Franco- Prussian AAR

[Moltke_der_Elder]

This is the first Pride of Nations AAR you will see. It is drawn from the Franco-Prussian war scenario. It is just one of many scenarios proposed, and cover ONLY the military facet of the game. It is operational !

Here you won’t see the management of army building, the Austrian headache in composing his multi ethnic army with Rumanians, Czech and Serbs, the hardship of Russian Stavka to bring his numerous but slow army to the front without adequate rail supply, the management of British elite but small army and huge Royal Navy.

You won’t see the economic facet of game, economic growth, trade and social management. Neither will you see the rich colonial game, scramble for Africa, or Asian big game which Kipling song. The scientific progress and the most subtle diplomacy module you won’t see either ! You’ll discover it, and the need of managing each powers, with his unique characteristics and goals, one day, but later !

Today, you just have a hint of what is awaiting you – in just a scenario – only the military facet – to train you ! That’s the purpose of scenarios. They were devised to make training enjoyable ! Already look what you have !
French and Prussians can play this scenario. It’s a race against clock for Prussia. Gathering a stronger army than the French, with their excellent officers and general staff, is a given. Getting in Paris in time before French Défense Nationale government gather new armies and neutrals propose mediation (Bismarck’s nightmare) is another story. Often, result is a draw ; many a time, under clock pressure, Prussian forces launch a premature assault, ending in disaster for too far stretched and worn out troops. French side is more challenging. Prussia is the easiest side here, but it isn’t a cakewalk.

This game is reported deliberately from Prussian side, with a deliberate marked Prussian bias. If you want the French side of story, worthwhile, then play the French side ! enjoy !

August 1870-1

Alsace : 2d armee (3378 strength) under Friedrich-Karl and 3d armee under Friedrich-Wilhelm (2621 strength) face Mac Macon (2719, 3-4-0)

Friedrich-Karl (3-4-0) 2d armee is ready to action, no malus, I’ll try to reinforce her (2 command points unused)

Friedrich Wilhelm has a 35% malus, I intend to detach some corps to allow Friedrich Wilhelm to remove his malus

Would my armies being able to be activated, I could easily crush Mac Macon by taking offensive, as I enjoy a 2 :1 numbers superiority and Friedrich Karl is excellent in offence. Alas, in first turn, none is activated.

I detach Von der Thann and Kirchbach , with 1st and second Bavarian corps to Von der Thann (malus 15%) and 11th armee korps and 5th division to Kirchbach (malus 15% too),and send both to Saar where they’ll arrive in 7 days. Forces after this splitting are now 1264 for 3d armee, 1422 for Von Kirchbach (3-3-1) and 1321 for Von der Thann. (3-2-1). Splitting, while not optimised, provided a strong increase of total strength with malus decrease, from 2621 to a total of roughly 4 000. Of course, would those forces meet the excellent leader Mac Macon piecemeal, he’d beat them.

I hope being able to activate both Friedrich Karl and Friedrich Wilhelm next turn and assault Strasbourg, or attack Mac Macon if he stayed
Mac Macon is totally unpredictable , but he should withdraw to avoid being exterminated by superior forces ; If I’m lucky he’ll offer us a fight this doing, with superior or equal losses.

He could enter Strasbourg fortress, but is long term suicide,

or try to withdraw south, which is an excellent strategic move, as problem for Prussians isn’t strength, as they have twice French forces thanks to Prussian landwehr and conscription system, or command, as there’s the excellent Moltke, but timetable and logistics problems.

logistical bottlenecks may force Prussian to spend such time that they’ll not advance quickly enough to take both Paris and their other objectives, getting only a draw .

But he won’t have enough forces for a counter strike, and he will likely try to regroup with the main French body, presently in Metz under Canrobert (3-3-2) (3 380 strength) other generals and marshals are here too : Bazaine (2-2-2) Bourbaki (3-2-3), Ladmirault (3-2-2) and Frossart (3-1-1)

Saarland is defended by Steinmetz army (3-3-1 - 2 563 strength) besides Von der Thann and Kirchbach corps (as they’ll need only 7 days to get there, I hope getting enough cohesion recovery to have them ready for fight next turn), I send too the Feld reserve – 1750 force, Albert (3-3-2) and Georg Von Sachsen (2-2-1). Accompanied by Von Moltke (4-2-2) and his general staff.

Next turn, I hope having enough strength to move on Metz, or, failing that the turn after. Having key leaders non-activation would be disastrous for Prussians as would disrupt timetable.

