The Annals of the Tsar - A Napoleonic Europe AAR

[ernieschwitz]

So, I thought I'd showcase some of the things you can do in the Napoleonic Europe scenario (Release version 101), that you can find in the scenario bank. To that end, I decided to play Russia. So I am putting myself in the Seat of the Tsar, and these are his Annals.

First things first. You need to setup the game to your liking. These are the choices I made:

At start options.jpg (136.54 KiB) Viewed 48 times

As can be seen I chose most of them. Short explanation of them:

3-Round Breather a 3 round enforced peace that will allow for setup of forces. No-one can declare war until it is over, and wars that have been selected are not begun until then.

2nd Kalmar Union is basically merging Sweden and Denmark into one Nation, the Kalmar Union, which is not historical, but more formidable than the two nations standing by themselves. They will play as the Swedes, while the Danish get absorbed into them, and no longer has a turn.

Ottoman Empire merges Turkey, Egypt and the Barbary Pirates into one Nation, just like the Kalmar Union did. This makes the Turks have a very large Empire, stretching from Turkey, down south to the map's edge, and to the west ending in the most western point of Africa on the map!

Anglo-French War - its seems just a bit strange not to pit these to against each other. If you don't they'll each benefit from trade with each other, now they won't.

Colonial Trade gives the Britain, Spain and Portugal income from their overseas colonies, when the tradeships would normally arrive. This is done by giving them PPs. There are of course ways to intercept these. They require enemy frigates to be in certain areas, where the merchant ships would ordinarily approach these countries. In games where the Barbary Pirates are in these can intercept too, but they do not have to be at war with the ships they raid.

Nation Profiles give each Nation a nation morale, a movement adjustment for land units, and some other stuff, that I won't come into right here. In any case, they mean that things are more historical.

AI War (Vic) is the setting that allows countries to declare war, using Vic's standard AI algorithm for it. So basically the one we are all used to. I made my own, but that is another story. Both can be activated together. If none are chosen, no wars will be declared by the AI.

Rnd DOW Settings means that each nation is assigned a random aggressiveness as to how much they are willing to risk when declaring war on another player. Makes that things never seem the same every time.

Those are the ones I chose. The ones I didn't choose were Greater Prussia which makes Prussia and the German states into one nation, called Greater Prussia. Russo-Turk war sets Russia and Turkey/Ottoman Empire at war.

Of course this introduction to settings would not be complete without showing you which nations are played as AI, and at what level. This is also an excellent way for me to show you how many Nations there are (14!).

Opponent settings.jpg (14.51 KiB) Viewed 48 times

That should round out the start settings. Now on to the game.

[ernieschwitz]

The first things I am greeted by is a report that I am only producing Supplies and RPs (Research Points). My University near Moscow is making those. They can be set to produce PPs (Political Points) too, but since RPs are the only way to research, it seems natural for me to let them make those. PPs can be used for a variety of things, that are not Research.

The next thing I get is a notification that The 3 round breather has been chosen, and finally I get a report that I've been granted 75 Cossacks. They arrive in Moscow, but only if I own Taganrog. I already have some, but they are nice to have more of. They have an advantage no other unit in the game has. They do not require supplies.

This is how Russia looks when I begin the turn:

Russia Small.jpg (263.31 KiB) Viewed 46 times

I made the map in the ultra zoom in mode, that you can select when you play, to make as Screenshots. I edited it to omit as much of the other countries as possible, so this is how it really looks in my Nation. As you can probably see, it is a bit muddy here and there, which will affect supply lines and movement in those areas.

The map is useful to get an idea of how large the nation really is. That is an awful lot of land to cover when at war, so I better limit where my opponents get. The nations bordering me is (from North to South): Kalmar Union, Prussia, Austria and the Ottoman Empire. My goal I've decided is to fight the Kalmar Union, while I also fight the Ottomans, and pray that the other two don't attack me.

Here is the situation at the Kalmar Union front (Finland).

Start Nordic.jpg (110.31 KiB) Viewed 46 times

As can be seen by that mighty stack in St. Petersburg, that is where my main forces are in this area.

[ernieschwitz]

St. Petersburg, is a nice city. It isn't my "Capitol", that is Moscow. This is also where the University is located. In the game, universities are always located next to the Capitol. Each nation gets One, and only one. They can be conquered though.

Here is the view in Moscow:

Start Moscow.jpg (133.49 KiB) Viewed 44 times

Not as dense a unit composition, and those icons you see are Militia. Luckily there is no need to defend this vital place, as it is very far in land.

Then we have the Front towards Prussia. I guess this is Belorus and the now Russian Baltic states. Here you can see units placed along the Militia. These are Infantry Divisions. In Riga you also see a War Fleet and a Troop transport fleet. Useful if I want to invade Sweden or Denmark I think.

