AGEOD's WW1

[Tamas]

JUNE 1915

What a turn.

Erevan, the town in Armenia recently conquered by Turkey, got reconquered by the 10th Russian Army personally commanded by... the Czar himself!

Then there was a major battle between defending Romanians and the Bulgarian Army crossing the Danube. The attackers won, but it was a close call.

Chronogically following this was a half-assed Italian attempt to link up with their force in Trieste by direct land connection.

Then the major German offensive against Meubeuge was started, which by the time of attack got defended by Brits. The Germans, beside using gas for the very first time in war, opted for "attack in jumps" to keep moral as high as possible, which was a good call because the Brits went with scattered defense and counter-attacks, which reduce enemy morale.
But, as it turned out, it was only the Canadian corps which defended the town, and despite their heroic resistance they were forced to retreat, with the fort put under siege.

Next in line was the AH 6th Army massing to relieve the fort of Trieste. The attempt was a complete and utter failure. And a major battle.

A-H fared much better with their major offensive against Lemberg, held by a weak Russian force, further damaged by heavy preliminary bombardment. This success gave a huge, and much needed boost to Austro-Hungarian National Will.

[Sophie Scholl]

I love World War I AAR's.  Keep it coming Tamas!

[Tamas]

JULY 1915

Germans developed light machine guns for airplanes, a tech which were available for the Entente for some time, and Austrians developed improved aircraft engines, so it was time to dare doing some air recons.

Despite being able to cheat my 6th Army next to Trieste some months ago, their departure from Serbia did help some Serb units to keep causing trouble. But the end result there could not be in doubt.

The Czar's great victory at Erevan put the main line of Turkish advance into great threat, which was going north at the town of Kumany, just about to cross river Arpa. With the Czar's way to the Turkish lifeline (railroad) was wide open, Enver Pasha had no choice but to abandon the offensive which just a month ago promised the conquest of Armenia, and had to retreat to Kars.

Kitchener once again tried to take El Arish on the Egyptian border, but again failed.

The Italians continued their lackluster attempts at capturing Gorizia to establish a land connection with their 3rd Army at Trieste. The heroic fort kept up the resistence.

Apart from the Adriatic coast, A-H's war was going well. Following up on the success at Lemberg, they kept pushing the Russians back, despite not being able to successfully implement the heavy bombardment doctrine. By the end of this month, most of Galicia was again Austrian.


AUGUST

The Great War still raged on all around Europe.

In an attempt to cut supply to the Italian 3rd, Horthy attempted to take control of the Adriatic Sea, hoping for the continued passivity of the other mediterranean navies. The Italian navy accepted the challenge, and the two forces met in the Gulf of Venice once again.
The Goeben task force managed to reinforce rather fast, and Horthy managed to hold tactical advantage for most of the battle. Superior numbers did win the day (well, two days) however. The Italians lost a BB a B, and few destroyers, but Erz. Friedrich, and the Erz. Karl old battleships were sunk, and above all, the name-giving ship of the Viribus Unitis class BBs was lost as well, so at the end of the battle, AH clearly lost it.
The continued relief attempts of Trieste also proved bloody and pointless.

But the success in Galicia had turned into a general advance against Russians, altough by the end of the month, and crossing into Russian territory, the defenders' strength grew stronger.

In Armenia, the Czar remained passive, so Enver renewed the offensive, with mixed results.

More importantly however, fort of Maubegel still held, depriving Germany from her successful Grand Offensive for this year, while the French launched their own, against Neufchatel in the Ardennes. The understrength German defenders managed to hold out this month by applying Point Defense tactics.

[ehrie]

How does this model the Russian Revolution and American entry?

[Tamas]

How does this model the Russian Revolution and American entry?

for revolutions there is a general system tied to National Will, altough Russia has several events pushing it into one way or other once it becomes unstable. USA's involvement is part of the diplomatic process: the more pro-Entente the USA becomes, the more industrial help it gives ot Allieds, then it becomes so pro-entente that it becomes more pro-entente each turn until joining fully. Stuff can set it back of cousre, most notably german diplomatic efforts, and british decision on blockade, plus random events of brits seizing US ships.

[ehrie]

How would you say the war is going for you?

[Tamas]

How would you say the war is going for you?

Quite well I think, in light of the odds I started out with. If I can hold out against the French Grand Offensive and finish my German one until the end of 1915, the French could be in serious National Will trouble, might even brake with a bit of luck, depending on mostly wether the AI will be sane enough to opt for a new government this coming interphase at the end of August. (they have 11 NW now, naming a new government puts it back to 27 at the price of parlaiment mood [measured in about 4 or 5 steps]. Real NW trouble starts from around and below zero, most notably mutiny which can potentially erase a massive amount of the nation's army off the map, and revolution, which is highly random, and can end up as anything from a simple change of government to a communist takeover)

[Alcibiades]

Need to give us casualty counts.  Good so far, have my interest.

