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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/23/2007 11:24:17 AM   
ulver

 

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The main Entente thrust in 1917 is in a front that has so far seen two years of calm. Under cover of total Entente air superiority massive forces roll into position behind the Italian Front poised to strike eastwards. Strategic surprised is achieved as 6 Entente artillery corps blows a hole in the Austrian defences pulverising their trenches and follow up with a massive Gas barrage on second line troops ill equipped to withstand the sudden onslaught. In an unusual mobile war of manoeuvre rather then static mutual shelling that has become the norm the Americans break out into Austria.

This could be it: This could be the offensive that wins the war.





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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/23/2007 11:47:12 AM   
ulver

 

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Sep/Oct 1917 strategic phase does have some bad news for the Entente




But....., but I took Riga back like I always do. This is so unfair.

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< Message edited by ulver -- 9/23/2007 1:58:01 PM >

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/23/2007 1:28:39 PM   
ulver

 

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So it is now 7 against 2 and the scorekeeper thinks the Central Powers are winning




Sep/Oct 1917. Central Powers ahead by 18 points: Does the computer knows something I don’t?

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< Message edited by ulver -- 9/23/2007 1:33:35 PM >

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/23/2007 1:59:14 PM   
ulver

 

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Who is this Lenin character and how do I get rid of him?




Must be a nefarious German agent. I’m so intervening in the Russian civil war. Churchill dispatch Reilly to overthrow him.

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< Message edited by ulver -- 9/23/2007 2:02:48 PM >

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/23/2007 6:52:40 PM   
ulver

 

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In the air I have utterly and completely driven the Central powers from the sky.




Hmm.... would be nice if they had time to do some ground observations while flying around celebrating their air supremacy. At least I know they enemy isn’t observing anything

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< Message edited by ulver -- 9/23/2007 6:55:31 PM >

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/24/2007 3:44:23 AM   
EUBanana


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Thats a mindboggling amount of industry spent on aircraft there.

...do you think that was industry well spent?  thats like, ~350 odd arms - an entire French army - or 150 barrages...


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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/24/2007 10:22:22 AM   
hjaco

 

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Ulver only knows one way and thats the "all out" way

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/24/2007 8:40:00 PM   
ulver

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

Thats a mindboggling amount of industry spent on aircraft there.

...do you think that was industry well spent? thats like, ~350 odd arms - an entire French army - or 150 barrages...



Partly there was a role-playing aspect to it. After the dismal failure of my 1915 grand offensive I was fiercely determined to avoid any more large-scale offensive infantry battles. Losing over a million young men in two weeks gave the Entente Governments something of a scare I can tell you. I figured that if I gave my generals more men they would just be tempted to throw them away on more pointless offensives.

But yes in retro respect I think they have been a better investment then the alternative. Something like 95% of the casualties inflicted in the game has been caused by artillery. I long ago maxed out my force pool of artillery and I have been keeping sufficient stockpiles of shells to keep them firing constantly so I simply could not have spent the investment on more artillery. I have been spending quite liberally on navy, consistently on the technology fields of artillery, aircrafts, and trenches and on ASW till I reached level one and I always maximised my investments on US diplomacy – arguably the best return of all investments in the game.

What has been paying for all this: Arms. I reached the conclusion that in such an artillery rich environment non-a quality infantry corps were all but useless – the artillery would just shoot them to bits. I’ve seem dug in German 24 strength point corps in level 3 trenches evaporated by massed artillery fire – The Central power defensive line in the Alps I had to cross being a good example. The Butchers Bill for a frontal attack would have been staggering while 60 strength point of Anglo-Italian-American artillery with air support just blew them and their fortifications away. I basically only ever launch attacks with 1 max 2 corps on opponents who have been hammered by deadly accurate artillery fire. I got the industry points for this by cannibalising non-A class corps to keep my A units in fighting trim. Don’t forget the investment in air power gives a triple bonus. It gives you air support bonus to your artillery and denies it to him, it gives you a favourable rate of attrition in air combat, and it removes the fog of war for you while clouding him with it: The ability to archive complete strategic surprise in my Italian Attack is an example of this.

I fully understand your point of alternative cost but I don’t think I would have gotten nearly as good a return on my investment by having a much bigger infantry army, which was the alternative on offer.

Also it has negated the need for armour or assault training: With this kind of air support and high tech artillery I’ll just blow his trenches away.





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< Message edited by ulver -- 7/31/2008 5:32:39 PM >

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/24/2007 9:02:50 PM   
hjaco

 

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Well enjoy your time with 1.1 for with 1.2 your HQ and artillery are highly prone to overrun.

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/25/2007 3:36:08 AM   
SMK-at-work

 

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Stop spoiling the fun hjaco!!

It's still an impressive feat.

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/25/2007 10:27:05 AM   
hjaco

 

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It could have been interesting with approximately figures of CP casualties from normal combat and this behemoth artillery monster

Me spoiling fun ? Just trying to entice my old adversary to cajoling into trying this on me with 1.2

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/25/2007 10:28:49 AM   
hjaco

 

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Ulver - just out of curiosity: What are the max. number of artillery pieces France/Britain can build ?

