AshesFall

Turn 46 – August 18th, 1917 The West front Both the corps near Calais were shattered before they could withdraw and the British advanced with haste, contacting our new lines. Our men fear the coming thunder of their artillery. The Metz-Antwerp line continues to be strengthened. French counter attacks across our lines were largely ineffective, damaging a single corps moderately and allowing them to withdraw in good order. We are not dug in, right in front of Verdun and Nancy. Lange Max and our fleet of airships lay waste to the city, reducing supply to 0, while hitting Verdun to begin doing the same there. The Prussian-Russian front Another Russian corps arrived near Yuryev, It seems I was right in moving von towards that location, and the Russian corps probing Dvinsk was badly mauled. More corps have been seen moving towards Minsk. The Bulgarians have joined our blocking corps at Baranovich, and may be able to deal with them. Bulgarians moved north to help block the russians from escaping, and small attaxcks took place. Russian attacks on us were ineffective, even with artillery, and we will soon be able to crush this pocket. The Italian front The attack began, and Rome fell. A Prussian cavalry squadron, as per Falkenhayns agreement with the former emperor, paraded down the streets of Rome. A major victory, and one that promises great things for the future. This army will now be largely redeployed to Russia, and partly to our new defensive line in Belgium. General Staff There are strikes in the Ukraine… surely a sign of the Russian peoples flagging will to fight! Once again, Prussia rebuilds all shattered corps. Massive reinforcements are inbound in September and October.

Turn 45 The West front The slaughter was predictably horrible on the line opposite the French. Three corps were destroyed, and another driven back badly damaged. However, the French took quite a few losses themselves. The replacement corps that moved in to fill the gaps left by their comrades, struck the French lines, supported by the weight of our artillery. They destroyed one French corps near Verdun, and damaged several more. We forsee no difficulty in digging in across the lines. The British snuck another corps into Calais, and our combined attacks could not shatter them. Instead, we withdrew to a new line, hoping that one of the corps left near Calais would survive. We have begun moving troops to create our Metz-Antwerp line. Soon they will start constructing defenses behind these rivers. Hopefully, the Brits will get no farther before winter. The Prussian-Russian front Von Bulow has moved towards Dvinsk, having reports of several Russian corps hitting a Prussian one near Yuryev. The question is what the corps around Vitebsk will do. In the Brest pocket, the daring Austrian detachments that took Ivangorod and Radom received reinforcements, having dug in to survive Russian counter attacks. One Russian corps was destroyed and Von Phleve struck by our advance, while Yudenich retreated and left Lublin to the Austrians. The Russians in the southern part of the pocket are now low on supplies and their morale is abysmal. The Italian front Preparations for the assault on Rome proceeds on schedule, and the French continue to retreat towards Turin as we give chase. General Staff The ottomans develop infantry warfare 2. The Prussians keep pace with rebuilding their losses and reinforcements, but little else.

Turn 44 @lettowvorbeck: No doubt you are completely right! ^^ Unfortunately I had the time to do a turn before I saw your post, and a general advance was called. I’ll have to live with the consequences! I don’t intend to sacrifice a large amount of Prussians in the east (they’re more the anvil than the hammer) and Italy will fall shortly. I’m not sure I can just let the French sit there and rebuild and regroup, their lines feel weak somehow, with cavalry manning the front in two places. We’ll see how it goes! The West front Prince Rupperecht called a general advance across the entire southern sector in france. Two full armies marched resolutely towards the French killing ground, and the artillery was moved up to support. The British landed a corps in Calais, striking at the back of our line. Retaliation strikes destroyed it. We now wait with bated breath for the slaughter among the killing fields to commence. The Prussian-Russian front In the North Von Bulow continues to dance around the Russian corps, withdrawing to resupply his army. The ottomans have sent small detachments to guard the Prussian rear. In the Brest pocket our forces pause before Russian trenches, destroying one corps after a measured bombardment, and probing the sides of the line to find Lublin housing Yudenich and his staff. Probing attacks with surely make him withdraw from the city, leaving the Austrians to occupy it. The Italian front In Italy, our forces position for the coming assault on Rome. In the next two weeks the artillery will move up and our forces receive reinforcements, we estimate that Rome and with it Italy will fall in the two weeks after that. General Staff Prussia develops Long range aircraft lvl 2, and the Ottomans shell production to lvl 2.

