As posted elsewhere in this Forum, Old Crow and I are currently play-testing my new Icarus mod for the 1914 campaign. Old Crow is recording his moves as Central powers on his You Tube Channel, Old Crow Balthazor's Strategic Arcana https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwnsBU ... ejmU5k9cOw.
I have written out a campaign blog describing my moves as Entente, which I have decided to move over to this Forum, since it is an AAR. Old Crow will be copying these posts as comments on his YT moves, so you can see both side of this play-test there. You can find a full description of the Mod changes posted above under Mods and Scenarios.
Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Last edited by mdsmall on Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 1: August 8, 1914
To complement Old Crow's narration on his You Tube Channel, I thought I would write the following "live blog" giving my thoughts and reactions to my side of the game. These will be written at the end of my Entente turns and will be posted along with Old Crow's narration.
Since this is also the first time that we have play-tested my new Icarus Mod for the game, I will include at the bottom of these entries notes about the new features of the mod, in particular those aspects which were relevant to the turns we have just completed. I have written a very long explanation of the entire mod (now posted in full on the Matrix Games Forum for SC World War One). But at 7500 words, that is a lot to post as a comment on You Tube. This way gives me a chance to divide it up into much more digestible chunks.
So, that was a hell of a "France First" opening from Old Crow! It looked more like France 1940 than France 1914, with his cavalry corps streaking across the undefended French-Belgian border to capture Lille and get within two hexes of Paris. Somehow, I have the feeling that he has practiced this opening before. I have never seen someone use the Forced March option so aggressively, including with at least one cavalry unit and I think two infantry corps. We will see if the morale hit his units take matter in terms of their ability to hold the ground they have taken.
Fortunately, France, Britain and Belgium all receive new units through mobilization scripts, either at the beginning or end of this turn. I play-tested the opening moves a couple of times in Hotseat mode to be sure I knew exactly where these units would arrive and which holes in the line I could count on them to fill. It was said in August 1914 that French generals were sending reinforcements to the front line in Paris taxicabs. That certainly happened in this move.
It also helped that in this mod, in return for a house rule that neither side would sell tech chits on turn 1, I gave France enough MPPs to operationally move two corps (see comments on the mod below). This enabled me to rail one corps in front of Boulogne and another north of Chalons.
Elsewhere on the board, the Serbians put up a valiant defence of Belgrade on Turn 1. I briefly considered reinforcing the detachment that survived there, but decided it was more important to keep as many Serbian units alive as possible. So, I moved it behind the line, and for the same reason, I retreated the detachment in Vallejo to a better defensive position one hex south. The Serbs have now entrenched along the line of hills south and west of Belgrade. I used Serbia's 25 MPPs to operationally move the one corps that starts on Uskub up to Kragujevac behind the main line. I also moved the 8 strength Serbian HQ from Nish up behind the line as well. This may be risky, but I did this to ensure that all the corps on the defensive line are at supply strength 6 and thus can reinforce next turn.
My opening moves on the Russian front were pretty straightforward. I used my cavalry to scout ahead to good effect, except for north of Warsaw, where an overambitious move with one cavalry unit ran into an entrenched German corps. After taking a big hit, the surviving 4 strength cavalry unit was able to retreat. I moved the bulk of my Russian armies in the south forward into Galicia, where I hope to put pressure on the Austro-Hungarian defences around Lemberg.
In the North Sea, I occupied the German blockade hexes with the British navy. In the Adriatic, I positioned the French and British fleets at the mouth and stationed one French sub at front.
No money for tech investments or purchases this turn. I cranked up both the French and Russian convoys to Serbia to the max, so that Serbia will be able to build up its strength next turn.
At the end of the move, I accepted the British DE to plan to capture Basra once the Ottomans go to war (a no-brainer); and the DE to seize the British dreadnought destined for the Ottomans (I did not feel so worried about the situation in France that I felt I needed to delay the Ottomans entry into the war by sending them the dreadnought). France also accepted the DE to buy a Marine division to defend Boulogne for 50 MPPs. Along with the cost of mobilizing the French army on Turn 1, and some of loss of production to the Germans, I was unpleasantly surprised to see that France will start the next turn with only 91 MPPs. Will just have to make do.
MOD NOTES
Starting MPP levels and Selling Tech Chits
To start the game, Germany has been given 60 MPPs; Austria-Hungary, Russia and France have each been given 44 MPPs. In return, players should observe a house rule that they will not sell any tech chits on the first turn (only).
Comment: this house rule is needed to reduce the Central Powers first mover advantage which can be greatly magnified by selling tech chits on the first turn. To compensate, extra MPPs have been given to these four Majors to enable them to operate two or three corps on the first turn.
Infantry Combat
The attack and defence strength of infantry units in combat with other infantry (Hard Targets) is now the same. Thus Corps (including ANZAC Corps and Stormtroopers) have attack/ defence values against Hard Targets of 4 - 4. Infantry divisions, including Marines, now have attack/defence values of 3 - 3. Detachments have an attack/defence value of 2 - 2. This represents a 1-point increase in the defence strength of Corps and Divisions and a 1-point reduction in the defence strength of Detachments.
Comment: these changes to infantry defence values will increase the number of 2-2 or 3-3 combat results, resulting in greater attrition on both sides. Detachments had their defence strength reduced as they were overly powerful for their low cost (one third of the cost of Corps).
To complement Old Crow's narration on his You Tube Channel, I thought I would write the following "live blog" giving my thoughts and reactions to my side of the game. These will be written at the end of my Entente turns and will be posted along with Old Crow's narration.
Since this is also the first time that we have play-tested my new Icarus Mod for the game, I will include at the bottom of these entries notes about the new features of the mod, in particular those aspects which were relevant to the turns we have just completed. I have written a very long explanation of the entire mod (now posted in full on the Matrix Games Forum for SC World War One). But at 7500 words, that is a lot to post as a comment on You Tube. This way gives me a chance to divide it up into much more digestible chunks.
So, that was a hell of a "France First" opening from Old Crow! It looked more like France 1940 than France 1914, with his cavalry corps streaking across the undefended French-Belgian border to capture Lille and get within two hexes of Paris. Somehow, I have the feeling that he has practiced this opening before. I have never seen someone use the Forced March option so aggressively, including with at least one cavalry unit and I think two infantry corps. We will see if the morale hit his units take matter in terms of their ability to hold the ground they have taken.
Fortunately, France, Britain and Belgium all receive new units through mobilization scripts, either at the beginning or end of this turn. I play-tested the opening moves a couple of times in Hotseat mode to be sure I knew exactly where these units would arrive and which holes in the line I could count on them to fill. It was said in August 1914 that French generals were sending reinforcements to the front line in Paris taxicabs. That certainly happened in this move.
It also helped that in this mod, in return for a house rule that neither side would sell tech chits on turn 1, I gave France enough MPPs to operationally move two corps (see comments on the mod below). This enabled me to rail one corps in front of Boulogne and another north of Chalons.
Elsewhere on the board, the Serbians put up a valiant defence of Belgrade on Turn 1. I briefly considered reinforcing the detachment that survived there, but decided it was more important to keep as many Serbian units alive as possible. So, I moved it behind the line, and for the same reason, I retreated the detachment in Vallejo to a better defensive position one hex south. The Serbs have now entrenched along the line of hills south and west of Belgrade. I used Serbia's 25 MPPs to operationally move the one corps that starts on Uskub up to Kragujevac behind the main line. I also moved the 8 strength Serbian HQ from Nish up behind the line as well. This may be risky, but I did this to ensure that all the corps on the defensive line are at supply strength 6 and thus can reinforce next turn.
My opening moves on the Russian front were pretty straightforward. I used my cavalry to scout ahead to good effect, except for north of Warsaw, where an overambitious move with one cavalry unit ran into an entrenched German corps. After taking a big hit, the surviving 4 strength cavalry unit was able to retreat. I moved the bulk of my Russian armies in the south forward into Galicia, where I hope to put pressure on the Austro-Hungarian defences around Lemberg.
In the North Sea, I occupied the German blockade hexes with the British navy. In the Adriatic, I positioned the French and British fleets at the mouth and stationed one French sub at front.
No money for tech investments or purchases this turn. I cranked up both the French and Russian convoys to Serbia to the max, so that Serbia will be able to build up its strength next turn.
At the end of the move, I accepted the British DE to plan to capture Basra once the Ottomans go to war (a no-brainer); and the DE to seize the British dreadnought destined for the Ottomans (I did not feel so worried about the situation in France that I felt I needed to delay the Ottomans entry into the war by sending them the dreadnought). France also accepted the DE to buy a Marine division to defend Boulogne for 50 MPPs. Along with the cost of mobilizing the French army on Turn 1, and some of loss of production to the Germans, I was unpleasantly surprised to see that France will start the next turn with only 91 MPPs. Will just have to make do.
MOD NOTES
Starting MPP levels and Selling Tech Chits
To start the game, Germany has been given 60 MPPs; Austria-Hungary, Russia and France have each been given 44 MPPs. In return, players should observe a house rule that they will not sell any tech chits on the first turn (only).
Comment: this house rule is needed to reduce the Central Powers first mover advantage which can be greatly magnified by selling tech chits on the first turn. To compensate, extra MPPs have been given to these four Majors to enable them to operate two or three corps on the first turn.
Infantry Combat
The attack and defence strength of infantry units in combat with other infantry (Hard Targets) is now the same. Thus Corps (including ANZAC Corps and Stormtroopers) have attack/ defence values against Hard Targets of 4 - 4. Infantry divisions, including Marines, now have attack/defence values of 3 - 3. Detachments have an attack/defence value of 2 - 2. This represents a 1-point increase in the defence strength of Corps and Divisions and a 1-point reduction in the defence strength of Detachments.
Comment: these changes to infantry defence values will increase the number of 2-2 or 3-3 combat results, resulting in greater attrition on both sides. Detachments had their defence strength reduced as they were overly powerful for their low cost (one third of the cost of Corps).
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 2: August 22, 1914
I thought last turn I had done a pretty good job and recreating a line in Belgium and northern France that would hold for a few turns until the CP advanced guard had recovered from their forced marches and additional corps arrive from Germany. Not true. Old Crow hammered the Belgians, destroying their one remaining corps south-west of Antwerp and almost wiping out the detachment defending Ypres (had the die rolls gone differently, I think he could have eliminated it). Looking at the Western Front, Belgium looks indefensible at this stage - the only unit I should be able to salvage is their general (King Albert). So far, great play by Old Crow - I don't think I have seen Belgium fall in three turns. I considered not bothering to reinforce the Ypres detachment at all - since it is doomed, and I could have used the MPPs to invest in one more chit of trench warfare for the UK. In the end, I decided that if it takes three of his units to kill the detachment, it will be worth it in terms of buying me a little more time before he can throw full force against my main line. I would say the chance of Belgium surviving at this point by next turn are maybe 40 - 60 against. If Antwerp hangs on until turn 6, it will surely fall on turn his following turn (turn 7).
Meanwhile on the rest of the Western Front, the situation was quiet this turn. I moved corps into position in front of Paris and Amiens, using the B.E.F. to great effect I reinforced my line north of Chalons with newly mobilized French troops and additional corps brought up to front using operational movement. The salient forming around on Verdun is going to be a worry. It will be interesting to see if he concentrates attacks in that sector to before he gets level 1 artillery in 1915, or if he continues to hammer in the north to push his way to Boulogne. He will probably try to do both. The limiting factor will be the attrition he will suffer in launching attacks without artillery.
The Serbian front is better news. I suspect he has opted to send the Second Army north to hold off the Russians, since he launched no attacks on the Serbian line last turn. Serbia had the luxury of 99 MPPs this turn which I spent reinforcing my corps and building up the strength of the level 8 Serbian general (Putnik) to level 10. The latter choice was coin toss versus spending more on front line units, but I find if general are understrength, their combat value drops considerably. If I have to retreat the general next turn, I would rather it already be at full strength. I am relatively optimistic that the Serbs will hold the hill line south of Belgrade for a couple of turns at least, given that the Austro-Hungarian corps are less experiences and their generals are lower rated than Putnik.
The Russian front is proceeding well. I decided to use my superiority in numbers in Galicia to destroy the sacrificial corps in front of Lemberg. My losses were equivalent to his in terms of strength points, 10 each. I did a small attack in East Prussia around the Masurian Lakes to put a little additional pressure on him there. As the Russian forces build up, I will have to decide whether to maintain maximum pressure on the Austro-Hungarians, or to divert some reinforcements to East Prussia, with the objective of drawing away a couple of German corps from the Western Front.
Naval operations were quiet this turn. I positioned British and French ships to cover most of the distant blockade line. In 1914, the German navy, if it is bold, can use the fact the Britain has no submarines or seaplanes for scouting to carry out a major surprise attack against British ships blockading the North Sea line. I have had this done to me before and it is not pretty. Hence, I have kept all my capital ships close to Scapa Flow and am bringing up one French sub from the Med to help scout.
In terms of DEs, I opted for Kitchener's New Army for the U.K (a no-brainer) and to have the second Serbian general, Jankovic, deploy for Montenegro rather than Serbia. This is standard choice, as Serbian generals cannot command give their command bonuses to Montenegrin units (Montenegro is a "non-cooperating" minor of Serbia). I notice that Old Crow has opted to form Pilsuski's Polish half strength detachment, at the cheaper rate of only 1 X 30 MPPs which I set in this mod.
In terms of investments:
- Britain invested 150 MPPs on three Trench Warfare chits.
- French could only buy one Trench warfare tech chit. I dialed back the French convoy to Serbia to zero for next turn so I can do more serious tech investments for France.
- Serbia spent just about everything on reinforcing their understrength corps.
- Russia invested in two Trench Warfare chits and saved about 46 MPPs for next turn.
MOD NOTES
Here is the overview I have written to introduce this mod. New pop-ups describing some of these features will start to appear next turn.
Overview
The primary purpose of this mod is to expand the range of strategic options available to both sides, using the existing game system (version 1.08). The core campaign areas of the game, on the Western and Eastern fronts, in Italy and in the Balkans, are largely unchanged. But many events have been added to make the Ottoman Empire a more interesting theatre of war and to bring more minor powers into the game. Some of the new features make historical events more plausible as options for players - like the Gallipoli campaign, the Arab Revolt, the Persian theatre of war, or the Zimmerman Telegram. Other features have been added which did not happen but could have - like the Ottomans extending a railroad to Baghdad, or Sweden starting a convoy to Britain through Norway. Diplomacy has been made more powerful, combined with a range of new options with minors which can only be achieved through the creative use of diplomacy.
A second purpose of this mod is to slow down the tempo of the war so that games will more often run to 1917 or 1918 before they are decided. This should allow players to experiment with new technologies that only emerge in the later stages of the war. Infantry corps defensive strength has been slightly increased, making combat losses more balanced between attackers and defenders, especially in the early stages of the war. The lethality of artillery has been reduced by restricting the number of shells that artillery units can store and by slowing down investment in Gas /Shell production. Heavy Artillery units are introduced. Counter-battery fire can now take place. Tanks have been made more effective. Several kinds of air-power tech have been made cheaper to encourage investment in them. German storm-trooper units with some unique capabilities have been added, starting in late 1917.
Strategically, the naval campaign in the North Sea and the North Atlantic has been made more deadly by increasing the impact in 1917 and 1918 on national morale of the British blockade against Germany and German submarine warfare against Britain. The national morale impact on Russia of losing Warsaw has been somewhat reduced, which makes it more likely that Russia will hold on for longer in the East. If powers can recapture lost national morale objectives, they can win back lost national morale points. These changes should give both sides more capacity to hold on until at least 1917, increasing the odds that the United States will enter the war. At that point both sides should be in a race to see which side can push the other's national morale to the breaking point.
I thought last turn I had done a pretty good job and recreating a line in Belgium and northern France that would hold for a few turns until the CP advanced guard had recovered from their forced marches and additional corps arrive from Germany. Not true. Old Crow hammered the Belgians, destroying their one remaining corps south-west of Antwerp and almost wiping out the detachment defending Ypres (had the die rolls gone differently, I think he could have eliminated it). Looking at the Western Front, Belgium looks indefensible at this stage - the only unit I should be able to salvage is their general (King Albert). So far, great play by Old Crow - I don't think I have seen Belgium fall in three turns. I considered not bothering to reinforce the Ypres detachment at all - since it is doomed, and I could have used the MPPs to invest in one more chit of trench warfare for the UK. In the end, I decided that if it takes three of his units to kill the detachment, it will be worth it in terms of buying me a little more time before he can throw full force against my main line. I would say the chance of Belgium surviving at this point by next turn are maybe 40 - 60 against. If Antwerp hangs on until turn 6, it will surely fall on turn his following turn (turn 7).
Meanwhile on the rest of the Western Front, the situation was quiet this turn. I moved corps into position in front of Paris and Amiens, using the B.E.F. to great effect I reinforced my line north of Chalons with newly mobilized French troops and additional corps brought up to front using operational movement. The salient forming around on Verdun is going to be a worry. It will be interesting to see if he concentrates attacks in that sector to before he gets level 1 artillery in 1915, or if he continues to hammer in the north to push his way to Boulogne. He will probably try to do both. The limiting factor will be the attrition he will suffer in launching attacks without artillery.
The Serbian front is better news. I suspect he has opted to send the Second Army north to hold off the Russians, since he launched no attacks on the Serbian line last turn. Serbia had the luxury of 99 MPPs this turn which I spent reinforcing my corps and building up the strength of the level 8 Serbian general (Putnik) to level 10. The latter choice was coin toss versus spending more on front line units, but I find if general are understrength, their combat value drops considerably. If I have to retreat the general next turn, I would rather it already be at full strength. I am relatively optimistic that the Serbs will hold the hill line south of Belgrade for a couple of turns at least, given that the Austro-Hungarian corps are less experiences and their generals are lower rated than Putnik.
The Russian front is proceeding well. I decided to use my superiority in numbers in Galicia to destroy the sacrificial corps in front of Lemberg. My losses were equivalent to his in terms of strength points, 10 each. I did a small attack in East Prussia around the Masurian Lakes to put a little additional pressure on him there. As the Russian forces build up, I will have to decide whether to maintain maximum pressure on the Austro-Hungarians, or to divert some reinforcements to East Prussia, with the objective of drawing away a couple of German corps from the Western Front.
Naval operations were quiet this turn. I positioned British and French ships to cover most of the distant blockade line. In 1914, the German navy, if it is bold, can use the fact the Britain has no submarines or seaplanes for scouting to carry out a major surprise attack against British ships blockading the North Sea line. I have had this done to me before and it is not pretty. Hence, I have kept all my capital ships close to Scapa Flow and am bringing up one French sub from the Med to help scout.
In terms of DEs, I opted for Kitchener's New Army for the U.K (a no-brainer) and to have the second Serbian general, Jankovic, deploy for Montenegro rather than Serbia. This is standard choice, as Serbian generals cannot command give their command bonuses to Montenegrin units (Montenegro is a "non-cooperating" minor of Serbia). I notice that Old Crow has opted to form Pilsuski's Polish half strength detachment, at the cheaper rate of only 1 X 30 MPPs which I set in this mod.
In terms of investments:
- Britain invested 150 MPPs on three Trench Warfare chits.
- French could only buy one Trench warfare tech chit. I dialed back the French convoy to Serbia to zero for next turn so I can do more serious tech investments for France.
- Serbia spent just about everything on reinforcing their understrength corps.
- Russia invested in two Trench Warfare chits and saved about 46 MPPs for next turn.
MOD NOTES
Here is the overview I have written to introduce this mod. New pop-ups describing some of these features will start to appear next turn.
Overview
The primary purpose of this mod is to expand the range of strategic options available to both sides, using the existing game system (version 1.08). The core campaign areas of the game, on the Western and Eastern fronts, in Italy and in the Balkans, are largely unchanged. But many events have been added to make the Ottoman Empire a more interesting theatre of war and to bring more minor powers into the game. Some of the new features make historical events more plausible as options for players - like the Gallipoli campaign, the Arab Revolt, the Persian theatre of war, or the Zimmerman Telegram. Other features have been added which did not happen but could have - like the Ottomans extending a railroad to Baghdad, or Sweden starting a convoy to Britain through Norway. Diplomacy has been made more powerful, combined with a range of new options with minors which can only be achieved through the creative use of diplomacy.
A second purpose of this mod is to slow down the tempo of the war so that games will more often run to 1917 or 1918 before they are decided. This should allow players to experiment with new technologies that only emerge in the later stages of the war. Infantry corps defensive strength has been slightly increased, making combat losses more balanced between attackers and defenders, especially in the early stages of the war. The lethality of artillery has been reduced by restricting the number of shells that artillery units can store and by slowing down investment in Gas /Shell production. Heavy Artillery units are introduced. Counter-battery fire can now take place. Tanks have been made more effective. Several kinds of air-power tech have been made cheaper to encourage investment in them. German storm-trooper units with some unique capabilities have been added, starting in late 1917.
Strategically, the naval campaign in the North Sea and the North Atlantic has been made more deadly by increasing the impact in 1917 and 1918 on national morale of the British blockade against Germany and German submarine warfare against Britain. The national morale impact on Russia of losing Warsaw has been somewhat reduced, which makes it more likely that Russia will hold on for longer in the East. If powers can recapture lost national morale objectives, they can win back lost national morale points. These changes should give both sides more capacity to hold on until at least 1917, increasing the odds that the United States will enter the war. At that point both sides should be in a race to see which side can push the other's national morale to the breaking point.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 3: September 5, 1914
Well, as I expected Belgium surrendered last turn. The Ypres detachment did hold against three attacks, and the CP did not attack my main French/British line. I was able to get the Belgian general to safety and under the "Free Units" rule, he does not surrender. In this mod though, Belgium's surrender affects both British and French National Morale - see the mod notes below for this turn. Elsewhere, I was able to reinforce my line in France. It is a very curvy line and should result some fierce attacks once artillery arrives (and probably before) on the exposed corners.
Serbia turned out to be a zone of tranquility - no attacks, few reinforcements. I am sure now that he has sent the 2nd Army north to defend Galicia. My expectation is that the Balkans should be quiet for the rest of 1914 and he is waiting to get Artillery Weapons 1 before starting a push against Serbia.
In Russia, I think I had a good turn. The odds of a direct attack on Lemberg are fierce - 3-0 and 4-0 results for the first wave of attacks. Given Russian numerical superiority, I am willing to lose up to 20 strength points to take Lemberg and kill one Austro-Hungarian corps. But I decided to flank Lemberg first by killing the corps defending Rawa-Ruska, just west of Lemberg (and the site of major battles in the opening days on the way). This enabled me to surround his corps on Lemberg on four sides, which means that I can attack across at least one hex side which is not entrenched. This should help the odds in subsequent attacks.
Using the reinforcements that have been building up around Moscow, I decided to infiltrate the holes in his line in East Prussia and railed in two more corps to fill the gaps in front of Gumbinen. He had a big advantage in generalship in this sector - Hindenburg with a rating of 8 versus Von Rennekamp (the nearest Russian general) who is only worth 3. I will almost certainly sack and replace him next turn - but because I can do that at the beginning of the turn, I decided to save the MPPs for tech investments this turn. But if he holds his current positions in East Prussia, he risks getting surrounded in several places. It will be interesting to see where he chooses to stand and fight back, or if he retreats. Either way, I anticipate that he will rail in a couple of fresh corps from Germany.
I accepted the French DE to pay for General Foch - whose command rating is needed to stiffen France's defences. I also decided - after a little reflection - to send the first British Indian Corps to Egypt, rather than France. Although the UK only has the B.E.F. on the ground in France, I felt I needed one solid corps in Egypt to help defend it when the Ottomans enter the war - which they should by mid to late October.
In terms of tech, France was able to buy 3 Trench Warfare chits this turn, so they now have four. For the UK, I bought both one chit on Infantry Weapons and one on Artillery Weapons. For Russia, I bought two chits for Trench Warfare (so they now have four) and one chit for Infantry Weapons. I like to invest in that tech very early, as you can only invest one chit in it, so you need a lot of time to see the results - usually a full year. I find it is best to invest it early and get it done. It means delaying the arrival of Artillery Weapons 1 for another turn, but I prefer to get the defensive fundamentals done first. It is tough attacking or defending against an enemy that has a significant head start in Infantry Weapons.
MOD NOTES
This turn Belgium surrendered - so below are what is new in this mod when minors surrender. Plus, both sides received new pop-ups about Denmark, and the CP received one about Norway. So here are the mod notes on what is new in this mod in Scandinavia, plus the changes made regarding unit morale when minors surrender.
Impact on Unit Morale of Surrenders
The standard settings that penalize the morale of land and sea units when a minor or major power on the same side surrenders have been eliminated. Instead, the impact of a surrender is registered on National Morale, not at the unit level.
Comment: it has long seemed unbalanced to me that the surrender of minors would have an impact on the morale of majors, apart from possibly their direct parent. Since it not possible to fine-tune these settings in the Game Editor, I have simply set them to zero.
Surrender and Liberation of Minors
The UK and France will lose 2000 NM if Belgium surrenders. They can recoup those NM points if
Belgium is subsequently liberated.
France and Russia can recoup the NM the points they lose when Serbia surrenders if Serbia is subsequently liberated.
Denmark:
If Denmark swings to 30% for the Central Powers, a loop is created in the Baltic allowing German ships to move through Denmark from the Baltic to the Kattegat. German ships can also use the existing loop to move into the Baltic through Denmark without a causing Denmark to swing to the Entente.
If Denmark swings 40% to the Entente, the same provisions will apply to all Entente ships.
Comment: these options create a limited ability for both sides to move from the Baltic to the North Sea without bringing Denmark fully into the war. It could lead to more naval combat in the Skagerrak and the Kattegat around Denmark, or the lower Baltic.
Norway:
If Norway swings to 40% for the Central Powers, Germany obtains control of the ports of Bergen and Stavanger.
Comment: these ports could prove very useful for German attacks against the Entente blockade line in the North Sea.
The Norwegian convoy to the U.K. that is triggered when Norway reaches 20% for the Entente will shift from Narvik to Trondheim if Sweden also moves to 20% for the Entente.
Sweden:
If Sweden and Norway both reach 20% to the Entente, the Swedish convoy will be re-routed through Narvik and will flow to the U.K. To enable this, the port of Narvik and three rail hexes in northern Norway will be transferred to Sweden. This convoy is worth 30 MPPs per turn; unlike the Swedish convoy to Germany, it is not affected by winter as Narvik is an ice-free port.
If Narvik is being used by Sweden, the Norwegian convoy to the U.K. will shift to Trondheim. Both convoys will terminate in the port of Rosyth in Scotland rather than Cromarty.
Comment: This is intended to give the Entente an additional incentive to use diplomacy to swing Sweden away from the Central Powers. Rosyth is a much bigger industrial center and thus a more logical endpoint for these convoys than Cromarty. The slightly longer convoy route may offer some additional raiding options for German subs.
Well, as I expected Belgium surrendered last turn. The Ypres detachment did hold against three attacks, and the CP did not attack my main French/British line. I was able to get the Belgian general to safety and under the "Free Units" rule, he does not surrender. In this mod though, Belgium's surrender affects both British and French National Morale - see the mod notes below for this turn. Elsewhere, I was able to reinforce my line in France. It is a very curvy line and should result some fierce attacks once artillery arrives (and probably before) on the exposed corners.
Serbia turned out to be a zone of tranquility - no attacks, few reinforcements. I am sure now that he has sent the 2nd Army north to defend Galicia. My expectation is that the Balkans should be quiet for the rest of 1914 and he is waiting to get Artillery Weapons 1 before starting a push against Serbia.
In Russia, I think I had a good turn. The odds of a direct attack on Lemberg are fierce - 3-0 and 4-0 results for the first wave of attacks. Given Russian numerical superiority, I am willing to lose up to 20 strength points to take Lemberg and kill one Austro-Hungarian corps. But I decided to flank Lemberg first by killing the corps defending Rawa-Ruska, just west of Lemberg (and the site of major battles in the opening days on the way). This enabled me to surround his corps on Lemberg on four sides, which means that I can attack across at least one hex side which is not entrenched. This should help the odds in subsequent attacks.
Using the reinforcements that have been building up around Moscow, I decided to infiltrate the holes in his line in East Prussia and railed in two more corps to fill the gaps in front of Gumbinen. He had a big advantage in generalship in this sector - Hindenburg with a rating of 8 versus Von Rennekamp (the nearest Russian general) who is only worth 3. I will almost certainly sack and replace him next turn - but because I can do that at the beginning of the turn, I decided to save the MPPs for tech investments this turn. But if he holds his current positions in East Prussia, he risks getting surrounded in several places. It will be interesting to see where he chooses to stand and fight back, or if he retreats. Either way, I anticipate that he will rail in a couple of fresh corps from Germany.
I accepted the French DE to pay for General Foch - whose command rating is needed to stiffen France's defences. I also decided - after a little reflection - to send the first British Indian Corps to Egypt, rather than France. Although the UK only has the B.E.F. on the ground in France, I felt I needed one solid corps in Egypt to help defend it when the Ottomans enter the war - which they should by mid to late October.
In terms of tech, France was able to buy 3 Trench Warfare chits this turn, so they now have four. For the UK, I bought both one chit on Infantry Weapons and one on Artillery Weapons. For Russia, I bought two chits for Trench Warfare (so they now have four) and one chit for Infantry Weapons. I like to invest in that tech very early, as you can only invest one chit in it, so you need a lot of time to see the results - usually a full year. I find it is best to invest it early and get it done. It means delaying the arrival of Artillery Weapons 1 for another turn, but I prefer to get the defensive fundamentals done first. It is tough attacking or defending against an enemy that has a significant head start in Infantry Weapons.
MOD NOTES
This turn Belgium surrendered - so below are what is new in this mod when minors surrender. Plus, both sides received new pop-ups about Denmark, and the CP received one about Norway. So here are the mod notes on what is new in this mod in Scandinavia, plus the changes made regarding unit morale when minors surrender.
Impact on Unit Morale of Surrenders
The standard settings that penalize the morale of land and sea units when a minor or major power on the same side surrenders have been eliminated. Instead, the impact of a surrender is registered on National Morale, not at the unit level.
Comment: it has long seemed unbalanced to me that the surrender of minors would have an impact on the morale of majors, apart from possibly their direct parent. Since it not possible to fine-tune these settings in the Game Editor, I have simply set them to zero.
Surrender and Liberation of Minors
The UK and France will lose 2000 NM if Belgium surrenders. They can recoup those NM points if
Belgium is subsequently liberated.
France and Russia can recoup the NM the points they lose when Serbia surrenders if Serbia is subsequently liberated.
Denmark:
If Denmark swings to 30% for the Central Powers, a loop is created in the Baltic allowing German ships to move through Denmark from the Baltic to the Kattegat. German ships can also use the existing loop to move into the Baltic through Denmark without a causing Denmark to swing to the Entente.
If Denmark swings 40% to the Entente, the same provisions will apply to all Entente ships.
Comment: these options create a limited ability for both sides to move from the Baltic to the North Sea without bringing Denmark fully into the war. It could lead to more naval combat in the Skagerrak and the Kattegat around Denmark, or the lower Baltic.
Norway:
If Norway swings to 40% for the Central Powers, Germany obtains control of the ports of Bergen and Stavanger.
Comment: these ports could prove very useful for German attacks against the Entente blockade line in the North Sea.
The Norwegian convoy to the U.K. that is triggered when Norway reaches 20% for the Entente will shift from Narvik to Trondheim if Sweden also moves to 20% for the Entente.
Sweden:
If Sweden and Norway both reach 20% to the Entente, the Swedish convoy will be re-routed through Narvik and will flow to the U.K. To enable this, the port of Narvik and three rail hexes in northern Norway will be transferred to Sweden. This convoy is worth 30 MPPs per turn; unlike the Swedish convoy to Germany, it is not affected by winter as Narvik is an ice-free port.
If Narvik is being used by Sweden, the Norwegian convoy to the U.K. will shift to Trondheim. Both convoys will terminate in the port of Rosyth in Scotland rather than Cromarty.
Comment: This is intended to give the Entente an additional incentive to use diplomacy to swing Sweden away from the Central Powers. Rosyth is a much bigger industrial center and thus a more logical endpoint for these convoys than Cromarty. The slightly longer convoy route may offer some additional raiding options for German subs.
-
winterwolf112
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2022 10:38 pm
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
god its so interesting reading and watching your guys game, im mostly interested in your post about russia i really enjoy the thought process behind your decision and it gives me a lot of insight into my next entente game keep up the great work guys! 
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 4: September 19, 1914
I continue to be amazed at the hitting power of the Germans on the Western Front. They demolished the two best units in all the Entente armies - the 1st and 2nd corps of the British Expeditionary Force. I expected them to be attacked but had hoped their two experience points each would help them resist. Until you reach Trench Warfare 1 at least, corps on open ground will be destroyed by a determined attacker. My hope is that the cumulative losses will soon require him to take a turn to reinforce - looking at the Reports page, Germany lost units worth double what they collected last turn, so perhaps that will happen soon.
Meanwhile, I did the best I could to establish a second line south of Boulogne. At this point, I have to assume that it is only a turn or two before Boulogne falls, so I retreated the corps I railed in there last turn so it would not be cut off. It will be critical to hold a line along the Seine and at Amiens. At this moment, the UK has no full-strength corps in Europe, but I decide it would be best to move the UK III corps to France before it gets up to full strength, so I could reinforce it in place. The rest of the Western Front remains quiet, for now.
Serbia is dead calm too, confirming my hypothesis. This is the first game I've seen where the CP decides to contain Serbia, rather than trying to take it out in 1914. It will be interesting to see how 1915 develops.
In the East, he launched a very effective series of counterattacks in East Prussia and in Poland. Fortunately, the Russia army is already massive enough that it can afford to take losses if it leads to positional gains. Rather than attacking again in East Prussia, I took the opportunity to take the fortification in the Masurian Lakes which he left unoccupied and moved my forward corps north to cut the rail line into Johannisberg. I overlooked that this unit only had 3 AP, so it could not entrench. But I realized that all the units attacking out of marsh terrain have their attack strength halved, so his corps defending there will not be able to hit me very hard. I brought up two more reinforcement corps to East Prussia, with the intention of making this a second attacking front for Russia in the coming turns. In the end, I did not upgrade Russian General von Rennenkampf this turn, preferring to invest in more necessary tech.
