Welcome to Grant Takes Command!

This web site was developed in the hope that following along with a replay of the advanced game would encourage others to try it. Since we have greater freedom than a traditional magazine article, we'll be able to go into much greater detail than normally allowed. This includes every die roll, player comments and many more pictures to give you a better appreciation of the subtleties involved.

The commander of the Army of Northern Virginia for this replay will be Scott Spurgeon, while the Army of the Potomac will be commanded by Paul Nied. Neutral commentary will be by Ed Beach, who designed and developed Grant Takes Command. Hopefully, we can give you all a good show!

May 4: starting positions for the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia

Congratulations, General Grant! You've just been promoted to Lieutenant General, what are you going to do next? Obviously destroying the Army of Northern Virginia is your top priority, but how do you accomplish this? Our goal will be to drive on Richmond to force the ANV to advance out of their entrenchments and fight us on ground of our own choosing.

The army has 2 main axis of advance, based on your need to stay in supply. The first choice for supply is from the sea. You can base your supply depots at any landing hex but that will limit your advance to the eastern side of the map. If you choose to resupply from the sea, first build a depot at Port Royal then White House Landing. Port Royal will sustain you on your advance into Hanover county but will NOT supply any forces in either Louisa or Henrico counties. A depot in White House Landing will supply all the counties adjacent to Richmond except Goochland. There are also 2 ways to supply your army by railroad, the first through Culpeper along the Orange & Alexandria RR, the second from Fredericksburg along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac RR. Any attempt to attack Richmond from the west will have to enter Goochland county and you'll need a railroad depot to do this. If you choose to supply your army with the O & A RR be careful of Mosby's Raiders! You'll need to continually garrison Culpeper county to deter Mosby and still guard the actual railroad from any enemy destruction attempts. Note: any depot in Hanover county doesn't supply units in Spotsylvania county and vice versa!

We also have two secondary theaters to give the reb commander sleepless nights. First is General Butler and the Army of the James who will land at Bermuda Hundred and City Point to threaten Richmond and Petersburg! Butler and the AOJ will continue to attack until his opposing forces are firmly entrenched. Even if General Pickett and Beauregard are entrenched we just need a +2 retreat result to cause a panic! General Sigel will march his army down the Shenandoah Valley from Winchester through New Market towards Staunton. If we can capture Staunton we can be in a position to threaten Lexington and Lynchburg where we'll really start to rack up the victory points!

Union secret weapon: Colonel Emory Upton and his crack regiments. We'll wait until the enemy are asleep and watch as the enemy entrenchments disappear. (sshhh!)

The Confederate task is difficult and challenging-that is what makes it fun. As I see it I have an advantage Lee did not, after 40 turns (or thereabouts) I will have an end and I will play to delay Grant and frustrate his logistics to that point. He has more men and stronger units than I, but I have strong leadership and more maneuverability. I will try to use these assets to keep between Grant and Richmond as far from Richmond as I can.

Please note: this website will be viewed best using a monitor resolution of 1024 by 786. Unfortunately Netscape doesn't support the bitmap format, otherwise I'd be willing to put with the delay in loading to give you a better picture.