This guide is still not finished. All information is subject to change either due to inaccuracies or new info. Also note that I do not have the best organizational structure for this guide, so please bear with me. I also play on UI mod v1.8, though most of this guide should still be applicable to the base game.

Sorry for delays with the guide. I have over 4000 photos that will be used for this guide, so its taking a while to get everything organized.

UPDATE (8/23/2020): Made some leaps and bounds. Taking a break to do Star Wars: Empire at War. Union BG campaign only has the last few battles to do, so I am moving to CSA screenshots now. Moe contwent to be added by the end of August. Any comments on how to improve this guide will be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE (8/30/2020): Break is done; now I will work on CSA screenshots and getting general campaign stuff out of the way. Won't be active on weekdays due to school, but I will be available any other time, including holidays.

UPDATE (9/2/2020): Welp, what was supposed to be what I wrote ended up being a month of silence. But I am back! Right now, I am still working on getting the Confederate image for the inevitable complete battle guide. Tomorrow I should have the Confederate tutorial done, and maybe we will finally conclude the Union vs Confederate portion.

UPDATE (10/11/20): GrandStrategos lied as naturally as he breathed.

UPDATE (12/20/20): More screenshots, guide will possibly include J&P(?)

So a lot of things happened in September, October, November, and a large portion of September that prevented me from continuing on with this guide. But here I am once again, this time for real. Expect a few updates with a large amount of info over the next couple of weeks; I am officially allocating time to work on this guide.

UPDATE (4/18/21): And a lot more things happened. But now I can conclude, J&P will be in a separate guide. Going to start work again, so that I can hopefully get to the actual battles.

UPDATE (5/28/21): Finished Brigade stats

Let's get this over with.

This game is different from other strategy games. Not so different that it is completely alienated from the strategy game market, but not too similar to the point where you can copy-and-paste a strategy from another game is win. This game requires a different approach; you can't just charge artillery with cavalry, because the artillery can simply fire canister shot and cause your cavalry to rout (i.e. "The Charge of the Light Brigade"), nor can you rely on a massive infantry charge to break the enemy (i.e. Marye's Heights, Pickett's Charge, etc., etc...)

This game is hard to learn; no tutorial whatsoever and everything up to Malvern Hill (11 battles) is difficult, especially for beginners. But if you just take the time to learn the game, you will find that this game can be quite enjoyable.

Of course, I can't dictate to you to like this game. There are some features of the game that are not the best in the world. But, again, I encourage you to at least try to understand how to play.

Please note that this author is accepting of all criticism given. The comments are free for discussion on the guide, and if you have any problems or questions, feel free to ask.

When you first start a campaign, you will be presented with 14 options divided into 5 decisions. With each decision, you must select one option from three before automatically going to the next decision. The first 3 decisions involve the selection of starting traits, and the remaining two involve the selection of difficulty and choosing the side you play as. This section will focus on the first 3 of these parts.



The first decision gives you 3 options, based on what you specialize in after graduation from West Point (Tactics, Strategy, Logistics). Each option grants 1 Career Point (CP) to 2 traits.

Army Organization (AO) - A trait that affect the size of your army. Higher AO levels mean more corps, more divisions, more brigades per division, and larger (infantry) brigade sizes. The max level of AO, 10, allows you to bring 5 corps, which have 4 divisions each, which have 6 birgades each, which can be brought up to a maximum of 2500 men (only in infantry brigades). AO does not effect the size of skirmisher, cavalry, or artillery brigades; they retain their size limits for the entire game.

Reconnaissance - A trait that allows you to see information about the enemy. Every even level of Reconnaissance adds a new ability. At max level, you will be able to see the number of corps,division, brigades, men, and guns of the enemy, the brigades in each enemy division, including their equipment, men, and leaders, access to a balance-of-power scale during battles, which shows the number of men and guns remaining on both sides, and the ability to see the status of condition, morale, and cover for every enemy brigade at any given moment.

Training - A trait that decreases the cost of hiring brigades. Each level gives a 2.5% discount to hiring veterans, with a maximum discount of 25% at Training 10.

Logistics - A trait that increases the amount of ammo that every unit starts with. Each level gives 5% additional ammo, with a maximum of 50% additional ammo.



The second decision also offers 3 options and is based on your role in the Mexican-American War (Artillery, Infantry, Cavalry). This time, each option gives a varying amount of CPs for 2 traits. However, the total CPs for each option is 4

Medicine - A trait that allows a percentage of casualties to recover and return to their units. Each level gives +2% to unit restore, with a maximum of +20% to unit restore. The game does not do this calculation in the battle results screen, though. For example, if I fought the Battle of Gettysburg and the game says I lost 8000 men on the battle results screen, then 20% of that 8000 (1600) will be restored and return to their respective units.The men gained will be 20% of each unit's losses, so if the Iron Brigade took 400 of the 8000 casualties, then 80 men would be restored to the Iron Brigade.



The third decision offers 3 options based on your life after the Mexican-American War (Business, Army, Politics). Each option grants 3 CPs to 1 trait and 1 CP to a second trait.

Economy - A trait that gives a discount to the purchase of all weapons, and also increases the price at which you can sell these weapons. Each level gives a 2.5% discount to weapons, with a maximum of a 25% discount to weapons. The maximum level, however, allows you to sell weapons for $1 less than the buying cost per weapon.

Politics - A trait that gives a bonus to money and recruits per battle. Each level gives an additional 2.5% bonus to money/recruits per battle, for a maximum of a 25% bonus to money/recruits per battle.

The fifth decision (we will skip the fourth, because it is the decision that just makes you choose from 1 of two factions, Union or Confederates) involves the selection of difficulty, and will also select the rank of your general. There are 4 difficulties: Colonel, Brigadier General, Major General, and Legendary.

The only difficulty that does not state the rank of your general is Legendary. Your general will be a Major General on Legendary difficulty.

Difficulty affects four things:

• AI aggression
  
• Rewards from battles
  
• AI army strength (both size and experience)
  
• Reputation drop if you lose the battle

For the beginner, I recommend playing on Brigadier General or Colonel, but, preferably, Brigadier General. Even if you are a veteran of many strategy games, start on BG; this game is VERY different compared to other strategy games.

