AAR - "1914: Call to Arms" (Entente) - Battle of the Newbies!

[Will95]

Turn 20

Well, not a whole lot of developments this turn.

The remnants of the Germany and Austrian navies are being mopped up as we speak. Battleships and cruisers speed down the coast unopposed looking for any ships they may have missed, and the great game of Sub Hunt continues around Ireland.

The unrestricted naval warfare is having a bit of an impact on British morale, but not nearly as much as the near-total annihilation of the Central Powers navies is having on Germany and Austria. Even better, the USA is almost at 50% mobilization. If we can at a bare minimum hold the line in the Western front until the USA arrives, we should be sitting pretty. Diplomatic efforts are being concentrated on pushing it into the war for the summer of 1916.

On the eastern front, things are messy as ever. I call this the 'tactical retreat'- we gather our forces along the rivers and prepare for the coming swarm of Germans.

The northern pocket is in dire straits though. Units are scattering for shelter and we will probably lose Konigsberg before the year is out. I'm going to try and regroup at the rivers but my opponent has a massive amount of artillery that apparently never runs out of shells.

I realised almost as I wrote it that Operation Meatball isn't really going to be feasible The cost is simply prohibitive for a proper land-sea invasion. Instead, I'm saving Italian MPP's until I can afford some artillery, and that will have to do. It's still just detachments I'm dealing with here, albiet dug in detachments, so it shouldn't be too hard to deal with. Especially as the last of the Austrian subs are about to get wiped out and we will begin to shell the cities along the coast unmolested.

Russians reached a new level of entrenchment tech this turn, phew- it might just save their asses for a little while longer.

[Will95]

Turn 21

The eastern front continues to show signs of cracking. The Germans are just pouring in now, but there are two spots of light at the end of the tunnel; reserves are arriving (purchased some months ago) including a new HQ to replace the many, many losses, and the enemy forces are getting tired; running low on supply and morale due to the constant zerg attacks. We have enough troops to form a new front line and start holding a more concrete front line.

I've called it way too earlier in the past, even prophesising that it would fall in 1914...but Serbia is finally going down by the head. Two corps remain, but they are really speedbumps rather than obstacles for my opponent.

True (ish) to history though, it is the western front that is going to start showing positive signs of life for the British and French forces soon however. Kitchener's army is fully formed now and swelling at the seams. British artillery tech hit this turn so we can, at long last, start knocking down the German fortresses. Down in the South, detachments are being run to the front from the Prussian lines to hold me back- this is a good sign that the enemy is weak here. The French artillery is now upgrade and the assault on Strasbourg can begin in earnest shortly, as soon as I have upgraded all the necessary French infantry.

[Will95]

Turn 22

Christmas is here!

This year the Tommies and the Frenchies got brand new rifles from Santa, and almost the entire front line is now either a leg up or on equal terms with the German infantry facing them in the trenches. Better yet, both the British and French artillery is now upgraded and ready to fire. The great western front deadlock will soon be broken, punctuated by the sounds of gunfire and heavy batteries. Strasbourg is the main objective in the south, but the north is more general. There appears to be only one single line of infantry so we're going to pick the weakest and hammer him before smashing through. I highly doubt my opponent will have enough resources to plug gaps in both the north and south.

The eastern front is finally stabilising. The double line of upgraded Russian infantry at the river is just about enough to stem the tide.

Over on the Italian front it's Operation Half-Meatball. Although I can't afford to send over a whole army, I can afford to send 1 corps. I chose the highest morale unit and prepped them for an amphibious landing. Their objective is simple- destroy the remnants of the Austrian navy in dock, and retreat over the sea.

[Will95]

Turn 23

No pictures this time as not much is happening. Snow across the western front gives me time to move more corps into position. As soon as the snow clears we will have 9 shells a piece for the British and French artillery- the assault will then begin.

The eastern front is still a mess, with more Austrians popping out of the woodwork than ever before. A second artillery unit was operated from the Turkish front to assist with defensive battery fire.

Operation Half-Meatball was begun with a corps landing across the sea at Pula, destroying the battleship in dock. Next turn we will see about that cruiser, then extract. More u-boats were sunk and the remnants of the Central Powers navy is just about finished. A few subs popped up in the North Sea to annoy my blockade but they are so few and so weak now that they will be easily dealt with. All CP ports are blockaded so they have no chance of repair.