In Galicia, things are proceeding to plan. My assault on Lemberg went smoothly. In this mod, Russia gains 2000 NM points for capturing Lemberg, as well Austria-Hungary losing 2000 NM points, so it is strategic target. My opening attack was at 3-0 projected losses (in fact, I only lost 2 points) but that paved the way to reducing his entrenchment and eliminating the unit. At this point, my second line in Galicia have all taken losses, so I will have to spend significant MPPs next turn on reinforcements. Given his counterattacks in Poland last turn, I decided it was time to strengthen my position west of Warsaw and used a reinforcement corps and a reserve one in Moscow for that purpose. If the CP decided to switch significant forces to the east, this is where they will attack.
Naval operations remained quiet. I took a little poke with a French destroyer at an Austro-Hungarian sub that I could see sitting next to Cetinje. I decided to lay my first British mine - it is always a challenge to figure out where to put these that will come as a surprise. Counting 18 hexes north-west from two German ports on the North Sea seemed a good spot (around the wording "North Sea" on the map) as that is likely mustering point for German subs.
In terms of DEs, I chose to build the British seaplane carrier, as those prove essential for ASW operations. But when offered the option of building a British marine unit for only 50 MPPs (because of the German occupation of Belgium), I declined as I decided that in the short run, I needed the resources more and that a weak marine unit would not add much to the defence of France. It would have been useful later in the game for invasions along the Ottoman coastline, but I concluded I could buy a marine unit at full price when I am ready to launch those attacks. Given that my position in Russia is relatively strong, I chose not to send the two Caucasus corps to Brest-Litovsk. They will prove important in attacks against the Ottomans in that theatre in the near future.
In terms of tech, the UK bought its fourth and final Trench Warfare chit and a second Artillery Weapons chit. I decided that I had to buy back one destroyed French corps, so that only left enough MPPs to invest in one tech chit (and that was after selling one Logistic tech chit) - so I chose to make it Infantry Weapons bringing all three Entente majors are now paid down with that tech. This is not a conventional choice - most players would start investing in Artillery immediately. But I felt that France needed to keep up to speed with Germany in this tech for the long haul, and it will be late in 1915 before I am able to start attacking. I will have to count on the UK artillery being effective first.
Russia invested in one Industrial Warfare chit. The latter is a key capability for Russia, as their base industrial capacity is so huge that a 15% increase in their Industrial Modifier produces a large increase in their income per turn - around 80 MPPs or more, as I remember. Serbia was able to invest in tech for the first time: one Trench Warfare chit.
At the end of the turn, I was lucky to have a series of tech breakthroughs - in Artillery Warfare for the U.K., in Trench Warfare for Russia, plus a couple of minors ones for Italy and the USA. Too bad no tech bonuses yet for France.
MOD NOTES
In this turn the CP should have received a pop-up notification about new options for them in this mod with Spain. The Entente will receive one shortly for Portugal. Here are the changes for these two minors.
Spain:
If Spain reaches 40% for the Central Powers, Germany has the option of spending 100 MPPs to create a loop through Spanish Africa that will allow Central Power fleets to move from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and vice-versa.
Comment: This will give the Central Powers some flexibility to either reinforce their fleets in the Mediterranean or in the Atlantic.
Portugal:
Portugal now starts the game at 50% mobilization for the Entente. This can increase by 3 - 5% per turn if the Central Powers have ships on the British convoy route that runs past Lisbon to Bristol (similar to the scripts that can swing Norway or Sweden towards the Central Powers if the Entente raids their convoys). Portugal also automatically moves to 60% mobilization in July 1915, following the surrender of the German forces in South-West Africa.
A new DE has been added that fires on March 25, 1916, reflecting the historic events that brought Portugal into the war on the Entente side. As a result, Portugal could swing 25 - 40% for the Entente and go to war against the Central Powers the next turn.
Comment: these events can bring Portugal into the war on the Entente side by 1916 at a cost of 50 MPPs, perhaps aided by one or two diplomacy chits.
I continue to be amazed at the hitting power of the Germans on the Western Front. They demolished the two best units in all the Entente armies - the 1st and 2nd corps of the British Expeditionary Force. I expected them to be attacked but had hoped their two experience points each would help them resist. Until you reach Trench Warfare 1 at least, corps on open ground will be destroyed by a determined attacker. My hope is that the cumulative losses will soon require him to take a turn to reinforce - looking at the Reports page, Germany lost units worth double what they collected last turn, so perhaps that will happen soon.
Meanwhile, I did the best I could to establish a second line south of Boulogne. At this point, I have to assume that it is only a turn or two before Boulogne falls, so I retreated the corps I railed in there last turn so it would not be cut off. It will be critical to hold a line along the Seine and at Amiens. At this moment, the UK has no full-strength corps in Europe, but I decide it would be best to move the UK III corps to France before it gets up to full strength, so I could reinforce it in place. The rest of the Western Front remains quiet, for now.
Serbia is dead calm too, confirming my hypothesis. This is the first game I've seen where the CP decides to contain Serbia, rather than trying to take it out in 1914. It will be interesting to see how 1915 develops.
In the East, he launched a very effective series of counterattacks in East Prussia and in Poland. Fortunately, the Russia army is already massive enough that it can afford to take losses if it leads to positional gains. Rather than attacking again in East Prussia, I took the opportunity to take the fortification in the Masurian Lakes which he left unoccupied and moved my forward corps north to cut the rail line into Johannisberg. I overlooked that this unit only had 3 AP, so it could not entrench. But I realized that all the units attacking out of marsh terrain have their attack strength halved, so his corps defending there will not be able to hit me very hard. I brought up two more reinforcement corps to East Prussia, with the intention of making this a second attacking front for Russia in the coming turns. In the end, I did not upgrade Russian General von Rennenkampf this turn, preferring to invest in more necessary tech.
In Galicia, things are proceeding to plan. My assault on Lemberg went smoothly. In this mod, Russia gains 2000 NM points for capturing Lemberg, as well Austria-Hungary losing 2000 NM points, so it is strategic target. My opening attack was at 3-0 projected losses (in fact, I only lost 2 points) but that paved the way to reducing his entrenchment and eliminating the unit. At this point, my second line in Galicia have all taken losses, so I will have to spend significant MPPs next turn on reinforcements. Given his counterattacks in Poland last turn, I decided it was time to strengthen my position west of Warsaw and used a reinforcement corps and a reserve one in Moscow for that purpose. If the CP decided to switch significant forces to the east, this is where they will attack.
Naval operations remained quiet. I took a little poke with a French destroyer at an Austro-Hungarian sub that I could see sitting next to Cetinje. I decided to lay my first British mine - it is always a challenge to figure out where to put these that will come as a surprise. Counting 18 hexes north-west from two German ports on the North Sea seemed a good spot (around the wording "North Sea" on the map) as that is likely mustering point for German subs.
In terms of DEs, I chose to build the British seaplane carrier, as those prove essential for ASW operations. But when offered the option of building a British marine unit for only 50 MPPs (because of the German occupation of Belgium), I declined as I decided that in the short run, I needed the resources more and that a weak marine unit would not add much to the defence of France. It would have been useful later in the game for invasions along the Ottoman coastline, but I concluded I could buy a marine unit at full price when I am ready to launch those attacks. Given that my position in Russia is relatively strong, I chose not to send the two Caucasus corps to Brest-Litovsk. They will prove important in attacks against the Ottomans in that theatre in the near future.
In terms of tech, the UK bought its fourth and final Trench Warfare chit and a second Artillery Weapons chit. I decided that I had to buy back one destroyed French corps, so that only left enough MPPs to invest in one tech chit (and that was after selling one Logistic tech chit) - so I chose to make it Infantry Weapons bringing all three Entente majors are now paid down with that tech. This is not a conventional choice - most players would start investing in Artillery immediately. But I felt that France needed to keep up to speed with Germany in this tech for the long haul, and it will be late in 1915 before I am able to start attacking. I will have to count on the UK artillery being effective first.
Russia invested in one Industrial Warfare chit. The latter is a key capability for Russia, as their base industrial capacity is so huge that a 15% increase in their Industrial Modifier produces a large increase in their income per turn - around 80 MPPs or more, as I remember. Serbia was able to invest in tech for the first time: one Trench Warfare chit.
At the end of the turn, I was lucky to have a series of tech breakthroughs - in Artillery Warfare for the U.K., in Trench Warfare for Russia, plus a couple of minors ones for Italy and the USA. Too bad no tech bonuses yet for France.
MOD NOTES
In this turn the CP should have received a pop-up notification about new options for them in this mod with Spain. The Entente will receive one shortly for Portugal. Here are the changes for these two minors.
Spain:
If Spain reaches 40% for the Central Powers, Germany has the option of spending 100 MPPs to create a loop through Spanish Africa that will allow Central Power fleets to move from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and vice-versa.
Comment: This will give the Central Powers some flexibility to either reinforce their fleets in the Mediterranean or in the Atlantic.
Portugal:
Portugal now starts the game at 50% mobilization for the Entente. This can increase by 3 - 5% per turn if the Central Powers have ships on the British convoy route that runs past Lisbon to Bristol (similar to the scripts that can swing Norway or Sweden towards the Central Powers if the Entente raids their convoys). Portugal also automatically moves to 60% mobilization in July 1915, following the surrender of the German forces in South-West Africa.
A new DE has been added that fires on March 25, 1916, reflecting the historic events that brought Portugal into the war on the Entente side. As a result, Portugal could swing 25 - 40% for the Entente and go to war against the Central Powers the next turn.
Comment: these events can bring Portugal into the war on the Entente side by 1916 at a cost of 50 MPPs, perhaps aided by one or two diplomacy chits.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 5: October 10, 1914
I was happy to see that the CP only killed one French corps this past turn - the one defending Boulogne - and it looked like they lost more than 10 strength points taking it. The situation on the ground on the Western Front is quite dire - I have now retreated to the Somme line which is my natural line of defense north of Paris. I built an entrenched second line behind the forces holding Amiens and am determined to counterattack if he pushes further forward next turn. Using the swap method, I moved up the only British corps in France up to the Somme line and into trenches I had built with a French cavalry unit last turn. This allows units to move and reinforce at the same time. In this mod, I eliminated the morale penalty for swapping units. See mod notes below. I am sure that the CP will not be pushing elsewhere in France before autumn rains and winter come, so I moved a second line corps based in the fortress of Toul over to the Amiens sector.
Looking ahead for the next few months, this is the most pressure in the West that I have ever seen the Entente having to face in 1914. While I expect my defensive position will improve once the French reach Trench Warfare 1, the German front line is only three hexes from Paris. I should get some relief when it freezes in winter and the enemy attack strength is halved. There is also usually a gap in the spring of 1915 before Germany achieves artillery weapons 1 and gets its first artillery pieces upgraded and in position. But he has every incentive to keep pushing on this front in 1915 and an enemy determined to pay the price and push forward can do so in this game if they have the artillery and enough corps to absorb the losses. No number of victories in the East can reduce the risk to Paris.
At the moment, both France and Britain are very short of MPPs. In good measure, this is due to paying for units that are offered in early game Decision Events - like General Foch for the French, or the sea-plane carrier for the British - which in absolute terms are very good deals, but which come at a time when they are also investing in critical tech. If you also have to replace units killed in combat - as both these majors do - then you face some difficult trade-offs each. Britain in particular remains very resource constrained through the first half of 1915 if it opts for all the DEs that come its way. Turning them down saves MPPs to deal with more immediate pressures on the Western Front, but it also weakens the UK's ability to build up against the Ottomans and/or to finance the Italians when they enter the war.
Fortunately, the Serbian front was quiet again this turn, allowing me to invest in tech. I reinforced the Albanian detachment to full strength, which I had forgotten to do the previous turn.
In the Adriatic, since I could see the Austro-Hungarian sub again, I attacked it with my French destroyer and a new seaplane carrier, causing at least one hit. Compared to my last game with Old Crow, where he was the Entente, the Adriatic has been very quiet. I have not wanted to push into the sea and engage in naval combat with the Austro-Hungarian fleet, as I do not wish to incur the naval casualties at this early stage in the war. I will be in much stronger position to do so by mid-1915 when the Italian navy comes in.
In Galicia, I attacked the exposed Austro-Hungarian corps south of Lemberg. It retreated to a better defensive position behind a river line, so I used my remaining resources to destroy a cavalry corps that he had holding the line. There are gaps now in the Austro-Hungarian line, as a result of my "kill one corps a turn" tactics. At this point, a lot of my second- and third-line Russian corps in Galicia have taken combat casualties need to be reinforced. However, I see no major opportunities in this sector until artillery arrive, so I deferred spending more MPPs in reinforcements this turn.
In East Prussia, he decided to retreat from Tilsit - giving me my first small positional win in my manoeuvres against his forward positions. I moved up to surround the detachment holding Memel, which I expect he will evacuate by sea next turn. I considered retreating from my forward position behind Johannisburg but decided to hold on to it for the annoyance value. It will probably be attacked next turn, so I entrenched. But because Johannisburg is a marsh, combat values attacking from there are halved. I had planned to upgrade General von Rennenkampf this turn but made the mistake of moving him first, so that will have to wait again.
Naval operations again were quiet. I decided to risk bothering the Norwegians and chose to send raiders north of the North Sea Blockade line to the interfere with the Norwegian convoy. I also noticed that the starting screens this turn and last began in the mid-Atlantic. This suggests to me that the CP may be moving a destroyer across the Atlantic to mine Halifax harbour - a manoeuvre I inflicted on Old Crow in our last game. This can shut down the convoy from Canada to the UK for many turns, as well as interrupting MPP production from one mine in Nova Scotia. So, as a precaution, I sent a light cruiser that was on blockade duty towards Halifax, using naval cruise movement.
In terms of DEs, I agreed to form the French Foreign Legion and deferred landing the Canadian Corps until it could be fully trained. Both these building choices are very sensible, and a bargain compared to buying full price corps, but they eat up more MPPs each turn.
In terms of tech investments:
- the UK invested 1 chit in Industrial tech
- France invested 1 chit 1 Artillery Weapons
- Serbia invested 1 chit on Trench warfare
- Russia spent almost all of its MPPs investing in 2 Artillery Weapons chits.
With three majors now invested in Artillery Weapons, I am counting on breakthroughs and catch-up bonuses to help move all three along.
At the end of the turn, I received the wonderful news that due to tech breakthroughs (and four chits invested each), both France and Russia reached Trench Warfare 1. This should make a critical difference for France, in particular. It won't stop German attacks but will make them more costly and should increase the ability of French corps to survive.
MOD NOTES:
Swapping Units
Units can now swap places with an adjacent friendly unit at 0% cost to morale.
Comment: this is very handy game feature, especially in situations like the Western Front where there is usually two lines or more of troops at the front. It represents the standard tactic of having rearguard units move up to replace front-line units that have taken casualties. It seemed a mistake to me to penalize the morale of units that use this feature.
National Morale Value of Warsaw
The national morale impact on Russia of losing Warsaw is reduced to 4000 NM points (down from 6000). Germany gains 2000 NM by taking Warsaw (rather than 3000).
Comment: One reason why East first strategies for the Central Powers have become so frequent is that Warsaw is such a huge national morale liability for Russia. At its original value of 6000 NM, it is the most valuable NM target in the game after Paris and London; Russia incurs far more by losing Warsaw than they do from losing Petrograd or Moscow. This reduction to 4000 NM points makes Warsaw a comparable target to Verdun for Germany. It also means that the Central Powers will have to push further into Russia to capture more NM targets in order to push Russian National Morale below 25% (thus triggering the start of the Russian Revolution) or sit on their gains in Poland for many more turns before the Russians cumulative NM losses bring them below 25%.
I was happy to see that the CP only killed one French corps this past turn - the one defending Boulogne - and it looked like they lost more than 10 strength points taking it. The situation on the ground on the Western Front is quite dire - I have now retreated to the Somme line which is my natural line of defense north of Paris. I built an entrenched second line behind the forces holding Amiens and am determined to counterattack if he pushes further forward next turn. Using the swap method, I moved up the only British corps in France up to the Somme line and into trenches I had built with a French cavalry unit last turn. This allows units to move and reinforce at the same time. In this mod, I eliminated the morale penalty for swapping units. See mod notes below. I am sure that the CP will not be pushing elsewhere in France before autumn rains and winter come, so I moved a second line corps based in the fortress of Toul over to the Amiens sector.
Looking ahead for the next few months, this is the most pressure in the West that I have ever seen the Entente having to face in 1914. While I expect my defensive position will improve once the French reach Trench Warfare 1, the German front line is only three hexes from Paris. I should get some relief when it freezes in winter and the enemy attack strength is halved. There is also usually a gap in the spring of 1915 before Germany achieves artillery weapons 1 and gets its first artillery pieces upgraded and in position. But he has every incentive to keep pushing on this front in 1915 and an enemy determined to pay the price and push forward can do so in this game if they have the artillery and enough corps to absorb the losses. No number of victories in the East can reduce the risk to Paris.
At the moment, both France and Britain are very short of MPPs. In good measure, this is due to paying for units that are offered in early game Decision Events - like General Foch for the French, or the sea-plane carrier for the British - which in absolute terms are very good deals, but which come at a time when they are also investing in critical tech. If you also have to replace units killed in combat - as both these majors do - then you face some difficult trade-offs each. Britain in particular remains very resource constrained through the first half of 1915 if it opts for all the DEs that come its way. Turning them down saves MPPs to deal with more immediate pressures on the Western Front, but it also weakens the UK's ability to build up against the Ottomans and/or to finance the Italians when they enter the war.
Fortunately, the Serbian front was quiet again this turn, allowing me to invest in tech. I reinforced the Albanian detachment to full strength, which I had forgotten to do the previous turn.
In the Adriatic, since I could see the Austro-Hungarian sub again, I attacked it with my French destroyer and a new seaplane carrier, causing at least one hit. Compared to my last game with Old Crow, where he was the Entente, the Adriatic has been very quiet. I have not wanted to push into the sea and engage in naval combat with the Austro-Hungarian fleet, as I do not wish to incur the naval casualties at this early stage in the war. I will be in much stronger position to do so by mid-1915 when the Italian navy comes in.
In Galicia, I attacked the exposed Austro-Hungarian corps south of Lemberg. It retreated to a better defensive position behind a river line, so I used my remaining resources to destroy a cavalry corps that he had holding the line. There are gaps now in the Austro-Hungarian line, as a result of my "kill one corps a turn" tactics. At this point, a lot of my second- and third-line Russian corps in Galicia have taken combat casualties need to be reinforced. However, I see no major opportunities in this sector until artillery arrive, so I deferred spending more MPPs in reinforcements this turn.
In East Prussia, he decided to retreat from Tilsit - giving me my first small positional win in my manoeuvres against his forward positions. I moved up to surround the detachment holding Memel, which I expect he will evacuate by sea next turn. I considered retreating from my forward position behind Johannisburg but decided to hold on to it for the annoyance value. It will probably be attacked next turn, so I entrenched. But because Johannisburg is a marsh, combat values attacking from there are halved. I had planned to upgrade General von Rennenkampf this turn but made the mistake of moving him first, so that will have to wait again.
Naval operations again were quiet. I decided to risk bothering the Norwegians and chose to send raiders north of the North Sea Blockade line to the interfere with the Norwegian convoy. I also noticed that the starting screens this turn and last began in the mid-Atlantic. This suggests to me that the CP may be moving a destroyer across the Atlantic to mine Halifax harbour - a manoeuvre I inflicted on Old Crow in our last game. This can shut down the convoy from Canada to the UK for many turns, as well as interrupting MPP production from one mine in Nova Scotia. So, as a precaution, I sent a light cruiser that was on blockade duty towards Halifax, using naval cruise movement.
In terms of DEs, I agreed to form the French Foreign Legion and deferred landing the Canadian Corps until it could be fully trained. Both these building choices are very sensible, and a bargain compared to buying full price corps, but they eat up more MPPs each turn.
In terms of tech investments:
- the UK invested 1 chit in Industrial tech
- France invested 1 chit 1 Artillery Weapons
- Serbia invested 1 chit on Trench warfare
- Russia spent almost all of its MPPs investing in 2 Artillery Weapons chits.
With three majors now invested in Artillery Weapons, I am counting on breakthroughs and catch-up bonuses to help move all three along.
At the end of the turn, I received the wonderful news that due to tech breakthroughs (and four chits invested each), both France and Russia reached Trench Warfare 1. This should make a critical difference for France, in particular. It won't stop German attacks but will make them more costly and should increase the ability of French corps to survive.
MOD NOTES:
Swapping Units
Units can now swap places with an adjacent friendly unit at 0% cost to morale.
Comment: this is very handy game feature, especially in situations like the Western Front where there is usually two lines or more of troops at the front. It represents the standard tactic of having rearguard units move up to replace front-line units that have taken casualties. It seemed a mistake to me to penalize the morale of units that use this feature.
National Morale Value of Warsaw
The national morale impact on Russia of losing Warsaw is reduced to 4000 NM points (down from 6000). Germany gains 2000 NM by taking Warsaw (rather than 3000).
Comment: One reason why East first strategies for the Central Powers have become so frequent is that Warsaw is such a huge national morale liability for Russia. At its original value of 6000 NM, it is the most valuable NM target in the game after Paris and London; Russia incurs far more by losing Warsaw than they do from losing Petrograd or Moscow. This reduction to 4000 NM points makes Warsaw a comparable target to Verdun for Germany. It also means that the Central Powers will have to push further into Russia to capture more NM targets in order to push Russian National Morale below 25% (thus triggering the start of the Russian Revolution) or sit on their gains in Poland for many more turns before the Russians cumulative NM losses bring them below 25%.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 6 November 5, 1914
A quiet turn, at last, on the Western Front! No attacks, so I presume that he is reinforcing his units. I deployed the French corps I bought two turns ago in the second line behind Amiens, reinforced the French marines and invested in tech, saving about 70 MPPs for next turn. The only land moves by UK units were to move the cavalry corps I had brought over to France back to port of Boulogne and to shift the Belgian general to the Port of St. Malo, so he can be sent to the Middle East in the future. I remembered to finish moving the French detachment in Morocco from Rabat over to Fes, to prevent partisans spawning there, as the German DE giving them the option to fund partisans there pops up around now.
Serbia was quiet as usual. I moved up the Albanian detachment and brought the Montenegrin Sanjak corps into the Serbian second line. No action at all in the Adriatic on my part.
The Ottoman Empire is now at 99%, so it is time to get ready for their entry into the war. In Egypt, I moved the UK Indian corps up to El Arish and entrenched.
In the Caucasus, I moved up the two Russian corps already mobilized there, one to the border in front of Kars and the other from Tiflis to Alexandropol.
In Galicia, the Austro-Hungarians are now at Trench Warfare 1 (as are the Germans), but I decided that the corps he has left in front of Przemsyl was a worth taking out, to position myself to attack that NM objective in 1915. It took five attacks to kill it, costing me 11 infantry strength points, but I think on balance was worth it. I reinforced two more corps in Galicia and put second line corps where I could on railways in case, I need to operationally move them. I brought back the cavalry corps in the far south that had been menacing the Austro-Hungarian Jakobeny mine and put it on a rail line, so I could redeploy to another front (like the Caucasus) where its mobility will more useful.
In Poland, I was surprised that he did not evacuate the detachment from Memel. It proved surprisingly hard to kill, I discovered, because the hex to the south of it is marsh which halves your attack strength. Still, I was able to dispatch it and captured the port. I finally upgraded the general in this sector from Von Rennenkampf (3) to Yudenich (7) at the hefty cost of 90 MPPs. While it is useful to have a higher value general in the Caucasus as they are able to build up experience attacking the Turks, I feel it is a waste to have the best Russian general deployed in this sector. If I had not upgraded on this turn, the General that deploys there would automatically have been Yudenich. Instead, it will be Kornilov who has a 6 rating. Elsewhere in Poland, I decide to keep the corps in place that is partially encircling Johannisburg. Now that I have 2 level trenches, I think it will be expensive for him to attack it and it continues to put pressure on Johannisburg.
In the Atlantic, my light cruiser heading to Canada made the unsurprising discovery of bumping into a German destroyer off Newfoundland. I am glad I anticipated this surprise move on his part! So, I decided to send one French cruiser on the distant blockade line towards Canada as well, in case he tries to mine the other blockade hexes in Nova Scotia off the mines in Cape Breton.
In the North Sea, I pulled back my ships raiding the convoy from Norway. Although this tactic costs him 18 MPPs a turn, the Norwegians have already shifted from 0 to 3% in protest. The trigger is 10% a turn (I looked it up to be sure in the Editor) and that is calculated on both Entente and CP moves. If I want to spend a diplomatic chit in the future to shift Norway to the Entente side and cut off the convoy completely, this is counterproductive.
Instead, I decided to place my two remaining British naval mines on two of the North Sea blockade hexes. These count as ships in terms of reducing his NM and it reduced my exposure if he tries a sneak attack on the blockaders using his surface fleet.
With Decision Events, I sent Admiral Cradock's squadron to the South Atlantic to deal with the Graf Von Spee. (The UK would have to be in a truly desperate situation to decline that DE). No other DEs this turn.
For investments, the French bought a second Artillery Weapons chit and a new Trench Warfare chit to keep four chits invested in this tech; the Serbs a third Trench Warfare chit and the Russians an Industrial Warfare chit. The UK had only 135 MPPs this turn for reasons described in my previous entry. As that is exactly what it costs to bring back a corps killed at full supply, I bought back one of the B.E.F. corps killed in September. The UK has to factor into their planning the fact that their reinforcements arrive on an island, cannot move on the turn they show-up and then need to be transported to their destination. So, this unit which will show up on January 1, 1915, will not get to the front line in France (if I send it there) until early April 1915.
At the end of the turn, Britain also reached Trench Warfare 1.
MOD NOTES
Diplomacy
The probability of a hit per chit is raised to 8% (up from 5%). The normal swing per hit is raised 5 - 10% (up from 4-8%). The bonus swing against Minors is raised to 10% - 20% (up from 8% - 16%).
Austria-Hungary has its Diplomacy chit limit raised from 4 to 5; the USA has its chit limit reduced from 5 to 4.
Comment: these changes are made to make diplomacy a more attractive investment for both sides compared to investing in tech or buying more units. Many new options have been added for minors in the game that are only achievable through diplomacy (see the sections below on Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal). The Entente still has a significant edge in diplomacy chits, but these changes slightly rebalance the number, reflecting Austria-Hungary's historic status as a diplomatic power in Europe, versus the newcomers from the United States.
Morocco:
Two more partisan spawning hexes have been added to Morocco. The cost to Germany of funding the Moroccan partisans has been reduced from 50 to 30 MPPs. If one Moroccan partisan appears on a 3% chance, the chances of more partisans spawning increases to 35%.
Comment: this makes the German option to fund subversion in Morocco more attractive and should require France to pay a bit more attention to Morocco over the course of the game.
A quiet turn, at last, on the Western Front! No attacks, so I presume that he is reinforcing his units. I deployed the French corps I bought two turns ago in the second line behind Amiens, reinforced the French marines and invested in tech, saving about 70 MPPs for next turn. The only land moves by UK units were to move the cavalry corps I had brought over to France back to port of Boulogne and to shift the Belgian general to the Port of St. Malo, so he can be sent to the Middle East in the future. I remembered to finish moving the French detachment in Morocco from Rabat over to Fes, to prevent partisans spawning there, as the German DE giving them the option to fund partisans there pops up around now.
Serbia was quiet as usual. I moved up the Albanian detachment and brought the Montenegrin Sanjak corps into the Serbian second line. No action at all in the Adriatic on my part.
The Ottoman Empire is now at 99%, so it is time to get ready for their entry into the war. In Egypt, I moved the UK Indian corps up to El Arish and entrenched.
In the Caucasus, I moved up the two Russian corps already mobilized there, one to the border in front of Kars and the other from Tiflis to Alexandropol.
In Galicia, the Austro-Hungarians are now at Trench Warfare 1 (as are the Germans), but I decided that the corps he has left in front of Przemsyl was a worth taking out, to position myself to attack that NM objective in 1915. It took five attacks to kill it, costing me 11 infantry strength points, but I think on balance was worth it. I reinforced two more corps in Galicia and put second line corps where I could on railways in case, I need to operationally move them. I brought back the cavalry corps in the far south that had been menacing the Austro-Hungarian Jakobeny mine and put it on a rail line, so I could redeploy to another front (like the Caucasus) where its mobility will more useful.
In Poland, I was surprised that he did not evacuate the detachment from Memel. It proved surprisingly hard to kill, I discovered, because the hex to the south of it is marsh which halves your attack strength. Still, I was able to dispatch it and captured the port. I finally upgraded the general in this sector from Von Rennenkampf (3) to Yudenich (7) at the hefty cost of 90 MPPs. While it is useful to have a higher value general in the Caucasus as they are able to build up experience attacking the Turks, I feel it is a waste to have the best Russian general deployed in this sector. If I had not upgraded on this turn, the General that deploys there would automatically have been Yudenich. Instead, it will be Kornilov who has a 6 rating. Elsewhere in Poland, I decide to keep the corps in place that is partially encircling Johannisburg. Now that I have 2 level trenches, I think it will be expensive for him to attack it and it continues to put pressure on Johannisburg.
In the Atlantic, my light cruiser heading to Canada made the unsurprising discovery of bumping into a German destroyer off Newfoundland. I am glad I anticipated this surprise move on his part! So, I decided to send one French cruiser on the distant blockade line towards Canada as well, in case he tries to mine the other blockade hexes in Nova Scotia off the mines in Cape Breton.
In the North Sea, I pulled back my ships raiding the convoy from Norway. Although this tactic costs him 18 MPPs a turn, the Norwegians have already shifted from 0 to 3% in protest. The trigger is 10% a turn (I looked it up to be sure in the Editor) and that is calculated on both Entente and CP moves. If I want to spend a diplomatic chit in the future to shift Norway to the Entente side and cut off the convoy completely, this is counterproductive.
Instead, I decided to place my two remaining British naval mines on two of the North Sea blockade hexes. These count as ships in terms of reducing his NM and it reduced my exposure if he tries a sneak attack on the blockaders using his surface fleet.
With Decision Events, I sent Admiral Cradock's squadron to the South Atlantic to deal with the Graf Von Spee. (The UK would have to be in a truly desperate situation to decline that DE). No other DEs this turn.
For investments, the French bought a second Artillery Weapons chit and a new Trench Warfare chit to keep four chits invested in this tech; the Serbs a third Trench Warfare chit and the Russians an Industrial Warfare chit. The UK had only 135 MPPs this turn for reasons described in my previous entry. As that is exactly what it costs to bring back a corps killed at full supply, I bought back one of the B.E.F. corps killed in September. The UK has to factor into their planning the fact that their reinforcements arrive on an island, cannot move on the turn they show-up and then need to be transported to their destination. So, this unit which will show up on January 1, 1915, will not get to the front line in France (if I send it there) until early April 1915.
At the end of the turn, Britain also reached Trench Warfare 1.
MOD NOTES
Diplomacy
The probability of a hit per chit is raised to 8% (up from 5%). The normal swing per hit is raised 5 - 10% (up from 4-8%). The bonus swing against Minors is raised to 10% - 20% (up from 8% - 16%).
Austria-Hungary has its Diplomacy chit limit raised from 4 to 5; the USA has its chit limit reduced from 5 to 4.
Comment: these changes are made to make diplomacy a more attractive investment for both sides compared to investing in tech or buying more units. Many new options have been added for minors in the game that are only achievable through diplomacy (see the sections below on Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal). The Entente still has a significant edge in diplomacy chits, but these changes slightly rebalance the number, reflecting Austria-Hungary's historic status as a diplomatic power in Europe, versus the newcomers from the United States.
Morocco:
Two more partisan spawning hexes have been added to Morocco. The cost to Germany of funding the Moroccan partisans has been reduced from 50 to 30 MPPs. If one Moroccan partisan appears on a 3% chance, the chances of more partisans spawning increases to 35%.
Comment: this makes the German option to fund subversion in Morocco more attractive and should require France to pay a bit more attention to Morocco over the course of the game.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 7 December 5, 1914
Well, I learned on this turn why last turn was so quiet. I must congratulate Old Crow on his surprise assault towards Warsaw - I really did not see that coming. He makes very effective use of his German cavalry as shock troops. He also attacked up and down the line in the East, with the Austro-Hungarians counterattacking for the first time, punishing me for over-extending my attacks in Galicia last turn and pushing a weakened corps up to the front of the line. The fact it started to snow on my turn makes it harder to move units far to rebuild a line. Fortunately, I had placed several full-strength corps on rail lines last turn, so I was able to operationally move three strength 10 corps to defend Warsaw. I started to fall back from the line between Kutno and Lodz - with the enemy next to Warsaw, there is no longer any point in a forward defence here. I reinforced to 10 the weak corps that had been sitting on Novo-Georgievsk for several turns - fortunately it will be at maximum entrenchment strength next turn. In East Prussia, I moved into the hexes he abandoned in order to counter-attack, thus capturing the key defensive position in the Pregel River bend which I expected he would hold for a long time. I over-estimated the staying power of the corps west of Johannisburg. It can't be saved due units restricted movement in winter, so it will be another Russian casualty next turn. In Galicia, I moved weaker corps up to defend the territory I had fought to take next to Prezmsyl, but I hope that the freeze continues into his next turn otherwise he will counter-attack strongly again. Russia's "salad days" are over in the East for now, and probably for the remainder of the game.
At this point, I can foresee his overall strategy for 1915 pretty clearly. In the East, he will push to capture Warsaw and the nearby fortresses and score the big NM hits on Russia that come with those objectives. In the West, I predict he will turn his attentions to capturing Verdun as soon as he has artillery with Artillery Weapons 1 in place. Thus, he will focus on taking out the two biggest National Morale liabilities for the Entente - Warsaw and Verdun - paving the way for a bigger push east or west in 1916. You read it here first.
