Bill101

Thanks Strategiclayabout, this will keep me busy!!

Hi MghFond Welcome to the forum and artillery receives shells at the start of each turn, a minimum of 1 providing the artillery has a source of supply, possibly more depending on the level of Gas/Shell Production the country has. In the Brusilov Offensive, the Russian artillery starts with 10 shells to represent accumulated stocks, but will only receive 2 more per turn. Sometimes it will pay to not fire off any shells in a turn, and set the guns to silent (by right clicking on them) so that they will not provide defensive fire if your units are attacked. This way, shells can be accumulated to help provide further heavy blows. Though artillery will always fire back if directly attacked, even if they are set to silent, provided they have some shells.

Thanks for posting this and agreed Amadeus, the screenshot is of an early beta version that has been changed noticeably since, at least with regards to the details. But the room for manoeuvre shown will remain.

Oh dear, but will they not be in your recycle bin?

Thanks for the link, it's really interesting to compare and contrast with ours, to see the German forces on the move, but getting pinned down and cornered. Still, it was all about being a pain in the neck for the Entente and your Germans have certainly achieved that too!!

Hi The answer is yes to both questions. All the campaigns that come with the game were designed in the very same editor, so Orders of Battle, unit dispositions, levels of research, diplomatic statuses and a lot more can all be amended. Bill

During the game, I came to think that an early objective for the Entente should be to set up a screen at Neu Langenburg, only attacking there if the defense is really weak. West of Neu Langenburg, build up a force to attack Bismarckburg. This location is isolated by geography from the rest of the German colony and hard to defend. With Bismarckburg in Entente hands, an advance to the north on Ujiji, in conjunction with an Anglo-Belgian advance south from Rwanda, should have the potential to take Ujiji and clear Lake Tanganyika. Or to screen that location and threaten Tabora and/or Mwanza. It's very hard for the Germans to defend all locations, and I was lucky in that these last two places weren't threatened by significant forces. A priority in the north east has to be Dar-es-Salaam, moving down the coast via Tanga. Capturing this place will prevent any blockade runners from getting through with munitions to resupply the German forces, and it will reduce German income and morale. Happycat's post above is certainly valid too, and would work, possibly in conjunction with some of these thoughts. As I had these ideas while playing as German they are based on my feelings of vulnerability during the campaign. Germany cannot defend everywhere and finding weak points that don't need to be heavily fought over has to be the aim - but the superior German mobility does make this hard to achieve. It was great fun to play and strategic decisions had to be made constantly, to decide where to build up forces, to hold on the defensive, and best of all, where to attack! I'd like to thank Happycat for being a great opponent.

Given the news from home, we are not risking our troops in combat so much pending confirmation of an armistice being signed. It is a shame as one of our units has almost succeeded in dividing Portuguese East Africa into two: Major Kraut scores a victory by destroying the 7th King’s African Rifles and liberating Bismarckburg. One final bit of good news is the liberation of Tabora. The African Levies had successfully held off our attacks here for some time, so they deserve full praise for their stand. Upon receiving confirmation that the war has definitely ended in Europe, in order to avoid further unnecessary losses, we have signed an armistice to end the war in Africa. And von Lettow-Vorbeck returns home to a hero’s welcome!

Thanks for posting this, and I am going to be working on a patch for this over the next week so I welcome any other thoughts on SoE.

News reaches us from South Africa that there is growing unease with the war. Perhaps the Boers will rise again? The British have captured Tunduru near the Portuguese frontier. This is a blow as these troops have advanced south from Dar-es-Salaam, embroiling Wintgens forces in a two front war. That was a surprise! Von Lettow-Vorbeck consolidates at Blantyre, while Wahle launches an attack on a British unit to the south of Ujiji – but is surprised to discover that he hasn’t come alone, and our attack doesn’t achieve the success we had hoped for. Tabora remains in enemy hands, but Kraut’s troops near Fife smash an East African Brigade and are keeping the pressure up on the 7th King’s African Rifles. It is now November 1918 and bad news reaches us from home of German defeats on the Western Front. This is not good. Have all our sacrifices been in vain?

Hi Mathias It's a bit too early to say exactly what campaigns SC3 will include, but all I can say is that some of these might well be likely.

Indeed, those poor Belgians suffer some more this turn. Elsewhere, the Portuguese Cavalry operating on our southern border are annihilated! But at the same time Wintgens is having to rush reinforcements to the south east to counter the British and Portuguese forces that are massing around Mueda. Meanwhile, von Lettow-Vorbeck has a big smile on his face, for his forces have won a great victory. In fact, capturing Blantyre is our biggest success of the war so far! The loss of Blantyre has reduced British Imperial Prestige from 62 to 47%. Kraut is once again on the move, this time destroying some Levies and surrounding the 7th King’s African Rifles. They will have to retire on Bismarckburg now, but their supply situation is atrocious, so it is very probable that they won’t make it… The only bad news is that Tabora remains in enemy hands.

