THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED

Thank you to all who participated.

The Lost Division campaign has ended. General Georgia has saved the Union, the Father General is returning to Richmond, and Seitzinger will be assigned to a new division in another sector. The campaign appears to be a clear Union victory.

I hope all of you enjoyed the past two month's campaign. This campaign would not have been possible without the help of several key contributors.

First of all, thank you to Sven and Kevin for stepping up to the challenge of corps command.

Thank you to Stefan for his editor which made designing scenarios and maintaining the OOB a breeze.

Thank you to Digby for helping to review scenarios, building the third battle (by hand!), and assisting with the OOB. Thank you to Hays for being there to lend a hand too.

Thank you to Mitra for hosting and helping with my Italian. The inclusion of the Italian brigade was a tip of my hat to all of our Italian players.

Thank you to Martin James who set up the forums and played the role of the Father General really well. You're invited to preach any hellfire and brimstone sermon of your choice at the Father General's private chapel. Just go easy on the mercy stuff and you should be fine.

Thank you to all of you who livened up the forums with letters, AARs and so on. Believe it or not, I lived for those writings and they make the campaign worth it for the moderator. I hope you will continue to provide these immersve details in Digby's campaign, which resumes immediately.

Thank you to everyone who ran personal brigades. I hope you enjoyed the roller coaster of casualties and reinforcements --assuming you got any. Hopefully it gave you a more authentic taste of the frustrations of command.

I owe a lot of beers to this community, and I thank you all. Since I don't have any beers on tap, would you prefer a bible? LOL It's just the Old Testament and Revelations, sorry.

A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to the gentlemen of the GCM community. You really made this campaign all it could be. Hat's off to all of you.

I hope I didn't miss anyone. Please thank your wives and children for supporting your participation in this endeavor. I had a blast, I hope you did as well.

-Neal

Great Fun Neal, really. And thank you for your effort making this campaign possible in the first place.   

Many thanks from me too, Neal. You put a lot of work into this, and I had a blast. On both sides!

Martin (J)

I concur. Thanks Neal for all your efforts. You gave me some very difficult problems to overcome. I am only sorry that Ron was not able to give the Father General the ending he so richly deserved.

Many Thanks Neal. Your second campaign is the new reference for KS campaigns   .
I was amazed how fast this campaign rolled out, got played and came to an end. It looks like 4 major battles in 5 weeks, amazing! I think we spent more than 5 weeks with rules discussions in our first campaign attempt  1.5 years ago.  

And also thanks for using my Scenario Generator for running most of the campaign. If you have some ideas for further improvements, let me know.

Regards
Stefan

Thanks Neal. This was a special campaign, imaginatively conceived and well executed. It played like a Steven Spielberg movie, even if the ending for the Rebs was more akin to Stephen King. Many enduring memories: The Rebel assault at Rockerville; Father General's grandiose vision and psychosis. But far and away the lingering image and torment we all will take away is of fair Lucy. We can only hope she shares a bright future with Gen. Eden. But if that doesn't work out, there's always Barnum & Bailey.

Thanks to you, Neal.

Very much fun, look forward to the next.

Thank you very much Neal. I hope you discovered that despite the work, umpiring is by far the best role!

Thanks to you, Neal   

You are all welcome.

I'll probably dream up another one some months or a year or so down the road. Of course, by then, hopefully we have the new Napoleonic game to use!

If someone concocts a campaign, I'll cheerfully play in it, even in the role of corps command. My dream is to face off against Kevin mano-a-mano ~ Father General vs. Gen. Georgia. Maybe just for one scenario if not an entire campaign.

Story-wise, Father General will be recycled back in Richmond and given some role in time for the Antietam campaign. Or maybe I will return him to his grandfather's plantation outside Atlanta, Georgia. It's a sprawling, rich place, unspoiled by the distant war. That's the next chapter. In my overall story, the Father General lost everything by the end of the war and relocated to England where he grew old and recluse, but befriended a young Douglas Haig to whom he taught his secrets to military victory.

I encourage others to try umpiring. The most rewarding thing is watching both commanders express anxiety over their forces, even as you know they are walking into easy victories. Dealing with the personalities and the dilemmas of running a campaign are all part of the fun. I have more than once found myself trying to save commanders from their own blunders, just so their army would not be annihilated. It's a neat perspective and very insightful.

Remember, even if you are weak, your opponent is often just as worried as you are.

Thank you all for a pleasant experience.

-Neal

Neal, I haven't seen the replay of the final battle. Given the AARs by the two sides, who both claim victory, can you give us a brief rundown of what really happened? I dropped in the game so don't know wht happened to cause both sides to claim a win.

I think I still have the replay, Diggers.  Plus I took screenshots of the final OOB screens for Georgia, Seitzinger and the FG.  I'll email them to you.

Your own brigade never got into action.  I didn't know where they were when you dropped, and I presume my subsequent orders to them were intercepted.  This did preserve them from sacrifice by the FG, of course   

Martin (J)

Although I only got to play one game this time round, I'd like to thank you, Neil and all those who helped to run the Campaign and play it. The reports were very entertaining and helped lift a great story to greater heights. Looking forward to the next one.

Mike

Neal, I suggest you make both the Union and Rebel sub-forums open to everyone so we can read what transpired on each other's side.

Ha, yes, time to air the dirty washing.