Here is my setup for a basic Union game. The main focus is Economy and Logistics, though one can easily go for Politics instead. At max, a beginner should only need Reconnaissance 4; anything higher I do not recommend, because you can easily find this info out through other means or the info given is not needed.

The advisor is not really needed, as they only gave basic tips.

Let's start the Union campaign!




The game begins by telling us to secure this town and its railroad station.



Note what the game tells us next; enemy reinforcements are approaching via railroad, so we must secure the town quickly.



The game advises that we clear out skirmishers before our reinforcements arrive and tells us to attack the town once we have all of our forces together. The first part of this statement, however, is not the best action. The skirmishers are likely occupying the top of the ridge and part of the forest to the left. If we advance now, we will take needless casualties.

Instead, we opt to move off road to a nearby farmstead, where we will wait for our reinforcements to arrive.

The reinforcements consist of 1 cavalry, 2 infantry, and 2 artillery brigades



Yes, there is no tutorial; the game assumes you have read the manual already. The manual is not needed, but it does help a bit. I really don't know; when I was writing this, I had 700 hours, and I still have not touched the manual once. Still, it does not hurt to read.


While we are here, let us analyze the terrain.



The terrain in the southern part of the map is dominated by a large swathe of forest. There are three major formations. A plateau with a high cliff face facing the road, and two areas of elevated terrain, separated by a small creek. All three of these formations have a large cover of forest, optimal for skirmishers to ambush from. The only place where infantry can advance at a reasonable pace is the road in between the plateau and the elevated terrain, which makes infantry that advance down this world susceptible to skirmisher attack. Sure, you can advance through the forest, but it would be slow and possibly delayed by skirmishers. Additionally, your units automatically start moving down this road when the battle starts, so you would assume that the skirmishers would appear later down the road in the more open spaces in front of the town. But nope, they are on the plateau and the elevated terrain, and they have the potential to flank and damage all of your units, including your general, from the beginning.



To the North, we have the town of Philippi, divided in the middle by a river. We shall call the two parts East and West Philippi, and we shall call the bridges North and South Bridge. The objective is located in West Philippi. Outside of the town on both sides of the river, the area is generally clear, with a slight incline just outside of the town. West Philippi has another interesting feature, in front of the bridges and just behind the railroad tracks that border the outside of the town, there are small fortifications that infantry units can make use of. Make a specific note on those bridge fortifications. Since those fortifications are the only things between us and the victory point, there are likely enemy infantry units occupying both of them. The fortifications on the other side are likely not occupied, because they serve no purpose for the enemy whatsoever. We can also say that there is the possibility that at least one infantry unit is in Philippi. The logic for this statement is simple; the enemy general will likely not throw away the opportunity to delay us from crossing the bridges. East Philippi is the best place to do this; the city provides the best cover and is directly in front of the South Bridge and is close enough to the North Bridge so that the unit can stop attacks while staying in cover.

Some who are reading this may have already figured out what I am trying to do; I am trying to make a plan for the battle. By having a good estimate of where the enemy is located, we can make the baseline for our plan of attack. It won't be definitive, but any little bit helps.


First, we have to unite our forces; in order to break through, we need a concentrated attack. Where will this concentrated attack be? The North Bridge. We can sit our troops in the forest for a while and let the reinforcement artillery batteries fire away at the enemy occupying the North Bridge fortifications. We then run forward and use all 3 of our infantry units to fire at the morale damaged unit, until he routs. If the unit in East Philippi attempts to stop us, we will use one of the infantry units, as well as skirmishers and cavalry to force them back.Once we force the entrenched unit on the North Bridge to rout, we push across the North Bridge into West Philippi. We take out the artillery, capture the railroad station in West Philippi, and wipe out the rest of the enemy army. It is a simple, yet effective plan.


For those of you who are struggling with the unit size, there is a way to increase the number of reinforcements you get. First, before the reinforcements arrive, open up your menu.



Make a save file, and then load that same save file.



You should note that the infantry reinforcements have an additional 200 men each and the cavalry brigade has a few extra men than usual when your troops arrive.

After a while, my reinforcements arrive.



We are ordered to approach the town.



If you left click and drag, a box will form, allowing you to select multiple units. If you right click and drag with the units still selected, you can form a line. Note that skirmishers are in the front, infantry in the middle, and the general in the back. When you release, the units will go into the position that was highlighted in light green when you right clicked and dragged. This is a useful feature, though be mindful of how you use it; you could end up with your snipers caught in the frontlines, which is pretty dangerous for a unit with such high investment.

If you click on a unit and drag from the center outwards, you can make a guided path for an individual unit. This has many purposes, from helping a cavalry unit to avoid infantry to just keeping infantry on the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ road. Units move their fastest on flat terrain and roads, so try to use the straight roads on this map to help move units.

(Note: The reinforcements, with the exception of the carbine cavalry, are going to be your starting units once you finish the battle. This is why the unit exploit is useful. Insure minimal damage for these four units.)



Select only the skirmishers and push them ahead. When not moving with other units other than other skirmishers, skirmishers will move faster than infantry. This is useful when you need to scout enemy positions.

Notice the green circle around my general. Generals have an AoE (called a "Command Aura" in this game) that boosts the morale of nearby units. There is also the option to add some buffs to this aura, but only for Lt. Generals. Keep in mind the size of this aura; you do not need your general completely in the front lines; just close enough to provide the morale buff to your front line units.

Additionally, notice the eye just ahead of the skirmishers. This is a "lookout point." It gives extended visibility over certain parts of the battle, as long as you have a unit nearby. This unit can be anything, including the supply wagon or general. This is useful for recon and spotting for artillery.



After moving through the forest, we catch sight of a unit in East Philippi, led by Major (?) McHenry. I was correct in my previous assumption. Due to the discovery of this unit, we will, for now, avoid East Philippi like the plague.



We now move our reinforcements off-road. Though they will be slowed down by the scattered cornfields and farmsteads, it is much faster than following the entire road, and then taking a hard right. Additionally, it is less likely that we will be spotted by McHenry's brigade.



