German Empire, not quite an AAR...

[HerrDan]

Our offensive against Wilna led by our prince Albrecht von Preußen is going well and we defeated the russians in another great battle inflicting heavy losses on the russians while suffering few. Our prince is proving to be a master tactician!

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In the south, things aren't going well at all, the russian forces defeated von Bock 8th army, we had many casualties in the battle and our morale was hit, at least we're forcing the russians to commit a good deal of troops to the Ukraine front and somehow the victories in Wilna eclipsed the losses we suffered in Ukraine.

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I think we will be forced to give up the idea of taking Kiew this Summer...

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[Kensai]

The Ukrainians are revolting!

[loki100]

Our offensive against Wilna led by our prince Albrecht von Preußen is going well and we defeated the russians in another great battle inflicting heavy losses on the russians while suffering few. Our prince is proving to be a master tactician!

he sure is, if I read the battle report properly, he also had the sense to bring six times the Russian forces to the battle. No harm in making sure the odds are in your favour.

Its good to see the Russian AI is still a formidable foe

See in your last little screen they are now sending you peace offers, seemingly so they can then attack Italy?

[HerrDan]

The Ukrainians are revolting!

Yeah it's really great to know that! I don't really know when this war will end, but the way things are going if the russians have the 1905 uprising they'll be in serious problem!

he sure is, if I read the battle report properly, he also had the sense to bring six times the Russian forces to the battle. No harm in making sure the odds are in your favour.

Its good to see the Russian AI is still a formidable foe

See in your last little screen they are now sending you peace offers, seemingly so they can then attack Italy?

I still don't understand well how does the battle system works sometimes, because it seems like Albrecht borrowed some troops from my big stack 3rd army that was in Masuren (neighbour province), because he didn't have this amount of troops that were displayed in the report, I'm still grasping these concepts, but does a stack gets the help of another stack present in a neighbour province?

Well the russians are getting into trouble with many powers at once, last turn or so they got a CB against Austria also because of tensions with them, they seem to be acting very agressively lately.

[Jim-NC]

It's called March to the Sound of the Guns (MTSG). Units will attempt to support each other in battle, even moving from 1 province to another to do so. Albrecht was able to call on the 3rd army for support, and they decided to support him. They would have joined the battle after it started, but before if finished. You also can have the opposite, where a force does not move to help another (even in the same region). MTSG allows you to spread your forces out a little, to defend multiple points, and they will attempt to come to each other's aid. The chance of that happening is based on several factors, the biggest being time to reach the battle. You can find more on this topic in the CWII forums for example.

[HerrDan]

It's called March to the Sound of the Guns (MTSG). Units will attempt to support each other in battle, even moving from 1 province to another to do so. Albrecht was able to call on the 3rd army for support, and they decided to support him. They would have joined the battle after it started, but before if finished. You also can have the opposite, where a force does not move to help another (even in the same region). MTSG allows you to spread your forces out a little, to defend multiple points, and they will attempt to come to each other's aid. The chance of that happening is based on several factors, the biggest being time to reach the battle. You can find more on this topic in the CWII forums for example.

Thank you very much Jim, it's always great to hear these things explained by someone that understands it well I always thought something like this happened, but wasn't sure how the mechanic worked, now it's much clearer, I'll have a look at the CWII forums to understand it better, as I need to understand better how to defeat AI huge stacks, the russians have formed another and i suffered a catastrophic defeat in my game, later I'll update here, after I give a lesson to a student here at my house.

Cheers.

[HerrDan]

Well, it's hard to define this humiliating defeat at Wilna suffered by our 1st army, in a moment of underestimation of the enemy's resilience our 1st army tried to prematurely assault Wilna with the support of units from the 3rd army, the resulting defeat was the greatest we've ever been through, and the worst part is that it opened our flanks to a crushing counter-offensive that has led the russians until Warsaw! This surely destroyed our hopes of defeating the russians this Summer. It's a tragic day for our Empire.