Emergency staff meeting After the last turn I spent some time thinking, and I have come to a few realizations. My current course isn’t entirely viable, and I must adjust my heading or I will certainly capsize, like the central powers fleet (ugh, that one gives me small heart spasms every time I think about it ) I’ll use some of last turns’ screenshots to show my thinking. The West Now, the west front is what prompted most of my thinking. It is abundantly clear that I cannot hold against the British in the north. They just have too much artillery with too many shells. It seems my technological advantage has entirely evaporated in the west, perhaps with the exception of the airforce, which doesn’t seem to be capable of accomplishing much anyhow. Perhaps if I had the resources to build it fully, it could be effective. It’s mostly my own nearly criminal negligence in -not- (edit) building every single available artillery piece that is punishing me. The realization I’ve come to is this, as this particular Great War has unfolded there are precisely three major nations and one minor that matters. France, Russia, Prussia, and the US. The British are relatively unharmed, and very difficult to strike any telling blows against at this stage. The French however, now has a national morale on par with our own, and the Rus has fallen far below. The US must be kept out of the war for as long as possible, that is all. This then, is the plan. The brit seems content to sit in the north, in great depth and with huge concentrations of artillery, and slowly mow down my lines. Let him. I’ll try to minimize losses, fall back when I have to, and let him destroy corps. As long as I do not break entirely and it keeps the brit busy, fine. I will look to construct a defensive line behind the rivers in Belgium, somehow I must find the units to send there and start digging, so that the line is solid behind the river when we have to retreat behind it. Nothing of NM value lies there anyway. Meanwhile, any and all measures possible must be taken to strike blows at the French. I will only win this game by getting Russia to surrender at 1% morale, and the French to do the same. To this end, we must reach Verdun and Belfort at any cost. We will build siege ladders with the corpses of our dead if necessary. Italy While Prussian conquests here are probably the only thing keeping their NM level (it hasn’t moved much at all the past four turns, despite losses and disasters of the diplomatic sort) it seems we must attempt to conquer Italy sooner than originally planned. The reason for this is simple, we need the units to facilitate the fall of Russia. We’ll take it with a Prussian unit if possible, as they still have far too many units to build and the Austrians are nearly all built out. Russia This nation has proven to be extremely resilient. Despite being under immense pressure, it continues to hold and to strike back in uncomfortable ways that drain resources from other fronts. I have decided not to encourage Lenin, I do not want the extra NM drain on Prussia towards the endgame, and if the fall of Russia takes a little longer, it is that much extra NM for us in the meantime. However, we must somehow decisively end them. The central “pocket” seems to have a soft underbelly. If we can topple Italy, it will be possible to redeploy some six or seven corps with artillery support to Krakow and Tarnow. With their aid, the pocked should be possible to reduce and destroy. I have not shown this before, but in southern Russia two cavalry squadrons race to grab territory around a Russian corps that wander lost on the steppes The ottomans Since I have decided to completely ignore the brit, and any venture in Egypt would probably be fairly futile anyhow, I plan to redeploy the ottomans to help the actual important battles against Russia as much as possible. Holding cities to the rear, perhaps even forming an army of their own to invade the south and hasten the fall of the Tzar. Let’s see how this goes!

Turn 43 The West front Falling back did not buy us any respite from the British. They gave chase and immediately destroyed two corps and damaged two more to the breaking point. We have attempted, to the best of our ability, to repair the line here, but it is extremely fragile. In the south, final reinforcements were made to facilitate another push into the French. Belfort and Verdun are so very close… and yet so far away. With any luck, our push in Italy will draw some French reinforcements from the line to that sector. The Prussian-Russian front Spotting an exposed Russian corps moving away from the line around Orsha, Von Bulow immediately struck and shattered it before moving away towards lake Naroch and out of reach of Russian retaliation. He has requested detachments to hold Riga and Vilna, as the Rus seems to be probing for weakness along the lines. High command, overburdened with requests for reinforcements, have yet to fill his order. The central pocked saw more interesting developments. Bulgarians and Austrians press hard from the south, shattering one exposed weak corps. Unfortunately, the Rus seems to have begun digging in and there will be no shifting him in a frontal assault. Our quick scouting strike towards Ivangorod was a success, as I suspected my opponent left it empty. I’ve noticed that he has often done this in the past, and seeing how weak his southern line looked I took a chance. We moved another detachment to garrison Radom. Lemberg is now exposed, but we hope that our opponent will not try a mad dash for it. And if he does, it will be one corps to destroy. Tanks appeared on our northeastern lock, and spotting another infantry corps “off the line” Hindenburg moved in for a probing attack. The corps was not dug in and low on morale, so two more corps followed up and destroyed it. This has left a glaring weakness in our lines and I suspect we’ll suffer for it in the coming weeks. The Italian front We continued to chase the Italians and French, nearly destroying an Italian artillery unit that was retreating towards the west. Rome is still surrounded, and another corps has appeared. General Staff Nothing at all of significance, no developments, no diplomacy. One small note, the prussians have once again started reconstituting the last of their shattered corps. No doubt there will be more of those shortly, but for a moment at least, their losses are slowly being rebuilt.