As you can see, this lookout point gives extended visibility across most of the East Philippi area. However, we will not need it, so you can keep your skirmishers moving.



Note that the extended visibility lasts for a while after you leave. Just an interesting quirk of the game.

Since our troops are nearly there. Lets take a look at our guns:




We have a 6 PDR Field (smoothbore) brigade and a 10 PDR Ordnance (rifled) brigade, each consisting of 6 guns. Smoothbore guns lack range, but exceed at short-range damage, making them suitable for bombarding infantry. Rifled guns can not deal as much damage as smoothbore guns, but they have a much larger range and have a more equal distribution of damage across all ranges, making them suitable for sniping artillery and infantry from a distance.

So, why is it important to understand the difference between a smoothbore and a rifled gun? It is simple; it gives us an idea of where the artillery should be relative to where the enemy is. In UG:CW, there are 3 types of ammo that artillery uses: canister, shot, and shell. Different ammo is used based on the distance the enemy is. Canister is for close range, shot for mid-range, and shell for long range. Therefore, we would want our 6 PDRs to be in canister or shot range (preferably canister) due to their short range damage, and we would want our 10 PDRs in shell range, due to their exceptional range.

However, the size of these ranges depends on the gun; even if two artillery pieces are smoothbore or rifled, the size of any of their ranges may be different. Finding the exact range of the gun depends on how you play the game. If you play UI mod v1.8 or J&P Rebalance mod, you should be able to see the sizes of the different ranges (look at the 10 PDR Ordnance screenshot, for example). However, if you are playing base game (no mods at all), you will only see the maximum range, and you will have to make estimates on the sizes of canister and shot range.

Also consider the practicality; though you could advance the 6 PDR guns to canister range in relative safety by covering with infantry, it will allow the enemy to get free kills on our infantry or artillery by means of their own artillery.

So, in order to make sure that our bombardment is efficient, we will have our 6 PDRs just behind the infantry line and our 10 PDRs a bit further back. This allows us to do damage to the enemy while not losing any of our own.



While we wait for our infantry and artillery to get into position, let us move our attention to the cavalry. We have only moved them. Now, we will dismount the cavalry.

Many players write off carbine cavalry as a waste, but this single button, while ignored by some, is one of the key parts of the usage of carbine cavalry.

When first playing the game, new players will think that carbine cavalry are best used to attack an unit and then quickly run away on horseback. However, they become surprised when the carbine cavalry fire a weak shot and then get rear flanked as the cavalry auto-retreat while they are reloading. This leads new players to think that carbine cavalry is underpowered and not worth using. They are very wrong.

Think back to Buford's cavalry on the first day of Gettysburg. What was the status of his units when he was delaying Heth's division?

Yes, they were dismounted.

When a cavalry unit is mounted, it is a bigger target; it is easier to shoot a horse than shoot a man. Dismounted cavalry is essentially a skirmisher and is, thus, a smaller target. It will also produce the same damage as if it was mounted. "But Strategos," you might say. "Wouldn't it be better to have a skirmisher unit since carbine cavalry essentially performs the same function as them?"

No, because carbine cavalry can get away much more quickly by mounting up again. This is the advantage of carbine cavalry; it can dismount in order to fire effectively and, if charged or pressured, can easily run away on horseback. Carbine cavalry have the advantages of melee cavalry and skirmishers, making them an amazing support unit.

Once artillery is in position, order all of the artillery to fire on the brigade occupying the North Bridge's entrenchments. Bombard the enemy unit for 20-30 in-game minutes.

Once 20-30 minutes have passed, advance your infantry regiments towards the bridge. Let Zook be in the center so he can absorb some of the damage.



Before you can fully get there, McHenry's brigade will likely try to stop you by charging into your flank. This is where your skirmishers and dismounted cavalry come in. Use the unit on your right flank, skirmishers, and dismounted cavalry to focus on the single unit. Try to have at least one skirmisher/dismounted cavalry on the flank of the enemy. Also, make sure that the infantry unit is out of range of the fortified unit at the North Bridge.



Once the enemy unit is no longer facing your infantry, you can move the infantry unit to help assist at the North Bridge. Below, you can see that the unit is begin to waver, indicated by the slightly white tone on the unit flag. A wavering unit is low on morale. Once their morale drops below a certain level, then they will rout. Another way to tell if a unit has a low morale level is based on the rate of fire. A unit with 100% morale will have most of their men firing, producing a robust cloud of smoke. However, a unit with low morale will only have a few men firing, producing a small smoke cloud (A unit does not have to be wavering to do this; it just has to have significantly low morale).



Note: Sometimes, a unit can produce the same fire animation as a unit with low morale, yet still have 100% morale. This can happen when a unit is moving or when an enemy unit moves out of range before the unit can perform the full animation.



Once a unit's morale reaches 0%, that unit will rout. The phrase "ROUT!" will appear above their heads for a few seconds, and the unit will be completely out of that army's control. A routing unit will move in a way that gets them to the general vicinity where they arrived from or, if on the defense, in the direction opposite of the initial enemy position. As long as the unit is not in melee or being shot at, the unit will naturally gain morale, until it exceeds 20% morale. Afterwards, the unit will recover morale normally and will be able to be controlled again. The morale gain is also influenced by the presence of a general..

While we are here, lets go over the three status effects of any UG:CW unit.

• Morale - Pretty much "morale". When morale reaches 0, the unit will rout.
  
• Cover - Cover is how well the unit is protected based on terrain. 100% cover does not mean 0% damage; the cover percentage is used to calculate the damage. It is critical to reduce damage though. You may have noticed that some areas have 150% cover and sometimes 200% cover. Though your units will have 200% cover, the display will remain at 100%
  
• Condition - How tired the unit is

There is also:

• Reloading - How close the unit is to firing again
  
• Supply- The amount of supply a unit has. No supply means more time reloading

Note in the above image the location of our carbine cavalry. They are dismounted and keeping McHenry's brigade occupied. This is a key use of carbine cavalry, especially when most of your army has yet to arrive; holding the far flank of your army.



After a while, the unit in the North Bridge fortification will rout. You may have to switch around Zook with another unit if the enemy starts focusing on Zook, but you should be fine. Looking at the balance of power, we see that our army has taken 160 casualties, while inflicting around 600 on the enemy.

