vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Paths of Glory - Ultimate Mod - No Entente Please

Sun Nov 08, 2015 5:05 pm

Starting an AAR for the CP side for a multi-player game using the Ultimate Mod. I picked this game up on the second turn, which is the second week of August. The mod changes quite a few things, including turn length. Some turns last 2-4 weeks and other turns (at least in August) last 1 week each.

It is now the first week of September. All players took historical war plans. I'm playing AH. They are outnumbered against Russia and Serbia, though in Serbia I'll get a slight manpower advantage after this turn.

My German and Turkish allies will be contributing to this AAR as time allows.

The mods changes just about everything. I'll go through the changes as the game progresses.

Hoping everyone has fun playing the mod and game and I hope readers enjoy!

vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sun Nov 08, 2015 5:16 pm

Here's the situation in Serbia. It's the first week of September and there's been 4 turns so far. No much happening for me yet as I'm seeing 1 Serbia army opposing me, with probably another Army in FOW. This turn I get a number of mountain corp. This is another big change. There aren't infantry divisions (or mountain divisions), there's corps (at least for right now, never played the mod so not sure how unit builds expand over time). Purchases (right now) are at the Corp level and for the moment, you can only purchase reserve Corp, which come without any artillery (6 brigades and 1 element of officers), and you can purchase medium artillery. Another big change is that it requires officers to build new units and get replacements. Officers are not leaders, but another element added to each corp. AH is weak on building officers, which is why there's an officer "factory" that may be built in October onwards.

A head on attack will be a nightmare of losses. MTSG has changed as well, based on 20% multiplied by strat rating + 20% for being adjacent to battle and more bonuses if next to or under GHQ. Since my GHQ is locked for another month and AH leaders are pretty much horrible across the board, Belgrade will be a difficult nut to crack, so I'm going to stretch him out a bit. My German ally is sending some forces down to help take Belgrade.

Another big change is that anything with wheels cannot move into regions without roads or rails. This include supply trains. On the right flank will be a Kallaverie Korp, but it can't have supply trains with it. On the left flank, the 6th Army along with a Mountain Corp will attempt to push to the east. Doubtful it will get far, but the goal is to stretch the Serbians and open an opportunity for Belgrade. Currently, the Serbians have a Corp in Belgrade, another Corp opposing the 6th Army on the right flank. An Army (800 PWR) in Loznica and an unknown amount (possibly Army or 2 Corps) in between Loznica and Belgrade.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sun Nov 08, 2015 5:33 pm

And here's the situation against Russia. He's consolidated 3 or 4 Armies on Lemberg. I have no idea what the Russian starting forces are in this game or how powerful they begin with, so I have no idea where everything is. I moved 3 Armies in and around Lemberg in the hopes he would attack quickly. He didn't. I tried to extricate them, as I simply don't have the firepower for a pitched battle yet. 1st Army lost around 14k to his 4k but was able to retreat. The next line of defense is the mountains southwest of Lemberg and southeast of Przesmyl. The 4th Army could take a swipe at a Russian Corp in Czernowitz, but there's still at least 1 Russian Army unaccounted for and this could be a trap, so I've decided to hold with them.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sun Nov 08, 2015 5:49 pm

Here's the situation in Belgium. Antwerp and Lille have fallen. Rape of Belgium was played. He's pushing on Amiens. Also, here's the southern part of the Western Front. He's also railed the Ninth (Nord) Armee into Belgium. Because of FOW, I have no idea how many battles have occurred there. It would be a nice to have to see the combat results of other powers, since they would be reported pretty much anyway.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sun Nov 08, 2015 5:52 pm

And Eastern Front. Not much going on. There's 2-3 RU Armies unaccounted for. Looks like 2 RU Corps are defending against Hindenburg, possible another Corp or Cavalry to the south.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sun Nov 08, 2015 5:55 pm

And the overall standings. Look at RU CBT versus mine. Over 2-1. And because the powers are broken up, I don't have the conscripts or war supplies to be able to build much. A Reserve Corp costs 900 conscripts. I get 578 per turn. So 1 Corp every two turns. Not good. I've already printed money (which gives 4000), so I'm fine on money for the time being. And GE NM starts much higher in this mod. Up to 124!