Of course, this turn also saw the entry of the Ottomans into the war. I said YES to the new Russian DE in this mod, which gives the Russians control over northern Persia, a territory known as Persian Azerbaijan. They also get a Russian mountain division (a new kind of unit in this mod) in Tabriz, for a cost of 2 X 50 MPPs. This new territory should give Russia some strategic advantages against the Ottomans, over time. The four Russian mountain corps that mobilize in the Caucasus moved up towards the front and I was able to attack one forward Ottoman detachment. Predictably, it was frozen in the Caucasus as well, so General Kornilov could only move one hex south of Tbilisi, as I could not afford the MPPs to operationally move him further this turn.
One the original motivations in designing this mod was to figure out a way to make it possible for the Entente to carry out an amphibious assault on Gallipoli in early 1915. I wrote a new DE which fired this turn for the British Prime Minister, proposing Winston's bold plan. Sadly, given the losses the UK have taken already and my fragile position in the West, I had to decline it - it would have been fun to play it out against Old Crow. It is a high risk, high reward endeavour - check out the Mod notes below describing the new interlocking DEs for Gallipoli.
In Egypt, I moved the two detachments that mobilized forward to help hold a line at El Arish. Even though my defences are thin here, it takes a while for the Ottomans to organize any real force in Palestine. So, I decided to transport the Indian cavalry corps that arrived this turn to the Persian Gulf. My longer-term goal is to get the Belgian general deployed here too, along with another British cavalry corps (and perhaps one or two French ones), so that they can outmanoeuvre the Ottomans and capture Baghdad by the end of 1915. That's the plan, at least.
It was quiet again in Serbia, but I was able to hit his sub once more on the coast.
In the West, it was quiet too, so I started moved British units towards the Middle East, by railing a British cavalry unit to Marseilles, so it can be shipped next turn, and sending King Albert on his way (at the stiff cost of 49 MPPs to transport).
In the western Atlantic, I am not sure if he is following through on his mine-laying gambit in Nova Scotia, but I continued to move my light cruiser towards Halifax. I also moved the French heavy cruiser I sent that way further across the Atlantic. All quiet along the blockade lines.
The only other DE that fired this turn was for Russia offering them the opportunity to buy a seaplane carrier in the Black Sea. I declined, given my need for every MPPs I can get to reinforce against the German pivot. But even in better circumstances, I see limited utility for this carrier. There is a second opportunity in 1016 to buy a seaplane carrier at a discount if I decide that reconnaissance along the Ottoman Black Sea coast requires it.
In terms of investments:
- the UK bought two ASW chits;
- France bought an Industrial Warfare chit;
- Serbia bought one more Trench Warfare chit to bring them to four;
- Russia bought a new Trench Warfare chit to keep four invested there as well.
I considered not spending Serbia's scarce MPPs on tech this turn, as the Typhus epidemic is coming up, but in the end decided it was more important in the medium term for Serbia to get Trench Warfare 1 as soon as possible. For the UK, I debated investing in another Industrial Warfare tech chit, as the UK needs the funds, and they have a low Industrial Modifier (thus the impact of this tech is greater). But I decided that with two chits already invested they are making progress here, whereas they need to get going on ASW tech. The fact that I have hardly seen the German submarines suggests to me he is waiting to build up his sub fleet to Advanced Subs 1 before sending out his wolf packs around mid-summer 1915.
At the end of the turn, I was fortunate with tech breakthroughs - the UK and Russia both got a modest breakthrough swing with Artillery Weapons, Russia and Serbia both got breakthroughs with Trench Warfare and France got a breakthrough with Industrial Warfare. Part of my tech investment strategy is to be invested in more of the key techs with a couple of chits, than over-invested in just a couple, in order to maximize the chances of breakthroughs. The exception of course is Trench Warfare, which all majors need to get to at least level 2 as soon as they can.
MOD NOTES
This turn, the Ottomans entered the war. So here are the extensive changes which apply to them.
8. Ottoman Empire Modifications
Comment: One of the main purposes of this mod was to enhance the range of strategic options for both sides in the Middle East, the Caucasus and in Persia. This has been done by a variety of new Decision Events that give the Entente greater scope for attacking the Ottoman Empire, and to increase the Ottomans' ability to defend their territory. Some small changes were made to the map to increase realism and to enable the new DEs.
8.1 Gallipoli Campaign
Comment: the following changes have been to increase the realism of the Gallipoli theatre in western Turkey and to encourage the Entente to attempt an amphibious invasion there.
The map for this region has been extensively redrawn:
- narrowing the Gallipoli peninsula;
- moving the town of Gallipoli onto the peninsula;
- making both Straits hexes hill terrain, as well as the hex 199,103;
- moving the port at the tip of the peninsula one hex up adjacent to the town of Gallipoli;
- adding a new port on the Sea of Marmara south of Adrianople at Tekfurdagi;
- adding a new town on the Aegean coast next to the Bulgaria border at Aynoz.
The 8 strength corps that starts the game on the town of Gallipoli has been moved to Panderma on Asia side of the Sea of Marmara. The Ottoman Empire also starts the game with a 5-strength coastal gun which can be deployed at the mouth of the Dardanelles.
Two new Gallipoli campaign DEs have been written for the UK and France, offering the UK the option of having a unit of the Royal Marines and the I ANZAC Corps deploy to Lemnos, along with a new French Marine division. The Royal Marines arrive on December 5, 1914, followed by the French Marines and the Anzacs on subsequent turns. Once deployed, these units can be loaded one per turn to Amphibious Transports from Lemnos. This means that all three units will be on transports by April 10, 1915, and they can launch an invasion on the nearby Turkish coast the next turn, on May 8, 1915.
If the UK says NO to the Gallipoli Campaign DE, they will then be given the option of saying YES to the existing DE to occupy Lemnos and deploy only the Royal Marine division there. If the UK says NO, Lemnos will remain in Greek hands.
If the Entente can capture both Straits hexes controlling the Dardanelles and place a naval unit in the Sea of Marmara, there will be mobilizations swings by Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania towards to Entente. (These replace the mobilization swings previously given if the Entente captured the town of Gallipoli in its former location).
If the Entente say YES to the Gallipoli campaign DE, the Ottomans will be rewarded if they can contain or defeat the invasion. Specifically, the Ottoman Empire gets a 500 NM boost if the Entente has only captured the town of Gallipoli by August 1915; and a 2000 NM boost if the Entente holds no Ottoman towns or cities between Smyrna, Constantinople and the Bulgarian border by January 1, 1916.
8.2 Mesopotamia
To increase their ability to hold Mesopotamia, the Ottomans have two new DEs allowing them to extend the existing railway line from Aleppo to Mosul by January 1, 1916, and then on to Baghdad, by January 1, 1917. (To enable this, a new unnamed settlement has been added to the map on the railway line two hexes south of Diyarbakir. The town of Tikrit will also produce no resources in 1916 until the railway line has been completed from Mosul to Baghdad).
Mosul has been made a NM objective for the Ottomans. This makes it a more valuable target for capture by Russia or Britain if they plan a campaign in Mesopotamia.
The Mesopotamian Volunteer unit that mobilizes through a DE when the British seize Basra will now deploy in Amara, rather than Baghdad.
The German and Austro-Hungarian expeditionary corps which can be sent to aid the Ottomans through existing DEs, can now be triggered if the Entente gets within 3 hexes of Baghdad (as well as Jerusalem and Damascus).
Comment: along with the changes to Persia (discussed below), these changes should make Mesopotamia a more significant theatre in the war.
8.3 Arabia
Comment: in the existing game, it is easy for the Ottomans to suppress the formation of any Arab partisans and thus thwart the Arab Revolt. These changes make the Revolt a much greater threat for the Ottomans.
The British Decision Event to sponsor the Arab Revolt by sending T.E. Lawrence to Arabia can now fire earlier, starting in September 1915, but it has only a 20% chance of firing per turn. This makes the start date of the Revolt more unpredictable for both sides.
Both the number of partisan spawning hexes in Arabia and the number of chances per turn for partisans to spawn have been increased, making it almost impossible for the Ottomans to prevent the Revolt from beginning. The maximum number of Arab partisans that can be active at one time is 6.
The Action Points of Arab partisans have been increased to 5 (up from 3), giving them greater range of movement.
Cutting the Hejaz Railroad from Amman to Medina becomes an important objective for the Arabs, as the Ottomans will lose 150 NM for each turn the rail line is cut. Two new Ottoman garrisons deploy when the Ottomans enter the war, based in Tabuk and Tayma, to help protect the rail line.
If the Arabs capture Medina and liberate Arabia, it becomes a British minor. In addition to having a build limit of 5 partisans, Arabia can build 1 regular infantry corps, 1 cavalry division, 3 infantry detachments and 1 HQ (Faisal). As in the vanilla game, T.E. Lawrence only gets his own HQ once Arab forces occupy Aqaba. It arrives as an Egyptian HQ in Aqaba.
8.4 Armenia
Russia can build an Armenian detachment in Erevan through a DE after the Armenian uprising in Van. The uprising is only triggered if an Ottoman unit is within 2 hexes of Van, starting on January 1, 1915.
Comment: this makes the Armenian uprising in Van more consequential to the campaign in the Caucasus. It also allows the Ottomans to avoid triggering the uprising if they are prepared to leave Van relatively undefended.
8.5 Ottoman HQs
A new DE has been added to give the Ottomans the option of creating a new HQ (Khalil Pasha) at a cost of 4 X 50 MPPs, in July 1916.
Comment: The Ottomans could probably use another general by the mid-point of the war, given the number of fronts where they could be attacked. This DE is comparable to existing DEs creating new generals for the UK, Germany and Austria-Hungary, in 1916 -17.
8.6 Ottoman Resources
An additional mine has been added to the map two hexes from Zonguldak on the Ottoman Black Sea coast. This will give the Ottoman 15 additional MPPs per turn.
Comment: This is to offset the increased resources earned by the UK and Russia from Persia. The Zonguldak coal beds extend to this location.
The DE allowing Russia to send agent to sabotage the Zonguldak mine has been extended to cover second mine hex, as well as naval units in the ports at Zonguldak and Trabzon.
Comment: This makes it a more damaging attack for the Russians to launch and could reduce the Ottomans willingness to put fleet units in their Black Sea ports, similar to the Italian and Austrian naval saboteurs in the Adriatic.
8.7 Ottoman National Morale Objectives
New Ottoman National Morale scripts have added enabling them to recover all they NM points lost for each of their NM national objectives that they recapture. Additional NM objectives for the Ottomans to capture have been added in Libya and Persia (as mentioned above), plus Cairo, Tabriz, Kars, Batum, Baku, Rhodes, and Cyprus.
Comment: In the existing game, Ottoman National Morale starts to sink from the outset and is almost impossible to rebuild. These changes give them a chance to recoup some of their losses, and perhaps even earn some NM bonuses by regaining territory lost in the past to Russia, Britain, and Italy. Similar NM changes have been made for other Majors - see above.
Well, I learned on this turn why last turn was so quiet. I must congratulate Old Crow on his surprise assault towards Warsaw - I really did not see that coming. He makes very effective use of his German cavalry as shock troops. He also attacked up and down the line in the East, with the Austro-Hungarians counterattacking for the first time, punishing me for over-extending my attacks in Galicia last turn and pushing a weakened corps up to the front of the line. The fact it started to snow on my turn makes it harder to move units far to rebuild a line. Fortunately, I had placed several full-strength corps on rail lines last turn, so I was able to operationally move three strength 10 corps to defend Warsaw. I started to fall back from the line between Kutno and Lodz - with the enemy next to Warsaw, there is no longer any point in a forward defence here. I reinforced to 10 the weak corps that had been sitting on Novo-Georgievsk for several turns - fortunately it will be at maximum entrenchment strength next turn. In East Prussia, I moved into the hexes he abandoned in order to counter-attack, thus capturing the key defensive position in the Pregel River bend which I expected he would hold for a long time. I over-estimated the staying power of the corps west of Johannisburg. It can't be saved due units restricted movement in winter, so it will be another Russian casualty next turn. In Galicia, I moved weaker corps up to defend the territory I had fought to take next to Prezmsyl, but I hope that the freeze continues into his next turn otherwise he will counter-attack strongly again. Russia's "salad days" are over in the East for now, and probably for the remainder of the game.
At this point, I can foresee his overall strategy for 1915 pretty clearly. In the East, he will push to capture Warsaw and the nearby fortresses and score the big NM hits on Russia that come with those objectives. In the West, I predict he will turn his attentions to capturing Verdun as soon as he has artillery with Artillery Weapons 1 in place. Thus, he will focus on taking out the two biggest National Morale liabilities for the Entente - Warsaw and Verdun - paving the way for a bigger push east or west in 1916. You read it here first.
Of course, this turn also saw the entry of the Ottomans into the war. I said YES to the new Russian DE in this mod, which gives the Russians control over northern Persia, a territory known as Persian Azerbaijan. They also get a Russian mountain division (a new kind of unit in this mod) in Tabriz, for a cost of 2 X 50 MPPs. This new territory should give Russia some strategic advantages against the Ottomans, over time. The four Russian mountain corps that mobilize in the Caucasus moved up towards the front and I was able to attack one forward Ottoman detachment. Predictably, it was frozen in the Caucasus as well, so General Kornilov could only move one hex south of Tbilisi, as I could not afford the MPPs to operationally move him further this turn.
One the original motivations in designing this mod was to figure out a way to make it possible for the Entente to carry out an amphibious assault on Gallipoli in early 1915. I wrote a new DE which fired this turn for the British Prime Minister, proposing Winston's bold plan. Sadly, given the losses the UK have taken already and my fragile position in the West, I had to decline it - it would have been fun to play it out against Old Crow. It is a high risk, high reward endeavour - check out the Mod notes below describing the new interlocking DEs for Gallipoli.
In Egypt, I moved the two detachments that mobilized forward to help hold a line at El Arish. Even though my defences are thin here, it takes a while for the Ottomans to organize any real force in Palestine. So, I decided to transport the Indian cavalry corps that arrived this turn to the Persian Gulf. My longer-term goal is to get the Belgian general deployed here too, along with another British cavalry corps (and perhaps one or two French ones), so that they can outmanoeuvre the Ottomans and capture Baghdad by the end of 1915. That's the plan, at least.
It was quiet again in Serbia, but I was able to hit his sub once more on the coast.
In the West, it was quiet too, so I started moved British units towards the Middle East, by railing a British cavalry unit to Marseilles, so it can be shipped next turn, and sending King Albert on his way (at the stiff cost of 49 MPPs to transport).
In the western Atlantic, I am not sure if he is following through on his mine-laying gambit in Nova Scotia, but I continued to move my light cruiser towards Halifax. I also moved the French heavy cruiser I sent that way further across the Atlantic. All quiet along the blockade lines.
The only other DE that fired this turn was for Russia offering them the opportunity to buy a seaplane carrier in the Black Sea. I declined, given my need for every MPPs I can get to reinforce against the German pivot. But even in better circumstances, I see limited utility for this carrier. There is a second opportunity in 1016 to buy a seaplane carrier at a discount if I decide that reconnaissance along the Ottoman Black Sea coast requires it.
In terms of investments:
- the UK bought two ASW chits;
- France bought an Industrial Warfare chit;
- Serbia bought one more Trench Warfare chit to bring them to four;
- Russia bought a new Trench Warfare chit to keep four invested there as well.
I considered not spending Serbia's scarce MPPs on tech this turn, as the Typhus epidemic is coming up, but in the end decided it was more important in the medium term for Serbia to get Trench Warfare 1 as soon as possible. For the UK, I debated investing in another Industrial Warfare tech chit, as the UK needs the funds, and they have a low Industrial Modifier (thus the impact of this tech is greater). But I decided that with two chits already invested they are making progress here, whereas they need to get going on ASW tech. The fact that I have hardly seen the German submarines suggests to me he is waiting to build up his sub fleet to Advanced Subs 1 before sending out his wolf packs around mid-summer 1915.
At the end of the turn, I was fortunate with tech breakthroughs - the UK and Russia both got a modest breakthrough swing with Artillery Weapons, Russia and Serbia both got breakthroughs with Trench Warfare and France got a breakthrough with Industrial Warfare. Part of my tech investment strategy is to be invested in more of the key techs with a couple of chits, than over-invested in just a couple, in order to maximize the chances of breakthroughs. The exception of course is Trench Warfare, which all majors need to get to at least level 2 as soon as they can.
MOD NOTES
This turn, the Ottomans entered the war. So here are the extensive changes which apply to them.
8. Ottoman Empire Modifications
Comment: One of the main purposes of this mod was to enhance the range of strategic options for both sides in the Middle East, the Caucasus and in Persia. This has been done by a variety of new Decision Events that give the Entente greater scope for attacking the Ottoman Empire, and to increase the Ottomans' ability to defend their territory. Some small changes were made to the map to increase realism and to enable the new DEs.
8.1 Gallipoli Campaign
Comment: the following changes have been to increase the realism of the Gallipoli theatre in western Turkey and to encourage the Entente to attempt an amphibious invasion there.
The map for this region has been extensively redrawn:
- narrowing the Gallipoli peninsula;
- moving the town of Gallipoli onto the peninsula;
- making both Straits hexes hill terrain, as well as the hex 199,103;
- moving the port at the tip of the peninsula one hex up adjacent to the town of Gallipoli;
- adding a new port on the Sea of Marmara south of Adrianople at Tekfurdagi;
- adding a new town on the Aegean coast next to the Bulgaria border at Aynoz.
The 8 strength corps that starts the game on the town of Gallipoli has been moved to Panderma on Asia side of the Sea of Marmara. The Ottoman Empire also starts the game with a 5-strength coastal gun which can be deployed at the mouth of the Dardanelles.
Two new Gallipoli campaign DEs have been written for the UK and France, offering the UK the option of having a unit of the Royal Marines and the I ANZAC Corps deploy to Lemnos, along with a new French Marine division. The Royal Marines arrive on December 5, 1914, followed by the French Marines and the Anzacs on subsequent turns. Once deployed, these units can be loaded one per turn to Amphibious Transports from Lemnos. This means that all three units will be on transports by April 10, 1915, and they can launch an invasion on the nearby Turkish coast the next turn, on May 8, 1915.
If the UK says NO to the Gallipoli Campaign DE, they will then be given the option of saying YES to the existing DE to occupy Lemnos and deploy only the Royal Marine division there. If the UK says NO, Lemnos will remain in Greek hands.
If the Entente can capture both Straits hexes controlling the Dardanelles and place a naval unit in the Sea of Marmara, there will be mobilizations swings by Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania towards to Entente. (These replace the mobilization swings previously given if the Entente captured the town of Gallipoli in its former location).
If the Entente say YES to the Gallipoli campaign DE, the Ottomans will be rewarded if they can contain or defeat the invasion. Specifically, the Ottoman Empire gets a 500 NM boost if the Entente has only captured the town of Gallipoli by August 1915; and a 2000 NM boost if the Entente holds no Ottoman towns or cities between Smyrna, Constantinople and the Bulgarian border by January 1, 1916.
8.2 Mesopotamia
To increase their ability to hold Mesopotamia, the Ottomans have two new DEs allowing them to extend the existing railway line from Aleppo to Mosul by January 1, 1916, and then on to Baghdad, by January 1, 1917. (To enable this, a new unnamed settlement has been added to the map on the railway line two hexes south of Diyarbakir. The town of Tikrit will also produce no resources in 1916 until the railway line has been completed from Mosul to Baghdad).
Mosul has been made a NM objective for the Ottomans. This makes it a more valuable target for capture by Russia or Britain if they plan a campaign in Mesopotamia.
The Mesopotamian Volunteer unit that mobilizes through a DE when the British seize Basra will now deploy in Amara, rather than Baghdad.
The German and Austro-Hungarian expeditionary corps which can be sent to aid the Ottomans through existing DEs, can now be triggered if the Entente gets within 3 hexes of Baghdad (as well as Jerusalem and Damascus).
Comment: along with the changes to Persia (discussed below), these changes should make Mesopotamia a more significant theatre in the war.
8.3 Arabia
Comment: in the existing game, it is easy for the Ottomans to suppress the formation of any Arab partisans and thus thwart the Arab Revolt. These changes make the Revolt a much greater threat for the Ottomans.
The British Decision Event to sponsor the Arab Revolt by sending T.E. Lawrence to Arabia can now fire earlier, starting in September 1915, but it has only a 20% chance of firing per turn. This makes the start date of the Revolt more unpredictable for both sides.
Both the number of partisan spawning hexes in Arabia and the number of chances per turn for partisans to spawn have been increased, making it almost impossible for the Ottomans to prevent the Revolt from beginning. The maximum number of Arab partisans that can be active at one time is 6.
The Action Points of Arab partisans have been increased to 5 (up from 3), giving them greater range of movement.
Cutting the Hejaz Railroad from Amman to Medina becomes an important objective for the Arabs, as the Ottomans will lose 150 NM for each turn the rail line is cut. Two new Ottoman garrisons deploy when the Ottomans enter the war, based in Tabuk and Tayma, to help protect the rail line.
If the Arabs capture Medina and liberate Arabia, it becomes a British minor. In addition to having a build limit of 5 partisans, Arabia can build 1 regular infantry corps, 1 cavalry division, 3 infantry detachments and 1 HQ (Faisal). As in the vanilla game, T.E. Lawrence only gets his own HQ once Arab forces occupy Aqaba. It arrives as an Egyptian HQ in Aqaba.
8.4 Armenia
Russia can build an Armenian detachment in Erevan through a DE after the Armenian uprising in Van. The uprising is only triggered if an Ottoman unit is within 2 hexes of Van, starting on January 1, 1915.
Comment: this makes the Armenian uprising in Van more consequential to the campaign in the Caucasus. It also allows the Ottomans to avoid triggering the uprising if they are prepared to leave Van relatively undefended.
8.5 Ottoman HQs
A new DE has been added to give the Ottomans the option of creating a new HQ (Khalil Pasha) at a cost of 4 X 50 MPPs, in July 1916.
Comment: The Ottomans could probably use another general by the mid-point of the war, given the number of fronts where they could be attacked. This DE is comparable to existing DEs creating new generals for the UK, Germany and Austria-Hungary, in 1916 -17.
8.6 Ottoman Resources
An additional mine has been added to the map two hexes from Zonguldak on the Ottoman Black Sea coast. This will give the Ottoman 15 additional MPPs per turn.
Comment: This is to offset the increased resources earned by the UK and Russia from Persia. The Zonguldak coal beds extend to this location.
The DE allowing Russia to send agent to sabotage the Zonguldak mine has been extended to cover second mine hex, as well as naval units in the ports at Zonguldak and Trabzon.
Comment: This makes it a more damaging attack for the Russians to launch and could reduce the Ottomans willingness to put fleet units in their Black Sea ports, similar to the Italian and Austrian naval saboteurs in the Adriatic.
8.7 Ottoman National Morale Objectives
New Ottoman National Morale scripts have added enabling them to recover all they NM points lost for each of their NM national objectives that they recapture. Additional NM objectives for the Ottomans to capture have been added in Libya and Persia (as mentioned above), plus Cairo, Tabriz, Kars, Batum, Baku, Rhodes, and Cyprus.
Comment: In the existing game, Ottoman National Morale starts to sink from the outset and is almost impossible to rebuild. These changes give them a chance to recoup some of their losses, and perhaps even earn some NM bonuses by regaining territory lost in the past to Russia, Britain, and Italy. Similar NM changes have been made for other Majors - see above.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 8 January 2, 1915
It is winter across all fronts except the Middle East. In the West, I used the respite to invest heavily in tech for the French and finally to build up to strength 10 the French DD that has been sitting in Toulon since the Turn 4. There will be one or two more enemy subs in the Adriatic this spring (depending on if he ships a German sub in from the Baltic), so I need to increase my ASW capacity.
The British had their biggest turn of the war in terms of reinforcements: a sub, light cruiser, destroyer, half strength seaplane carrier, plus a half strength corps and a full strength one (bought two turns ago), plus General Haig. I deployed all the naval reinforcements in Scotland, so they could operate in the North Atlantic, and the land units around the ports of Plymouth - as a departure point for the Middle East - and Portsmouth.
Before I studied the map, my plan had been to reinforce the one remaining British corps in France. But after looking hard at both the risks to Serbia (see below) and the opportunities in Mesopotamia, I decided to make this a big transport turn. I shipped the full-strength corps sitting in Portsmouth south towards the Mediterranean, and the cavalry corps now sitting in Marseille. The latter will definitely go to Basra to add to my presence to Mesopotamia, the former will go to either Egypt or Serbia, wherever the need is greater.
In Egypt, the I Anzac Corps landed in Alexandria as a result of the DE this turn (which fired in January 1915 rather than December 1914, due to the late entry of the Ottomans in the war). They are moving towards the Sinai, as is General Hamilton.
In Mesopotamia, I landed the Indian cavalry corps at Basra.
Serbia was ravaged by the typhus epidemic and about eight units have lost strength points, including General Putnik. Fortunately, it is winter, so the risk of attack by the Austro-Hungarians is low. A much bigger problem, however, became apparent when I checked the Reports and discovered he invested 7 diplomacy chits last turn! Since one of them fired and moved the Bulgarians 6% toward the CP, I presume all of them are invested in getting Bulgaria in the war. I made diplomacy cheaper for a reason in this mod, and he is taking advantage of it. Unfortunately, I only noticed this after I had spent all my MPPs for Britain and France. So, I am counting on it taking a couple of more turns of diplomacy for Bulgaria to enter the war. Nevertheless, I started moving my two second line Serbian corps south towards Bulgaria, plus the Serbian - American volunteer detachment and a Montenegrin detachment. There is no way that Serbia can survive on its own once Bulgaria enters the war without other Entente corps shoring up their defences. I am not sure where I will find the troops.
In the Adriatic, for some reason he keeps leaving his sub exposed next to Cetinje, so I took another shot at it, reducing it to 3 strength points. If the weather on the coast allowed my seaplanes to fly, I might have gotten a further strike.
In the Caucasus, I moved my four corps further up into position to attack the Ottomans. But I will probably have to wait for the frozen weather to end before making any serious pushes against his positions. The weather and low supply also means my Russian mountain division in Tabriz can only move one hex a turn.
The Eastern front has become the main locus of the war. His attacks last turn were quite ineffectual and miraculously, the Russian XIII corps that was reduced to 1 strength point survived three successive German attacks. I concentrated on attacking the German cavalry unit that had thrust through to the outskirts of Warsaw. Even though it was surrounded on four sides, the effects of winter, plus river hex sides means it took four units to kill it, and I lost 12 strength points versus 10 for the Germans. It is debatable if this worth doing, but I concluded it would be easier to kill the cavalry corps than the infantry corps he surely would have moved into this hex next turn. I fully expect a fierce counterattack. Elsewhere along the line, I used my MPPs entirely to reinforce understrength corps. With the closure of the Dardanelles trade, Russian income is down 30 MPPs per turn and paying for occupying Persian Azerbaijan costs 2 X 50 MPPs, meaning that Russia only had 218 MPPs to spend this turn, rather than 270 plus in previous turns.
The North Atlantic was quiet, again. In Canadian waters, we seem to be playing cat and mouse. My British light cruiser reached Halifax and is standing guard in case he tries to deploy mines there. My French heavy cruiser is now hiding off the south coast of Newfoundland and can move into help clear the mines around Cape Breton, once I think he longer has active subs in the area.
For DEs, I chose to have the I Anzacs land in Egypt, rather than the UK. I chose to fund the back-up Gallipoli plan in this mod - which is the same as the regular "preparation for Gallipoli DE" in the vanilla game - namely having a unit of Royal Marines occupy Lemnos. Even though I have no intention of launching an amphibious invasion in this sector, I wanted to keep him guessing by still occupying Lemnos. By having at least one Marine unit off the Ottoman coast, he will probably feel the need to keep detachments close to all the likely landing spots in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. I also said YES to the Serbian volunteer DE - even though Serbia is short of resources and this costs 2 X 25 MPPs, which is a lot for Serbia. Serbia needs all the units it can get to defend itself, especially when the Bulgarians enter the war.
France made a big tech investment: 200 MPPs for Gas/Shell tech. I doubled the cost of this chit in this mod, and you can only buy one, so it will take all year to reach 100%. But without reaching at least level 1 in Gas/Shell tech, your artillery pieces receive only fire one shell a turn, which means they must be very selective about what they attack. The UK invested one chit in Industrial Warfare, so they now have three. Neither Russia nor Serbia could afford any more tech investments this turn, as all their resources went to reinforcing units.
MOD NOTES
9. Persia
Comment: Both the Russians and British had significant zones of influence in Persia by 1914 and the oil wells in southern Persia were an important strategic source of oil for the British Empire. Persia was a complex secondary theatre of conflict between the British, Russians and Ottomans from the beginning of the war. These changes are meant to reflect that.
A new DE has been given to Russia which fires when the Ottomans enter the war, enabling the Russians to exercise their sphere of influence over northern Persia in the area known as Persian Azerbaijan. If they say YES, an area of northern Persia centred on Tabriz is transferred to Russian control. (This done by giving it to Armenia which becomes a 100% mobilized Russian minor). A Russian mountain division deploys in Tabriz. An Armenian Volunteer Detachment will also deploy if Ottoman troops move to the border with Persian Azerbaijan. In November 1915 another new DE allows the Russians to create a "Persian Expeditionary Force" with two cavalry divisions deploying in Tabriz and Astara respectively.
In the south, the oil well at Abadan has been transferred on the map back to Persia. A new Persian oil convoy route to the UK will start as soon as the UK seizes Basra. The land convoy will link the oil wells at Maidan-I-Naftun and Abadan and will ending in Basra. The convoy will be worth 25 MPPs for the UK (or 30 MPPs if the Russians do not occupy Persian Azerbaijan). This is a net increase for the UK of 15 MPPs over the production of just the Abadan oil well when it was part of Mesopotamia.
Germany can send agents into southern Persia led by Wilhelm Wassmuss to sabotage the Persian oil convoy to Basra. The cost of this DE has been reduced from 50 to 30 MPPs. The amount of damage they can do has been increased; if they succeed, the Ottomans will also get 200 NM point bump. The Central Powers can also interrupt the convoy through diplomacy by swinging Persia to the Central Powers. Or the Ottomans could choose to invade southern Persia and occupy one or more resource hexes on the convoy line. If the Central Powers conquer Persia, the UK can send agents to sabotage the same oil resources, as well as Tehran (also at the reduced rate of 30 MPPs).
Tehran is now a NM objective for the Ottoman Empire. If the Central Powers choose to DOW Persia, the 5 strength Persian Cossack Corps will mobilize to defend Tehran. However, the four 5 strength detachments of the Persian Gendarmerie (based in Kazvin, Qum, Kermanshah, and Khorramabad respectively) each have only a 50% chance of mobilizing against the Central Powers if they come within 3 hexes of their bases. The other 50% of the time they will defect and become Ottoman units. If the Entente chooses to DOW Persia, all four of the Persian Gendarmerie units will mobilize if the Entente units come within 3 hexes of their towns. However, the Persian Cossack unit in Tehran will only mobilize against the Entente 50% of the time; the other 50% of the time, it will defect and become a Russian unit.
It is winter across all fronts except the Middle East. In the West, I used the respite to invest heavily in tech for the French and finally to build up to strength 10 the French DD that has been sitting in Toulon since the Turn 4. There will be one or two more enemy subs in the Adriatic this spring (depending on if he ships a German sub in from the Baltic), so I need to increase my ASW capacity.
The British had their biggest turn of the war in terms of reinforcements: a sub, light cruiser, destroyer, half strength seaplane carrier, plus a half strength corps and a full strength one (bought two turns ago), plus General Haig. I deployed all the naval reinforcements in Scotland, so they could operate in the North Atlantic, and the land units around the ports of Plymouth - as a departure point for the Middle East - and Portsmouth.
Before I studied the map, my plan had been to reinforce the one remaining British corps in France. But after looking hard at both the risks to Serbia (see below) and the opportunities in Mesopotamia, I decided to make this a big transport turn. I shipped the full-strength corps sitting in Portsmouth south towards the Mediterranean, and the cavalry corps now sitting in Marseille. The latter will definitely go to Basra to add to my presence to Mesopotamia, the former will go to either Egypt or Serbia, wherever the need is greater.
In Egypt, the I Anzac Corps landed in Alexandria as a result of the DE this turn (which fired in January 1915 rather than December 1914, due to the late entry of the Ottomans in the war). They are moving towards the Sinai, as is General Hamilton.
In Mesopotamia, I landed the Indian cavalry corps at Basra.
Serbia was ravaged by the typhus epidemic and about eight units have lost strength points, including General Putnik. Fortunately, it is winter, so the risk of attack by the Austro-Hungarians is low. A much bigger problem, however, became apparent when I checked the Reports and discovered he invested 7 diplomacy chits last turn! Since one of them fired and moved the Bulgarians 6% toward the CP, I presume all of them are invested in getting Bulgaria in the war. I made diplomacy cheaper for a reason in this mod, and he is taking advantage of it. Unfortunately, I only noticed this after I had spent all my MPPs for Britain and France. So, I am counting on it taking a couple of more turns of diplomacy for Bulgaria to enter the war. Nevertheless, I started moving my two second line Serbian corps south towards Bulgaria, plus the Serbian - American volunteer detachment and a Montenegrin detachment. There is no way that Serbia can survive on its own once Bulgaria enters the war without other Entente corps shoring up their defences. I am not sure where I will find the troops.
In the Adriatic, for some reason he keeps leaving his sub exposed next to Cetinje, so I took another shot at it, reducing it to 3 strength points. If the weather on the coast allowed my seaplanes to fly, I might have gotten a further strike.
In the Caucasus, I moved my four corps further up into position to attack the Ottomans. But I will probably have to wait for the frozen weather to end before making any serious pushes against his positions. The weather and low supply also means my Russian mountain division in Tabriz can only move one hex a turn.
