[reviewed/revised 16 Oct 2021]
Gaines Mill, fought correctly, should be one of the easiest CSA big-battle victories.
The rules regarding the forces you can bring to this are confusing. All you need to know, though, is that you should bring two corps, one of 20 and one of at least 15 brigades. The 20-brigade corps (“frontal attack”) will come in from the NW corner of the map, the other (“flanking attack”) from the NE corner. The NW corps will get its first 10 units at the start, the next 5 units at 1500, and the rest at around 1745. The NE corps will get its first 8 units around 1610, and another 5 or so after 1730. The battle will end at 1930, so the later-arriving units may not be able to contribute much, but even with 15 + 8 = 23 units in the main attack force it’ll be a walkover for CSA.
The strategy here is simple: bring the initial NW corps units N and then E to a place well out of sight near the NE corner of the map. Run the game on fast-forward. Wait. When reinforcements from this corps arrive from the NW at 1500, bring them by the same route to join the first bunch.
When the first set of brigades from the NE corps arrives after 1610, start all your units S/SE towards the upper flag (Boatswain Woods) and bring them in a fairly tight grouping down to take that flag, attacking from the N and NE.
Your force should then spread out to the E and start pushing/flanking its way toward the McGhee Hill flag. Take that flag before 1900 or so, and defend against Union counterattacks.
That’s it—all you need. Taking the lower left flag (Boatswain Hill) is not necessary.
Incidentally, this is one of the only UGCW battles in which CSA can incur significantly fewer casualties than it did in the real-life battle (~8K).
J&P Rebalance Mod (1.27.4.3) BG
The same strategy described above works when using this mod. You can bring up to 36 brigades in two corps from the NW and 30 from another two corps from the NE. Two corps of 20 brigades each is already more than you need, though. Melee cav are very strong in this mod, so for these grand battles always have at least a few of them on hand.
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