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steelwarrior77
Colonel
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 am

Sun Nov 08, 2015 8:07 pm

Some additions from Germany - I had several battles against the French - am wondering where the BEF is- that could change a lot - for now I keep on pushing the French onwoard each turn - winning every battle with nearly twice as many losses for the French/Belgians - also beat up that Ruissian army in Prussia and will attack it again next turn as well as the corps in the South ;-D I also wiped out several garrison units and smaller units - that is why I have such a high NM...I hope I can catch the Russian fleet - that could bring up to another 10+NM...the Schlieffenplan works extremly well with this mod - I want to digg in in front of Paris in one long trench line from Le Havre to Verdun - it looks like I will be able to do so - if not I would choose one river more North of it. There I am mostly covered by rivers and can digg in - so I can send up to 50% of my forces to the East - either helping to take out Serbia or attacking Russia myself. I have to defend the harbors of Northern France and Belgium, if the BEF is not showing up. Everything works much better than expected now and if I can reach the line I wish - and I could maybe already next turn with my first units - then France should be weakened a whole lot - so I can focus on Russia and Italy later. We agree in the CP to kick out Russia ASAP - so we have to hit it as hard as possible. Cause time is working against us - the Entente will get stronger and stronger in the West - so we have to knock out one front ;-D
There is also a French fleet lurking at the coast of Belgium - it is very tempting to attack it - but it may be also a trap with the British waiting for me - so I will rather pass - as I will not risk my very high NM.

By the way the Rape of Belgium did not work - due to the Entente being split in many factions now - I wish I knew before as it influences the USA and maybe others to join the Entente - and it also slows down my movement through Belgium - but well - things are going still great ;-D
At the same time that I am pushing the French Eastern armies and corps South - I overrun them in the Western Part of France - just taking with three corps the bridges and only connections to Southern France and then mop up the remaining forces later...that should grant me a good position and lots of NM and XP for mobbing up whoever is still left in the North...so kinda using WWII tactics - Blitzkrieg ;-D
Paris is usually to well defended to be taken - but I do max damage to France - as later we will have to build factories to gain officers, planes, artillery and tanks and as well to research - it should hurt the French player that I took so many cities in Northern France (factories can only be build in level 6+ cities) - there are already some recruitment centers and factories now that I am taking ;-D

We are happily waiting for your comments and questions...

Altaris
Posts: 1551
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 8:20 pm

Mon Nov 09, 2015 1:08 am

Looks like a fairly historical Western Front shaping up! You are correct, A/H is tougher to play in this mod, puts some tough decisions on Germany. But Russia's lack of heavy artillery does make it easier for A/H to delay in the Carpathians if Germany is slow to come to the rescue.

How are you guys enjoying it so far?

vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:21 am

Tougher but historically accurate. AH got chewed up in the Carpathians. Also got chewed up by Putnic. Did ok against Italy because of von Below, but really required German support through the entire war.

Love the mod so far.

steelwarrior77
Colonel
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 am

Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:33 am

I enjoy it a lot - needs lots of cooperation in the CP to do well - but that is the fun of a MP game for me anyways. Can you tell us, if the militia for Germany and Austria will spawn - cause we would be a great deal weaker if not ;-D

Altaris
Posts: 1551
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 8:20 pm

Mon Nov 09, 2015 3:06 am

Militia spawning is not in, that is a good feature to add. I'll add it to list of items for next release.

steelwarrior77
Colonel
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 am

Mon Nov 09, 2015 4:25 am

Thanks - well then the CPs are in for a tough game...

vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 1:55 pm

1st 2 weeks of September. The mod has shifted back to 2 week turns.

Here's the situation in Serbia and the Caucuses. No combats this turn. Lemberg fell to the Russians. My opponent is cautious. Railing the 1st Army to Krakow. The 4th Army will be takng back Czernowitz and hopfully causing some damage. In Serbia, all units will be converging on Belgrade.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 1:59 pm

1st 2 weeks of September, Western Front

Can't see his combat reports, but my esteemed ally said that thing were getting bloody there. We have a BEF sighting and all harpooners are converging on the spout.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 2:08 pm

Last 2 weeks of September

The Western Front is where all the activity is right now. According to my ally, it's very bloody and Germans are winning. I'll let him post some of the results. 5 victories and one minor defeat.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 2:18 pm

Last 2 weeks of September, Austrians

No combats to report. 1st Army is still railing to Krakow. I was hoping to use the rail to quickly shift armies to the point of battle in the Caucuses, but railing 1 army takes over 1/2 of my rail and it's slower than base game. This is going to force me to change my plans. No combat to reports. I temporarily took back Czernowitz without a fight. My Russian opponent is definitely a cautious player. I may be able to use that.

The Austrians really aren't prepared for this war. Only 6 Armies to start with, which is why I like the Kaiser plan or the Eugen plan (which gives an active and better starting GHQ) to start the war with. Serbia is tough to take but limited on the offense. They can mess around Sarajevo, etc., possibly support a BEF invasion, but otherwise can be ignored. Focus on Russia with 5 Austrian Armies and that can make life difficult for the Russians. The historical war plan is the worst of all words. Armies are spread out and an inactive GHQ with 2 armies not able to even form into Armies for a while.