Turn 40-42, May 19th to June 16th 1917 Things are a bit crazy right now, both in the game and outside, and the most of the screenshots for the first two turns have gotten lost somewhere. I’ll try to summarize, as these turns have certainly been interesting! The West front (A = Austrian corpse destroyed, P = Prussian, F= French) The west front has turned from the quiet vacation spot of 1916 into an absolute butchers’ yard. Our advance near Verdun with one Prussian and one Austrian Corps was turned into a crop of corpses. In turn, during May and June we have savaged the French frontline, and the British have in turn demolished ours. The entire northern front has withdrawn these past two weeks, trying to gain a little breathing room. Along the rest of the front, the recent past has meant mass reinforcements, as much of our troops were depleted after the series of attacks on the French. Soon we will again advance into the teeth of the enemy, and plant a new Prussian crop six feet below the ground. The Prussian-Russian front This front is also a hotbed of action, with fluid battles in the north, and a slow grinding death machine in the middle. Death on both sides. The central battles are punishing, and our northern line is close to breaking. Sporadic reinforcement with new corps arriving helps somewhat, and perhaps the pressure from the southern side by the Austrians and Bulgarians can help ease the situation somewhat. The sack is now firmly closed, as far as I understand it, there should be no direct reinforcement of this pocket with new corps, it does have to be connected to a capital or industrial centre? The Russians continue to fall back deeper into the pocket, no doubt looking to create a line of trenches and sit tight. We hound them, destroying a couple of corps on the fallback while trading tit for tat on the northern line. Scouting near Radom reveals no enemies there, and considering the disposition of the enemy lines we’ll try a rush to ivangorod in the coming two weeks. In the northeast, Von bulow destroys on of the newly arrived Russian corps and withdraws backwards to reinforce. He receives reinforcements. Our other corps, spread around the cities, have encountered resistance. It seems the Rus is trying to retake his lost territory, and we’re digging in to prevent it wherever we can. The Italian front Italy, the French have appeared with another Tank. While the Italians initially had two corps, and the French one, we first destroyed one Italian corps in the city with a light barrage (Italian trenches aren’t very deep) and then as the French redeployed into the city destroyed that corps and the last Italian one and took the city with the Prussian public relations detachment. In the south we have reached and surrounded Rome. One corps is visible here, and was immediately attacked. The detachment holding the city is deeply dug in. The war in the Middle East We have been swatting rebels, and nothing else of much interest has occurred. General Staff These past weeks have been rife with developments. Though the US has started moving slowly towards the entente, the stranglehold on our northern convoys annoy them quite a bit (two occurrances, very good, as it is two more turns the US are set back). The Entente has had success persuading the Norweigans to overlook their incessant raiding, and they stopped sending their convoys altogether, the Prussian people was not happy… The Prussians have striven to rebuild lost corps, and have been hard pressed to keep up with the losses. They developed Airships lvl 2, And Aerial warfare lvl 3. Austria Deployed Von Hotzendorf, and have now upgraded shell production to lvl 3. The ottomans have heavy artillery lvl 2. I have tried to catch up on artillery units, I have no idea why I haven’t before, as artillery is clearly the lynchpin of both attack and defense. The Austrians, Prussians and ottomans are all building their limit in artillery, to arrive this winter.

Well, since we're doing a PBEM we could just grab a new version of the savegame and it worked. No idea if it would have worked trying the bugged one again.

We're playing breakthrough 1.2 (there is an 1.3?). I cant remember any other text, the game just vanished basically. I replaced the savegame I used with a fresh version, and then it worked.

Hello Both me and will have experienced an odd error when playing. Will crashed when he right clicked a serbian corps, and I did so when I clicked a bulgarian one. The message was "segmentation violation". Does anyone know what that is and how to avoid it? Thanks.

Turn 39 – March 24th, 1917 The british raise ever more troops through their conscription measures. Möwler attacked british pacific trade last time, and now we receive reports that Seeadler is doing the same, this little venture is good for us. The West front With good weather, Prussian and Austrian forces advanced across the line to close the gapes. We now stand close to Verdun, have taken the no mans’ land, and moved artillery across the line to support. No attacks were made, we wish to be at full strength for the counter attacks. Our army is, with the exception of the corps around Strasbourg who dug in, at full strength. The Prussian-Russian front Both the south and the north are about to get interesting. The Bulgarians moved up towards the very flank of the Russian line, and the Austrians deployed two newly recruited corps in support. Hindenburg and Mackensen dug in and positioned. The north is definetly heating up. Two more Russian corps appeard around Vitebsk, and von Bulow is but weeks from reaching them. Will the Surrounded corps hold? What will the Russian do, dig in? Retreat? Attack? We simply do not know. Our cavalry has spotted an enemy corps moving to intercept, they cannot escape as they hold the crossing, so a corps is sent by train to Riga to counter-intercept. The Italian front The Austrian army marches hard to reach the outskirts of Milan. While this is punishing for our morale, the positioning is far more important. Artillery is brought up to support. The Austrians in the centre north of Italy pause, as Prussian troops hasten to pose for cameras. The war in the Middle East A report from the middle east. Our preparation in garrisoning pretty much every single hovel seems to have paid off in regards to the Arabian rebels. Most of them have been destroyed, but more keeps appearing. Our positions along the canal are strong, with the corps slowly receiving new equipment and training. Artillery has been brought up but cannot be deployed in range due to roving French battleships. We try some potshots at it with the arty, but to no avail so far. General Staff The Japanese hunt our commerce raiders in the indian ocean, and the New Austrian emperor relieves Von Hotzendorf. It must have been personal, considering the excellent gains the Austrian army has made in the past year. As our scientists have observed the entente metal boxes, they have immediately started designing improved versions. Not only did both Prussia and Austria build a unit (the only ones they can build) but they advanced to Armored warfare lvl 2 (Prussia) and lvl 1 (Austria) respectively.

