9-player Diplomacy - Balkan AAR

[tweber]

Turn 9, Northern Front

In the Crimea, the Russians were able to re-establish supply across the Kerch Strait. I sent reinforcements for now and moved a unit down from Rostov to cut the line next turn.

I fought a large battle in the Ukraine. My Romanian army engaged 2 Russian corps from the West and from the South. They were almost completely wiped out due to concentric attacks. I hope to start putting pressure on Kiev. My light units further east moved north and west to get in position to cut off Kiev.

At the head of the Dniester, 5 Russian tanks with no supporting infantry crossed the river. They were wiped out by a series of concentric attacks. Gernerally, you want infantry in with tanks in rough terrain. There is not a stack of Russian units sandwhiched between my Hungarian army to the south and the German army to the North.

Initially, I built my Romanian and Hungarian army as a defensive force so their mobility is limited. Most of the units are horse powered which works well in the rough terrain of the Balkans. I need to start mechanizing in order to better advance in the east.

[tweber]

Turn 9, Middle Eastern front.

This turn, I received offers of assistance from both the Italian and British players to help occupy the Middle East to allow me to focus on the battle in Russia. I told both sides that I welcome any help, but I am not going to wait while they sort things out in Egypt.

The Turks had cut the road to the south. I re-opened and pushed aside a blocking force in the southern pass. My tank corps on the Southern coast advanced and I landed a series of units in Syria in order to paint the road almost to Damascus. Using this approach, I was able to paint roughly 13 hexes of the road between Ankara and Damascus this turn. If I can keep the road open, I can strategic transfer units using my HQ in Ankara. This is much faster than driving down the road.

[tweber]

Turn 10, Southern Front.

Not a lot of activity this turn, mostly, I was moving my army into Syria. I built an airstrip in the desert out of range of naval gunfire. I hope to begin my assault on Damascus next turn. I dropped a unit south of Jersalem to cut supply to the Turkish troops manning the Nile line.

[tweber]

Turn 10, Northern Front

The Russians recapture Sevastopol and are advancing from Stalingrad. I move a unit down and cut supply to the Crimea. I hope to retake Sevastopol in the next few turns.

Further north, I clear the hex south of Kiev. The Russians have a strong garrison there. I will have to bring up more troops. I leave the northern road into Kiev open for the Germans. With all there tanks, they are much better positioned to capture the city.

To the east, I have a lot of units but they are very weak (mostly rifle and armored cars). Here, I am mostly painting hexes. I want to cut supply and reinforcement to the Kiev garrison.

[tweber]

Balkans Turn 11
 
Surprised at the sudden Russian collapse, my mobile units are racing to Moscow and Stalingrad.  I reoccupy Sevastopol.
 
In the middle east, I occupy Damascus and push all the way to the outskirts of Jerusalem.  The Jerusalem garrison is strong and will take more than I turn.
 
There was an alarmy increase in activity along the Italian border.  Italy built a fortification within 2 hexes of Zagreb.  The Balkan ambassador to Rome was recalled in haste after issuing a warning to all Balkan citizens in Italy to leave the country immediately.

[tweber]

Turn 12

The war shifts.

Southern front.

I mop up the remaining Turks in the middle east and capture Jerusalem. I have a mobile unit heading for the Mid East Oil hex. Will find out in the next turn or two if it is garrisoned.

Much to my surprise, the Turks stage a rebellion in Ankara and overcome the garrison there. The Turks now how a decent army in position. I set up an HQ in Istanbul and start send units back from the Mid East. A new campaign in central Turkey will start next turn.

Northern front.

I grab Stalingrad and Russia is now completely partitioned. The front appears quite and I start to shift my more powerful units to the Western Front.

Western front.

The war with Italy is starting. My navy can't seem to get a break and I get a bloody nose. Italy has 2 shipwarves and I have 3 so there will probably be a significant ammount of naval activity in the next few turns. Control of the seas will be important here.

On land, I assault Vienna but only weaken the garrison. My Hungarian unit is in good shape to capture the city next round if Italy cannot get alot of reinforcements there next round. The Italian campaign will not be easy as both our armies are relatively large. I probably have more troops while the Italians are farther along the tech tree.

[Joshuatree]

Just curious Tweber, what's the resolution and monitor size you're using?
(it looks great and I'm about to buy a new pc in the coming months)

[tweber]

I actually shrink the pictures to fit what I want to show. I normally work off a laptop.

Turn 13

Turkey and Russia are now out. I am in position to get the last Turkish resource hex in the Mid East next turn. The action shifts to the West with the Italians.

