HCR#1: Aftermath

The ANV withdraws quietly to Virginia after a marginal Union victory. The Rebel defeat at Frederick gives Lincoln the opportunity to announce the Emancipation Proclamation and the struggle for European recognition by the South is over.

The campaign stated out well for the Rebs but some unlucky attacks by Jackson, a long HF siege and Jackson's inability to reunite with Lee made the Frederick stand difficult to say the least. Despite these shortcomings the game was close and if the Aqueduct had been destroyed the Confederates might have been in the lead at the end. The Union did well but was not pressured to attack at the end. But hey, a close marginal victory with a big battle and in which both sides could attack--you can't ask for more than that.

The new Victory Conditions are definitely an improvement over the original set as the game is bound to be more competitive for both sides. However, I get the sense that these victory conditions will generate the Frederick campaign more often then the Antietam campaign. They imply that Lee's objective in the campaign was to hang around Frederick until mid-September. While we don't know exactly what the Rebel objectives were in the Antietam campaign, the victory conditions didn't feel right to me. After a cool reception in Frederick, Lee ordered his forces to split-up to secure HF and reunite in Hagerstown. It is not entirely clear what the next step was to be, but since Lee thought the AoP would be unfit to be in the field for a few weeks, it is possible he was thinking about invading Pennsylvania. Lee could have stayed in Frederick longer if he deemed it an important objective, but he didn't. Of course, had Lee learned about the pursuit of the AoP sooner, it is possible that he would have planted his flag in Frederick and decided to make a stand in hopes of a decisive victory that would open up Baltimore or Washington.

The new victory conditions did make the Union historical objective (drive Lee out of Maryland) feel both "right" (historical) and obtainable, something the original conditions did not. I'll reserve final judgment until after playing a few more campaigns and trying different Reb strategies. The Rebel opening could be better played and if so, a quicker retreat to Antietam might have been possible.

My Jackson variant seemed to work well. Jackson was able to move super-fast on his own as he maneuvered across the Maryland and Virginia countryside. His tactical rating was normal so even though he was fast, he wasn't a near-guaranteed victory in attacks against the Union garrison forces. In fact some bad combat rolling really slowed some of his divisions down. I was worried that the +3 movement modifier would be too much but didn't find this was the case.

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