Turn 38, January 27th, 1917 Kaiser Karl Ascends, and inspires nationalist tendencies in Austria/Hungary! Italy forms some sort of Volunteer corps, blasted traitorous Czechs… and Greece has a new general. The West front The British hammer the northernmost Austrian corps, and bring it close to shattering. The brave Austrians held however, and were relieved by a fresh Prussian corps on the line to receive reinforcements. Seeing an opportunity with two French corps exposed alone in front of the lines, Prince Rupperecht struck a heavy blow. Artillery and aerial bombs rained down, and both corps along with the concentration of artillery behind them were destroyed. The entire line in front of Strasbourg moved up. Rupperecht is hoping for the weather to turn and hamper French counterattacks. The Prussian-Russian front Our men have spotted a great monstrosity of metal in the east. They do not yet know what this machine is, but they call it a “tank”, wary of its’ hulking shadow. Fierce Russian attacks continue on our lines, and Hindenburg withdraws to a line on Bialystok. The Bulgarians have gathered in the south, ready to start moving shortly. In the north, Hindenburg sends a corps to occupy and hold Haranovich to keep the great Russian sack closed on this end, Von Bulow continues to race to the aid of our beleaguered corps. The Italian front Venice falls, and most of our forces move as quickly as possible towards Milan. Here we discover a new corps occupying the city, wielding French weaponry and artillery support of their own. It seems the Italians are not entirely out of it yet… General Staff Austria and the ottomans again strengthen their diplomatic missions towards the US, now at a total of 35% (7 chits). Prussia invests a third chit in Aerial warfare, the US protests at the ongoing blockade (very good, that’s another turn out of the war) and Austria also gains advanced heavy artillery! (lvl 2)