At sea, there was a series of battles with the Italian fleet, below is a picture of the naval situation. The Italian fleet was dispersed and I attack them piecemeal. I am able to sink 5 CG and a BB while losing a couple of DD and subs. The Italians still have a strong BB fleet so I combine my units. I have 7 subs in my main fleet so should do well if attacked.

[tweber]

Near the Italian / Austrian border, strong lines have developed. I focus on the North and capture Vienna after a 4 sided attack. I also push back a strong armored corps in the Austrian plains. This will be a tough line to crack and we both will face a war of attrition.

[tweber]

Turn 14
 
All the action along the front with Italy.  There is now a solid line of units between the Adriatic and Vienna.  We swapped casualties.  A bit of a stalemate for now.
 
 

[tweber]

Turn 15

All the action in the Italian theater. It is a slogging match at this point. I make decent progress in securing Austria.





For those following the action, right now there are 3 separate conflicts:

- Germany vs Sweden
- Balkans vs Italy
- Spain vs UK (thought units are not in contact as far as I can tell)

[tweber]

Turn 16

Fast turnaround this time. Looks like both Italy and I have the same idea. The Italians successfully invade Albania, I continue my invasion of Italy and conduct a few para drops to isolate Rome from the main front to the north. I divert Mid East production to contain the new threat. In the North, a couple of assaults and we trade hexes with equal casualties. The terrain is tough.

[tweber]

Turn 17.

All effort in on Italy now. I dropped some paras and landed some pickets along the Italian coast the previous turn to harass the Italians and bring troops south. Most of my forces were contained but Italy was forced to do some sea supply which I was able to interdict. My main fleet off Rome attacked a small naval force. I also found Albania undefended and recaptured the ship yard. Italy has some strong units in Albania and northern Greece, but they should be cut off. I reinforced the Gulf of Corinth and hope to prevent the Italian capture of a port.

Further North, Italy retreated a hex to shorten his line. I launched some coastly assaults but was not successful. The build up of forces is tough in such tight confines. Also, Italy is at a higher research level.

[tweber]

Turn 20.
 
The stalemate in Italy continues.  I declared war against Germany this round to take some pressure off of Scandanavia.  I was able to capture Kiev, Prague and isolate Munich.  A large force from Spain is apparently working it's way across Italy to help the Italian cause.

[tweber]

Turn 21.

Italy has retreated below the river line and has decided to let Spain slog in out in the north. The terrain is very tough so the action will be slow. I have managed to trap a large battle ship group on the coast and hope to eliminate next turn.

I continue to move against Germany and was able to capture Munich. The terrain is open here and he has a lot of tanks in the East that I will soon face.

In Africa, the army that originally faced off against Turkey is moving west against Tripoli. I am not sure if I will be fighting Italy or Spain when I get there. But, the troops have very high experience.

Britian declared war. I have a few cities in the Middle East and I hope to contain.

[tweber]

Turn 22. 
 
Things are starting to get messy.  Italy has retreated behind the Po River line and given half of her empire to Spain.  Spain is advanced into Northern Italy and we will be in contact next turn.  I get ready to meet this new offensive.
 
The UK has also declared war in Egypt.  I blow the bridge across the nile and line up to meet his offensive. 
 
Further West in Africa, I approach Tripoli.  Spain is also approaching from the West and is likely to capture the town first.  Looks like I will be fighting Spain both above and below Italy.
 
The war with Germany heats up.  I now have 4 army groups.  Going from East to West, I have a group in Kiev, in the Carpathians, near Budapest and near Prague / Munich. 

[tweber]

Turn 23

The conflict is now centered on 3 principle front - Northern Italy, the Polish / Cz / Ukraine border and Libya.

In Northern Italy and Libya, Spain joined the conflict and I gave him a bloody nose. I killed 17 tanks and almost 200 infantry. In Austria, I dig in along the Alps. Here is the front at the end of my turn.

[tweber]

In Libya, I watch as the British and then the Spanish unsuccessful assault Tripoli. Italy then abandons the town which I occupy. I then strike the Spanish unit to the West of the city gaining the hex. I then try to swoop down and drop a unit to the rear of the Spanish army, but the Spanish fleet is guarding the coast. Instead, I occupy Sfax and hope to threaten supply next turn.

[tweber]

In the East, the Germany's have two principle army groups moving south. I all but abandon Prague and set up a defensive line in the rough country North of the Carpathians and along the Danube. I also move troops East from Russia to threaten the German flank.

[tweber]

I hope the next round is shorter than 26 days.