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[loki100]

ouch, so in addition to your losses, that cost you -38 NM? and 5 complete corps, plus your retreat losses.

that really was a stunning reversal of fortune, one bad attack and your entire strategy falls apart ... rubs hands with glee (sorry)

[HerrDan]

ouch, so in addition to your losses, that cost you -38 NM? and 5 complete corps, plus your retreat losses.

that really was a stunning reversal of fortune, one bad attack and your entire strategy falls apart ... rubs hands with glee (sorry)

Yeah the losses were huge, even bigger than the russian defeat at Königsberg, at least in terms of moral impact, because one good thing is that I didn't have an entire group of armies surrounded. This changed completelly the situation, but I won't give up that easily, I'll try to use the situation in my favor by trying to surround the russian forces in Warsaw, if I manage to do it, the war will be over before winter! The defeat was so huge that I had to exit the game to relax and analyze the situation with cool head.

[Kensai]

The defeat was so huge that I had to exit the game to relax and analyze the situation with cool head.

Maaah! That was amazing... Seriously, I have done this as well in my Japanese assault on the USA when things looked bleak. I feel you. Perhaps it is time to accept what you have already earned in VP. They will still give you something and regain peace of mind. After all, one thing surely came out of this war: Germany must be now the number 1 military force in the world.

[HerrDan]

Maaah! That was amazing... Seriously, I have done this as well in my Japanese assault on the USA when things looked bleak. I feel you. Perhaps it is time to accept what you have already earned in VP. They will still give you something and regain peace of mind. After all, one thing surely came out of this war: Germany must be now the number 1 military force in the world.

Oh yes, I'm still considering my options, this is surely one of them, at least we defintelly managed to show the world that we're the dominating power in Europe and in the world now. I was thinking about trying to surround their forces, but that's a little risky, so I'm still thinking about what to do, seriously yesterday I almost cried when I saw the damage they done to my NM and the complete turnaround in the situation, I was really out of my mind

[HerrDan]

After the shock of the defeat at Wilna and the deep russian thrust our generals noticed the great oportunity as the russian counter-offensive extended beyond their supply lines (although I as a player was somewhat skeptikal if this ambitious move would work, I was even afraid that it could end up in another disaster if some of the forces failed to join the battle, as I stated before this was my last card, and you cannot imagine how happy I was when I saw it worked ), Warldersee showed why he's the senior general of the german imperial army, with a coordinated move with one group led by himself advancing to Warsaw and another by Prince Leopold to Siedlce on the other bank of the Vistula with the support of von Stuepnagel in the rear, our group of armies under his command managed join the battle from both sides of the Vistula, completelly surrounding the russian armies and simultaneously attacking from both sides of the river and crushing the russian forces in a series of battle that gave us back the initiative in the war.

Battle of the Vistula River
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After the defeat, a part of the scattered Vanovski armies managed to retreat, we now must pursue the enemy, we cannot let Vanovski escape again. It's hard to explain how happy I was with the performance of my armies and with myself for having seen the oportunity in their earlier victory and specially that the game makes it possible for us (already somehow accustomed to read this kind of maneuver in books, as my speciality is military history ) to emulate this kind of strategic maneuver in a so realistical way.

Now I think that there's a chance for us to win this war before winter.

And of course to commemorate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_6AQA4uzD0&feature=kp

[HerrDan]

The situation after the Battle, we still have to destroy Vanovski forces that are still in the region, we won't let Vanovski escapre again! We were forced to retreat from Ukraine after being driven back by russian forces there, we later found out that von der Goltz died in one of the battles in Ukraine, a very sad new indeed ( I don't know the rules to generals deaths, but I found this one very bad as he was a great general).

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[havi]

Where is the rest of russian armys i can see only 2 of then in the field?

[Jim-NC]

What a bloody set of encounters!

[HerrDan]

Where is the rest of russian armys i can see only 2 of then in the field?

They're probably in fog of war, so Havi now I think I'll be able to free Finland

What a bloody set of encounters!

Yes, really, this Summer of 1899 is the bloodiest in the entire war, I have suffered huge damage in my f3 screen, but I think it was worth it, before winter we shall be in Saint Petersburg.