The Eastern front has become the main locus of the war. His attacks last turn were quite ineffectual and miraculously, the Russian XIII corps that was reduced to 1 strength point survived three successive German attacks. I concentrated on attacking the German cavalry unit that had thrust through to the outskirts of Warsaw. Even though it was surrounded on four sides, the effects of winter, plus river hex sides means it took four units to kill it, and I lost 12 strength points versus 10 for the Germans. It is debatable if this worth doing, but I concluded it would be easier to kill the cavalry corps than the infantry corps he surely would have moved into this hex next turn. I fully expect a fierce counterattack. Elsewhere along the line, I used my MPPs entirely to reinforce understrength corps. With the closure of the Dardanelles trade, Russian income is down 30 MPPs per turn and paying for occupying Persian Azerbaijan costs 2 X 50 MPPs, meaning that Russia only had 218 MPPs to spend this turn, rather than 270 plus in previous turns.
The North Atlantic was quiet, again. In Canadian waters, we seem to be playing cat and mouse. My British light cruiser reached Halifax and is standing guard in case he tries to deploy mines there. My French heavy cruiser is now hiding off the south coast of Newfoundland and can move into help clear the mines around Cape Breton, once I think he longer has active subs in the area.
For DEs, I chose to have the I Anzacs land in Egypt, rather than the UK. I chose to fund the back-up Gallipoli plan in this mod - which is the same as the regular "preparation for Gallipoli DE" in the vanilla game - namely having a unit of Royal Marines occupy Lemnos. Even though I have no intention of launching an amphibious invasion in this sector, I wanted to keep him guessing by still occupying Lemnos. By having at least one Marine unit off the Ottoman coast, he will probably feel the need to keep detachments close to all the likely landing spots in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. I also said YES to the Serbian volunteer DE - even though Serbia is short of resources and this costs 2 X 25 MPPs, which is a lot for Serbia. Serbia needs all the units it can get to defend itself, especially when the Bulgarians enter the war.
France made a big tech investment: 200 MPPs for Gas/Shell tech. I doubled the cost of this chit in this mod, and you can only buy one, so it will take all year to reach 100%. But without reaching at least level 1 in Gas/Shell tech, your artillery pieces receive only fire one shell a turn, which means they must be very selective about what they attack. The UK invested one chit in Industrial Warfare, so they now have three. Neither Russia nor Serbia could afford any more tech investments this turn, as all their resources went to reinforcing units.
MOD NOTES
9. Persia
Comment: Both the Russians and British had significant zones of influence in Persia by 1914 and the oil wells in southern Persia were an important strategic source of oil for the British Empire. Persia was a complex secondary theatre of conflict between the British, Russians and Ottomans from the beginning of the war. These changes are meant to reflect that.
A new DE has been given to Russia which fires when the Ottomans enter the war, enabling the Russians to exercise their sphere of influence over northern Persia in the area known as Persian Azerbaijan. If they say YES, an area of northern Persia centred on Tabriz is transferred to Russian control. (This done by giving it to Armenia which becomes a 100% mobilized Russian minor). A Russian mountain division deploys in Tabriz. An Armenian Volunteer Detachment will also deploy if Ottoman troops move to the border with Persian Azerbaijan. In November 1915 another new DE allows the Russians to create a "Persian Expeditionary Force" with two cavalry divisions deploying in Tabriz and Astara respectively.
In the south, the oil well at Abadan has been transferred on the map back to Persia. A new Persian oil convoy route to the UK will start as soon as the UK seizes Basra. The land convoy will link the oil wells at Maidan-I-Naftun and Abadan and will ending in Basra. The convoy will be worth 25 MPPs for the UK (or 30 MPPs if the Russians do not occupy Persian Azerbaijan). This is a net increase for the UK of 15 MPPs over the production of just the Abadan oil well when it was part of Mesopotamia.
Germany can send agents into southern Persia led by Wilhelm Wassmuss to sabotage the Persian oil convoy to Basra. The cost of this DE has been reduced from 50 to 30 MPPs. The amount of damage they can do has been increased; if they succeed, the Ottomans will also get 200 NM point bump. The Central Powers can also interrupt the convoy through diplomacy by swinging Persia to the Central Powers. Or the Ottomans could choose to invade southern Persia and occupy one or more resource hexes on the convoy line. If the Central Powers conquer Persia, the UK can send agents to sabotage the same oil resources, as well as Tehran (also at the reduced rate of 30 MPPs).
Tehran is now a NM objective for the Ottoman Empire. If the Central Powers choose to DOW Persia, the 5 strength Persian Cossack Corps will mobilize to defend Tehran. However, the four 5 strength detachments of the Persian Gendarmerie (based in Kazvin, Qum, Kermanshah, and Khorramabad respectively) each have only a 50% chance of mobilizing against the Central Powers if they come within 3 hexes of their bases. The other 50% of the time they will defect and become Ottoman units. If the Entente chooses to DOW Persia, all four of the Persian Gendarmerie units will mobilize if the Entente units come within 3 hexes of their towns. However, the Persian Cossack unit in Tehran will only mobilize against the Entente 50% of the time; the other 50% of the time, it will defect and become a Russian unit.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 9 February 27, 1915
The big news this turn was Bulgaria swinging 27% towards the CP and reaching 99% - so my "thoughts and prayers" strategy for resisting the big CP diplomatic push towards Bulgaria has (predictably) failed. Serbia has been very successful in resisting the Austro-Hungarians to the north, but they can't hold off the Bulgarians to the south without corps from another Entente power, meaning either Britain or France at the moment. I know Old Crow is obsessed with capturing Nish and opening a rail-link to connect the Ottomans to the other two Central Powers. Indeed, such a link greatly increases the Ottomans ability to resist, especially once he has a railway built all the way to Baghdad (as per the new DE I included in this mod, see Ottoman notes from the previous turn).
Having anticipated this risk last turn, I could move two Serbian corps and one detachment to the Bulgarian border (unfortunately, both corps are under-strength due the typhus epidemic, but at least they can get to the border). I reinforced the remaining Serbian units that lost strength points and shifted my General Putnik one hex south so his command range could reach the units defending the Bulgarian frontier. (Serbia starts with command-and-control tech level 2, meaning their generals can command 7 units, up to 7 hexes away).
Fortunately, Serbia still controls the port of Cetinje and now Tirana in Albania. Furthermore, a new French DE will fire next turn, once the Bulgarians come in, offering the French and the British the opportunity to fund an early coup d'etat in Greece by General Venizelos. See the mod notes on Greece below. So, there are ways of getting outside reinforcements into Serbia, though it will take a couple of turns. My hope is that Serbia alone can prevent him from capturing Nish until the reinforcements arrive.
Britain has a vital interest in seeing that the rail link to the Ottoman Empire through Nish is not established, as it makes it much harder to hold on to Egypt if Ottoman troops are supported by German or AH artillery. So, after some hard reflection, I decided to pivot the British hard towards intervening to support Serbia. I transported the newly arrived Canadian Corps and the V British corps immediately to the Mediterranean. I also railed British General French from Normandy down to the port of Toulon on the Mediterranean, where he can be transported in one turn to a Serbian-friendly port. I considered shipping the newly arrived General Haig, who has a higher command rating, but he is sitting in the UK and would take an extra turn to get there. I can upgrade French's command rating once I land him. I also moved the one remaining British corps in France back from the front to a rail hex, so it can be sent to the Balkans as well. Finally, I moved the I Anzac Corps to Port Said, so it can be shipped to Serbia too.
In Egypt I will need a second full strength corps in Egypt to hold off the Ottomans, but I think the one corps I have now plus two detachments should be sufficient until he builds up his general and brings in more corps. After some mental back and forth, I decided to land the Belgian general in Port Said to provide a more supply to my troops holding Egypt, rather than sending him on to Mesopotamia. The only way the UK can keep two corps at full supply (6 or better) in front of the Suez Canal is by having two generals in Egypt - Hamilton on his own is not sufficient. (This is because there is no land connection from Egypt to an Entente major capital or primary supply source).
In Mesopotamia, I landed the Indian cavalry corps and moved it up to scout, spotting what I assume is the Baghdad corps entrenched on Nasiriyah on the road to Baghdad. I will move up the Force D detachment next to his detachment in the town of Qurna to start degrading its supply next turn (I wanted to reinforce it this turn). A second British cavalry unit is now in transports on the Red Sea and will arrive in Basra next turn. I think it will require at least one more unit to out manoeuvre the two Ottoman defenders that I can see, but it will be fun to start trying.
In the Caucasus, it was frozen but not muddy, so I could move the maximum range. I started attacking his corps defending Elesert - which should have been more successful than it was (I lost four points to his three). Nevertheless, its entrenchment is down to zero and I have two adjacent units. The new Mountain Division that starts in Tabriz is now entrenched on the Ottoman border, facing Van.
The Eastern front was mercifully quiet, so I spent all of Russia's 208 MPPs this turn reinforcing units and railing in one full strength corps from Lemberg to help with the defenses of Warsaw. I deployed Russia's newly arrived half strength Artillery unit in front of Lutsk behind the line in Galicia with the hope of being able to use to capture Premzysl once it reaches Artillery tech 1.
The Western front saw no action this turn. I have decided the French will have to rely on their own resources to defend France and am withdrawing the two remaining British units, but I will keep a British general in the UK and if necessary, can send future reinforcements across the channel if needed. France received two new corps, which I added to the second line in Chalons and Verdun. I bought the one remaining destroyed French corps from the autumn offensives and reinforced a few remaining units. I also deployed my first artillery piece next to Paris. It needs to be upgraded and for France to reach Artillery Weapons 1 (currently they are 66%), but at least it is now in place.
In the North Sea I suspected that a sub was at large, as something hit the mine that I deployed in the middle of the Sea a few turns ago. So, I did some scouting with my two subs and destroyers. I encountered the sub that struck the mine and managed to rough it up some more. Further moves by my destroyers revealed a second sub near the North Sea blockade line.
Off Nova Scotia, we continue to play cat and mouse. To my surprise, he is keeping one sub on the red hatch hexes off Halifax. This disrupts mine production but keeping my light cruiser in port it prevents him from raiding. My French cruiser succeeded in clearing the other mine off Cape Breton, at a relatively high cost of 4 strength points. This game really does need to have mine-sweepers.
After finishing some other adjustments to my naval forces on the distant blockade line and doing some scouting for subs on the convoy routes west of Ireland, I tried to upgrade a seaplane carrier that arrived last turn in Glasgow and was shocked to discover this normally level 12 port was only at 5! I had not seen any notifications of German sub action on the NM hexes in the North Channel, but I checked the logs and indeed Germany had started unrestricted submarine warfare last turn. I realized that for some reason, I had turned off the "Notifications" in Settings, so I missed having this called to my attention when I started the turn. Ironically, I had two destroyers in the area which could have spotted and attacked his ships, had I known to look for them in the North Channel. By great good luck, Old Crow timed this operation to coincide with a shipyard strike in Glasgow (an event which has a 3% change of firing each turn and supresses 1-4 port supply points). Taken together, these factors brought the port down below 5 by the end of my move - which meant the Canadian convoy was completely shut down and I lost 50 plus MPPs. Glasgow will recover once I chase away his submarines (or surface ships, or maybe mines) from the NM hexes but it will be costly for a couple of turns for the UK. If I had not turned off the notifications, I could probably have used the destroyers I had in place to reduce the damage and keep the convoy open. It's all part of the game!
This was the first turn since the start of the game when I had no Decision Events, nor did invest in any tech chits - everything was spent on reinforcements or transporting units. At the end of the turn, I received the very gratifying news that both France and Russia achieved Industrial Warfare tech 1 - which will mean a very big boost to their incomes next turn. France also got a smaller breakthrough on gas/shell production to 30% which is very helpful.
MOD NOTES
15. Greece
15.1 Pro-Entente Coup in Greece
A new DE will enable Britain and France to fund an early coup attempt by Greek Prime Minister Venizelos to bring Greece into the war on the Entente side. This DE will fire if the French convoy route to Serbia through Cetinje is threatened by the capture of any of the Serbian/Montenegrin towns along the land route to the Serbian capital, or if the Central Powers are within two hexes of Nish or three hexes of Uskub. The latter will happen automatically if Bulgaria enters the war. There is a 75% chance of success for the coup. If it succeeds, all of Greece mobilizes for the Entente. If it fails, Greece joins the Central Powers, but Salonika and Thrace secede and set up their own independent state of Salonika, which joins the Entente. Either way, the convoy from France to Serbia will be re-routed through Salonika.
Comment: This gives the Entente the option - at some risk - to bring Greece into the war on the Entente side much earlier than the existing DE (which fires in August 1915). If the Central Powers are waging an all-out assault on Serbia, this could prove necessary in order to keep Serbia supplied.
15.2 General Danglis
Once mobilized for the Entente, Greek General Danglis arrives in Larissa, rather than next to Athens.
Comment: in the existing game settings, both Danglis and the Athens Corps deploy in Athens, meaning that Danglis deploys into a low supply hex next to Athens, well away from the front.
19. Montenegro
A new post-surrender partisan spawning hex has been added to Montenegro.
Comment: this seemed reasonable as a complement to Serbia's two partisans spawning hexes.
13. Egypt
The Indian artillery unit that arrives in Egypt in March 1915 arrives in Suez, rather than Cairo.
Comment: Suez is the port where this unit would have arrived from India, not Cairo. This change is intended to make it a bit easier to transport this unit to support the Gallipoli campaign, or to move it to the front against the Ottomans in the Sinai.
The big news this turn was Bulgaria swinging 27% towards the CP and reaching 99% - so my "thoughts and prayers" strategy for resisting the big CP diplomatic push towards Bulgaria has (predictably) failed. Serbia has been very successful in resisting the Austro-Hungarians to the north, but they can't hold off the Bulgarians to the south without corps from another Entente power, meaning either Britain or France at the moment. I know Old Crow is obsessed with capturing Nish and opening a rail-link to connect the Ottomans to the other two Central Powers. Indeed, such a link greatly increases the Ottomans ability to resist, especially once he has a railway built all the way to Baghdad (as per the new DE I included in this mod, see Ottoman notes from the previous turn).
Having anticipated this risk last turn, I could move two Serbian corps and one detachment to the Bulgarian border (unfortunately, both corps are under-strength due the typhus epidemic, but at least they can get to the border). I reinforced the remaining Serbian units that lost strength points and shifted my General Putnik one hex south so his command range could reach the units defending the Bulgarian frontier. (Serbia starts with command-and-control tech level 2, meaning their generals can command 7 units, up to 7 hexes away).
Fortunately, Serbia still controls the port of Cetinje and now Tirana in Albania. Furthermore, a new French DE will fire next turn, once the Bulgarians come in, offering the French and the British the opportunity to fund an early coup d'etat in Greece by General Venizelos. See the mod notes on Greece below. So, there are ways of getting outside reinforcements into Serbia, though it will take a couple of turns. My hope is that Serbia alone can prevent him from capturing Nish until the reinforcements arrive.
Britain has a vital interest in seeing that the rail link to the Ottoman Empire through Nish is not established, as it makes it much harder to hold on to Egypt if Ottoman troops are supported by German or AH artillery. So, after some hard reflection, I decided to pivot the British hard towards intervening to support Serbia. I transported the newly arrived Canadian Corps and the V British corps immediately to the Mediterranean. I also railed British General French from Normandy down to the port of Toulon on the Mediterranean, where he can be transported in one turn to a Serbian-friendly port. I considered shipping the newly arrived General Haig, who has a higher command rating, but he is sitting in the UK and would take an extra turn to get there. I can upgrade French's command rating once I land him. I also moved the one remaining British corps in France back from the front to a rail hex, so it can be sent to the Balkans as well. Finally, I moved the I Anzac Corps to Port Said, so it can be shipped to Serbia too.
In Egypt I will need a second full strength corps in Egypt to hold off the Ottomans, but I think the one corps I have now plus two detachments should be sufficient until he builds up his general and brings in more corps. After some mental back and forth, I decided to land the Belgian general in Port Said to provide a more supply to my troops holding Egypt, rather than sending him on to Mesopotamia. The only way the UK can keep two corps at full supply (6 or better) in front of the Suez Canal is by having two generals in Egypt - Hamilton on his own is not sufficient. (This is because there is no land connection from Egypt to an Entente major capital or primary supply source).
In Mesopotamia, I landed the Indian cavalry corps and moved it up to scout, spotting what I assume is the Baghdad corps entrenched on Nasiriyah on the road to Baghdad. I will move up the Force D detachment next to his detachment in the town of Qurna to start degrading its supply next turn (I wanted to reinforce it this turn). A second British cavalry unit is now in transports on the Red Sea and will arrive in Basra next turn. I think it will require at least one more unit to out manoeuvre the two Ottoman defenders that I can see, but it will be fun to start trying.
In the Caucasus, it was frozen but not muddy, so I could move the maximum range. I started attacking his corps defending Elesert - which should have been more successful than it was (I lost four points to his three). Nevertheless, its entrenchment is down to zero and I have two adjacent units. The new Mountain Division that starts in Tabriz is now entrenched on the Ottoman border, facing Van.
The Eastern front was mercifully quiet, so I spent all of Russia's 208 MPPs this turn reinforcing units and railing in one full strength corps from Lemberg to help with the defenses of Warsaw. I deployed Russia's newly arrived half strength Artillery unit in front of Lutsk behind the line in Galicia with the hope of being able to use to capture Premzysl once it reaches Artillery tech 1.
The Western front saw no action this turn. I have decided the French will have to rely on their own resources to defend France and am withdrawing the two remaining British units, but I will keep a British general in the UK and if necessary, can send future reinforcements across the channel if needed. France received two new corps, which I added to the second line in Chalons and Verdun. I bought the one remaining destroyed French corps from the autumn offensives and reinforced a few remaining units. I also deployed my first artillery piece next to Paris. It needs to be upgraded and for France to reach Artillery Weapons 1 (currently they are 66%), but at least it is now in place.
In the North Sea I suspected that a sub was at large, as something hit the mine that I deployed in the middle of the Sea a few turns ago. So, I did some scouting with my two subs and destroyers. I encountered the sub that struck the mine and managed to rough it up some more. Further moves by my destroyers revealed a second sub near the North Sea blockade line.
Off Nova Scotia, we continue to play cat and mouse. To my surprise, he is keeping one sub on the red hatch hexes off Halifax. This disrupts mine production but keeping my light cruiser in port it prevents him from raiding. My French cruiser succeeded in clearing the other mine off Cape Breton, at a relatively high cost of 4 strength points. This game really does need to have mine-sweepers.
After finishing some other adjustments to my naval forces on the distant blockade line and doing some scouting for subs on the convoy routes west of Ireland, I tried to upgrade a seaplane carrier that arrived last turn in Glasgow and was shocked to discover this normally level 12 port was only at 5! I had not seen any notifications of German sub action on the NM hexes in the North Channel, but I checked the logs and indeed Germany had started unrestricted submarine warfare last turn. I realized that for some reason, I had turned off the "Notifications" in Settings, so I missed having this called to my attention when I started the turn. Ironically, I had two destroyers in the area which could have spotted and attacked his ships, had I known to look for them in the North Channel. By great good luck, Old Crow timed this operation to coincide with a shipyard strike in Glasgow (an event which has a 3% change of firing each turn and supresses 1-4 port supply points). Taken together, these factors brought the port down below 5 by the end of my move - which meant the Canadian convoy was completely shut down and I lost 50 plus MPPs. Glasgow will recover once I chase away his submarines (or surface ships, or maybe mines) from the NM hexes but it will be costly for a couple of turns for the UK. If I had not turned off the notifications, I could probably have used the destroyers I had in place to reduce the damage and keep the convoy open. It's all part of the game!
This was the first turn since the start of the game when I had no Decision Events, nor did invest in any tech chits - everything was spent on reinforcements or transporting units. At the end of the turn, I received the very gratifying news that both France and Russia achieved Industrial Warfare tech 1 - which will mean a very big boost to their incomes next turn. France also got a smaller breakthrough on gas/shell production to 30% which is very helpful.
MOD NOTES
15. Greece
15.1 Pro-Entente Coup in Greece
A new DE will enable Britain and France to fund an early coup attempt by Greek Prime Minister Venizelos to bring Greece into the war on the Entente side. This DE will fire if the French convoy route to Serbia through Cetinje is threatened by the capture of any of the Serbian/Montenegrin towns along the land route to the Serbian capital, or if the Central Powers are within two hexes of Nish or three hexes of Uskub. The latter will happen automatically if Bulgaria enters the war. There is a 75% chance of success for the coup. If it succeeds, all of Greece mobilizes for the Entente. If it fails, Greece joins the Central Powers, but Salonika and Thrace secede and set up their own independent state of Salonika, which joins the Entente. Either way, the convoy from France to Serbia will be re-routed through Salonika.
Comment: This gives the Entente the option - at some risk - to bring Greece into the war on the Entente side much earlier than the existing DE (which fires in August 1915). If the Central Powers are waging an all-out assault on Serbia, this could prove necessary in order to keep Serbia supplied.
15.2 General Danglis
Once mobilized for the Entente, Greek General Danglis arrives in Larissa, rather than next to Athens.
Comment: in the existing game settings, both Danglis and the Athens Corps deploy in Athens, meaning that Danglis deploys into a low supply hex next to Athens, well away from the front.
19. Montenegro
A new post-surrender partisan spawning hex has been added to Montenegro.
Comment: this seemed reasonable as a complement to Serbia's two partisans spawning hexes.
13. Egypt
The Indian artillery unit that arrives in Egypt in March 1915 arrives in Suez, rather than Cairo.
Comment: Suez is the port where this unit would have arrived from India, not Cairo. This change is intended to make it a bit easier to transport this unit to support the Gallipoli campaign, or to move it to the front against the Ottomans in the Sinai.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 10 April 10, 1915
The President of France backs Venizelos's early coup in Greece. Venizelos succeeds in bringing Greece into the war thus opening up a new convoy route to Serbia through Salonika. The UK prepares to send troops to aid Serbia. Canadian and American convoys into Glasgow are completely halted by German unrestricted submarine warfare. British ships defending Halifax caught off-guard by German naval mines. France builds its first heavy artillery unit.
As I anticipated (since I wrote the mod!) at the beginning of this turn, the French President received a message that "our Serbian ally is in grave peril" and recommending that, jointly with the UK, the Entente fund an early coup attempt by Greek Prime Minister Venizelos, as described above. It worked! (In fact, it was Old Crow's recommendation that the chance of success for the Entente be set at 75% - I originally had it lower when we played my earlier Balkan Variations mod). In any event, Greece went to 99% for the Entente and will join my side next turn. This completely changes the strategic picture in the Balkans. Not only will it make it easier to reinforce Serbia through Salonika, but it opens up a land border with the Ottomans. The Ottomans can easily rail or march reinforcements to aid Bulgaria - but at the same time, they also have a new front to defend against the Entente in European Turkey. I am accustomed to the front line in the Balkans running east-west as the Austro-Hungarians push south. Now there will be a new one as well running north south along the Bulgarian and Greek border.
I was able to entrench my Serbian forces along the Bulgarian border and railed in the detachment defending Centinje to shore up that line. I was able to bring in the first British corps via transports to Centinje to replace it. My plans had been to transport the I Anzac corps as well from Egypt, where is it positioned in Port Said ready to go, but I discovered I was already at my maximum transport capacity for the UK. Anyhow, there are two more British corps now in the Med on transports and the I Anzacs ready to move next turn. I will also transport General French sitting in the port of Toulon, one transport move away from the Balkans, or the somewhat more highly rated General Haig, sitting further away in Portsmouth. I will make that call next turn.
In the Adriatic, for some reason Old Crow continues to keep an AH sub next to Cetinje (I think so he can raid the French convoy). So, I hit it with two destroyers and my seaplane carrier and knocked it from 10 down to 3. That's the most action we have had in the Adriatic since the start of the game. I see he has moved the AH recon bomber to this coast, no doubt partly for naval attacks. But it also tells me he plans to deploy his artillery on the Serbian front as soon as it is ready.
In Egypt, last turn was quiet, so I reinforced my backup detachment and more importantly the new Indian artillery unit which deployed in Suez this turn. I expect to hit Trench Warfare 2 next turn, making it even harder for him to attack my small blocking force here until he gets Ottoman artillery - which given their more limited resources for tech investments is not likely to be before 1916 (unless he can open the rail link to Germany through Serbia).
I had fun in Mesopotamia - I moved my Indian cavalry corps around his detachment in Qurna and by my reckoning, he won't be able to attack it with his corps on Nasireyah. I landed my second, British cavalry corps in Basra and moved it up as well. All of this in aid of seeing if I can ultimately capture Baghdad in 1915 without having to bring in General Maude in mid 1916. Maybe so, maybe not, but it puts additional pressure on the Ottomans in a still distant front.
In the Caucasus, things are starting to roll. I destroyed the Ottoman detachment that was in front of Van and moved up most of my units. If the Ottoman entrenchments remain at 2 next turn, I may start attacking towards Erzurum, or I may try to eliminate the detachment on Van. I At the end of the turn, I discovered a small glitch in the mod as the Armenian uprising in Van event fired, but there was no bang and no reduction in the supply levels of the town (it is supposed to suffer a 3 - 5 supply loss). However, the uprising did trigger a new DE for Russia, giving them the option of forming an Armenian volunteer detachment - which I decided to accept (mostly because I like the red/blue/green colours of the Armenian unit).
On the Eastern front, it was a quiet turn, which tells me he is waiting to get his German artillery in place for a new offensive. I strengthened my defences around Warsaw and replenished understrength second line corps in Galicia and East Prussia. I brought my half strength artillery unit just west of Lutsk up to full strength, while waiting for Russia to get to Artillery Weapons 1. I decided to keep the defensive line in the west of Poland through Lodz, on the theory that why give up ground now when I can pull back later. No doubt, a major push towards Warsaw is coming soon.
On the Western front, it was completely quiet and in fact, I did not move anything. I could have walked or railed the one remaining British corps to a port, but for the moment, I would like to keep a minimal British presence in France. I reinforced the French artillery piece already deployed, waiting until France reaches Artillery Weapons 1.
The Atlantic was a very tricky theatre this turn. He pissed me off (to use a technical term) by having his German destroyer pop up south of Halifax and lay two mines. If I had kept my light cruiser at sea in front of Halifax, rather than in the port, he could not have done that as mines cannot be laid by naval units next to the enemy. This not only causes economic disruption in the town of Halifax and one Nova Scotia mine, it reduces the port of Halifax by 1, making it impossible to convoy out of there. Furthermore, my light cruiser tried to move directly on top of his invisible destroyer when it exited Halifax to run over the first mine and as result, it lost almost all its remaining action points. Furthermore, even once I clear these mines, that there is a continuing risk of having the German destroyer hang around and re-lay mines after I remove them. To deal more conclusively with it, I will have to send another surface ship across the North Atlantic to Nova Scotia to support the two already in place.
In addition to mining Halifax, he managed to hit the Canada and US convoys as well with unrestricted warfare by his subs in the North Channel north-west of Ireland. I was shocked to find at the start of my turn that Glasgow had been reduced to only a strength of 2 (compared to 12 originally). The port strength losses from German ships on those NM hexes happen on both enemy and friendly turns, so a script that reduces Glasgow by 2-4 points each turn can cut it down very quickly. On top of that, he timed this sub attack the turn after a strike by industrial workers in the Clyde shipyards. This British DE - which I did not pay much attention to at the time - fires on February 2, 1915 and further reduces the port of Glasgow by 3 - 5 points. I think I have now chased away all but one of his subs in the North Channel, so it won't drop further this turn. But it will still take 3 turns before Glasgow reaches 5 and is able to receive again the convoys from Canada and the USA (though it is possible the convoys may shift to Liverpool once I clear the mines in front of Halifax).
I have to congratulate Old Crow: through asymmetric, well-timed, simultaneous attacks off Canada and in the North Channel, he has cost the UK about 65 MPPs from Canada and the USA last turn, this turn and for several turns in the future. I have not seen the German navy use the unrestricted warfare feature so successfully before and I will have to find more ways of increasing my ASW capability in the Western Atlantic. To that end, I decided to deploy my first airship (for now) in north-west Ireland, so it can do reconnaissance over the North Channel.
In terms of Decision Events, at the beginning of the turn, I accepted the French and British intervention in Greece as discussed above. I accepted the Russian DE to build an artillery unit in the Caucasus (at a slightly reduced cost in this mod). I also accepted the new DE to form an Armenian volunteer detachment in Erivan (as discussed).
At the end of the turn, I made the unusual choice (for me) of declining to have the UK fund the Italians at 4 X 50 MPPs for the next four turns. This was essentially a money saving move: the UK needs all the MPPs it can get right now to build up its artillery and complete sending its forces to Serbia. With the loss of income from German disruption of the North Atlantic convoys, I can't afford to fund Italy as well. I have also learned from recent games that Italy still joins the Entente by mid-summer if the UK says no to this DE - the only penalty is that you do not get the 10-15% extra swing to the Entente that comes from this funding. Essentially, it is a resource transfer from the UK to Italy to help them build up their forces and start investing in trench warfare tech. While this is desirable, in my view, it can wait. I think the Austro-Hungarians will be completely pre-occupied with Serbia and Galicia and are not likely to start an offensive here. Effectively, Italy's main benefit to the Entente is its navy - which comes into the war fully as soon as they declare war.
In terms of new units, France shelled out 300 MPPs to buy its first heavy artillery unit.
In terms of tech, Russian spent 200 MPPs to buy the much-needed chit for Gas/Shell tech. For the first, time I had some USA MPPs to spend. I decide to invest in Aerial Warfare, as this takes a lot of time to mature but could bring some additional capability to the Entente late in the game, assuming the US enters the war. At the end of the turn, France reached Level 1 in Industrial Warfare, plus Level 2 in Trench Warfare, as did the UK and Russia.
MOD NOTES
Probably the most significant changes in this mod are to artillery. Here is the first of a series of notes over the next few turns about how units have changed in this mod.
2. Unit Capabilities and Upgrades
2. 1 Changes to Artillery
Artillery forces have now been divided into Artillery and Heavy Artillery.
Artillery units have a range of 2 hexes, 3 APs, a maximum of 6 shells after upgrades. They cost 250 MPPs and take three turns to build. They can only be upgraded to Artillery Weapons 1. They have a base demoralization rate of 5% and a maximum of 10% per shell after upgrades.
Heavy Artillery units have a range of 3 hexes, 2 APs and a maximum of 8 shells after upgrades. They cost 300 MPPs and take four turns to build. They can be upgraded to Artillery Weapons 2. They have a base demoralization rate of 10% and a maximum of 20% per shell.
Gas/Shell production costs 200 MPPs and only 1 chit can be invested at a time (as opposed to the current limit of 3 chits at 100 MPPs each).
Each increment of Artillery Weapons Tech adds two shells to the maximum for Artillery and Heavy Artillery. Logistics Tech has no effect on the number of shells per artillery unit. Neither Artillery nor Heavy Artillery can be motorized.
Majors build levels for Artillery have been changed as follows (compared with existing levels):
Country: Artillery Heavy Artillery New Total Old Total Net
U.K. 1 + 2 2 5 6 -1
France 1 2 3 3 0
Italy 1 1 2 2 0
Serbia 1 0 1 1 0
Russia 1 + 1 2 4 4 0
USA 2 0 2 4 -2
Germany 2 4 6 4 +2
A-H 1 2 3 3 0
Ottomans 2 1 3 3 0
Entente 16 19 -3
Central Powers 12 10 +2
Note that the U.K. receives 2 Artillery through DEs (in Egypt and Mesopotamia) and Russia receives 1 Artillery through a DE (in the Caucasus). These are indicated as "+" above.
Minors can only build Artillery, not Heavy Artillery.
The artillery units that can be built the U.K. and Russia through Decision Events will be Artillery and the costs of these DEs have been reduced to reflect that.
Heavy Artillery can only start to be produced in January or February 1915 for the UK, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, and January 1916 for Italy and the Ottoman Empire.
Note that because Heavy Artillery have a range of 3, if set on Auto they can trigger defensive counter-battery fire against other artillery behind the enemy line. Artillery Weapons tech increments do not increase artillery attack strength against other artillery.
When Rail Guns are upgraded to Artillery Weapons 1, they can fire 2 shells per turn. As strategic artillery, their main function is to attack resources, not units.
Comment: These changes have been made to slow down speed at which artillery becomes more lethal until later years in the war. They also offer more flexibility, as three different kinds of artillery vary in range, combat effects, max number of shells, ability to move and cost. These changes have been also made to distinguish between the artillery used combat between the Major powers on the Western Front, where concentrated firepower is the most important factor; and artillery combat in Russia, the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus, where mobility is a more important factor between dispersed targets. Build limits for Artillery have been partially re-balanced (previously the Entente had an even greater advantage).
By giving Heavy Artillery a range of three, attackers can use a second line for reinforcing corps and reduce the risk of artillery being killed by enemy counterattacks. However, this reduces the number of hexes they can hit; if placed in the second line, Heavy Artillery can hit a wider range of targets but are also vulnerable to counter-battery fire. The effectiveness of Artillery Weapons tech against other artillery was reduced because the existing game settings made counter-battery fire too powerful against artillery on open ground.
The President of France backs Venizelos's early coup in Greece. Venizelos succeeds in bringing Greece into the war thus opening up a new convoy route to Serbia through Salonika. The UK prepares to send troops to aid Serbia. Canadian and American convoys into Glasgow are completely halted by German unrestricted submarine warfare. British ships defending Halifax caught off-guard by German naval mines. France builds its first heavy artillery unit.
As I anticipated (since I wrote the mod!) at the beginning of this turn, the French President received a message that "our Serbian ally is in grave peril" and recommending that, jointly with the UK, the Entente fund an early coup attempt by Greek Prime Minister Venizelos, as described above. It worked! (In fact, it was Old Crow's recommendation that the chance of success for the Entente be set at 75% - I originally had it lower when we played my earlier Balkan Variations mod). In any event, Greece went to 99% for the Entente and will join my side next turn. This completely changes the strategic picture in the Balkans. Not only will it make it easier to reinforce Serbia through Salonika, but it opens up a land border with the Ottomans. The Ottomans can easily rail or march reinforcements to aid Bulgaria - but at the same time, they also have a new front to defend against the Entente in European Turkey. I am accustomed to the front line in the Balkans running east-west as the Austro-Hungarians push south. Now there will be a new one as well running north south along the Bulgarian and Greek border.
