Will95

Nope, no changes. He's got command of some Bulgarian units.

Campaign: Call to Arms Is this intentional? In my current campaign I have a small Ottoman force attacking Serbia via Bulgaria, and I noticed that Von Sanders has taken control of some Bulgarian detatchments. Forgive me if my history is off but I don't remember this being a feature of WW1

Are you sure you're not in rough seas (sea tiles will have some squiggly lines)? It's sometimes hard to tell, especially if you're zoomed out. Look near coastlines as they usually have calm waters and you'll see the difference.

I can't speak specifically to this campaign as I have only played a small amount of AoD, but there are some pretty broad principles I play by which get me through decently enough; - I prefer to encircle cities (if inhabitants are fortified) rather than just try to blast through on the hop. Attacking while moving carries such big penalties, you'll almost certainly lose troops this way, forcing you to wait a turn anyway to reinforce before you can advance. Total encirclement isn't necessary, just 3-4 units within strike radius at the start of your turn. And this almost goes without saying, but use artillery/air power to reduce fortifications where possible before going in - Play carefully with your armour to minimise losses and build up elite reinforcements by making the most of the easy pickings until the USSR starts fielding armour of it's own. It makes a massive difference to your battle odds - 13 strength panzers are almost unstoppable. - Generally I find advancing quickly to be overrated. If you're taking loads of USSR territory but not killing anything, you're not gaining much until you get to the real objectives i.e. Moscow/Stalingrad/Leningrad (and even then they won't automatically win you the match - I've taken Moscow in early '42 and eventually got pushed out in '44 because until you get the oil, the Russian income is too great). If you're slowly grinding through but coming out on top in every engagement then that's a bigger win imo. In the war of attrition, eventually their army will get smaller and smaller. - From a more meta point of view, I think playing as the Germans in all grand scenarios is pretty tough, but I've had my best successes in campaigns that let me pick the Barbarossa start date. I think, unless you've got a totally unique/wacky plan of action in mind, invasion of the USSR should be done no later than it was historically (and ideally 1-2 months earlier). You let the USSR build up for an extra year and compounded the problem by letting them invade you first (if you invade them, you get to wipe out all the insta-spawn units that appear across the border with 0 supply and virtually zero combat effectiveness; freebies should not be missed!). Your situation looks pretty much what I'd expect, although having Baku is a major plus. Taking the oil there will make a large difference

Unfortunately due to personal circumstances, this AAR will be put on hold for the forseeable future. We will restart at some point, but it might not be for a month or so. Sorry to disappoint any avid followers, but I promise Ash and Will *will* be back

Sorry, I was reading this thread and writing my AAR at the same time- accidentally posted my turn into your thread! Sorry to hear that this game has fizzled.

Turn 8 Finally, the Russians have backed away. The Galician Oil remains in my hands and the Germans have arrived on the front in force. But the best news is evident from the sceenshot below- the Russians are trapped! The significant Russian force that tried to outflank my Austrian line this turn tried to retreat back the way they came, but I have managed to block the narrow passage with Austrian cavalry. I don't have a big window of opportunity here, but for a few turns at least, the Russians will be extremely low supply and unable to reinforce, so I have brought more German troops over to capitalise. In Prussia, Hindenberg's troops have retaken a town and the rest of the Russians have backed away. In the West, there was little activity. This gives me time to dig in, and start sending more force to the East. I had a decision to make this turn- whether to cede Trento and Trieste to Italy or not. If I do, the Italians back off and demobilize, temporarily. If I don't, the nationalists call for war. Seeing as war is an inevitability and I don't wish to cede territory without even a shot being fired, I chose not to give away the Austrian towns.

Turn 7 Breakthrough! The Germans smashed through the Russian cavalry in the west and the Austrians pulled back some troops from the line to seize the crucial town in the mountains, finally connecting the isolated front to the capital once again. It will take a few turns for supply to return to prior levels, but this is definitely a cause for celebration. The Russians didn't attack the Oil this turn, choosing to wait a turn to resupply. I think I will probably lose the oil next turn, but that is inevitable if Russia applies enough pressure. I also brought in another German HQ to the front this turn, and soon he will have a full army to command to help push back the Russians and start making some gains of my own. In Serbia, things have been fairly quiet lately. I was forced to move some troops north to head off the Russians so I didn't have enough force to keep attacking. I didn't think the Serbians did either, but this turn they advanced. However they were under strength and the attack was easily beaten back with few Austrian losses. In Prussia, the German advance continued, although we took some heavy losses this turn. No activity in the west, just making ready for the next counter-attack. Germans got a hit on industry this turn, which is always welcome. I also had some interesting decisions to make this turn- whether to fund the rebels against the French in Africa (50 mpps) and whether to convert an interned British tanker into a seaplane carrier. I chose yes on the first one, and no on the second. Having played this campaign a few times now, I've come to the conclusion that there is just no point investing in the German surface fleet, because it's impossible to win in an all out battle with the British. That's not to say I'm ruling out all naval activity though- I am hoping to embark on a submarine campaign before too long.

