Impromptu Games

Martin! You and Pom DEFINITELY need to rejoin the merry band again. I look forward to seeing you! And starting at 1400EST Friday I am pretty much open for a game anytime thru 1830EST Sunday and like thru most of Monday.

That's very sweet of you Pat. Thanks.

I just feel I need a bit more practice with the GUI etc. Getting there tho, so hopefully won't be too long.

Martin J

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.

It was quite a brutal battle. I always like getting to be the cavalry to the rescue, though I'm not sure recuse is the right word. It's quite difficult to effectively use a corps of cavalry when it is divided into a heavy division and a light division. My gut wants me to do a bit of poking and pestering with light cavalry to make the enemy deploy their cavalry, and then to tire them out with some back and forth charges before sending the heavies in. But in order to do that I would have had to have the entire corps together, which makes it difficult to support everyone who requests support. Pat did only ask me for a brigade or two to go west at the minimum, but I had no real way of sending only a brigade since they would have to be unmanaged, miles away on a battlefield that I had no concept of. When I sent Grog over to give Pat the support he was asking for I had to send his whole division. Without light cav of my own the enemy lights easily just ran away from my heavy charges making rude faces at them. I feel like historically the simple answer would have been to just split both divisions, and send a mixed cav division to the west and keep a mixed one in the east. Alas the game makes that difficult to do. Still it was a good fight, and we managed to prevent a brigade or so from each division from being totally destroyed, as well as keep alive just one of my own brigades.

On another note, I endeavored to mess with some of the streaming settings tonight to try and resolve the frustrating and ugly graphical artifacts that have been happening about once ever 45 seconds on most of the streams. I initially thought it was an internet situation but I don't think that is correct. I'm far too illiterate on the complexities of streaming to be sure but after a bit of poking around I suspect the issue was my processor being stressed between the game and encoding the video for the stream. I messed around with some settings and tested a little and I think I've sorted it, but we'll have to see on Sunday. It may be a little lower in quality as I've lowered the bitrate but I also forced the encoding through my GPU instead of CPU since SOW is a very CPU intensive game (or I think I've heard such a thing commented before).

Brutal indeed. 

First orders were to retreat on West flank/center and stand and right flank. But they Austrians launched everything they have on the east. I guess the AI chose the weakest point since my division was smaller. I didn't have the time to reach my division that they were already there attacking very aggressively. 
After 30 min, the men number of our corps has already dropped to 13 000 compared to 20 000 at the beginning. 

When Ehey cavalry arrived they stopped on the east but completely turned Phil's right flank and our corps was cut in the middle with Martin on the West and no news of Oudinot.

At 17:00, we saw french flags in the distance SW, then I ordered to keep pulling back North East in order to attract as many Austrians as possible. According to the replay, it worked above my expectations since we attracted the whole army  . We didn't imagine that Oudinot had taken both objectives.

Strange how different players have such completely different experiences in the same battle. My game was really quite quiet and fluid though I was aware of tensions elsewhere.

I followed Prince Eugene's initial order to fall back a little. I did this by simply TCing each commander, turning him 180 deg and ordering a 300 yards move. I did this twice. I naturally assumed that since Phil and I had been given the same order, that on my left he (Friant) was doing a similar thing. Unfortunately he didn't move at all, and so my withdrawal exposed his right to an attack that quickly crushed him. I sent several messages to him, especially concerning an enemy cavalry brigade moving at him, but my warnings went apparently unheeded. I then saw another enemy division approaching my right from the SW and there was some light skirmishing. My guns had been peppering the left of the initial enemy attack but the second approach made me fall back further. I had been informing Prince Eugene of the situation and got a letter from him saying that the left and centre of the corps were being crushed by strong attacks and that I was to preserve my division and await the support of Oudinot's corps.

One error I made was to mistake the right-to-left move of a cavalry force at Cascina Nova as a south-to-north advance. Behind me the convent of Sanguario della Madonna was an objective and I assumed the enemy south of me were moving on that so I fell back further than I needed to.

One of Oudinot's divisions then arrived on my left (Miko) plus a cavalry division so I moved forward in accord with their advance. Oudinot then contacted me and I was surprised to discover he was far to the SW with his other division and asked me to move south and attack Cascina Nova and Genestrello. I moved off meeting no enemy but aware there was a battle raging close on my left. However Miko seemed to be getting the better of that exchange. South of Cascina Nova I was ordered to turn east and became the left flank of a major push towards Montebello. A few units blocked me, notably some hussars but a few whiffs of canister sent them packing and it appears I was brushing against the rearwards and exhausted units that Miko had been fighting. I sent my Young Guard brigade to garrison Genestrello as per orders and moved east, choosing to go south of a large wood since I had no way of determining what was in or beyond it and Oudinot had given me orders to move directly on Montebello and help secure it. I then realised we were going to win the battle with some ease as Eugene and Friant had absorbed 90% of the enemy's efforts as they were destroyed facing a powerful attack, with Miko on the flank adding more stress to the enemy. That left Oudinot, me and the light cavalry division to take the objectives with ease and finally as dusk was descending turn against the Austrian rear. Another hour of daylight and they'd have been entirely encircled and destroyed. As it was we might assume the battered main body would get away to the east during the night.

