To End All Wars AAR - Western Entente against the AI of Central Powers!

H Gilmer3 · Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:14 am

Early Sept 1915:
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Not too much, but a couple of significant items of note.

The sinking of the Lusitania. Historically this angered the USA. And in the game it swings sentiment to WE to the extent that the USA now leans to the WE 51%. I didn't play this event so I guess it just happens based on a number of factors.

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Italy AND Arabia are both at 90% lean. At this rate they'll probably join our alliance by the end of November of 1915. I don't know that Italy is all that great militarily, but it will open up another part of the West front, so that I can attack into Austria and maybe then North into Germany. Maybe I can some more formations with the corp that is in Salonika region.

Tsingtau surrendered to the Japanese army. That gave the WE a +1 NM so, currently it is 98 NM for the WE and 61 for the CP.

The air war continues. We shot down 170 recon airplanes either last turn or this turn. I don't even look at them anymore. All it is is the same picture, mostly and the message says, "Your fighters shot down XX amount of recon planes." Sometimes as high as 40 sometimes in the teens, but there are usually about 6-7 of those types of messages a turn.

I'm building a depot in Aachen to alleviate ammunition issues there.

In Egypt I'm moving my armies again. The Turks pulled back and my generals were mostly activated.

JC Smuts ->> Somehow or another he was not promoted. I am almost positive I clicked the button to promote him, but I'm not going back and reloading turns to see.

EE - Their National Morale is at 80. It is my understanding that the Tsar takes over the army if it hits 75. That's not really good, because I think it pumps up rebel activity and could cause them to quit the war.

H Gilmer3 · Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:27 am

Late Sept 1915:
(Planning)
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I think all that I will do this turn is this....

Castelnau attacks from Speyer into Elssass.

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H Gilmer3 · Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:12 am

Italy has aligned more to us. They now favor us by 93%. Arabia has moved closer as well. Arabia now favors us 92%.

Which leads me to: Political Event Card - Recognize Italian War Goals. This will move them 20% to us which I think guarantees them to join the WE. Should I do it, or wait 3 more turns or so for them to join, possibly? It gives the CP +5 NM.

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I am sort of torn. +5 is basically a naval battle. I could possibly get Sudden Death if I can get them to 5. Right now they are at 59.

Which leads me to....

The Battle of Helgoland. I get 7 NM. But it wasn't as lopsided as normal. This makes up for never getting NM from very lopsided land wins.

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I'm all over the place, but here is an event that the CP/Germany played.

Deutschland. Gives them some bonuses in supply and +5 NM.

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Battle of Elsass. General Castelnau commanding. Still not getting any NM for lopsided battles. I think the artillery was brutal for this battle.

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What do you think? Should Castelnau take Morhange or try? He's active so that bodes well for a move. And once he gets in there, he might hunker down and really give the Germans a headache.

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My fighters shot down 117 recon airplanes.

We retreated from El Arish in the face of a powerful force power of 700+.

H Gilmer3 · Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:14 am

Very weird. My 4 screenshots on that are just attachments that you have to click. Before I edited it they were showing.

H Gilmer3 · Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:25 am

Hey Lynxyonok. You were right. Those formations up North do not have artillery. I think I'll get Allenby some. He needs them for sieges.

H Gilmer3 · Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:58 am

Late September 1915 Outcomes
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Nothing much happened. I did take Morhange. But there weren't any troops there, so no battle. I would think the troops in Metz would be getting a little nervous by now. Their supply is a little tenuous since it comes through hilly terrain and the troops protecting their rear lines don't seem that strong. If I take Saarbourge and Vosges, they ought to be out of supply. At the very least they'll be surrounded.

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We shot down over 100 recon planes again.

I'm moving the Japanese army back to Japan. I want to go after the other German settlement but they have very harsh weather so I can't get to them right now.

I played the Italian war goals. This moved CP NM up to 62 from 59. It put Italy at 100% WE so I expect them to join next turn. It seems that it is a 1 turn delay after they hit the 100%.

The USA is getting mad at the Germans due to submarine warfare in the Atlantic. They moved back to 51% lean to WE.