whoops

Turn 6 The Galician Oil field still stands under yet another withering Russian assault, incredible. The role-player in me wants to pull them off the line and station them in Budapest on purely ceremonial duties in return for their wonderful service. Unfortunately, the strategist in me knows that the best thing to do is leave them in place. The time for cavalry to be useful runs out quickly in WW1 and I'd rather not lose more Austrian infantry. My Germans to the west continued their attack and have almost broken through to the Austrian line, bringing much needed relief. Meanwhile, a large Russian force is attempting a wide flanking move, but the mountains are making supply for them difficult. The Russians in northern Prussia withdrew immediately after having their nose slapped last turn. Von Hindenberg gives chase. In the west, another large assault from the British and French, and once again, I believe I came off much better than they did. I am fighting from entrenched positions which gives me a significant advantage, and I am okay with giving up a little ground in order to do that- there is nothing in northern France worth fighting tooth and nail for. Germans got a hit on entrenchment tech this turn, which will swing the western battles heavily in my favour.

Turn 5 The Russians are continuing to press hard into my Austrian line. The supply to the capital remains cut, making for supply issues (although no unit is below 6). However, a beacon of light- the German attack came in from the West. Russian troops had entrenched facing my direction- Ash must've scouted my movements- but that didn't stop my troops from carving their way into the line. The Russian HQ was knocked back to 50% strength and a corps was destroyed. Elsewhere, my cavalry stood firm against an unrelenting Russian assault on the Galician Oil. I am very pleased to still be in control of all major NM points despite the heavy pressure. In Prussia, Russians attacked with a small force out of Kovno. I was actually preparing to have Hindenberg and his men head south, but this provided an opportunity to counter that I couldn't not take. The counterattack was highly successful with 1 Russian corps destroyed, others damaged, and very little damage to the German troops. In the West, Ash pulled a move I was definitely not expecting, although it remains to be seen whether it will work out for him. Rather than staying safely behind the river and entrenching as I had expected, he advanced across and launched attacks all across my line. My troops took some damage and a corps was lost, but the German counterattack was brutal. Still not sure what he hopes to achieve here, but we will find out. Austrians got a hit on trench warfare this turn.

I'll do my best to answer these; 1. Countries that haven't yet made a DOW can still move their armies, invest in research and other non-aggressive movements. Their MPP income is severely restricted until they enter the war though so don't worry about some huge army being amassed. 2. It is certainly difficult, but far from impossible. With a single connected rail line it is also possible to bring reinforcements from Europe (either German or A-H). 3. Amphibious attacks are extremely expensive- a full scale assault involving multiple corps and a HQ, for example, would be practically impossible without making massive concessions elsewhere. It is far cheaper to defend against any small incursion than it is to plan and execute one. 4. I think this is just taken as a given of the scenario in a situation where we have the gift of retrospect. Likewise in the WW2 scenarios, France and Britain are not obliged to hold the line at the French border in 1940 and in most playthroughs you see the Allied player employ the (far more effective) defense in depth of Paris itself. It works both ways though- you are not obliged to obey history. 5. I don't know enough about this to comment too much. All I will say is that if the Russians 'hail mary' your Austrian front line, it's perfectly possible to hold on to the lions share of your territory provided you send the Austrian reserves there and invest in entrenchment early enough- the Russians have no cannons and that makes taking down fortresses almost impossible unless they get completely surrounded. 6. ? I'm not sure I follow. You can replace lost units, although if they are destroyed out of supply (ie less than 5) then you will have to pay full price for them rather than the normal reduced cost. 7. Again, I don't know enough history to comment. I'd say that most of these can probably be put down to either being made that way for the purpose of gameplay, or being made that way simply because there was no way to totally accurately remake history in the ways you describe, but I'm sure one of the devs can weigh in with a more thorough answer.

