First timer

[sbaxter1]

I offered to take on SMK with me as CP. Plan A involved no invasion of Belgium or Luxemburg, mostly defensive in East Prussia and Silesia with the Austrians going after those valuable food hexes in the Ukraine. It also called for kneecapping Russian industry with a ground assault on Lublin and amphibious assaults on Riga and Petrograd. Success in all three places eliminates six of the eleven Russian industry and seriously handicaps its war machine. The plan for the West involved breakthroughs south of Verdun and at Belfort with a subsequent double envelopment of Epinal and Nancy, cutting off French troops in those forts and putting them out of supply.

SMK accomodated me by sailing the Russian Baltic fleet, leaving Petrograd open to attack. In the West, German cruisers on a raiding mission of the Atlantic slipped by the Royal Navy in the North Sea and enjoyed three turns virtually unopposed while they sank or damaged a lot of TE transports.

German artillery went to work on the French defenses before smashing through as planned but the Austrians quickly ran into trouble with their attacks, save for the one on Lublin.

The West at the beginning of the Nov 1914 turn. I was elated that I had surrounded the two forts, but that was very short-lived. A French counterattack punched through my lines as will soon be seen.

[sbaxter1]

When the Ottomans entered the war, the Austrian fleet sailed and contested the Eastern Med, blocking TE from moving the new British Corps in India. Turkish troops in Palestine invaded the Sinai and blocked the Suez Canal then moved on to take Cairo and were in position to attack Alexandria at the end of the 11/14 game turn. To my surprise, a Serb Corps sat in the port instead of British (the Austrians having gone back to Trieste, the TE once more could move amphibiously in the Eastern Med). The assault on the city wiped them out. The British Corps in India was stuck there (something that should be fixed since movement around Cape Horn would have worked if the Suez was in enemy hands) and Egypt would no longer supply Britain with Raw Materials.[:)]

[sbaxter1]

Elsewhere, though, things were not going well. I hadn't paid much attention to Serbia and the Austrians were beginning to pay the price.

[sbaxter1]

And in Galicia, the Russians had trapped and destroyed a substantial number of Austrians, opening a huge hole in the line.

[sbaxter1]

The West was in trouble but I did not yet see that. Note that my efforts to surround the forts as planned ended up vacating a couple of hexes along the French-German border

[sbaxter1]

The beginning of March 1915, in the West. While I had managed to take the food hex next to Lyon and then Lyon itself (using a very tired corps), all my troops were getting worn out and the line was very thin. I had lost Petrograd and Riga. While the German units had built two trenches in each city, I had been unable to send in reinforcements. There was a large, adverse impact on German morale when those cities were lost, not to mention the elimination of two corps.

[sbaxter1]

Serbia had gone from bad to worse. The only good news was that the Bulgarians had joined the CP.

[sbaxter1]

July 1915, large numbers of Germans are cut off in France. Repeated attempts to relieve them failed and simply exposed the northern elements to a similar fate.

[sbaxter1]

The Austrians were also suffering badly. Thankfully, the Carpathians keep out Russian cav which had helped SMK gain lots of territory, offensive free.

[sbaxter1]

The end was coming quickly and I knew it, but stubbornly kept going. Beginning of March 1916, with the West looking like this, the Italians finally joined the war and SMK conducted amphib assaults on Gallipoli, Smyrna and Beirut. I hadn't been able to afford to position troops in the Alps and, having great difficulty stemming the TE moves into Germany, I finally conceded.