Ulver vs. Geoffrey or Germany goes East while France goes to the Desert

Ulver vs. Geoffrey or Germany goes East while France goes to the Desert (Full Version)

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ulver -> Ulver vs. Geoffrey or Germany goes East while France goes to the Desert (8/30/2008 8:14:33 PM)
Geoffrey, having pointed out he actually managed to face down the Hjaco, graciously offered to play the poor doomed Central Powers. Anyone who can face the Hjaco and live is a figure of respect for me but even so I felt pretty confident. It takes a bit of a dimwit to lose with the Entente and this time I promised myself I’d be ultra extra cautious [image]local://upfiles/4201/1631955C90CF4C779A569A651AF210C0.jpg[/image] August 1914 – German East Front setup

ulver -> Opening guns (8/30/2008 8:22:29 PM)
When he went all-out East for a knock out Russia ASAP strategy I felt pretty good. I had after all deployed with a defensive cavalry screen and was reasonably optimistic I could redraw in good order. [image]local://upfiles/4201/06309EEE942F40F0B790C55424C3D352.jpg[/image] August 1914 – Austrian East Front setup

ulver -> RE: Opening guns (8/30/2008 8:34:36 PM)
My defensive strategy was simple. Have a cavalry screen in front to be pushed back with no losses and make “traps” by occasionally rush a full stack of infantry into a front hex to inflict horrendous casualties when one or two corps attack expecting a cavalry screen. For the first few impulses it worked just as planned and I padded myself on the back for my strategic genius as both the Austrians and the Germans got a bloody nose running into such stacks suddenly advancing into the cavalry screen. [image]local://upfiles/4201/7EF8FE6C685C4777BA505CB7628910C2.jpg[/image] 3rd impulse of August 1914: Central Power losses actually exceed mine. As it happened pride went before the fall as disaster was about to strike.

ulver -> RE: Opening guns (8/30/2008 8:37:51 PM)
Basically I got cocky. Wanting to inflict one bloody nose to many on the advancing Germans, I rushed forward into Vilna and – just as intended - the advancing Germans got their ass kicked. Unfortunately the stacks advancing on either side was faster then I could redraw afterwards and easily beat my stack retreating out of Vilna. Result: the flower of the Russian army was trapped to stave to Death. [image]local://upfiles/4201/D7BAE16D40BD4F7BBDE9C78CAFBB1D5F.jpg[/image] End of the first turn: Bloody and unmitigated disaster

