AGEOD Forums

This was promised as soon as the AAR forum opened. The main threads and strategy discussions will happen over at the Paradox OT, I'll be copy/pasting the WE updates only over here. The CP and EE faction leaders will have to be responsible for their own updates here.

Paradox OT Threads:
General discussion thread.
Western Entente thread.

General information and players by Paradox forum name:

Host: TLG

Eastern Entente: Anazagar
Western Entente: von Murrin (Me)
Central Powers: TheLoneGunman (TLG)

Scenario: July Grand Campaign.

Eastern and Western Entente:
Serbia: PJL
Great Britain: ringloth
Japan: Teep
Greece: Teep
Romania: von_Rundstedt
United States: Drakken
Italy: Jarkko
Portugal: von Murrin

Central Powers:
Austria-Hungary: Anglo-American
Ottoman Empire: Projekt 919
Bulgaria: hyme

July, 1914

Yes, the war has started. I decide to go with the historical option just in case TLG wants to go for Russia. If he does, he'll pay dearly, and if he chooses the Schlieffen Plan, I can redeploy as needed.

Early August, 1914.

The plans are in, and things just got fun. Both Germany and Russia decided to attack each other, a suspicion of which was the only reason I chose the XVII plan (historical attacks into Alsace-Lorraine). Austria and Serbia are facing off as well, so I get to start the West front slaughter.

Diplomacy:

I sent the major diplomat to GB, and the four minor diplomats to Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Belgium. Hopefully we can delay Bulgaria's entry, speed up Greece and Romania's entry, and gain a few points in Belgium to counteract the neutrals blockade which will kick in shortly after GB enters the war.


Here's the front:


In other things, I built two munitions plants, one in Versailles and one in Orleans.

Early August, 1914

My advances into A-L go as planned, with a minor battle in Muelhausen:

For some reason my munitions factory in Orleans gets cancelled, most likely due to poverty, and ze Germanz hand the Goeben and Breslau over to the Ottos along with a pot of gold and a leprechaun.

Late August, 1914

I can actually move things this turn, so the front begins shifting south:

Conveniently, I have over 100,000 men sitting smack in the middle of the German line.

GB is now at 92% Entente and will enter next turn, so I shift the major diplo to Italy. The Ottos are at 89% Centrals and will most likely gain 3% more next turn, then be promptly disappointed when we hand them two bath toys for a two month delay in entering the war. In other news, September starts the blockade of Austria, and I'm chasing an auxiliary cruiser in the South Atlantic.

Late August, 1914

A rather large battle develops in Colmar. Losses are nearly equal, despite the Germans having roughly 100,000 more men:


GB enters the war.

Early September, 1914

The West front hasn't changed and the redeployments are taking forever, so no pictures for you.

I authorize the transfer of the Erin and Agincourt to the Turks, and the Anglo-Japanese Treaty is ratified, which will bring Japan in next turn. The Austrian blockade is also up and already at level 1.

Early September, 1914.

Nothing at all happens. All quiet on the Western front?

Late September, 1914.

Since the telegraph to Tokyo was apparently cut, Teep's forces are going to have to sit out the turn. The neutrals blockade is enacted, and the diplo in Belgium gets sent to Mexico. I'll bet money Mexico can go toe-to-toe with Norway. I buy about 7 batteries and do a little reorganization at the front.

Now that everybody's joined the party in Alsace-Lorraine, we move on Colmar, Freiburg, and Metz:


Ringloth, I ordered up the Indian divisions, added two Marine brigades in London and Southampton, and organized your non-garrison Kenyan troops into a corps to hopefully stand against von Lettow.

Late September, 1914

The attack on Metz miscarries and never happens. The attack on Colmar just sort of fizzles. How very disappointing:


Early October, 1914

Japan enters the war, and the neutrals blockade is declared. That should seriously hurt the CP by 1916.

Again, I buy a ton of guns, but this time split them between ringloth and myself. Guns are the only way to break this stalemate, and the Ottos have very few, so it's a win either way.

Teep is heading to Tsingtao and proceeding to lock down the Pacific, not that TLG seems to care about the raiding game anyway.

ringloth is gearing up for Operation OttoDestruct, and I'm left trying to whittle away at the extreme ends of TLG's line while I wait for more guns.

Due to an orders SNAFU, PJL doesn't get the Serbian orders in and we rerun the turn.

This time the activation rolls go my way and I get to pick off Metz:


Here's the West Front:

I'll be watching closely. I like the Western Entente.

Early October, 1914

A quiet turn in the West. von Lettow keeps up the offensive in Africa, but that's about it.

Late October, 1914

TLG abandoned Colmar, and I choose a rather risky offensive to unhinge Thionville:


I order up the limit of South African divisions, and go bonkers on French divisions, both mainland and North African. I plan on an African offensive soon, and so does ringloth. Next turn's recruitment will be almost exclusively British and Japanese.

In other news we continue to have excellent success on the diplomatic front, with the Ottos still 4% away from joining, Greece is 50/50, Bulgaria is 56% CP, Romania is 55% EE, Italy is 54% WE, Portugal is 86% WE, and Mexico is 54% WE.

