Learning from Prussia - a Rise of Prussia AAR against a real player - for beginners

Nope, I just need more commanders against Sweden, for when I will recall the Hannoverians.

Twelve points is a lot. A significant battle you win will bring you 1 - 2 NM points, a large battle 2 - 4, a very decisive battle maybe 8...

Actually, I believe the decision to have a 3-star leader is too expensive. It would be difficult enough as a decision if it costed only 5 NM, but - oh well - at least more good generals cannot hurt.

Part XXI – Late July 1757 –The Fall of Koeniggratz
The 15 first days of july 1757 (as what you saw last turn were my orders on the 1st of july for the next 15 days) started rather expectedly with two battles :

- The fall of Dortmund



Noting I could do, but losing 1000 men to 200 is still a fairly poor performance

- The fall of Koeniggratz



Not very surprising either, given I breached the previous turn and decided to order the assault, but the overall speed at which Koeniggratz fell is a very good piece of news.
250 Prussian dead vs 750 Austrians – Frederick has been beaten by some Imperial general.

After the fall of Koeniggratz, I have a source of supply handy to attack either Prag or Olmutz. Only Von Daun was on the move to save Prag and/or Koeniggratz, which means Olmutz has absolutely no one to defend it right now – a golden opportunity.


Frederick will lead the way and reach the target in 12 days (less than one turn) due to his skill in logistics, while Keith and von Moritz will lag a little behind and reach the outskirts of Olmutz at the end of the 15 days a turn last. Wedell and Schwerin will remain in Koeniggratz to defend it.

I need to keep some defense, as they are actually two columns just one province away (a second column is under Von daun), and Charles de Lorraine column two provinces away.



Such a move immediately at the end of the siege would also surprise my opponent, who would expect me to rest at least one turn to recover my cohesion before marching again to battle. Except that, given that I expect no opposition, I can take the risk of moving my troops even though they are not full cohesion.

On the Russian front, I had sneaked my whole cavalry South of the Russian fort, hoping that my opponent would let the fort without enough defense, but expectedly he left quite a lot of troops to defend it, while his army is moving – very – slowly in the direction of Königsberg.

Note that North of Königsberg, Memel is sieged by a force of Russians (not really strong, but I don’t want to waste anyone to save a place as secondary as Memel. Henceforth, my cavalry is ordered back home. Also note that both my cities are blockaded by Russian boats. No supply can go in or out through the ports.

In the North of Germany, Wismar has fallen without combat (its garnison was pathetic – its size was probably around 100 men) and my troops are now moving on Rostock. The road to Berlin is safe due to my Frei Bataliones, who are going to “free” the road between Rostock and Wismar. I don’t expect the Swedes to hold before their reinforcements arrive.


Note, though, that my opponent has evacuated Rostock to concentrate in Stralsund, and also sent the Swedes an Austrian general to lead them into battle. Not really his best general, though. It won’t save him.

Finally, on the Western Front, there are more and more French pouring across my borders, and now they have a city to supply in (the supply production of the city is far from enough for them, though). My troops are rested for their diversion attack on Frankfurt. Wurthenau will start the march alone, as Cumberland is as useless as expected and refused to activate. Ferdinand is on his way to replace Cumberland as the commander in chief.



I would have preferred this attack to have developed faster. Right now, my opponent is closer and closer from rampaging in my land, and I am still one month away from sieging his city.

As for the other actions, I am extremely poor in Prussian replacements, so I keep producing new ones. This is not new, but this turn I am showing it to you

Part XXI – Early August 1757 – Onward to Olmutz

The Prussian soldier never stops marching, but sometimes he is slower than expected : Frederick stopped a few province away from Olmutz. Meanwhile, the armies surrounding my new prize are more and more.



But Olmutz really is without defense. I decide to send Von Moritz to Koeniggratz to help in defense, while Keith and Frederick will siege Olmutz.

In Russia, the enemy army is getting closer. Henrich is given the order to hold at all cost. I very rarely give this order as the Prussian player, as it is better to lose territory than men at RoP for them. But sometimes, you NEED to hold.