1916 Summary It’s that time of the year again, December passes and we need to assess the past year and decide on a course for the coming one. This is the point where I decide to throw in the towel or not (as stated last year) but I feel that the gains made in the past year are enough to justify fighting on for a victory, or a draw! Losses and units Well, the losses. The “totals” above provide a slightly skewed perspective, as it includes the sunk central powers fleet. Counting only losses on land, Russia has lost twice as many units as Prussia, which is interesting, now including no less than four headquarters and 41 corps. I wonder how they can possibly sustain those kinds of losses, but they seem to be dealing with it, while having resources left over to gain tech and new units. The central powers have, all in all, lost 75 units so far and the Entente 116. About the 1.5 ratio of yesteryear. On the land army side, Prussia has grown stronger despite all the losses, now at 63 units to the Austrian 33 and ottoman 34. Surprisingly both the smaller central powers have more land forces than any one entente nation. Britain sports 29 units in total, France 28 and Russia 30, Italy 9. Total unit count, Central powers 130 and Entente 96, a quite significant advantage, much larger than the year before. The French doubtless still have most of their units in their nation proper, with the British probably keeping around 20 or so there. The Central powers keep 32 units in the west (not Counting air assets) which puts us at a significant disadvantage in units. Our combined forces in the east tally up to 33, at a slight advantage to the Russian total counting the coming Bulgarian forces and the Austrians holding the line into eastern Austria. Most of our advantage in land forces seem to come down to the large Austrian army in Italy and a large Ottoman army facing a small British one in the middle east. The terrain makes it extremely impractical to attack however, and we cannot do so with any ease. I might try to find a way to capitalize on this in the coming year. Research and diplomacy Britain: 1525 RE, 550 Dipl France: 1800 RE, 700 Dipl Italy: 525 RE, 350 Dipl Russia: 1450 RE, 600 Dipl Entente total: 5300 Re, 2200 Dipl Prussia: 3075 RE, 500 Dipl Austria: 1725 RE, 600 Dipl Ottomans: 850 RE, 600 Dipl Central Powers total: 5650 RE, 1700 Dipl We are again leading the investment in technology race. Prussia in particular has invested heavily into research, but all Central powers nations strive to gain technological advances. I still feel that my technological superiority in many areas will give me the chances I need to make gains during 1917, so I consider these investments well spent even as I often invest more chits than there are “levels” left of the technology to gain a critical advance faster. We are far from caught up on the diplomatic side, but our efforts are focused on the US, the most important area of the coming years. MPP’s (Collected, spent on units, lost in units) Britain: 8847, 2683, 11599 France: 9205, 5276, 10598 Italy: 3293, 1767, 5401 Russia: 10482, 5617, 20738 USA: 717, 525, 0 Entente total: 32544, 15868, 48336 Prussia: 17971, 10073, 27373 Austria: 9068, 5043, 9969 Ottomans: 4658, 2533, 1820 Central Powers total: 31697, 17649, 39162 We are still keeping pace with the collected entente economy. If opportunity presents itself, investments will be made in industry in the coming year. Prussian production technology at lvl 3 has proven quite useful. The central Powers have spent more on units, and even counting the horrific fleet losses, has lost 20% less. A fairly good situation overall in the economic department. National Morale This is the really important bit. Looking at the national morale across the board and comparing it to the 1915 Summary; British: from 83 to 70 French: from 80 to 65 Italians: from 104 to 87 Russians: From 81 to 59 Prussia: From 68 to 57 Austria: from 84 to 73 Ottomans: Still at 76, has not moved. Now, while Prussias morale is definitely still awful and has fallen another 11 points, the entente shows signs of taking a battering as well. Brits are down 13, French 15, the Italians by a lot, and most importantly the Russians by 22! I am still fighting to grab territory so that I can stabilize Prussias morale, and have been fairly successful. The victories in Italy have not translated to very much tangible gain here yet, as the Austrians have paused to let the Prussians take their parade photographs (I.e.fairly few Prussian units capture cities, and it holds up the Austrians). Plans for 1917 In summary, our plans for 1916 worked partly. The Rus is proving a stubborn enemy, and gains have only been made in a relatively limited area in the northeast geographically speaking. Still, it is progress. The west has been disappointing, due to my own fumbling and insecurity in how to proceed with an attack in those massed conditions, and of course massive British and French counter attacks, little gain has been made. The one area that was a complete success was Italy, a theatre that regardless was a win/win situation for me. Either the Brits or French sent significant help, thus weakening their positions in the west, or they ignored the problem and I could gain valuable NM and take an opponent out of the war. Central powers war map for 1917 The West We will continue to push towards Verdun and Belfort. With our upgraded and strengthened artillery and the advanced emerging air arm of our finally properly organized forces we might be able to make gains despite numerical inferiority. Positioning, and local strength is key and the French are still lacking in infantry weapons. We will continue to stall the British, sacrificing a corps or two every three turns or so to keep them reasonably static. If opportunity presents itself, a massed redeployment of Air assets might deal with their artillery. The East In the east, an interesting situation is definitely developing. The centre is static, with what I believe to be the vast majority of Russian forces facing off against the Prussians. The Austrian east front has been quiet, but that is about to change. I will soon deploy three upgraded Bulgarian corps here and two fully upgraded Austrian ones. Looking at the centre, something has occurred to me. While the Russians might see it as a strong defensive position, it really is a big pocket. If I can push the five corps army from Czernowitz and take Proskurov/Rovno/Vinnitsa, the entire centre Russian army will be cut off from the rest of Russia. No reinforcements will be forthcoming. It is then a matter of whittling them down, corps by corps, and fighting whatever reinforcements the Russians call up elsewhere. Investments in more corps will be necessary then during 1917, we must not lose the gains we have made here. If we can bust open the Russians weak southern flank, Bulgarian and Austrian cavalry should be able to make great inroads and take ground. Italy The success story of 1916, the Austrian army mowed through the technologically inferior Italians. I have built pretty much every corps available to the Austrians and the plan is to occupy as much of Italy as possible without taking its’ capital. We will set up a defensive line across the boot of Italy, contacting Rome, and then make sure that the city is empty of defenders and rife for the taking. Then we’ll wait for their morale to drop to nil, gaining us morale in the process. If things get desperate and we need a quick boost, conquest will follow by a Prussian detachment. Another army will move west, trying to take the approaches into southern Italy. This will either prove a drain on French resources as they redeploy, or a drain as we start to take the French south. In either case, this will stretch the French thinner as we push the Belfort/Verdun line as well. The middle east While the ottoman is numerically superior, he is technologically inferior. Our positions in Egypt are such that a direct assault is unlikely to work, we will attempt it once Kemals’ forces arrive though, and watch the result with interest. If this fails, we might need to try and chase the damaged French fleets away with the ottoman navy (now rebuilt and quite strong) to facilitate a brief window where we can make a naval invasion of Alexandria. With the English threatened to the rear, we might be able to cross the channel. This is all highly unlikely, but we’ll see.

