AGEOD Forums

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone has any good ideas on invading Serbia as (primarily) Austria. I know it's not "good strategy," but I want to try the AH warplan with the focus on Serbia (Conrad?).

My thoughts are keeping a holding, artillery-heavy force across from Belgrade, while I send a big flanking army along the railroad in north-eastern Serbia; and a smaller flanking attack through the mountains in west/south Serbia. I think attrition will be pretty bad on both flanks, though. And the Russians will be a handful.....but I want to try the challenge.

Has anyone had any luck with that warplan? Any tips or adivce? Thanks!


Bargus

I only play pbem so if this is a game versus AI the experience may not be the same.
As the Central power I always take out Serbia first. The historical plan means likely a year before you can do it. The Conrad plan is risky, as you say, but totally worth attempting. I have had success with this as you can get a quick 'win' taking the capital and then only need a very small force to complete the reduction of the Serbs before Britain and France can intervene.
But you will lose some territory to an aggressive Russia. This is not a bad thing as it is all mountainous terrain and easy to defend.

Artillery helps a lot. The Serbs barely have any so the firepower advantage is greatly enhanced with a few pieces of Medium or Heavy artillery. That, and keeping up the pressure, should do the trick, the Serbs don't have the staying power to hold off the CP once they begin coordinating their forces.

But to Durk's point, this also means reducing your effectiveness temporarily on other fronts, so there's a trade off. Personally I think it's better to wait until October time frame to worry about it as the other fronts will slow down during this time frame.

I find Serbia a really tough nut. Even with heavy artillery on hand it can take forever (well, it seems like forever when the Russkis are breathing down your neck) to crack Belgrade - and then the pursuit eastwards is no walk in the park either. My best results have come from tempting the Serbs in attacking me in the field and then bouncing them out of Belgrade in a riposte. Even then I nearly always have to wait until the Bulgarians show up before I can close the Serbian front completely.

Thanks for the help, all! I only play vs AI, so I like setting these other challenges and goals for myself. I'll try a Serbia-first next time 'round and see how it goes.


Thanks again!