Those are the only 'mods', as far as I know. There aren't any mods in the sense of changing the setting to Mordor though, if that's what you're looking for =p

Turn 4 Some interesting developments this turn. The Russians have outflanked my Austrian fortress line with cavalry, cutting the rail link to the capital and hurting my supply at the front line as a result. Meanwhile, a force of Russian infantry and cavalry looks to be making it's way down through the mountains to the east. This might look to be a bad situation, but I do not think things are quite as dangerous as they may seem. Firstly, it is just a single unit of cavalry that has cut the rail link, and it is weak and without any supply at all, so we should be able to relink in the next 2 turns. I have pulled away some forces from the Serbian front to effect this. Furthermore, by taking a force down through the mountains, Ash has weakened his attack on the Galician oil fields, which still remain in my control. Also, my German force has arrived near Breslau. Together with Hindenberg's forces coming from the north, this will give me a decent sized force to attack Russia's western side at Tarnow. In Serbia Belgrade finally fell, which gave me the break I needed to send a few Austrian troops north to head off the Russian advance. In the West there is little to report; we consolidated the line at Amiens (although I decided not to try and face off directly across the river- my troops have been in mediocre supply for the last few turns while the French and British are in high supply and therefore I would take serious casualties) and I operated a lot of troops to the east. I have also started moving my spare troops towards Verdun in time for an assault, although that might not come until 1915. Tech wise, the Germans upped their investment in trench technology to 2 chits and also put 1 chit into advanced subs. A quick looks at the production screen tells me than between now and January I will be recieving several more u-boats, and I would like to be ready with a reasonable level of submarine tech by then to start putting pressure on the British sea routes.

Press 'S' once to view your current supply chains, press it again to view your predicted supply chains next turn. That should give you a good idea of where supply originates from, but if it doesn't; HQ's give supply. If they are in low supply (1-5), such as near a town, they will grant 8 supply. If they are in high supply (6-10) they will grant 10 supply. Supply decreases by 1 for each square away from the originator of the supply- so if a HQ is giving out 8 supply, the highest possible supply for nearby units is 7, then 6 for units slightly further away, then 5, etc. The local geography of an area can have further impacts on how supply decreases over space- mountains, lakes and rivers all impede supply, while roads ensure good supply. Cities, mines, towns and docks all give (varying) supply as well. It works exactly the same. I've now writted the word supply too many times and it's lost all meaning, but I hope that helps =p

Turn 3 So we've had a short break to tackle academics for the year, but now we're back in action. The Schlieffen Plan proceeds as well as could be expected, and it looks like very soon we will be facing the Entente across the river by Amiens. This serves as a natural break point for which to cease the attack in the north of France, with little else to gain pushing forward until Paris. However, I want to pivot south and start pressuring Verdun. I have kept the heavy artillery in the West for precisely this reason- with no artillery of their own, the French will be unable to recapture any fortresses I take over the next year, so any gains I make now may pay dividends later on. In Serbia, an attack on Belgrade had a somewhat disappointing result as Austrian troops failed to clear the city. However I have plenty of infantry force here and it should be easily captured next turn. The Russians are leaning heavily on my Austrian fortress line. As I chose to send the Austrian reserves to Serbia rather than shore up my defenses here, it's important to manage expectations of what can realistically be achieved in the short term. I will try to hold on to the two fortresses, but it may be necessary to concede one of them in the short term, particularly if Ash makes a serious play for them. I am, however already orchestrating things to take the pressure off- next turn I have prepared a German HQ and 4 infantry corps to operate to Breslau, where they will link up with an infantry unit already there guarding the mines. Further north a small Russian force is pusing into East Prussia, but Hindenberg and his troops are ready to greet them. With so much Russian force concentrated in the south I might be able to do some damage here. Technology is critically important in this campaign, as in any. The Germans and Austrians (and later, the Ottomans) all have slightly different agendas; the Germans, at least in this campaign so far, are not looking to be pressured to begin with, so although trench tech remains useful, it isn't critical. Infantry weapons and industry are much more useful to the Germans early on- the former gives them an even bigger advantage over the Russians (who are by default inferior infantry anyway) and the latter is needed to finance offensives. The Austrians by contrast need to both attack and defend- that is to say, they need entrenchment tech as a matter of priority (I have invested 4 chits) but also require infantry weapons so as to keep pace with the Russians (who they are equal to).