Start the crossing of the North Bridge with your skirmishers, since they take less damage than normal infantry. Once your skirmishers are halfway across, start moving your infantry across.



Once we cross, we catch sight of the enemy artillery. Advance your 6 PDRs to the edge of the bridge and use the 10 PDR Ordnance to bombard the enemy artillery from a distance.



We want to be quick with our infantry positioning once we cross the bridge, since this clump of infantry is a high priority target for enemy artillery



Once we find footing it is critical to move with speed. Use one skirmisher and one infantry unit to push the unit that was previously on the North Bridge, while the rest of our infantry and skirmishers push into the town and take the VP. Focus attacks on the artillery unit initially, before moving on to the infantry on the other side of town. Use your general to maintain morale for your troops.



Soon, you will have won the first part of the battle!




We have successfully taken the town, but Rebel forces plan to counter attack and retake the town.



The main threat of this attack is the armored train coming down the railroad tracks, which threatens to destroy our army.



The good news is that reinforcements are coming, along with two artillery batteries, which can help us destroy the train, or at least cause it to fall back.



Make sure to save before you continue.

Now, when the game gives me control, I fall back immediately into the city. I give 5 reasons for this (You may want to pause the game before reading this part because it is long):

1. Most veterans will tell you that fortifications in the early and mid-game battles are ♥♥♥♥ due to the lack of cover compared to other locations nearby. I have another reason along with this one which is... (Note: UI mod fixes fortifications, but I still don't use them often due to reason 2-5.)
   
2. Fortifications stretch. On paper, having a unit occupy more area than it would if it just stood there seems optimal. In practice, it doesn't work; though you will get melee defense and cover for it, you are allowing the enemy to focus their brigades on one brigade. At the beginning of the game, Confederate brigades are going to be around your size. With at least 4 brigades focusing on you on the right fortification, your brigades will feel the pain. And since your units can only focus on one brigade at a time, you will have at least 3 brigades firing at your unit uncontested.
   
3. Look at the picture of the entrenchments outside of the town here:
   
   
   
   Gawk at the distance that is in between the two. If I used all of the units I had, including artillery, in a line, I would still have space. Don't forget the outskirts between each fortification and the rivers. It is literally impossible to cover it all. This allows the enemy to flank; your center and your far flanks is barely protected, so the second any of it falls, the Confederates can flank one of your entrenched.
   
4. Where do you think the train is coming from? The railroad tracks. Where are the train tracks? In front of the entrenchment. How far does the train's target have to be in order to use canister shot? We are unsure of what "guns" the train uses, since the train does not appear in the custom battle for Philippi. However, it is likely that the canister range extends way past the entrenchments.
   
5. The fortification to the right faces the worst problem of them all. Remember when I said that the town had slight inclines outside on both sides of the town. Guess where this entrenchment is placed. If you said, "On the base of the incline," you win! Your prize is the knowledge to move your troops immediately out of the entrenchments and into town.
   
   To explain: though it is not directly mentioned in the game, firing from the high ground seems to give a bonus when the one being fired upon is at a lower elevation.

The only disadvantage would be the loss of a "lookout point," but it really is not necessary.

Back to the screenshot that I showed on the list.



I have my 3 infantry occupying the center, with skirmishers on the flanks, and cavalry and artillery in the back. This time, I have decided to mount our horsemen, for a reason I will explain later.



Our reinforcements arrive as soon as our troops are in position. This is probably one of the only times I recommend that you run your brigades over as long distances, since you need these brigades quickly. Get them to East Philippi ASAP.

While waiting, keep an eye on your main body in Philippi. Take your time to observe the enemy



A single brigade can give you a complete picture of where the enemy army is. Judging from the direction the AI unit is walking, we can assume that the main force is in that direction and will likely attack from that direction. So, from that single brigade, we can make a reasonable assumption that the AI is going to strike on our center and the right flank, so they can support the armored train.



And speak of the devil, the train has arrived! Enemy brigades will likely attack as soon as the train is close.

Once the train enters the range of your artillery, order both to fire at the train. Do not order them to fire anywhere else until the train begins to fall back. Even then, keep your 10 PDR Ordnance on that train until you can't shoot at it no more.



As for the infantry, what happens cannot be predicted on my end. Instead, I will leave a list of tips for dealing with the rest of the enemy army.

• When your reinforcements arrive in East Philippi, order two brigades to the South Bridge and one on the North. You will need the two brigades to secure your right.
  
• If an enemy brigade is charging(indicated by a flashing icon on the brigade and the sound of men yelling):
  
  • Order smoothbore guns (6 PDR) to fire at the brigade until they are in melee. DO NOT SHOOT ARTILLERY INTO MELEE!!
    
  • Order your units to fall back a bit. This may successfully cancel the charge. Do not fall back to the point where your infantry are really close to your artillery. Remember to turn your infantry the right way once you successfully cancel the charge, or you may be rear flanked.
    
  • Once infantry is in melee, charge your cavalry in. 2:1 unit advantage (not numbers; individual units) will always lead to the lesser amount of units routing. For example, my infantry brigade with 400 men and my cavalry unit with 150 men can cause an enemy infantry brigade of 600 men to rout. Use this to your advantage.
• Try to get dominance in firepower. For example, if an enemy brigade is attacking, focus them with two brigades; if you can get away with flanking without being flanked, try and do it.
  
• If you are trying to turn or fall back an infantry brigade, order them to run after you have issued the order. This will move them much more quickly, which is vital if you don't want any of your units to rout
  
• Once your reinforcements arrive, have them stand and fight so that they can gain back condition

Once your condition has improved in your reinforcements, begin pushing the Confederates Start on the left flank and wrap around. If a unit surrenders, then bring them to the center of the town.



Isolate units on the left and have a small force deal with them.



You may have units sneaking on the flank. Catch them and keep them occupied with dismounted cavalry and skirmishers.



Try and push the enemy into a place where they can easily be surrounded.


And make sure to wipe out everyone. Once you take all of the enemy out, you will win the battle.

Casualty Report:

3.5:1 Casualties
The general consensus for a good battle is at least 3:1 casualties.



