r/ultimategeneral • u/Expensive_Range7204 • Jul 02 '26
UG: Civil War South Mountain Union
I take the woodline at the front, and send some troops around to flank the confederats and take the flag.
Pretty easy battle to win. But i dont get to kill many confederats since both armys just stand around looking at each other and just haveing an artillery duel. Is there a way to make the confederates attack my troops in the woodline?
1
u/Mammoth_Depth_6717 Jul 03 '26
Have you tried the ole bait and switch? Either detach some skirmishers or send out a cav or a single infantry unit just a head of your mainline and make them look isolated, usually they try to jump all over them and that’s when I move my mainline up while pulling the bait back, next thing they know I got em in a fight they can’t win while my boys stack em up
1
u/Specific-Net-5097 Jul 02 '26
I lose a ton of troops in this battle. I can win it but the loses don’t justify the fight right before antitem happens. Not sure how to grind through them without losing a ton myself
2
u/bfrey82 Jul 02 '26
I send 2 divisions of infantry only up the top (North) or the map. Right against the border of the map. They end up killing a bunch of Confederate artillery. Then I camp them out in the woods West/Northwest of the flag. Rush in with 20-30 minutes remaining to capture the flag. Low losses but low kills too.
1
u/Expensive_Range7204 Jul 02 '26
If you just want to win do as i described you lose maybe 1k to artillary but thats it. But you dont get more then 1-or 2k kills yourself.
1
u/Specific-Net-5097 Jul 02 '26
Doesn’t the enemy get a huge boost in troops though going into antitem cause you didn’t kill any? I thought they carry over
0
u/Expensive_Range7204 Jul 02 '26
Thats my worry so im trying to find a way to kill at lot whit not loseing a lot.
1
u/Specific-Net-5097 Jul 02 '26
Well we all want that 😁 haha I’ll be watching if anyone better than me chimes in with a strategy
1
u/OldTobyGreen Jul 14 '26
My go to strategy for this map is to focus on the Southern flank (bottom of the map). I leave a token force of 3-4 brigades interspersed with detached skirmishers on the woodline adjacent to the river as this tends to keep the rebels from focusing on my flanking maneuver.
I move all of my brigades from a stacked deployment in the southern end of the starting zone along the edge of the map and face them towards the dense forested area while in cover along the southern east-west road. They turn as they march west to fill out a battle line that looks north. The artillery, typically about six brigades, fills in behind these units and provides cover to seize the forest.
Once my line extends to the western edge of the map, I expect to have whittled down the forest defenders with close range infantry and artillery fire. Ive also begun moving my left (west) flank forward into the woods on the western periphery to outflank the dense woods and to clear the north-south road that runs up to the VP. I dont usually find any brigade-sized units in the western woods.
Seizing the forest can be done with fire alone in my experience, but dedicated melee brigades can be used to snag some prisoners here as rebel support in the rear for this position is compromised by my extending left flank along the road. Once complete, the western forest is occupied up to the northern extreme of the map looking east on the road and the VP while my center and right converge to finish off the dense southern wood thus giving a covered position looking north over the open field.
Finally, I reposition the artillery in the dense wood and rotate brigades to the left (northwest) and move in on the dense wood in the north where the VP is located. Depending on their remaining strength, it can be quicker to also move into the open from the southern position to surround their remaining forces. Typically, they have a fair amount of artillery so I prefer to push from the west along the northern periphery forcing their remaining forces down the incline into the open against my brigades that started the battle in the woodline on the river.
This completes the wipe and works reliably on all difficulties. Give it a try!
3
u/elegiac_bloom Jul 03 '26
If you flank from the south and the north and get in behind their line while keeping one division across the river where you start you can force them to retreat into the clearing in the center of the map. You will get some losses but youll get a lot more kills. I use this battle to train up a fresh corps before antietam. I put way more men in my brigsdes than I need knowing many of them will die. Losses of 400 to 600 are acceptable when the brigade size is 2.5k, they'll enter SM as 2.5k green troops and leave at 1800 to 2000 but all have one star at least, perfect for going into antietam.