Here's the current VP totals. Germans must be winning. Look at the NM. According to my ally, the French and British are playing very aggressive. Not sure in this mod if that's a good thing or bad thing, but NM is way more important than the manpower advantage they will have in future years.

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steelwarrior77
Colonel
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 2:37 pm

France pressed hard in Western France to push my forces back and Britain as well - I still won 8 out of 9 battles - just took some heavier losses - but I have enough replacements in line. I believe it is a huge mistake of Brtian and France to be so aggressive - as they should dig in at the Paris Verdun line - I have a big CB power advantage at the start - they cannot really stop me before Paris, if I go for it - while they can build up much more forces later...so they should wait and then hit hard - forcing me to pull a lot of forces to the West to survive later in the game;-D- They did push me back a little at Western France, but with high losses and I am coming from the East with lots of CB to cut them off in the South of Western France - if they keep on playing so aggressive, I might be able to cut off three French armies and the BEF - plus smaller units and destroy them completyl - reducing their CB to 50% of what it is now - that will give me lots of time and CB to use against the Russians and Italians, because they will be crippled for a long time. Also my Allies won´t have to worry about the BEF anymore which is already behind my lines :-D and can invade Egypt and concentrate on the Russians as well - then we hope we can punsh Russia by 1916 out of the war - that would be awesome and it looks very possibel right now. Also some French and British fleets are quite worn out and in reach of the German fleet - one North of Belgium in my mine fields and one in the blockade box - as I can bring in miuch more combat power as these worn out fleets, I will try to go for seom quick raids - gaining hopefully even more NM ;-D

Me and my Austrian Ally will attack Belgrade together next turn - hopefully taking Serbia out untill march 1915 - which will free up a lot of CB as well ;-D And yes I am already besieging Belfort and Verdun - to force him to pull troops South and East - and if he does not, I will have a very nice defensive line in the South as well - just digging in in his former forts ;-D

All looks very bright for the CP right now - but you never know ;-D

One thing I have to make a remark on - retreating forces are taking way to few losses - many times I attack none dug in and retreating forces - but the losses are often equal - that is why I had to stop the Hindenburg offense in the East - I won every battle, but we had equal losses - my leader and CB far superior at times - my opponent had due to low cohesion only 300CB while I had 1000 - he was not dug in and we take the same losses - really? So I had one Phyrrhic victory after the other - the same in France - look at the losses screen shot - should it really look like this if I win 95%+ of the battles and force the armies into retreat? If they would not retreat ok - but like this it just feels broken and makes it much harder for the CP that needs to go on the offense. How do these units escape so fast??? Usually a retreating force took major losse due to the retreat and being chased down by the attacking force...that is really off - also in Vanilla but maybe Altaris could balance it more as well? ;-D

Also in reality Entente units would take much higer losses against German units - which had superior quality and training - that is not very well represented in this game - Italy and Russia are much stronger than they were in RL - I should usually be able to have the same CB as Russia and Italy, if they outnumber me by men 2:1 or even 3:1 - just a few thoughts on improvements ;-D
In RL Germany could launch offenses up untill the entry of the US - in the game the CP - especially without the militia spawn - is already CB wise overstrechted in 1915 with the entry of Italy, if it is not much more succesful in Serbia and France, then they were historically...so a new rebalance would be great - forcing the Entente to play much more defensive up until they build up - just as it was in history...
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steelwarrior77
Colonel
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 3:07 pm

And more screens
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Altaris
Posts: 1551
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 8:20 pm

Fri Nov 13, 2015 4:17 pm

In the East, make sure you're bringing medium and heavy artillery (and enough munitions trains to keep them going). This is where Germany shines the most, as it was historically. In 1915, the Germans had like a 9:1 advantage over Russia in heavy artillery and that was the difference maker. Once 1916+ came along and most of the artillery had to head back West, Germany didn't just mop the floor against Russia with infantry alone. German infantry weren't particularly better than the Russians except they had better officers and more rifles. I've never been in favor of making Russia so weak it can't effectively do anything, otherwise CP will always just hit them until they collapse. Artillery + sustained offensives are the key to wearing down the Russians in this game. As the Entente, this makes it important for the West to time their offensives to help relieve pressure off the Russians as well.

vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 4:32 pm

The Brits were equal to the Germans across the board. The French weren't. But looking at a few of those combats above, I believe GE quality and leadership is coming into play.

One guy defended with 20k vs. 140k and caused double the hits and won the battle versus the French. Molke attacked in Verdun, which is showing "trenches" as the terrain. That's new to this mod, but I'm assuming it provides a defensive bonus. Equal forces and Molke still won. Frontage also comes into play, so though you may have a lot more forces, the frontage may limit the results.

