9-player Diplomacy - Balkan AAR

[tweber]

Just finished my first turn. I would say the Balkans has the third worse starting position after Germany and France. After that, I would say that Italy and Russia start in tough positions. Spain has probably the best position on the board.

Here is situation at the start of my turn. I share a border with Italy, Germany, Russia, and Turkey. Fortunately, my territory is not too spread out so I should be able to send troops to threatened fronts. I also have decent terrain for defense.

[tweber]

All regimes start with the same preset production. Due to my tough terrain, I will not need to make a ton of tanks. I shift production to build more machine guns and bazookas. They are good in defense and take less supply that rifle. Here is my initial production. I set up an additional HQ to ensure my units have a decent command radius.

[tweber]

Turn 2.

On the dipomatic front, I have negotiated peace with many powers. The Balkans sits squarely aside the natural path for Turkish expansion. Since I move first and have a greater initial concentration of forces than Turkey, I am making a quick lunge to the south in hopes to secure my flank before Turkey can bring all his forces to bear.

Progress was better than expected. My fleet had embarked 2 corps from Tirane the previous turn and was lurking off the coast of Greece. I approached Gallipolli. My initial plan was to land a corp to the SE of Gallipoli and assault from the north. I wanted to capture the southern entrance of the Straits since I was not sure where the Turkish fleet was. But, it starts in Instanbul and I was hoping to keep it out of the Aegean. I was lucky and saw that Gallipoli was not garrisoned so I land a corps there.

My fleet proceed into the straits and as I hoped now to land a corps SE of Instanbul to cut off that city. With Istanbul and Gallipoli, I can make a decent defensive line. As I passed through the straits, I noticed the north shore was loaded with Turks. The Turkish army was making a major move into Europe. Upon reaching Istanbul, I found it undefended. Even better, most of the Turkish Airforce and Navy were in the port. I landed my second corps unopposed and wipe out these units.

The main portion of the Balkan army then moved south to link up with my troops in Istanbul. A Turkish corp was spotted South of Varnia. I was able to surround and eliminate. There was an infantry unit guarding the road to Instabul which I was able to push aside. I now have communications established and control of the Straits. I also have 3 corps including roughly 8 tanks isolated north of the straits. I am not sure I can hold the city this round, but I am in a decent spot.

[seille]

I hope the Sultan won´t get a breakdown [:D]

[tweber]

Turn 3

As anticipated, the Turks counterattacked and recaptured Istanbul. Below is the picture at the start of the round. The arrows indicate my plans. In Greece, I will target the Gulf of Corinth to open up the other road to Athens. The main battle will occur in the Straits. I want to

- Attack the Turkish naval unit guarding the straits. My fleet is now bigger and eliminating will give me control of the Aegean.
- Soften Istanbul with bombers and artillery and then assault with infantry corps.
- Attack previously isolated units SW of Istanbul from 3 sides and hope to get a surrender. There are lots of tanks so it is an attractive target.

It is a nice plan...

[tweber]

Unfortunately, I got unlucky in the naval battle. I lost both my battleships and had to retreat my fleet back into the straits.

Rest of the combat went well. The picture below shows the map at the end of the turn. I was able to eliminate the units guarding the straits of Corinth and now threaten Athens. I was also able to re-take Istanbul and clean up the North shore of the Straits. The Turks have lots of artillery in the area so they may try to re-capture. They may also use their engineer to blow the bridge and focus on clearing out my bridgehead across from Gallipoli.

The failure to gain naval superiority will slow down the campaign.

[JAMiAM]

Hi Tom,

I'm following all these Diplomacy AAR's with interest. I've been running a few solo games of it, as various sides, as well. If you don't mind, I'd like to make a couple of suggestions for a future version of this scenario. Namely, allow the shipwharf hexes to also produce PP, and Supplies. Also, is it possible to augment the defensive characteristics of the hexes? Such important hexes should receive the same defensive benefits as cities. Especially since for the most part, they all are.

[tweber]

Hi JAMiAM,
 
Feel free to alter the scenario to fit your tastes.  To do the first:
 
- Go to editor - settings - and disconnect the masterfile
- Go to editor - loctypes - shipwarfs - itemgroups and set Non-combat itemgroup to true
 
As for the second part, you cannot alter the characteristics of land types with altering the actual hex.  E.g., all plains, light woods will fight the same.  If you want to make certain choke points more defensible, best way is to add either a town or a fortification.  Alternatively, you could make additional land types for these special areas.
 

[JAMiAM]

Thanks for the tips!

[tweber]

Turn 4.

More progress and setbacks.

In the South, the campaign continues to go well. I ended the Greek campaign with the capture of Athens. Athens fell to a three pronged assault. Along the straits, Turkey recaptured Gallipoli. The Turkish Army also blew the bridge in front of Istanbul. I swung my army around from Istanbul and fought a series of battles in and then beyond Gallipoli. Air superiority helped soften the defenders and I was able to inflict high casualties. I got 5 more tanks, 8 trucks, 5 flak and about 110 infantry of various types losing 2 tanks and about 40 infantry. I feel that I have enough strength across the straits that the Turks will not be able to throw me back next turn. Most of my force is mobile and I am in a good position to envelop the Turkish HQ. (See picture below from the end of my turn)

Unfortunately, the Russians are getting aggressive and I am faced with a two front war. I hoped to delay this front until after the Turkish campaign is completed. In the far North, I spotted 2 Russian corps along the Dneister. I also spotted a large sub fleet off Varna. I am shifting production to Hungary and plan to fill the Carpathian passes with rifle, mgs, and bazookas. I also need to shift my naval construction to DDs to neutralize the sub threat. In Romania, I have move up some experienced corps from the Turkish campaign and am now moving along the Black Sea. I was able to capture Odessa. Odessa is a nice base of operations since I can draw supply from Istanbul and cut off any advance into Romania. However, the threat to the north is putting pressure on me to end the Turkish campaign quickly.

