Zizka Rides Again!!! Nemo (J) vs 1EyedJacks(+Advisors)

[Nemo121]

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[jumper]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121
What's the plan?
Well I'm going to be Jan Zizska.

Wow, this name definitely cought my eyes! I didn´t know our controversal commander is known in US..

BTW if he would be alive and plying WITP his nick name would be probably 1EyedJohn.. [;)]


Good luck! I will be following

[Nemo121]

Ah but I'm not American. In any case Zizka should be known by everyone as he was one of the most innovative, determined and effective commanders in history and, let's be honest, he not only took advantage of changing weapons but also CREATED further innovations to make these weapons even more effective than normal. Even withstanding the tactical-technical innovations he came up with one would have to commend him for showcasing the fact that the armoured knight and his professional retainers could no longer survive and triumph against well-disciplined but non-professional peasant-derived armies. His was the final nail in the coffin of the armoured knight and those who say it was the crossbow or longbow simply don't know the history of their plate mail development well enough. As such he is an extremely important character, albeit a religious zealot.

[jumper]

Hussites wars were my hobby for several years. Zizka certainly came with new succesfull tactic and weapons, but his biggest achievement was turning peasants into highly disciplined and motivated army with extremely high morale. And this army not only survived his death but even evolved into highly experienced, professional and mobile army. Their chorus ruled the battlefields for 14 years:

Ye who are God's warriors and of his law,
Pray to God for help and have faith in Him;
That always with Him you will be victorious.

Christ is worth all your sacrifices, He will pay you back hundredfold.
If you give up your life for Him you will receive eternal life.
Happy is he who believes this truth.

The Lord commandeth you not to fear bodily harm,
And commandeth you to even put your life down for the love of your brothers.

Therefore, archers, crossbowmen, halberdiers of knightly rank,
Scythemen and macebearers from all walks of life,
Remember always the Lord benevolent.

Do not fear your enemies, nor gaze upon their number,
Keep the Lord in your hearts; for Him fight on,
And before enemies you need not flee.

Since ages past Czechs have said & had proverbs which state,
That if the leader is good, so too is the journey.

Remember all of you the password which was given out.
Obey your captains & guard one another.
Stay sharp and everyone keep formation.

You beggars and wrongdoers, remember your soul!
For greed & theft don't lose your life.
And pay no heed to the spoils of war.

And with this happily cry out - sayeth, "At thee! Have at thee!"
Savour the weapon in your hands and shout, "God is our Lord!"

[Nemo121]

Aye but as is often the want of fundamentalist rebellions the moderate fundamentalists ( oxymoron? I'll let the reader decide ) and the extreme fundamentalists fell out. And when Taborite and Utraquists clash the only winner was going to be the Papacy. As ever perfect proved to be the enemy of good enough.
 
I really wish someone would make a good wargame of the Hussite Crusades and Civil Wars as I really think I could break wagenburgen tactically and the spanile jizdy operationally but, alas, because it wouldn't sell in the US no-one has made a good model of those wars/battles... which is a pity.

[jumper]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121
I really think I could break wagenburgen tactically and the spanile jizdy operationally

Well, I think you certainly could. On the other hand I believe it wouldn´t be such a big task with knowledge of additional 600 years of warfare. [;)] But it would requests new tactic and here I see a problem with possible game simulation as what would be possible in game wouldn´t be possible IRL. Nobles and Knightly orders ability to adopt new ways of warfare was nearly non existant. It took them 15 years to realise that their former tactic is not working anymore and meanwhile hussites defeated themselves.
Wagenburgen were excellent solution against medieval armies based on huge numbers of individual knights and knightly orders focused on very simple "tactic". Zizka was a briliant tactician and army manager. Wagenburgen were like "suit made to measure" against certain enemies with their known strict "tactic". If you would come with a revised tactic to breka wagenburgen, I believe he would just tailored new suit.. [;)]

[Nemo121]

Jumper, of course. On the other hand when one is playing for fun as opposed to real life, the goal is to be challenged and not to win so Zizka getting away and coming up with new tactics and operational methods etc would be essential as it would keep things interesting for longer.
 
In real life though I would, obviously, just order every one-eyed man in the country executed. There's little room for romance in real war and certainly not when fighting Hussites who were notorious for not taking prisoners.

