Serbia/Galicia -- 1914

[John B.]

So I challenged Rhinobones to the Serbia/Galica game as it looks like a lot of fun and not very long. I"m the gallant Serbs and the steam roller Russians and he's the polyglot Austrio-Hungarians. The first turn is easy from my perspective as there are no Russians on the map (as you can see) so all I have is reports of A/H forces moving north.

[John B.]

As you might imagine, things were a bit different in Serbia. He took Belgrade which is worth a LOT of VP. I could not mass for a counter attack so I moved one of my divisions up to dig in. Down in the south I attacked some of his cavalry regiments with out much success but in the north east I pushed a cav division back. I did not pursue but here I'm adopting a wait and see. I don't know where the second army is going and I want to be in position for a decent attack on Belgrade if I can must one up.

[MikeJ19]

Looks very interesting. I will enjoy watching this unfold!

[John B.]

Thanks! I think RB is a pretty good player so I have my work cut out for me!

[John B.]

End of turn 2. The Russians show up. I don't know where the A/H troops are so I'm fanning out to see if I can locate them. The Russians seem to get a lot of reinforcements so right now, I'm not too worried about him pushing on me. I hope to create pressure all over and find the gaps. And, as you can see, there are unidentified units on trains which leads me to believe that he has sent the 2nd army to Galicia. Makes sense. If he holds Belgrade he should be set for at tie at least so why not go for the win by attacking the Russians?

[John B.]

Meanwhile, I'm taking a bit of a gamble with the Serbs. While most of the units are digging in, I've been attacking on my right flank and pushing back his cavalry screen. If he doesn't have anything there, I might be able to surround Belgrade. If he does, then I won't.

[John B.]

We move into turn 3 and the Serbs seems to have forgotten to read the history books where they were gallant defenders. RB is pressing me hard on my left flank and my troops both retreated and are now reorganizing. No sense in him attacking from Belgrade since he has the 90 VP so he did not.

[John B.]

It does appear that he is sending troops back to Serbia but in Russia no contact at the start of the turn.

[John B.]

Sorry, that was the middle of my turn shot. As you can see, a lot of Russians showed up. I did not frontally assault him in the north and planned some attacks on his cavalry on my left flank (the bottom right of your screen.

[John B.]

My attack on his cavalry in Serbia pushed him back, but I think this is an offensive that needs to stop. I suspect I'll lose that brigade in the far north and all I did was push back some of his cavalary. I did bombardments up and down the line that cost him a few troops and then dug in where I could.

[John B.]

This is turn 5 at the start in Galicia. It looks as if RB is sending in reinforcements by rail as his line is under a lot of stress from the Russian hordes.

[John B.]

Near the end of my turn in Galicia the Russians have been pushing through on RB's right flank. I've been taking a LOT of casualties and can't quite figure that one out. His cav. units will inflict 10-1 on me sometimes while the entrenched infantry the ratio will be 1-1 or so. I've also noticed that in many of my attacks my staff tells me our prospects for success are poor and then the A/H infantry will retreat. There may be a proficiency difference there. You may not be able to see it on this picture, but the A/H far right flank looks as if it's starting to give way.

On RB's far right flank I'm content to just sit there. If I have a brigade tying up one of his brigades that's a win for me as I have many more troops on this front.

[John B.]

The bad news in Serbia is that RB continues to press on my left flank. The good news is that at the end of the turn I had retaken Belgrade. Another one of those staff predictions of bad results that turned out to be wrong.

As a general note, my troops on both fronts are starting to show wear and tear.

[MikeJ19]

I have always stayed away from WWI scenarios. My impression has always been that it is a slug fest with long and deep defence lines. I may reconsider later...

[Lobster]

Early years it was more fluid. East was more fluid than west.

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: Lobster

Early years it was more fluid. East was more fluid than west.

Much more fluid in the East and in the Middle East. As an interesting side note, I remember listening to a series of lectures several years ago where the professor pointed out that in Eastern Europe WWI is viewed as a war of liberation not an endless muddy slog.

[John B.]

Looks like Belgrade managed to hold on for a turn so they dug in a little deeper! RB sent me a PM stating that he is suffering from failed proficiency checks and I really feel his pain, but, better him than me. I think this is helping me in Serbia where my forces are very thin. Except for driving back a pesky A/H brigade this front was quiet in my turn.

[John B.]

Here is the starting position in Galicia. Along RB's long right flank I think he runs out of troops near the bottom. This is not that critical for him as there is nothing back there really worth much but if I can get free terrain I'll take it and there is a 20 VP city that I can eventually get to.

[John B.]

Here is the Galician front near the end of my turn. Bascially, I'm looking for his weak stacks and then I try to bludgeon them. It's a heavy toll, but, since I think my army is much larger than his if I can keep pushing him back I may be able to pick up Lemberg. There are only 5 turns or so left so RB just has to keep hanging tough.

[John B.]

Here are the forces at the start of turn 7 (I think we're about 2/3rds of the way through the scenario). RB is hanging tough in Galicia. He has managed to fill in his gaps and my troops are starting to get tired with a few of them showing up reorganizing.