I was able to entrench my Serbian forces along the Bulgarian border and railed in the detachment defending Centinje to shore up that line. I was able to bring in the first British corps via transports to Centinje to replace it. My plans had been to transport the I Anzac corps as well from Egypt, where is it positioned in Port Said ready to go, but I discovered I was already at my maximum transport capacity for the UK. Anyhow, there are two more British corps now in the Med on transports and the I Anzacs ready to move next turn. I will also transport General French sitting in the port of Toulon, one transport move away from the Balkans, or the somewhat more highly rated General Haig, sitting further away in Portsmouth. I will make that call next turn.
In the Adriatic, for some reason Old Crow continues to keep an AH sub next to Cetinje (I think so he can raid the French convoy). So, I hit it with two destroyers and my seaplane carrier and knocked it from 10 down to 3. That's the most action we have had in the Adriatic since the start of the game. I see he has moved the AH recon bomber to this coast, no doubt partly for naval attacks. But it also tells me he plans to deploy his artillery on the Serbian front as soon as it is ready.
In Egypt, last turn was quiet, so I reinforced my backup detachment and more importantly the new Indian artillery unit which deployed in Suez this turn. I expect to hit Trench Warfare 2 next turn, making it even harder for him to attack my small blocking force here until he gets Ottoman artillery - which given their more limited resources for tech investments is not likely to be before 1916 (unless he can open the rail link to Germany through Serbia).
I had fun in Mesopotamia - I moved my Indian cavalry corps around his detachment in Qurna and by my reckoning, he won't be able to attack it with his corps on Nasireyah. I landed my second, British cavalry corps in Basra and moved it up as well. All of this in aid of seeing if I can ultimately capture Baghdad in 1915 without having to bring in General Maude in mid 1916. Maybe so, maybe not, but it puts additional pressure on the Ottomans in a still distant front.
In the Caucasus, things are starting to roll. I destroyed the Ottoman detachment that was in front of Van and moved up most of my units. If the Ottoman entrenchments remain at 2 next turn, I may start attacking towards Erzurum, or I may try to eliminate the detachment on Van. I At the end of the turn, I discovered a small glitch in the mod as the Armenian uprising in Van event fired, but there was no bang and no reduction in the supply levels of the town (it is supposed to suffer a 3 - 5 supply loss). However, the uprising did trigger a new DE for Russia, giving them the option of forming an Armenian volunteer detachment - which I decided to accept (mostly because I like the red/blue/green colours of the Armenian unit).
On the Eastern front, it was a quiet turn, which tells me he is waiting to get his German artillery in place for a new offensive. I strengthened my defences around Warsaw and replenished understrength second line corps in Galicia and East Prussia. I brought my half strength artillery unit just west of Lutsk up to full strength, while waiting for Russia to get to Artillery Weapons 1. I decided to keep the defensive line in the west of Poland through Lodz, on the theory that why give up ground now when I can pull back later. No doubt, a major push towards Warsaw is coming soon.
On the Western front, it was completely quiet and in fact, I did not move anything. I could have walked or railed the one remaining British corps to a port, but for the moment, I would like to keep a minimal British presence in France. I reinforced the French artillery piece already deployed, waiting until France reaches Artillery Weapons 1.
The Atlantic was a very tricky theatre this turn. He pissed me off (to use a technical term) by having his German destroyer pop up south of Halifax and lay two mines. If I had kept my light cruiser at sea in front of Halifax, rather than in the port, he could not have done that as mines cannot be laid by naval units next to the enemy. This not only causes economic disruption in the town of Halifax and one Nova Scotia mine, it reduces the port of Halifax by 1, making it impossible to convoy out of there. Furthermore, my light cruiser tried to move directly on top of his invisible destroyer when it exited Halifax to run over the first mine and as result, it lost almost all its remaining action points. Furthermore, even once I clear these mines, that there is a continuing risk of having the German destroyer hang around and re-lay mines after I remove them. To deal more conclusively with it, I will have to send another surface ship across the North Atlantic to Nova Scotia to support the two already in place.
In addition to mining Halifax, he managed to hit the Canada and US convoys as well with unrestricted warfare by his subs in the North Channel north-west of Ireland. I was shocked to find at the start of my turn that Glasgow had been reduced to only a strength of 2 (compared to 12 originally). The port strength losses from German ships on those NM hexes happen on both enemy and friendly turns, so a script that reduces Glasgow by 2-4 points each turn can cut it down very quickly. On top of that, he timed this sub attack the turn after a strike by industrial workers in the Clyde shipyards. This British DE - which I did not pay much attention to at the time - fires on February 2, 1915 and further reduces the port of Glasgow by 3 - 5 points. I think I have now chased away all but one of his subs in the North Channel, so it won't drop further this turn. But it will still take 3 turns before Glasgow reaches 5 and is able to receive again the convoys from Canada and the USA (though it is possible the convoys may shift to Liverpool once I clear the mines in front of Halifax).
I have to congratulate Old Crow: through asymmetric, well-timed, simultaneous attacks off Canada and in the North Channel, he has cost the UK about 65 MPPs from Canada and the USA last turn, this turn and for several turns in the future. I have not seen the German navy use the unrestricted warfare feature so successfully before and I will have to find more ways of increasing my ASW capability in the Western Atlantic. To that end, I decided to deploy my first airship (for now) in north-west Ireland, so it can do reconnaissance over the North Channel.
In terms of Decision Events, at the beginning of the turn, I accepted the French and British intervention in Greece as discussed above. I accepted the Russian DE to build an artillery unit in the Caucasus (at a slightly reduced cost in this mod). I also accepted the new DE to form an Armenian volunteer detachment in Erivan (as discussed).
At the end of the turn, I made the unusual choice (for me) of declining to have the UK fund the Italians at 4 X 50 MPPs for the next four turns. This was essentially a money saving move: the UK needs all the MPPs it can get right now to build up its artillery and complete sending its forces to Serbia. With the loss of income from German disruption of the North Atlantic convoys, I can't afford to fund Italy as well. I have also learned from recent games that Italy still joins the Entente by mid-summer if the UK says no to this DE - the only penalty is that you do not get the 10-15% extra swing to the Entente that comes from this funding. Essentially, it is a resource transfer from the UK to Italy to help them build up their forces and start investing in trench warfare tech. While this is desirable, in my view, it can wait. I think the Austro-Hungarians will be completely pre-occupied with Serbia and Galicia and are not likely to start an offensive here. Effectively, Italy's main benefit to the Entente is its navy - which comes into the war fully as soon as they declare war.
In terms of new units, France shelled out 300 MPPs to buy its first heavy artillery unit.
In terms of tech, Russian spent 200 MPPs to buy the much-needed chit for Gas/Shell tech. For the first, time I had some USA MPPs to spend. I decide to invest in Aerial Warfare, as this takes a lot of time to mature but could bring some additional capability to the Entente late in the game, assuming the US enters the war. At the end of the turn, France reached Level 1 in Industrial Warfare, plus Level 2 in Trench Warfare, as did the UK and Russia.
MOD NOTES
Probably the most significant changes in this mod are to artillery. Here is the first of a series of notes over the next few turns about how units have changed in this mod.
2. Unit Capabilities and Upgrades
2. 1 Changes to Artillery
Artillery forces have now been divided into Artillery and Heavy Artillery.
Artillery units have a range of 2 hexes, 3 APs, a maximum of 6 shells after upgrades. They cost 250 MPPs and take three turns to build. They can only be upgraded to Artillery Weapons 1. They have a base demoralization rate of 5% and a maximum of 10% per shell after upgrades.
Heavy Artillery units have a range of 3 hexes, 2 APs and a maximum of 8 shells after upgrades. They cost 300 MPPs and take four turns to build. They can be upgraded to Artillery Weapons 2. They have a base demoralization rate of 10% and a maximum of 20% per shell.
Gas/Shell production costs 200 MPPs and only 1 chit can be invested at a time (as opposed to the current limit of 3 chits at 100 MPPs each).
Each increment of Artillery Weapons Tech adds two shells to the maximum for Artillery and Heavy Artillery. Logistics Tech has no effect on the number of shells per artillery unit. Neither Artillery nor Heavy Artillery can be motorized.
Majors build levels for Artillery have been changed as follows (compared with existing levels):
Country: Artillery Heavy Artillery New Total Old Total Net
U.K. 1 + 2 2 5 6 -1
France 1 2 3 3 0
Italy 1 1 2 2 0
Serbia 1 0 1 1 0
Russia 1 + 1 2 4 4 0
USA 2 0 2 4 -2
Germany 2 4 6 4 +2
A-H 1 2 3 3 0
Ottomans 2 1 3 3 0
Entente 16 19 -3
Central Powers 12 10 +2
Note that the U.K. receives 2 Artillery through DEs (in Egypt and Mesopotamia) and Russia receives 1 Artillery through a DE (in the Caucasus). These are indicated as "+" above.
Minors can only build Artillery, not Heavy Artillery.
The artillery units that can be built the U.K. and Russia through Decision Events will be Artillery and the costs of these DEs have been reduced to reflect that.
Heavy Artillery can only start to be produced in January or February 1915 for the UK, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, and January 1916 for Italy and the Ottoman Empire.
Note that because Heavy Artillery have a range of 3, if set on Auto they can trigger defensive counter-battery fire against other artillery behind the enemy line. Artillery Weapons tech increments do not increase artillery attack strength against other artillery.
When Rail Guns are upgraded to Artillery Weapons 1, they can fire 2 shells per turn. As strategic artillery, their main function is to attack resources, not units.
Comment: These changes have been made to slow down speed at which artillery becomes more lethal until later years in the war. They also offer more flexibility, as three different kinds of artillery vary in range, combat effects, max number of shells, ability to move and cost. These changes have been also made to distinguish between the artillery used combat between the Major powers on the Western Front, where concentrated firepower is the most important factor; and artillery combat in Russia, the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus, where mobility is a more important factor between dispersed targets. Build limits for Artillery have been partially re-balanced (previously the Entente had an even greater advantage).
By giving Heavy Artillery a range of three, attackers can use a second line for reinforcing corps and reduce the risk of artillery being killed by enemy counterattacks. However, this reduces the number of hexes they can hit; if placed in the second line, Heavy Artillery can hit a wider range of targets but are also vulnerable to counter-battery fire. The effectiveness of Artillery Weapons tech against other artillery was reduced because the existing game settings made counter-battery fire too powerful against artillery on open ground.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 11 May 8, 1915
I thought I would start my blog for this turn for a change in the Atlantic, where there have been some developments with longer term implications. Off Nova Scotia, the CP destroyer disappeared from view, so my poor British light cruiser had the unenviable job of driving back and forth over two mined hexes in order to end the passive blockade of Halifax. Job done, but the CL was reduced to 1 point. Fortunately, I could park it in Halifax harbour. I positioned the French heavy cruiser in front of Halifax, in case the destroyer returns for a future visit.
Off Ireland in the North Channel, I used my new airship to spot his one remaining sub on the NM hexes carrying out unrestricted warfare. This had further reduced the port of Glasgow to 1 point, so I had to sink it or get it to dive. It took four attacks and the loss of a few strength points, but I finally succeeded. Since it was now low on supply, I decided to sacrifice a couple more strength points from blockading heavy ships by attacking the sub to get it to zero. I find that subs at zero supply tend to die easily, so this was worth the extra cost. But it will be at least four turns before convoys from North American can arrive to Glasgow, so I hope they can be re-routed automatically to Liverpool.
More generally, I suspect that he may never have had more than one sub in this sector, since only one sub could have caused all the port disruption that I experienced (apart from the worker's strike in the Clyde shipyards). This means it is even more important to get to higher levels of ASW tech and to consider building more ships and probably planes that can attack enemy subs.
The one upside for me of Old Crow declaring unrestricted warfare is that the USA has shifted over the past three turns from a mobilization of 15% to 30%. The sinking of the Lusitania (an event that fires just before this turn, on May 7, 1915) contributed substantially to this. As a consequence, the USA is now generating more than 60 MPPS per turn, compared to less than 10 a few turns ago. (I think this is also due the fact that the USA is not convoying 75% of its production to the UK at the moment). This means that it is generating enough resources every one or two turns to invest in new tech - which is very helpful, since it starts with only Logistics tech established. Each turn that he carries out unrestricted submarine warfare moves up USA mobilization by 1-4%.
In the North Sea, we had a few skirmishes last turn between my two submarines and several German destroyers. This turn, I considered taking out one of destroyers with my dreadnoughts parked around Scapa Flow. But I did some more silent scouting with my subs and found that he had moved a battle group of German surface ships off Jutland (in fact). While my surface fleet is still bigger than his, given the current pressure on the UK for MPPs, I did not feel like getting into a slugfest on the high seas. However, I formed up my DNs and BCs into a formation about 6 hexes south-east of Scapa Flow and pulled back my destroyers and subs to form a partial screen for them. If he chooses to come that far forward to attack them, my ships should be able to fire and still make it back to port. It is an interesting game of psychological warfare where each side feels "safe" at sea and how bold either side wishes to be.
In France, things remain quiet for now. My hope/plan is to launch a limited summer offensive against his salient around Chemin des Dames and Reims, once I get my artillery up to level 1 and deployed. I took the opportunity to occupy the vacant hex at Woevre in order to protect the right flank of Verdun. This open hex is the site of thousands of bloody battles between France and Germany, so I will be interested to see if he chooses to attack it right away, or later. I deliberately waited until France reached Trench Warfare tech 2 before making this move, so it will require artillery to take it out.
Along the Serbian/Greek/Bulgarian border we had a fascinating turn. Last move, he faked me out by moving his Bulgarian detachment over the border into Greece, down the road to Salonika and then doubled back to occupy Uskub with an 8-strength detachment. This was a major crisis. Not only did it cost Serbia 2000 NM but more importantly, it cut the only rail connection between the full-strength Serbian capitals - which are Major power capitals - and Greece, where most of my new British troops will arrive. I scraped together a force of newly mobilized Greek corps and Serbian units defending Nish and just managed to destroy the occupying force thus recapturing Uskub. In this mod (if things are working) I should recoup the NM lost next turn, but it will take 3 turns before I can use the rail line from Uskub south, so supply will be more limited.
I spent a lot of time thinking about where to place my generals in this theatre. Greece gets General Danklis who mobilized at Larissa. He can only move two hexes (since curiously, HQs do not benefit from the supply boost that they generate). I considered railing him or even shipping him to Salonika, which is five hexes away, but the cost was 34 MPPs a distance that he could essentially walk in one turn, so I let him march north. For my British general, I decided to stick to my plan, and I transported General French from Toulon. He could have landed in Albania on this one move, but I concluded it was better to wait a turn and land at Salonika where the concentration of British forces will come ashore. So, this transport is sheltering in a port next to Kalamata in southern Greece.
I landed three UK corps in Salonika: the V Corps, the I Anzacs from Egypt and the Canadian Corps, the latter two being 11 strength elite units with one experience. Along with the two Greek corps that mobilized when Greece entered the war, I decide to occupy the far eastern town of Kavala before it could be captured by the Ottomans, and I formed a line of corps along the Bulgarian border. I did some effective attacks against the one Bulgarian detachment defending the road to Sofia. As a result, I now have an intact line of corps or detachments all around Bulgaria's eastern border. Their supply situation is low, due to his occupation of Uskub, the lack this turn of an HQ on Salonika, and finally the outbreak of fighting in Salonika due to a random DE between forces loyal to the King and to PM Venizelos. But over time, it should be a strong position from which to defend Serbia and, I hope, push into Bulgaria. A lot will depend on the effectiveness of his assault from the north with the Austro-Hungarians.
Egypt was quiet - I merely upgraded the artillery unit, which I plan to send to Greece next turn.
In Mesopotamia, I over-reached myself by not reading the supply projections correctly (rather, it gave me a false positive...) and I found my advanced cavalry corps is not at zero supply. Fortunately, I figured out that it could at least extract itself by swapping with the Force D detachment, which in turn goes out of supply. But I do not think I can make any progress on this front without transporting in one or two more units. I may send the backup detachment from Egypt next turn, or a French cavalry unit.
In the Caucasus, I moved my units into position one hex east of Erzurum and brought up the new Russian artillery unit. It needs to be upgraded and reinforced, so an assault is probably a couple of turns away. But my "secret weapon" is the cavalry unit that I railed in last turn, which is now sitting two hexes behind the border between Persian Azerbaijan and Mesopotamia. If Mosul is unoccupied, it can run across the border next turn and capture it. If it is occupied (which I suspect), it can retreat or maybe occupy Kirkuk. We will see.
On the Eastern Front, the only movement on my side was moving my new Russian artillery piece into position in Galicia, so it can start attacking once I get to Artillery Weapons 1 - which should be next turn.
There were no DEs this turn - for the first time since the start of the game - and in fact there will be no further DEs until the late autumn when the Arab Revolt should trigger (now with a variable start date in this mod rather than a fixed one).
In terms of new units, France bought an airship, as there is always a need for better reconnaissance in this game. Russia bought back two destroyed corps, using most of its MPPS this turn, so it would have a pipeline of reinforcements. Serbia bought a new Montenegrin detachment, in order to take over the defence of Cetinje from the British corps that is currently holding this position. Britain spent 60 plus MPPs reinforcing the half strength artillery unit it received in the production queue.
In term of tech, Britain invested one more chit in ASW to reach three chits; France also invested its first chit in ASW and one more Trench Warfare, to keep it up to four. Serbia sold its Industrial Warfare chit (which I should have done long before) and bought a fourth chit in Trench Warfare. Italy bought a second Trench Warfare chit and the USA bought a first ASW chit.
At the end of the turn, France and Russia both reached Artillery Weapons 1. Thus, we are starting a new phase of the game.
MOD NOTES
2.5 Anti-Submarine Warfare
Dreadnoughts, Battle Cruisers and Pre-Dreadnoughts cannot be upgraded with ASW. Heavy Cruisers can only be upgraded to ASW 1.
Comment: these changes are meant to increase the cost of using capital ships to attack subs at no cost to force the subs to lose a supply point; it also reflects the fact that capital ships were never used against submarines and that ASW was a job for support ships accompanying capital ships.
2.6 Airships and Maritime Bombers:
Airships can only be upgraded to Airship Tech 3 (rather than 5). Their base strike range is 8. Each Airship tech increment adds 2 to their strike range (for a max range of 14) and 1 for naval spotting (for a maximum of 4). Aerial Warfare tech adds 0.5 per increment to the build limits for airships.
Maritime Bombers can only be upgraded to Long Distance Aircraft 3 (rather than 5). Each increment adds 2 to their strike range, but zero to naval spotting. Their base strike range is reduced to 8 (rather than 10) giving them a maximum strike range of 14. Their fixed naval spotting range is 2. Maritime Bombers can be upgraded to Anti-Submarine Warfare 2.
Comment: Airships and Maritime Bombers are both very useful at sea, but their range and especially their spotting values were over-powered. These changes rebalance that and differentiate more between the spotting value of airships and the ASW value of Maritime Bombers.
I thought I would start my blog for this turn for a change in the Atlantic, where there have been some developments with longer term implications. Off Nova Scotia, the CP destroyer disappeared from view, so my poor British light cruiser had the unenviable job of driving back and forth over two mined hexes in order to end the passive blockade of Halifax. Job done, but the CL was reduced to 1 point. Fortunately, I could park it in Halifax harbour. I positioned the French heavy cruiser in front of Halifax, in case the destroyer returns for a future visit.
Off Ireland in the North Channel, I used my new airship to spot his one remaining sub on the NM hexes carrying out unrestricted warfare. This had further reduced the port of Glasgow to 1 point, so I had to sink it or get it to dive. It took four attacks and the loss of a few strength points, but I finally succeeded. Since it was now low on supply, I decided to sacrifice a couple more strength points from blockading heavy ships by attacking the sub to get it to zero. I find that subs at zero supply tend to die easily, so this was worth the extra cost. But it will be at least four turns before convoys from North American can arrive to Glasgow, so I hope they can be re-routed automatically to Liverpool.
More generally, I suspect that he may never have had more than one sub in this sector, since only one sub could have caused all the port disruption that I experienced (apart from the worker's strike in the Clyde shipyards). This means it is even more important to get to higher levels of ASW tech and to consider building more ships and probably planes that can attack enemy subs.
The one upside for me of Old Crow declaring unrestricted warfare is that the USA has shifted over the past three turns from a mobilization of 15% to 30%. The sinking of the Lusitania (an event that fires just before this turn, on May 7, 1915) contributed substantially to this. As a consequence, the USA is now generating more than 60 MPPS per turn, compared to less than 10 a few turns ago. (I think this is also due the fact that the USA is not convoying 75% of its production to the UK at the moment). This means that it is generating enough resources every one or two turns to invest in new tech - which is very helpful, since it starts with only Logistics tech established. Each turn that he carries out unrestricted submarine warfare moves up USA mobilization by 1-4%.
In the North Sea, we had a few skirmishes last turn between my two submarines and several German destroyers. This turn, I considered taking out one of destroyers with my dreadnoughts parked around Scapa Flow. But I did some more silent scouting with my subs and found that he had moved a battle group of German surface ships off Jutland (in fact). While my surface fleet is still bigger than his, given the current pressure on the UK for MPPs, I did not feel like getting into a slugfest on the high seas. However, I formed up my DNs and BCs into a formation about 6 hexes south-east of Scapa Flow and pulled back my destroyers and subs to form a partial screen for them. If he chooses to come that far forward to attack them, my ships should be able to fire and still make it back to port. It is an interesting game of psychological warfare where each side feels "safe" at sea and how bold either side wishes to be.
In France, things remain quiet for now. My hope/plan is to launch a limited summer offensive against his salient around Chemin des Dames and Reims, once I get my artillery up to level 1 and deployed. I took the opportunity to occupy the vacant hex at Woevre in order to protect the right flank of Verdun. This open hex is the site of thousands of bloody battles between France and Germany, so I will be interested to see if he chooses to attack it right away, or later. I deliberately waited until France reached Trench Warfare tech 2 before making this move, so it will require artillery to take it out.
Along the Serbian/Greek/Bulgarian border we had a fascinating turn. Last move, he faked me out by moving his Bulgarian detachment over the border into Greece, down the road to Salonika and then doubled back to occupy Uskub with an 8-strength detachment. This was a major crisis. Not only did it cost Serbia 2000 NM but more importantly, it cut the only rail connection between the full-strength Serbian capitals - which are Major power capitals - and Greece, where most of my new British troops will arrive. I scraped together a force of newly mobilized Greek corps and Serbian units defending Nish and just managed to destroy the occupying force thus recapturing Uskub. In this mod (if things are working) I should recoup the NM lost next turn, but it will take 3 turns before I can use the rail line from Uskub south, so supply will be more limited.
I spent a lot of time thinking about where to place my generals in this theatre. Greece gets General Danklis who mobilized at Larissa. He can only move two hexes (since curiously, HQs do not benefit from the supply boost that they generate). I considered railing him or even shipping him to Salonika, which is five hexes away, but the cost was 34 MPPs a distance that he could essentially walk in one turn, so I let him march north. For my British general, I decided to stick to my plan, and I transported General French from Toulon. He could have landed in Albania on this one move, but I concluded it was better to wait a turn and land at Salonika where the concentration of British forces will come ashore. So, this transport is sheltering in a port next to Kalamata in southern Greece.
I landed three UK corps in Salonika: the V Corps, the I Anzacs from Egypt and the Canadian Corps, the latter two being 11 strength elite units with one experience. Along with the two Greek corps that mobilized when Greece entered the war, I decide to occupy the far eastern town of Kavala before it could be captured by the Ottomans, and I formed a line of corps along the Bulgarian border. I did some effective attacks against the one Bulgarian detachment defending the road to Sofia. As a result, I now have an intact line of corps or detachments all around Bulgaria's eastern border. Their supply situation is low, due to his occupation of Uskub, the lack this turn of an HQ on Salonika, and finally the outbreak of fighting in Salonika due to a random DE between forces loyal to the King and to PM Venizelos. But over time, it should be a strong position from which to defend Serbia and, I hope, push into Bulgaria. A lot will depend on the effectiveness of his assault from the north with the Austro-Hungarians.
Egypt was quiet - I merely upgraded the artillery unit, which I plan to send to Greece next turn.
In Mesopotamia, I over-reached myself by not reading the supply projections correctly (rather, it gave me a false positive...) and I found my advanced cavalry corps is not at zero supply. Fortunately, I figured out that it could at least extract itself by swapping with the Force D detachment, which in turn goes out of supply. But I do not think I can make any progress on this front without transporting in one or two more units. I may send the backup detachment from Egypt next turn, or a French cavalry unit.
In the Caucasus, I moved my units into position one hex east of Erzurum and brought up the new Russian artillery unit. It needs to be upgraded and reinforced, so an assault is probably a couple of turns away. But my "secret weapon" is the cavalry unit that I railed in last turn, which is now sitting two hexes behind the border between Persian Azerbaijan and Mesopotamia. If Mosul is unoccupied, it can run across the border next turn and capture it. If it is occupied (which I suspect), it can retreat or maybe occupy Kirkuk. We will see.
On the Eastern Front, the only movement on my side was moving my new Russian artillery piece into position in Galicia, so it can start attacking once I get to Artillery Weapons 1 - which should be next turn.
There were no DEs this turn - for the first time since the start of the game - and in fact there will be no further DEs until the late autumn when the Arab Revolt should trigger (now with a variable start date in this mod rather than a fixed one).
In terms of new units, France bought an airship, as there is always a need for better reconnaissance in this game. Russia bought back two destroyed corps, using most of its MPPS this turn, so it would have a pipeline of reinforcements. Serbia bought a new Montenegrin detachment, in order to take over the defence of Cetinje from the British corps that is currently holding this position. Britain spent 60 plus MPPs reinforcing the half strength artillery unit it received in the production queue.
In term of tech, Britain invested one more chit in ASW to reach three chits; France also invested its first chit in ASW and one more Trench Warfare, to keep it up to four. Serbia sold its Industrial Warfare chit (which I should have done long before) and bought a fourth chit in Trench Warfare. Italy bought a second Trench Warfare chit and the USA bought a first ASW chit.
At the end of the turn, France and Russia both reached Artillery Weapons 1. Thus, we are starting a new phase of the game.
MOD NOTES
2.5 Anti-Submarine Warfare
Dreadnoughts, Battle Cruisers and Pre-Dreadnoughts cannot be upgraded with ASW. Heavy Cruisers can only be upgraded to ASW 1.
Comment: these changes are meant to increase the cost of using capital ships to attack subs at no cost to force the subs to lose a supply point; it also reflects the fact that capital ships were never used against submarines and that ASW was a job for support ships accompanying capital ships.
2.6 Airships and Maritime Bombers:
Airships can only be upgraded to Airship Tech 3 (rather than 5). Their base strike range is 8. Each Airship tech increment adds 2 to their strike range (for a max range of 14) and 1 for naval spotting (for a maximum of 4). Aerial Warfare tech adds 0.5 per increment to the build limits for airships.
Maritime Bombers can only be upgraded to Long Distance Aircraft 3 (rather than 5). Each increment adds 2 to their strike range, but zero to naval spotting. Their base strike range is reduced to 8 (rather than 10) giving them a maximum strike range of 14. Their fixed naval spotting range is 2. Maritime Bombers can be upgraded to Anti-Submarine Warfare 2.
Comment: Airships and Maritime Bombers are both very useful at sea, but their range and especially their spotting values were over-powered. These changes rebalance that and differentiate more between the spotting value of airships and the ASW value of Maritime Bombers.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 12: June 5, 1915
I find I am learning a lot about the game (and I thought I already understood it pretty well) from the unrestricted naval warfare that Germany has set loose in the Atlantic. I began this turn by looking for the German sub that I had reduced to zero supply last turn. After some extensive scouting north of the North Channel NM hexes, I found it and sank it. But along the way, I bumped into a new German sub heading to do more mayhem against my struggling west coast ports. Normally, I would not be very worried about a single German sub. But given that all it takes is one sub to sending Glasgow sinking again - and I am really feeling the MPP pinch for the UK - I did something I have never done before: I pulled ships off both blockades lines and occupied every one of the NM hexes in range of his sub. I will be interested to see how it works - he will score a couple of hits on one vessel, but I think it will keep him from reducing my port. With any luck, I will be able to find, damage or kill his sub next turn too. In the meantime, I pulled my dreadnoughts back around Scapa Flow.
At the end of my turn, I decided to spend the MPPs to send my newest British corps - the first of Kitchener's New Army south to the Med and the Balkans. Up until now, I have had no concerns about using naval cruise to zip south from England. This time, there was that sickening "bang" sound as my transport hit the sub he had stationed off France, exactly for this purpose. It shows that Old Crow has been playing the Entente for a while. I expect he will sink the transport next turn - thought there is a small chance it could evade (they have a 10% chance of evading combat). Live and learn! Meanwhile, there is another sub I have to hunt down that will be heading to do unrestricted warfare in the St.George's channel.
In France, I put the last touches in place for my first offensive. I upgraded by Artillery unit and rolled it into position aiming for the Reims salient. I moved up the newly arrive French Foreign Legion next to Paris. No doubt he will be expecting something like this soon.
Italy is looking promising. They moved to 99% and will join the Entente next turn. Unless he has a surprise attack planned (always possible with Old Crow) this looks to be a quiet land sector for me. By drawing out the Italian mobilization (by not sending them 4 X 50 MPPs from the UK), I have been able to invest three chits already in trench warfare without any risk of combat, and I will have the MPPs to buy that fourth and last one next turn. I will have an interesting strategic choice next turn to make about Italy, which I will cover that in the next post.
In Serbia, the reduced supply situation is a bit frustrating. However, I managed to damage and push away one Bulgarian detachment and moved the Canadian Corps into its space, one hex closer to Sofia. More importantly, I brought the UK Indian Field Artillery up to Salonika from Egypt. It only has two shells and would be better employed taking on the Bulgarians directly defending Sofia. This is an interesting new front but given the mountainous terrain and the damaged supply sources, it will take a long time even with artillery to reduce his positions. Meanwhile, I expect an Austro-Hungarian assault in the north of Serbia any turn.
We had a little naval action in the Aegean too, as I discovered the Turkish destroyer defending the entrance the Dardanelles. I reduced it to 1 point with two of my British pre-dreadnoughts which I moved up to Greece the turn before. No action this turn in the Adriatic.
In Mesopotamia the cat and mouse chase continues. I managed to avoid Force D going to zero supply by capturing the town of Kut-al-Amara with one of my cavalry units, but I really need four units to out-manoeuvre his two, so I moved another detachment to the port of Suez in Egypt, so I could ship it to Mesopotamia next turn.
My big stroke this turn was sending my Russian cavalry corps streaking across the plains of norther Kurdistan to capture Mosul! I expected to find an Ottoman cavalry corps there, but he had sent it south to block my advance from Basra. Too bad, as Mosul costs him 1000 NM in this mod, and he won't be able to complete the rail line from Aleppo until he recaptures it - which will be hard, given the poor supply around Mosul.
In the Caucasus, I moved up my units for an attack next turn and upgraded my new field artillery piece.
On the Eastern Front, I also upgraded my artillery and swapped it into place to begin an attack towards Przemsyl next turn. However, I do not have the quantity of reserves that I had in 1914 and I have to deal with a major German offensive towards Poland. This may prove to be folly, but it is good to try to be on the offensive somewhere.
Old Crow carried out a classic set piece attack on my strongest point in Poland - the fortress in front of Warsaw in Novo-Georgievsk - and then pushed one of his cavalry corps into the gap in my lines. He makes very good use of his cavalry as forces of disruption. I anticipated falling back this turn - perhaps I should have done so last turn. After a lot of careful thought, I counter-attacked, killed the cavalry corps and did a major pull-back of my line. Warsaw was weakened and if he has more artillery with fresh shells in range, he could take it next turn. But my guess is that he does not, at least not quite yet. But I am certain Warsaw will fall in a turn or two. In the meantime, I used operational movement to send my best general, Yudenich (rated a 7), from East Prussia, where little is happening, down to the sector behind Warsaw. My goal is to manage an orderly retreat toward Brest-Litovsk, with counterattacks where I can make him pay and with the goal of shortening my line - ideally anchored in the south on the fortified town of Przemsyl.
There were no DEs this turn. In terms of new units, France bought their second and last heavy artillery unit. Every other major saved some MPPs this turn for bigger investments next turn.
In terms of tech, Russia invested a third chit in Industrial Warfare tech. Italy bought a third Trench warfare tech chit. The USA bought a second Aerial Warfare tech chit. The UK is saving up to invest in long overdue Gas/Shell tech next turn and Serbia is saving up to invest in Infantry Weapons in the next two turns (if it is not having to reinforce corps after major combat losses).
A glitch in the mod appeared at the end of the turn reversing the Russian NM losses from the fall of Novo-Georgievsk last turn. I have figured out the bug and have already fixed it for the future. Below is a description of what was intended.
MOD NOTES
6. National Morale
6.1 Naval blockades:
The effectiveness (in terms of the NM points lost per hex per turn) of both the British naval blockade against Germany and German unrestricted naval warfare against the UK has been increased by 50% in 1917 and 100% in 1918.
Comment: These changes are intended to make the naval game for both sides a greater threat to National Morale and to increase the incentives for a major German naval push against Britain later in the war.
6.2 Reversing NM gains and losses:
Many NM losses due to towns and cities being captured can be reversed if the objective is recaptured by the side that originally controlled it. This applies to cities and towns close to national borders which the original owners might reasonably be regain later in the game.
Specifically, these changes apply to:
France: Nancy, Belfort, Verdun, Lille and Paris
Italy: Udine, Padua, Venice, Verona, Tripoli, Benghazi, and Tobruk
Serbia: Belgrade, Nish, Pristina, Uskub, Cetinje and Pec
Russia: Warsaw, Novo-Georgievsk, Ivangorod, Brest-Litovsk, Vilna, Minsk, Riga, Batum, Kars, Tiflis
Germany: Metz, Strasbourg, Thorn and Konigsberg
Austria-Hungary: Lemberg, Przemsyl, Krakow, Trento, Bruneck, Klagenfurt, Trieste and Pola
Ottoman Empire: all NM objectives inside their borders
UK: none
The same logic applies to all NM objectives outside their borders which Majors can earn NM points by capturing. If these objectives are lost, the capturing power loses the NM points earned.