The British had two major events this turn- conscription was introduced, and we hit infantry tech level 2. A new infantry tech level this early will surely give us a huge advantage when we smash through the north of France, and I have decided it would be a waste to attack before our front line troops are properly equipped. The tech advantage will not last for long so we will make hay while the sun shines.

[Will95]

Turn 24

Spring has arrived, the offensive begins!

Strasbourg fell under sustained French artillery fire and the corps was destroyed. Another nearby German corps was destroyed by the follow up troops. Without the time to entrench, it's possible that my opponent will be able to strike back in his turn to take it back, but it will cost him unless he has artillery support. However, with 2 corps down and the weight of the French line pressing behind Strasbourg, we can finally begin to advance the line. In the north the British gunners stand idyll for another turn while we upgrade our troops. Giving our troops the edge over the Germans currently holding the line will not just facilitate the breaking of the line, but it's utter demolition. The fact that my opponent has not retreated suggests he is ignorant to the sheer force I have massing.

The Italian corps advance. The Half Meatball corps succeeded in taking out the cruiser sitting in dock, although a submarine has moved in next to it- easy pickings next turn.

The eastern front was also full of pleasant surprised this turn. My opponent, no doubt full of hubris from his latest gains, surged forward out of his trenches towards my dug in Russians. I opened up with my (now 2) artillery batteries on two separate corps and destroyed them utterly, sustaining few losses and moving the weaker corps the the middle of the line where they will be out of harms way for next turn. I have operated the level 8 HQ from the Ottoman front to facilitate a possible counter offensive, and this summer, as long as we can hold out, the Russkies will receive several brand new, upgraded corps. Russia has taken a beating, but it is far from out of the game yet!

The one slight irritation is that the Western offensive at Strasbourg reminded me of how long I will have to wait for the shells to pull off a similar move in the future- I will seek to invest heavily in gas/shell production for the remainder of this year. It's especially crucial as I ordered up a fresh artillery piece for the French advance- with two upgraded and well supplied artillery pieces blowing away the Western front, 1916 could well prove to be a very good year for the Entente.

At sea a few sneaky subs have been trying to make their way back to port. My destroyers are intercepting and damaging them, but not destroying them- it is of little consequence though; almost the entire Central Powers navy has now been obliterated and every supply route to Germany has been blockaded.

[Will95]

Eek! The game has absorbed me sufficiently- I haven't been updating the AAR!

Turn 27- Well, let's bring you up to speed on things......

Honestly, not much has _really_ happened since, but lets take a look at what has changed.

On the western front, things are looking very bright for the Entente. With the fall of Strasbourg, French lines advanced. I was loathe to move up my troops in the immediate aftermath of the capture, but the defensive German line behind it I noticed was low on readiness and supply- I expect some of them may have been force marched. At any rate, I felt it relatively safe to move my French line up to match our recent takings.

In the north, my patience finally ran out- the artillery support was enough and I started the advance last turn with a destruction of a vetted German corps, trying to conserve shells wherever possible. We advanced, the Germans retreated across the river, and I used my saved shells (3 of them out of the 5 or so I had saved) to hammer the Hun one turn further, destroying another corps to little losses. We moved up and found a recon bomber squadron who were lucky to escape with their lives. More British conscripts arrive every week and the British army is now quite large- even better, we reached a new level of artillery tech, so perhaps that gas and shell production won't be quite so urgently needed after all!

With the Atlantic now clear of all enemy naval activity we were free to open up the guns from the battleships onto coastal corps too, perfect for facilitating an attack with minimal losses. Speaking of the German navy, a few nasty subs that managed to slip the net have been making a nuisance of themselves, damaging some warships. However, I vastly outnumber them with my destroyers and next turn I will have destroyed them all, and any that are left will be blocked into their own ports.

France has also been picking up production lately, probably aided by all the French territory we've been reclaiming. I have used this opportunity to start creating new machines of war- tanks! Two tank battalions are due to arrive in the autumn, and if my opponent is getting too comfortable with nothing but corps and artillery he's got some nasty surprises in store.

