RoP, the White, Blue and Green version

[loki100]

So, I bought Rise of Prussia on the cheap in the sale over Christmas. Played the Saxony scenario (a lot), looked at the longer stuff and thought 'its all rather different', read the excellent AARs that have just started to appear ... and decided to take the plunge.

In this case not just into playing the full 1756-62 scenario but do it as a sort of 'learn as you go AAR'[1]. All (ie all 2) existing ones are from the Prussian viewpoint, which makes sense as its Prussia that makes the pace etc, so, to be wee bit different, here's one from the Austrian side of the fence.

For set up, I've put it on hard, attrition etc as historical, given the AI more time, and using the latest beta. So the AI is pretty well pumped and me ... pretty whimpish.

The style will be game play.

[1] - check out Iain Wilson's excellent Frog in a Well for the inspiration to trying this particular approach.

This final post has some overall reflections on this fascinating game. Can't recommend it highly enoigh.

[loki100]

Ok, what now? Turn 1: Early September 1756
I'm not sharing Prag with anyone! Turn 2: Late September 1756
I won't if you won't Turns 3-4 October - November 1756
Playing around in the snow Turns 5-6 November - December 1756
Someone gets shot Turns 7-8 Mid December 1756 - Mid Jan 1757
A job interview takes place Turn 9: Late Jan 1757
Freddie goes into hiding ... this is scary Turns 10-13: Early Feb-Late March 1757
Neatness really is a virtue Turn 14 Late March-Early April 1757
Some marching around happens Turns 15-16 April 1757
In which the Austrians move away from their source of beer Turn 17 Early May 1757
In which Freddie doesn't like his Swedes Turn 18 Late May 1757
In which the Swedes get another bashing Turns 19-20 June 1757
In which the Swedes set up camp in a marsh Turns 21-22 July 1757
A gentle walk along the Rhine Turns 23-24 August 1757
Why did I get out bed this morning? Turns 25-26 September 1757
A real big battle occurs Turns 27-28 October 1757
Its cold out there Turns 29-32 November-December 1757
More people get chilly Turns 33-36 Jan-Feb 1758
Getting ready for summer Turns 37-38 March 1758
Somebody forgot to feed the French Turns 39-40 April 1758
And now they want paying too Turns 41-42 May 1758
Things slowly become clearer Turns 43-44 June 1758
Yes, vive la France & a bunch of Prussians go into hiding Turns 45-46 July 1758
Pleasure and Pain Turns 47-48 August 1758
Well hallo Frederick Turns 49-50 September 1758
He's too big for me Turns 51-52 October 1758
A well earned winter break Turns 53-56 November-December 1758
look ... just leave me alone Turns 57-60 Jan-Feb 1759
it all goes according to plan (just it wasn't my plan) Turns 61-62 March 1759
who'se afraid of the big bad Prussian? Turns 63-64 April 1759
I win a (small) battle Turns 65-66 May 1759
1759 is such good fun Turns 67-68 June 1759
Oh nasty Turns 69-70 July 1759
Take that, you cad Turns 71-72 August 1759
You take Frankfurt, I'll have DortmundTurns 73-74 September 1759
Bye Bye Austria Turns 75-76 October 1759
Well it could be worse ... maybe? Turns 77-80 November-December 1759
In which France wins the war (no not really) Turns 81-84 January-February 1760
a bit of a lull Turns 85-86 March 1760
everyone is being so polite Turns 87-88 April 1760
mobile warfare is hard when you are asleep Turns 89-90 May 1760
Freddie captures all the beerTurns 91-92 June 1760
Following General Giap's adviceTurns 93-94 July 1760
The French seem to not like FrankfurtTurns 95-96 August 1760
March, march, march, all we do is march Turns 97-98 September 1760
The beer is secure for another year Turns 99-100 October 1760
And you can all relax Turns 101-104 November-December 1760
Party time in Bohemia Turns 105-108 January-February 1761
The calm before the storm? Turns 109-110 March 1761
Still calm, but lots of threatening storms Turns 111-112 April 1761
Tension, tension, at-tension Turns 113-114 May 1761
It becomes rather violent Turns 115-116 June 1761
The Prussians start to press their advantage Turns 117-118 July 1761
The Austrians regain the beer supplies Turns 119-120 August 1761
And lose the Weisbeer Turns 121-122 September 1761
But France reaches the Elbe Turns 123-124 October 1761
Nobody wants to go to sleep Turns 125-128 November-December 1761
And now nobody wants to start Turns 128-136 January - March 1762
Lots of manly posturing, little action Turns 137-138 April 1762
More muscles are flexed, still not much real action Turns 139-140 May 1762
You take this, I'll take that Turns 141-142 June 1762
Prag is mine, mine I tell you Turns 143-144 July 1762
The Prussians run amok in Germany, Freddie loses a battle Turns 145-146 August 1762
The French finally decide what to do about Nuremberg Turns 147-148 September 1762
eek, scream, run ... its a bit horrific Turns 149-150 October 1762
they think its all over ... but it isn't? Turns 151-159 November 1762-March 1763
I fear the French have given up Turns 160-161 April 1763
Tickity Tock goes the clock Turns 162-163 May 1763
To the bitter end Turns 164-177, June - December 1763