Majors can gain NM points by capturing the following additional objectives:
Italy: Trieste, Pola
Serbia: Sarajevo
Russia: Konigsberg, Thorn, Lemberg, Trabzon
Austria-Hungary: Venice
Ottomans: as mentioned above
Note that the scripts awarding NM points for capturing resources have been amended for Italy, Russia and the Ottomans, so that resources in question have to be occupied by their own national forces and not by their allies before the NM points can be earned. (The exception is Constantinople, which will earn 5000 NM points for Russia even if it is captured by other Entente forces).
I find I am learning a lot about the game (and I thought I already understood it pretty well) from the unrestricted naval warfare that Germany has set loose in the Atlantic. I began this turn by looking for the German sub that I had reduced to zero supply last turn. After some extensive scouting north of the North Channel NM hexes, I found it and sank it. But along the way, I bumped into a new German sub heading to do more mayhem against my struggling west coast ports. Normally, I would not be very worried about a single German sub. But given that all it takes is one sub to sending Glasgow sinking again - and I am really feeling the MPP pinch for the UK - I did something I have never done before: I pulled ships off both blockades lines and occupied every one of the NM hexes in range of his sub. I will be interested to see how it works - he will score a couple of hits on one vessel, but I think it will keep him from reducing my port. With any luck, I will be able to find, damage or kill his sub next turn too. In the meantime, I pulled my dreadnoughts back around Scapa Flow.
At the end of my turn, I decided to spend the MPPs to send my newest British corps - the first of Kitchener's New Army south to the Med and the Balkans. Up until now, I have had no concerns about using naval cruise to zip south from England. This time, there was that sickening "bang" sound as my transport hit the sub he had stationed off France, exactly for this purpose. It shows that Old Crow has been playing the Entente for a while. I expect he will sink the transport next turn - thought there is a small chance it could evade (they have a 10% chance of evading combat). Live and learn! Meanwhile, there is another sub I have to hunt down that will be heading to do unrestricted warfare in the St.George's channel.
In France, I put the last touches in place for my first offensive. I upgraded by Artillery unit and rolled it into position aiming for the Reims salient. I moved up the newly arrive French Foreign Legion next to Paris. No doubt he will be expecting something like this soon.
Italy is looking promising. They moved to 99% and will join the Entente next turn. Unless he has a surprise attack planned (always possible with Old Crow) this looks to be a quiet land sector for me. By drawing out the Italian mobilization (by not sending them 4 X 50 MPPs from the UK), I have been able to invest three chits already in trench warfare without any risk of combat, and I will have the MPPs to buy that fourth and last one next turn. I will have an interesting strategic choice next turn to make about Italy, which I will cover that in the next post.
In Serbia, the reduced supply situation is a bit frustrating. However, I managed to damage and push away one Bulgarian detachment and moved the Canadian Corps into its space, one hex closer to Sofia. More importantly, I brought the UK Indian Field Artillery up to Salonika from Egypt. It only has two shells and would be better employed taking on the Bulgarians directly defending Sofia. This is an interesting new front but given the mountainous terrain and the damaged supply sources, it will take a long time even with artillery to reduce his positions. Meanwhile, I expect an Austro-Hungarian assault in the north of Serbia any turn.
We had a little naval action in the Aegean too, as I discovered the Turkish destroyer defending the entrance the Dardanelles. I reduced it to 1 point with two of my British pre-dreadnoughts which I moved up to Greece the turn before. No action this turn in the Adriatic.
In Mesopotamia the cat and mouse chase continues. I managed to avoid Force D going to zero supply by capturing the town of Kut-al-Amara with one of my cavalry units, but I really need four units to out-manoeuvre his two, so I moved another detachment to the port of Suez in Egypt, so I could ship it to Mesopotamia next turn.
My big stroke this turn was sending my Russian cavalry corps streaking across the plains of norther Kurdistan to capture Mosul! I expected to find an Ottoman cavalry corps there, but he had sent it south to block my advance from Basra. Too bad, as Mosul costs him 1000 NM in this mod, and he won't be able to complete the rail line from Aleppo until he recaptures it - which will be hard, given the poor supply around Mosul.
In the Caucasus, I moved up my units for an attack next turn and upgraded my new field artillery piece.
On the Eastern Front, I also upgraded my artillery and swapped it into place to begin an attack towards Przemsyl next turn. However, I do not have the quantity of reserves that I had in 1914 and I have to deal with a major German offensive towards Poland. This may prove to be folly, but it is good to try to be on the offensive somewhere.
Old Crow carried out a classic set piece attack on my strongest point in Poland - the fortress in front of Warsaw in Novo-Georgievsk - and then pushed one of his cavalry corps into the gap in my lines. He makes very good use of his cavalry as forces of disruption. I anticipated falling back this turn - perhaps I should have done so last turn. After a lot of careful thought, I counter-attacked, killed the cavalry corps and did a major pull-back of my line. Warsaw was weakened and if he has more artillery with fresh shells in range, he could take it next turn. But my guess is that he does not, at least not quite yet. But I am certain Warsaw will fall in a turn or two. In the meantime, I used operational movement to send my best general, Yudenich (rated a 7), from East Prussia, where little is happening, down to the sector behind Warsaw. My goal is to manage an orderly retreat toward Brest-Litovsk, with counterattacks where I can make him pay and with the goal of shortening my line - ideally anchored in the south on the fortified town of Przemsyl.
There were no DEs this turn. In terms of new units, France bought their second and last heavy artillery unit. Every other major saved some MPPs this turn for bigger investments next turn.
In terms of tech, Russia invested a third chit in Industrial Warfare tech. Italy bought a third Trench warfare tech chit. The USA bought a second Aerial Warfare tech chit. The UK is saving up to invest in long overdue Gas/Shell tech next turn and Serbia is saving up to invest in Infantry Weapons in the next two turns (if it is not having to reinforce corps after major combat losses).
A glitch in the mod appeared at the end of the turn reversing the Russian NM losses from the fall of Novo-Georgievsk last turn. I have figured out the bug and have already fixed it for the future. Below is a description of what was intended.
MOD NOTES
6. National Morale
6.1 Naval blockades:
The effectiveness (in terms of the NM points lost per hex per turn) of both the British naval blockade against Germany and German unrestricted naval warfare against the UK has been increased by 50% in 1917 and 100% in 1918.
Comment: These changes are intended to make the naval game for both sides a greater threat to National Morale and to increase the incentives for a major German naval push against Britain later in the war.
6.2 Reversing NM gains and losses:
Many NM losses due to towns and cities being captured can be reversed if the objective is recaptured by the side that originally controlled it. This applies to cities and towns close to national borders which the original owners might reasonably be regain later in the game.
Specifically, these changes apply to:
France: Nancy, Belfort, Verdun, Lille and Paris
Italy: Udine, Padua, Venice, Verona, Tripoli, Benghazi, and Tobruk
Serbia: Belgrade, Nish, Pristina, Uskub, Cetinje and Pec
Russia: Warsaw, Novo-Georgievsk, Ivangorod, Brest-Litovsk, Vilna, Minsk, Riga, Batum, Kars, Tiflis
Germany: Metz, Strasbourg, Thorn and Konigsberg
Austria-Hungary: Lemberg, Przemsyl, Krakow, Trento, Bruneck, Klagenfurt, Trieste and Pola
Ottoman Empire: all NM objectives inside their borders
UK: none
The same logic applies to all NM objectives outside their borders which Majors can earn NM points by capturing. If these objectives are lost, the capturing power loses the NM points earned.
Majors can gain NM points by capturing the following additional objectives:
Italy: Trieste, Pola
Serbia: Sarajevo
Russia: Konigsberg, Thorn, Lemberg, Trabzon
Austria-Hungary: Venice
Ottomans: as mentioned above
Note that the scripts awarding NM points for capturing resources have been amended for Italy, Russia and the Ottomans, so that resources in question have to be occupied by their own national forces and not by their allies before the NM points can be earned. (The exception is Constantinople, which will earn 5000 NM points for Russia even if it is captured by other Entente forces).
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 13 July 3, 1915
One of the things I enjoy the most about this game is that it moves in long, slow cycles that can be hard to foresee. My sense is that this past turn was one of those "end of the beginning" moments in a war. The Entente for the first time attacked using artillery operated by three different majors, on four fronts. I destroyed four CP corps - one Ottoman, one Austro-Hungarian, two German - plus a Bulgarian detachment. It was only a nick against his war machine, and I know more hammer blows will be coming. But after being on the back foot, especially in the West, since the start of the game, it felt good to be on the offensive.
In France, as planned, I used my first upgraded artillery piece to attack the salient near Paris and I recaptured the hill hex at Chemins des Dames, north-west of Reims. It proved to be a text-book operation and I was able to move into the captured hex and entrench the right way - which all helps the attacker survive.
In Serbia/Bulgaria, my newly arrived British units aided by artillery wiped out a Bulgarian detachment and moved the I Anzacs across the river that is the border with Bulgaria. This was a minor victory, and he may counter-attack heavily against the Anzacs. But it will be easier in the future to advance without having to fight across the river line. My Serbian line in front of Nish is still weak and I expect him to attack the detachments there. But as a stop-gap measure, I forced marched in a British corps. I am still waiting for the Uskub and Salonika to get up to their full supply levels. I also bit the bullet and made the long-planned move to sack general French (rated 3) and replaced him with General Plumer (rated 7) at the hefty cost of 90 MPPs.
Both Egypt and Mesopotamia were quiet. My cavalry from Mosul scouted south and found a second Ottoman cavalry unit entrenched in Tikrit, so they returned to their lair. As planned, I shipped a second British detachment from Egypt to the Persian Gulf.
In the Caucasus, General Kornilov launched his first offensive with newly upgraded artillery and wiped out one Ottoman corps next to Erzurum. It will take several turns to build up the shells to attack Erzurum itself. Meanwhile two smaller units are besieging Van and hope to destroy the defending corps there through attrition.
On the Eastern front, I executed my long-planned attack in Galicia with my newly upgraded Russian artillery and wiped out an Austro-Hungarian corps next to Przemsyl. I am not sure that I will have the troops to spare to attack Przemsyl itself, but I will try to keep up the pressure. Meanwhile, I counter-attacked in front of Warsaw, destroyed one sacrificial corps that he had pushed through my line and brought up two new corps as reinforcements. Nevertheless, Warsaw is now on the front line, and it will fall soon. My goal is to conduct a fighting retreat in good order with frequent counterattacks. Also, for the first time, I moved up my newly arrived Russian sub to Helsinki, where it will be able to scout in the Gulf of Bothnia next turn
Things were messier in the Atlantic. He sank my hapless troop transport, thus revealing that he had (at least) two subs in this area, and then occupied one or more NM hexes in the St. George's Channel. I shifted all of my ASW resources south and scouted as many of these hexes as I could and found one sub. But one more hex was out of reach. In the future, it is clear that I will have to keep some ASW forces south of Ireland to be ready to respond to unrestricted naval warfare attacks here. In the drama of scouting subs in the St. George's channel, I overlooked my position in the North Sea, thus potentially opening up the risk of a naval attack by his surface fleet. It is going to be tricky to maintain a balance of naval forces around the U.K.
While I could have shipped another corps south to the Mediterranean, I chose not too until I could get an escort vessel in place. Once bitten, twice shy.
Italy entered the war this turn. From the line of detachments that Old Crow has carefully placed in Tyrol, it is clear that he plans to do exactly the minimum required here to maintain his position. That suits me fine: I would rather build up Italy's weak army through reinforcements and tech investments and wait until 1916 before even attempting a land offensive (though I might be tempted to rail in one French artillery piece in a couple of months, just to carry out a set-piece attack on Trento). I also have to prepare for the inevitable Senussi uprising in Libya, made much more serious in this mod.
In terms of DEs, I made one important strategic decision. In this mod, France has the choice when Italy enters the war of switching its convoy from Serbia to France. This was a tough call, since the Serbian economy is very weak (it only generates about 50 MPPs a turn at the moment) and I expect it will come under serious pressure. But I decided to switch the French convoy to Italy instead, as Italy has so much more potential to grow in terms of tech and the range of units it can buy. At best, Serbia is a small infantry power, whereas Italy can become a full-service major over time. I also accepted the smaller DE for Italy to fund Commander Rizzo's sabotage campaign against Austro-Hungarian ports. In this mod, I made the option more affordable, but spacing it out as 2 X 25 MPPs, rather than 1 X 50. I did the same for the comparable Austro-Hungarian naval sabotage DE.
In terms of tech, the UK made a long overdue and very expensive investment in Gas/Shell tech. Without this tech, artillery only accumulate one shell a turn and it will take most of a year to get to level 1. I worry that the UK - which ironically was the first major to reach level 1 in Artillery Weapons - is already many turns behind in this essential capability. This was one major cost of Old Crows submarine campaign against my British ports. France meanwhile went to town, investing one chit in Artillery Weapons, one in Command and Control and one in Airship Tech. The latter tech is often overlooked but I need the extra naval spotting range it will produce to combat German subs. Italy and Serbia both invested chits in Infantry Weapons. The USA invested a second chit in ASW. Russia bought back two destroyed corps, in order to keep the pipeline of replacements flowing to the front. I also saved 100 Russian MPPs for next turn, as I should buy a heavy artillery unit at some point. At the end of the turn, Britain reached level 1 in ASW - which was welcome news.
MOD NOTES
Italy:
A new DE has been written giving France the option of starting its convoy to Italy as soon as Italy enters the war. Previously, the Entente had to wait until Serbia had surrendered before the convoy from France to Italy could begin.
Comment: Depending on the situation in the Balkans, Italy may be able to make better use of the extra resources than Serbia. Also, Serbia may still have access to the convoy from Russia.
The DE for the Italian frogmen against Austro-Hungarian ports now cost 25 MPPs for two turns (rather than 50 MPPs for one turn).
Comment: As with the equivalent change in the cost of the Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, this is intended to make this DE easier for Italy to afford early in the war.
Libya
The DE for the Ottomans to fund the Senussi revolt has been moved up to August 7, 1915, and the trigger has been set at 25%. This will make the starting date for the revolt somewhat more unpredictable for both sides.
More partisan spawning hexes and more spawning events have been added to in Libya to make it difficult for the Italians to prevent Senussi partisans from spawning. The spawning hexes south of Tobruk have the highest likelihood of spawning partisans, the ones further west have a lower trigger per turn. The maximum number of Senussi partisans that can be active at one time is 4.
Like Arab partisans, Senussi partisans have 5 Action points.
A 5 strength Italian Colonist Garrison will mobilize in Benghazi if CP forces (including partisans) approach within three hexes.
Tripoli, Benghazi and Tobruk have been made NM objectives for Italy, making it more costly for Italy to lose them. The Ottomans will now earn NM points for taking Benghazi or Tripoli.
Comment: these changes were made to make the Senussi uprising a more potent threat to the Italian position in Libya, and to partially offset the increased threat to the Ottomans from the Arab uprising.
One of the things I enjoy the most about this game is that it moves in long, slow cycles that can be hard to foresee. My sense is that this past turn was one of those "end of the beginning" moments in a war. The Entente for the first time attacked using artillery operated by three different majors, on four fronts. I destroyed four CP corps - one Ottoman, one Austro-Hungarian, two German - plus a Bulgarian detachment. It was only a nick against his war machine, and I know more hammer blows will be coming. But after being on the back foot, especially in the West, since the start of the game, it felt good to be on the offensive.
In France, as planned, I used my first upgraded artillery piece to attack the salient near Paris and I recaptured the hill hex at Chemins des Dames, north-west of Reims. It proved to be a text-book operation and I was able to move into the captured hex and entrench the right way - which all helps the attacker survive.
In Serbia/Bulgaria, my newly arrived British units aided by artillery wiped out a Bulgarian detachment and moved the I Anzacs across the river that is the border with Bulgaria. This was a minor victory, and he may counter-attack heavily against the Anzacs. But it will be easier in the future to advance without having to fight across the river line. My Serbian line in front of Nish is still weak and I expect him to attack the detachments there. But as a stop-gap measure, I forced marched in a British corps. I am still waiting for the Uskub and Salonika to get up to their full supply levels. I also bit the bullet and made the long-planned move to sack general French (rated 3) and replaced him with General Plumer (rated 7) at the hefty cost of 90 MPPs.
Both Egypt and Mesopotamia were quiet. My cavalry from Mosul scouted south and found a second Ottoman cavalry unit entrenched in Tikrit, so they returned to their lair. As planned, I shipped a second British detachment from Egypt to the Persian Gulf.
In the Caucasus, General Kornilov launched his first offensive with newly upgraded artillery and wiped out one Ottoman corps next to Erzurum. It will take several turns to build up the shells to attack Erzurum itself. Meanwhile two smaller units are besieging Van and hope to destroy the defending corps there through attrition.
On the Eastern front, I executed my long-planned attack in Galicia with my newly upgraded Russian artillery and wiped out an Austro-Hungarian corps next to Przemsyl. I am not sure that I will have the troops to spare to attack Przemsyl itself, but I will try to keep up the pressure. Meanwhile, I counter-attacked in front of Warsaw, destroyed one sacrificial corps that he had pushed through my line and brought up two new corps as reinforcements. Nevertheless, Warsaw is now on the front line, and it will fall soon. My goal is to conduct a fighting retreat in good order with frequent counterattacks. Also, for the first time, I moved up my newly arrived Russian sub to Helsinki, where it will be able to scout in the Gulf of Bothnia next turn
Things were messier in the Atlantic. He sank my hapless troop transport, thus revealing that he had (at least) two subs in this area, and then occupied one or more NM hexes in the St. George's Channel. I shifted all of my ASW resources south and scouted as many of these hexes as I could and found one sub. But one more hex was out of reach. In the future, it is clear that I will have to keep some ASW forces south of Ireland to be ready to respond to unrestricted naval warfare attacks here. In the drama of scouting subs in the St. George's channel, I overlooked my position in the North Sea, thus potentially opening up the risk of a naval attack by his surface fleet. It is going to be tricky to maintain a balance of naval forces around the U.K.
While I could have shipped another corps south to the Mediterranean, I chose not too until I could get an escort vessel in place. Once bitten, twice shy.
Italy entered the war this turn. From the line of detachments that Old Crow has carefully placed in Tyrol, it is clear that he plans to do exactly the minimum required here to maintain his position. That suits me fine: I would rather build up Italy's weak army through reinforcements and tech investments and wait until 1916 before even attempting a land offensive (though I might be tempted to rail in one French artillery piece in a couple of months, just to carry out a set-piece attack on Trento). I also have to prepare for the inevitable Senussi uprising in Libya, made much more serious in this mod.
In terms of DEs, I made one important strategic decision. In this mod, France has the choice when Italy enters the war of switching its convoy from Serbia to France. This was a tough call, since the Serbian economy is very weak (it only generates about 50 MPPs a turn at the moment) and I expect it will come under serious pressure. But I decided to switch the French convoy to Italy instead, as Italy has so much more potential to grow in terms of tech and the range of units it can buy. At best, Serbia is a small infantry power, whereas Italy can become a full-service major over time. I also accepted the smaller DE for Italy to fund Commander Rizzo's sabotage campaign against Austro-Hungarian ports. In this mod, I made the option more affordable, but spacing it out as 2 X 25 MPPs, rather than 1 X 50. I did the same for the comparable Austro-Hungarian naval sabotage DE.
In terms of tech, the UK made a long overdue and very expensive investment in Gas/Shell tech. Without this tech, artillery only accumulate one shell a turn and it will take most of a year to get to level 1. I worry that the UK - which ironically was the first major to reach level 1 in Artillery Weapons - is already many turns behind in this essential capability. This was one major cost of Old Crows submarine campaign against my British ports. France meanwhile went to town, investing one chit in Artillery Weapons, one in Command and Control and one in Airship Tech. The latter tech is often overlooked but I need the extra naval spotting range it will produce to combat German subs. Italy and Serbia both invested chits in Infantry Weapons. The USA invested a second chit in ASW. Russia bought back two destroyed corps, in order to keep the pipeline of replacements flowing to the front. I also saved 100 Russian MPPs for next turn, as I should buy a heavy artillery unit at some point. At the end of the turn, Britain reached level 1 in ASW - which was welcome news.
MOD NOTES
Italy:
A new DE has been written giving France the option of starting its convoy to Italy as soon as Italy enters the war. Previously, the Entente had to wait until Serbia had surrendered before the convoy from France to Italy could begin.
Comment: Depending on the situation in the Balkans, Italy may be able to make better use of the extra resources than Serbia. Also, Serbia may still have access to the convoy from Russia.
The DE for the Italian frogmen against Austro-Hungarian ports now cost 25 MPPs for two turns (rather than 50 MPPs for one turn).
Comment: As with the equivalent change in the cost of the Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, this is intended to make this DE easier for Italy to afford early in the war.
Libya
The DE for the Ottomans to fund the Senussi revolt has been moved up to August 7, 1915, and the trigger has been set at 25%. This will make the starting date for the revolt somewhat more unpredictable for both sides.
More partisan spawning hexes and more spawning events have been added to in Libya to make it difficult for the Italians to prevent Senussi partisans from spawning. The spawning hexes south of Tobruk have the highest likelihood of spawning partisans, the ones further west have a lower trigger per turn. The maximum number of Senussi partisans that can be active at one time is 4.
Like Arab partisans, Senussi partisans have 5 Action points.
A 5 strength Italian Colonist Garrison will mobilize in Benghazi if CP forces (including partisans) approach within three hexes.
Tripoli, Benghazi and Tobruk have been made NM objectives for Italy, making it more costly for Italy to lose them. The Ottomans will now earn NM points for taking Benghazi or Tripoli.
Comment: these changes were made to make the Senussi uprising a more potent threat to the Italian position in Libya, and to partially offset the increased threat to the Ottomans from the Arab uprising.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 14: July 17, 1915
Yet more cunning tricks from the Kaiser in the St. George's channel! Given that a single undetected German unit on an NM hex can send my British ports sinking below level 5, this turn at sea was a nerve-wracking experience.
When I did the replay, it looked like his two subs had headed home, presumably to resupply and upgrade to Advanced Subs 1. One of them was visible to me, parked in the middle of the English Channel. I sent all the DDs I had moved south last turn to search for the second sub and eventually found it. But along the way, I discovered that he had also laid two naval mines on the NM hexes as well and his destroyer was still in the vicinity. I beat up as best as I could on the closer sub and reduced it to strength 3. The full-strength sub in the Channel should get away free. The German DD proved surprisingly hard to damage and I doubt that I will be able to find it and destroy it next turn. I also wanted to scope out a safe route south for my transports and used a new British sub for that purpose. Despite a small element of risk of running into third sub in the area, I sent a precious British artillery unit and a full-strength corps south towards the Med via naval cruise, to meet up with an escort CL that I had parked off Lisbon. Elsewhere off northern Scotland, I reorganized my capital ships into a new tight formation anchored between Cromarty and Scapa Flow, so they will be less readily findable by enemy subs. France received a new DD and a seaplane carrier in reinforcements, so I positioned them in French ports near the Channel. Finally, at the end of the naval moves, I sent every DD and CL in reach into an empty British port so they could be upgraded to ASW 1 next turn.
In France, it was a quiet turn as he chose to evacuate from Reims. I occupied the hex and then reinforced units that had taken casualties the turn before. I also placed my first Heavy Artillery unit so it will be ready to attack his lines in front of Reims. It will need to be upgraded first.
In Italy, my only move was to send the Italian Recon Bomber to Bari, via an operational move, so it can fly over to the Balkans next turn. Italian planes have a setting that prevents them from using operational movement to go outside of Italy, unlike other Entente majors. My main pre-occupation was to reinforce one Italian corps, so I can ship it Tobruk next turn. In the vanilla game, the Senussi revolt in Libya does not happen until September 1st. In this mod, there is a 25% chance of it starting from August 7 onward.
I also carefully scouted the Adriatic with one sub to see where the Austro-Hungarian fleet was based and moved up the one Italian destroyer to the port of Tirana at the bottom of the sea. Looking at his ships that I spotted, I realized that there was one sub missing. So, on a hunch, I counted out 13 hexes in silent movement from its likely home port - and indeed bumped into his second sub in the middle of the Ionian Sea. I do not have the forces to kill it next turn but I hope I can at least find it again. It will be interesting to see what he does with it - whether he tried to raid convoy lines or he lies in ambush for UK transports coming in from the west.
Along the Bulgarian frontier he pushed his fourth Bulgarian corps into the mountains next to Romania. I had to vacate Nish to put a detachment into the mountains to block it. I anticipate that Old Crow has already built the Bulgarian artillery and is planning to counterattack with it as soon as he has 3-4 shells. However, I moved up the British artillery unit that I landed in Salonika, reinforced other corps so that next turn I can attack one of his corps defending the road into Sofia from the west. My supply situation fortunately in this sector is now back to normal.
Nothing new in Egypt or Mesopotamia. His detachment in the swamps in Qurna will hit zero supply next turn and I should be able to destroy it. He is clearly bringing up an infantry unit and a cavalry unit to besiege my cavalry corps in Mosul. I expect that I will have to retreat it but will not do so quite yet.
In the Caucasus, I simply reinforced one corps and am waiting for my shells to build up to attack Erzurum. This sector absorbs some valuable units (one artillery, one good general) and a lot of MPPs in reinforcements for relatively modest strategic gain, but I am keeping my forces there so they can build up the experience points by killing the Ottoman defenders.
In Poland and Galicia, I heavily reinforced my defences behind Warsaw, so I now have a complete second line and am working on a third. I won't be able to stop him taking Warsaw, but I should be able to counter-attack and throw him out. Since the NM points can be recovered (see the mod notes from last turn), it is worth having a slugfest there.
In the Baltic, for the first time I could scout with my new Russian sub and found nothing lying in wait off Finland. I decided to lay my one Russian mine in the entrance to the Gulf of Riga, to inhibit a behind the line amphibious invasion through that strait. Next turn I will move Russian ships for the first time to raid the Swedish convoy.
Russia splashed out 330 MPPs to buy its first Heavy Artillery, already upgraded to Level 1. Once it arrives in four turns, I will be interested to see how useful it is in a defensive mode in Poland. Serbia spent most of its MPPs to buy the last infantry unit it can build - a Montenegrin detachment.
In tech, the UK invested in a third Industrial Warfare chit (in order to improve its weak MPP position and since it has a low Industrial Modifier). France went on a research bonanza and invested in a second Command and Control chit, a second Armoured Warfare chit (to complement the free one France receives at the start), and a second ASW chit. Italy did not have the resources to invest this turn. The USA bought three low-cost chits - two Fighter Tech and one Long Range Air tech. Since the USA convoy to the UK has been disrupted by his subs, and the USA mobilization has been rising now to 39%, I get more US MPPs every turn and I have concluded it is best to spend them on aviation tech.
At the end of the turn, XX all achieved Production Tech level 1 and XX achieved Logistics Tech 1, all with chits that these majors had deployed at the start of the game.
MOD NOTES
The following new features will not come into play until later in the war, but I thought I would post them now to complete my mod notes on changes in unit capabilities.
2.3 German Stormtroopers
German Stormtroopers have been introduced into the game using the German Colonial Corps sprites. German Stormtroopers are the only units that can upgrade to Infantry Weapons 3. Each Infantry Weapons increment increases their demoralization by 10%, and their ability to evade losses when attacking by 10%, giving them a maximum of 30% on both factors. Their base de-entrenchment has been set at 0.5 but each Infantry Weapons increment increases that by 0.5, giving them a de-entrenchment of 2 when they reach Infantry Warfare tech level 3. Finally, they gain experience points when attacking at 0.25 per enemy point killed (versus 0.15 for regular corps), meaning they gain experience faster when used to attack.
German Stormtroopers can only be produced starting in September 1917 at a cost of 225 MPPs each. Germany's build limit is 8 corps. They take four turns to build. Each Stormtrooper strength point lost costs 70% to replace (rather than 50%), so casualties are expensive.
As an incentive to build them, Germany has been given two free Stormtroopers with full research which will arrive on September 15, 1917. To compensate, Britain and France have been given one additional regular Corps each, which will arrive in the next turn.
To avoid confusion, build limits for Colonial Corps for other majors have been eliminated and their regular Corps build limits have been increased accordingly. British and French colonial corps that arrive in the game have been replaced by regular Corps units.
Comment: the use of German stormtroopers were the major tactical innovation on the German side late in the war. They were built by concentrating the most experienced troops into elite formations that could not be easily replaced. These changes create a capability that was previously missing in the game.
2.4 Tanks
Tank Corps base de-entrenchment is now set at 1.5, so that once they achieve Tank Development 1, they can de-entrench at 2 per turn. Their base Defense Value against Artillery is now set at 1.5 (as opposed to 1). Britain and France start with 1 chit on Armoured Warfare
Comment: these changes are meant to make Tanks more effective as shock front-line units and slightly less vulnerable to taking casualties from artillery fire (since they cannot entrench). The extra starting chits for Britain and France recognize their early lead in tank development.
Yet more cunning tricks from the Kaiser in the St. George's channel! Given that a single undetected German unit on an NM hex can send my British ports sinking below level 5, this turn at sea was a nerve-wracking experience.
When I did the replay, it looked like his two subs had headed home, presumably to resupply and upgrade to Advanced Subs 1. One of them was visible to me, parked in the middle of the English Channel. I sent all the DDs I had moved south last turn to search for the second sub and eventually found it. But along the way, I discovered that he had also laid two naval mines on the NM hexes as well and his destroyer was still in the vicinity. I beat up as best as I could on the closer sub and reduced it to strength 3. The full-strength sub in the Channel should get away free. The German DD proved surprisingly hard to damage and I doubt that I will be able to find it and destroy it next turn. I also wanted to scope out a safe route south for my transports and used a new British sub for that purpose. Despite a small element of risk of running into third sub in the area, I sent a precious British artillery unit and a full-strength corps south towards the Med via naval cruise, to meet up with an escort CL that I had parked off Lisbon. Elsewhere off northern Scotland, I reorganized my capital ships into a new tight formation anchored between Cromarty and Scapa Flow, so they will be less readily findable by enemy subs. France received a new DD and a seaplane carrier in reinforcements, so I positioned them in French ports near the Channel. Finally, at the end of the naval moves, I sent every DD and CL in reach into an empty British port so they could be upgraded to ASW 1 next turn.
In France, it was a quiet turn as he chose to evacuate from Reims. I occupied the hex and then reinforced units that had taken casualties the turn before. I also placed my first Heavy Artillery unit so it will be ready to attack his lines in front of Reims. It will need to be upgraded first.
In Italy, my only move was to send the Italian Recon Bomber to Bari, via an operational move, so it can fly over to the Balkans next turn. Italian planes have a setting that prevents them from using operational movement to go outside of Italy, unlike other Entente majors. My main pre-occupation was to reinforce one Italian corps, so I can ship it Tobruk next turn. In the vanilla game, the Senussi revolt in Libya does not happen until September 1st. In this mod, there is a 25% chance of it starting from August 7 onward.
I also carefully scouted the Adriatic with one sub to see where the Austro-Hungarian fleet was based and moved up the one Italian destroyer to the port of Tirana at the bottom of the sea. Looking at his ships that I spotted, I realized that there was one sub missing. So, on a hunch, I counted out 13 hexes in silent movement from its likely home port - and indeed bumped into his second sub in the middle of the Ionian Sea. I do not have the forces to kill it next turn but I hope I can at least find it again. It will be interesting to see what he does with it - whether he tried to raid convoy lines or he lies in ambush for UK transports coming in from the west.
Along the Bulgarian frontier he pushed his fourth Bulgarian corps into the mountains next to Romania. I had to vacate Nish to put a detachment into the mountains to block it. I anticipate that Old Crow has already built the Bulgarian artillery and is planning to counterattack with it as soon as he has 3-4 shells. However, I moved up the British artillery unit that I landed in Salonika, reinforced other corps so that next turn I can attack one of his corps defending the road into Sofia from the west. My supply situation fortunately in this sector is now back to normal.
Nothing new in Egypt or Mesopotamia. His detachment in the swamps in Qurna will hit zero supply next turn and I should be able to destroy it. He is clearly bringing up an infantry unit and a cavalry unit to besiege my cavalry corps in Mosul. I expect that I will have to retreat it but will not do so quite yet.
In the Caucasus, I simply reinforced one corps and am waiting for my shells to build up to attack Erzurum. This sector absorbs some valuable units (one artillery, one good general) and a lot of MPPs in reinforcements for relatively modest strategic gain, but I am keeping my forces there so they can build up the experience points by killing the Ottoman defenders.
In Poland and Galicia, I heavily reinforced my defences behind Warsaw, so I now have a complete second line and am working on a third. I won't be able to stop him taking Warsaw, but I should be able to counter-attack and throw him out. Since the NM points can be recovered (see the mod notes from last turn), it is worth having a slugfest there.
In the Baltic, for the first time I could scout with my new Russian sub and found nothing lying in wait off Finland. I decided to lay my one Russian mine in the entrance to the Gulf of Riga, to inhibit a behind the line amphibious invasion through that strait. Next turn I will move Russian ships for the first time to raid the Swedish convoy.
Russia splashed out 330 MPPs to buy its first Heavy Artillery, already upgraded to Level 1. Once it arrives in four turns, I will be interested to see how useful it is in a defensive mode in Poland. Serbia spent most of its MPPs to buy the last infantry unit it can build - a Montenegrin detachment.
In tech, the UK invested in a third Industrial Warfare chit (in order to improve its weak MPP position and since it has a low Industrial Modifier). France went on a research bonanza and invested in a second Command and Control chit, a second Armoured Warfare chit (to complement the free one France receives at the start), and a second ASW chit. Italy did not have the resources to invest this turn. The USA bought three low-cost chits - two Fighter Tech and one Long Range Air tech. Since the USA convoy to the UK has been disrupted by his subs, and the USA mobilization has been rising now to 39%, I get more US MPPs every turn and I have concluded it is best to spend them on aviation tech.