ulver -> RE: Opening guns (8/30/2008 9:46:54 PM)
It was obvious that I need to do something to relive the pressure on the Russians. An attack across the French/German border was a complete fiasco as indeed I had expected it to be. With no siege artillery there was just no way to attack directly into Germany. That left a number of options. a) A reverse schlieffen plan by attacking Benelux. Here the problem was that the lack of siege artillery would make Liege practically invulnerable and I expected serious political complications with regard to US entry, b) A massive sea-lift of French forces to assist Serbia and draw forces away to the Balkans. c) Trying to open up lines of communications by knocking out the Ottomans. As it happened I had set up two French HQ’s in Toulon. Figuring they would make no difference in a defensive battle for France. In the first turn he made no attempt to contest the Mediterranean – in fact he didn’t sortie his fleet at all except for the Baltic – I moved the French HQ’s to Serbia determined to use the offensives to advance with the Serbians and force him to respond by redirecting reinforcements away from the East front. [image]local://upfiles/4201/26147AE6FA044E8AAB64D78539B24A24.jpg[/image] Sep/Oct 1914 – French supplies used to attempt to force him to divert forces from the East front My planned follow up to the HQ’s with French Land forces was, however, foiled by the Austrian navy: Sep-Oct 1914 Navy action: Baltic: German 8th (DD) firing on Br 1st (Sub) : 1 hits North Sea: British Achilles (CA) firing on Ger 1st (Tr) : 1 hits British Minotaur (CA) firing on Ger 1st (Tr) : 1 hits British Argyll (CA) firing on Ger 1st (Tr) : 1 hits German 1st (Tr) sunk What!!!???? Have the German admiralty gone stack raving mad? Atlantic: German 1st (UB) firing on Fre 1st (DD) : 1 hits French 1st (DD) firing on Ger 1st (UB) : 1 hits East Med: British Donegal (CA) firing on Aus Maria Theresa (CA) : 1 hits Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br 8th (Tr) : 4 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br 7th (Tr) : 3 hits Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br Leviathan (CA) : 4 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Leviathan (CA) : 4 hits Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br Argyll (CA) : 3 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Minotaur (CA) : 3 hits Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br Donegal (CA) : 3 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Donegal (CA) : 5 hits Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br Minotaur (CA) : 4 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Achilles (CA) : 4 hits Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br Minotaur (CA) : 4 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Achilles (CA) : 4 hits Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Fre Jean Bart (DN) : 2 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Fre Courbet (DN) : 4 hits Austrian Habsburg (PD) firing on Fre Courbet (DN) : 1 hits Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Fre Courbet (DN) : 4 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Fre Jean Bart (DN) : 6 hits German 2nd (UB) firing on Br 11th (Tr) : 2 hits French Courbet (DN) firing on Aus Maria Theresa (CA) : 2 hits French Jean Bart (DN) firing on Aus Maria Theresa (CA) : 4 hits French Carnot (PD) firing on Aus Maria Theresa (CA) : 2 hits French Courbet (DN) firing on Aus Prinz Eugen (DN) : 5 hits French Jean Bart (DN) firing on Aus Prinz Eugen (DN) : 4 hits French Carnot (PD) firing on Aus Habsburg (PD) : 1 hits French Courbet (DN) firing on Aus Tegetthoff (DN) : 4 hits French Jean Bart (DN) firing on Aus Tegetthoff (DN) : 4 hits French Carnot (PD) firing on Aus Habsburg (PD) : 0 hits British Achilles (CA) firing on Aus Habsburg (PD) : 1 hits British Argyll (CA) firing on Aus Habsburg (PD) : 2 hits British Argyll (CA) firing on Aus Habsburg (PD) : 1 hits British Donegal (CA) firing on Aus Habsburg (PD) : 1 hits

ulver -> France striks Belgium (8/31/2008 6:54:21 AM)
With sea communications to the Balkans being cut of for now French forces rolled into position for an attack on Belgium - siege guns or no siege guns. Even without Liege it should be possible to strike North though the Netherlands and force Germany to allocate considerable forces to the West front. On November 1st Belgium and Luxemburg received a French ultimatum demanding military access. [image]local://upfiles/4201/69D2B484C4B543E0863EAAB843C33EDC.jpg[/image] November 1914: France begins the occupation of Belgium. Oddly enough at exactly the same time as France was about to strike northwards their fleet cleared the Med – thus opening op the option of pursuing the original Balkan strategy. Nov/Dec 1914 navel action: East Med: Austrian Prinz Eugen (DN) firing on Br Formidable (PD) : 1 hits Austrian Tegetthoff (DN) firing on Br Indefatiguable (BC) : 1 hits Austrian Habsburg (PD) firing on Br Goliath (PD) : 2 hits British Formidable (PD) firing on Aus Habsburg (PD) : 1 hits British Indefatiguable (BC) firing on Aus Prinz Eugen (DN) : 4 hits French 4th (DD) firing on Ger 2nd (UB) : 2 hits French 6th (DD) firing on Ger 2nd (UB) : 2 hits German 2nd (UB) sunk I got an Austrian DN!!!!!!!

ulver -> The Holy Land must be free!!! (8/31/2008 7:05:58 AM)
This presented the French army with a wide array of possible actions: a) Reinforce Serbia. b) Attack the Ottomans c) Strike further northwards into the Netherlands d) Mass an Army along the French-Italian border in anticipation of an attempted Central Powers knockout against Italy. The problem was that I simply did not have anywhere enough strength to do them all. While the French high command agonized the British army got busy driving into the Middle East. [image]local://upfiles/4201/7B063CAFEC4B499D8BC6DD9ACCE99259.jpg[/image] November 1914: Haig decides the French can handle things themselves on the West front and commits the entire British army to the liberation of the Holy Land.

