As we marched back south to resupply after the victory at the Battle of New Market, we were met by cheering citizens. Apparently word spread fast, as the Grand Herald put it:

Confederate Armies are Triumphant!

The Confederate field armies have gained great victories and seem unstoppable. In the last five successive major engagements, the gray clad armies have emerged victorious. Union armies, suffering defeat after defeat, are reportedly suffering from deteriorating morale and discipline, with many men choosing to desert.

Citizens in the South are cheering the commanders, as they march with their men towards victory. Support for the war effort increases considerably, with more men volunteering to join the fight to win the war, and independence.

"What made that battle so different?" I asked the Patron when she interrupted me as I was about to turn in for the night. After seeing to the resupply of my brigade, of course. "It couldn't have been the rifles, could it?"

She chuckled, looking at the weapon lying quietly next to its scabbarded sword bayonet. These were the early days, when the Mississippi Rifles had sword bayonets that actually resembled swords. "You don't think so?"

"It's a little better than the other rifles, but not that much better. Didn't you say as much?"

"You read me correctly there. Yes, it's more about having enough rifles. The recruit-manufacturing method is equally efficient (timewise) at any weapon so even one with high complexity and without the ability, currently anyway, to benefit from standardization is viable."

"So, what made the difference?"

"You were there, what did your men do?"

"Well, they shot the Federals."

"And what did the Federals do?"

"They shot at our detached skirmishers... who were layn down on the ground."

"You see, unless I'm around the generals can't actually manage that trick. In fact, even when they can win, they can't ever do so efficiently even with a massive advantage over the enemy due to the Union getting bonuses."

"Bonuses?"

"If your unit and a similarly sized, equipped etc unit of Federals just stood up and shot at one another while I stood around and did nothing you'd lose. Pretty badly actually. Much worse than the generals would do with you in my absence."

"Why did the Federals focus so much on the skirmishers?"

"Because they were closer."

"Hmm, but eventually they'd learn not to do that, surely?"

"Oh no, that won't happen. Not deliberately, anyway."

"And why's that?"

"Because they're stupid. Enough to make the mistake thousands of times over. It will lose them the entire war."

"If the main tactic is skirmishers, then why didn't you intervene directly in the battles before New Market?"

"I wanted to be sure of having enough damage potential. What do you think would happen if we ran out of ammunition and the enemy had not retreated?"

"Bayonets?"

"Haha, you're forgetting that the enemy hardly used their ammunition. Possibly because what they did employ was boosted by difficulty bonuses. No, if it came to that we'd have had to simply retreat as best as we could. Or probably buy time for nightfall and a quick resupply in the dark. They are at their strongest relative to us right now. Also, if you take the example of a direct shootout, a bayonet fight would probably go similarly."

"I'll keep that in mind."

l

It wasn't long until the next attack formation arrived, with 14,000 Federals being met by our now reduced Army of the Potomac of 30,900. If they thought it would be any different they were wrong, taking 3000 casualties before retreating. We took 165 losses.

"Is it a good idea to just let them go?" I asked while watching the enemy forces hastily depart the field which we of course looted, paying special attention to weapons.

"Well they can run away faster than you can move forward in good order, so I'd say take the win and get resupplied."

"Can we truly win like this though? The numbers may be impressive, but they can keep on regrouping and reinforcing, surely."

"It will take a while. Right now the main issue is simply a lack of army Readiness, we couldn't cross the border anyway."

"Word is that they have as any as 152,000 men fielded while we have 170,000. Though a good fraction of ours are actually in the deep south making rifles."

"Hmm, they're going to go on a recruiting spree soon enough. We may yet have to trade land for time, but the more we keep on chipping away at whatever they send across the better all our trades will be."

"I find it hard to imagine they could face our firepower and push us back now."

"Well, they can. Primarily by having so many bodies that we can't shoot enough of them and need to withdraw. Ideally we would win the actual battles and then move back in good order, taking fights and kicking them back piecemeal. But if they properly mass up... it will be a bit more complicated."

"Like getting together the force we had at New Market?"

"Yes, but also giving them the time and distance (from their lands) for supply constraints to choke their effectiveness. If they overstay their welcome, then they'll suffer for it. They might try to spread out and forage, that would be a different sort of mistake."

l

Notes:

Yes, it is "Layn Down" in the unit status. But if they are firing at someone, the status will read "Firing" regardless, so make sure to check your skirmishers are on the ground every now and then as they may move or something, meaning they stand up and don't get back down automatically.

Skirmishers are in loose formation so that gives them x0.66 casualties for free. If they are layn down, they get another x0.4 to that, which is a lot. You will take a range penalty, so x0.75 range. While x0.66 and x0.4 mean you take only a quarter the casualties as a standing brigade, that still doesn't get you to 10x or 20x of loss ratios. That would come down to the enemy having less range and moving back and forth, so they are also shooting a lot less compared to the player's brigades who can calmly keep reloading with no trouble. Ideally, of course.

Currently, standing soldiers can shoot over friendly units which are layn down. In previous versions you would have to carefully maneuver your brigades about so they could shoot around your skirmishers but now it's so easy. You can deploy your brigades in a massive line, have everyone deploy skirmishers, and have the skirmishers lie down. Similarly with artillery, now all artillery can shoot over friendly units (some restrictions) compared to never for non-howitzers before.

Obviously more weapon range is handy. But after the first few serious losses, a lot of the enemy will be using muskets so they will not only have a hard time outranging your skirmishers, your main brigade can be comfortably behind the skirmisher line and shooting the enemy brigades.

Enemies will lie down if they are taking fire and can't shoot back. However, they will stand up to shoot vainly at your skirmishers. Additionally, you need to be some distance away from hostiles to deploy skirmishers. A simple battle might be like this:
1. Beat back the enemy's skirmishers (quite easy, as they may be in loose formation but they don't lie down if your own skirmishers are in their face - this means they block their parent brigades...)
2. Have your skirmishers run into the enemy's face so the enemy will be in range (if the enemy are using muskets this will be rather close...)
3. Have your skirmishers lie down in front of them.
4. Have your brigades shoot the enemy to death, preferably use Advance commands to close in.
5. Don't run out of ammo before the enemy runs out bodies, if you can... specifically if you get close to the kill amount required for a Major Victory the enemy will usually quickly start pulling back and then start a retreat timer. As the requirement is expressed as a fraction of the enemy soldier count be very careful taking on forces much larger than you as they can just keep on walking into your bullets until you run out.