South Mountain-Using John Tiller Software

MichaelWinicki

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Joined
Jul 23, 2020
I use to have the older HPS labeled versions of John Tiller Software and hadn't played them in a while...

I recently gifted myself the latest version of several of the games including Campaign Antietam.

I decided to play the South Mountain scenario, with the AI controlling the southern side.

Yeah, I know the weakness of AI and didn't expect a difficult time taking the various "passes".

However it proved to be a tough fight.

Even with overwhelming numbers, it was difficult dislodging the various Confederate units– They didn't need big numbers to clog the passes.
 
I had the Sid Meier / Firaxis Gettysburg and Antietam games. South Mountain was an extra on the Antietam version, and I remember it being the same - quite hard to outflank the passes.

Yeah flanking the gaps is time consuming.

I was able to flank Turner's Gap (at the top) by sending a brigade down the road where you see the two Confederate batteries by themselves (on the right-hand side) of the gap. These 2 batteries had been captured.

It took some man-power to overcome the southern forces.

Also the northern units seemed to become disordered or rout faster than their southern counterparts so you needed to feed it fresh units in order to maintain the momentum.

SouthMountain-EndofScenario.JPG
 
I have played this as the Confederate troops and holding South Mountain was OK but weight of numbers meant I eventually withdrew.

Seems that as a delaying force I had enough troops but no way could the gaps be held long term.
 
I have played this as the Confederate troops and holding South Mountain was OK but weight of numbers meant I eventually withdrew.

Seems that as a delaying force I had enough troops but no way could the gaps be held long term.

I'm going to have to play it on the Confederate side.

There's no illusion that I'm going to be able to hold out given the number of Union divisions that keep coming up the road to Turner's Gap... There's just too many and even if they do not flank the position eventually they'll bust their way through with head-on assaults.

The only question would be is the number of casualties inflicted.
 
I use to have the older HPS labeled versions of John Tiller Software and hadn't played them in a while...

I recently gifted myself the latest version of several of the games including Campaign Antietam.

I decided to play the South Mountain scenario, with the AI controlling the southern side.

Yeah, I know the weakness of AI and didn't expect a difficult time taking the various "passes".

However it proved to be a tough fight.

Even with overwhelming numbers, it was difficult dislodging the various Confederate units– They didn't need big numbers to clog the passes.
Indeed, the AI in the games is quite poor. I have the new Gettysburg edition, and the AI just packs units around the most important objective at the time. I was contemplating a "tree-based" system using random number generation at certain times to drive solitaire game playing both sides.
 
Indeed, the AI in the games is quite poor. I have the new Gettysburg edition, and the AI just packs units around the most important objective at the time. I was contemplating a "tree-based" system using random number generation at certain times to drive solitaire game playing both sides.

I was a play tester for HPS for years. One thing they asked me to do for Campaign Franklin was to create scripts for the Battle of Nashville. I'd suggest at least trying that first to attempt to set up a decent challenge for yourself. It's not perfect, but at least you can get units to attack and keep from bunching up too badly.
 
I use to have the older HPS labeled versions of John Tiller Software and hadn't played them in a while...

I recently gifted myself the latest version of several of the games including Campaign Antietam.

I decided to play the South Mountain scenario, with the AI controlling the southern side.

Yeah, I know the weakness of AI and didn't expect a difficult time taking the various "passes".

However it proved to be a tough fight.

Even with overwhelming numbers, it was difficult dislodging the various Confederate units– They didn't need big numbers to clog the passes.

You, and others who are dissatisfied with the AI [I know I was], should consider joining the American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC). I joined just three months ago and have had a great time wargaming with others from across the world (mostly USA of course).

You have to pick a side [I joined the CSA] when you apply to join: I'd be happy to have you join my side, otherwise I will see you on the field of battle.
 
I'd never heard of these before this thread, and I'm interested. Is the Petersburg game any good? Or should I stick to Gettysburg?

I'd pick one that has the battles that are most interesting to you.

I haven't got Campaign Petersburg: I started with Campaign Shenandoah.

I'm currently playing one battle from Campaign Gettysburg (the full historical version) and am enjoying it immensely. I lost two whole brigades in a forest SE of Gettysburg [I got a bit overconfident] but am now hoping to turn the Yankee left flank. Great stuff against a real opponent.
 
I'd never heard of these before this thread, and I'm interested. Is the Petersburg game any good? Or should I stick to Gettysburg?

I helped playtest some of Campaign Petersburg. I like it, but I'm biased since I run a Siege of Petersburg site. I'd encourage you to get ANY of this game series other than Gettysburg. It has been done to death. There are tons of lesser interesting battles. Campaign Corinth, Campaign Ozark, Campaign Franklin and others are all really good and let you fight in some rather obscure battles. I really liked Campaign Vicksburg too.
 
I helped playtest some of Campaign Petersburg. I like it, but I'm biased since I run a Siege of Petersburg site. I'd encourage you to get ANY of this game series other than Gettysburg. It has been done to death. There are tons of lesser interesting battles. Campaign Corinth, Campaign Ozark, Campaign Franklin and others are all really good and let you fight in some rather obscure battles. I really liked Campaign Vicksburg too.
I went with Petersburg (and I thought I saw your name in the credits). Loving it so far.
 
Hey Q... you should also join our 'board games' here on the forum with Saph as Gamemaster. Interesting and FUN. Nice pace of play too.
 
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