SMK vs Ham

[SMK-at-work]

Ham is playing the Central powers.....and so far we've had 1 phase - The Tsar had sent a message to the Kaiser suggesting that his beef was with the Emperor......and the Kaiser, being the duplicitous Teuton that he is, has massed all his troops against Russia.

But there is (almost) no Russian opposition to him - they are all fighting the Austro-Hungarians....a couple of Russian cavalry corps make forays into Silesia, but they soon see masses of German infantry and they won't be there for long!

Who are happy to sit in their Galician fortresses, sending out just a corps or cavalry here or there...all of which get stomped on by masses of Russian peasants pouring across the border shouting "URAH!".

In Serbia Austrian forces advance to the west of Belgrade, but to the east their attempt to secure a bridgehead over the Danube comes to a bloody end from Serb counter attacks. Belgrade is bombarded for little loss.

The French try their hand with a couple of attacks next to the Swiss border....but their intelligence is faulty, and instead of just 1 or 2 German Korps there are 3-4 in each hex, and the attacks are bloodily repulsed ...although not without significant casualties to the Germans too (I think 1 of the combats was 29:19).

The British stay in their Island trying to decide what to do (no Amphib 'cos Belgium & Turkey & someone else aren't in the war yet)

[SMK-at-work]

Looks like there may be a problem with the turn sequencing - Ham tells me he didn't make any moves, and didn't get a strategic phase naval report- and yet he's invaded Russia - most odd...we'll proceed a few turns & see if there's anything else happening...

I don't' suppose anyone else has played PBEM with 1.34 & encountered any problems?

[SMK-at-work]

We've put this one on hold at least for a bit, and have swapped sides for another to see if the problem repeated - and it hasn't, so now this is a report of me as the CP vs Ham as the TE - assuming nothing goes wrong - CP's T1 is all honkey-dorey (that means OK for non Queen'st English speakers )

Austria-Hungary rules the Eastern Med, but the TE didn't put any shipping there , subs have been seen and attacked in the Baltic and North Atlantic, and apparently the Belgians and Luxembourgers (??) resented my soldiers holidaying in their fair country and we had to declare war on them - most unsporting of them!

[SMK-at-work]

Minor glitch in communications, but we are happy now

German troops swarm over the frontier of Belgium and Luxembourg - the forts at Liege are pounded by massive shells but most of them miss the structures themselves, and the defenders fight almost to the last to prevent the German advance (Siege artillery made no impact, the defenders lost 12 pts, inflicted 4, but held the attack! )

Artillery exchanges along the Alsace-Lorraine frontier cause significant losses in places.

In Serbia, Austrian troops march unopposed into Belgrade and cross the Danube without opposition - Serb forces are through to be at Nish and Scutari...but that's not all of them - where are the rest?  The Russians make no move.....what are they up to?

[Magpius]

Good to see some life being breathed into the game again.
Any chance of a screenshot?

[SMK-at-work]

Yep - I'll do strat map ones at the end of each turn.

In the mean time the Teutonic hordes have poured into Belgium and northern France - Liege falls, almost all other Belgian forces are over-run - that'll teach them for not letting the master race peacefully march through on the path to world conquest! Artillery continues to duel across the Alsace-Lorraine border

Austrian cavalry swarms over northern Serbia as infantry columns trudge along in the dust behind - the presence of several Serb divisions in Nish is confirmed, but no detailed knowledge yet as to which they are or where the rest of the Serb army is!

The Russians are still quiet - they haven't crossed the German or Austrian borders anywhere - are they massing to attack the Turks?  I've mentioned to Ham that if France is taking a beating he really needs the Russians to pressure Germany in return.....

[SMK-at-work]

Here's the strat map at the end of the 1st turn - nothing particularly remarkable

[SMK-at-work]

Sept-Oct 1914 - French reinforcements have defeated the initial German push over the Somme, but there is a gap in their lines west of Verdun that threatens.

Austrians continue to pour over Serbia, closing on Nish and spotting troops around Skopje.  The Russians finally come to the party, crossing the Gailician frontier in numbers

[SMK-at-work]

The Push on Paris continues

[SMK-at-work]

But the attempt to surround Verdun comes disastrously unstuck......

[SMK-at-work]

And the frontal assault is repulsed with heavy losses on both sides. However Austrian and German super-heavy artillery have destroyed the fortifications, something they failed to do IRL I think....

[SMK-at-work]

In Serbia the Austrian attack on Nish is beaten back with heavy losses to both sides, and elsewhere they continue to advance into the country.

Russia does nothing much....the Turks wonder where the Russians are......

[SMK-at-work]

2 turns in a day - wahoo

Last phase of the Nov-Dec 1914 turn - so winter next.....

Firstly the Battle of Verdun - I think it is too easy for Germany to take in the game - the Siege artillery should be much less effective against it than it is - in real life even the 420mm "Big Bertha" mortars had no impact on the main fortifications.

However this is only a game...and siege equipment is pretty good - and without the forts the Germans are able to overcome the defenders for quite low cost.

However 1 hex south the attack fails despite inflicting more casualties

[SMK-at-work]

The situation in the north of France - I've hidden a few details of my troops in this & subsequent pictures - don't want to make it too easy for Ham!

The French unit in Dunkirk is only a cavalry corps & Ham can probably amphib it out without too much trouble - I'm not sure it s worth a HQ point to kill

[SMK-at-work]

Serbia - the defenders of Nish have retreated to the mountains, where we expect them to wither and die over the next few months - we are fairly confident the Bulgarians won't help them!

Scutari is the next target.....

[SMK-at-work]

In East Prussia the Russians are now threatening Danzig as well as Konigsberg, and have crossed into Silesia (by Breslau), presumably with cavalry

[SMK-at-work]

And lastly how life is looking in Galicia - just the usual really.....

[ham17]

Crisis of France means crisis of liberty.
Buy war loan for liberty!

[SMK-at-work]

The Russian bear shows its claws - hate those dice rolls!

We won a couple of cavalry skirmishes in Galicia & between Danzig & Konigsberg, but this hurt!

[SMK-at-work]

The Strategic situation at the end of 1914 - Dunkirk is still French, but no-one is showing much interest in it. Rouen has fallen - Germans control the entire left (?) bank of the Seine from Le Havre to Paris