'm playing as the Union, and this second-to-last campaign has really worn my army bare, in addition to the previous battle of Chickamauga. I went from a high of 3 full corps with 80 reputation (post Gettysburg) to now a low of 2 mangled corps (+3 brigades and 2 batteries) and a reputation of 5.
Admittedly, my tactic to try to achieve the objectives is wave assaulting, so that doesn't help I assume. I'm just curious what other people are doing in terms of tactics? I don't want to get fired right at the end 😅.

[invi]

Yeah, I generally found the latter part of the Union campaign to be a bit of a slog and a bit less enjoyable than the rest. It's really the test of how well you've built your army in the earlier stages.

The latter parts of both campaigns are definitely designed to be real meat grinders. That's historical but I definitely find it less fun than the more elegant manoeuvre warfare of the earlier game.

For me, getting through those battles was mostly an exercise in brute force. I've never had amazing luck leaning on artillery, but many players will attest to the important of having some really strong rifled batteries and moving away from smoothbores at this stage as they're much better for silencing enemy artillery and punching holes in fortified positions.

[Searry]

I am one of those people who invest heavily in arty. Maybe that's why I think Union is boring due to how easy it is?

[pandakraut]

Would also agree that post Chickamauga is not all that interesting. a strong artillery army trivializes the battles, but when you've done it once, it's kind of the same thing every time after. Line everything up, get vision, fast forward until your target is dead, repeat.

Assault tactics will tend to grind you down more, and seem to be what those battle designs were setup to expect.

If you can make it to Richmond with 3 corps you should be fine. The first day might be a bit rough, but if you make it to the second day you've probably already won.

[StrategicEngineer]

I think I might end up having a rougher battle of Richmond, since the low reputation comes with a morale debuff of -11 iirc 😬. At Cold Harbor, since I drew all the minor battles, my men just would not hold unless they were the two elite brigades I've managed to keep decent. I had to sell most of my stockpiles that I couldn't use and even disband some decent brigades just to fill out others that had the same type of gun. I'm having issues just filling most to 2000, much less the 2500 I can do, or the 3000 the confederates can do. But yeah, even with max politics and training/economics in the 6-7 range, I don't think I'll even be able to get to Richmond with 3 Corp. Maybe 2.5 Corp if I'm lucky and can actually win the minor battles.

Anyhow, I guess I'll take the advice above and try to bombard them with what I got. I just didn't bombard them much beyond how long it took me to march to their lines. Luckily, one of my corps have a bunch of 10pdr Ordinances, 10pdr Parrots, one 20pdr Parrot, and 2 Napoleons I can switch out with another corp's artillery. I think I also realize that I shouldn't have sold my 24lb howitzers for the ordinances, since they're probably pretty good for this situation 😅.

[pandakraut]

What's going on that is causing you to draw those minor battles? Mule shoe can be a bit tricky, but an assault column along the bottom left map edge will always work. Brock road should be a fairly reliable win though.

It sounds like you're pretty low on 20pdr parrots which is not a good situation to be in for mass bombardment. Ordinances are only good for close to midrange work. 10pdr parrots are ok as long as they are firing at max range, but the 20pdr is considerably more reliable.

The player is limited to 2500 size brigades, the AI can go past that.

Here are a few different recorded campaigns that might provide some help in terms of how you can preserve your army while getting wins instead of draws:
https://youtu.be/4FYZGrSjpGY?list=PLt-JAMmvyAGnbrADDeAM04mxBsI9FyWQ0
https://youtu.be/08b0oblF8xk?list=PLl9g3AKsEm209nCmsJDSajoAefrfDGlv3
https://youtu.be/7GPIHOt_k5Y?list=PLf-5UH5bavljaFFUgX2B3IvFYlaT6oc5k
https://youtu.be/0Kk96lX2OG4?list=PL6-2WZCqywMUYOZwjyaPPArss1fr4ENlv

[StrategicEngineer]

Originally posted by pandakraut:

What's going on that is causing you to draw those minor battles? Mule shoe can be a bit tricky, but an assault column along the bottom left map edge will always work. Brock road should be a fairly reliable win though.

It sounds like you're pretty low on 20pdr parrots which is not a good situation to be in for mass bombardment. Ordinances are only good for close to midrange work. 10pdr parrots are ok as long as they are firing at max range, but the 20pdr is considerably more reliable.

The player is limited to 2500 size brigades, the AI can go past that.

Here are a few different recorded campaigns that might provide some help in terms of how you can preserve your army while getting wins instead of draws:
https://youtu.be/4FYZGrSjpGY?list=PLt-JAMmvyAGnbrADDeAM04mxBsI9FyWQ0
https://youtu.be/08b0oblF8xk?list=PLl9g3AKsEm209nCmsJDSajoAefrfDGlv3
https://youtu.be/7GPIHOt_k5Y?list=PLf-5UH5bavljaFFUgX2B3IvFYlaT6oc5k
https://youtu.be/0Kk96lX2OG4?list=PL6-2WZCqywMUYOZwjyaPPArss1fr4ENlv

for mule shoe, I did a charge column at the peak of the bulge 3 wide and 3 deep. Reinforcements pushed the left side of the shoe and I took the objective about 45 min after the deadline. For Brock road, they held up in the woods where the objective was and while I was able to take it for a moment before their reinforcements showed up, once they did, they were able to push me back into the fields.

[StrategicEngineer]

Just checked what I exactly have in terms of artillery(12-gun batteries);
1 Corp: 1 20pdr Parrot
1 10pdr Parrot
3 10pdr Ordnance
2 Napoleon
2 Corp: 1 20pdr Parrot
2 10pdr Ordnance
1 Napoleon
3 Corp: 1 10pdr Parrot
1 10pdr Ordnance

As well, while I have had the ability to do 2500-man brigades since Chancellorsville, I've not been able to support many brigades, and so since Chickamauga, most are only at either 1500-2000, with some even dipping to about 1000. This is because while I do get the max reward for winning, lately I'm taking casualties either equal or greater than the reward, resulting in the cannibalization of 3 Corp. (8 pips medicine I should add)

[pandakraut]

For Mule shoe, highly recommend you make the column charge at either the bottom left or bottom right. Trying to break through the top forces you through virtually all of their defenses to get to the VP. Hitting the top does work well if you have enough artillery, but based on the numbers you provided I don't think you have enough to do it efficiently.

For Brock Road, my recommendation is to setup a defensive line across from the open area in front of the western VP. Bait them into attacking you and inflict what casualties you can but don't push at that point. You can do a flanking attack against their right to get into position to hold where the second VP will show up. You can use this spot to ambush reinforcements when they spawn in if you want. Once their reinforcements spawn in, the AI will get extremely aggressive. You can use this to pull them out of the trees around the VP and exhaust themselves against a good defensive position and then wrap them up from behind to get the VPs.

Also, remember you have more time than what the timers may indicate so you don't have to rush. See d-dub's guides for more information https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1396453437

[StrategicEngineer]

Ah, ok. Thank you for the advice!