[reviewed/revised 19 Oct 2021]

 

For the battle of Gettysburg, CSA brings a 20-unit corps to do most of the fighting on day 1, a 15-unit corps for reinforcement late on day 1, and a 24-unit corps for the day 2 battles on the Round Tops and Cemetery Ridge.

Either a day 1 or day 2 victory should be easy. I prefer the former.

All infantry for the 20-brigade corps. All cav, or as much as you can muster, for the 15-unit reinforcing corps. You will need to nominate a corps for the day 2 battle even if you don’t plan to let the Union survive that long, and if you are going to use it, you should include a couple of strong artillery units.

You start in either case by running your initial three brigades to take McPherson Ridge and set up a defensive line (arc) in cover there.

Use your first reinforcements to extend your lines to the north. Stand and shoot—keep your brigades in the “hold” position so they don’t twist and turn and get flanked—as the Union destroys itself in piecemeal charges at your lines across open ground.

Use your next reinforcements to “cap” Oak Ridge.

When the Federals are seriously weakened, which should be around 1200, you can advance the lower part of your line towards Oak Ridge, and, with the upper part, squeeze the remaining Federals off the Oak Ridge flag position.

Slowly, keeping your line intact and driving Union units before you, move south and east to and through Gettysburg town.

Your reinforcing corps will start arriving at 1300.

If you want a day 1 victory, simply keep your main line moving until it starts to surround Cemetery Hill. Your fast-moving cavalry reinforcements can then go in, all 15 units of them, and destroy/capture remaining Union forces including the several reinforcing brigades that will surge up from the SE corner of the map.

This can be a real extermination victory.

If you want the battle to continue for a day 2, ring Cemetery Hill on Day 1 with your forces but don’t get close enough to trigger the contested timer.

On Day 2 just take Little Round top, set up defensive positions on that and nearby ridges against Union brigades coming in from the N and E, and ultimately (1) sweep north to take the Cemetery Ridge flag, (2) while leaving at least several brigades to defend Little Round Top against a two-division Federal attack from the SE in the early evening, and ultimately (3) destroy all/most Union brigades on the map.

J & P Rebalance Mod (1.27.4.3) BG

This mod makes most battles easier compared to the vanilla BG campaign, but Gettysburg might qualify as an exception. It is harder at least initially for CSA, because the charges of the Union infantry, though just as suicidal for the Union as in vanilla BG, take a greater toll on CSA units and are more likely to rout them. Therefore, in the initial defensive phase before wrapping Oak Ridge, CSA should shorten and double up its defense line so that every Federal charge is met by multiple CSA fusillades. As in the suggestion above for vanilla BG Gettysburg, CSA can wait until USA is too depleted to attack further, and then squeeze the Federals off Oak Ridge and move down onto Gettysburg and Cemetery Hill, CSA’s reinforcing corps following from N and NE asap. Note that the first CSA corps on the field can bring up to 24 units, the day-one reinforcement 20 units (all-cav is best), and the day-two corps 30 units.

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