At the end of the turn, XX all achieved Production Tech level 1 and XX achieved Logistics Tech 1, all with chits that these majors had deployed at the start of the game.
MOD NOTES
The following new features will not come into play until later in the war, but I thought I would post them now to complete my mod notes on changes in unit capabilities.
2.3 German Stormtroopers
German Stormtroopers have been introduced into the game using the German Colonial Corps sprites. German Stormtroopers are the only units that can upgrade to Infantry Weapons 3. Each Infantry Weapons increment increases their demoralization by 10%, and their ability to evade losses when attacking by 10%, giving them a maximum of 30% on both factors. Their base de-entrenchment has been set at 0.5 but each Infantry Weapons increment increases that by 0.5, giving them a de-entrenchment of 2 when they reach Infantry Warfare tech level 3. Finally, they gain experience points when attacking at 0.25 per enemy point killed (versus 0.15 for regular corps), meaning they gain experience faster when used to attack.
German Stormtroopers can only be produced starting in September 1917 at a cost of 225 MPPs each. Germany's build limit is 8 corps. They take four turns to build. Each Stormtrooper strength point lost costs 70% to replace (rather than 50%), so casualties are expensive.
As an incentive to build them, Germany has been given two free Stormtroopers with full research which will arrive on September 15, 1917. To compensate, Britain and France have been given one additional regular Corps each, which will arrive in the next turn.
To avoid confusion, build limits for Colonial Corps for other majors have been eliminated and their regular Corps build limits have been increased accordingly. British and French colonial corps that arrive in the game have been replaced by regular Corps units.
Comment: the use of German stormtroopers were the major tactical innovation on the German side late in the war. They were built by concentrating the most experienced troops into elite formations that could not be easily replaced. These changes create a capability that was previously missing in the game.
2.4 Tanks
Tank Corps base de-entrenchment is now set at 1.5, so that once they achieve Tank Development 1, they can de-entrench at 2 per turn. Their base Defense Value against Artillery is now set at 1.5 (as opposed to 1). Britain and France start with 1 chit on Armoured Warfare
Comment: these changes are meant to make Tanks more effective as shock front-line units and slightly less vulnerable to taking casualties from artillery fire (since they cannot entrench). The extra starting chits for Britain and France recognize their early lead in tank development.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 15 July 31, 1915
I usually begin these notes in the West but for a change, I will start writing about the Eastern Front. Germany, as I expected, attacked Warsaw last turn and occupied it. What I did not expect was how terrible the odds were for my forces to retake it - adjacent full-strength corps were projected to attack at 4-0 odds. In good measure this is because Warsaw is a city and the conquering German unit was able to occupy my trenches with level 3 entrenchment; but his more experienced unit (one point) plus no doubt at least one experienced German general backing it up helped. This tells me that I will need artillery to be able to counter-attack against advancing Germans. I wondered again why I was keeping my two existing Russian artillery positioned to attack against secondary enemies (the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottomans) but I decided that having invested this much time preparing their next attacks, I would stick to the plan. I was also unpleasantly surprised by his two successful attacks just using infantry corps against level 3 entrenched corps south of Warsaw and in front of Konigsberg in East Prussia. I realized that this was probably possible because both these units were a long way from generals and were sitting in level 5 supply - meaning that their morale was lower than adjacent corps. A third unpleasant surprise was to realize that my two corps I received this turn as reinforcements could not be immediately deployed to fix this hole in East Prussia because I had already advanced beyond Russia's boundaries and thus beyond the towns where reinforcements arrive. Combined with the fact that reinforcements arrive with only 50% morale on the first turn means it is a mistake to rely on them for "just-in-time" replacements. They have to deployed one turn and then brought up to the line in the next.
Nevertheless, the Russians are still in overall good shape and their economy will grow again by next turn. I was just able to fill the hole in front of Konigsberg with a corps moved from Lemberg. This turn, I decided to buy three destroyed detachments as reinforcements - they are cheap at 45 MPPs each, come in one turn and can be useful as a stopgap for filling holes in the line. In the north, I moved my Russian navy in place to start raiding the convoy from Sweden. With all of his destroyers doing combat against the UK, I am not worried in the short run about a counterattack in the Baltic - though the Russians cannot afford to get complacent about the German navy. I may move them back into ports next turn. For the first time, I moved my two capital ships in the Black Sea up to Sevastopol. The Ottomans are being very cautious with their navy and must be keeping it in the Sea of Marmara.
In the Caucasus, I attacked in Van and reduced his corps again. I hope to take the town next turn. My main force is still waiting for the artillery unit to acquire more shells.
In Mesopotamia, I decide to retreat my Russian cavalry from Mosul. Old Crow will be overjoyed to see this. But as I could see that he had already brought up an infantry corps in front of Mosul and a cavalry corps in the rear, he could soon do to my Russian cavalry what I have been doing in the south, namely surrounding the city and wearing down its supply. While I could have held on to Mosul for two or three turns before he reduced and destroyed the unit, I preferred to escape with my cavalry fully intact and to keep it entrenched watching Mosul from the mountains in Persian Azerbaijan. In the south, I finally destroyed the Volunteer detachment in Qurn and moved up to occupy Nasireyeh.
Egypt remains quiet. At some point, he will bring up an artillery piece to attack, but I see from the Reports that he has not made the tech investments to enable that.
In Serbia/Bulgaria, I launched a set-piece assault with artillery on the Bulgarian corps one hex west of Sofia. It took five corps to destroy it and I lost 14 strength points vs the 10 lost by the defender (a very WW1 result). Again, I think defending in the mountains and from a position with very high supply (level 9) helped him a lot. But I was able to occupy the hex next to his Bulgarian general in Sofia. This will force him to adjust his line next turn and I hope will reduce a bit of the pressure on Nish. I brought over the Italian recon bomber to Albania, so that the next time I use my British artillery, I will be able to spot and thus increase the morale impact of the bombardment.
The real question for me in the Serbian theatre is: where is the Austro-Hungarian artillery? I keep expecting an assault from Belgrade any time now. I saved all of my Serbian MPPs this turn to help pay for rebuild against future casualties. Meanwhile, a second British artillery and another corps are now in the Med en route and should land next turn in Greece or Albania.
Italy moved the corps it built up last turn from Naples to Tobruk, to get ready for the Senussi uprising. I now have a plan to use the Italian navy to deploy naval mines in the Adriatic which I hope to deploy next turn.
France is the happiest of all of my majors this year. They easily attacked and killed another German corps in the bend in his line next to Sedan. With two artillery pieces deployed and lots of reserves, I should be able to do this every turn for the next few turns. I finally railed my French marine unit, bought in the desperate days of August 1914, down to Toulon so it can be transported into the Med at a convenient moment in the future.
The British Navy, aided by the French, once again played "whack-a-mole" against German subs and more mine-laying destroyers stealthily deployed against the St. George's and the North Channels. The skirmishes ran from the Atlantic south of Ireland to the English Channel. His survival was aided by the bad weather this turn over the while area. This turn, I decided that if he is using destroyers as well to mine the NM hexes, I can't afford to keep all my dreadnoughts in my conventional watch post around Scapa Flow. So, I moved five ships (two DNs, 2 Bs and 1 CA) north and south of Ireland to take out any destroyers I might spot next turn. Fortunately, mine laying consumes most of your movement points, so if he lays any more this coming turn, he should be easy to find. I also upgraded four light cruisers and two seaplane carriers to ASW level 1 in ports around Ireland.
At this point, I am going to have to accept that it is next to impossible to stop him from occupying at least one NM hex per turn and thus keeping one or more UK ports shut down and most likely the convoys from Canada and the US unable to arrive. After I finish this round of ASW upgrading, my plan is to deploy more airships and upgrade them (once the tech level is achieved) to spot German subs and mines on the NM hexes. After that, I think I will start buying cheap but deadly torpedo boats.
After paying for ASW upgrades, the UK bought a second airship, reinforced the half strength infantry corps still in England and invested their last chit in ASW for three. France invested one chit in Armoured Warfare for two. They spent some serious money with naval repairs and spent 90 MPPs to upgrade their worst general (Dubail, rated 4) for their best general (Petain, rated 7). Russian did its usual massive round of repairing damaged corps and invested one more chit in Trench warfare for four. Italy bought an airship as well and reinforced one of its two weak generals. Serbia husbanded its MPPs to pay for infantry reinforcements in the future. The USA with 121 MPPs to invest, invested one more chit in Fighter Warfare for three, and two more chits in Long-Distance Aircraft, for three. If they ever get into the war, they will have a terrific air force.
At the end of the turn, Russia reached Industrial Warfare level 2 (and thus earns about 500 MPPs per turn). The UK reached Spying and Intelligence 1. France had an important breakthrough and is now at 90% for Gas/Shell tech 1 which will then help the others through research sharing. Italy reached Trench Warfare 1.
MOD NOTES
4. Building Units
4.1 Division sized units
Both Russia and the Ottomans have been given the ability to build a certain number of infantry and cavalry divisions.
Comment: these units exist in the build menus, so I decided to give some to the two Majors that could use smaller units to defend a large territory.
4.2 Changes to Build Limits
The Ottomans can now build 6 Infantry Divisions at a cost 150 MPPs each. Their build limit for Corps is reduced to 18 (down from 22).
Comment: given the Ottomans' MPP constraints, this makes it more affordable for them to build a new unit in most turns.
Canada can build 2 Destroyers and the UK build limit for Destroyers is now 14 (down from 16).
Comment: building one or two Canadian destroyers may be useful if German subs raid off the coast of Canada and the U.S.A.
Greece can only build 3 Corps (down from 6).
Comment: Greece's original build limit of 6 Corps is out of proportion to its Balkan neighbours. The same six Greek corps can be mobilized through DEs if an enemy approaches, but after combat losses, only 3 can be rebuilt.
The Netherlands can build a 1 Fighter and 1 Recon Bomber.
Comment: It seemed strange that they have an Artillery unit but no ability to build aircraft, unlike neighbouring Belgium.
Sweden can build 1 Artillery, 1 Fighter, 1 Recon Bomber and 4 corps (up from 2). They receive their 1 HQ on mobilization.
Comment: These changes bring Sweden closer in line with other significant minors, such as Belgium or the Netherlands.
Portugal cannot build Fighters or Recon Bombers.
Comment: I could not see why Portugal was given these aircraft in the first place.
I usually begin these notes in the West but for a change, I will start writing about the Eastern Front. Germany, as I expected, attacked Warsaw last turn and occupied it. What I did not expect was how terrible the odds were for my forces to retake it - adjacent full-strength corps were projected to attack at 4-0 odds. In good measure this is because Warsaw is a city and the conquering German unit was able to occupy my trenches with level 3 entrenchment; but his more experienced unit (one point) plus no doubt at least one experienced German general backing it up helped. This tells me that I will need artillery to be able to counter-attack against advancing Germans. I wondered again why I was keeping my two existing Russian artillery positioned to attack against secondary enemies (the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottomans) but I decided that having invested this much time preparing their next attacks, I would stick to the plan. I was also unpleasantly surprised by his two successful attacks just using infantry corps against level 3 entrenched corps south of Warsaw and in front of Konigsberg in East Prussia. I realized that this was probably possible because both these units were a long way from generals and were sitting in level 5 supply - meaning that their morale was lower than adjacent corps. A third unpleasant surprise was to realize that my two corps I received this turn as reinforcements could not be immediately deployed to fix this hole in East Prussia because I had already advanced beyond Russia's boundaries and thus beyond the towns where reinforcements arrive. Combined with the fact that reinforcements arrive with only 50% morale on the first turn means it is a mistake to rely on them for "just-in-time" replacements. They have to deployed one turn and then brought up to the line in the next.
Nevertheless, the Russians are still in overall good shape and their economy will grow again by next turn. I was just able to fill the hole in front of Konigsberg with a corps moved from Lemberg. This turn, I decided to buy three destroyed detachments as reinforcements - they are cheap at 45 MPPs each, come in one turn and can be useful as a stopgap for filling holes in the line. In the north, I moved my Russian navy in place to start raiding the convoy from Sweden. With all of his destroyers doing combat against the UK, I am not worried in the short run about a counterattack in the Baltic - though the Russians cannot afford to get complacent about the German navy. I may move them back into ports next turn. For the first time, I moved my two capital ships in the Black Sea up to Sevastopol. The Ottomans are being very cautious with their navy and must be keeping it in the Sea of Marmara.
In the Caucasus, I attacked in Van and reduced his corps again. I hope to take the town next turn. My main force is still waiting for the artillery unit to acquire more shells.
In Mesopotamia, I decide to retreat my Russian cavalry from Mosul. Old Crow will be overjoyed to see this. But as I could see that he had already brought up an infantry corps in front of Mosul and a cavalry corps in the rear, he could soon do to my Russian cavalry what I have been doing in the south, namely surrounding the city and wearing down its supply. While I could have held on to Mosul for two or three turns before he reduced and destroyed the unit, I preferred to escape with my cavalry fully intact and to keep it entrenched watching Mosul from the mountains in Persian Azerbaijan. In the south, I finally destroyed the Volunteer detachment in Qurn and moved up to occupy Nasireyeh.
Egypt remains quiet. At some point, he will bring up an artillery piece to attack, but I see from the Reports that he has not made the tech investments to enable that.
In Serbia/Bulgaria, I launched a set-piece assault with artillery on the Bulgarian corps one hex west of Sofia. It took five corps to destroy it and I lost 14 strength points vs the 10 lost by the defender (a very WW1 result). Again, I think defending in the mountains and from a position with very high supply (level 9) helped him a lot. But I was able to occupy the hex next to his Bulgarian general in Sofia. This will force him to adjust his line next turn and I hope will reduce a bit of the pressure on Nish. I brought over the Italian recon bomber to Albania, so that the next time I use my British artillery, I will be able to spot and thus increase the morale impact of the bombardment.
The real question for me in the Serbian theatre is: where is the Austro-Hungarian artillery? I keep expecting an assault from Belgrade any time now. I saved all of my Serbian MPPs this turn to help pay for rebuild against future casualties. Meanwhile, a second British artillery and another corps are now in the Med en route and should land next turn in Greece or Albania.
Italy moved the corps it built up last turn from Naples to Tobruk, to get ready for the Senussi uprising. I now have a plan to use the Italian navy to deploy naval mines in the Adriatic which I hope to deploy next turn.
France is the happiest of all of my majors this year. They easily attacked and killed another German corps in the bend in his line next to Sedan. With two artillery pieces deployed and lots of reserves, I should be able to do this every turn for the next few turns. I finally railed my French marine unit, bought in the desperate days of August 1914, down to Toulon so it can be transported into the Med at a convenient moment in the future.
The British Navy, aided by the French, once again played "whack-a-mole" against German subs and more mine-laying destroyers stealthily deployed against the St. George's and the North Channels. The skirmishes ran from the Atlantic south of Ireland to the English Channel. His survival was aided by the bad weather this turn over the while area. This turn, I decided that if he is using destroyers as well to mine the NM hexes, I can't afford to keep all my dreadnoughts in my conventional watch post around Scapa Flow. So, I moved five ships (two DNs, 2 Bs and 1 CA) north and south of Ireland to take out any destroyers I might spot next turn. Fortunately, mine laying consumes most of your movement points, so if he lays any more this coming turn, he should be easy to find. I also upgraded four light cruisers and two seaplane carriers to ASW level 1 in ports around Ireland.
At this point, I am going to have to accept that it is next to impossible to stop him from occupying at least one NM hex per turn and thus keeping one or more UK ports shut down and most likely the convoys from Canada and the US unable to arrive. After I finish this round of ASW upgrading, my plan is to deploy more airships and upgrade them (once the tech level is achieved) to spot German subs and mines on the NM hexes. After that, I think I will start buying cheap but deadly torpedo boats.
After paying for ASW upgrades, the UK bought a second airship, reinforced the half strength infantry corps still in England and invested their last chit in ASW for three. France invested one chit in Armoured Warfare for two. They spent some serious money with naval repairs and spent 90 MPPs to upgrade their worst general (Dubail, rated 4) for their best general (Petain, rated 7). Russian did its usual massive round of repairing damaged corps and invested one more chit in Trench warfare for four. Italy bought an airship as well and reinforced one of its two weak generals. Serbia husbanded its MPPs to pay for infantry reinforcements in the future. The USA with 121 MPPs to invest, invested one more chit in Fighter Warfare for three, and two more chits in Long-Distance Aircraft, for three. If they ever get into the war, they will have a terrific air force.
At the end of the turn, Russia reached Industrial Warfare level 2 (and thus earns about 500 MPPs per turn). The UK reached Spying and Intelligence 1. France had an important breakthrough and is now at 90% for Gas/Shell tech 1 which will then help the others through research sharing. Italy reached Trench Warfare 1.
MOD NOTES
4. Building Units
4.1 Division sized units
Both Russia and the Ottomans have been given the ability to build a certain number of infantry and cavalry divisions.
Comment: these units exist in the build menus, so I decided to give some to the two Majors that could use smaller units to defend a large territory.
4.2 Changes to Build Limits
The Ottomans can now build 6 Infantry Divisions at a cost 150 MPPs each. Their build limit for Corps is reduced to 18 (down from 22).
Comment: given the Ottomans' MPP constraints, this makes it more affordable for them to build a new unit in most turns.
Canada can build 2 Destroyers and the UK build limit for Destroyers is now 14 (down from 16).
Comment: building one or two Canadian destroyers may be useful if German subs raid off the coast of Canada and the U.S.A.
Greece can only build 3 Corps (down from 6).
Comment: Greece's original build limit of 6 Corps is out of proportion to its Balkan neighbours. The same six Greek corps can be mobilized through DEs if an enemy approaches, but after combat losses, only 3 can be rebuilt.
The Netherlands can build a 1 Fighter and 1 Recon Bomber.
Comment: It seemed strange that they have an Artillery unit but no ability to build aircraft, unlike neighbouring Belgium.
Sweden can build 1 Artillery, 1 Fighter, 1 Recon Bomber and 4 corps (up from 2). They receive their 1 HQ on mobilization.
Comment: These changes bring Sweden closer in line with other significant minors, such as Belgium or the Netherlands.
Portugal cannot build Fighters or Recon Bombers.
Comment: I could not see why Portugal was given these aircraft in the first place.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 16: August 14, 1915
Well, I found out when the assault against Serbia would come - last turn. He opened fire with artillery from both Austria-Hungary to the north and Bulgaria to the south. Old Crow likes these kinds of dramatic gestures. Curiously, he did not move into the hex where he killed the Serbian corps south of Belgrade. So, I shuffled my one reserve detachment into the line west of Belgrade and moved one corps over. But the Serbs have no corps left in reserve. I husbanded just enough MPPs to rebuild the one damaged Serb corps in the south and have enough left over (supplemented by the Russian convoy) to buy back the corps that was killed - if I take no casualties next turn (which seems unlikely). Elsewhere in this theatre, the British rebuilt all their units that had taken heavy casualties in the attack the previous turn. The British also landed a second artillery unit in Salonika and a new British corps in Albania. I am already beyond the C+C (Command and Control) limits of my one general in the theatre, so will have to start thinking about moving General Haig from the UK down to Serbia. It will be touch and go in this theatre, given that almost all reinforcements have to be transported in and then they have to walk a couple of turns to get the front. In the longer term, I may have to turn to Italy as additional source of corps for this sector, in order for Serbia to hold out. I have already moved the Italian recon bomber in position to do reconnaissance on both the northern and southern borders of Serbia.
In the Adriatic, I had fun deploying two mines in front of Ragusa. They will slowly degrade that port over time until he decides to clear them by detonating them.
No action in Egypt. In Mesopotamia, I shuffled around my two cavalry corps and one detachment to get ready to move forward next turn to start degrading his supply position in Kut-al-Amara. But frankly, given that he now has at least four corps in this sector, either facing the UK or the Russians north-east of Mosul, he will be able to hold on until General Maude and another field artillery unit arrive in July 1916. At least I am forcing him to increase his defense in this area.
In the Caucasus, I reinforced my mountain corps as best as the supply situation allowed, so that I can attack Erzurum next turn, once my artillery has accumulated four shells, sufficient to de-trench his corps defending the town. I destroyed the low supply corps defending Van, and advanced to find another detachment entrenched in Bitlis. The terrain in the Caucasus is terrible and one Erzurum is taken, I will have to decide what forces to keep in this sector and which ones to move to the main action in Poland and Galicia.
In Galicia, I launched my long-planned assault on Przemsyl, which went just about perfectly. The main pay-off of this objective is that it swings Romania further towards the Entente, plus costing Austria-Hungary 2500 NM points. I spent heavily on rebuilding damaged corps behind the lines along this front and deployed the three detachments that I bought last turn as reinforcements. I placed them all in the sector between Grodno and Vilno, where the line is thin on both sides, and where, if needed, I could move one of these detachments in to replace a corps. I now have two to three lines of defence in front of Warsaw, so I expect more casualties but no breakthroughs.
In the Baltic, the Russian navy seem unopposed, and I know where all his destroyers are - hammering shipping to the UK in the Atlantic. So, I felt it was safe to continue raiding the Swedish convoy for another turn.
Italy's only move this turn (apart from its recon bomber in Serbia) was to ship a detachment from Tripoli to Benghazi, to aid in the defense against the Senussi rebels, who could show up at any point now.
France had another good turn, destroying another German corps and occupying another hex. I used my newly deployed heavy artillery for the first time and a second one of these units arrived in reinforcements this turn.
The UK had another desperate scramble in the Atlantic and the English Channel, aided by the French navy, to destroy the German subs and destroyers attacking my shipping lanes. I succeeded in killing three of his destroyers and reducing one sub in the North Channel down to zero supply -making it easy to find and to kill next turn. My light cruisers upgraded to 1 ASW last turn proved very useful in attacking this sub. I also spotted a fourth destroyer further south of the St. George's Channel with a flight from a seaplane carrier. I tried surrounding this ship with other unseen surface ships, all 2-3 hexes away, in the hope he will bump into one of them and have an accidental combat which will at least slow up his escape. Sadly, there was one sub in the St. George's Channel I could not budge off its NM hex - so Glasgow's supply level will sink further next turn, perhaps even to zero. At this point, I barely have any ships on either of the blockade lines - just enough to keep generating the notices every turn.
In terms of investments, the UK had to rebuild ships and corps, so it could only afford buying its first Airship Tech chit. France did the same and now has two chits on Airships; France also bought a new submarine to replace the one killed last turn by German destroyers in the Atlantic. Italy invested most of funds to buy two more Trench Warfare chits for four and used its remaining funds to bring its better general up to 10 strength points. Serbia saved all its MPPs for next turn. And finally, after massive round of reinforcing existing units, Russia invested one chit in Command and Control and bought back one killed Russian corps.
MOD NOTES
14. Finland:
If Finland becomes independent and is aligned with the Central Powers (after the German DE to send General von der Goltz there) it can swing an additional 20% if the Central Powers capture Revel in Estonia and an additional 20% if the Central Powers capture Narva.
Comment: this is intended to give the Central Powers an incentive to bring Finland fully into the war on their side so they can attack Petrograd from the north. This could encourage them to try to conquer Russia outright, rather than acceding to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
23. Russia
The Russian Armistice (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) event now has a 50% change of firing once Russian NM falls below 12% (reduced from 100%).
Comment: This change is to increase the unpredictability of exactly when Germany will receive the Russian armistice proposal. It should inhibit the Germans from withdrawing too many forces in advance of receiving Russia's armistice offer.
Well, I found out when the assault against Serbia would come - last turn. He opened fire with artillery from both Austria-Hungary to the north and Bulgaria to the south. Old Crow likes these kinds of dramatic gestures. Curiously, he did not move into the hex where he killed the Serbian corps south of Belgrade. So, I shuffled my one reserve detachment into the line west of Belgrade and moved one corps over. But the Serbs have no corps left in reserve. I husbanded just enough MPPs to rebuild the one damaged Serb corps in the south and have enough left over (supplemented by the Russian convoy) to buy back the corps that was killed - if I take no casualties next turn (which seems unlikely). Elsewhere in this theatre, the British rebuilt all their units that had taken heavy casualties in the attack the previous turn. The British also landed a second artillery unit in Salonika and a new British corps in Albania. I am already beyond the C+C (Command and Control) limits of my one general in the theatre, so will have to start thinking about moving General Haig from the UK down to Serbia. It will be touch and go in this theatre, given that almost all reinforcements have to be transported in and then they have to walk a couple of turns to get the front. In the longer term, I may have to turn to Italy as additional source of corps for this sector, in order for Serbia to hold out. I have already moved the Italian recon bomber in position to do reconnaissance on both the northern and southern borders of Serbia.
In the Adriatic, I had fun deploying two mines in front of Ragusa. They will slowly degrade that port over time until he decides to clear them by detonating them.
No action in Egypt. In Mesopotamia, I shuffled around my two cavalry corps and one detachment to get ready to move forward next turn to start degrading his supply position in Kut-al-Amara. But frankly, given that he now has at least four corps in this sector, either facing the UK or the Russians north-east of Mosul, he will be able to hold on until General Maude and another field artillery unit arrive in July 1916. At least I am forcing him to increase his defense in this area.
In the Caucasus, I reinforced my mountain corps as best as the supply situation allowed, so that I can attack Erzurum next turn, once my artillery has accumulated four shells, sufficient to de-trench his corps defending the town. I destroyed the low supply corps defending Van, and advanced to find another detachment entrenched in Bitlis. The terrain in the Caucasus is terrible and one Erzurum is taken, I will have to decide what forces to keep in this sector and which ones to move to the main action in Poland and Galicia.
In Galicia, I launched my long-planned assault on Przemsyl, which went just about perfectly. The main pay-off of this objective is that it swings Romania further towards the Entente, plus costing Austria-Hungary 2500 NM points. I spent heavily on rebuilding damaged corps behind the lines along this front and deployed the three detachments that I bought last turn as reinforcements. I placed them all in the sector between Grodno and Vilno, where the line is thin on both sides, and where, if needed, I could move one of these detachments in to replace a corps. I now have two to three lines of defence in front of Warsaw, so I expect more casualties but no breakthroughs.
In the Baltic, the Russian navy seem unopposed, and I know where all his destroyers are - hammering shipping to the UK in the Atlantic. So, I felt it was safe to continue raiding the Swedish convoy for another turn.
Italy's only move this turn (apart from its recon bomber in Serbia) was to ship a detachment from Tripoli to Benghazi, to aid in the defense against the Senussi rebels, who could show up at any point now.
France had another good turn, destroying another German corps and occupying another hex. I used my newly deployed heavy artillery for the first time and a second one of these units arrived in reinforcements this turn.
The UK had another desperate scramble in the Atlantic and the English Channel, aided by the French navy, to destroy the German subs and destroyers attacking my shipping lanes. I succeeded in killing three of his destroyers and reducing one sub in the North Channel down to zero supply -making it easy to find and to kill next turn. My light cruisers upgraded to 1 ASW last turn proved very useful in attacking this sub. I also spotted a fourth destroyer further south of the St. George's Channel with a flight from a seaplane carrier. I tried surrounding this ship with other unseen surface ships, all 2-3 hexes away, in the hope he will bump into one of them and have an accidental combat which will at least slow up his escape. Sadly, there was one sub in the St. George's Channel I could not budge off its NM hex - so Glasgow's supply level will sink further next turn, perhaps even to zero. At this point, I barely have any ships on either of the blockade lines - just enough to keep generating the notices every turn.
In terms of investments, the UK had to rebuild ships and corps, so it could only afford buying its first Airship Tech chit. France did the same and now has two chits on Airships; France also bought a new submarine to replace the one killed last turn by German destroyers in the Atlantic. Italy invested most of funds to buy two more Trench Warfare chits for four and used its remaining funds to bring its better general up to 10 strength points. Serbia saved all its MPPs for next turn. And finally, after massive round of reinforcing existing units, Russia invested one chit in Command and Control and bought back one killed Russian corps.
MOD NOTES
14. Finland:
If Finland becomes independent and is aligned with the Central Powers (after the German DE to send General von der Goltz there) it can swing an additional 20% if the Central Powers capture Revel in Estonia and an additional 20% if the Central Powers capture Narva.
Comment: this is intended to give the Central Powers an incentive to bring Finland fully into the war on their side so they can attack Petrograd from the north. This could encourage them to try to conquer Russia outright, rather than acceding to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
23. Russia
The Russian Armistice (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) event now has a 50% change of firing once Russian NM falls below 12% (reduced from 100%).
Comment: This change is to increase the unpredictability of exactly when Germany will receive the Russian armistice proposal. It should inhibit the Germans from withdrawing too many forces in advance of receiving Russia's armistice offer.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 17: August 28, 1915
The war grinds on. In the Atlantic, the UK was finally able to sink or chase away all the German subs and destroyer carrying out unrestricted naval warfare against my ports - for the first time in six turns. His losses totalled 2 subs and 4 destroyers, which will dent his capacity in the short run, but not prevent him from returning again. While only one French sub (which started at 5) has been lost, the total damage inflicted, especially by the naval mines on my DDs and CLs has been huge. Both Glasgow and Liverpool have been reduced to port level 1. To give Glasgow in particular a respite (in order for it to rise back to at least 5 and start receiving convoys again), I pulled every ship I could find off the blockade lines against Germany and they are occupying every NM hex in the North Channel. He might be able to put some holes in these ships with his subs, but he won't be able to occupy the hexes. If he stays away for a couple more turns, I will have repaired and upgraded enough DDs and CLs that I can send the capital ships back to blockade duty against Germany. Airships can really help by spotting from positions in Ireland, which is why I have been investing (modestly so far) in airship tech.
In France, things are proceeding well. Another hex captured; another German corps destroyed. Within two more turns, he will have a straight line starting in Boulogne and it will take more effort to push through. My second (and last) heavy artillery unit arrived and has now been upgraded, so with Level 1 gas/shell tech imminent for France, they should be able to keep up a constant rain of fire on the German line. I considered moving forward in Alsace Lorraine to occupy the two hexes that we have kept empty between us but decided in the end that would be opening more of my line up to counter-attack by him. I may move the one regular artillery unit over to this sector, so it can counter-attack, in the event that he pushed into these hexes.
In the Adriatic I threw everything I had against one of his two Austro-Hungarian subs and sank it - which was very satisfying. I don't know why Old Crow has persisted in keeping this sub in a visible location on the coast, next to my port in Cetinje, since I have attacked in this location several times before. This time, with an Italian destroyer and an upgraded French seaplane carrier to add to the mix, I had the firepower to reduce it from 7 to 1 point, but that last strength point required having half a dozen capital ships attack it zero supply before scoring a kill. One tactical note that I have discovered in this game is that it is not enough to upgrade the aircraft on half strength seaplane carriers from 5 to 10; if you do not also upgrade the strength of the ships, the carriers will not exceed 70% morale and their readiness for combat will suffer.
Since the other Austro-Hungarian sub is somewhere in the Eastern med, I did some careful scouting before transporting units. I moved the British marine from Lemnos - since they are not going to be landing near Gallipoli anytime soon and send it to Egypt. My intention is to use them to upgrade to Infantry Weapons 1 and to swap it for allow my two units holding the line there to do the same. At some point, a Turkish artillery unit will arrive and will start shelling and I will have to reinforce and pull back to the Suez Canal, so I probably need to send a full-strength corps here in the near future. I also shipped the French marine unit from Toulon; it is parked on its transports in the port of Kalamata in southern Greece and I will land it somewhere in the eastern Med - perhaps Cyprus - next turn.
In Mesopotamia, things are quiet - I do not foresee any scope for advances on my part until General Maude arrives in July 1916. North of Mosul, he moved his two corps directly in front of my entrenched cavalry unit in the mountains. But since his supply here is very poor and my cavalry has level 4 entrenchment, I think it can hold this position - we shall see.
In the Caucasus, I finally had the shells to take out the Ottoman corps on Erzurum, though I suffered more casualties than expected (if well supplied, the Russian mountain corps can really cut through the Ottoman units like butter). I considered pulling back the artillery unit and sending it to Poland, but after looking at the NM benefits of taking Trabzon, both for Russia (in this mod) and against the Ottomans, I will keep the artillery piece in this theatre a bit longer.
In the Eastern Front, while he destroyed two corps south of Warsaw last turn, he did not advance into those hexes. I studied the situation for a while and concluded that I could at least maintain a theoretical risk of retaking Warsaw by advancing back into those hexes again, so I did. I have a second line now of weaker units in trenches to fall back up in the main Polish front. Elsewhere, I reinforced all the corps that took casualties taking Przemsyl. I wondered if he might be planning on retaking that fortified town (I would) and used my recon bombers to look for a tell-tale artillery piece but did not find it yet.
In the Baltic, the Swedes reacted to my raiding their convoy and shifted to 25% for the Central Powers. Also, I think the German surface fleet might decide that enough is enough and could come up to sort out the Russians. So, I pulled back for now. Once my second Russian sub is in place (it arrives in two turns), I may start raiding again.
The Serbian/Bulgarian front was the toughest to manage this turn, given the destruction of a second Serbian corps last turn and the Austro-Hungarian cavalry pushing through my line. I counter-attacked against the cavalry, mainly to reduce its ability to exercise a zone of control. I considered at length making a more serious push to kill it completely (and should have when I attacked with one corps at 0 - 3 combat estimate), but in end I decided it was better to retreat to a shorter line behind the river, just north of Nish.
Given that he has two artillery units already active in this area, Nish will be very hard to hold over the next few turns. Once captured, it opens up the rail line to the Ottoman Empire and will change the strategic posture of the entire game. A lot depends on whether he has enough shells next turn with his Bulgarian artillery to attack or not. If not, I will be able to counter-attack with the two British artillery that I now have in place. I moved up the British corps that arrived last turn to Uskub and another two are coming on transports from the UK.