I'm (the WE) at 90% tank research so next turn I might be able to build some tank units. Yeehaa! The Germans might now know what hit them if that happens. They are at 80% research for artillery. They get heavy bombardment when that happens and unlocks railroad artillery. I already have railroad artillery and ordered one French superheavy "railroad" artillery. I shied away from buying a British one instead. It seems to be really tough to get to the mainland? I don't know.

I just had my first two munitions factories I built come online. More artillery ammunition! (And more war supply).

The depot in Aachen is finished. I think it might have finished last turn, just forgot to mention it.

The first thing I'm going to do if Italy joins, is go get that powerful corps that I have been unable to get in Tunisia, since they wouldn't let me march it out and they wouldn't let naval transports go in.

Lynxyonok · Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:14 am

Question - what are the current morale levels for each side, and how did morale change (e.g., kept falling, etc.) for the last 12 months?

H Gilmer3 · Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:41 am

Lynxyonok wrote:Question - what are the current morale levels for each side, and how did morale change (e.g., kept falling, etc.) for the last 12 months?

The morale falls 1-2 a turn for all sides. War weariness I guess. All of my NM gains have either been from events or naval battles. I have never received an NM boost from a land battle no matter how lopsided the win was. I have not lost any NM due to a land battle, either. Edit - take that back about land battles. I know I received 1 NM point for the capture of Tsingtau, so I imagine I gained 1 for the capture of Essen, as well. I think it is for actually capturing a city, though, and not for actual losses.

Current levels:

WE 103
EE 79
CP 62

Lynxyonok · Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:43 am

H Gilmer3 wrote:The morale falls 1-2 a turn for all sides. War weariness I guess. All of my NM gains have either been from events or naval battles. I have never received an NM boost from a land battle no matter how lopsided the win was. I have not lost any NM due to a land battle, either. Edit - take that back about land battles. I know I received 1 NM point for the capture of Tsingtau, so I imagine I gained 1 for the capture of Essen, as well.

Current levels:

WE 103
EE 79
CP 62

But how did you pull off such a morale advantage on your side? Because you have already won the war of attrition

H Gilmer3 · Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:57 am

Lynxyonok wrote:But how did you pull off such a morale advantage on your side? Because you have already won the war of attrition

I have won about 6 major naval battles. About 6-7 NM per battles = 36 to 42 NM drop for the CP.

H Gilmer3 · Wed Sep 03, 2014 3:27 am

I took the night off. Don't be concerned. I will continue on Wednesday.

H Gilmer3 · Thu Sep 04, 2014 1:42 am

Late Oct 1915 Results
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Tanks are available!! 6 are available to be purchased but I can only afford 2 for now.

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Italy joins the Western Entente!! Victory is more certain now!! (Troops are locked. I hope they are unlocked fairly quickly!). The Army of the Alps unlocks and I rail it to the Italian/Austrian front. They have a power of 500+

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Foch has earned a promotion. This will anger someone but I don't care. I want a promotion and I missed my chance with Smuts.

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H Gilmer3 · Thu Sep 04, 2014 1:47 am

More research to be funded.

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3 battles occurred. Nothing really came of them.

Mainz - won. That was what earned Foch his promotion.
Strumitza - won.
El Bir Abd - won.

Action: I had two corps retreat from a siege of Duisenberg directly North of Aachen. No battle occurred.

A major diplomat is now available. I play the major diplomat card on the USA diplomacy box. They are currently 53% lean to the WE.

Current NM:

WE 102
EE 78
CP 63

H Gilmer3 · Thu Sep 04, 2014 2:39 am

Early Nov 1915 Results
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Italy's troops unlock and I plan a move toward Trento. I'll be putting a lot of pressure on the CP from here, I hope.

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Egypt - The Turks seem to be threatening Cairo, so I'm railing some troops down to Cairo. This area just received some troops that I sent by Naval Transport from England. I sent about 7 divisions. So, with a little reorganization, I've almost doubled my power, I hope.

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Foch was promoted. I hope this doesn't mess up the forum because I didn't crop vertically. With a little reorganization, Foch now heads his own army and has a CP limit of 50. This is a fortunate situation, because he also has an attribute that says he can command any nationality troops, so I can form some British units under him, if possible, and he has decent stats - 4-3-2. His army is now power of 952, if you are unable to see it.