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RE: The Churchill plan - 9/30/2007 7:29:40 PM   
ulver

 

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The nasty evil aggressor Central Powers has sued for an armistice exactly one year ahead of schedule. On the eleven-hour of the eleven-day of the eleventh month of 1917 the Guns falls silent.

Good triumphed and evil was thwarted





Nov/Dec 1917 the offensive that broke the back of Central powers resistance. Important lessens has been learned by the Western allies such as: Russia is worthless so don’t waste time trying to ally with them in the future, mobility is almost irrelevant for victory bet on slow set-piece battles with huge amount of artillery, no need to waste R&D on tanks and innovative doctrines just build huge fortresses with lots and lots of artillery. Yep – can’t fail.

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< Message edited by ulver -- 9/30/2007 7:37:15 PM >

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RE: The Churchill plan - 10/1/2007 1:21:17 PM   
ess1

 

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Thank you ulver for your AAR. Most entertaining and informative.
Looking forward to your next one

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RE: The Churchill plan - 10/1/2007 2:50:17 PM   
Raynald

 

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quote:

It gives you air support bonus to your artillery and denies it to him, it gives you a favourable rate of attrition in air combat, and it removes the fog of war for you while clouding him with it: The ability to archive complete strategic surprise in my Italian Attack is an example of this.


Actually, I fully knew the Italian offensive was comming : I had witnessed the heavy multinational buildup (and your main attack came after a smaller first one on Trieste).

The sad truth is that I couldn't help it : the Italian front already had all the troops I could spare elsewhere. At the beginning of the offensive, it was more entrenched and more manned than the whole west front ! What I could have done is to sent most of the remaining German artillery though.

All in all, a great game against a great opponent.

Unfortunatly, strong and cheap artillery against weak and costly trench kill the game for me. We'll see if 1.2 change this.

The super US corps are very weird (everybody know the US div were bigger than others, who ever heard it was such a good idea ???) but I suspect it would have less of an impact in a game where you retain a descent army (ie if 1.2 solve the arty/trench pb).

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RE: The Churchill plan - 12/11/2007 2:44:32 AM   
wargamer123

 

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I followed this AAR with some keen interest. I do not yet own the game but I have been studying it to see how it plays out. I'm more of a WW2 fanatic than a WW1 fanatic but one cannot deny the intrigueing qualities of this title.

Seems as if the Central Powers had a lot of difficulty. Perhaps some poor luck even, that or unfocused on 1 objective making great confusion, the Entente put on a good show with it's Navy, and deploying all over. I get the deep feeling the Entente never had much of a pain though winning the war, Germany/Austria never drove in the coffin nails and I think Paris in the first 2 years of the war was there only hope. The Great Artillery, Air Power-Naval-technology Power and Political-Strategic Maneuvers were just too much. Seems as though Paris or Bust... For me anyway I could see it no other way, and I do not see it completely accurate with the Amount of Grain caught from Turkey? Was it truly that Rich in Grain? And would any of this level of cooperation ever existed at that time?

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RE: The Churchill plan - 12/11/2007 2:50:22 AM   
SMK-at-work

 

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There isn't any surplus of grain from Turkey in the game any more - but they do have resources - 3 or 4 per turn - they can be important, but I think they're probably a bit over-rated too.

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Post #: 107
RE: The Churchill plan - 12/11/2007 12:12:53 PM   
hjaco

 

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They only have enough production to cover their own needs. I have no clue to whether that is historic but they are completely screwed game wise without.

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RE: The Churchill plan - 1/16/2008 10:32:54 AM   
Heartland

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ulver
Important lessens has been learned by the Western allies such as: Russia is worthless so don’t waste time trying to ally with them in the future, mobility is almost irrelevant for victory bet on slow set-piece battles with huge amount of artillery, no need to waste R&D on tanks and innovative doctrines just build huge fortresses with lots and lots of artillery. Yep – can’t fail.




Thanks for an interesting AAR guys, really enjoyed reading this one!

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RE: The Churchill plan - 2/20/2008 12:13:27 AM   
arichbourg


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Possibly the most amazing AAR of any game (boardgame or computer game or whatever) I've ever read. What a wild game!

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RE: The Churchill plan - 4/17/2008 1:13:22 AM   
Mike Scholl

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Raynald
Yes the Entente declared war on Turkey, with no visible effect on anybody. And it was prior the official 1.10, so the Turks had no way to react. Worse, I noticed Turkey was under attack only after the beginning of the Russian offensive and the first British landing(the game didn't warn me and I just didn't look in this area of the map ).

Italy is very close to war.

Bulgaria has just joined the CP.



This seems really odd. Britian got into the War because Germany violated Belgian neutrality..., so the first thing she does is violate Turkish neutrality? With NO political ramifications? The political representation in the game must be very poor.

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