geoffreyg -> RE: The Holy Land must be free!!! (8/31/2008 10:15:42 AM)
Excellent AAR as ever from Ulver. I think the German Imperial and KuK General Staffs were pleased with the way the Eastern offensive was going but at the cost of being late into Serbia. Hopefully the trade off will prove worthwhile. In the past as the TE, faced with a Russian first strategy, I have always attacked in the West a le Haig accepting the potentially unfavourable rate of exchange. Ulver’s attempt at outflanking me through Belgium was very interesting although I am hoping that it will upset the US. By the way I only claimed to have been holding my own with Hjaco!

ulver -> Poor Belgium (8/31/2008 2:51:16 PM)
As expected the Drive on Belgium proved to be child’s play, except for the level 3 fortresses at Liege that just refused to surrender despite repeated French assaults. I could really have used some assault guns to crack this nut. Throughout my Belgian offensive the German army remained strangely passively – even refusing to reinforce the battered defenders of Liege. Their only attempt to interfere with my offensive was an attempted move into Luxembourg when I declared war. A move I easily brushed aside – apart from that he contented himself with digging in. Air recon reveled full stacks of A class troops facing me across the Belgian German border and I was not about to try pushing into those. The question was whether to try flanking him further by driving into the Low Countries. [image]local://upfiles/4201/ECD7930B0C0546FA9DCD255948350105.jpg[/image] Jan/Feb 1915: Poor Belgium – always in the way.

ulver -> Staving Russians (8/31/2008 3:02:16 PM)
On the East front he was more or less content letting starvation do his dirty work for him. Except for constant and repeated attacks on Riga incurring heavy losses he simply held his position and let starvation do his killing for him. I was dismayed to find I was receiving reinforcements in isolated Russian cities in Poland. In any case with the new rules there is little point in leaving even nominal garrisons in border fortresses when redrawing. [image]local://upfiles/4201/51CCF1F932824D99AC3673C907885169.jpg[/image] Jan/Feb: 1915 – For now Riga holds but some of the best Russian corps are going to just melt away.