Turn 37 – December 16th, 1916 @Sapare: Thanks for clarifying the NM situation, there is a lot that has changed or simply does not work like in the manual. Yeah, we're making tons of mistakes. Though I've never invested more then three chits in research (it's the max) I figure keeping the US out of this for as long as possible has en extremely high priority. With Austrias strong economy and the Ottomans in a position where they cannot do much, their most valuable contribution right now just may be to see the US stay our four or five turns longer. Russia raises volunteers and Norway complains of entente attacks. The ever present blockade continues. The West front In the west, the French made attacks on our troops in Strasbourg, they were shattered and the remnants driven out of the city (one corps lost). The ever present British launched fierce attacks at the Austrians helping in holding the northern line, they took great losses, but avoided destruction with a timely retreat. On our part, attacks on one of the French corps that assaulted Strasbourg shattered it in turn, Strasbourg was reoccupied and a massive reorganization of forces took place. In the main, aiming to create goof supply situations for units across the line, a double line of infantry with air assets further back, and artillery in places where it could support the advance or defense of the sector. The Prussian-Russian front The Russians seem to be gaining strength, attacks across our line (as of yet not dug in) destroyed two corps for few losses in return. Von Bulow continues to move to V’th reserve corps rescue, and in the centre line Hindenburg and Mackensen pull back from the Russian lines to reorganize. The Italian front Concentrated artillery and attacks failed to destroy the detachment in Venice, our forces have spotted an Italian command staff moving westwards, and have pursuit. The war in the Middle East The Sinussi still hold Tobruk and are making a great nuisance of themselves. We have lost all of the small settlements I northern Egypt to an advancing british detachment though. General Staff Austria invests another chit in their US embassy (now 5 total from the CP) Prussia rebuilds the three lost corps and develops Aerial warfare 2. Rasputin is assassinated in Russia.

Way too many, my own AAR is full of "oh doh" moments already

Good question will! I was wondering the same, and if there is any point other than survivability in reinforcing those 5 str artillery pieces to 10.

Very true. Though I've noticed that the .5 in de entrenchment doesnt actually do anything. Lvl 2 arty has a de entrenchment of 1.5, but it still only removes one level per shot, no matter how many you fire.

Allright, thank you for the comments as usual! I'll need to get Hubert Carter or Bill in on the Italy questions. Neither the manual nor the Strategy guide are very clear on how exactly NM for occupation and surrender and so on works. For example; - Does only the nation who -first- conquered the town/city/fortress with a unit belonging to them gain the per turn NM bonus, or does the "latest" entering unit count? - Does only one nation gain the NM bonus for occupied cities, or the entire "side"? - If a country (in this case italy) surrenders, their cities will still say "occupied". Do they still contribute their national morale per turn value? In that case, who gets the NM boost, the nation who conquered the capital (and therefore the surrendering country) or the nation that first entered the city and conquered it in the first place, before the surrender of the country? Tricky stuff, and of vital importance for whether to force russia/italy to surrender or just keep them bled out with no cities in their capital until they hit 1%,

Hehe, thanks, though that ship has literaly sunk

Before I continue playing, I need some input on how things work. I have two options available to me. Either I conquer Italy, or I push into the northern "mouth" and set up defensive lines, simply holding the territory in the north. If I do conquer italy (and manage to do so, nothing is certain) what are the ingame effects? Do the CP gain NM and the Entente loose Nm for the conquered cities? If I keep them in the war and dont conquer them, what is the difference then? I'm not looking for advice on -what- to do, just information on what happens if I do either of the options.

Turn 36 – November 18th, 1916 President Wilson was reelected. Isnt he an incorrigible warmonger? The West front On the west front little changes. We attempted to hit a sidelines corps near metz with both artillery and quantities of men, but they retreated. All of our air efforts could not destroy what remained of the corps. Falkenhayn begins to doubt his role in the war… otherwise we dug in and gathered shells. Four new corps arrived at this front this turn, ready for service in the coming weeks. The Prussian-Russian front The Rus continues to stand forward. One of his corps was destroyed, but that left one of ours badly exposed on the point. We are worried that a concentrated Russian attack here will shatter it and leave the artillery exposed. Further north, partisans rose and took one of our conquests to the rear. It looks like we may need garrisons here. One of the advance corps encountered resistance, two badly demoralized Russian corps, and was slightly damaged. Von Bulow immediately started moving to counter this budding threat. One new Prussian corps arrived here this turn. The Italian front Italy has been broken. What I estimate to be the last of the Italian Corps were destroyed in a surge forward by our forces as they tried to retreat to new positions. Northern Italy lies completely open insofar as we know. Prussian cavalry arrived at Munich, and will go by train to Italy to further the conquests there. A parade skeleton crew of Prussians are photographed in Trento and Padua. General Staff The Austrians have started conscripting their last available corps, and will soon need to expand into more esoteric arms of the army. More Artillery, tanks and whatever else seems appropriate. The Ottomans send more diplomats to establish good relations with Wilson (now four chits total). Archduke Karl is crowned emperor of Austria and king of Hungary. The Prussians developed ground attack aircraft lvl 2.

