The Grand Ottoman-Russian-French alliance attacks poor Kaiser Ulver

[racndoc]

Oh, did I mention that the US is getting mighty PO'ed at the Kaiser's aggression:

[ulver]

Thanks for those completely up to date current screenshots. Aren’t you afraid I’ll exploit week points in the front? Oh wait - there aren’t any. [:@]

In case some readers of this thread are puzzled we should clarify that the 4th British corps in Constantinople is a bit of a workaround to assure that British supplies can be shipped to Russia. A non-Ottoman Entente corps seems to need to occupy the hex in order to assure the game register that the straits are Entente controlled and allow supply shipments to the Russians.

If the Fighting ever gets that far you should probably replace it with a French/Russian stack as that works just as well.

There is little for me to tell since you have brought the story fully up to date.

You did miss the exciting story of the early 1915 Russian offensive. I thought I’d show our readers a screenshot of the High Water mark of the Mar-Apr 1915 Russian advance. Kongsberg was getting worried I can tell you. I’m sure it was just a spoiling attack to test my defences but when it found they consisted of a cavalry screen they got scarily far. Glad you didn’t have any siege guns or East Prussia might have been done for. See my opponent’s screenshot above for the result of the German counterattack: Basically we ended back where we started



May 1915: Russian probing/infiltration isolate Kongsberg and the Germans prepare a drive to relive the siege. Wir Halten Köngsberg!!!

ORIGINAL: AdmSpruance

With minimal casualties for the TE the R&D effort is greatly advanced...Im researching everything but gas and ASW.....and Ulver wouldnt dare use unrestricted sub warfare and trigger early US/British entry.

With this Great War light we are waging everyone seems to be rolling in more production then they know what do with and Research being advanced in all fields. All I can say in reply to you is: Achtung Panzer!!!

The egg heads in Berlin are confidently looking forward to HG Wells like land Dreadnoughts with death rays

My submariners may not be the sharpest tools in the box – having failed to score a single hit so far and getting send home for repair twice – but don’t forget that if the US ever enters the war unrestricted submarine warfare will automatically be declared. A bit risky not to research it at all - perhaps the Austrian Submarines will end up having better luck after all.

PS: Did I send the British sub home this turn or did it just run out of torpedos?

[ulver]

ORIGINAL: AdmSpruance
I guess that I just dont "get" the naval combat in this game. I put all 5 British DNs in one TF in the North Sea and Ulver somehow gets DN King George to detach from the other 4 DNs and take on the entire German High Seas Fleet by herself.

I don’t care if everyone else reading this AAR considers you an idiot – I think your new blockading strategy in the North Sea both groundbreaking and quite charming. [:D]


Summer 1915: Who needs the Royal Navy to blockade German trade anyway? We can handle it declares the Tsar

[ulver]

ORIGINAL: AdmSpruance

Serbia is pretty much done and will surrender at any moment. I think that the main focus of the CP after Serbia will be to attack Turkey and stop the Brit Lend Lease to Russia.

That would be my wet semi-erotic fantasy obviously. Meanwhile in the real world I was, and remain, absolutely terrified at the prospect of you overrunning Bulgaria opening a huge front, linking up with Serbia and even Rumania. Just shutting the Balkans with as short a front as humanly possible and fortifying Bulgaria is enough for me.

Now we are on the Subject of Serbia: What does it take to make them quit? I have occupied every single Serbian city. Go home already.


Summer of 1915: Clearly the Serbians are unconcerned that the entirety of their country is occupied. Do I have to go kill the units in Austria as well?

[ulver]

This is turning into some sort of weird phoney war with no combat activity in the summer of 1915. Both sides seem paranoid about enemy intentions in the Balkans and rushes reinforcements to the Bulgarian/Ottoman border with orders to dig in and fortify in anticipation of a massive enemy offensive.

The Result is two huge armies constructing vast networks of trench fortifications without firing a single shot.



September 1. 1915: German artillery deployed to punish any attempted attack on Bulgaria. As it happens none seems to be forthcoming. Simultaneously the Entente mass their air force on the Ottoman side of the border – presumably to ruthlessly punish any German breakthrough with vast amount of air observed artillery fire. One imagine troops and airmen on both sides are pleasantly surprised by the resulting peace and quite

[ulver]

After a full year of fighting causalities all round remain remarkably light. By my count French losses so far have been non-existent with light casualties inflicted on the Russians. The Bulk of Entente causalities must be Serbian and Italians. Somewhere a vast Russian army must be rolling into place for a devastating offensive.