ulver -> Greater France (8/31/2008 4:10:52 PM)
With the Germans stubbornly refusing to move troops into the Liege Fortress the French finally manage to take it on the 3rd attack by the simple expedience of eliminating every single defender with overwhelming firepower. Looking at the correlation of forces the French decide against driving into the Netherlands for now. The reasoning of the French government is that the mere threat of being able to do so at any moment is likely to tie down almost as many German troops as actually doing it while a neutral Netherlands allow France to hold a remarkably short front with comparatively few forces and enable her to mass them elsewhere. If the Germans should attack the Low countries the French are in an excellent position to easily reinforce them since Rotterdam is just adjacent to the French border while it is far away from the Germans enabling the French to need fewer forces to screen against the possibility of a German attack on the Netherlands then the other way around. Everyone’s diplomacy has been remarkably active with the Central Powers influencing Italy and the United Status successfully every turn. The same is true of the Entente who is also putting maximum pressure on Rumania in an effort to get them in before the CP can line up the classic knock out Rumania in on turn strike. I get away with my aggression against Belgium without any reaction from the neutrals and with Italian entry getting close priority is given to mass French troops along the Italian-French border in an attempt to save her from the inevitable attempt to knock her out in the opening turn Also with the Central Powers making no attempt to contest the Med France feels confident enough to ship considerable forces overseas but where? Should we reinforce the Serbians in force or should we aid the British drive into Syria/Iraq. [image]local://upfiles/4201/2F08F7ADEA5D438AB36298FF6F86030B.jpg[/image] May/June 1915: The unification of the French Speaking people Meanwhile Mar/Apr 1915 sees the resumption of navel hostilities with a breakout of Germany raiding cruisers into the Atlantic. Atlantic German Blucher (BC) firing on Br 1st (Tr) : 2 hits German 1st (UB) firing on Br 1st (Tr) : 1 hits German Roon (CA) firing on Br 2nd (Tr) : 1 hits German Koln (CA) firing on Br 2nd (Tr) : 1 hits German Blucher (BC) firing on Br 3rd (Tr) : 2 hits German Graudenz (CA) firing on Br 4th (Tr) : 1 hits German Blucher (BC) firing on Fre 4th (Tr) : 1 hits German Blucher (BC) firing on Br 10th (Tr) : 3 hits Bloody amazing – I have the entire grand fleet at sea Fortuna is a fickle mistress however and the following turn I nail his battlecruiser May/Jun 1916 Navel action British Bellerophon (DN) firing on Ger Blucher (BC) : 3 hits British St.Vincent (DN) firing on Ger Blucher (BC) : 3 hits British Colossus (DN) firing on Ger Blucher (BC) : 3 hits British Orion (DN) firing on Ger Blucher (BC) : 3 hits British King George (DN) firing on Ger Koln (CA) : 2 hits French Carnot (PD) firing on Ger Yorck (CA) : 1 hits French Charlemagne (PD) firing on Ger Roon (CA) : 2 hits German Roon (CA) firing on Br Colossus (DN) : 1 hits German Yorck (CA) firing on Br Orion (DN) : 1 hits German Koln (CA) firing on Br Orion (DN) : 1 hits German Roon (CA) firing on Br King George (DN) : 1 hits German Graudenz (CA) firing on Br King George (DN) : 1 hits German Yorck (CA) firing on Fre Martel (PD) : 1 hits One of them gets away and sink a poor British convoy - in fact sink it twice[X(] German Roon (CA) firing on Br 12th (Tr) : 1 hits German Koln (CA) firing on Br 12th (Tr) : 3 hits While the German subs continue being useless: French 6th (DD) firing on Ger 1st (UB) : 1 hits Meanwhile the Russian fleet gets hammered by the German DN’s German Nassau (DN) firing on Rus Rurik (CA) : 2 hits German Nassau (DN) firing on Rus Petropavlovsk (PD) : 5 hits German Nassau (DN) firing on Rus Rurik (CA) : 1 hits German Nassau (DN) firing on Rus Petropavlovsk (PD) : 3 hits German Nassau (DN) firing on Rus Petropavlovsk (PD) : 2 hits Russian Petropavlovsk (PD) firing on Ger Nassau (DN) : 1 hit

ulver -> Riga falls (8/31/2008 5:51:51 PM)
Despite heroic resistance Riga eventually succumb in the spring of 1915. [image]local://upfiles/4201/52ECE611C35747D7A89AF9C882249455.jpg[/image] May 1915: Woe to mother Russia

ulver -> Lawrence of Arabia on speed!!! (8/31/2008 5:55:10 PM)
Apart from massing 10 Corps along the Italian border the French decides to dispatch forces to the Middle East. Partly this is due to fear of getting the expeditionary force crushed in a Balkan pocket if the relief mission fails and partly it is due to the Russians deciding that they have no chance of achieving anything Against the Germans on the East Front who seem content to dig in after sizing Riga. On the other hand the Russians haven’t used their activation points. Looking for a victory to boost flagging Russian morale the Tzar decide that the Ottomans look awful weak. The combined Strategic offensive for 1915 is thus set for the Middle East to take advantage of the fact that Serbia still blocks communication with the Ottomans The goal is somewhat less ambitious then trying to knock them out of the war. It is assumed that German forces will have broken though Serbia before then and been able to dig in in front of Ankara However it should be possible to size all Ottoman Resources, thus dramatically reducing the value of them to the German cause and capture Ottoman cities – something that will boost Russian morale. As it turns out I likely committed my typical mistake and massively overcommited for the mission as the ottomans refuse to stand and fight. I really didn’t need to ship French field artillery to the Syrian Desert. [image]local://upfiles/4201/DCBC2CCFFEBC43DCA1135E32D4FE97BA.jpg[/image] May 1915: Russia is in dire straights. The obvious move is to send a massive allied intervention force into the Asian wastelands.