Pretty, pretty pictures.

Africa:

Asia:

Technology:

Vive la France!

God Save King George!

H Gilmer, I just went through your AAR (fun read, by the way) and spotted something that might help in future games. Your ships in the blockade boxes are probably so short on station because you set them to offensive posture. If you set them to defensive, they'll stay on station for several months.

Late October, 1914

I win in Lorraine and lose in Colmar. Again:



ringloth takes a severe beating in the blockade box:


Early November, 1914

The big battle in the blockade box means I have to pour resources into replacements for ringloth, so no massive troop buy this turn, or maybe even next turn. It will happen, though. I shift a number of ready batteries to Nancy, where they'll end up under the GHQ for MSG purposes until I can parcel them out to new corps. The front:

Early November, 1914

One land and one naval battle occur. Neither really matter.

Late November, 1914

I move to encircle and attack Thionville:


Elsewhere, ringloth is moving the Grand Fleet to the Atlantic Shipping box, so I scatter the merchies in both boxes just in case:



I also spread my subs out to get some warning, drop the first and hopefully last State Funds RGD (the CP can inflate itself to death for all I care), and buy a few heavy warship replacements as well as every Japanese and British dominion infantry division I can.

Late November, 1914

We've finally collapsed part of TLG's line:


Note the huge disparity in guns. Most of that is LA, but that can't be helped for now. I'll have to build munitions trains and supply trains over the winter, and then hopefully I can concentrate on MA.

The skirmish in Dogger Banks is worth posting for one reason:

TLG's fleet has lost half its cohesion but most importantly, he's low or out of ammo. If he get's caught, and either way he runs he has to go through a fleet, he's going to be crushed in an absolutely lopsided battle. If I were him, I'd actually risk a run for Africa.

Early December 1914

The Ottos are in, and Operation OttoDestruct is under way. I spend nearly everything we have on building UK infantry, and nearly max out ringloth's build capacity in the process. I also unlock some generals for ringloth. Somewhere in all this, Metz quietly surrendered as well.

Here's the front:

I'm curious as to whether TLG decides to weaken his southern defenses, because this just turned into a race for the Rhine. If he does, I'll break his southern flank too. What an encouraging turn.

Early December, 1914

While ringloth inaugurates Blitzkrieg, TLG preempts my Saar attack:

Annoying, but we can just push due east after unhinging the southern end of his line.

Late December, 1914
The Armenian Genocide and Otto entry shift alignment by 10% in almost every country that matters to us. TLG seems to have figured out having a CP diplo in Mexico is A Very Bad Idea. Oh well.

I also find it amusing that the EE keeps getting lucky on the tech rolls. hopefully they'll have access to level 2 artillery, infantry, and gas before the CP.

West Front:

A slow shift east and concentration for a simultaneous attacks on Saarbourg and Colmar. We'll see what happens.

Africa:

That's over 100,000 men complete with artillery and supplies moving in West Africa.

Late December, 1914

Kind of a boring turn for me. We crush a handful of German colonials:


ringloth Kicks a few Ottos out of Jerusalem.

Early January, 1915

My infantry finally finishes building, and I launch my attacks on Saarbourg and Colmar:


I get Teep some generals, and drop a state funds RGD in preparation for the upcoming tech buys:

It says they only cost 5 EP, but they cost $200 as well. Artillery will help me the most, and gas might get ringloth an extra region or two over then next few months. I hold off on aviation because we have no fighters or bombers, and there's an event for the Adrian helm which I can't use if infantry tech is already level 2, so I'll hold off on the infantry tech for now.

Africa:


Levant/Iraq:


Project is going to be pissed.

Early January, 1915

ringloth scores a few big wins. Colmar resists, again, because the Saarbourg attack doesn't happen. They were set to occur on the same day, and MSG to two regions in opposite directions would've made for some interesting battles.

Late January, 1915

The CP recognizes Bulgaria's war goals. Given our success in Bulgaria, we can probably keep them out of the war for a while. I shift the diplo from Greece to Persia, and fire the Adrian helms decision. I order up the remainder of my 1915 infantry buy, and get Teep some cap ship replacements.

Diplo standings for countries that matter or are shifted past 50/50: US: 76% CP, Italy: 70% WE, Greece: 86% WE, Bulgaria: 66% CP, Romania: 89% WE, Portugal: 92% WE, Norway: 64% CP, Persia: 59% CP, and Mexico: 62% WE:

The big win here is Italy. If the remainder of the 1915 diplo decisions unlock over the next few turns, we can get them into the war the very next turn. Greece is an example of too much success being detrimental. Because the CP never countered us, they may join the war before we can fire the Salonika event, which would be bad. Salonika gives us a free French army, and a good handful of regions. I'm leaving the diplo in Bulgaria to slow their entry, while hopefully getting Romania in a good six or more turns before them. That will give the EE time to prepare for Bulgaria's entry, and put pressure on Projekt where he least needs it. With a little luck, we can reverse the CP gains in Persia, and the Romanian diplo can soon go where needed.

