viewtopic.php?f=372&t=54056
Many of us playing are experienced AGEOD players, but not very experienced with WON in particular. I want to thank Ken for inviting me into this game with some great players.
NOW ON TO THE SHOW!!!
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At the outset of our game I set out to gauge the interest of the other great powers in working together against France. To my delight the British, Russians and Prussians all agreed to work together to defeat Napoleon. This coalition of powers however had some disagreement towards a course of action. In the end the decision was made to launch separate attacks all around France to keep Napoleon off balance and unable to defend against every threat. The British were to land in Holland, Prussia was to march west into Hanover while the Russians marched west from Prague through central Germany. The Austrians were to keep a small army at Trieste to defend against the French Army of Italy and take most of their army through Bavaria.
The plan began well enough with the Russians earning a few small victories and Bavaria falling to my army. Unfortunately the Prussian and Russian players failed to coordinate and left a gap in their lines that led straight to Berlin. Napoleon marched to Berlin virtually unopposed and the Prussian player agreed to a peace with France to avoid losing his capitol.
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This left the British army exposed in Holland and Napoleon quickly marched west and chased the Brits off the continent.
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This left Russia and Austria alone to face France. Fortunately for me, France was in the mood to negotiate and offered me a peace treaty with the stipulation of no DOW for a year and travel rights through Austria. I agreed to these terms and peace was made.
Russia and France agreed to a ceasefire, but critically did not actually make peace. France then violated the ceasefire and attacked the Russian army. The Russian army was able to retreat back to its frontier, but not without some losses in the process.
The French then launched bloody assaults against the Russian lines with heavy losses on both sides. The war turned into a war of attrition with the French seemingly gaining the upper hand, but not without terrible losses.
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While Napoleon was busy with Russia, the British launch a massive invasion and very nearly conquered Paris. For more details on this I suggest seeing Shri's excellent AAR which is linked at the top.
Since the French were busy fighting the Russians and British I took the opportunity to try and take out the threat to my south...
The Austrian empire in WON is kind of a mid-weight force. It has more divisions than Prussia, Spain or the Ottomans, but it is completely outclassed by the French and Russian armies. It also has extremely long borders with multiple hostile powers. A worst case scenario for Austria would be a simultaneous invasion from France and the Ottomans at the same time. Against such a dual invasion Austria would be almost helpless. Not only is such an invasion extremely problematic, its also extremely likely. The Ottomans don't really have too many other options to focus their aggression on. The Austrians are a clear target for both and must assume invasion in immanent.
In order to avoid such a dire situation I decided to strike against the Ottomans first and try to knock them out while I could fight them one-on-one.
To give an idea of the Austrian army at the beginning of the invasion I have about 350,000 men under arms in 21 divisions. My main army, which I will call the Sud Army, is commanded by the extremely capable Archduke Charles. His corps commander is Von Schwarzenberg and another large independent force is commanded by Karl Franz who is a middling commander. These 3 officers are by far the best commanders in the Austrian army and I will be relying on this command team to bring me victory. Although the Austrians have much worse command and control than the French, they are much better than the Ottomans who have very few divisions and few strong commanders.
The Austrian navy on the other hand is puny and is far outclassed by the Ottoman navy. As soon as the war begins I will move my navy into port and leave them there until the end of the war.
My invasion begins with a quick capture of Serbia's main cities of Belgrade and Sarejevo. These are major objectives for Austria and boost my morale nicely. The Ottomans do not contest my advance and fall back further into the interior. After the quick capture of Serbia my Sud army under Archduke Charles pushes to the Bulgarian frontier and takes Nis after a short battle. The Ottomans pull back and I then take a moment to build up supply depots at Nis and ponder my next target. From Nis you can proceed south towards Greece, or east into Bulgaria. I do not believe I am strong enough to do both, as the Ottomans have a large army somewhere in the interior and are extremely mobile. I can't risk being cut off and starving in the remote hills that cover the Balkan theater of operations.
After some scouting I decide to press east and march towards Sofia which falls after a short sharp battle. 424 years of Ottoman rule in Sofia is brought to an end as Bulgarians everywhere yearn for independence. You'll notice battles here in the Balkans are much smaller affairs than the ones going on in France and Germany. Commanders Von Schwarzenberg and Zu Hessen-Homburg are promoted for their exemplary leadership in the Balkan campaign thus far. These are actually important promotions as it doubles the number of decent high ranking officers that I have to choose from.
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Simultaneously to the advance of Sud army, a small Austrian force attacks into Romania from Transylvania. This force briefly takes the Romanian capitol of Bucharest, but is then forced to fall back due to supply shortages.