And now a view from the CinC's tent

All I have to go on is a pre-battle map where the Austrian line is almost 4 miles long with its left flank next to the word "strada" of strada voghere on the map and the right of it sits at Casteggo.  My own corps starts the battle miles away from Vince's Corps and Ehey's corps and both commanders have already decided upon an initial plan of action that I am not aware of. Sometimes it sets things in motion that get hard to adjust. Sometimes not. And then there is always the enemy. So it will be 15-30 minutes into the game before any army-level orders might have an effect, depending upon distance to the division commanders.

So the first thing I did was send out couriers. I needed to know where best to committ the rest of the Army and the person with the best perspective on that was Vince. So my message asked Vince which part of his line offered the best possibility for an attack and which was under greatest threat.  I ordered Ehey's corps to the Locanda Gazza area, which would definitely allow him to support Vince's right flank but also allow a shift to the opposite flank.  Meanwhile I Miko to the Santuario della Madonna because it had nicely aligned roads with either flank. Not wanting to crowd us just yet and since it was still early, I sent my Division to Pizzale. It was the Army reserve and Pizalle offered a route to the west flank but alslo had parallel roads going east so if I had to get there quickly, I could.

Vince sent a message telling me he was being attacked on his east flank but the west flank was quiet. So that reinforced the notion that my division in the west was a good thing. Meanwhile Ehey told me he was moving to support Vince's right and never quite confirmed he was sending anything to Locando Gazza, so I was concerned that all my cav was going to be on one flank possibly committed to a fight where it could be hard to extract and when I didn't know just yet where best to put it.  So I sent Miko to Locanda Gazza area to be in position to support the east and rode south to find our right flank where Digby was supposed to be, near Cascina Nova.

I never found Digby but I did find the Austrian flank to be open at Cascina Nova.  That's when I got a message from Vince pretty much saying, and I very loosely paraphrase here for dramatic effect: "yes the attack is on my right, it is rather violent and they are kicking the crap out of us". Followed by Ehey saying pretty much the same thing.  Vince also noted that Digby's division was more or less cut off farther north  at least that was how I interpreted the message.  

At that point, maybe 45mins into the game, I decided that our attack would be on the west side. I needed cav at the "y" intersection north of Cascina Nova, Miko to the east of that intersection and my division to the right of it (1/2 mile or so NW Cascina Nova).  I told Vince to pull back his left (I didn't realize the extent to which the Austrians were already doing that for him) and very much in the mindset of "sunk costs" and "do not reinforce failure" ... I wasn't 100% sure what was going on to the East, other than it was bad.  So I wanted to get whatever I could to the west side.  

Miko told me he was heavily engaged where he was, so I now assumed he could not participate.  And no French cavalry was in sight, but I had seen Austrian cav near Cascina Nova. So I now assumed the only division in any position to take the objectives was mine. And I am not crazy about taking infantry up against cavalry. I had my brigade commanders -- R59 and Kevin --aim directly for "strada" which would steer them clear of any cav I knew and they could attack Genestrello objective using the road. Did I tell you how much I hate trying to take an objective with only infantry when there is enemy cav present?  I have no problem ordering others to their deaths in such a situation but, let's be honest, it is ALWAYS a different story with one's own troops!  I planted my 3rd brigade with 2 batteries west of Cascina Nova to support the move so if the cavalry did come out, at least their attention would be diverted.

At that point I heard from Grog that he was at the Y intersection north of Cascina Nova.  Yes!  I was quite thrilled.  I had cav now and Itold him to likewise aim for "strada" and find my infantry. I going to hit the objective from the west and SW but was soon shocked to find no enemy.  I immediately ordered my division on the road to Montebello.  As I sat alongside the road at a café table, at a proper social distance from my staff, pondering how to personally garrison this fine little town I heard the horses of Grog and told him the same thing - on to Montebello.  And to my most pleasant surprise a note from Digby.  He had no orders, was sitting less than 2 miles North of me, and asked for orders.  I asked him to send a brigade to Genestrello and follow us to Montebello.  That now made 3 divisions operating on this flank driving East.  No question in my mind to roll up the flank.