4 of the 7 units who killed the most are our own. However, one of our own units lost 214 men. We can manage though.



Loomis is promoted to Lt. Colonel



Rescued goods come from your own troops; captured comes from the enemy. Don't know how I rescued 4 6 PDRs when I lost no artillery whatsoever. Nothing significant here.

We are going for a similar approach compared to the Union, but this time with an emphasis on Politics instead of Economy. Of course, Economy will be our main focus, but we need the money boost from Politics up to Shiloh

I am not going to bother repeating details from the Union tutorial, so if you are starting as the Confederates, then just browse through the tips of the Union tutorial before coming here.

Let's see what we have here.



We are ordered to secure a fort along the Potomac River.



Our forces have arrived at the riverbank leading to the fort, but skirmishers block the way.



More regiments are arriving from the road up ahead to reinforce the Union fort.



We are advised to quickly cross the river and get to the fort ASAP. Reinforcements will arrive in half an hour.


Unlike Phlippi, Potomac fort does not have much elevation change. There is a river that is crossable either in the shallow water downstream or a bridge upstream. Other than that, there are patches of forest, fields, and homesteads. At the end of this mini-peninsula is a small Union fort. Knowing that Union reinforcements are coming by road, the fort must be under-garrisoned. There is also likely 1 or 2 artillery pieces in the fort in order to protect the river from ironclad attack.


The main goal of this first phase is to isolate and destroy the reinforcements before heading to the fort; this will make our assault on the fort much easier. Once we take the fort and its artillery, we will await further orders.

Note to the Reader: The unit exploit also works here. However, the troops you are manipulating are not the ones you end up getting. Still, it is useful to bolster your numbers.


It is key to note what weapons our men are carrying. In this case, our skirmishers carry Springfield M1855 rifles, our infantry carry Springfield M1842 muskets, and our cavalry carry Palmetto M1842 pistols (as well as their sabres).





Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the weapons your troops use will be vital for your campaign. Later, we will talk about how we assign weapons based on brigade stats.

Anyways, move your army across the river in this fashion:



We know that enemy skirmishers have likely taken positions in the forest to delay us. We will move around, force the enemy reinforcements, and screen our right flank with a detached skirmisher (detach/reattach skirmishers from infantry by pressing T while the brigade is selected) and our first skirmisher.

But now we need the attention of the enemy. Our infantry are still crossing the river, but we can bring our cavalry out and bait the enemy into a charge.



Be very careful when you do this; the second you here them charge, turn around immediately and run back. Once you lose this cavalry unit, you will have lost a vital resource for this battle.

Run your infantry to the area quickly. f you did it correctly, you will probably have something like this:



Now that you have the enemy reinforcements in place, completely destroy them; push them towards the left side of the map. Don't let your troops run the entire time, though, because you will lose a lot of condition.



Once you are finished, move your initial brigades in the forest to the east of the fort and your reinforcements to the forest south of the fort. You need to rest up and recover some condition.



It will take a while; don't worry about the clock for now. Once all of your units exceed 80% condition, begin the advance. Pause the game and move both divisions at the same time, while moving your cavalry around the back of the fort; you want to attack all at once and overwhelm the enemy, exspecially if you are playing UI mod. UI mod improves the effectiveness of fortifications, making them much harder to assault. Of course, there is a workaround; turn off this bonus in the xml files for the mod and turn them back on after getting to the next phase, saving, and then quitting the game. This method is cheesy, but it works.



Here we have the Union being overwhelmed at the fort. The skirmishers have been pushed back and the artillery is at risk. Be careful though; the artillery can get a few devastating shots before they are destroyed due to our weak units. They can also destroy the cavalry in a few blows, so time the charge while the artillery is distracted.



Capturing the 1st Ohio here is pretty good; captures give us more recruits and also give us a greater percentage of weapons than if you shot them and let them shatter.

Keep pushing, and you will eventually get to the next phase




Our victory allows us to harass supply ships along the Potomac. However, these rewards are short-lived; the Union is launching a counterattack from sea...



...and by land.



Luckily, we have reinforcements coming up soon. The game advises us to deploy skirmishers to harass and delay the advance of the enemy on the ridge to the east of the fort.

We instantly start with two gunboats assaulting our positions. When dealing with gunboats in this game, it is best to go one at a time; focus on one ship with all of your artillery, then move to the next. This will ultimately save lives.

Also notice that our only objective now is to hold the fort.

The plan for this battle is essentially to hold the fortifications (since I am playing UI mod); the enemy, even on BG, brings enough men to the point where holding the ridge with just skirmishers barely allows enough time to get our reinforcements to the fort. If you are not using UI mod, holding those fortifications is out of the question; deploy your army on the outskirts of the eastern side of the fort. Take up position in good cover; cornfields, houses, patches of forest; try to find good positions and make a good line.



Here is the proof of why you shouldn't deploy skirmishers on that ridge; the enemy crosses the river 8 minutes after the battle starts. It is extremely difficult to get to this ridge before the enemy.



Here I show that you don't need to occupy all 3 entrenchments; you can get away with removing the unit on the far left. This gives you an advantage which I highly recommend; a mobile unit to flank.



Reinforcements will arrive a few minutes after you see the enemy, but by then you are already engaged. Here, we can see my mobile unit flanking the enemy across their line, making the entire ordeal easier.



Advance your reinforcements into the flank of the enemy. This time, they will likely turn to face you. Thus, move quickly to occupy positions of cover before the enemy can.



I then pull off this move, but I don't recommend it. Though I am pushing the enemy, my men are in the open and some are exhausted; this is a very risky maneuver Try and not do this.



Here, the rapid advance does pay off in the end, but again, I don't recommend it, especially if you are new.

Note that I am using my cavalry not independently, but in conjunction with the army. The way you use your cavalry can be very effective when done correctly. And contrary to what you may think, cavalry can easily rack up 1000s of kills.



Here is a screenshot of the final moments. Most of these units sadly ended up shattered, which means no new prisoners :(. However, we have won.




Casualty Report:


Enemy Casualties to mine is 4 to 1, so this battle is a success!



