Note: Due to space constraints, I plan to include the first posts of various AARs from the Matrix Games forums and then provide a link to the rest of the story.
This AAR and that of jchastain are a combined PBEM AAR played by two members of the Forge of Freedom team to demonstrate what the game has to offer.
Gil R. writes:
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I’m not allowed to peek, but I know that jchastain just started an AAR for our play-by-e-mail game. I’m playing the CSA, and am about to describe my decisions and moves. I’ll also be posting a bunch of screenshots. We’ll try to make at least one move each day. The point of this AAR is to show the strategic game, just as Hard Sarge has been demonstrating the tactical battles.
(Please wait until I’m done before posting a message here, since I might miss it. I’ll always make it clear when I have no more postings for a given turn.)
In case jchastain didn’t mention it, we’re playing with the Advanced Rules. When these comes into play, we’ll point it out.
Okay, on to the first turn. We’re playing the standard November 1861 scenario, which gives both sides time to build up for the war effort. The first turn is always very long, since one has to set up one’s economy in addition to making the usual decisions about moving troops and arming them.
Since it’s easy to forget to move one’s blockade-runners, I make it a habit always to do that as the very first thing each turn. The CSA starts with two, and these are found in the Savannah River. Upon clicking on one, I see that right offshore there can be found 30 Money (a very nice sum), and that I have an 80% chance of attaining it and just a 10% chance of my runners taking damage. So, I go after that batch of runners goods with one group of runners, and use the other to go after 30 Horses in another sea zone (for which the chances are 50% and 10%, respectively). I decide that these horses are a more appealing target than the 10 Weapons or 10 Labor I could also get.
EDIT OF NOV. 30: Now that the game is available there is a new sub-forum devoted to AAR’s. Inside you will find my detailed battle AAR “Battle in the Wilderness,” which has some interesting screenshots (http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1289320). In addition, it would be worth visiting at least one of the detailed battle AAR threads started by Hard Sarge — “AAR III” (http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1286095) or “AAR II” (http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1280248). (The second features some unfinished graphics, since it was composed during a stage of beta-testing when not all of the graphics had been added.)
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Read more of Gil R.’s “It Ain’t A Lost Cause Yet!” AAR at the Matrix forums…
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