Over on the Eastern front, things remain complicated as always. The northern segment of the Russian army continues to retreat, afraid to give battle to superior German infantry and artillery support that is never far behind. I have finally reached a river and a city which I will attempt to hold until support can be sent.

The bulk of the action happens further south, where a combined force of Austrians and Germans is pushing the Russian line. We lost an artillery unit, foolishly too close to the front line, but other than that things are stable. We aren't in the position to do much damage to the enemy at this point, but gracefully, neither are they to us. To facilitate a bit of a counter-attack, we continue to invest heavily in Russian unit production, and our first tank corps will be arriving in the autumn.

Serbia and Montenegro are now out of the war having been decisively conquered by Austrian forces. Italian battleships continue to shell their coastal positions though, doing good strength and morale damage to any units they can find.

The Italian front was going rather swimmingly and Operation Half-Meatball was a resounding success, with the last of the Austrian subs sheltering in port destroyed. However, the brave corps sent to carry out the mission seems unable to swim back across the bay, and will be eventually destroyed. It is a relatively small price to pay for the destroyer, cruiser and submarine they personally ended in the Austrian ports.

More worryingly is the large advancing Austrian army, now packing level 2 infantry, encroaching on the Italian trenches. We have ordered up some artillery for them but it won't arrive for some time. They're just going to have to weather the storm and tactically retreat where viable until such time as they can be relieved with some guns of their own.

Down at the Ottoman end of things there's not much- a little skirmishing over water, but no major moves. Partisans continue to be a nuisance but nothing more.

Diplomacy and NM-wise, things are still looking positive for the Entente. The US continues to edge closer to the war, with near 50% mobilization. I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do (if anything) with all the MPP they've been accumulating all this time as their industry grows for war, so I splurged a bit and prepared them something of an army for when they eventually enter. The destruction of the German navy was rather a mixed blessing- the lack of unrestricted naval warfare means US merchantmen are getting to the UK unmolested, and President Wilson remains dogmatically neutral. British and French NM has been edging south as the war drags on, but we are aiming to rectify that with some nice future gains on the Western Front. On the plus side, it's still much higher than that of Germany, and about equal with that of Austria, who, on the whole, has had a very good war to date.

Plans for the rest of the fighting year are simple;

- Continue pushing the weak Western Front with British army; probe more cautiously at the heavily defended southern/French end

- Hold out in Russia until artillery arrives and/or winter comes

- Suck up as many CP resources in a war with Italy as possible

- Get as many tanks as possible and begin investing in tank technology to add a new element to our armies on all fronts

[Will95]

Turn 28

This turn was mainly manouvering but we had some nice wins and a few regrettable losses.

First, to the ever interesting Western Front. I reinforced my British units damaged from the fighting last turn and upgraded my artillery. Without any German artillery in this sector to fight back with, the German line is going to start cracking heavily. German reinforcements have arrived but we still have the technological and numerical advantage. Further south the French have a bit of a harder time ahead of them as intel reveals no less than two heavy artillery pieces behind the German lines. We dig in and prepare. However, the French also recieved an additional arty piece this turn, to a total of two. With the gas and shell production improvements from last turn, we have quite a fearsome artillery power here. My objectives here are twofold; hold Strasbourg, or continue pushing if the German units continue to wallow in low supply, and assault Metz once again. With an entrenchment value of 10 it's going to be very tough to crack, but it'll be worth it to have a front line fortress again.

The Russians in the northern pocket launched something of a counter-offensive, but defensive battery fire from the German lines prevented us doing much more than hurting ourselves. If this line falls we're in real danger of losing quite a lot of norther territory, so future reinforcements will be diverted here, including the tank corps due to arrive in a few months.

My opponent further south is trying to flank the trenches, but it's leaving him stretched quite thin as a result. Russian artillery technology finally kicked in at the end of this turn so we can finally start hitting back.

On the Italian front we're making tactical retreats where necessary, but otherwise not much is happening here. The Austrian submarine in port was put out of it's misery.

Speaking of which, another German sub went down in the North Sea after getting trapped in a Netherlands port. A German destroyer sheltering in a harbour in the Baltic was destroyed by Russian subs. We are very close to having complete naval dominance, and every possible CP port is now blockaded.