ulver -> Poor Serbia (9/1/2008 7:14:42 PM)
Britain does eventually deploy a few corps to Serbia in an effort to slow down the Central Powers offensive and delay to moment when the Central Powers can reinforce the tottering Ottomans. It is a case of to little to late; even so the time gained may actually be worth it as it gives both the Russians and British time to advance virtually unopposed in the Middle East. [image]local://upfiles/4201/E1E12AEDBB21485A8F903AE2931544E2.jpg[/image] Jul-Aug 1915: The rape of Serbia. Soon the heroic defenders will perish. Stabbed in the back by Bulgaria. They will be made to pay for this!!!!

ulver -> Turkish delight (9/1/2008 7:27:57 PM)
Fighting, heat, thirst and sand – but very few Ottomans - the Anglo-French force push though the desert while their Russian allies face horrible supply problems in the mountains. By early July the great armies are about to link up in Eastern Anatolia in a gigantic pincer movement that will totally cut of the entirety the Ottoman resource base and deprive them of their Arabian empire. The Russians even dream of capturing some Anatolian food. We shall see how that dream turns out in the face of the German army. [image]local://upfiles/4201/D852B6AEC70D497B8626D549B1BB82FD.jpg[/image] Jul-Aug 1915 strategic phase: The Germans can forget about Iraq oil.

ulver -> Italy enters the War (9/1/2008 9:25:34 PM)
From the moment hostilities broke out on of my primary goals have been to get Italy to enter the war and being able to keep them in in the face of an expected massive all-out Germany push to knock her out on the turn she enters. To reassure the Italian Government a massive French army was concentrated on the Italian-French border ready to rush to her rescue. I was constantly worried about the risk of a German pre-emptive strike. On July 1st Italy finally entered the war and was immediately massively attacked by a huge German army unleashing poised gas on Both Venice and Milan but France was ready. Western front defenses were stripped to such an extend that that large sectors of the front was only held by a cavalry screen while the overwhelming mass of the French army was rapidly re-deployed to stiffen Italian defenses. This was considerably aided by uncontested Entente control of the sea allowing large British forces to be shipped in. [image]local://upfiles/4201/F37DB674110E4FC89E7617B73490AD72.jpg[/image] Jul-Aug 1915: The Italian front after two impulses. If not counting the former Belgium as part of France there are far more French corps in Italy then France With the swift arrival of some 20 British/French corps the Italians were quickly reduced to bystanders in the battle for Italy.

ulver -> Death to the Ottomans!!! (9/1/2008 9:39:57 PM)
Meanwhile the combined grand Entente offensive was going rather well, trapping considerable Ottoman forces in central Anatolia and linking up the Ottoman and Anglo-French forces cutting the Ottoman Empire in half. Not that this had any appreciable effect on ottoman morale, which remained strong despite losing half her territory. [image]local://upfiles/4201/0384F08AEBD24FC68812CD90BFF5D572.jpg[/image] Jul-Aug 1915: End of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of modern Turkey?

ulver -> RE: Death to the Ottomans!!! (9/1/2008 9:55:37 PM)
Of course going for the Anatolian food hex turned out to be one bridge to far for the Russians. [image]local://upfiles/4201/5BD2B5EF472C45C1927DE386893878BE.jpg[/image] Sep-Oct 1915: The Russians got a little too ambitious. With the arrival of German reinforcements the game is up.