Very good kills. We get Kemper, Sigfried, and an artillery unit at the end of the battle. Therefore, limiting their casualties is important.



Many wounded officers, but they are not ours. Kemper is promoted to Lt. Colonel.



Much more goods compared to the Union tutorial. Also, supplies! When you capture a supply wagon, you can use it supplies in the battle by using it like a normal supply wagon or send it to the back and preserve its supplies. Once the battle is over, the remaining supplies are converted to cash on a 1:1 ratio. In this case, we are getting $4,997 for capturing that supply wagon.

"What is the point of this guide?" you may ask. "Why should I employ the methods used here when there are already some guides?"

This is true; there are already established guides on this page that give you a basic primer on the game.

However,...

The Efficient General is not just a basic guide. This is the ULTIMATE guide. Not only will you gain victories, you will win all battles, and you will win them in style. With a few exceptions, you will lose no more than 10k casualties, and you will have at minimum 3:1 kills to losses. You will fight as such on the level of Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Jackson, perhaps combined, to the point where the enemy will beg for mercy by the end of the day. Your units will maintain consistent numbers throughout the whole game; combined, they will be the most effective army to have ever marched on the Earth. But most importantly, you will have fun doing it.

Battles begin years before the first shot is fired. When you complete the first mission and reach the campaign screen, you want to have a strong indication of what you want your army to be composed of. Do you want large, green brigades or small, elite brigades? How will you organize your army; will you dedicate an entire division to a specialist unit, like cavalry, or will you have them few and far in between to serve as auxiliary units for your infantry? Will your army give you the time to micro snipers, or will you make do without them and focus solely on infantry and artillery? Answering some of these questions and more gives you a goal for your "ideal army", an army that uses the advantages of your chosen faction. Let us analyze these advantages to determine a basic concept for each faction's army.

For the sake of consistency, we shall compare both sides' assets from a similar point in time; in this case, before the 1st major battle, Bull Run.

Below are the Union recruit stats in the upper right hand corner:



Below are the Confederate recruit stats in the same position:



Though we have not gone over these stats (see "The Meaning of Brigade Stats"), you can easily see that the average Confederate recruit's stats are superior to that of a Union recruit. Theoretically, if there was a 1v1 between a Union and a Confederate brigade that both had the same weapons, same size, and brigade leaders with the same rank, the Confederate brigade would likely win in either shooting or melee fights. Confederate troops simply form more effective brigades.

Having good recruits is half of the battle; good brigades also have strong weapons. This time, we will analyze the Confederates first. In order to make things fair, I have not bought any of the weapons up to this point. Pay attention to the left side of the shop. Weapons in the shop are organized from the most cheap to the most expensive.



Initial Confederate weapons are mainly Farmers, Rebored Farmers, and M1841 Mississippis. Though Farmers and Rebored Farmers have really long reloading times (the top stat; the more the bar is filled, the faster the weapon can reload) and poor efficiency (how well they damage the enemy in normal shooting combat), they have the best melee strength (weapon damage in melee combat) in-game, allowing the Confederates to capitalize on their boon in stats early on. M1841's are pretty decent weapons; though they lack the melee capacity of both Farmers, they have a bit better reloading times and much higher efficiency. However, the M1841's are very expensive for early-game, so you won't be able to get much high efficiency weaponry outside the realm of reputation (The government tab allows you to get 2000 of these bad boys for 4 reputation points. Definitely worth it.). Any infantry equipment below the M1841 that you can buy at this point are amazing, but there is not enough weapons to make a viable brigade (500 men is the minimum brigade size for infantry units, though I highly recommend that you have, at minimum, 1000 men per brigade. There are exceptions, such as using brigade sizes below 1000 to hold very rare repeater weapons, but, again, you do not have much of those to even make a brigade. Until Cold Harbor, of course.). It is worth noting that later on in the game, the CSA gets some of the most balanced weapons in the game, including the CS Richmond.

Luckily, the vast majority of the Union troops are equipped with Springfield M1842's

Now let's look at Union infantry equipment.



Initial Union weapons are mainly Springfield M1842s and Palmetto M1842s. The M1842s' are immediately below the Farmer muskets. Though the Union and the Confederates start out with musket weapons, the Union muskets are clearly superior, having a much higher efficiency. Not only are the Union weapons good, but they come in higher quantities too (~21000 for the Confederates vs. ~25000 for the Union). The Union even has access to Lorenz's. Though the Confederates have a higher quantity of M1841 Mississippis compared to the Union's Lorenz's (~5200 vs ~3000), the Lorenz's are simply more superior in terms of reloading, efficiency, and even melee

We can thus conclude that in terms of infantry equipment, the Union dominates in terms of numbers and strength. However, in terms of melee damage, Confederate weapons take the cake.

Cavalry brigades are made to skirmish and make quick strikes against the enemy. There are three types of cavalry equipment: musketoon, carbine and melee. Musketoon equipment is pure depression: low reloading, poor efficiency, weak melee; everything about these weapons are terrible. They even have terrible range, so the enemy is likely to retaliate before you shoot them! Cavalry equipped with musketoons are technically carbine cavalry, but musketoons are so crap that I separate them from the carbines. They are also vastly different in stats compared to other carbines

Carbine equipment have fast reloading and low efficiency; melee equipment have low reloading, and low efficency, but high melee. Note that some cavalry equipment is available for skirmishers.

Now let's look at cavalry equipment for the Confederates.



The musketoon weapons that the Confederates have access to are the Sawed Off and the Cook & Brother. The carbine weapons that the Confederates have access to at the start of the game are the Sharps Model 1855, the Pattern 1861 Enfield, and the Maynard. The melee weapons that the Confederates have access to are the Palmetto M1842, the Colt M1855, the Remington M1861, and the Lemat. The weapons that can be used to form a cavalry brigade at this point are the Sawed Off, the Cook & Brother, the Palmetto M1842, the Sharps Model 1855, the Colt M1855, the Remington M1861, the Pattern 1861 Enfield, and the Lemat. All musketoon weapons, as explained above, are utter garbage, and should never be used or, God forbid, bought from the store, unless nothing else is available, though it is unlikely that you will run out of good cavalry equipment before you have enough cavalry brigades. The Sharps Model 1855 is a good basic carbine for cavalry. The Palmetto M1842 is a good basic melee weapon for cavalry. The Colt M1855 is similar to the Palmetto M1842, but with a shorter reload time, slightly better melee, and a bit longer range. However, the gun on melee cavalry barely fires at times, so the Colt M1855 is mainly used for its better melee. The Remington M1861 has better reloading skill and weaker melee, so I don not use it. The Pattern 1861 Enfield has a very high efficiency, which makes up for its poor reloading skill. The Maynard has better reloading skill, but slightly lower efficiency than the Pattern 1861 Enfield. finally, the Lemat is an amazing melee cavalry weapon, which can decimate units with ease; it is the best melee weapon in the game.