As long as Prussian can move quickly, all is well, but transportation glut (too many troops concentrated in provinces), devastation (especially after a big fight) or need to recover cohesion can dramatically disrupt their fragile timetable. Last tuning raised considerably disruption level, turning Prussian cakewalk into a headache.

In anticipation of further need for supply, I instantly build a depot in Saar, will be badly needed.

Far from front, most German forces are locked; with only one exception, the Heimat reserve under Manteuffel (3-2-1, 1409 with 35% malus), I send it to Kassel towards the front full speed, and will detach a corps and several divisions to redeploy them more quickly in Saarland. Not only it will speed them up to front, but also it will reduce malus for forces left behind

All my forces are set to defensive (no way to activate a single one in offence) with standard defence.

I give the last orders, and watch what Mac Macon did.

[Moltke_der_Elder]

August 1870-1

Against all expectations, Mac Macon stayed in Alsace, which is excellent news, in a typical Moltke fashion, I’ll search the decisive battle he offered me on a plate.

Moltke, Von Der Thann, Friedrich Karl and Friedrich Wilhelm can be activated, the other ones, Albert and Steinmetz can’t

I reorganise Saarland German troops. All corps commanders but Von der Thann join Moltke, who gets other armies artillery too. The Prussian Schwerpunkt, und Moltke, now amounts to 5412 and will enter Lorraine in 5 days. He’ll confront main French army, under Bazaine, 2999 only. Bazaine incompetence, Prussian numbers and offensive qualities of corps leaders should guarantee a victory, or at least even losses.

French can hardly afford strong even losses. Bazaine will either look for the protection of Metz fortress, in which case he’s doomed to surrender in the long term, or withdraw with strong loss of cohesion.

Albert and Steinmetz follow. Von der Thann will stay there, and attack any forces entering Saarland, as well as the French cavalry party who entered there.

In Alsace, fight will be somehow harder. 5000 Prussians on the offence confront 2700 French under Mac Macon (in company of Canrobert and Failly), whose attitude is unknown.

Problem is supply, if Prussians don’t take quickly control of Alsace, supply problems will likely become very huge. Es meint assault ! But assault may prove very costful in Prussian losses if Mac Macon get shelter in Strassburg. My bet is Mac Macon will try to evacuate or go to offence. Alone, Strassburg defenders should fall. Like Lorraine, Alsace will be devastated, but full control of area will allow building a depot there.

In rear, new reinforcements arrived, Von Bonin corps will be in Saar in 11 days. Manteuffel will arrive in Pfalz in 2 weeks, certainly needing half a month to recover cohesion. In absence of new forces unlocked (some battles and victories will be needed, 2d infantry division is redeployed into Saar.

[Moltke_der_Elder]

September 1870-1

Amazing – Wunderbar ! – the French made a stand and fought everywhere – and they were duly crushed. Bazaine army, badly mauled by Von Moltke, is back to strength inferior to 2000. Mac Macon army beaten in Alsace, retreated to Saar, where she was routed by Von der Thann, and routed again by Friedrich-Karl. Und post vernichtet ! dasz ist die groszte Preussige Sieg since Waterloo. Hurrah fur der König ! Nach Paris !

[SIZE="5"]Schlacht bei Saarbrucken, Schlacht bei Strassburg, Schlacht bei Metz [/size]: look by yourself – account of battle is clear enough ! look at troops in line, losses, and details ! I won’t comment! Gott ist mit uns, Er straft diese revoluzionar und godless nation !

Never since unsere Kriegspiele mit mein Chief of Staff Verdy du Vernois - I test the scenario - did I see French troops make such a stand. Several times, under time pressure, did I launch insufficient prepared assaults and did "Mac Macon" beat me.

By confronting Prussian army so early, French lose any ability to really delay the march on Paris now, as a single army will now be more than sufficient to screen French remnants.

The main Prussian Armee, unter Moltke, reorganisiert, will directly assault Bazaine towards Epinal. Another assault will take place to make Metz, defenceless, which will fall. Other armies will immediately advance towards Champagne and a secondary thrust nach Sedan. Champagne especially is a vital strategic crossroad of supply dispatching. Our troops must besiege and take Paris before Loire army reinforces garrison.

Badly shaken and depleted units will be put under the command of an inactivated prince and put in rest position, to resupply in reinforcements as soon as possible. This rotation should prevent disappearance of full units.

In spite of Mac Macon almost annihilation, Strasbourg poses another problem. Army was set in offensive, not assault, and, like Metz, Strasbourg still stand, and with a garrison. German units here should come out of supply in short order.