[loki100]

So lets look at the map from the Austrian side. This one uses the regional view:



So the nasty aggressive Prussians are to the north and us peace-loving Austrians to the south. Bavaria over in the west will be my ally one of these days.

Here's the VC situation:



Now lets break down my forces a bit:



Here's Browne with the main army at Prag. He can't move this turn, so we'll look at what he has available in more detail later on, instead, as an example, here's Piccolini



The black box gives a good overview of what he has available, the nice big box below much more detail. Note that he too can't move this turn (at least this limits my choices).

Between the inert Browne and the energetic Prussians (we'll see how energetic soon) is a small detachment of cavalry and light infantry:



Now unusually, he can move, but I can't think of anything useful so leave him in place, but with very cowardly orders. If the Prussians invade, he'll, hopefully, get out their way.


I want to build up a small force at Karlsbad (to the west), as one part of my plan is to use small flanking forces to harass the Prussian supply lines. So I detach one regiment

and then order the brigade at there as well



that single regiment should join Rudolph's brigade.

Daun, who is my star to be, starts at Wien



He's ordered to move to Prag.

I also have decent forces scattered around the rest of the Empire. Typically this mob are sunning themselves on the Adriatic ... I hope to get them at some stage into action?



There is a Saxon army trapped at Prina. Its quite large, and, of course, inert:



Finally a quick look at what I can build.



looks good, but most of these aren't Austrian



thats much less, even less I can only find the resources to build one of them, so I opt for the Depot Grenadier Regiment:



So what happens:



Seems that the Prussians are looking for a fight. Von Futak did as he was told, and kept out of trouble .. other than that both Browne and Piccolini are being menaced, Prina is [edit=NOT] breached and generally it does not look good.

and these things happened while the turn was being executed.



So hopefully in turn 2 I get to issue some orders ....

[Sathariel]

I will surely follow it. It's going to be interesting for me to see how the stuff works on the other side of the barricade. I know nothing about Austria's forces on different theaters and their events (that I read about in the log but don't know what effects they have).

Good luck

[Narwhal]

An Austrian AAR is of course interesting - plus their "troops" are much more colorful and diversified (the Prussian allies, except England, were all trained by the Prussians and thus used their uniforms for most of their troops, so it looks pretty similar. THis is not the case for the Austrian allies.

The arrows / circle / text you use is pretty cool. I am jealous.


A few notes already :
- Pirna is not breached. There a little "1" in the orange (that become orange) at the first breach. For now it is just... "sieged".
- Juan Spada never activates IIRC. Or at least it needs a trigger more complex than just "wait". He is supposed to keep the Empire safe from the Turks.
- You'll quickly be able to build much more Austrian troops.

[loki100]

I will surely follow it. It's going to be interesting for me to see how the stuff works on the other side of the barricade. I know nothing about Austria's forces on different theaters and their events (that I read about in the log but don't know what effects they have).

Good luck

I agree, I've only fiddled around with the Prussians so far, so this is rather a voyage into the unknown ... hopefully I've given the AI enough steroids to make this a sustained challenge

An Austrian AAR is of course interesting - plus their "troops" are much more colorful and diversified (the Prussian allies, except England, were all trained by the Prussians and thus used their uniforms for most of their troops, so it looks pretty similar. THis is not the case for the Austrian allies.

The arrows / circle / text you use is pretty cool. I am jealous.


A few notes already :
- Pirna is not breached. There a little "1" in the orange (that become orange) at the first breach. For now it is just... "sieged".
- Juan Spada never activates IIRC. Or at least it needs a trigger more complex than just "wait". He is supposed to keep the Empire safe from the Turks.
- You'll quickly be able to build much more Austrian troops.

Agree with the little regimental images, the Austrians are just so much more flambouyant than the Prussians. The attention to such small bits of detail is really impressive.

For the graphics I use paint.net, its a bit of freeware but is a lot lot better than the basic paint that comes with windows. It certainly allows me to do everything I want with an image.