Status after the first year

[ulver]

In contrast with the peace and quite on land the long hot summer of 1915 sees a surprising amount of navy fighting.

First of all I can only presume the dreaded British Baltic sub patrols have finally run out of helpless liners with defenceless women and children to sink. They therefore promptly proceed to sink a German destroyer:

British 1st (Sub) firing on Ger 8th (DD) : 2 hits
German 7th (DD) firing on Br 1st (Sub) : 1 hits

In the Atlantic the German U-bots continue to be an embarrassment

British 4th (DD) firing on Ger 2nd (UB) : 1 hits
British 5th (DD) firing on Ger 2nd (UB) : 1 hits

One year of fighting and not a single hit on anything. Somebody needs to be fired. German U-boats suck. What can’t I build battleships instead?

In an attempt to cut the Entente lines of communications the Austrian navy sorties into the Eastern Mediterranean

Austrian Print Eugen (DN) firing on Br Invincible (BC) : 2 hits
Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Invincible (BC) : 1 hits
Austrian Habsburg (PD) firing on Br Invincible (BC) : 1 hits
Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br Invincible (BC) : 5 hits

Austrian Habsburg (PD) firing on Br Indefatiguable (BC) : 1 hits
Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Indefatiguable (BC) : 3 hits
Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br Indefatiguable (BC) : 1 hits
Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Indefatiguable (BC) : 3 hits
Austrian Habsburg (PD) firing on Br Indefatiguable (BC) : 1 hits

Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Ott Hamadive (CA) : 1 hits
Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Ott Hamadive (CA) : 4 hits

British Invincible (BC) firing on Aus Prinz Eugen (DN) : 3 hits
British Indefatiguable (BC) firing on Aus Prinz Eugen (DN) : 1 hits
British Invincible (BC) firing on Aus Prinz Eugen (DN) : 2 hits
British Indefatiguable (BC) firing on Aus Prinz Eugen (DN) : 2 hits
British Indefatiguable (BC) firing on Aus Tegetthoff (DN) : 2 hits

I call that a win. There won’t be any sealift across the Med this turn. Even better news follows. The German U-boats may suck but for the Austrian wolfs of the sea this is the happy time.

Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Fre 4th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Br 9th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Br 14th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Br 6th (DD) : 2 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Br 13th (Tr) : 2 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Br 15th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Fre 5th (Tr) : 1 hits


My warning about the Austrian submarine menace seems to have been prescient. Didn’t count on the might of the Austrian navy did you?

[hjaco]

ORIGINAL: ulver
The German U-boats may suck but for the Austrian wolfs of the sea this is the happy time.

Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Fre 4th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Br 9th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Br 14th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Br 6th (DD) : 2 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Br 13th (Tr) : 2 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Br 15th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 2nd (Sub) firing on Fre 5th (Tr) : 1 hits

My warning about the Austrian submarine menace seems to have been prescient. Didn’t count on the might of the Austrian navy did you?

I know your German SUBS sucks but you are aware that German SUBS can operate in the Mediterranean?

I am a bit confused/disappointed that you didn't build up an Austrian transport fleet instead to make a Gallipoli/Smyrna campaign?

[ulver]

ORIGINAL: hjaco

I know your German SUBS sucks but you are aware that German SUBS can operate in the Mediterranean?

I am a bit confused/disappointed that you didn't build up an Austrian transport fleet instead to make a Gallipoli/Smyrna campaign?

I keep trying to send German U-boats on patrol in the Med: They always get intercepted on the war by the nasty anti-sub patrols.

About Austrian transports – what makes you think I didn’t build them?

[ulver]

Taking advantage of the bad autumn weather the German High Seas Fleet attempt to slip a huge convoy of 6 transports into the Atlantic in November. The lone German DN and her escort cruisers count on cover by fog and seasonal storms to cover their running past the North Sea blockade. The ploy fails and the task force is intercepted by the Grand Fleet in the North Sea and gets hammered:

British Bellerophon (DN) firing on Ger Bayern (DN) : 3 hits
British St.Vincent (DN) firing on Ger Bayern (DN) : 2 hits
British Orion (DN) firing on Ger Bayern (DN) : 1 hits
British Iron Duke (DN) firing on Ger Bayern (DN) : 5 hits
British Argyll (CA) firing on Ger Pommern (PD) : 1 hits

German Bayern (DN) firing on Br Achilles (CA) : 4 hits
German Bayern (DN) firing on Br St.Vincent (DN) : 6 hits
German Pommern (PD) firing on Br Argyll (CA) : 2 hits
German Pommern (PD) firing on Br Argyll (CA) : 2 hits

Definitely a tactical victory for the Entente as the sole remaining operational DN is out of commission for years. However that is not the full story as the transports and raiding cruisers slips into the Atlantic. The raiding cruisers fails to intercept any Entente shipping, even so their mere presence is enough to grant the Central Powers control of the Atlantic and assure maximal trade benefit to 6 German transports. I consider it well worth the cost. Strategically a huge victory as this means 12 food + resources in German warehouses..