[Capt. Harlock]

What's the plan? Well I'm going to be Jan Zizska. Know his campaigns and you know pretty much my entire offensive/defensive plan for the war.

I don't think "never lose a major battle" is a realistic plan for the Japanese.[;)] I don't suppose you have an opening turn yet?

[jumper]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

What's the plan? Well I'm going to be Jan Zizska. Know his campaigns and you know pretty much my entire offensive/defensive plan for the war.

I don't think "never lose a major battle" is a realistic plan for the Japanese.[;)] I don't suppose you have an opening turn yet?

[:D]
Actually "never lose a major battle" was not the plan itself. It was rather a consequence of his tactic, which could be simplified into: "move offensively, fight deffensively".

[Coach Z]

I thought one of the most interesting things about Zizka was the fact that halfway through his campaigns he lost his vision! A BLIND General! I remember soem historians claimed that this made him even more effective, because it forcd him to train up his "lieutenants".
 
 

[jumper]

Yup. First eye he lost during the battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) and the second one during the siege of Rabi Fortress. A splinter of wood hit his remaining eye when crossbow bolt hit the tree he was staying under (at least the legend says so.. [;)])
 
Btw maybe it means Nemo is going to play this game with closed eyes..[:D]

[TenChiMato]

Hi,
just for those who dont know about Jan Zizka:
http://www.hotelpraguecity.com/fotky/okoli/zizka2.html

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: TenChiMato

Hi,
just for those who dont know about Jan Zizka:
http://www.hotelpraguecity.com/fotky/okoli/zizka2.html

Thanks for the link, interesting character i'd previously never heard of.
as for nemo emulating his tactics , its quite possible to see a similarity between japanese armour
and 'armoured wagons' [;)]. although the hussite carts had a bigger capacity and most likely
larger caliber guns [:D].

Have fun nemo , always enjoy your aar's [&o]

[Nemo121]

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[Capt. Harlock]

Lastly, I've had a few questions asked about advisors etc. I'm banning no-one from this thread. I'm just asking that if people want to be official, partisan, advisors to 1EyedJacks then they not read my thread. If people want to read both threads and throw in game-related comments ( but not pages and pages of strategic or economic etc advice ) then please feel free to read both.

Whew! I don't want to have to stop reading your AAR, since in times past you have provided such a wealth of insight to your play. I have to confess, though, that I have given 1EyedJack one or two pieces of advice, based on observation of the previous "Empires Ablaze" AAR. I'll have to be more neutral from now on.

One thing I think I can mention safely though: apparently the house rule is that for an outright military victory, the Allies must take Tokyo, or the Japanese must take Salt Lake City. (The base, not the CA.) The former seems a lot more likely than the latter, doesn't it?

[Nemo121]

Harlock,
 
No, I think people have gotten the wrong end of the stick with this advisor thing. Basically I just didn't want people whom 1EyedJacks puts in charge of his economy or in charge of advising on how to invade atolls etc to read my AAR since then, obviously, the guy in charge of advising on which atolls to invade and HOW to invade them would simply read too much info since I tend to go into detail on exactly what I have where.
 
If 1EyedJacks doesn't ask you on as an advisor then you're totally cool to read and post to both AARs. Simple.
 
 
Outright military victory: Aye, I amn't looking for outright military victory and that's why I set the victory conditions as they currently are. If 1EyedJacks thinks about it then he'll see that outright military victory simply isn't on the cards for Japan BUT as is my wont I amn't going to TELL him that. It is up to him to figure it out from the available evience. Basically though I don't want Japan to "win". I want Japan to take a lot of territory, establish a great military-industrial complex with heavily fortified bases throughout the Pacific and then fight the inevitable Allied counter-attacks off. I very much want to test the mod and that means carrying the game through into 44 and 45 ( plus I've never played into that time and I'm very eager to face the massive Allied forces and see what I can do against them).
 

[Nemo121]

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[Capt. Harlock]

If 1EyedJacks thinks about it then he'll see that outright military victory simply isn't on the cards for Japan BUT as is my wont I amn't going to TELL him that.

(Rubs back of head with embarrassed grin) Heh . . . that seems to be one of the pieces of advice I gave him . . . [:D]

[Nemo121]

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[Nemo121]

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