Balkans1912

[John B.]

Here it is, 1912, and the Ottoman Empire (Green) is minding its own business when BOOM, the Balkan league attacks. Pouring over the borders are Greeks (White), Bulgarians (Red), Serbs and Montenegrins (Not sure). Meanwhile, waiting in the wings depending on how things go are Austria Hungry, Romania, and Britain. Austria does not like it if Scutari falls (it's on the Adriatic where the Green stack is or Constantinople (remember that today, if you have a date in Constantinople she'll be waiting in Istanbul).

The turks fall back and there is little fighting on the first turn except for some attacks in the north and a minor turkish counter attack against a Greek regiment.

[John B.]

Ah, but then the Balkan League gets two turns in a row. the Serbs (I figured it out, they're blue) continue to push in from the north but the Bulgarians go hard and appear to have come down through the mountains in an attempt to flank the defenses at Adrianople. The Turkish cavalry brigade holds for two attacks but then has to fall back, albeit in good order. A bulgarian brigade on teh coast had been subjected to Turkish naval bombardment but then broke through and pocketed a Turkish Corps. For my turn, I'm going to try to squish that brigade since it's vulnerable. I'll also move a corps from the sea of Marmara to try to deal with the capture of that rail bridge. Adrianople will be set to defend at all costs and I'm torn. Should I fall back from Thessaloniki and try to save those troops or dig in and see if the Greeks can push me out.

[John B.]

I'm not sure if you can see the red attack arrows, but the bulgarian brigade is surrounded and I've moved three divisions up to attack the brigade on the river. As the scenario notes say, this ain't 1944 so move a few hexes to get set up for these attacks takes a large chunk of the turn. And, the attacks are off and . . .

[John B.]

Scratch one Bulgarian Brigade. These lads may be about to experience Midnight Express on a large scale. [:D]

[John B.]

Unfortunately mildly ineffective hereditary monarchies ain't free and many Turkish youths go down for Sultan and Sultanate. The attack on the bridge weakens the other Bulgarian Brigade but don't take the hex back.

[John B.]

At the start of the Turkish turn 4 the Balkan league did not do much pushing. The Serbs have come down towards Thessaloniki but the Bulgarians did not do much and my supply lines are still open. I suspect that this turn except for attacking the bridge again I'm going to rest my own forces and dig in. At some point the Bulgarians will start to push on Constantinople but they have to take Adrianople first.

[devoncop]

Nice AAR John!

Great to see a period other than WW2 shown. Artillery is brutal in the WW1 game I am playing in MP at the minute .

Pity those Bulgarian captives !

[John B.]

Thanks! I figure everyone else has WWII covered so I'd try some of the other ones.

[John B.]

For turn 4 my one attack worked and I pushed back the Bulgarian Brigade. Otherwise, we were digging in to await the turn 5 onslaught.

[John B.]

which never really came. Oddly, the Balkan league contented itself with the Greek Navy bombarding Gallipoli and the Serbs rounding up units north near Scutari.

[John B.]

Taking advantage of Turk reinforcements, I pushed more against the Bulgarian brigade and went after an HQ that was on its own on the shores of the Black Sea. Both attacks were successful. The start of a Turkish counter offensive? Will the Ottomans make it to Vienna for a third try?

[John B.]

No. The Bulgarians came down like a wolf on the fold and started pushing against my southern wing so I'll have to pull back if I can. I've blown up the bridges so there is very little supply down there. I'm not doing anything with my troops in the Thessaloniki pocket since, as you can see, except for the troops actually in the city I'm cut off. But, the Balkan League was, again, pretty passive in its attacks. But we are still winning, just with lots of casualties.

[DanNeely]

A quick tip, if you use Alt+PrintScreen instead of just Print Screen to capture screenshots it only takes a shot of the current application not the entire desktop; leaving out things like your taskbar and whatever's behind your current app is its not maximized.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: DanNeely
A quick tip, if you use Alt+PrintScreen instead of just Print Screen to capture
screenshots it only takes a shot of the current application not the entire desktop;
leaving out things like your taskbar and whatever's behind your current app if
its not maximized.

Thanks for this tip.

[John B.]

I did not know that. Thanks for the tip!

[John B.]

Turn 6 has rolled around and the Turks are going to press their advantage on the Bulgarian's left flank and the Turkish navy sails out for guns and glory to engage the Greek navy.

[John B.]

The Greek navy is destroyed leaving the Turks uncontested control of the sea!

[John B.]

The naval victory seems to have shocked the Balkan league into quiescence as the Ottomans get two turns in a row. The navy sails off to bombard the Greeks outside of Thessaloniki and the Bulgarians are pushed back along their left flank. In the meantime, Turkish cavalry pursue the Bulgarian divisional HQ.

[John B.]

At the end of the Ottoman turn seven the Bulgarians are pushed back another hex but very low supply rates mean that the Ottomans won't be going too far. To the south, Turkish units attempt to reopen supply to Thessaloniki. We'll see how the Balkan League reacts.

[John B.]

BTW DanNeely, your alt+printscreen trick worked great! Thanks.[&o][&o]