Check your retreat messages. Those won't be reflected in the above combats. The WE took additional losses retreating.

steelwarrior77
Colonel
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 4:53 pm

Ok - but still a bit more losses would be realistic for the loosing side - yes that 20k versus 160k was funny - he was just lucky that MTSG did not play out - there were actually enough forces to support - I do not say German forces should be made much stronger - but maybe like 10% in effect ;-D
Problem is with these results I hardly gain XP and get promotions running also - which is very important as numbers will play against me soon - so I have to counter with quality ;-D
And Italy is defintly too strong especially with the very unhistorical option of sending its troops to France - that can be an early knock out blow...

Thanks for the feedback and hints - another mechanic is IMO off - the retreat one - I mostly cut off and surround and then destroy the BEF - but it always retreated sometimes through two provinces avoiding combat after my initial attack - I hope that will not happen again - because hunting down surrounded armies ties up my armies way too long...

I just checked the retreat log - they took in between 2-6 hits with armies of 600-1000CB - thats still a joke IMO ;-D

vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 5:08 pm

My experience with this game so far (base and mod) is that the casualties are pretty much spot on. I've had games versus the AI where XP was quite low, and I had to go after the locked generals and try to free up a 3 star. I've had other games where the XP flowed easily and had more 3 stars than I needed. I'm honestly not sure how XP is given out.

Many of the above combats show roughly 1-1 combats ratios. When I can get 2-1 odds, I generally see the loss ratio dramatically improve. This is similar to any board game. The higher the odds, the more losses that are given and less taken. But it does look like your troop quality and leadership are carrying the day.

Remember that MTSG has changed to 20% x strat rating (so a 3 start has a base 60% chance) plus 20% for being adjacent to the battle. Helps to have GHQ involved in the battle. First 3 star promotion might want to take over Molke stack and have Molke move around to the points of attack. Austrians have a LOT of 2 strat leaders. Gives them a 60% chance to MTSG into an adjacent battle. Not good at all.

steelwarrior77
Colonel
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 am

Fri Nov 13, 2015 6:44 pm

The CB was not 1:1 I always had like 30% advantage and better leaders - also the 20k-160k was my 500CB in a building with a good defensive leader against his 1200CB assaulting me inside a structure - as I wrote before the Hindenburg example shows what I mean with off - anyways we do not need to agree - just makes it hard to gain the XP and promotions Germany needs to keep up with the numerous Entente and a bigger early quality advantage except against British troops is also historical IMO ;-D

vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:02 am

Early October, 1914

Serbian Campaign

We were planning on a quick campaign in order to shift to Russia and possibly Italy and it looks like it's working. It looks like 2 AH Corp alone beat back Putnik. Serbian forces have been moving around, I'm guessing reacting to my prior moves, so Putnik wasn't entrenched at all there.

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Here's the situation. 9 AH Corps, including 3 understrength MTN corps, plus 3 GE corps are on Belgrade. GE Corps will lead the push down to Velika Plana. Austrians will siege Belgrade and attack remaining Serbians in the area. Pirot has been taken with a Cav Corp (another coming) and will push up to Nish. Putnik is nowhere to been seen. I'm wondering if he got hurt in the last battle.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:10 am

I have to post this for Altaris. Looking at the details of the battle, notes the enemy commanders. I guess the Germans switched sides! Doesn't look like they participated in any of the battles, but this does seem to be a bug somewhere

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:27 am

Early October, 1914

Caucuses

After beating up a Cav unit, Auffenberg retreated after single round of combat.

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And the overall situation. Using rails as much as possible to catch him with hopefully even odds.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:34 am

Markus will be posting his own pictures in the future now that he has greenshot, but I have to post this. The BEF is trapped. GE took the northern ports including Dunkirk. There's approx. 3 GE armies surrounding the BEF. This will now put the supply model to the test. I have my doubts about it as I've seen huge armies last for long periods of time behind lines without huge numbers of supply trains. So this will be interesting to see how it pans out.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:00 am

And again I have to pre-empt Markus and post again. What's going on around Paris? No defenders unless there's some serious FOW. At least 2 GE Armies within striking distance. Looks like they got focused on hitting Belgium and now committed to saving the BEF and nothing defending Paris.

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vicberg
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:18 am

Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:05 am

And objectives....French NM continues to go down.

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steelwarrior77
Colonel
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 am

Sat Nov 14, 2015 11:24 am

First the battles ;-D In Amiens I keep on getting hit by bad luck the MTSG does not fire and so I lost the 2 out of only three battles I lost until now in Amiens - I have strategic ratings of 3-4 and all units sit in the same province - so really wondering - I have enough CB also...but everything else keeps on being awesome ;-D In two turns Kluck is in reach of Amiens...
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