Turn 35 – October 21st, 1916 (forgot to take screens, but look at the ones from last turn and the ones on the next turn and the text should explain things) The entente have sent diplomats to Switzerland, obviously worried about their increasing leaning towards us. The Russians have called even the women to serve in their army, apparently their men aren’t strong enough. Disgraceful! (this said from the perspective on gender roles at the time) The West front Miserable weather across the west front prevents any serious offensive. The Brits continue to slowly grind through our northern flank, one corps at a time. In the south, a series of attacks and artillery fire weakens French forces near Strasbourg, before that city is occupied. This might give the corps sent there a chance at surviving the task, any massed attacked to take it out will cause problems on the allied line. The Prussian-Russian front The Russians moved out from Brest Litovsk in a wide arrow shaped salient. Hindernburg and Mackensen struck immediately, shattering two Russian corps before withdrawing to a line near Bialystok. In the north, conquests continue with Polotsk. The Italian front The corps that was hammered last turn received reinforcements, but our forces surrounding it dealt with them easily. Padua and Venice are now surrounded and Trento entirely cut off. The artillery have moved to the line to allow us strikes at either of the two first targets. The war in the Middle East The Englishmen tried once more to breach our defenses by El Arish and the Suez canal. However, our trenches and position is excellent and they can only attack with about two corps before we can rotate in reinforcements and maintain the defensive earthen works. They are not getting anywhere here anytime soon. General Staff Prussia once more rebuilds shattered corps, and sends a vast quantity of material along with military instructors to the Bulgarians, who are now modernized. Austria yet another corps and the first advancements into fuel conservation and more effective motors for our airplanes have been discovered (Long range air lvl 1 for the Prussians).

Agreed! Counter battery fire cannot be used with range 2, the arty will just be killed by the enemy.

Turn 34 – September 23rd, 1916 The West front As we suspected, the French came again at Metz. Both sides feed corpses to this monster, and combined attacks from artillery, airships, recon bombers and several corps shattered the French corps inside. We entered in good order, bringing plenty of plaster to start building new walls and repairing old ones. Across the line were reinforcements and reorganization. We need to pound the French line before moving into Strasbourg, and are awaiting shells to do so. The Prussian-Russian front A quiet two weeks, as the advance elements (two corps and a cavalry squadron) of von Bulow’s army spread out to take ground and the vast majority of artillery on the east front is moved to Hindenburg. The Italian front Massed bombardment and attacks from three corps nonetheless failed to defeat an entrenched Italian corps behind the river. Sensing an opportunity in the critically weak Italians, Von Bohm-Ermolli sent a corps forward at fast march, they contacted the staff and supply lines. This presents Italy with a difficult choice to make… The war in the Middle East Ottoman artillery arrived and has been upgraded. Kemal’s army is moving westwards, looking to cross the desert between Ramadi and Ar rutbah, and then on to Egypt. General Staff Prussia once again rebuilt a corps and invested fully into Aerial warfare and long range aircraft. Austria started recruiting and outfitting yet another new corps and the ottomans recalled their diplomat from Bulgaria as they will shortly join us. Instead, the diplomat was sent to the US (three chits total from the CP). Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, we welcome out brothers to this struggle! The Dadist movement is founded. Unfortunately, our researchers have not met with any results these past weeks, but our diplomats report that Romania has been persuaded to stand down a little (away from the entente by 8%).

By the by, what do you guys think about this more "consolidated" style of reporting, with several turns in one? Is it better than the turn by turn updates, or should I stay with those?