[tweber]

Turn 5 - Northern Front

Below is a picture of the situation at the end of my turn. I had pre-positioned a loaded transport in the Eastern Black Sea the previous turn. I was able to make an unopposed landing at Kerch and the another unopposed landing in Rostov. My armored corps from Odessa moved East across the Dneiper and now has cut the road connecting Sevastopol to the rest of Russia. I control all ports in the Black Sea (besides Sevastopol which in now effectively beseiged). My unit in Rostov is mechanized and I hope to threaten either Kharkov or Stalingrad next turn.

So far, I have made 4 unopposed landings in 5 turns and this has accounted for almost all my success in this game. In this scenario, naval units have 4x normal speed and give an attacker a high degree of flexibility. If you can afford it, it is a good practice to always end your turn with a your cargo ships loaded with a few small units. As a defender, you should always put 10-20 rifle in a port. If is a lot easier to do this than to try to contain the damage from a successful invasion.

[tweber]

Turn 5 - Southern Front

There was little fighting this turn as Turkey has made a full retreat into the interior of the country. My army pursued, fought 2 skirmishes with pickets and is half way to Ankara. Ankara looks well defended so this campaign could take some time. I have not been able to repair the bridge the Turks cut by Istanbul and has delayed my advance by a turn. I had sent my engineer unit up north to blow bridges along the Pruth and the Dneister. As the Russian threat has yet to materialize, I am now moving my engineers south to build the bridge across the strait. I want to have two supply lines into to avoid any chance of getting my supply cut by invasion.

[Fintilgin]

This is really cool. I figured that assaulted by the Turks and Russians you'd be going down quickly.

I hope you're watching for a stab from Italy or Germany, who'll probably be noticing you doing so well.

[Delyn Locksmiths]

Tom, can i build Naval units anywhere except the shipwarf? it offers me the opportunity, but I don't want to waste a turn of production finding out it's not allwoed.

[tweber]

Yes.  However, the ship warf can only build naval units so you are building quite a lot of seapower if you use city production.  If you want to try something with this scenario, I would run a few rounds against the AI just to be sure.

[tweber]

Balkan turn 6.

I had to switch to my laptop as I am on a business trip this week so a cheat message will pop up.

Below is the picture at the end of my turn.

In the north, I now have a 20+ hex front with the Russians. Sevastopol is vulnerable as the infantry troops in the city look very poorly supplied. I am in light contact from the Pruth to the Don bend.

In the south, I was able to push throught the Turkish defenses and surround Ankara on 3 sides. I landed a unit in the north to cut the northern road. Next turn, I have a mobile unit in position to cut the Southern road. The Turks have 20+ artillery and flak guns in the city. I may not hold the 3 hexes surrounding the city, but I hope to isolate and wipe out these units to avoid a running battle to the Mid East.

[tweber]

Turn 7 - Northern front.

Advances are made against the Russians. Here is the picture at the end of the turn. The garrison in Sevastopol was out of supply for several turns and in bad shape. It fell to a 2 hex assault. A scouting unit in the Caucausas found the round to Kharkov clear and enter the city without opposition. This should hopefully hinder the Russia operations further west. Along the Don, infantry units cross the river and begin a push toward Stalingrad.

Further West, there was heavy fighting between the Pruth and Dniester rivers. Romanian tanks and infantry we able to clear most of the territory between the rivers. Bucharest is safe for now. The front Hungary is quiet, my troops are well dug in and in good terrain.

[tweber]

Turn 7 - Turkish front

Turkish gunners operating out of Ankara took a heavy toll on my front line troops. I am able to bring up reserves and push to the gates of Ankara. A 4 hexside assault against the city is not successful, but I inflict high casaulties. I was able to eliminate about a dozen artillery and flak last round. To isolate the city, I dropped some paras along the southern road. This may or may not cut supply and reinforcements.

Further south, I have 2 corps ready to permanently cut the road to the south. The Turks have a decent force in and around Ankara, I want to be in position to cut off their escape so I do not face a running battle to the Syrian border.

At sea, I start occupy the Turkish islands in the Agean.

Finally, the Turks have offered terms which I politely declined given the situation at the front.

[tweber]

Turn 8, Northern front.

The Russians surprised my and ran a unit around my group in Rostov and occupied Kerch. This cut off my troops in the Rostov area, but I was able to re-establish communications this turn. It looks like the Russians are building up near Stalingrad. I was more cautious this round.

Further east, my Romanians fought a series of battles in Moldova and were able to clear the road across the Dneister. Further North, my leading elements entered the Ukraine and got as far as Vinnitsa.

By the Hungarian / Polish border, I hit the eastern flank of the Russian line. With the German advance to the North, the entire group is in serious danger of getting isolated.

[tweber]

Turn 8, Turkish front

The Turks had a good counterattack put Ankara was just too exposed. I was able to launch an assault from 5 sides and capture the city. Remnants of the Turkish army retreat into the hills to the east of the city.

At sea, my navy attacked the Turkish fleet and met with another reverse.

Overall, the Turkish campaign was successful but costly. I have lost roughly 1200 power points in the first 8 rounds and inflicted roughly 2800 power points in damage.