We invested a British chit into further persuading the USA to enter the war, and Portugal edges ever closer to intervention. Ottomans closed in on Basra but met stiff resistance from my entrenched detachment- luckily they will soon be relieved by a corps + HQ in the coming turns courtesy of an event cue.

All in all, a fine turn, but it's next turn to keep a watch on. The British advance will continue, and we may even be able to destroy more than one corps if we use the shells well, now that they have upgraded. I also have a freshly formed Corps at Dover which I am considering using in a more creative fashion- an amphibious landing behind the German lines to take out the extremely low morale German unit plugging the gap at the northernmost point.

[Will95]

Turn 29

Some nice safe victories this turn.

First, to the Western Front where you will see a gap on the British-German front where there used to be a German unit; sustained artillery fire and a quick bit of skirmishing saw the end of yet another German corps on this front. Apparently my opponent is feeling a little pressured here because he appears to have operated a couple of Austrian troops up to this line, but it's not much of an issue unless they also brought an HQ with them.

Down in the southern end of the front, I made the significant decision of retreating from Strasbourg. My opponent made a slightly strange move in his turn- a show of force with his two artillery batteries, spreading damage across the two entrenched units either side of the city itself. This either means my opponent foolishly realised his troops were too damaged to mount an attack, or his gas and shell production is through the roof and he can simply afford to 'flare off' his spare ammunition. I took the safe route and decided on the worst case scenario and retreated from the city. This now presents a predicament for both myself and my opponent- as soon as either of us moves up, we will not have a chance to entrench before the opponent opens up a barrage. As such, I expect the 'Strasbourg line' to turn into something of a no-mans land. My attentions are now turning to Metz.

I've not included a picture of the Eastern Front as it's so static this turn, although the Russians got their second level of infantry tech at the end of this turn so we can finally gain a bit of aggressive potential. That, combined with the tank corps arriving in the winter, should make for a more pleasant 1917 than what has generally been a miserable year for the Russkies.

The Italian front is interesting, and a bit of a mixed bag (although mostly bad). The Austrians infantry is far, far, far superior to the Italians and blitzed through no less than 2 corps before stopping for a tea break. The amount of force being used here rather makes me think of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but I suppose that was my aim all along- to suck resources away from the Eastern, and more importantly Western, fronts. The corps in charge of Operation Half-Meatball, condemned to death, found that as the Italian ships had managed to occupy the ports at Pula, they were able to transport themselves back across the bay, hooray! The unit is now quite heavily vetted from all the naval units it's been killing

Italians hit their first level of infantry tech at the end of this turn though, so things are not over yet. Also, artillery is arriving in the autumn.

At sea another weak German destroyer was sunk, and my submarines now turn their attentions to the last ship in the German navy- an aircraft carrier. It shouldn't take too long before all the Hun has left is a couple of subs.

[Will95]

Turn 30

Excellent stuff this turn!

My opponent fell right into the trap on the Western Front. Oh, how I can only imagine the German commanders tittering as they laughed at the French incompetence as they hastily withdrew from Strasbourg just a week after taking it....and...what....what's this? Artillery? Thousands of full strength corps?! The French corps surged out of their trenches and attacked the vulnerable and un-entrenched Germany infantry, supported by a devastating artillery barrage overhead that we spread across three separate corps. Together, three upgraded German corps were annihilated and the middle of the enemy line was opened up like a gaping wound. A British cavalry unit moved forward to retake the city of Strasbourg, it's inhabitants glad to be back in Entente hands, and attacked an artillery unit now left exposed. My opponent is now left with 2 choices- pull back the line, or face the destruction of his artillery. Any manouvering to let his corps deal with the cavalry would result in leaving other areas of the line exposed as well as the attack-move disadvantage.

The British sector stayed quiet this turn as we recover shells. We have now invested 3 chits into gas/shell production, so hopefully we can kick the offensive up a gear before winter arrives.

Fighting amongst the Italian mountains was brutal as usual, but rather static. The isolated unit was destroyed and there isn't a whole lot of Italian army left.