Except the Austrians had vacated the area so we were behind everyone, actually.

We found our first Austrian formation 1/2 mile SW Montebello and I halted to get my division formed, setup a battery and asked Grog to send a brigade to sweep it.  The Austrians had no stomach to fight so we pressed on.  Kevin was my lead brigade -- he was expendable in my view so I cared little for any casualties he might incur--and as he approached Montebello he told me of Cavalry and Grenadiers facing him.  I had to assume there was a division operating in the vicinity, possibly coming up from the south, so off I sent Grog on an errand.  Having had a few "cavalry-less" experiences leading infantry against enemy cav I was really not going to hesitate.  Kevin might be an embarrassment to one's chain of command and have a well-deserved reputation for stealing from baggage trains, but if he refuses my attack order upon the objective in order defend his position against cavalry and grenadiers, I have to assume it is a legitimate threat.  I sent R59 to that flank as well.  Again, it ultimately turned out that the Austrians had little stomach for fighting.  

At same time I could see the battle going on North of Montebello - remnants of Vince and then also Miko.  I asked Digby to approach Montebello from the WNW, thus he could shift to the North or assist in taking the objective, whichever seemed best. Once it was clear the objective was ours, I sent him north.

Comparing my experience to what I read from others is fascinating.  The little indicators I saw here and there make sense now.  And of course watching the battle replay helps. The Austrian attack was not only aggressive it was extremely focused. Upon Vince and Phil. Especially Phil.

I didn't realize there was a "Phil Folder" … this battle certainly memorializes him

With this latest version of the AI.dll file Kevin does seem to have perfected his "Kill Phil" code. It looked like every Austrian division had a Phil seeking warhead.

Phil needed killing.
I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.

"Phil needed killing"

Hmmm

Makes me wonder if Kevin has all our photos on a wall and puts a red "x" on them every time a new mod succeeds in causing pain to one of us.

I will be there today.

I think after the next game Phil should remove his coat to see if there is a huge yellow star stitched on the back. The AI did behave like Phil was a major objective...

I can play today.

We may have an option on Tuesday of playing a game that is a battle from a PBEM campaign I am involved in. Player vs player, though not a very big one, so probably a few brigade commands. I will say more later if the plans bear fruit.

Today we find out if a star can be attached to more than one coat. Today's battle might not be quite as easy as Friday's.

Definitely a star is attached to Vince controlled division if he's a Corps commander and not near the division at the start.

Everybody gets a turn.

Except Kevin. Kevin doesn't seem to get a "turn"

I have noticed that there is a strong inverse correlation between the degree of viciousness in AI response and distance from Kevin's troops. In the last 2 games Kevin was at least 3 to 4 miles away from where the AI focused on Phil and Vince. Yet the AI most directly in front of him showed little stomach for any fighting.

Hmmm

Authorship has its advantages.

It's just a matter of waiting a little bit for his special searching AI routines to expire, after all.
You see, the battle has finally started east of Montebello for our guys too, Pat.  

I had the time to "steal" an italian artillery section from Digby's OOB in the meanwhile.
Through very-special savegame editing code (and checksums turned off).
Everyone has their one weapon.

A friend of mine called Gavin who is in the UK is joining us for our game tomorrow. Can you get there 10 mins earlier Kevin please to get his files up to date and do a test? Thanks.

Cancel the above! Gavin can't get there early; he may drop by later. He advises he has all the mods installed.

On Friday 29 May I want to play a player vs player game that will be set in a PBEM campaign I'm playing. We need 9 players, so can you please make every effort to be there. Commands are a mixture of corps, divisions and brigades.

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.

If needed, I just finished a scenario for 7 players or more vs AI. French against British.

On friday I'll be available to take the lead of a brigade/division.

I fixed Vince's scenario so we can play that Sunday or Friday if we don't get 9 people. We'll have to restart it from the beginning.

Hi Kevin,

I was about to add a message regarding that.

Sorry for the lousy scenario. I checked and corrected problems in scenario.csv regarding corps and division number attribution of the guard division. Then I tried it with AI vs AI and it worked for the 3 hours. Pat was killed in action.

Was the only thing that needed to be corrected ? If so, I can correct the 3 others options scenarios, test and send them to you for checking in case.

By the way, who was declared winner yesterday ?

We'll have to restart it from the beginning.

No problem, I wonder what AI does next time. It seams quite random... I didn't look into replay of the short bit we played and I advise others not to do so either. I'm expecting Prussian positions/OOB to be slightly different to what they were in the A1 option.