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I had to fix the attachments here.

H Gilmer3 · Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:12 am

Early Dec 1915 planning
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The Troiseme Army attacks NE!! In an attempt to cut off Metz!!!

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Allenby attacks Dusseldorf!!!

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And an Entente Corps led by General CD Henry attacks Koblenz!!

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USA is now 59% leaning to the WE. Arabia has joined the WE!! I hope next turn I can deploy T.E. Lawrence and really kick up some dust in the Turkish eyes!

The CP plays the Senussi Uprising card. The joke's on them! I still have a lot of army in the Tripoli/Libya area!!

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H Gilmer3 · Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:46 am

That's all for tonight. I can say I won another battle on the turn yet posted. This was an Italian naval battle against the Austrians, I believe and we won it and boosted NM again.

hajbrad971 · Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:44 am

At last found the AAR. Excellent work which I will follow avidly. As I wrote in a post (somewhere else on this somewhat confusing Forum) I am playing the WE using the same battle plan as you have against the Moltke plan from the CP. In general my game has progressed along similar lines to yours but my progress is nowhere near as good as yours has been. My attack through Luxembourg is progressing well but my French Generals seem to have difficulty activating regularly enough to mount a sustained offensive. I have invested a lot of resources in the fight against Turkey in Sinai/Palestine (the BEF is fighting there and is about to be joined by Kitchener). Greece has joined the WE and a joint Franco/Greek offensive is making very slow progress against the Bulgarians. However my NM is only slightly higher than the CP who has made great inroads against the Russians and has almost annihilated the Serbs as far as I can tell. Some specific questions that I hope you can help me with:

1 - how exactly do you form an Army Group? The French have one and, once Kitchener arrives in Port Said, I should like to form a Mid East Army group.

2. - You have won most NM through naval success. So far in my game the German fleet has managed to send Beatty's cruiser fleet to the bottom of the ocean. My High Seas fleet has been roaming around the North Sea training its coat but hasn't managed to find a German fishing boat much less Admiral Scheer !!! :blink:

Can't wait for the next instalment of your AAR. Keep up the good work.

Hal

H Gilmer3 · Thu Sep 04, 2014 12:54 pm

hajbrad971 wrote:At last found the AAR. Excellent work which I will follow avidly. As I wrote in a post (somewhere else on this somewhat confusing Forum) I am playing the WE using the same battle plan as you have against the Moltke plan from the CP. In general my game has progressed along similar lines to yours but my progress is nowhere near as good as yours has been. My attack through Luxembourg is progressing well but my French Generals seem to have difficulty activating regularly enough to mount a sustained offensive. I have invested a lot of resources in the fight against Turkey in Sinai/Palestine (the BEF is fighting there and is about to be joined by Kitchener). Greece has joined the WE and a joint Franco/Greek offensive is making very slow progress against the Bulgarians. However my NM is only slightly higher than the CP who has made great inroads against the Russians and has almost annihilated the Serbs as far as I can tell. Some specific questions that I hope you can help me with:

1 - how exactly do you form an Army Group? The French have one and, once Kitchener arrives in Port Said, I should like to form a Mid East Army group.

2. - You have won most NM through naval success. So far in my game the German fleet has managed to send Beatty's cruiser fleet to the bottom of the ocean. My High Seas fleet has been roaming around the North Sea training its coat but hasn't managed to find a German fishing boat much less Admiral Scheer !!!

Can't wait for the next instalment of your AAR. Keep up the good work.

Hal

Hi! And thanks for reading. I saw your post on the main forums. Welcome.

1. To form an army you have to have a 3 star and be in range of the Army GHQ. You only get 1 army GHQ for each country of France and Great Britain, but below that I think you can form armies with 3 star generals at any amount. If you look back about 2-3 posts, I promoted General Foch to a 3 star general and formed an army with him. This gave him 50 CP points! Wow. That was really helpful as I was able to consolidate a lot of corps under him and he has better stats than the other 3 star in the same region.

