North And South Chapter Ten · 10:03pm Mar 15th, 2023
It's been a while coming due to sickness and business, but here we are. Chapter Ten!
Also, the new cover art commissioned from Hiro/Bunnyshrubby, who can be found on YCH, or the Equestria At War Discord (he's a wonderful friend, and an excellent artist!)
(Full Size image in all it's glory!)
Let's get started, shall we?
No mention of the Crittenden Resolution in-universe, Civil War Horses don't really do the whole slavery thing. This is a fluff event anyhow, it doesn't actually do anything in-game.
The Confederates continue to go ham into diplomacy. British intervention is currently sitting at ~30% or so, so I'm not worried yet. Once that hits closer to 50%, I'll need to start managing it more heavily. Right now though, I have more pressing concerns - namely, upping our enlistment periods!
So secretly there were actually two fights along the James and Kenwa canal this session. I didn't show this first one because it was pretty boring. The rebels attacked me, did basically nothing, and died.
Shame on me for letting me guard down after this though.
Our deployment for the nothing skirmish. Bigby farm was what I drew up around, as the only notable command point on the map.
Trust me when I say basically nothing happened during this fight. They came up and shot at me a few times, I shot at them a few times, they ran away. Silly AI. I'll always take free artillery pieces, though.
Considering they only had six guns, capturing four is pretty good, actually. Very nice.
Cherry Berry, now fighting under Trixie's Corps, gets rehabilitated, meaning her troops no longer actively despise fighting under her! (Which is good, I need experienced cavalry officers!)
Monthly intel report, not a whole lot of change, though apparently Confederate-European relations have dropped by 5%. I think this is from them raising cotton taxes, but I'd have to go back and double check. I know their economy's in no better shape than mine by a mile, and I've been very careful in my management. It's the end of 1861 and I'm still under 100 million in debt, which is very good for this game. (and also for real life, come to think of it. IRL, the civil war jumped the US's debt from 64 million to 2.7 billion.
I titled this image "OhNo". See if you can spot why!
(yes, really, they brought double my numbers. Oh No.)
As in the story, I take no risks in my deployment this time. I have to hold them here at the canal line, or else they're just going to overwhelm my smaller force, better equipped or not, and Hampton's Division, the bulk of the force here, is well equipped for an early war rebel unit - they tend to carry Enfields and captured Springfields, as well as a few scattered Mississippi rifles and 3-inch cannons. The Army of Tennessee is heavily battered, but four thousand troops is still four thousand troops.
The Battle at the end of the first day. I held onto my flank - barely - by Shifting Night Light's brigade over as Skipper's own brigade ran out of ammo and stopped being able to defend itself (yes, really, I expended that much ammunition holding that flank, which is remarkable considering each brigade comes with sixty-shots per trooper). There was genuine worry that my artillery was going to be overrun, and I think if the day had drug on much longer, it probably would have. Sunset's Iron Brigade absolutely deserves their name though, they held off drastically superior numbers all on their own, holding down that corner of my line all day.
Start of the second day's fighting which, as shown in the story, was bloodily short. Canister shot is terrifying, especially when lobbed out of a 30 pounder Parrot rifle with a bigger bore size than someone's head. I moved Sunset down to the far end of the flank, expecting the Rebels to mass that direction and attempt to push the flank, which they did - and then immediately ran into Sunset's still very capable brigade and my two very angry artillery batteries, which promptly saw the rebels off with their tails between their legs.
Four to One casualties I'll take any day of the week. Proper positioning is important, folks.
Still, that was a bit close for comfort... Yeesh. You'll all just have to wait a minute or two to see how I resolved this rapidly growing problem, though, hah. 
Moondancer, meanwhile, begins moving through Western Virginia. She's gonna be a bit busy here shortly though.
Additionally, I finish two year extensions for contracts. With current one year contracts expiring in mid to late 1862, this means any re-ups (other than any of the few remaining 3 month re-ups) will re-enlist for two years in 1862. I'm really hoping that it doesn't take until the end of 1864 to win, but uh, just in case, we have 'em. I don't think I'm going to pursue three year/end of war contracts, unless you guys think I should.
This bumps the confederates back up a bit European standings wise, but nothing major. The way I combat this is by going down the agriculture tree, so I'll likely be focusing on that or industry now (after I emancipate the slaves - I have a good reason for doing this early, especially with such a deep foothold in the Virginias; anytime I own a city in a rebel state, I can recruit African-American volunteers from said state, which is nice. Also helpful though, is every Rebel state I have a foothold in starts losing it's slave-based workforce over time, resulting in an eventual tank in confederate economy (or manpower, as they return soldiers to their farms/plantations. Or both!)
And then finally, as a bit of a teaser for the next chapter, have a cliffhanger. To explain what's going on; essentially the Confederates brought up two fresh Corps (Army of West Tennessee is New. Army of Tennessee we've fought a few times now) which was going to be too much for Lightning Charm and Tempest Wind to fight considering their recent combat and supply usage. However, Flurry Heart is currently picking her way through West Virginia, and oh look, a passway into the Shenandoah Valley. This looks like a good place to pitch a Major Battle.
Tune in Next Time for the largest battle fought TO-DATE.
:)
Beautiful, love to see Sunset’s brigade get more action
Bacon horse best horse
5718291
i.imgur.com/dSLEIRc.png
Bacon Horse is scary competent. She's taken a few knocks over the past couple battles (down to ~2000 from her original 3000) but man, has she made up for it.
She's currently sitting at ~4,000 casualties inflicted upon the enemy by herself, which is uh, frightening. Her Regiment is also maxed out at 5* Veterancy, with her own veterancy sitting at 4*, not that far behind.
Bacon Horse absolutely Best Horse.
cool
I love these blog posts, they make a nice visual aide to what's going on in the story.