The news is less uplifting in the Eastean Med as the retreating Austrian DN gets intercepted back to port and is likely lost:

British Formidable (PD) firing on Aus Tegetthoff (DN) : 3 hits
British Leviathan (CA) firing on Aus Tegetthoff (DN) : 1 hits
British Formidable (PD) firing on Aus Tegetthoff (DN) : 1 hits
British Goliath (PD) firing on Aus Tegetthoff (DN) : 1 hits
British Leviathan (CA) firing on Aus Tegetthoff (DN) : 1 hits

Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Formidable (PD) : 1 hits
Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Goliath (PD) : 3 hits

Also in the Med the Austrian Subs perform acceptably:

Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Br 8th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Br 1st (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Br 9th (Tr) : 1 hits

Sacking the German U-boat chief also seem to have had some positive effect as they for the first time, and after having 2 subs sunk, actually archive something:

German 5th (UB) firing on Br 2nd (Tr) : 2 hits
German 1st (UB) firing on Fre 5th (DD) : 1 hits
French 6th (DD) firing on Ger 1st (UB) : 1 hits

Final verdict: Tactical victory for the Entente, strategic victory for the Central Powers.



Nov/Dec 1915: 6 German transports shipping in a Central Powers Atlantic. This is better then sex!!!!

[ulver]

Making Serbia finally surrender proved a lot harder then expected as I had to retake Austrian cities originally captured by the Serbians and hunt down their HQ’s hiding deep in Austria. When they finally do quit they refuse to cede their food producing hex.[:@]

Ah well, the Bulgarians at least should be happy with their greater Bulgaria including Skopje and its rich mines. One can only speculate as to what parts of Rumania and Greece the Bulgarians are eying next.....

Since I’m something of a food fetishist and obsessed about securing my flanks obviously Rumania is my next objective. I decide I can’t keep a strike force sitting around for up to a year waiting for the traitorous Rumanians to stab me in the back when it is least convenient. On November 1st Germany decides to act pre-emptivly.




November 1915: Serbia finally surrenders and Germany is about to requisition three more precious grain in Rumania.

[EUBanana]

Well...  without the OE and control of the French border resources, the CP economy will collapse completely by 1916.  Which means...  the Entente needs to invest heavily in making sure the Kaiser's transports are sunk!  Given the Brits are naval-only in this game that shouldn't be too hard though one would think.

[ulver]

Despite being heavely outnumbered in the air the first air losses in the game are inflicted by German aces.



November 1915: Knights of the air!!

[ulver]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

Well... without the OE and control of the French border resources, the CP economy will collapse completely by 1916. Which means... the Entente needs to invest heavily in making sure the Kaiser's transports are sunk! Given the Brits are naval-only in this game that shouldn't be too hard though one would think.

Actually we have both invested more in navy assets then I have ever seen before. 10 operational German transports – and they are not sitting by idly in port either.

Apart from an even more intensive submarine effort in the Baltic it is difficult to se what more he can do to sink my transports. The High Seas Fleet is paying a steep price for actively contesting the Atlantic and is currently down to no operational DN’s. Eventually his North Sea blockade will intercept my transports and that will be the end of them.

Why do you believe my economy will collapse by 1916? Storm troopers and Tanks should become available well before the US enters in late 1917 allowing me to resume the offensive with the aid of gas and capture additional resource hexes. Everyone has only suffered very slight losses but that also means that the Central powers have plenty of unused activation points

[ulver]

The Kaiser once again proves himself a gambler and order the large number of German transports and their escorting cruisers in the Atlantic to stay on station. The gamble pays off as the Royal Navy interferes very little with the German sea trade:

British Q. Elizabeth (DN) firing on Ger Pommern (PD) : 1 hits

Yes, that is pretty much it – guess the January darkness and fog covered me. On the Other hand, while their primary function is escorting German merchantmen, the German cruisers doesn’t let the chance to get a bit of raiding done pass:

German Yorck (CA) firing on Br 10th (Tr) : 2 hits
German Koln (CA) firing on Br 10th (Tr) : 1 hits

Meanwhile the Austrian subs keeps up the good work – notice the absence of any results at all on the part of German subs.