We began rolling out infantry improvements across the eastern front this turn, but otherwise there wasn't much movement. The northern pocked was virtually wiped out and the city was taken. In an attempt to cut my losses, I'm taking what is left of the army and heading south to meet up with the larger army group. The north is now entirely exposed but there's nothing to be done about it. Conscription in the Russian heartland has yielded 2 fresh corps at Moscow which will operate to the front next turn.

No technology improvements this turn, although I forgot to mention that Portugal has now joined the Entente. They don't have much in the way of useful assets to offer, but another cruiser to add to the already dominant navy is never a bad thing.

We have taken out another British diplomacy chit into persuading the USA to our way of thinking- they are almost at 50% mobilization.

[Will95]

Turn 31

Metz is ours once again! Yes, yes, smells....musty. French. Very French smell. Garlicy.

A sustained barrage from the second artillery piece took down the entrenchments at the fortress allowing the corps inside to be destroyed with relative ease. A front line fortress on the ever-bloody western front is always welcome. Further south at Strasbourg, our opponent hit back with some artillery of his own, killing 2 French corps and the British cavalry.

Further up the line the British advance was halted by bad weather. We decided to wait another turn before unleashing the big guns so that the bombers and airships could join in on the fun.

Eastern front dull as usual.

We mounted a defense at the river in Italy, hoping that between the natural obstacles and the off-shore bombardments we can hold out...just a little while longer until the artillery arrives, although with retrospect, a tank or two might've been more appropriate.

The second gas/shell production upgrade kicked in for the Brits, and we continued to invest in the USA's involvement in the war.

[Will95]

Turn 32

No pictures and not much movement of interest, so I'll be brief.

The British got fed up with the bad weather and the commanders ordered an immediate march forwards. We damaged an enemy corps, forcing it to retreat, and advanced another unit up to the front line. The enemy may have a chance to punish us for this move, but hopefully his units are too low on readiness for such a move.

On the Eastern front we operated our two conscripted units to the front. That, combined with more troops rolling off the production line and a tank corps this winter, might see us regaining some lost territory.

On the Italian front we're getting a bit smashed in, and there's very little we can do about it. I cannot afford to send French support, so once again we find ourselves on the soft retreat.

[Will95]

Turn 33

On the Western Front, Metz was lost.

But then we took it back! Metz really turning into quite the bloodbath, as neither side can get comfy enough once inside to make use of all the lovely defences. The German corps inside was destroyed.

Further up the line, coastal shelling took all the supply out of the town, and took the fighting spirit out of the German corps silly enough to plant themselves near the beaches. We lost that British corps that was moved up, as expected, but he took down many a German with him to the extent that the rest of the line can now be moved up in relative safety. The artillery batteries advance, and we prepare to unleash another assault next turn.

Strasbourg sits idle- I think I am beginning to understand the concept of no-mans land!

The Italian front speaks for itself, it's just too sad to even describe.

Things are a bit nicer on the Eastern Front however, because even though Russia has taken a beating in the last 12 months, she is finally beginning to regain some of that former glory. Within the next month we have several corps and a tank battalion arriving to start the great counterattack for the Tsar!

Italians hit a new level of entrenchment technology at the end of this turn, and who knows, maybe they might live long enough to get to use it. We upgraded our French fighters with a new stripe to help them combat the German airships.

[Bill101]

I wonder, will some of the B.E.F. in France be sent to help their Italian allies?

[Will95]

No!

I certainly can't spare any Frenchmen and while I theoretically might be able to spare some men from the BEF, there's simply too much Austrian firepower in Italy- to fight at least 8 level 2 corps, a few detachments and an artillery piece I'd need at least the same, which would mean sending most of the British army.

This turn was really just more of the same, although Russia hit back hard at 2 German cops, courtesy of some supporting fire from artillery. They were both heavily weakened but unfortunately lived to fight another day, retreating to the rear.

The British advanced the line, we wait another turn for the shells to devastate the German line once again. With 8 shells, we should be able to take out at least 1 corps with ease.

Once again, it all comes down to a matter of time- throughout the next 3 months Britain, France and Russia will be the recipients of some seriously heavy equipment, ranging from new artillery pieces to tank corps. Most of Russia's spare MPP continues to be spent on reforming destroyed corps.