The West Front is pretty much stalled for the winter, but TLG is moving an army into Thionville, so I shift the GHQ back to Metz. If he actually attacks, he'll be in for a surprise. I activated the regional control filter so people could see who has what:

Late January, 1915

ringhloth kills a good handful of Otto light squadrons as they try to slip past his fleet. Jerusalem falls, as does Lome in Africa:


TLG attacks in Thionville, another one of his irritating first day attacks. Even one more day and he'd have lost badly:

I've no idea how he manages to slip into or stay in regions and trigger battles on the first day of the following turn, but he does.

Early February, 1915

So much for Greece staying neutral. Now that their tipped fully toward the Entente, I pull the diplo from Bulgaria and put it in Afghanistan:

Our tech rolls have been awful, too. We've gotten nothing for two or three turns.

Africa:

I'm going to push through Lagos to Yaunde over the next few months. That should isolate von Lettow and allow us to kill his forces off.

Elsewhere, I drop another state funds RGD so we can buy more generals over the next few turns as well as more normal stuff. Six more light batteries, 3 French and 3 British, also enter production.

Late January, 1915

TLG is mounting a winter offensive:


How very irritating.

Early February, 1915

I buy replacements for ringhloth, and a few more LA batteries as well as a squadron of fighters for myself. Lots of concessions are played, and I fire the D'Annunzio event, which gives us another 10% Italian alignment.

Here's the West Front:

Merlin wrote:Late January, 1915
I've no idea how he manages to slip into or stay in regions and trigger battles on the first day of the following turn, but he does.

Is he moving into regions in defensive posture and then switching to offensive at the start of the next turn ? Could be a useful tactic if you have to cross a river.

Late February, 1915

Nothing at all, unless you want to count TLG's failed gas attack.

Early March, 1915

We finally get the tech rolls going and I try to speed up air research. I also unlock some generals for ringhloth and order a couple more LA batteries.

The big news is the Austrian fleet in the Med Shipping box:

I captured the whole screen so you can see my main fleet. Hopefully it gets there before a battle, and my shipping box escorts are set to evade right now.

I also got the Med Blockade to level 2, meaning Anglo-American and Projekt now have a 10% chance per turn for their rebel alignment to increase by 1%:

RGA wrote:Is he moving into regions in defensive posture and then switching to offensive at the start of the next turn ? Could be a useful tactic if you have to cross a river.

They're regions where I had 100% MC, so he can't do that. I can only speculate he's moving in on day 15 and getting lucky as hell on the battles occurring the next turn.

Early March, 1915

Really dead turn. The Austrian navy turns and runs before my fleet gets there.

Late March, 1915

TLG finally put subs in the Atlantic shipping box, and that comes with a small chance each turn to piss off the US. I send my fleet in for a refit, recruit Mata Hari, and give Teep another infantry division.

I'm shifting some 200,000 men into the West Front, not that it's obvious right here:


Africa is just about to get interesting as well:

Late March, 1915

Nothing of note outside the Levant.

Early April, 1915

I continue to shift reinforcements into the West Front. There's a few minor air skirmishes and half my men have arrived on time in Africa. Other than that, I buy Bolo Pasha and some replacements for the Levant grinder.

Early April, 1915

TLG is shooting down way too many of my recon planes. The first attack in Cameroon takes place with about 6,000 total losses.

Late April, 1915

My first fighter squadron is still a month off, so I ground the recon squadrons to keep the replacement requirements down. The entire West Front is still mired in the goddamn mud, so no action there despite having roughly 2.5:1 odds on TLG for both Colmar and Saarbourg. Two more corps are on the way to Cameroon, Bolo is on his way to Belgrade where I'll turn him over to ringhloth, I buy more replacements, and another fighter squadron. The next one will go to ringhloth.

Late April, 1915

My attacks in Cameroon begin:



Lusitania goes down on a 4%p/t chance. That'll teach them to put subs in the shipping box.


Early May, 1915

The southern half of the Western Front is still locked in mud, and of course it's the only half that interests me right now:


TLG is obviously trying to use day 15 marches to trigger day 1 attacks whenever he possibly can. He'll most likely win that one no matter what I do and the mud ruined any chance I had of a double envelopment of Strassburg. *le sigh*

I buy some replacements, a fighter squadron for ringhloth, and fire the Italian War Goals event. That's extreme overkill with Italy at 94% WE, but I don't want to risk Austrian concessions and it allows me to redeploy the major diplo to the US. I also shift the minor diplo out of Mexico and into Norway. Hopefully we can bait TLG into dropping a diplo into Mexico again.

Early May, 1915

Almost there in Cameroon:


Late May, 1915

Italy is in next turn. So is Portugal, which I'm sure has the CP trembling in fear.

West Front still muddy, and I buy some replacements hoping for dry weather in June.

Late May, 1915

Other the Mother of All Battles in the Levant, I take Cameroon.

Early June, 1915

Italy and Portugal join the war. The West Front is still a muddy mess, and I'm getting impatient. I buy around ten divisions, one fighter squadron, something like six batteries, and a set of generals for Jarkko. I also order up one HA for ringhloth, since I'm now certain you need it to make gas attacks. The Portuguese army is on it's way to Marseilles to join the Alps Army in preparation for a Balkan expedition.