Alsace must be quickly supplied from palatinate and Baden. Strasbourg must be assaulted but I expect very severe losses, and only overwhelming superiority in numbers makes me anticipate a success. Still assault is necessary to guarantee supply to my troops, in Alsace, there is no back down, either glorious death in victorious battle or miserable death by starvation.

[SIZE="4"]Vorwärts ![/size]

[OneArmedMexican]

If I may make a suggestion: Why don't you upload your screenshots in the jpg format to this side instead of packing them into zip files? It would make your AAR a lot more visually appealing!

It's a basic rule of advertisement: Endless text doesn't sell, shiny pictures do! And isn't advertisement for AGEOD's next big title the purpose of your AAR?

[ambien]

now that's the prussian martial spirit we all love to see! haven't seen a german that excited by military conquest in quite some time...

[OneArmedMexican]

now that's the prussian martial spirit we all love to see! haven't seen a german that excited by military conquest in quite some time...

I am pretty sure the poster isn't actually German. His German is actually quite bad. Still the enthusiasm makes for a very interesting AAR.

Thanks for uploading the pictures.

[V for Vegas]

I agree with one armed mexican that this AAR is not doing a good job at selling the game.

1. The AAR is aimed at an english speaking audience, but is written by someone whose first language is not english. This makes it difficult to follow. The insertion of random german words makes it even harder to follow.

2. Screen shots are not in the body of the text where it would be easier to link what is being written about and the game.

3. There are not enough screen shots.

4. There are no defiintions of terms. What is 'malus'? What are the numbers after generals names (3-4-0)? What is 'activated'? How do logisitics work? What is the difference between offensive and assault? What is cohesion? etc etc.

I appreciate that a beta tester is putting together an AAR to allow people to check out the game, but I would suggest he read some of the developer AAR's that Paradox do, they are quite good at explaining game concepts as they play through short scenarios.

[Generalisimo]

1. The AAR is aimed at an english speaking audience, but is written by someone whose first language is not english. This makes it difficult to follow. The insertion of random german words makes it even harder to follow.

Well, the beta is trying to give you some info about the game, so you can see some preview... it may not be perfect, but at least give some value to his work.

2. Screen shots are not in the body of the text where it would be easier to link what is being written about and the game.

I have now explained to him how to do that... so, I supose he will edit his post when he comes back.

3. There are not enough screen shots.

You just can't please everyone!

4. There are no defiintions of terms. What is 'malus'? What are the numbers after generals names (3-4-0)? What is 'activated'? How do logisitics work? What is the difference between offensive and assault? What is cohesion? etc etc.

Well, probably you should need to be more familiar with the AGE engine... let me explain in some quick lines (later when you read the manual, everything will come togheter much better ).
-A malus, by definition, is the contrary of a bonus.
-The numbers after the name of the general are his ratings: strategic/offensive/deffensive. You can read in the Wiki how each rating affects the development of the leader when he is in action.
-An active commander can issue attack orders to the men under his command... on the other hand, an inactive one cannot (apart from other "maluses" ). That's to represent that military leaders were not always "ready to fight". A leader with a higher strategic rating, has a higher change to be active.

I appreciate that a beta tester is putting together an AAR to allow people to check out the game, but I would suggest he read some of the developer AAR's that Paradox do, they are quite good at explaining game concepts as they play through short scenarios.

Later, when we are more near the release date, you will get some Preview AAR like the one you suggested... but like I said before, give this guy some credit, he is "wasting" his time to give you a preview of the game.

You need to be more patient... for example, in here you can read a Preview AAR of the previous Paradox France game, Rise of Prussia:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?462582-Running-the-gauntlet-A-Rise-of-Prussia-Review-AAR

[Ebbingford]

Shouldn't it say under his name that he is also a PoN Beta?
It would make it appear more "official" than it does at the moment.

[OneArmedMexican]

I agree with one armed mexican that this AAR is not doing a good job at selling the game.

You really misunderstood me here. I think the beta tester is doing a nice job! It's not easy to write a good AAR, especially if English isn't your native language. I think he is doing an admirably.

1. The AAR is aimed at an english speaking audience, but is written by someone whose first language is not english. This makes it difficult to follow. The insertion of random german words makes it even harder to follow.

Come on, his English is quite decent. Be happy that he goes through the trouble and lets us look over his shoulders.
My remark on language only concerned the fact that his German is not good which really is no big bother.

[Moltke_der_Elder]

der AAR ist eingefroren, derzeit

the AAR is frozen for time being

you will be kept infomed