No pictures this time as not much is happening, but I think next turn will provide quite a bit of entertainment- particularly if Italy is knocked out.

[Will95]

Turn 36

Bit of a reverse to the status quo this turn- at the Russian end of things events were mainly positive, while a bit more sour on the western front.

On the Western front the British artillery hit a German corps hard but despite taking and giving plenty of damage, the enemy unit retreated to safety. A small victory but one which cost us a pretty penny too. This bad weather is really cramping my style- not being able to use my bombers or warships is a real pain.

Down South at Strasbourg things are getting a little hairy, with two French corps almost brought to destruction. We hit back and destroyed a German corps in its entirety, leaving the city empty once again.

Italy is horrible. Eugh. The remaining corps fell and there isn't much to prevent the enemy just running rampant. I have a couple of tricks still up my sleeve but I won't screenshot it to avoid being egg-faced later

The Russian front, as stated, was largely pleasant. Although we lost a corps to the enemy during the previous turn, we hit back destroying no less than two upgraded German corps, leaving the rest of the enemy front line fighting troops in poor condition. Mother Russia's economy remains stubbornly massive despite the losses incurred and we continue to replace all lost corps, and more.

And the big news.....tanks are finally here! The French recieved their first working prototypes, as did the Russians. The French still have more to come over the next few weeks, and the Russian trenches are about to be filled with a dearth of Corps. Besides the problems in Italy, things are looking swell!

Even better, the French finally hit their second level of infantry tech. It's taken a while, but this is really going to add insult to injury to the weak German forces on the Western front. The British reached a new level of entrenchment, yay.

[Sapare]

My advice, start investing into infantry warefare earlier rather then later.(get 2 chips in as soon as possible without it greatly harming your war effort, this is for start of matches)

And also, remember that English and French units are better then Austrian troops(at base 1 upgrade higher) so they could have helped out when Itally was falling apart(too late now though)

[Strategiclayabout]

- You can only invest 1 chit in infantry at any time, otherwise I agree again with Sapare, italian front has good defense positions with rivers and mountains: at the narrowest point north of Venice, you only need two units to hold the front.

- I think sending some Brits and their better stats there to slow down Austrians would have been worth it, letting italian forces grow enough (infantry tech 1, better entrenchments, arty, more units) to stand by themselves.

- Well, you made a strategic choice to keep pounding in the West so it can't be helped but at some point you'll have to divert some troops down there to guard the Alps (or try something bold ) anyway.

[Sapare]

- You can only invest 1 chit in infantry at any time.

What? I have not played any of the newer versions of 1914(but about to) but this did not used to be, are you sure?

[Will95]

Yeah that's right, I think I read somewhere that it's a balance mechanism so the big economies ie Germany/Russia don't suddenly start hitting vanilla units with level 2's.

And yeah, I really ****ed up the Italian front, what can I say

I think because of our inexperience re: teching the reason we've both not really broadened our investments past the obvious ones is that in the strategy guide it recommends trench warfare as a priority so I think we just both ended up spamming loads into trenches, so by 1915 we were all hunkered down but with no artillery to break the deadlock.

[Will95]

Turn 37

No pictures this time as it's winter and winter sucks.

The Western front was pretty stagnant, although the British launched a devastating attack on one corps, taking it down to a single step. Thanks to the advice recieved by the British lieutenants on the front line by the London generals, we began reinforcing our artillery.

Down on the southern, French end of things we're going tit for tat once again, but no major losses. The first French tank creeps towards the front line.

In Italy, a French corps and Franch tank battalion have been sent to stop the whole country from imploding. More corps arrived and the detachment at Rome prepares for battle.

On the Russian front our new tanks creep towards the front line, and a German corps was destroyed for few losses. Mother Russia's army is set to grow enormously in the opening months of 1917, this may be the year of the comeback!

[Strategiclayabout]

What? I have not played any of the newer versions of 1914(but about to) but this did not used to be, are you sure?

- Yep it was introduced to avoid Germany rampaging in the East with level 2 infantry units. You can have an idea in this AAR where Austria has lvl 2 and Italy 0, just imagine German units there with their base stat advantage and it becomes UGLY .