ulver -> Knights of the Air (9/2/2008 4:34:52 PM)
Neither side has put much emphasis on air power. As the combined British-French air forces redeploys to the Italian front it is an even fight. [image]local://upfiles/4201/132761D501A2465087822569650D2726.jpg[/image] Sep-Oct 1915 air combat: So far neither side have suffered any losses in the air. Planes are used for recon – shooting at other planes would be so unsporting In September the navy was heats up again after a long period of inaction with another attempted breakout of German raiding cruisers into the Atlantic. This time the Royal navy intercepts and chases the intruders back to port: Sep-Oct 1915 navel action: North Sea: German Roon (CA) firing on Br King George (DN) : 1 hits German 1st (UB) firing on Br 2nd (Tr) : 1 hits British Orion (DN) firing on Ger Graudenz (CA) : 2 hits British King George (DN) firing on Ger Yorck (CA) : 3 hits Atlantic: German Roon (CA) firing on Br Orion (DN) : 1 hits British Orion (DN) firing on Ger Yorck (CA) : 5 hits British King George (DN) firing on Ger Koln (CA) : 4 hits East Med: German 3rd (UB) firing on Fre 3rd (Tr) : 2 hits German 3rd (UB) firing on Br 6th (DD) : 1 hits British 6th (DD) firing on Ger 3rd (UB) : 1 hits

ulver -> Revolution in Russia (9/2/2008 6:21:57 PM)
November 1915 brings a piece of very bad news for the Entente [image]local://upfiles/4201/3C85A6832CC94544A097A3B88A38D0C3.jpg[/image] November 1915: Fall of the Tsar. Almost two year ahead of schedule. This is not Good. This is likely bought by starvation in Russia facing ever-greater food shortages.The Austrian managed a drive to size more Ukrainian grain while the best of the Russian army was busy in Anatolia [image]local://upfiles/4201/2E8BADC9FEC8446BAB56C4110CE572C2.jpg[/image] November 1915: Austrians drive on Odessa

geoffreyg -> RE: Revolution in Russia (9/2/2008 8:18:07 PM)
Good from the point of view of the CP to see the revolution - now a question of trying to ensure Kerensky does not survive. Cold and hard times in the Anatolian highlands for both sides.

ulver -> Russian Status (9/4/2008 3:47:22 PM)
I confess I was surprised to see Russia enter revolution while Russian morale remained comparatively good. [image]local://upfiles/4201/761674E93BA04C2E95BA24CDB20A0F0B.jpg[/image] Russian status Nov-Dec 1915: Bad, yes – but revolution bad?

geoffreyg -> RE: Where are you? (9/4/2008 7:42:59 PM)
Apologies - my email saying that I would be tied up briefly with work commitments has gone astray my end. Just sent move.

ulver -> Russian Anatolia advance (9/6/2008 8:20:24 PM)
As Russia enters revolution the Entente armies actually manage to break though to the encircled spearhead in Anatolia. After a nail biting battle the whole thing turns out to be irrelevant as the food hex is plundered and the Russians promptly redraw. [image]local://upfiles/4201/818F0C5ACADF4C21B747F6185C9EC8BC.jpg[/image] November 1915: Everyone seems to have less the 10% supply in the Anatolian mountains

ulver -> Russian Counterattack (9/7/2008 7:35:20 AM)
In the spring of 1916 the revolutionary army of the Russian Republic launches a counterattack in the south and succeed in liberating the food-producing sector. Hunger is still killing democracy in Russia but it is a start. [image]local://upfiles/4201/F8046FAC94874AAB9D49830F20FB7D4B.jpg[/image] Mar-Apr 1916: Southern part of the Eastern Front.

ulver -> Germans in Syria (9/7/2008 7:45:30 AM)
The spring also sees a major combined Central Power buildup in the Middle East – no doubt planning to cut of lines of communications to the Anglo-French-Italian expeditionary corps in Anatolia and Iraq. In a weird replay of the Italian front the actual country in question – in this case the Ottomans – are quickly reduced to bystanders in the battle for their own country. [image]local://upfiles/4201/11BB1CDEC3154973BDD883BF3F0DF7FC.jpg[/image] Mar-Apr 1916: In this place lack of supply tends to kill a lot more troops then the enemy.