Blantyre loses its Portuguese protectors, so its fate now lies in the hands of the Baganda Rifles and some Belgian pilots. What a film that would make should they be successful! Major Kraut is on the move again, this time surrounding the 4th King’s African Rifles who were sticking their necks out a bit near Fife. The Belgians are back at Ujiji. Their bruises must have healed after the last beating we gave them. Annoyingly, Tabora is still held by some African Levies in Belgian service!! It is now October 1918 and we await news from home to learn how the war is faring on the Western Front. Has Paris fallen yet?

Hi I came across this site today which gives information on a number of American volunteers who served in the Foreign Legion in WWI: http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/amvol.html There's lots more of WWI interest on there too! Bill

Now the British are retreating too! Either we have beaten them up so badly that they don’t want to get beaten any more, or they are trying to lure us out into the open field away from our more secure positions near Ujiji. Fair play to the enemy for capturing Tabora! We’ve had to force march some Askari from Mueda to prevent the Portuguese from seizing Tunduru in the south. This will unfortunately buy the Portuguese some time in which to restore their defences, but cannot be helped. Aside from these distractions from the main areas of conflict, von Lettow-Vorbeck now stands poised to attack Blantyre, and Kraut’s position north west of Fife is improving as we destroy a British unit there.

Hi Mike Change the following bit: #TRANSFER_ID= 6 To: #TRANSFER_ID= 4 Otherwise the engine thinks that Soviet territory has to be transferred to the Germans. This should fix the issue, but if not please report back. Bill

That doesn't sound right. Can you post the relevant script(s) here? We use this sort of event in the WWI game to represent Russia withdrawing from the war after signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and Germany annexing some territory, with new countries breaking away from Russia too, and it all works smoothly so I'm hoping that there is something in the scripts that just needs tweaking.

The Belgians have disappeared! We aren’t going to get too carried away though, just in case Tombeur is pulling back to regroup and attack us should we overextend ourselves. Kraut sends some Askari to capture Saisi in Northern Rhodesia, only a short distance from Abercorn. But at the same time a British brigade takes a hammering near Fife. What do we do next? While Wintgens rests his main force, he sends some to deal with a minor Portuguese incursion into our territory near Tunduru. Von Lettow-Vorbeck captures Fort Johnston, and some enemy Levies are destroyed at Ncheu to the south west. The way is now clear for a march on Blantyre!

I concur with Ivanov's assessment, and his strike through the Vosges was not only a surprise, but I was pretty powerless to stop it at the time. Late in August I did start expecting an invasion of Belgium, and did keep some divisions massed around Sedan to deal with such an eventuality. This delayed their departure elsewhere, and with hindsight the deployment of these units in the Vosges, especially in front of Belfort, might have been very valuable indeed.

That's right Mike, and the territory events will set up new countries, so if you'd rather territory was just annexed to Germany or an ally of theirs, then it'll be best to use an annexation script.

Great, it'll be good to revisit this one!

Here is an overview of the current situation: The brave defenders of Fort Johnston resist our attacks, at least for now! Wintgens is continuing to regroup and resupply his men in the east, though some finish off an enemy unit whose presence was disturbing their rest. On Lake Tanganyika, Bismarckburg is liberated! This may be our high water mark in this area, but this success alone has been worth it, especially as it has taken the pressure off Neu Langenburg. Further north, we batter, but do not destroy, a Belgian unit. The enemy’s attack on Ujiji really does appear to have been slowed to a halt compared with how things looked last year.

Wintgens seizes Mueda on the east coast, destroys some Portuguese Levies to the North East, and then decides to consolidate his position for the moment. Von Lettow-Vorbeck is bolder in the west, destroying one British and one Portuguese unit, and capturing Blantyre is now a distinct possibility. Kraut is also on the move, destroying some Belgian Levies in Mbozi and threatening not only the British rear facing Neu Langenburg, but also Bismarckburg and Abercorn further west. Both British and Belgian Imperial Prestige are falling, the British now standing at 66% and the Belgian at 72%. Portuguese East Africa is currently in a better position, standing at 84%, but that is the most visibly in decline as our forces invade it from multiple directions.

I love the timeline, thanks for posting that Ivanov. I just wish I could change a few of the details!

That's an excellent concept, and it's good to see some experimentation into a new period previously not covered. In fact there probably aren't many wargames covering this bit of history, so keep at it!