- If I remember, the other point was also to have a more progressive/historical line for infantry equipment, if people were able to put 2 or 3 chits, flamethrowers, new machine guns, rifles, von Hutier tactics (and shiny new unit icons ) whould appear years before they actually have.

- It also "forced" players to redirect the MPPs/chits everyone invested there at start (no brainer) to other usually neglected research fields. With 125 MPPs you have one more chit in industry or arty, but you can also combine a 75 chit with a 50 one to vary your tech strategy in cheaper areas .

[Will95]

Turn 38

Russia fights back. We deployed 4 corps in various locations across the motherland; the main front is now quite stable, so 3 of them were deployed to the north to take back all the lost territory. One German corps and one German cav has been isolated and will be shortly destroyed.

The snow however prevented us from doing much on the main front.

On the Western front we lost an elite artillery unit and two French corps- not good. Two german artillery units are pounding the front line, so while he's distracted further south it sounds like we ought to make a play for Metz again!

In Italy reserve Serbian corps were called up and will join the defense of Rome. In the west French tanks and infantry are en route to support the last of the main Italian fighting force, hoping to take advantage of the enemy's low morale from all the fighting and movement.

[Sapare]

On a side note to the research change. I think that was a good change. I was never really in favor of the whole teching infantry super quickly but it was kinda a must.

On the note of the AAR, while some might disagree I would also argue that you invested too much into deplomacy.(unless it saw radical changes from when I last played) Deplomacy is really not super usefull/relevant/efficent in this game in most cases because nations which are neutral(swiss, denmark) will near always stay neutral or only join 1917/1918 when they are alrady useless, and nations which will join the war can often only be slowed/sped up by a few turns because they all have a set "time" trigger which from that turn on will increase war readiness every turn.

The only time Deplo is usefull is for Netherlands(even norward/Sweden is more investment then gain, though Norway can be done, but only a few chips). And if you go for Deplo on netherlands I would do it kinda off the side, not invest a lot of points in one turn.

Also on tanks, make sure where you are using them. they CAN be devestating(though never as much as you expect them to) but only on compleetly open field. If you are anywhere ells they are more roadblocks, the enemy will have a really tough time to kill it with infantry no matter what. They are also supper vunerable to heavy gun fire so try to keep them out of range of those

[Will95]

Cheers for those tips, I got a chance to use the tanks for good effect in the last few turns!

Turn 39

The Western Front opened with a strong push from the Germans in the South around Verdun and Strasbourg. There's a lot of enemy Corps in this sector now that the minor Entente nations are mainly out of play, so the momentum is pretty tough to deal with. Luckily, our upgraded artillery was in a good position to fire back, and we destroyed 2 of the advancing corps. Further north the British artillery facilitated a relatively straightforward destruction of yet another corps; unless German artillery is redirected to this sector, the slow breakdown of this army will be systematically enacted through the rest of 1917. Another corps of conscripts has been formed to help out.

In Italy, our besieged corps, with some French help, hit back at the Austrian attackers doing some decent damage, but no corps were destroyed. Lighter German recon units are pushing South into the 'boot', but it appears the main body of the army is moving West- more French units are being produced to help plug the gap and prevent a flank on the main Western Front.

Russian corps destroyed another enemy unit on the Eastern Front, and the tanks rolled into position for a strike in the coming weeks. It also seems my opponent has finally cottoned on to the lack of Russian support along the southern Austrian fort line and a large force has appeared- the Russian corps are retreating to stand at the nearest river.

Up in the north there's various skirmishing, but bad weather means few losses and few kills for either side.

No tech came through this turn, and there's been no diplomacy for a while. Elsewhere things are quiet, although Partisan activity continues to be a pain for both myself and my opponent.

[Wodin]

Hmmm..not sure how realistic that is for WW1 Inf not being able to take out tanks. Many reports of German MG fire alone penetrating a tank or causing severe spalling and wounding the crew. They started sawing off the end of the bullets which was said to make them pierce the armour..this was considered abit of a battlefield myth in later years..until test recently showed that yes bullets fired by a German MG and even from a rifle which had the end sawn off penetrated the tank armour..the Germans started doing this not long after Tanks hit the battlefield..