ulver -> RE: Germans in Syria (9/7/2008 9:05:32 AM)
So how is the war going? Having forsaken a French First strategy there is little risk the Central Powers will win the war outright as both France and Italy is massively fortified and there is virtually no chance of achieving any serious results against either of them. Having said that, there is an increasing real risk of him winning the game on points by an amazingly successful Eastern campaign that has an increasing real risk of knocking out Russia two years early. This is been combined with some astute diplomacy on the US that looks set to delay the Americans well into to 1918 – rending them all but irrelevant to the outcome by the end of 1919. The Middle Eastern offensive of 1915 was a tactical success and mixed bag in terms of achieving its strategic objectives. I cut off and occupied every single Ottoman resource and even managed to plunder a food hex in Anatolia but – and this really astonish me – failed to make any significant impact on Ottoman moral. The net result is that he is down 1 food resource in Anatolia while he has one functional captured food in Italy and one in Russia (The remaining captured Russian food hexes have been plundered) So in total he is up only one Food having not yet sized the treasure throve of Rumanian food while he has lost the entirety of the Ottoman resources and only gained one in Serbia. In short he is starving and his industry is awfully short of raw materials. If Russia somehow manages to hold on for a while I really think I got him with both starvation and a pitiful resource base. If, on the other hand, Russia collapses immediately at the end of the revolutionary period his food problems are likely to be permanently over as the occupation of the Ukraine will net him 6 food in additional to the 3 Romanian that can be sized anytime with 3 offensive points. On the other hand the collapse of the Russian Republic will do surprisingly little to alleviate his resource problems; netting Germany only one in the Ukraine and the Ottomans two in the Caucasus. The problem is that the Italians occupy the Caucasus resources around Tbilisi and in any case I have an expeditionary force right across the old Russian-Ottoman border in British-Controlled hexes ready to intervene massively to deny him any spoils of victory in that sector. Hence even complete victory in the East will only gain him one resource. The Entente by contrast is awash in both resources and food and will feast on the Russian carcass for even more in the event of a Bolshevik takeover. Lets just call in intervention on the side of the legitimate Russian government shall we? Bottom line: Even with my countless screwups in this game the intrinsic strength of the Entente side will probably save me in the end. Comments welcome [image]local://upfiles/4201/4CD57A0CD11C4CE794B79C6CCBE001A9.jpg[/image] Status Marts 1916: A lot less bloody then our timeline so far

geoffreyg -> RE: Germans in Syria (9/8/2008 11:20:53 AM)
I thought Ulver's defence of Italy was an example to us all. He makes the point that it was obviously helped by a CP East first strategy, thus freeing up French forces, but it was none the less impressive. Interesting to see how the current tussle in the Ottoman Empire turns out. Still a lot to play for overall I feel.

ulver -> Blood in the Air (9/8/2008 3:06:10 PM)
In the summer of 1916 the air war heats up with first blood going to the massed Entente air force fighting the first huge air battle of the war over the Syrian desert of all places. [image]local://upfiles/4201/BF1EF87E9DED4EAD8A034EAB55AABC1A.jpg[/image] May-June 1916: Victory in the Air!!!! (Unless this is a really clever stratagem to lure my air force away from the critical sector)

ulver -> RE: Blood in the Air (9/8/2008 9:04:26 PM)
Summer brings unexpected good news for the Entente: Democracy has triumphed in Russia. [image]local://upfiles/4201/E887EF3933EE439389A17BB4E76BD8E2.jpg[/image] July 1916: Long live the constitutional Russian Republic Reilly, ace of spies, succeeded against the odds in eliminating Lenin just in the nick of time. [image]local://upfiles/4201/B28D5E0B628643109FD5CB6445322ACA.jpg[/image] This is an Illustrious moment in history. The Russian people have made their choice; the great democracies stand more united then ever against the common foe

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