[HerrDan]

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We held a great military parade at the Brandenburg gate in Berlin to commemorate our great victories in the East, we invited our great ally Franz Joseph to watch the parade along with me and the representatives of the finnish.

In this great celebration I also condecorated the great german commanders involved in our glorious victory at The Battle of The Vistula River: Alfred von Waldersee, Leopold von Bayern, Ferdinand von Stuepnagel and Georg von Sachsen. Friedrich von Loe was a bit angered, or so I heard, that I chose to promote von Stuelpnagel instead of him (and the tooltip says I lost several victory points due to it), but I see greater potential in Stuelpnagel (besides the fact that the trait "quickly angered" that Loe has is very bad for a commander) and he played a key role in our victory. Prince Albrecht must be a bit bitter that he wasn't among the condecorated, but he should be thankful that he's still a general in our army even after he lost the entire 1st army in the Battle of Wilna.

We ended the celebration singing a great march reminding us of the importance of a united Germany and specially the importance of all of our troops from everywhere in the German Empire, united we stand, divided we fall!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAslBqrbof4

Our troops must now advance towards Saint Petersburg as the war is not over yet and we must capture Saint Petersburg before winter when all of our soldiers will be able to celebrate Christmas at their homes with their families!

[HerrDan]

Where are you now Kensai and Loki? As you're cheering for the russians, do you think they still stand a chance...now I'm "rubing my hands with glee" haha

[loki100]

Its good to see how effective the PoN AI is, I felt it was quite a dangerous opponent but prone to being a bit impetuous when a player might have been a bit more cautious and I think your recent campaign bears (if you'll forgive the pun) that out.

Not cheering Russia as such, just glad to see you had to work hard for your victory

[HerrDan]

Its good to see how effective the PoN AI is, I felt it was quite a dangerous opponent but prone to being a bit impetuous when a player might have been a bit more cautious and I think your recent campaign bears (if you'll forgive the pun) that out.

Not cheering Russia as such, just glad to see you had to work hard for your victory

Haha I'm just kidding here, I mean I wouldn't feel bad if you cheered for Russia, it's really amazing to see a challenging AI and I said you were "cheering for them" because of that, to see the AI performing well, and in my opinion the ai in this game is proving to be really challenging and even it's impetuousity (does that word exist at all? :mdr is great because it reflects the quite comon place attitude an army takes when it's "winning" the war (e.g they went on a full scale offensive after destroying our 1st army in the Battle of Wilna), I feel I don't need to cite RL exemples

You comments are as funny as always, I've loved the "bears" pun part

[HerrDan]

Completelly surrounded the russian polish front under general Vanovski surrenders at Warsaw after the Battle of Warsaw. Now that the bulk of the russian forces are defeated, it's only a matter of time to get to Saint Petersburg.

I'm deciding with my generals on what should be our priority, some think that before we can proceed to Saint Petersburg we need to make the russian forces in Wilna and Brest-Litovsk surrender, while I have promissed my soldiers to conquer Saint Petersburg before winter, so that defeating these russian forces first could significantly delay our march to Saint Petersburg. I argue that these russian forces don't offer a serious threat to our flanks, while my most cautious generals considers defeating these forces an absolute priority before we can move to Saint Petersburg, besides our forces need some rest and resuply before they can resume the offensive, basically only Blumenthal's 2nd army is rested and preperly suplied for an offensive at the moment, the rest of our forces will need some time, maybe a month or so to regain the necessary strenght to resume the offensive.

It's a hard decision to make indeed, but we cannot allow this war to last for much longer as it's damaging our trade and our international relations, not to mention the threat the french possess, we're really lucky that the french and the british aren't in a good moment at all right now and I think that this is also one of the main reasons the french don't attack us, but the only way to end the war this year is to capture Saint Petersburg, so I'm inclined to decide on giving priority to Saint Petersburg, but then sending the 2nd army forces to advance before we can resuply our other units is a risky decision. I'll let the 2nd army advance, I trust Blumenthal won't commit the same mistake Prince Albrecht did, but the rest of our forces will only join his offensive in Oktober.