In terms of investments, the UK spent its money on repairing damaged DDs and CLs and then buying back the destroyed Greek corps (which has the great advantage of arriving in Greece). France invested in one chit on Industrial Tech (for two) and two chits on Aerial Warfare, bringing them to their tech limit, for the moment. Italy also invested one chit on Industrial Tech and reinforced its remaining half strength corps behind the line. The USA invested a third chit in Aerial Warfare. Serbia bought back one destroyed corps. Russia bought back two destroyed corps, did more reinforcing, and invested a chit into Command and Control (for two). I also, for the first time, invested one French chit in diplomacy against Norway - as just one hit will be enough to swing Norway away from sending a convoy to Germany. Even though the odds of a hit are only 8%, over time, the chances are good that it will fire, and I know it will unsettle Old Crow when he notices in the Reports that I have started investing in diplomacy.
At the end of the turn, I had some very good news in terms of tech breakthroughs: France achieved level 1 in Gas/Shell tech - I believe it will be the first in the game - and the UK achieved level 1 in Infantry Weapons, perhaps also a first. The UK has scored a much-needed breakthrough on Gas/Shell research, bringing it up to 48% (given its very late start in investing in that tech). Russia achieved Level 3 in Trench Warfare, which will also be great as it will increase the number of shells the CP will need to breakthrough.
MOD NOTES
This will be the last section of mod notes. With this entry I have completed chunking out the notes and posting them here.
26. United States
26.1 The Zimmerman Telegram and its Aftermath
Comment: this single event has been converted in a series of interlocking DEs, reflecting the fact that there were four parties involved: Germany, Britain, the USA and Mexico and they each had their own calculations to make. Although it is still a desperation move by Germany, they now have more incentives to attempt it; and this will force some risk assessments by the British and the Americans.
Germany is presented the DE to send the telegram to Mexico as soon as U.S.A. mobilization reaches 75%. If Germany chooses to send the telegram, there is an 80% chance that British intelligence will intercept it.
If they do, the UK then must decide whether to leak the telegram to President Wilson or not. If they do, there is a 70% chance he will believe it - in which case the USA will go to war immediately. But there is also a 30% chance he will think it is a forgery - in which case the USA will swing 30 - 35% away from the Entente.
If UK decides not to leak the telegram or they fail to intercept it, Germany must decide whether to follow through in making a 50 MPP arms shipment to Mexico as a down payment. If they do, there is a 50% chance the Mexican government will accept the Germany's proposal of an alliance, in which case Germany will make a second 50 MPP payment to Mexico. There is also a 50% chance they will reject the German offer, keep the money, and declare their neutrality.
If Mexico accepts the German offer, the US government has to decide whether to send a punitive expedition to Mexico, which will cost 3 X 50 MPPs and cause U.S. alignment against Germany to drop by 40 - 45%. The alternative is that the US government could ignore the threat from Mexico to keep their current level of mobilization against the Central Powers, but accept 5000 NM hit, a permanent loss of 20 MPPs per turn (needed to shore up the southern border) and a 5 % - 15% swing towards the Central Powers by other CP aligned neutrals in Europe.
26.2 General Pershing
Once a cease-fire is reached with Mexico or the USA goes to war with the Central Powers (whichever comes first) the U.S.A. has a new DE to create a HQ for General Pershing in Washington at a cost 4 X 50 MPPs. If there has been an American punitive force sent to Mexico, Pershing will arrive with one point of experience.
Comment: Pershing was given command of the U.S. Army in early 1917, before the U.S.A. entered the war, after commanding the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa in Mexico (covered in one of the information pop-ups in the game). This DE reflects that fact and also gives the U.S.A a chance of having an HQ they can afford when they enter the war.
26.3 Spanish Flu Events
Comment: the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic was a major factor in the last year of the war which so far is missing from the game. These changes model the early stages of the flu pandemic, as they affected American forces being sent to France and other Entente units in affected ports. The effects are similar to the Serbian and Ottoman typhus epidemics in 1914.
Starting in February 1918, if the U.S.A. has entered the war, American land and naval units one or within one hex of the ports on the East Coast of the U.S.A will risk being affected by the "Spanish Flu". Affected units will lose 1-2 strength points and will suffering a 10% - 40% loss in unit morale loss. The flu will then spread in March to ports in Western France, and then in April to ports on both sides of English Channel up to Boulogne and London.
The war grinds on. In the Atlantic, the UK was finally able to sink or chase away all the German subs and destroyer carrying out unrestricted naval warfare against my ports - for the first time in six turns. His losses totalled 2 subs and 4 destroyers, which will dent his capacity in the short run, but not prevent him from returning again. While only one French sub (which started at 5) has been lost, the total damage inflicted, especially by the naval mines on my DDs and CLs has been huge. Both Glasgow and Liverpool have been reduced to port level 1. To give Glasgow in particular a respite (in order for it to rise back to at least 5 and start receiving convoys again), I pulled every ship I could find off the blockade lines against Germany and they are occupying every NM hex in the North Channel. He might be able to put some holes in these ships with his subs, but he won't be able to occupy the hexes. If he stays away for a couple more turns, I will have repaired and upgraded enough DDs and CLs that I can send the capital ships back to blockade duty against Germany. Airships can really help by spotting from positions in Ireland, which is why I have been investing (modestly so far) in airship tech.
In France, things are proceeding well. Another hex captured; another German corps destroyed. Within two more turns, he will have a straight line starting in Boulogne and it will take more effort to push through. My second (and last) heavy artillery unit arrived and has now been upgraded, so with Level 1 gas/shell tech imminent for France, they should be able to keep up a constant rain of fire on the German line. I considered moving forward in Alsace Lorraine to occupy the two hexes that we have kept empty between us but decided in the end that would be opening more of my line up to counter-attack by him. I may move the one regular artillery unit over to this sector, so it can counter-attack, in the event that he pushed into these hexes.
In the Adriatic I threw everything I had against one of his two Austro-Hungarian subs and sank it - which was very satisfying. I don't know why Old Crow has persisted in keeping this sub in a visible location on the coast, next to my port in Cetinje, since I have attacked in this location several times before. This time, with an Italian destroyer and an upgraded French seaplane carrier to add to the mix, I had the firepower to reduce it from 7 to 1 point, but that last strength point required having half a dozen capital ships attack it zero supply before scoring a kill. One tactical note that I have discovered in this game is that it is not enough to upgrade the aircraft on half strength seaplane carriers from 5 to 10; if you do not also upgrade the strength of the ships, the carriers will not exceed 70% morale and their readiness for combat will suffer.
Since the other Austro-Hungarian sub is somewhere in the Eastern med, I did some careful scouting before transporting units. I moved the British marine from Lemnos - since they are not going to be landing near Gallipoli anytime soon and send it to Egypt. My intention is to use them to upgrade to Infantry Weapons 1 and to swap it for allow my two units holding the line there to do the same. At some point, a Turkish artillery unit will arrive and will start shelling and I will have to reinforce and pull back to the Suez Canal, so I probably need to send a full-strength corps here in the near future. I also shipped the French marine unit from Toulon; it is parked on its transports in the port of Kalamata in southern Greece and I will land it somewhere in the eastern Med - perhaps Cyprus - next turn.
In Mesopotamia, things are quiet - I do not foresee any scope for advances on my part until General Maude arrives in July 1916. North of Mosul, he moved his two corps directly in front of my entrenched cavalry unit in the mountains. But since his supply here is very poor and my cavalry has level 4 entrenchment, I think it can hold this position - we shall see.
In the Caucasus, I finally had the shells to take out the Ottoman corps on Erzurum, though I suffered more casualties than expected (if well supplied, the Russian mountain corps can really cut through the Ottoman units like butter). I considered pulling back the artillery unit and sending it to Poland, but after looking at the NM benefits of taking Trabzon, both for Russia (in this mod) and against the Ottomans, I will keep the artillery piece in this theatre a bit longer.
In the Eastern Front, while he destroyed two corps south of Warsaw last turn, he did not advance into those hexes. I studied the situation for a while and concluded that I could at least maintain a theoretical risk of retaking Warsaw by advancing back into those hexes again, so I did. I have a second line now of weaker units in trenches to fall back up in the main Polish front. Elsewhere, I reinforced all the corps that took casualties taking Przemsyl. I wondered if he might be planning on retaking that fortified town (I would) and used my recon bombers to look for a tell-tale artillery piece but did not find it yet.
In the Baltic, the Swedes reacted to my raiding their convoy and shifted to 25% for the Central Powers. Also, I think the German surface fleet might decide that enough is enough and could come up to sort out the Russians. So, I pulled back for now. Once my second Russian sub is in place (it arrives in two turns), I may start raiding again.
The Serbian/Bulgarian front was the toughest to manage this turn, given the destruction of a second Serbian corps last turn and the Austro-Hungarian cavalry pushing through my line. I counter-attacked against the cavalry, mainly to reduce its ability to exercise a zone of control. I considered at length making a more serious push to kill it completely (and should have when I attacked with one corps at 0 - 3 combat estimate), but in end I decided it was better to retreat to a shorter line behind the river, just north of Nish.
Given that he has two artillery units already active in this area, Nish will be very hard to hold over the next few turns. Once captured, it opens up the rail line to the Ottoman Empire and will change the strategic posture of the entire game. A lot depends on whether he has enough shells next turn with his Bulgarian artillery to attack or not. If not, I will be able to counter-attack with the two British artillery that I now have in place. I moved up the British corps that arrived last turn to Uskub and another two are coming on transports from the UK.
In terms of investments, the UK spent its money on repairing damaged DDs and CLs and then buying back the destroyed Greek corps (which has the great advantage of arriving in Greece). France invested in one chit on Industrial Tech (for two) and two chits on Aerial Warfare, bringing them to their tech limit, for the moment. Italy also invested one chit on Industrial Tech and reinforced its remaining half strength corps behind the line. The USA invested a third chit in Aerial Warfare. Serbia bought back one destroyed corps. Russia bought back two destroyed corps, did more reinforcing, and invested a chit into Command and Control (for two). I also, for the first time, invested one French chit in diplomacy against Norway - as just one hit will be enough to swing Norway away from sending a convoy to Germany. Even though the odds of a hit are only 8%, over time, the chances are good that it will fire, and I know it will unsettle Old Crow when he notices in the Reports that I have started investing in diplomacy.
At the end of the turn, I had some very good news in terms of tech breakthroughs: France achieved level 1 in Gas/Shell tech - I believe it will be the first in the game - and the UK achieved level 1 in Infantry Weapons, perhaps also a first. The UK has scored a much-needed breakthrough on Gas/Shell research, bringing it up to 48% (given its very late start in investing in that tech). Russia achieved Level 3 in Trench Warfare, which will also be great as it will increase the number of shells the CP will need to breakthrough.
MOD NOTES
This will be the last section of mod notes. With this entry I have completed chunking out the notes and posting them here.
26. United States
26.1 The Zimmerman Telegram and its Aftermath
Comment: this single event has been converted in a series of interlocking DEs, reflecting the fact that there were four parties involved: Germany, Britain, the USA and Mexico and they each had their own calculations to make. Although it is still a desperation move by Germany, they now have more incentives to attempt it; and this will force some risk assessments by the British and the Americans.
Germany is presented the DE to send the telegram to Mexico as soon as U.S.A. mobilization reaches 75%. If Germany chooses to send the telegram, there is an 80% chance that British intelligence will intercept it.
If they do, the UK then must decide whether to leak the telegram to President Wilson or not. If they do, there is a 70% chance he will believe it - in which case the USA will go to war immediately. But there is also a 30% chance he will think it is a forgery - in which case the USA will swing 30 - 35% away from the Entente.
If UK decides not to leak the telegram or they fail to intercept it, Germany must decide whether to follow through in making a 50 MPP arms shipment to Mexico as a down payment. If they do, there is a 50% chance the Mexican government will accept the Germany's proposal of an alliance, in which case Germany will make a second 50 MPP payment to Mexico. There is also a 50% chance they will reject the German offer, keep the money, and declare their neutrality.
If Mexico accepts the German offer, the US government has to decide whether to send a punitive expedition to Mexico, which will cost 3 X 50 MPPs and cause U.S. alignment against Germany to drop by 40 - 45%. The alternative is that the US government could ignore the threat from Mexico to keep their current level of mobilization against the Central Powers, but accept 5000 NM hit, a permanent loss of 20 MPPs per turn (needed to shore up the southern border) and a 5 % - 15% swing towards the Central Powers by other CP aligned neutrals in Europe.
26.2 General Pershing
Once a cease-fire is reached with Mexico or the USA goes to war with the Central Powers (whichever comes first) the U.S.A. has a new DE to create a HQ for General Pershing in Washington at a cost 4 X 50 MPPs. If there has been an American punitive force sent to Mexico, Pershing will arrive with one point of experience.
Comment: Pershing was given command of the U.S. Army in early 1917, before the U.S.A. entered the war, after commanding the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa in Mexico (covered in one of the information pop-ups in the game). This DE reflects that fact and also gives the U.S.A a chance of having an HQ they can afford when they enter the war.
26.3 Spanish Flu Events
Comment: the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic was a major factor in the last year of the war which so far is missing from the game. These changes model the early stages of the flu pandemic, as they affected American forces being sent to France and other Entente units in affected ports. The effects are similar to the Serbian and Ottoman typhus epidemics in 1914.
Starting in February 1918, if the U.S.A. has entered the war, American land and naval units one or within one hex of the ports on the East Coast of the U.S.A will risk being affected by the "Spanish Flu". Affected units will lose 1-2 strength points and will suffering a 10% - 40% loss in unit morale loss. The flu will then spread in March to ports in Western France, and then in April to ports on both sides of English Channel up to Boulogne and London.
Last edited by mdsmall on Sun May 22, 2022 2:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Icarus Mod for 1914 Campaign: Play-test AAR
Entente Turn 18: September 11, 1915
After a little over one year into the war, this might be good time to offer my overview of where I think we are in this game. Overall, I think I am doing reasonably well. France - which was seriously on the back foot after the German assault in 1914 - has recovered since he pivoted east and is now recovering territory. France has built, upgraded and deployed all its artillery, and by last turn it had maxed out its research. I have not chosen to commit French troops to any other theatre; at the same time, only France is defending itself, there are no British units at present in France (though I think I will send British heavy artillery there once I am able to build them).
Russia is doing relatively well too: its super-power is its economy which is already about 80% the size of Germany's and will continue to grow with further investments in Industrial Tech. Russia has weathered the fall of Warsaw and is still at 84% National Morale. The Central Powers are looking at a wide Russian front with some strength in depth and Russian economy that is capable of replacing its losses every turn with some resources left over to invest in tech or new units. At this point, there are no further NM target hexes in Russia in easy reach. (The closest to the front is the fortress of Ivangorod).
The weak sister of the Entente is the UK, which only mobilizes its army gradually over 1914-15, and has to face higher overhead costs to transports its ground units to any theatre. It also is offered about 90% of the Entente Decision Events in the first year of the war and if they want to take advantage of these opportunities, they have little resources left over to keep up their investments in tech. Finally, the UK is famously dependent on its sea lanes to the rest of the world to keep up its industrial output. Old Crow has launched the most effective German naval assault against the UK ports and convoy lines that I have seen in any game. It is not clear to me if he can sustain it, as the British and French gradually receive more naval reinforcements and improve in both ASW and aviation tech. But he does not need naval superiority in order carry out asymmetric naval warfare against the UK. He certainly he all but eliminated any pressure on Germany's national morale from UK blockades, as I have had to shift almost all my ships to protecting the NM hexes west of the UK's key ports.
Despite being under pressure from the German navy, the UK has taken on the role of protecting Serbia and trying to keep a land bridge and rail line from being established through Serbia to Bulgaria to the Ottoman Empire. Serbia survived better in the first year of this war than I have seen in any other game, but that was because Old Crow made the strategic choice to wait until he could deploy artillery and bring Bulgaria into the war before seriously attacking it. Thankfully, I won my gamble to bring Greece onto the Entente side early (through the new Salonika intervention DE in this mod), otherwise Serbia's position would have been even more perilous. But there is a very real possibility of total defeat in this theatre if he increases the amount of artillery he commits here, which would necessitate a British withdrawal.
Until a couple of turns ago, I was hoping that Serbia would hold on to most of its territory into 1916, which would start to trigger increases in Romania's mobilization until it enters the war. That clearly is not going to happen. I could expend a lot of resources in diplomacy to try to bring swing Romania from 44% for the Entente to 90%. But in my view that would increase my strategic liability rather than reducing it. Romania has very long borders with Austria-Hungary and Turkey which are mostly mountainous terrain. Those borders are easy to defend for the Central Powers, while Romania's capital in Bucharest can be threatened by a quick assault from the north or south. Unless the Serbia can stop the Austro-Hungarian advance and maintain a border and transport corridor to Romania, I do not see a net advantage to me from trying to bring Romania into the game.
The Ottomans are in an unusual position so far in this game: they are surviving better than expected. I made the strategic decision not to threaten them in Palestine, and they will have the opportunity to threaten the UK position in Egypt as soon as they get artillery into that theatre. Old Crow seems prepared to let the Russians win the Caucasus, knowing how hard that theatre is for the Ottomans to reinforce. At the same time, he has parried my minor efforts in Mesopotamia, from the British in the south and one Russian cavalry corps in the north. His main land forces are defending the Bulgarian frontier against the British. This is good terrain for the Ottomans - a mountainous border, close to their major cities with safe land and rail connection to the front and combined with a German minor, Bulgaria. The next game changer, I hope, for me to undermine the Ottomans will be the Arab Revolt, which has been greatly strengthened in this mod and which could start as soon as this month.
I have two long term ace cards: Italy and the USA. I made the strategic choice (which is possible in this mod) to switch the French convoy from Serbia to Italy when the Italians entered the war. Austria-Hungary is not threatening Italy, so there has been no combat at all on its northern Alpine border. Italy starts with almost no tech and a weak army, but every turn, it has been able to invest 100% of its resources in upgrading both. Unless he chooses to attack it (which I think is unlikely until he has crushed Serbia), the Italians should be able to spend the next 20 turns following the same investment strategy, which should position them by the beginning of 1917 to start attacking on their own. Meanwhile, their arrival of their navy means the British can substantially draw down its naval forces in the Med to reinforce its own sea lanes in the Atlantic.
The wildest card in the Entente deck is the USA. The USA is far ahead of where it would normally be in terms of mobilization - now at 46% and earning about 100 MPPs per turn. This is entirely due to German unrestricted naval warfare against neutral shipping into the UK and the closure of the convoy from the USA to the UK. Consequently, the USA has been able to start seriously investing in tech, in the anticipation of joining the fight sometime in 1917. I suspect Old Crow will keep up his unrestricted naval attacks against the UK until the USA reaches about 60% mobilization. After that, he will stop, and the USA will only start to shift 1-2% a turn towards the Entente after June 1917. If he pursues this strategy, if I want to bring the USA into the game, I will need to invest in diplomacy - which is very expensive with a major (150 MPPs per chit). The Zimmerman telegram will be the ultimate wildcard in this scenario, if Germany chooses to send it, and depending on how Britain, the USA and Mexico respond to it (see my mod notes on this from last turn.
As I see it, the big issue for my opponent is to decide how hard to keep pushing on the Entente's two weakest links - Serbia and the UK - versus challenging its two largest land-powers, France and Russia. Curiously, the Ottoman Empire - which is the ultimate marginal power in this game - might provide the theatre over the next year where the balance of power tilts in favour of one side or the other.
This turned out to be a relatively quiet turn, as Old Crow launched no new attacks on land or sea against me. I discovered that Germany has reached Infantry Weapons 1 (when a French unit advanced), so I assume he is pulling back corps to upgrade them. Curiously, Austria-Hungary has achieved Trench Warfare 3 before Germany. His subs are mercifully gone for now from the western approaches to Great Britain, so my ports of Glasgow and Liverpool - both hammered down to level 1 by his unrestricted naval warfare can start to rebuild.
In France, I launched another one of my standard attacks to destroy one German corps and roll back his line in one hex. This time, I succeeded in wiping out the German corps with only two French units, after it was bombarded by regular and heavy artillery. Foch has achieved one point of experience, which helps a good deal. With three artillery units already deployed at Artillery Weapons 1, lack of shells is not an issue on this front. One more attack next turn will mean I will have captured a straight line of hexes to the English Channel. After that, attacks will become bloodier as I will not be able to attack around a 3-sided corner and will have to piece his line.
In Serbia/Bulgaria, I was surprised that Old Crow had moved a detachment to face off against the British line in front of Sofia. Using both artillery units that I now have in the Balkans, I destroyed the detachment and occupied the hex. If he still has his Bulgarian artillery in place, I expect it will counter-attack, or perhaps will destroy the Serbian corps in front of Nish. I completed the pull-back of Serbia to defend the river line south-west of Nish. My units are now densely packed in this two-front war - a jumble of Serbian, Montenegrin, Albanian, British and Greek units with one Italian recon bomber.
Naval operations in the med were quiet: I used the opportunity to land two corps from transports - one British corps in Salonika and the French marines in Cyprus. Late in the turn, my Russian sub bumped into the one surviving Austro-Hungarian hiding in the open in the Black Sea, no doubt hoping to ambush by dreadnoughts before they shelled the new Ottoman mine. I am glad that I checked!
The only movement in Egypt this turn was that I brought up the Royal Marine Division as reinforcements behind the line in Sinai. If he does not use his Bulgarian artillery to attack around Sofia next turn, my guess will be that he has moved it to Palestine, in order to kick-start an attack on Egypt. I did not move any units in Mesopotamia.
In the Caucasus, I reinforced most of the Russian units after the attack on Erzurum last turn, and I moved the artillery unit there to the railhead in Kars. I am not 100% sure I will remove this unit next turn, but if not, I will move it overland to attack along the coast towards Trabzon, which is shorter and has better supply than attacking from Erzurum.
In Galicia, I took a calculated risk to attack a recently entrenched Austro-Hungarian corps besides Przemsyl, in order to protect my position in that fortress. Although I did not have the shells to reduce the defender's entrenchment to zero, I was still able to destroy the corps with three attacks and I occupied the hex, thus improving my defensive position around in Przemsyl.
The rest of the Polish/East Prussian front was quiet this turn. My guess is that he is positioning replacement corps for upgrading behind the line to Weapons 1. He may also be shifting his artillery to another front, most likely France, having concluded that there few material rewards to continuing to confront Russia.
There were no DEs this turn. After the breakthrough with Industrial Tech last turn, the UK started with 330 MPPs this turn, which is a big improvement over recent turns when the USA and Canadian convoys have not been able to arrive. The UK invested one chit in Industrial Tech (for a total of 3) and spent the rest of its resources repairing and upgrading the many destroyers and light cruisers damaged in the previous turns' fighting. France invested 200 MPPs in one chit start the process of reaching Gas/Shell tech 2 in about twenty turns. Italy invested her first chit in Artillery Weapons. Serbian leadership conserved all its revenue to pay for future reinforcements. I spent some time reflecting on whether I wanted the U.S.A to contribute any infantry at all to the fight, if/when they enter the war, and in the end concluded that to leave that option open to me, I needed to invest now in Infantry Weapons tech, so I bought one chit. Russia sacked and replaced its worst general (Ruszki rated 3, for Alexeyev rated 5) and then spent big (315 MPPs) to buy its second and last heavy artillery unit, already upgraded to Artillery Weapons 1. They also reinforced most of their mountain corps that had taken casualties in the Caucasus. I spent some time deciding where to place the first Russian heavy artillery unit that arrived this turn. In the end, I placed it on the fortress of Ivangorod, as from there, it could fire in three directions. It will be interesting to see how I am able to use it.
At the end of the turn, I was delighted to see that my little diplomacy investment paid off, as the French Foreign Minister was able to swing Norway 6% - moving it over to being 3% aligned with the Entente. That will immediately end the Norwegian convoy to Germany, worth 18 MPPs a turn (at least until he invests in diplomacy and gets it to swing back). It also costs Germany 750 NM points - a nice bonus. In tech, Italy reached Trench Warfare 2 and Serbia reached the much-needed level of Trench Warfare 3. France also reached ASW level 1, which I can put to immediate use.
After a little over one year into the war, this might be good time to offer my overview of where I think we are in this game. Overall, I think I am doing reasonably well. France - which was seriously on the back foot after the German assault in 1914 - has recovered since he pivoted east and is now recovering territory. France has built, upgraded and deployed all its artillery, and by last turn it had maxed out its research. I have not chosen to commit French troops to any other theatre; at the same time, only France is defending itself, there are no British units at present in France (though I think I will send British heavy artillery there once I am able to build them).
Russia is doing relatively well too: its super-power is its economy which is already about 80% the size of Germany's and will continue to grow with further investments in Industrial Tech. Russia has weathered the fall of Warsaw and is still at 84% National Morale. The Central Powers are looking at a wide Russian front with some strength in depth and Russian economy that is capable of replacing its losses every turn with some resources left over to invest in tech or new units. At this point, there are no further NM target hexes in Russia in easy reach. (The closest to the front is the fortress of Ivangorod).
The weak sister of the Entente is the UK, which only mobilizes its army gradually over 1914-15, and has to face higher overhead costs to transports its ground units to any theatre. It also is offered about 90% of the Entente Decision Events in the first year of the war and if they want to take advantage of these opportunities, they have little resources left over to keep up their investments in tech. Finally, the UK is famously dependent on its sea lanes to the rest of the world to keep up its industrial output. Old Crow has launched the most effective German naval assault against the UK ports and convoy lines that I have seen in any game. It is not clear to me if he can sustain it, as the British and French gradually receive more naval reinforcements and improve in both ASW and aviation tech. But he does not need naval superiority in order carry out asymmetric naval warfare against the UK. He certainly he all but eliminated any pressure on Germany's national morale from UK blockades, as I have had to shift almost all my ships to protecting the NM hexes west of the UK's key ports.
Despite being under pressure from the German navy, the UK has taken on the role of protecting Serbia and trying to keep a land bridge and rail line from being established through Serbia to Bulgaria to the Ottoman Empire. Serbia survived better in the first year of this war than I have seen in any other game, but that was because Old Crow made the strategic choice to wait until he could deploy artillery and bring Bulgaria into the war before seriously attacking it. Thankfully, I won my gamble to bring Greece onto the Entente side early (through the new Salonika intervention DE in this mod), otherwise Serbia's position would have been even more perilous. But there is a very real possibility of total defeat in this theatre if he increases the amount of artillery he commits here, which would necessitate a British withdrawal.
Until a couple of turns ago, I was hoping that Serbia would hold on to most of its territory into 1916, which would start to trigger increases in Romania's mobilization until it enters the war. That clearly is not going to happen. I could expend a lot of resources in diplomacy to try to bring swing Romania from 44% for the Entente to 90%. But in my view that would increase my strategic liability rather than reducing it. Romania has very long borders with Austria-Hungary and Turkey which are mostly mountainous terrain. Those borders are easy to defend for the Central Powers, while Romania's capital in Bucharest can be threatened by a quick assault from the north or south. Unless the Serbia can stop the Austro-Hungarian advance and maintain a border and transport corridor to Romania, I do not see a net advantage to me from trying to bring Romania into the game.
The Ottomans are in an unusual position so far in this game: they are surviving better than expected. I made the strategic decision not to threaten them in Palestine, and they will have the opportunity to threaten the UK position in Egypt as soon as they get artillery into that theatre. Old Crow seems prepared to let the Russians win the Caucasus, knowing how hard that theatre is for the Ottomans to reinforce. At the same time, he has parried my minor efforts in Mesopotamia, from the British in the south and one Russian cavalry corps in the north. His main land forces are defending the Bulgarian frontier against the British. This is good terrain for the Ottomans - a mountainous border, close to their major cities with safe land and rail connection to the front and combined with a German minor, Bulgaria. The next game changer, I hope, for me to undermine the Ottomans will be the Arab Revolt, which has been greatly strengthened in this mod and which could start as soon as this month.
I have two long term ace cards: Italy and the USA. I made the strategic choice (which is possible in this mod) to switch the French convoy from Serbia to Italy when the Italians entered the war. Austria-Hungary is not threatening Italy, so there has been no combat at all on its northern Alpine border. Italy starts with almost no tech and a weak army, but every turn, it has been able to invest 100% of its resources in upgrading both. Unless he chooses to attack it (which I think is unlikely until he has crushed Serbia), the Italians should be able to spend the next 20 turns following the same investment strategy, which should position them by the beginning of 1917 to start attacking on their own. Meanwhile, their arrival of their navy means the British can substantially draw down its naval forces in the Med to reinforce its own sea lanes in the Atlantic.
The wildest card in the Entente deck is the USA. The USA is far ahead of where it would normally be in terms of mobilization - now at 46% and earning about 100 MPPs per turn. This is entirely due to German unrestricted naval warfare against neutral shipping into the UK and the closure of the convoy from the USA to the UK. Consequently, the USA has been able to start seriously investing in tech, in the anticipation of joining the fight sometime in 1917. I suspect Old Crow will keep up his unrestricted naval attacks against the UK until the USA reaches about 60% mobilization. After that, he will stop, and the USA will only start to shift 1-2% a turn towards the Entente after June 1917. If he pursues this strategy, if I want to bring the USA into the game, I will need to invest in diplomacy - which is very expensive with a major (150 MPPs per chit). The Zimmerman telegram will be the ultimate wildcard in this scenario, if Germany chooses to send it, and depending on how Britain, the USA and Mexico respond to it (see my mod notes on this from last turn.
As I see it, the big issue for my opponent is to decide how hard to keep pushing on the Entente's two weakest links - Serbia and the UK - versus challenging its two largest land-powers, France and Russia. Curiously, the Ottoman Empire - which is the ultimate marginal power in this game - might provide the theatre over the next year where the balance of power tilts in favour of one side or the other.
This turned out to be a relatively quiet turn, as Old Crow launched no new attacks on land or sea against me. I discovered that Germany has reached Infantry Weapons 1 (when a French unit advanced), so I assume he is pulling back corps to upgrade them. Curiously, Austria-Hungary has achieved Trench Warfare 3 before Germany. His subs are mercifully gone for now from the western approaches to Great Britain, so my ports of Glasgow and Liverpool - both hammered down to level 1 by his unrestricted naval warfare can start to rebuild.
In France, I launched another one of my standard attacks to destroy one German corps and roll back his line in one hex. This time, I succeeded in wiping out the German corps with only two French units, after it was bombarded by regular and heavy artillery. Foch has achieved one point of experience, which helps a good deal. With three artillery units already deployed at Artillery Weapons 1, lack of shells is not an issue on this front. One more attack next turn will mean I will have captured a straight line of hexes to the English Channel. After that, attacks will become bloodier as I will not be able to attack around a 3-sided corner and will have to piece his line.
In Serbia/Bulgaria, I was surprised that Old Crow had moved a detachment to face off against the British line in front of Sofia. Using both artillery units that I now have in the Balkans, I destroyed the detachment and occupied the hex. If he still has his Bulgarian artillery in place, I expect it will counter-attack, or perhaps will destroy the Serbian corps in front of Nish. I completed the pull-back of Serbia to defend the river line south-west of Nish. My units are now densely packed in this two-front war - a jumble of Serbian, Montenegrin, Albanian, British and Greek units with one Italian recon bomber.
Naval operations in the med were quiet: I used the opportunity to land two corps from transports - one British corps in Salonika and the French marines in Cyprus. Late in the turn, my Russian sub bumped into the one surviving Austro-Hungarian hiding in the open in the Black Sea, no doubt hoping to ambush by dreadnoughts before they shelled the new Ottoman mine. I am glad that I checked!
The only movement in Egypt this turn was that I brought up the Royal Marine Division as reinforcements behind the line in Sinai. If he does not use his Bulgarian artillery to attack around Sofia next turn, my guess will be that he has moved it to Palestine, in order to kick-start an attack on Egypt. I did not move any units in Mesopotamia.
In the Caucasus, I reinforced most of the Russian units after the attack on Erzurum last turn, and I moved the artillery unit there to the railhead in Kars. I am not 100% sure I will remove this unit next turn, but if not, I will move it overland to attack along the coast towards Trabzon, which is shorter and has better supply than attacking from Erzurum.
In Galicia, I took a calculated risk to attack a recently entrenched Austro-Hungarian corps besides Przemsyl, in order to protect my position in that fortress. Although I did not have the shells to reduce the defender's entrenchment to zero, I was still able to destroy the corps with three attacks and I occupied the hex, thus improving my defensive position around in Przemsyl.
The rest of the Polish/East Prussian front was quiet this turn. My guess is that he is positioning replacement corps for upgrading behind the line to Weapons 1. He may also be shifting his artillery to another front, most likely France, having concluded that there few material rewards to continuing to confront Russia.
There were no DEs this turn. After the breakthrough with Industrial Tech last turn, the UK started with 330 MPPs this turn, which is a big improvement over recent turns when the USA and Canadian convoys have not been able to arrive. The UK invested one chit in Industrial Tech (for a total of 3) and spent the rest of its resources repairing and upgrading the many destroyers and light cruisers damaged in the previous turns' fighting. France invested 200 MPPs in one chit start the process of reaching Gas/Shell tech 2 in about twenty turns. Italy invested her first chit in Artillery Weapons. Serbian leadership conserved all its revenue to pay for future reinforcements. I spent some time reflecting on whether I wanted the U.S.A to contribute any infantry at all to the fight, if/when they enter the war, and in the end concluded that to leave that option open to me, I needed to invest now in Infantry Weapons tech, so I bought one chit. Russia sacked and replaced its worst general (Ruszki rated 3, for Alexeyev rated 5) and then spent big (315 MPPs) to buy its second and last heavy artillery unit, already upgraded to Artillery Weapons 1. They also reinforced most of their mountain corps that had taken casualties in the Caucasus. I spent some time deciding where to place the first Russian heavy artillery unit that arrived this turn. In the end, I placed it on the fortress of Ivangorod, as from there, it could fire in three directions. It will be interesting to see how I am able to use it.
At the end of the turn, I was delighted to see that my little diplomacy investment paid off, as the French Foreign Minister was able to swing Norway 6% - moving it over to being 3% aligned with the Entente. That will immediately end the Norwegian convoy to Germany, worth 18 MPPs a turn (at least until he invests in diplomacy and gets it to swing back). It also costs Germany 750 NM points - a nice bonus. In tech, Italy reached Trench Warfare 2 and Serbia reached the much-needed level of Trench Warfare 3. France also reached ASW level 1, which I can put to immediate use.