Austrian 3rd (Sub) firing on Fre 7th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 3rd (Sub) firing on Fre 1st (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 4th (Sub) firing on Fre 5th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 3rd (Sub) firing on Br 15th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 3rd (Sub) firing on Fre 2nd (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Rus 2nd (DD) : 1 hits

British 6th (DD) firing on Aus 5th (Sub) : 1 hits
Russian 2nd (DD) firing on Aus 1st (Sub) : 1 hits



January 1916: The goodies keeps flowing into Wihelmshaven

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: ulver
Why do you believe my economy will collapse by 1916? Storm troopers and Tanks should become available well before the US enters in late 1917 allowing me to resume the offensive with the aid of gas and capture additional resource hexes.

Well, in pretty much every game I've ever played as the CPs I always attack France to just bag those three resource hexes on the border (Verdun is a double IIRC), as they are economically very important.

Even with those hexes in CP hands from 1914 on, I still find that they are running on fumes by the time Bulgaria enters the war.

When Bulgaria does enter, they get a good 15-20 resources from the Ottomans which gives them a big and valuable boost, and from then on, the OE provides a pretty steady stream of resources to the Germans. Not enough, but enough to just about cling on.

So... with the Ottomans and those French resources I think the CPs can hold up economically until 1917, with a big reason for that being the buildup of resources in the OE which begins from the start of the game which comes over when Bulgaria joins. I've clung on till 1919 to win on points with the CPs before, against the whole world, but it was extremely touch and go.

Without the Ottomans, I woulda been toast in 1918 for sure if not 1917.

I think they are significant enough to make the OE a high priority for the Entente - thats why I had all my Brits lined up in Egypt in our game...

Everyone has only suffered very slight losses but that also means that the Central powers have plenty of unused activation points

Well, it is true that there are two sides to economic/attritional warfare - trimming back on the CP war economy, and bleeding the CPs. Both need to happen to push Germany to collapse.

[ulver]

After a lightning campaign in December 1915 the Rumanians give up on January 1st 1916.

Easiest conquest I ever made. The Rumanian army failed to garrison any of their cities, allowing me to walk right in unopposed without firing a single shot. No Russian reinforcements rail in either – I can only assume the Romanians doesn’t get rail moves in their first – and only – turn of war.


January 1916: Check out greater Bulgaria!!! My God, I’ve created a monster.

[ulver]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana
Well, it is true that there are two sides to economic/attritional warfare - trimming back on the CP war economy, and bleeding the CPs. Both need to happen to push Germany to collapse.

I tell you truly; I have no idea who is winning this war.

It is just remarkably and unusual in so many ways. The extraordinary light casualties on both sides to begin with. I suspect both sides have a deeply ingrained reluctance to launch our forces against level 4 entrenchments. I know I do and I have noticed how he much prefers digging in to counterattacking.

I suspect I am waiting for tanks and assault troops while he is waiting for the Americans, resulting in a strange bloodless phoney war on land with the main forces declining serious engagements. For now I’m content to secure my flanks while he is content securing his main fronts against attack.

I have never tried a “conserve forces and dig in” strategy with the Central Powers, having always found myself forced into a victory or bust all-out offensive by events.

You are right that normally the Central Powers will face complete collapse by 1918 if they fail to have delivered a decisive blow against either France or Russia by then. However things are unusual. For one thing food just isn’t an issue, with the capture of Romania I actually have a surplus of food production and in any case stockpiles of overseas grain could keep me going for years. There won’t be any collapse of domestic morale. He will have to take Germany the old fashioned way: One machine gun nest at a time.

I realise that 1918 will se him field an overwhelming superiority of material and men but he will have a few problems. I confidently expect to have shut down my flanks. Italy is gone and I expect to have the Balkans completely pacified forcing him to launch his offensive in the West against massive 3-hex deep level 4 entrenchments along a fairly narrow front.. His only alternative is to transfer tanks and assault troops to the east front - a process requiring a lot of shipping at a time where shipping will be at a premium and depending on an overloaded Ottoman/Russian rail network.

The thing is that he won’t have that much time. I really dodged the bullet with Rumania as that didn’t trigger any US reaction and I have been quite lucky with my diplomacy. Currently the US is scheduled to a Jan 1918 entry meaning he won’t have time to move a meaningful US/British attack force to the East and given that Central Powers are completely intact it will be both expensive and slow going in the West even with high tech tanks.