Start Towards Prussia.jpg (180.49 KiB) Viewed 44 times

To the South, from here, are a few Cossacks, defending the area up against Austria. There is not much need for this defense, as the Austrians have to pass through Belorus, or Ukraine, to get something of any value. They are just guarding the road between the two. Ukraine, that is where we are going next.

Start Ukraine Area.jpg (111.34 KiB) Viewed 44 times

Here there are more units than in the Belorus, but they are more spread out. To the south lies the Ottoman Empire, bordering approximately where Romania would begin in reality. In the Crimea you see a new ship icon, that has not been presented in the above. This is a unit of Frigates. I don't expect to compete with the Ottoman navy however, so let's hope it survives a while.

Start Caucasus.jpg (85.22 KiB) Viewed 44 times

Finally there is the Area facing the Caucasus. It is a fairly large and empty area, with few troops .. Luckily the same is true for the Ottomans, that also lie to the south of here.

[ernieschwitz]

"April 6th, 1800.

- I have taken over the nation, the glorious Russian Empire, alas, not at all so glorious when looking at the books. The economy is not great, and my predecessor have borrowed from every other European nation we could think of. We stand alone if anything should happen, and might even go default. Only one option is possible, war. We must expand, and gain the wealths of others so we can pay back what we owe to the others.

- The state of our Army is not very encouraging. Too many fronts, too much space, to defend, with too few troops. I must get new troops fast, and then choose a likely place where the Glory of Russia can be restored. I have decided to reorganize, and reassign some of the nobles ("Generals") that likely are incompetent, replacing them with more talented officers. Likely the results of this will show in what promises to be a grand adventure. Maybe the World will once again see an Alexander the Great, or maybe the Grand.

- Alexander, Tsar."

Every game starts out with some planning. In this case I have begun by looking over my forces Generals. These are randomly generated at the beginning of the game, and I have no influence on which are who or how good. The names are contemporary. Some officers are real duds. I have 3 with Staff 8 or less, and only one with Staff 14. I like to measure how good they are on that parameter. Reality is more complex, but suffice to say this is fun for me.

Best and Worse.jpg (33.44 KiB) Viewed 22 times

As can be seen Isaak Chichagov has ok stats, but his staff is only 7! Yikes. He is the worst I have, the best I have is probably the one I am comparing him with Terenty Ushakov. His stats are worse, less combat (by a very thin margin) and less morale, but he can impart these stats to double as many troops!

Officer Pool.jpg (41.08 KiB) Viewed 22 times

I remove the officers in the HQs I know I won't do any fighting with. That is Moscow HQ, and Ukraine HQ. They will serve only as hubs for troops arriving from production, and such. This gives me 5 officers to start comparing with the ones I have assigned by the game. I find two that I decide to replace. The picture above shows the Officers/Generals I have available before I place any. (I get three to begin with as well, in the officer pool).

[ernieschwitz]

As I said before planning is needed. I like to standardize things a bit, while adding flavour. So my HQs are going to be assigned a Name according to size, and a appended to that the Officers name. This allows me to feel some personality and familiarity with the HQs. I could make them called 1.Russian Army etc.. but what would be the fun in that. So here is the system I am going by:

Planned Names and Sizes.jpg (51.5 KiB) Viewed 22 times

Now that is settled, I am going to redo the Troop composition of the Units. Especially I don't like using Cavalry in my Infantry divisions. Cavalry, in my mind, can be better used to hunt down stray formations and encircle. In a sense they are the Armored Cars, of this age. Artillery are the mortars of modern age, in that they cannot shoot into the next hex, and Infantry, well, you know the drill, stand in line, look pretty and prevent anyone from attacking our artillery.

I start out with the following composition of a Corps.

Start Korps.jpg (117.29 KiB) Viewed 22 times

An HQ with 15 Staff, an officer of kind, and 4 units that look like these above. 20 Infantry, 3 Cavalry and 3 Artillery.

This I remold to this kind of organization:

Small Korps.jpg (103.26 KiB) Viewed 22 times

I think this has the advantage of being an organization where everything moves at its maximum speed, and actually contains more formations. I have merged two of the Cossack units that I began with near Ukraine to do this in this case. Some of these 12 staff formations (Small Corps/Malyy Korpus) will perhaps have two Cavalry units, instead of 1 Cossack and 1 Cavalry.

Important note: Only formations bigger than 10 Power Points can actually attack and move into enemy territory. This is because it would otherwise be simply too easy to disrupt production lines... Something that was found out in playtesting with others than myself. (A Cavalry unit is 20 power points this way, when I have 10 of them).