The cavalry is ordered a little South of Königsberg. This is because this way, they WILL come in reinforcement in a battle in Königsberg, but will NOT participate in the first rounds of the battle. Too often have I lost my cavalry after it recklessly charged the enemy formations at the start of the battle. (you might have noticed I positioned Katte that way a few times before).

In the North, on the other hand, I am on the attack. Rostock was defended by no more than a militia and is taken after one hour of battle (the minimum). Stralsund is the last target, but this time there WILL be a battle… in which I will be 2 against 1.



Finally, on the last front, the Western front, the large city of Munster is now under nest, and I feel I am facing a angry nest of French. A slow nest, though.



Meanwhile, I am STILL not attacking Frankfurt… I need to gather my troops just North of it, as I don’t want to risk Wurthenau column alone. I also send a lots of scouts in Imperial territory.



I don’t want Ferdinand to take command now, because in this case Zastrow’s column won’t be in an army anymore, and will thus lose command points – it needs all of them.

Here is a nice map with the smallest zoom possible to make the link between the Austrian front and the Western front :

Part XXII – Early September 1757 – High Noon on all the fronts

In Early September 1757, there were only a few skirmishes, but both of us knew more was to come – very soon.

Some of my cavalry meet, in MY lines, some Austrians scout, which were quickly routed :



In the North, Katastrophie ! Lucchese moved exactly as planned, only my light infantry laying in ambush failed to do anything to his army and fleed the battlescene with few losses but without inflicting anything.



Then, Lucchese’s army arrived in Rostock… and nothing. I have by mistake given the orders to Zastrow to enter structure… and Zastrow entire force is now under siege.



[in the screenshoot, he looks like he is is outside because I selected him, but really he is IN Rostock.]

I could have destroyed the Swedes once and for all at this turn, but because of this mistake I am now the one threatened. I am sorry if you are disappointed after seeing all my strategy develops.
I have to break this siege as soon as possible, before the humiliation of having my Hannoverian troops surrender to some Swedes a few kilometers from Berlin.

Beginner’s corner : Breaking a siege

Well, sometimes, your luck runs out, and just like me in Rostock you are the one under siege. How do you break a siege. There are four solutions.
- Send an army to attack and rout the defenders. The most simple… if you have the army.
- Order your besieged troops to sortie and attack the enemy. Quite simple, just drag and drop your units outside the besieged structure in ATTACK or ASSAULT posture. Any other posture will send the unit back under the structure without combat (which means you will NEVER have the defense bonus if you do this)
- Cut the line resupplying line, so that the besiegers cannot hold longer than the besiegees.
- Combine the first and second solution by ordering a combined attack. Order an army to attack the enemy while keeping the besieged force in the structure but in a “sortie” mode (it is a “special order” like “ambush” or “raid”). When the battle starts between the reinforcing army and your opponent, your besieged troops will attempt a sortie and take your opponent from the other side. It can be VERY efficient, and you should always do it if you have the opportunity.

End of the corner

In my situation, I cannot really hope to cut the supply line, because Lucchese has a lots of supply, and Von Zastrow not enough (the Ebprinz Karl kept most of them). Also, Von Zastrow has the very poor idea of being unactivated, so I cannot just drop him out of the city into battle. Which means I have to send the Ebprinz Karl to help him. Von Zastrow and the Ebprinz are not bad leaders, but they are not outstanding either (the Ebprinz is good for his mobility, not for his combat skill for instance). For this reason, I decide to send the good old Ferdinand von Brunswick help his son by joining von Zastrow and taking command of his column into battle. This should be enough to expel the Swedes from the Rostock region, in my opinion.

In the East, the Russians are not getting ready for battle (forget to take a screenshoot, but trust me). Nothing has changed on the map, as the Russians did not move, so they could rest and recover their cohesion.
Meanwhile, the small branch of the Russian force which was besieging Memel finally has a success : Memel fortifications are breached !



I wish I could help the defenders of Memel, but as I know the assault will be next turn, there is no way I can send anyone.

There is also a breach in Olmutz, and that’s a good news.