With Photobucket; It looks like you're currently print screening, then pasting into Paint, and then uploading? There's no need to do that- just hit F11 and the game will take a full resolution screenshot, which you can then find under C:Program Files/Battlefront/Strategic Command Assault on Communism/Screenshots. Upload those to PB. When you upload a photo, there will be a list of 4 links on the right hand side under 'Share Links'. Click on the link entitled 'IMG' and it will automatically be copied, then simply paste it into your text as you write the AAR. Hopefully that clears things up. On topic...very fast progress! Taking Riga this early is much better than I managed to do. It looks like Minsk is about to get obliterated by that menacing swarm of Panzers, although by putting the bulk of your armour in the center, do you feel that your northern thrust is neglected at all?

Turn 2 Schlieffen is continuing as planned. A Belgian corps tried to hold ground in Brussels and was destroyed, while the second Belgian corps was eliminated trying to retreat into France. I managed to reach forward just enough to grab Lille, which provides a nice supply base for those front line troops. I reinforced the artillery in the backfield- elite steps on heavy guns are absolute dynamite (pun ) in this campaign. Ash has moved a significant Russian force in the direction of the Galician oil fields, so it looks like he's going to try a quick knock out of my fortresses there. I didn't feel like losing a whole cavalry unit just to hold onto a town, so I withdrew and entrenched. The lack of the extra Austrian troops, redirected to Serbia, is definitely going to make for some issues against the Russians and I expect Ash to try and 'hail mary' his way through. If he does attempt this, I will take my Prussian force (led by the newly appointed Hindenberg) and start conquering parts of northern Russia to alleviate the pressure. In Serbia, I destroyed a corps and surrounded Belgrade ready for an assault next turn.

Ash and I haven't done a WW1 game in a while, although it's where we've had some of our best games (for an epic WW1 game that went right through to 1918, see here and here). Besides a very short campaign which fizzled out in the first few turns, we've only ever played from opposite sides, so this is definitely going to be a new experience for me. Turn 1 (no pictures this turn as it's all just the usual Schlieffen) This campaign is massive, and awesome. There's a lot of variation, and a lot of different things you can do. WIth that being said, it's pretty important to have a plan- unlike the WW2 scenarios there's no real 'active' and 'reactive' side- both sides have momentum in different places. In this campaign, you also get the chance to deploy a HQ, an upgraded artillery piece, 2 cavalry and 2 corps. You can do some rather interesting things with this force- for example, you can storm Belfort in turn 1- but I have opted for the rather safer option of splitting them between the weak Prussian front which needed some stiffening, and the west. The artillery is absolutely key here- Germany has superiority until much later in the game, so although it's currently in the west I may yet transfer it to Prussia to assist in an attack there, or use it to hammer the French and perhaps aim for Verdun by Christmas. My approach to the West is to attack hard and fast, and take as much 1914 territory as I can before mass entrenchment makes further gains too difficult. Although a wise man once said that the war will not be won in the west in 1914, that's not to say that one can simply meander through the Belgian countryside aimlessly- a brisk clip is required to reach the river at Amiens which forms a sensible point from which to bed down. In the east Ash has the impetus. The Russians have a large force which requires careful handling, so we shall see where he chooses to strike. In Serbia I would like to achieve a moderately fast victory, perhaps looking towards sending German support once the West is locked down. To this end, at the decision event at the end of the first turn where I was offered the choice of sending my new Austrian troops to Russia or Serbia, I chose the latter. This will weaken my position against the Russians so I may have to concede some territory there- but hopefully I can make up for it with a successful Balkan campaign. Technology is much more interesting in this campaign than many of the WW2 campaigns, because there are very few 'no brainer' options, it really depends on what you want to focus on. For my part of things, given my weak Austrian position against Russia, trenches have to be a priority to allow me to weather the storm until the Germans arrive. The Germans will be investing in entrenchments as well, but unless the Russians turn their attention to Prussia wholesale, my bigger priority is infantry weapons. This will give me the edge against the West and means that when I eventually go to help out Serbia I can really carve them up. So here's to a long and close campaign, hope you enjoy reading!

Will be reading your guys' AARs with great interest! Ash and I have played a lot of AoC and it's been pretty much 100% Soviet victories, so much as I am rooting for my buddy Ash, I'd love to see the Germans kick some ass! As for photos, I use Photobucket, it's free and really easy to paste images in here at a good size without needing to do any editing.

And with that, I concede. Mistakes were definitely made in the very early turns that made it much harder later on. I didn't do enough damage in the opening gambit and lost too much armour foolishly. Sorry it's been such a short AAR- but I urge you to turn your attention to Steele and Ash as they're going to try and give you a real match!