2. Yes, I have won a huge amount of NM through naval combat. I think this might need to be tweaked since I have gained so much through naval and none through land battles, but a few NM points from capturing strategic cities and areas. I take my grand fleet or I use what I call my Joint Task Force and I patrol around the areas north of Germany and west of Denmark. The German fleet used to like to test my defenses with their fleet, but I have not seen their battleships for awhile. When Italy joined it gave me a 4K power fleet that I used in much the same fashion in the Mediterranean. It caught an Austrian fleet, I believe and I just won some more NM. I'll be posting that turn tonight with a couple of more turns that I run some time tonight.

H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:31 am

Ok, time to crack on.

Results from Early Dec 1915:
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Well, I made a bonehead mistake. The Senussi uprising is in Tripoli. My army is in Tunis. I have to go get them and put them at Tripoli.

Also, we have an uprising in Morrocco.

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In Early December of 1915, we captured Mainz and Dusseldorf. Nice.

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Battles

Battle of Croatia Bay between my Italian fleet and a fleet from Austria-Hungary. We won more NM.

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Battle of Riyadh... maybe we should fall back to Yenbow. (You have to have seen the movie Lawrence of Arabia to get that one. The British liaison kept telling Faisal to fall back to Yenbow and he kept putting it off and it resulted in numerous casualties).

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Battle of Old Dusseldorf - (A Magnum PI reference. He always ordered "Old Dusseldorf in a longneck". As far as I know, no such beer existed.)

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H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:36 am

Battle of Goljam Rugen. This is the force that came from Salonika. It is in NE Greece and is slopping about in Southern Bulgaria.

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A look at production. Look at all the tank divisions being produced. And the superheavy artillery.

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And last, I have funded both chemical attack and convoy and Anti-submarine research. Although I don't know why. The submarines are making the USA closer to the WE.

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H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:40 am

National Morale is getting critical, if you ask me - for the CP that is, and somewhat for the EE.

WE 104
EE 76
CP 58

I took my diplomat out of Holland and put it in Greece to counteract the CP diplomat there.

H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 1:15 am

Late Dec Results:
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Several battles. All of them but 1 a win. We lost in OstAfrika but no loss of National Morale.

Lawrence of Arabia card is now available to be played and of course, I will play it.

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And here's a look at the West Front at the beginning of the year 1916. I have crossed the Rhine in places and and am slowly pushing the CP back. Metz is completely surrounded. I hope I can wipe that army out.

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H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:08 pm

Early Jan 1916 Results
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I got Lawrence into the fight. Let's see what kind of trouble he can stir up.

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Two battles in Togo which is an outpost in Africa. We won both battles. JC Smuts, General commanding.

Harsh weather everywhere so no plans on moving much.

H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:38 pm

Not much to report. Weather has everything at a standstill. Weather is not too bad in the North Atlantic, so I'll take the Grand Fleet out after it has been refit for repairs for the last couple of months. Good hunting, Admiral! I'll take the Italian fleet out as well.

On the WF I moved Koch up to take over the siege of Koblenz.

In Togo, JC Smuts has been active and is promotable AGAIN! This time I make sure I am promoting him. He's a good commander and could be very useful elsewhere after this is all over in Africa. North Africa could definitely benefit from an active, highly skilled 3 star general leading the troops.

NM

WE 101
EE 76
CP 56

Oh, and Tanks! 2 tank brigades are ready.

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H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:06 pm

Early Feb 1916
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I'm going to use Phosphene for the 1st time this turn and assault Metz. Wish me luck, I think I'll need it. I hope a lot of MTSG happens.

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H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:40 pm

Late Feb 1916 Results
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Well, that turn didn't go as well as I had hoped.

The assault on Metz didn't happen. They retreated without giving battle.

Battles:

3 Naval Battles - Gained 6 NM, Lost 6 NM, and gained 0 NM. 2 victories and 1 loss. I cannot complain. This game has become lopsided in NM due the vast majority to naval battles.

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In Italy, the war is going well. Battle of Festung Trento

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And the Battle of Koblenz
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H Gilmer3 · Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:42 pm

One last thing happened in Late February of 1916. The Czar gets involved.

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Well, I lied. Rumania joined the EE. So, maybe that will help. And we captured Bozen on the Italian Front.

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Lynxyonok · Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:17 am

The naval battles did have a lot of impact in real life, hence German hesitation of waging non-stop warfare. How is eastern entente fleet doing, can you load their side and take a peek?