I order Frederick to prepare for assault for the next turn – when I hope to have a second breach. I forget a little detail when I gave this order (and for the 10 or 15 previous turns) : commanders-in-chief only use their troops in support and thus don’t assault (and almost always commit their troops late into battle), so the order is bogus. NEVER forget this. This is not in the manual, if I remember correctly. That’s why I separated Frederick from the rest of my armies at the beginning, and I should have carried on doing so.

This is actually one of the most common bogus bug report on the forum : “Why isn’t Frederick assaulting”. “It is a feature, dude.”

In Koeniggratz, the enemy sent a probing attack. You can see it is a probing attack by the very low casualties of the battle.



There are now 5 enemies stack around Koeniggratz. The fact that my opponent carried on accumulating troops around Koeniggratz means very clearly that he is planning to attack me. Against my 40 000 men defending Koeniggratz, I expect to be attack by almost twice that (5 stacks vs 2 consolidated stack), so about 70 000 men



Against such a massive force, I have a decision to make. I can do the following things :
- Defend with a defend at all cost order. I will most likely win the battle and deals a lot of damage to my opponents. But I will also lose a lots of troops and I will probably not achieve the 2:1 kill ratio I need to make it worthwhile. I am going to have a lots of dead people against Russia, no way I finish the war with only the Hannoverian force
- Retreat or “Retreat when enemy attacks” posture. That would be the wisest solution. But then, it would be very sad to order such a thing when I know my opponent plays very conservatively and thus that there is a chance my opponent only send a half-hearted attack (another probing attack, or maybe not committing all his troops to attack Frederick and break his siege)
- Defend and retreat, which allows me to keep Koeniggratz if my opponent does not commit everything he has, but would cost me quite a lot during pursuit if my opponent send a n “All out assault” order, and would absolutely not give me the 2:1 kill ratio I need to win.

After a lot of thinking and thinking again, reverting several times my order, I decide to keep the Defend and Retreat order I gave the previous turn. After all, I had thought that the All Out Attack on Koeniggratz would be the previous turn, and it did not occur.
In other local news, Katte is now near Prag. (I obviously changed my order at the last moment in the previous turn, and forget about it – sorry). He has no gun so cannot hope to breach, but I hope might opponent would still be frightened and maybe send someone to chase him. Of course, I give the order to retreat if engaged (not seen here).



On the South-Western front, I FINALLY started to siege Frankfurt-on-the-Main. I think I was much too slow on this, because I want my armies to remain together even though I should have known there was no one dangerous ahead.



On the Western front, my opponent has breached the fortress of Münster and I am afraid I am going to lose it.



My opponent does not even bother defending his rears (Dortmund)– he must have understood there was not a single army between him and Berlin. He can count, and probably counted 2 stacks in Frankfurt, some more Hannoverian up North and the 5 initial Prussian columns in Austria .

Finally, this scripted event to tell us that I am getting better organized. I BELIEVE this events also increase the number of replacements I received every year, and maybe also the number of conscripts.



Also note, at the bottom of the screenshoot, the events 47/49… “Hungarian 1757 summer transfer battalions reach Wien” and 48/49, “Armée La Dauphine” created. This means I will face YET more enemy soldiers in the coming months.



The tension is at its maximum. Next turn, both Baris and I knows there will be three decisive battles : the long-expected one in Königsberg, the one in Koeniggratz and the surprise one in Rostock.

loki100 said:

even though the Swedes got off the hook a bit I presume they are not that much of a threat?

Click to expand...

At this point, I only thought I lost one month on my schedule, so I was still confident I could take Stralsund before winter 1757, at which points the Swedes receive 15k men in reinforcements in Stralsund (I think the Austrian players has to pay a cost of EP for this - but he has no reeason not to.

but your problem with Austria is its not enough to win a battle you have to win big?

Click to expand...

Exactly. He has about twice as much men as I have in Austria, and he can produce more men more quickly then me. Thus, even if I win battles with 1,5:1 ratio, I will still run out of men before he does. That's why I try to avoid large battles if I can (see how few important battles the game has had so far). When, starting 1758, the Austrian will be on the offensive, he will have to attack one place at a time, lest if he separates his forces I defeat him en détail.