Turns 30 to 33, July 29th to September 9th 1916 Due to a hectic day of work and playing this awesome game I’ve fallen a bit behind in my updates. I realize when looking back at my screenshots that I don’t quite remember the details and that I haven’t taken screenshots of everything anyway. Here follows an update more in a "story style" that summarizes the goings on. I’ll try to be more on the ball with the AAR in the future! The West front The west front has finally turned into the meatgrinder that we all know and love from the history books. Operation Herbststurm, hastily renamed for the benefit of the men so that it would appear that starting the advance in late summer was the plan all along, kicked off in an odd manner. The French, hearing the awesome thunder of the dual Prussian guns withdrew all across the front. Confused Prussian infantry scratched their heads and joked about French “wine courage”. Prince Rupperecht ordered the advance, and Strasbourg was retaken. Of course, beyond the small stretch of no mans’ land lay the hell of barbed wire, mines and machineguns the French had prepared. Three corps walked straight into that butchers yard, and did not return. No doubt the French expected us to retreat as swiftly as they had, but the Prussian heart is stouter, and we held the line. Fierce counter attacks supported by the awesome guns of autumn brought down two French corps in turn along with the British Cavalry that had occupied strasbourg as the last of our men scattered from the city, it was retaken once again, for the third time. The English have had it easy so far, let us see if he has the stomach for a real war. The French did not retaliate in force, probably exhausted and shocked by Prussian determination. Instead, a French attack preceded by a hailstorm of shells brought down the walls of Metz in early September. Barely had they been repaired… the corps that occupied the battered fortress was lost among the rubble. Even that rubble was pounded to sand as we counter attacked with guns brought up by train and deployed in support. More corpses were buried under the earth as it came raining back down after the thunder had finally fallen silent. Perhaps they will come again, and this graveyard shall become the scene of another tragedy turned statistics. Far to the south another french corps was punded to dust and brought down by our infantry. It is evident that our guns are superior, and our logisticians more efficient at manufacturing and delivering shells. All across the line trenches are now dug deep on both sides. Strasbourg has been left open for now, a trap for an unwary Frenchman. Falkenhayn was relieved of command, no doubt due to the delays in the great plan for 1916, and was replaced by Hindenburg. The former commander in chief has taken the field and will now be responsible for the emerging air arm of our armed forces. More Austrians join us to bolster the lines, as losses are high. However, for every loss resources have been put in to immediately start rebuilding, and new formations are created as well. Our numbers will swell by six corps this September and October alone. The British continue to press hard in the far north and has pushed us back from the river. The no mans’ land behind it has turned into a killing ground, as we punished the Brits for the first time since he started this operation, and a corps was shattered. We intend to keep pushing in the south, for as long as the hearts of our men will bear it. The final positions on the west front as of the 9th of september The Serbian and Austro-Russian fronts Worthy of mention is an Italian detachment in Scutari that has so far withstood determined attacks from two Austrian corps for two months since the fall of Albania and Montenegro. We are fortunate that the rest of the Italian army does not have the fighting spirit of this Albanian legion. The Prussian-Russian front Ah, the east. As von Bulow continued pushing Kovno, we finally enticed the Rus to come out of his holes. No doubt believing us weak, he ran into our scattered rearguard and was then brutally punished by Von Mackensen and Hindenburg as they fell back from the encirclement to answer. Over these months we estimate that some five corps have fallen on the Radom-Brest Litovsk line to our one or perhaps two. Von Bulow himself broke the Russians at kovno, taking the city and surrounding them as the vanguard had spread to take Minsk and Dvinsk. Cavalry race up the coast and parade through towns and cities empty of opposition. Von Rennenkampf, the Russian commander in the northeast, tried to retreat towards his lines and escape the encirclement with the remaining three corps of his army but was caught and destroyed to a man in a vicious crossfire between Bialystik and Grodno. As no effective opposition seems to remain in the north, Von Bulow spreads out slightly to capture more ground, while aiming to keep a core army of three corps around himself should something more serious appear. The Artillery will now be redeployed to Hindenburg, as we aim to swing back and begin the assault on Brest-Litovsk. Of some worry is the new arms the Russians are now sporting, it seems they have learned from their many mistakes… The line into Austria remains unchanged since the start of the war, and many Austrians now work closely with Von Mackensen to hold the iron circle around the Rus. The final positions on the east front as of the 9th of september The Italian front While Von Bohm-Ermolli has not managed to reach Venice, the open ground near Padua and the outskirts of that ancient city by the coast is muddy with blood. Constant attacks and artillery barrages overwhelm the Italians, and wherever they try to stand, they die. The terrain causes more difficulty than the enemy, or so Von Bohm was overheard saying to his colleague Potiorek. If nothing serious changes here, such as massive French or British reinforcements, we expect the Italians to break completely quite soon. Only three corps remain visible, and to our count they should be the sum total of the real opposition in Italy, perhaps one more hides behind the lines. The final positions on the Italian front as of the 9th of september The war in the Middle East The Sultan has reclaimed his honor! Basra fell after two months of hellish siege in the heat. After that long, miserable slog through the desert and the following depredations of war the men has taken a well deserved rest near the ocean to retrain and receive reinforcements. They will soon be redeployed to Egypt. The Sinussi rebellion continues to be a thorn in the side of the Italians, who lost tobruk after leaving it with only a token defense force. The Sinussi rose in force in the city, and took it. The British trouble stirring has had no such success, as the rebels are mercilessly hunted down and executed. It takes a lot of time as conditions are miserable, but they make no headway whatsoever. General Staff These past months have been rife with developments. Prussia invests heavily in the dream of war winning machinery in the sky, maintaining three chits in both Aerial warfare and ground attack aircraft. Both are now at lvl 1. Production technology stands at lvl 3. There has been a lot of infighting in Greece, and Norweigan displeasure at the Ententes constant merchant raids have seen them start to send convoys in force to us once more, clearly in direct defiance of the entente. The Austrians have become ever more efficient at concentrating their industry (lvl 3), also increasing their output in Shell production (lvl 2). They also build plenty of new corps, looking to create another full army to put in the field. Ottomans have deeper trenches (lvl 3), and have managed to trade in Prussian expertise in heavy artillery and shell production (lvl 1 in both). They have also deployed that newly built artillery concentration, and it awaits transport to the front.