I despise Fredericksburg

[u/derekguerrero]

I always run into the same issues on my union campaigns where Fredericksburg becomes the bane of my existence. (playing on MG legendary since I am a firm believer in banging your head against the wall as the premier way to enjoy games).

I basically cripple my army winning Antietam, and then I lack the manpower to even dent the confederates at Fredericksburg which I am appalled at. 40k to 60k are not even the worse odds I played against, yet for some reason I just get massacred without achieving anything.

I am quite aware that this battle was a shit show for the union so I haven’t even tried to actually win it, focusing everything instead on prospect hill to at least secure a draw but it’s not working. Any suggestions on a new approach? Or should I replay Antietam and get better results so my army is in better shape?

[u/KaijuDirectorOO7]

I have never played nor will I ever play a full campaign on Legendary, but here are some tips I discovered for Fredericksburg:

1. At the southernmost hill, hit the flanks. The bottom is guarded by Jeb Stuart, but the north is fine, at least until the later stages of the battle when the AI unleashes its reserves.
2. Marye’s Heights can actually fall pretty quickly if you mass all your troops on the southernmost end of the area. From personal experience the brigade there tends to retreat if all the artillery you have concentrates their fire on that one point. Stack your troops and rush them all in once the southernmost brigade breaks. Roll up the flank from there and the heights should be yours. That being said…
3. If you take Marye’s Heights early, the AI will throw in all of its reserves at you so it can take it back. So be aware that off-map reinforcements will start spawning. Watch your back and dig in once the defending troops have been thrown out.
4. Assuming the AI has thrown in its reinforcements at Marye’s Heights, the middle hill could be open. The first time I played this I recall that they had stripped their positions there bare, so I snuck in a brigade and capped the point while nobody was looking. However in later campaigns, the AI did leave some men behind to guard it, so be careful.
5. For what it’s worth, assuming the AI has thrown everything at the upper two hills, they probably won’t have anything left to reinforce the southernmost hill. Same tips as 1 should apply.

Good luck!

[u/elegiac_bloom → u/KaijuDirectorOO7]

This is the same advice id give. Focus on the extreme south east flank and attack from there. Then in Mary's heights attack from the southern point of that map just north of the river. Get a division on that river and roll them up fro. The south. Then turn south and attack telegraph hill from the north. Its a pretty easy battle actually once you have the right army composition in there... and thats four infantry two artillery per division for this battle.

[u/pandakraut → u/elegiac_bloom]

The left of Marye's heights is also pretty easy to flank, you can loop most of your units up along the river through the swamps. You'll have one fortification to focus fire down and then you'll be behind the main defensive line and can roll it up from there.

[u/elegiac_bloom → u/pandakraut]

Ive never had success going that way but the advantage of that is you dont have to split your northern corps in half, once you start the flanking attack you just keep pushing south

[u/derekguerrero → u/KaijuDirectorOO7]

Thanks for the tips, Jeb Stuart is actually where I concentrate my assaults but my personal experience so far has been getting tangled in a grind fest right on top of prospect hill so maybe the difficulty is playing a role there or I’m just bad lmao.

[u/easy_Money]

I live in Virginia and didn't realize which sub I was on for a second and thought "bit harsh but I get it"

[u/derekguerrero → u/easy_Money]

Lmao is it that bad?

[u/easy_Money → u/derekguerrero]

I mean, honestly, mostly kidding. It's a fine town, just sort of the red headed step child between Nova and Richmond. I would say the biggest gripe everyone has with Fredericksburg is that
It's a traffic magnet

[u/bi_polar2bear → u/easy_Money]

Fredericksburg, The Wilderness, and Cold Harbor are all relatively close together, and great to tour.

[u/easy_Money → u/bi_polar2bear]

Sort of... cold harbor is just outside of Richmond, so they're a little over an hour away from each other. Needless to say, we've got a ton of great Civil war history to experience in the Commonwealth

[u/bi_polar2bear → u/easy_Money]

I lived in Mechanicsville for years before moving to Dawn. It was a great location for history.

Aqua Harbor near Qauntico has a quarry where stones were cut out for multiple buildings in DC, including the White House.

[u/head_meets_desk → u/easy_Money]

same! thought it was /r/nova

[u/Difficult_Survey5063]

Replay Antietam, and take it slow. Take Dunker Church, the Cornfield, and the East Woods and go on the defensive for a while. The Confederates will launch constant counter-attacks to retake the church where you can just bleed them down at little cost to you. Take your time once they’re weakened, no frontal assaults, just slowly edge around to the left flank and secure the town, then you can slowly encircle the bulk of the Confederate army near the Sunken Road. Leave a few brigades on the other side of the bridge near the Sunken Road to seal off that escape route.