Now we move on to Union cavalry equipment.



The Union has no musketoon weapons at the start of the game, which is nice. The carbine weapons that the Union have access to at the start of the game are the Sharps Model 1855, the Smith, the Sharps Model 1859, the Frank Wesson, and the Burnside. The melee weapons that the Union have access to at the start of the game are the Palmetto M1842, the Colt M1855, and the Remington M1861. The weapons that can be used to form a cavalry brigade are the Palmetto M1842, the Sharps Model 1855, the Colt M1855, the Smith, and the Sharps Model 1859. The Sharps Model 1859 is perhaps the best carbine available at this point, and possibly the second best carbine in the game. It is well-rounded, with high reloading skill, high efficiency, and moderate melee. The Frank Wesson, the Maynard, and the Burnside have high efficiency, but lack the reloading skill of the Sharps Model 1859.

To conclude, the Confederates clearly have an advantage in the quantity of cavalry equipment, as well as the quality of melee cavalry equipment, having access to the best melee cavalry weapon in this game. However, the Union wields superior carbines.

Infantry equipment is not the only thing that both sides have access to before 1st Bull Run! Specialist equipment to make skirmisher and cavalry brigades is also available to both the Blues and the Grays. Skirmisher weapons can be separated into repeater weapons and sniper weapons. The advantages and disadvantages of these two types of skirmisher equipment will be differentiated eventually. The gist of it is that repeater weapons have high reload but low efficiency, and sniper weapons have low reload but high efficiency. Note that some skirmisher weapons are available



First, we look at Confederate skirmisher equipment. Pay attention to the left side of the screen once more.



The sniper weapons that the Confederates have at this time are the Hunter, the Whitworth (51 of them; sorry I have to change that image soon), and the Whitworth(TS)(19 of them). The repeater weapons that the Confederates have access to are the Sharps Model 1855 and the Colt M1855. However, the only weapons that can be used to make a brigade are the Hunter rifles and the Sharps Model 1855's. The Sharps Model 1855 is a decent beginner's carbine, but is best left for cavalry and the Hunter rifle is a good beginner's sniper rifle. Though the Whitworth and the Whitworth (TS) are not enough in number at this point, they are amazing weapons and have been used to greeat effect in my Confederate campaigns. I don't use the Colt Model 1855 at all, so I don't know much of it outside of its statistics.

Now let's look at Union skirmisher weapons.



The sniper weapons that the Union have at this time are the Sharps and the J.F. Brown. The repeater weapons that the Union have at this time are the Sharps Model 1855, the Smith carbine, the Burnside carbine, and the Colt Model 1855. However, the only weapons that can be used to make a brigade are the Sharps Model 1855, the Smith carbine, and the Sharps rifle. The Smith carbine is also really good, but it is best left for cavalry. The Sharps rifle is a decent sniper rifle, but it is much better than the Hunter rifle. The J.F. Brown is an amazing sniper rifle, likely the best sniper rifle in-game and should always be bought before a major battle if you are interested in making sniper brigades.

To conclude, Union skirmisher weapons have higher quality and numbers than the Confederate skirmisher weapons.

Artillery support the army in both attack and defense. There are two types of artillery: smoothbores and rifled. Smoothbore guns excel in damage, especially in short range but have poor reloading skill. Rifled guns excel in long range, have higher efficiency than smoothbores, but smaller damage output, There is one rifled gun, however, that has a very large damage output. This will be discussed later.

Let's begin with Confederate artillery.



The smoothbore guns that the Confederates can use at the beginning of the game are the 6 PDR Field gun, 12 PDR Howitzer, and 12 PDR Napoleon. The rifled guns that the Confederates can use at the beginning of the game are the 10 PDR Ordnance, 10 PDR Parrott, and 10 PDR Tredegar. The 6 PDR Field gun is a pretty basic gun; it is very good for your no-star brigades, but don't trust it to get more than 100 kills per battle. The 12 PDR Howitzer deals decent damage at short range, but doesn't do well anywhere else. The 12 PDR Napoleon is a decent gun at all ranges, but its range is smaller than the 6 PDR Field gun. The 3 10 PDRs are all identical, with increasing effectiveness with each gun; they all do great work in dealing with enemy artillery.

Union artillery is shown below:




The only gun that needs introduction is the 6 PDR Wiard. This is, essentially, the rifled version of the 6 PDR. It is a cheap rfled gun that can adequately address enemy artillery.

We see that both Union and Confederate have the same artillery. The key difference here is quantity. The Union not only has more guns, but they have access to a larger quantity of better weapons earlier. Thus, Union artillery is superior.

Of course, all of this doesn't matter if you do not have effective officers leading your men. We will talk about ranks later. For now, a basic comparison of the two lists should do.







The ranks of units are organized from top to bottom. Any avid learner won't find it surprising to see that the Confederate Officer Corps is superior.

I have discussed most, if not all of the strengths and weaknesses of these two factions. So, what is the point? The idea of those sections is to give you a basic idea of what you are dealing with; not everybody starts this game after reading on the American Civil War. Understanding how you are situated during the game will help you prepare for battles and give you an idea of what strategies you should employ in battle.

However, in order to understand this, we must first be able to interpret the stats that we have seen before. This requires an extensive look at these numbers.

Let's start with the first numbers we saw; the stats of a unit.