[Cecil]

I like this AAR. Keep it coming.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

A successful month, apart from the German 1st Army somehow getting tied up in Antwerp. King Leopold made a determined stand in Bruxelles

zombie king Leopold?
Albert I was king of Belgium during that period.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Actually, those are the Walloon traits. Flems are just Nazis.

I read a book written by an American who served in the Canadian Army in Flanders and he remarked at what a huge security risk the Flems were for the British Army.  They would keep the Germans informed at whatever the British were doing.  Then you consider how many joined up with the SS in the Second World War....well you can see the Flems were natural Quislings.

probably because the british were fighting on the side of the opressors (i.e. walloons)

[Tamas]

A successful month, apart from the German 1st Army somehow getting tied up in Antwerp. King Leopold made a determined stand in Bruxelles

zombie king Leopold?
Albert I was king of Belgium during that period.

Ooops of course I meant Albert. 

[Tamas]

SEPTEMBER 1915

After the August Interphase, France has a somewhat better NW situation (17) but no new government, they opted to strengthen parlaiment instead.

I will have to check if naval battle NW effects are correctly calculated with this beta patch because the last Veneto battle was considered a draw by the public (no NW gained/lost either side) which actually should be about true (one more old battleship lost for AH, but several destroyers / mabbe a cruiser lost for Italy), but my memories from the boardgame sense something is not right. Will see.

Speaking of ships, I ordered the completition of dreadnought Szent István, to cover the loss of Viribus Unitis. I was highly tempted to order the build of 'Budapest', member of a new BB class 'Monarch', but it was pretty expensive, and could only be done by August 1916, at which point I want to have Italy dealt with anyway. So I crancked up infantry unit production for AH instead.

Austria-Hungary suffered some considerable losses this spring BTW. 5 points of NW lost, which is, to put into perspective is 1/8th of max NW ever achivable (40), and IIRC, the loss tolerance of A-H is 1 NW lost for each 3 losses, which means about 15 points of manpower got burned away in Trieste and Galicia. Nominally, a corps (basic unit) is made out of 2 or 3 points of manpower, you can just, barring a catastrophic morale check result, keep pumping manpower points into a reduced unit to keep it on the map, until your reserves are empty.

Germany and Turkey ordered some more artillery. Well, Turkey ordered the two arty units it can ever have.

Much more interesting, however, was the state of Russia: losing to the Austrian Major Offensive, having big losses, pushed them below the stability zone of 20+ NW, and being unlucky it triggered a strike in Petrograd, which further pushed it down, then a random event created a revolt in Azerbaijan, so after the interphase, the Russians stood at 6 NW. Unlucky for me, Germany was in no position to make any major pushes against Russia, and A-H had to carefully weight the situation: losing Trieste, especially if it meant losing Gorizia and thus linking Trieste to Italy meant a very important city lost with an Italian front much longened, and an advance into Russia could even trigger a national revival for them.
Plus, as I mentioned, A-H was pretty much exhausted. So the several returning out of combat reduced units (kinda' failed morale check in last turn battles, put the unit off-map until next turn's reinforcement phase) were mostly sent (back) to the 6th Army facing Trieste, only a couple went to Gallicia mainly to plug holes which were starting to appear on the flanks.

[Cecil]

You know what. You will face several strikes right now unless you bring us more screenies. 

And damn whatever you said in the beginning.

[Tamas]

Ok, screenies will come later.

To continue September:

Interesting stuff happened. It seems the French choice of new governments only kicked in now, so they received a new government, an NW of 28, and most hardline parlaiment (which means I was wrong in the negative effect of government change on parlaiment. maybe it was raise of civilian production? Tooltip is not accessible right now).

Anyway, The Austro-Hungarians did a cautious advance at the East, and the SE corner of Gallicia (Ruthenia, actually) was still on Russian hands.
The German supporting limited attack in Poland yielded much better results than expected, and reserve units which were pushed into the breakthrough reached and captured Lodz.

Another relief attempt of Trieste failed, and the exhaustion of A-H neares a complete level. And at the end of the turn, fort of Trieste finally surrendered. The province linking it to Italy, Gorizia, was barely held by a depleted unit of conscripted Slavs against yet another Italian attack.
Interestingly it seems Italy planned a Grand Offensive against Villach, but decided to take the penalty in abandoning it.
And to finish Italian news off, the French 7th Army had been spotted debarking (sp?) in the port of Venice! Their role was as of yet uncertain, but north of the Alps, the German 16th Army was also forming.

The Turks conquered Erevan, at this moment their success seemed complete, altough overstretching was a real danger in case the Russian decided on a counter-offensive. But the goal at that moment was Tbilisi and entire Georgia by the end of 1915.

The French did no really continue their Great Offensive this turn, apart from a British cavalry trying to break through. They (frenchies) did attack my line in northern France, west of Ypres, and being understrength and no near reserves, they nearly broke through. A weakness in the German position was thus discovered.