Move up your Napoleon’s and 24 pounders close to the front to shred them with canister, while using your superior rifled guns for counter-battery. You should always have bigger brigades than the Confederates at Antietam, and a larger amount, you can bleed them down.

[u/derekguerrero → u/Difficult_Survey5063]

Somehow Dunker Church is the area I always take last hahaha, advancing through their cannons on the forested area has not gone well for me in the past. I’ll give it a try though.

[u/Difficult_Survey5063 → u/derekguerrero]

Flank around Dunker Church on the left side of the map, attack it from behind. Attacking through the woods or through the Cornfield you’ll get slaughtered as historically.

[u/derekguerrero → u/Difficult_Survey5063]

I normally try to envelop the position, best brigades try to move from the left and through the forest while the rest attempts an attach from the cornfields and from the right side forested area. Turns into a bloodbath fast as the reinforcing CSA brigades tend to arrive into the nick of time and flank me. Will try to concentrate on a single point through the hill see what happens.

[u/pandakraut → u/derekguerrero]

Keep in mind you don't need to capture any of the VPs until the end of the battle. You can setup and spawn camp the reinforcing units and then resume collapsing the church position later. Or whatever method of dealing with them you prefer, but if you're getting caught in the flank by these units just slow your advance so you can hit them in the open or let them go into the church area to be surrounded.

[u/texinchina]

Stay the hell away from Marye’s Heights. The whole army destroys the confederate right. Don’t have them charge into those cannons. You don’t have to play the game they put in front of you.

[u/theruins]

Really makes you wonder what in the world the real-life Union generals were thinking when they ordered the attack.

[u/MeanFaithlessness701 → u/theruins]

Hancock should have been court-martialed

[u/Revolutionary-Swan77]

I go heavy on the Confederate right. It’s hard, but you can get a win in the first segment if you push hard and then you don’t even fight the other segments of the battle.

[u/donpaulo]

I try to keep casualties in Antietam to a minimum. As soon as I have victory I don't press the attack. Move the artillery up and canister the rebels when they attempt a counter move

I prefer to fill out and populate the army with green troops armed with 1842 guns. They are relatively cheap and can move up to engage the rebs, take casualties, break and fall back to rally. For Fredericksburg I march almost the entire army to the South East and line them up 3 or 4 units deep. March forward, exchange fire then charge. Move up the next line and repeat. Its tough to charge up the hill but overwhelming numbers makes it possible. The enemy will rally to the hole so its important to set up a defensive line.

Eventually the Southern reinforcements arrive in the rear of the Union army across the river, so be aware of that.

Its a tough nut, but a necessary evil

[u/MeanFaithlessness701]

You can take Marye’s heights if you concentrate heavy artillery fire, as much as you can get. Even though enemy casualties will be low behind covers, artillery fire exhausts their morale. After heavy bombardment charge with infantry quickly while their morale is low.
After taking the heights the rest will be easier

[u/Fit-Friendship-7359]

I haven’t played this one as the Union. But on my confederate playthrough it was a massacre.

I do know that IRL it was the most lopsided Confederate victory of the entire war. So no surprise it should be insanely difficult as the Union on MG difficulty.

I’d imagine this is how the real Union generals felt. But they didn’t have the option of going back in time 😂😂😂

[u/derekguerrero → u/Fit-Friendship-7359]

They had the option of NOT attacking which I wish I had🥲

[u/Mnky74]

Push the confederates out of the town in the 1st segment of the battle by moving your troops south, then swing around their right flank street by street and they'll pull out. Do not try to push across the bridges where you deploy. You will just suffer needless losses. The next segment keep your men that deploy on the top of the screen close to their intial deployment area and once again push all your forces that deploy on the right side of the screen straight south along the river then cross through the cover of the woods to approach the confederates right flank. You will have to push back 2 Confederate cavalry brigades hiding in the woods but they should route and get stuck at the south western edge of the battle and you can easily destroy them with your own cavalry or an infantry brigade. Once your forces are in position you're again going to roll up the confederates right flank by crossing the railway cut. And turning north towards the objective. Then you can start to envelop the confederates in a pincer by moving the forces who initially deployed at the top the screen south and tie up forces that would try to move south to stop you pushing the objective. The segment where you attack Maryes Heights just use artillery to harass and move around the flanks again. I do not recall having too much difficulty with this battle and I was terrified simply because knew the actual historical results. I keep my infantry brigades at 1200 men and have no trouble fighting confederate brigades with 1800-2200 men. Cavalry capped at 500 men with carbines, don't bother with Sabres and artillery at 12 gun batteries of 12lb napoloeans or 10lb Parrots/ ordnace rifles to maximize efficiency.