This is a brigade in I Corps 1st Div, led by LTG Jay Shaver before the Battle of Cold Harbor. We are able to see that he is 2000 men strong and has equipped some Springfield M1863s. He has 6 stats: Command, Efficiency, Morale, Stamina, Firearms, and Melee.

• Command - Based on the ranking and experience of the commanding officer. Determines the max amount of efficiency a brigade can have. For example, a brigade with 64 command and 68 efficiency practically has 64 efficiency. For this reason, it is important to have commanders who can ensure that a brigade is working to its full potential.
  Note that there are some interesting anomalies as a result of Command being a combination of the officer's ranking and experience. For example, a Colonel with 99/100 XP may have a higher Command than a BG with 1/100 XP. Ultimately, when selecting an officer for your troops, as long as there is not a red bar over Efficiency at the unit's final size, the commander should be fine with his troops. If the officer's Command is considerably over the efficiency, switching officers around can help you move officers to areas where they would be more useful.
  
• Efficiency - A stat that directly improves shooting, reload time, and melee strength. You can increase this stat by killing a number of the enemy with this unit (For this stat and all others below it, there is an exact base number of things you need to do (in this case kills), though pandakraut definitely has a better understanding on this than I do.). Efficiency is limited by the Command of the officer
  
• Morale - This stat increases morale regeneration speed and endurance in melee attacks. This is important, since low morale negatively affects efficiency and melee strength. Morale is increased based on the amount of time a unit is on the battlefield and NOT routing.
  
• Stamina - Stamina decreases the decay of condition. Low condition directly affects the morale, melee, and marching speed of the unit. Low condition also prevents the unit from being able to charge. Stamina can be increased by marching your unit around the battlefield.
  
• Firearms - Firearms increases the unit's accuracy. It can be increased by shooting at the enemy.
  
• Melee - Melee increases as the unit inflicts melee kills. Higher Melee increases melee strength.

There are two schools of thought within the UG:CW community; one major and one minor. These two schools are Combined Arms and the Army Assault Column. Combined Arms does what it says on the box, a combination of all 4 unit types to break down the enemy. The Army Assault Column is more based on infantry, with one good smoothbore gun per Corps. Both strategies are viable, but Combined Arms is better. Why is this the case? We understand that the Assault column can more effectively deal with enemy entrenchments through mass infantry fire and charge, so what would Combined Arms have that the Assault Column does not? Let us analyze the faults of the Army Assault Column:

1. Not effective on Higher Difficulties - You will most likely win, since the AI can't bring anything to match. However, the casualties that you will take are not worth it. A key example of this can be seen in the most recent comment under DR34MC4T58, he shows a CSA Legendary screenshot of the historical battle of Antietam won losing this method, with the results being 15k losses to 45k kills. This goes through the 3:1 ratio. However, the number of men he lost is unbearable at this point. If it was a campaign, have fun replacing those losses without taking too much experience loss, because you will run out of money.
   
2. Not effective in late game - This army can make it through early game, struggle a bit through mid game, but will not make it through end game. End game refers to the 3 final battles: Chickamauga, Cold Harbor, and Richmond/Washington. Having a small amount of artillery is suicide; the enemy will have much more than you, and charging en masse will result in massive casualties and little gain. Can you win these battle individually on the historical battles menu? Yes. But you are not going to make it through campaign without losing most of your army. Remember: the campaign goes over battles continuously. The massive casualties you take will add up over time, so you won't be fielding the same numbers over time.
   
3. Not being able to address certain threats - Throughout the entire campaign, you are going to have to deal with 20 PDRs, 24 PDRs, snipers, and all sorts of cav. Infantry alone cannot save you from these threats. Charging a sniper is possible, but have fun catching them. If you think you have caught a sniper with inf, it is either a normal skrim or you got very lucky. Your smoothbores will die immediately if a single 20 PDR is on the field; those guys will take your artillery to town. Charging into a 24 PDR/melee cav is asking for a lot of casualties.
   
4. Lack of flexibility - No plan survives contact with the enemy. - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal . Consider the words of this man. Even though the AI is not "dynamic" to the point where it is like a human player, it can still pull off many surprises and, in some cases, do some really smart decisions. The Assault Column has limited ways of dealing with the enemy. I have extensively studied the arrival of units in this game, and many others have too. Yet I am surprised to still see that the enemy can catch me off guard. For example, I fought Chickamauga as the Union on Legendary. Usually, the AI sends their cav on the far south bridge, so I send my cav there to meet them. Instead, I am surprised to see 3 infantry brigades along with the normal cav units attempt to cross the bridge. Luckily, I had a good quantity of dismounted cav and some artillery to help defend. Meanwhile, a passage I had guarded with infantry remained barren for most of the day. Another example is a previous 2nd Bull run I did, also Union Legendary, in this case, while the enemy was attacking, I used a large amount of cav to raid the rear, taking artillery and $100k worth in supplies. But the next campaign, cavalry came out and approached me, giving time for the enemy supply wagons to escape. We can mimick the same raid with detached skirms, but in the second scenario, the detached skirms are screwed, unless their parent unit is exceptional. However, both scenarios with cav can be resolved with a good victory.
   
5. Lack of spotting - A tie-in to previous items on this list. Whoever has the best spotting wins, because they can choose where to bombard and attack the enemy. Detached skirms are decent spotters in vanilla, but nothing compared to the pristine sniper, who, with the right perks, can locate the enemy without revealing himself.

The main issue with Combined Arms is the need for micro. However, with proper arrangements, this micro is not severe.

All-in-all, I believe that Combined Arms is the best strategy, and the results in my battles speak for it. I can point to several of my Legendary battles where I had a whole lot of kills. Most notable of these is Stones River, a battle where you can easily get over 10:1 by using a fair amount of artillery along with cav and snipers in the later parts to take out enemy artillery for good.

However, I still agree with a part of the Assault Column guide, albeit not fully; an expert with all inf with minimum artillery has less micro to do than someone using Combined Arms, but that does not make the one with majority infantry more likely to win; it just means that the one using Combined Arms will be more prone to mistakes. However, when considering the values of both players on either a flat map or a map with varying terrain, the one with Combined Arms will win 9 out of 10 times, because he will be able to take better advantage of terrain (artillery performs better on higher elevations) than his opponent.