The sea war has been weird as well with believable successful German merchant fleet, completely useless German submarine efforts and a remarkable success at sea on the part of the Austrians of all people with their submarines.

He isn’t exactly hurting with shipping losses none the less a significant number of transports are being sunk. Enough to prevent him from building up a huge excess capacity prior to US entry and forcing him to spend considerable production replacing his shipping

I expect he regrets not investing in ASW from the start [8D]


Mar/Apr 1916 - Status strategic phase

[ulver]

In the spring of 1916 the battle of the Atlantic heats up with more action:

German cruisers raid British shipping:
German Roon (CA) firing on Br 5th (Tr) : 1 hits
German Koln (CA) firing on Br 11th (Tr) : 1 hits
German Yorck (CA) firing on Br 17th (Tr) : 1 hits

The British retaliate by raiding German shipping:
British Q. Elizabeth (DN) firing on Ger 4th (Tr) : 2 hits
British Royal Oak (DN) firing on Ger 4th (Tr) : 3 hits

5 hits on one TRS? I think you got him.

Then the bad news? This time the Royal Navy finds me in me in mid-Atlantic:
German Roon (CA) firing on Br Q. Elizabeth (DN) : 1 hits
British Q. Elizabeth (DN) firing on Ger Roon (CA) : 2 hits
British Royal Oak (DN) firing on Ger Koln (CA) : 4 hits

Meanwhile the Austrian submarine fleet continues to show the Germans how it is supposed to be done:

Austrian 4th (Sub) firing on Fre 7th (Tr) : 2 hits
Austrian 4th (Sub) firing on Fre 6th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 4th (Sub) firing on Fre 10th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 4th (Sub) firing on Fre 2nd (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 5th (Sub) firing on Fre 8th (Tr) : 1 hits
Austrian 3rd (Sub) firing on Fre 1st (Tr) : 2 hits
Austrian 5th (Sub) firing on Fre 3rd (Tr) : 1 hits

Russian 2nd (DD) firing on Aus 2nd (Sub) : 1 hits
British 6th (DD) firing on Aus 1st (Sub) : 1 hits

Austrian 1st (Sub) firing on Br 6th (DD) : 2 hits

Once again please notice the absence of any useful action by the German U-boats.[:@] Even so he is taking real shipping losses.


Marts/April 1916: Still plenty of shipping reaching Germany

[racndoc]

Havent posted for awhile....I have 2 WitP games in progress at the moment with AAR's so Ive been a bit busy.

Ulver asked me to comment on this mess so I thought that I'd add my 2 cents...


All I can say is that the diplomacy model and DoW models are interesting in this game. With Ulver's House Rules I negotiate away the British OOB. Then he takes advantage of the way the game models the initial turn of a defender after a DoW is declared(fixed initial deployment with no strategic movement allowed) to take out Italy and their OOB in the August 1914.

Now sure, you could put several French corps on the Italian border to help out Italy against an August 1914 DoW but then you lose GoA in a record 2 turns as Ulver did against hjaco.

So Ulver DoW's Italy and the Ottomans on Turn 1. The USA is mighty PO'ed...only 1 box short of a DoW. Then Ulver DoW's Rumania and walks into Constanta and Bucharest with no opposition...and Rumania surrenders in one turn with their 3 food and 1 resource hexes evenly split between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. This is either a _very_ great strategy or is incredibly gamey. This could become the de facto CP strategy every game after Bulgaria joins the CP...the TE has no defense for this. I had a half dozen Russian corps on the border of Rumania but they cant use strategic movement so are forced to "watch" Rumania's capitulation. And other than the CP needing a couple of corps to take Brasov from Rumania...the CP can just watch the bulk of the Rumanian army disappear from the game after one turn.

Now after the USA was one box short of a DoW in Sept. 1914.... and I have allocated one IP every turn towards USA activation..... AND then another DoW against Rumania....and NOW the USA is now several boxes away from entry. The CP diplomacy has been effective towards the USA almost every turn while the TE diplomacy has been effective maybe 2-3 times. The DoWs dont seem to be affecting USA entry enough to keep the CP from being complete warmongers and DoWing any country they choose. Its not just DoWing Belgium....there should be a type of "Badboy" rating for countries that DoW repeatedly as there was in Europa Universalis....the more you DoW the more upset the rest of the world becomes. And the diplomacy die rolls seem almost as unbalanced as the naval die rolls have been.