The destruction of the Russia's polish front
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Securing our southern flank against russian forces in Ukraine
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Blumenthal's 2nd army begins the offensive in Lithuania
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The front
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[HerrDan]

So these are so closer pictures of the russian forces (visibles at least, I guess they have more in the interior...) deployed in the field against our forces.

In the southern front
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Central Front
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Northern Front
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More southern forces...
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F10 screen showing our relative military power and their morale, we can notice a huge difference from the start of the war until now.

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As you could probably notice from the screenshot, I have captured several russian units since the start of the war, will I ever get rid of them?

[HerrDan]

Now that the war with the russians has an end in sight I've been thinking more about the international situation, it's a pitty the american withdrew from their war with Spain so quickly (and apparently losing), the japanese AI was unsing its navy well to land troops in China, as was reported before in the sino-japanese war, but for some reason the american didn't.

The british seem to be losing the Second Boer War, I have already gave them a few ships with Loki's event, so they should be able to fight this war without problem (I hope I won't regret giving them dreadnoughts while I only have pre-dreadnoughts:bonk . Here a screenshot from the situation in South Africa:

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Regarding the situation in Europe, I'm thinking about making Christophe's Entente event fire a bit earlier given the situation in my game, I have bad relations with both France and Great Britain, I'm winning the war with Russia and France is somehow threatned by my triple alliance with Austria and Italy. I would really appreciate if you, my dear readers have any idea regarding realistic international reactions to the current events in my game, it's a great discussion and a further challenge for me too

[havi]

Maybe the french can give u a ultimatum if u go to near to st.petersburg they will come to help the russkies... And because u Support the boers GB should cut trade for u that would b challenging enough. But i still hope to see independent Finland in your game mr. Dan... Über alles..........

[HerrDan]

Maybe the french can give u a ultimatum if u go to near to st.petersburg they will come to help the russkies... And because u Support the boers GB should cut trade for u that would b challenging enough. But i still hope to see independent Finland in your game mr. Dan... Über alles..........

I've considered the french ultimatum in case I get near to take Saint Petersburg, but firstly I think the french would need to have improved relations with the british, that's why I was talking about making the entente cordiale event Christophe wrote to fire earlier, this way France would be less isolated and it would make more sense for them to take such a dangerous move. I have restrained my support for the Boers, as I was in a difficult situation in the war with Russia, but still our relation with the british is very sour.

Loki, I think I'll need your help if I manage to free Finland

[loki100]

Loki, I think I'll need your help if I manage to free Finland

what will happen by default is only the capital province is released. So I did an event that completed the transfer of provinces, gave them good relations and a defensive alliance with their noble liberator and a small (2-3 corps) army so they could deal with any early revolts, plus a bit of a stock of key goods.

[HerrDan]

The 2nd army commanded by general Blumenthal advances through Memelland, the russian army still tries to offer some resistance, but it seems like they are really exhausted and demoralized after the defeats in this Summer.

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In the Central front, a russian army was sent to Minsk
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The true danger however, seems to come from The Southern Front as a strong russian army was deployed to Kowel and it looks like they intend to attack our 8th army in Lutsk.

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[HerrDan]

what will happen by default is only the capital province is released. So I did an event that completed the transfer of provinces, gave them good relations and a defensive alliance with their noble liberator and a small (2-3 corps) army so they could deal with any early revolts, plus a bit of a stock of key goods.

Great! Where is the event? You mean you have an event for them already?

[HerrDan]

Our forces continue to advance into russian territory

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[loki100]

Great! Where is the event? You mean you have an event for them already?

I think I've deleted the scripts I used for Scotland et al (ie the nations I force released in my game). Easiest way to do this, is to adapt two scripts that already exist. In the Balkan Crisis Events, if you find "RussoTurkishWar1877_War", that will give you the syntax for setting up the diplomatic relations for a new state and in MAH Events "EGY_MahdistRebellion1881" is a great source of how to create a scripted army, set up unit types, create reserves and stocks and so on.

Obviously you'll need to heavily amend but I find that is the easy part once you have the syntax right.

I'll look at my files on another computer later and see if the scripts I wrote are still on there.