Turn 20 This turn saw the last attacks of 1941 before we settle in for the winter. Army Group North, with its veteran panzers, continues to hack its way through a dense mass of Soviet defenses. At this point though, taking Leningrad will be very difficult, if not impossible. There are 2 armies deep, in full 3 entrenchment guarding the city. The battle for Kiev went stagnant this turn, as rain prevented us using any air power. Little action to report, but Army Group Centre is starting to look dangerously thin on the ground.

I've also explored this and I'm not really sure it's all that viable, although I'd love to be proven wrong. I think this scenario does have a lot of flexibility and no two run-throughs will be the same, but I agree that the broad 'east first' philosophy seems to prevail above all else. The best way to kick things off if you are attempting it though, in my opinion, is to place your early reinforcements all around Belfort. It's possible to place your artillery within striking range in the deployment phase, and in the first turn it's easy enough to take the fortress. From there you have a nice little splinter in the French side to waggle around, and after a few turns you can really wrench it open. (Interestingly it is also possible to do this with Verdun, but it relies on exceptional luck from the artillery) The other thing I'd do, although I haven't tested this as much, is to try and draw out the British fleet into a major naval battle as early as possible. You will almost certainly lose- the British fleet is flatly superior, although not by much. However, in this west-first scenario you're going for a quick 'KO' and the detrimental NM impact of losing your fleet should hopefully be balanced out, and then some, by knocking out 80%+ of the British warships and preventing them from being able to put in place much, if any of a north Sea blockade. Seeing as this strategy involves attacking the south of the French line, I wouldn't bother with an invasion of Belgium initially. Rather, I'd wait until I had Belgium surrounded on both sides (some time in 1915) and then attack so that you can destroy all the troops in one swoop. This will also buy you a few extra turns without the Brits in the war.

Turn 17 Things are not going terribly well. Army Group North has experienced great tactical successes, but the fighting remains stuck in the mud. Ash's use of divisions to plug gaps in the line is buying him time, and very soon I'll have to cease hostilities to prepare for the winter event- Leningrad by Christmas is slipping out of reach. Even worse, our 12 strength Panzer corps in Army Group Centre was destroyed- out of supply. It was a terrible mistake that I recognised as soon as I did it (it happened a few turns ago- I pushed very far forward to attack a Soviet HQ but didn't anticipate the counter-attack). Ash lost about 25 light tank steps killing it, but he still comes out on top. That leaves just 4 panzer corps combined for the push on Kiev! Army Group South is continuing the long, slow push towards Kiev. Certainly it is a grim time for the German generals, and I expect the winter will give time for some serious soul-searching, about where it all went so wrong.

Turn 13 Army Group North was subject to some quite brutal counter-attacks by the Soviet light armour, forcing us back across the river and exposing our artillery. Fortunately, having had a turn to reinforce and recuperate, our own armour was ready to fight once again, and they struck with devastating force- 1 Soviet HQ destroyed and another brought down to below half strength (exact strength uncertain due to successful medium bombing attacks). This kind of blow, coupled with the pressure from Kuhler's advance to the north of Lake Peipas should hopefully force a mass withdrawal from the area and allow us to close in on Leningrad. My Panzers finish the turn in exposed positions, but I'm hoping that even spoiling attacks won't be able to do too much damage to them, as the light armour from the Soviets is very damaged. Army Group Center advanced with frightening efficiency, and now stand poised ready to take Chernihiv. These troops have had the easiest run of things so far, and have yet to really cut their teeth on Soviet armour. I expect that will soon change as I close on Kiev. I made some lightly aggressive moves to consolidate my position in the south- I don't want to lose the defensive line over the river Bug. With AGC closing on Kiev from the north, I'll be interested to see what Ash does next. He might fall back and split his southern force in two, with half going to Kiev and the other to Dnepropevrosk (as the plains here are so wide that a single line cannot be efficiently maintained), or, he could withdraw all his light armour and send it to clash with AGC before they reach the city, meanwhile trying to hold back my southern approach for long enough to hold Kiev until winter. He has options, and I'm going to have to react to them. With a bit of luck, I'm hoping I will reach Kiev with my veteran Pazners from AGC before he has time to make any big movements. There are probably only another 4 turns left of fighting before I need to start hunkering down for the winter. I don't know if I will be able to reach Leningrad in that time, unless I just removed some of the last HQ support in the region. I hope I'll be able to take Kiev though.