Was wondering if I'd ever get to use all those bits scattered around Croatia and Hungary ... makes sense that detering the Turks remains important.

[loki100]

So, just as a recap at the end of last turn, Frederick has moved to menace Prag and Gessler has moved to siege Koenigratz. Now on inspection, I don't think that Frederick has brought much of an army with him



and both Browne and Picolomini have woken up.

So I decide that Gessler won't move past Koenigratz and that Frederick can be deterred from attacking Prag. Perhaps rather excessively I give Browne, 'defend at all costs' orders (Frederick would prob have to attack over a river) and move Picolimini to Prag just in case:



My logic is that winter will put paid to Gessler's adventures in the east so I can ignore him for now.

The other thing I do is to order von Futak to try and mess up Frederick's supply line, he keeps the same ultra-cautious orders, is even told to avoid combat when moving forward and I make him into an independent brigade (though not at all sure now this was needed):



I take some more reinforcements, another depot regiment and some more guns to defend a fortress:



and, just in case, anyone is interested, here's the French army .. won't move till early spring 1757 at the earliest:



So what happens .... well Frederick pulls back and a new bunch of Prussians arrive outside Prag ...



I think I was far too cautious in moving up Picolimini to Prag, but I'm not sure that on his own he would be much of a threat to the Prussians at Koenigratz.

[loki100]

Have decided to conflate these two turns as not much happens. Not only because I wasn't sure what to do (I don't want to start a battle by attacking across a river at Prag) and in any case, my heroic generals decide to take the month off. Here's Picolimini, but Browne is no keener to leave the pleasures of Prag to march around Northern Bohemia.



Fortunately Von Futak is made of sterner stuff, so I have another go at the Prussian supply lines:



(same orders as before, he's not to fight anyone except unprotected supply wagons)

I carry on recruiting people, in this case one of very few better quality units available to me:



While doing this, I spot that Daun has yet to leave Wien ... this is now much clearer:



so while stricken with total inactivity, I debate raising some more money:



maybe a mistake but I decide not to for the moment.

So, at the start of the second half of October, very little actually changes:



As you can see my heroic commanders are still none too keen on the idea that a war involves any activity on their part.

but my cavalry has done its job



I've regained Military Control over Liebowitz, Von Futak now has supply problems of his own so I order him to reinforce the small force to the west (which has supply).

So if I can't have a war, I'll build up my army ... or can I:



I presume I've just raised a number of reinforcements, but when I clicked on the window I got this 'open-padlock' sign appear ... ?

So at the start of November, its winter in the south and summer in the north:



A Prussian force has moved south of Chemnitz, the bulk of the Prussian Army is now united under Frederick just north of the snowfields of Bohemia. Note they have regained Military Control over Liebowitz (presume as that large army my cavalry dodged fell back), but its no longer of any real importance.

Neither Prussian siege is being prosecuted with any enthusiasm. And, of course, especially now its cold out, neither of my field commanders has any interest in moving anywhere.

Looking at the event log:



Daun is now released from his life of ease at Wien, my merchants continue to produce cash, so I'll lay off levying extra taxes for now.

So, this is maybe the end of the first campaigning season of the rather inappropriately titled "Seven Years War". At this rate it'll feature Seven Years of Frederick marching down to Prag, having a look and going back while my General's drink their livers into a stupor with all that lager and slivovitch ...

[Sathariel]

Think it's actualy going well for you. If I was to play Austria my initial plan would probably be to just keep my army as intact as possible until the winter. You already got Daun activated, soon I think you'll get more units.

And yes the open padlock (I think it's a magnifing glass used for reading, not a padlock ) means you've choosen that option(s) and the replacements will be available the next turn. .

[Narwhal]

Did you select the option according to which unactivated generals can't move ? It is a good way to balance the game vs the AI as the Austrians

[baris30]

Good AAR and colorfull pictures well done , Apart from chosen faction , Hard AI is also a good choice.
Clovis made some adjustments to the AI and it can be very challenging.
But dont be mistaken by the Frederick's lack of concentration. He will form 110 000 men and attack to Prag in 1757 may. He can move very fast in Hard difficulty. Just concentrate on Frederick not other armies. Try to form all the corps under Daun and bring the additional reinforcements from Wien not in winter. Start moving them in Spring with good OOB. And make sure you dont lose men from wheather while moving.

[Stuyvesant]

Oh dearie me, another RoP AAR to follow. Don't know enough to be able to really comment (though Baris' comment about Fred and his Ueberarmy has me bothered...), but I look forward to the different perspective an Austria AAR will bring. Good luck!

[loki100]

Think it's actualy going well for you. If I was to play Austria my initial plan would probably be to just keep my army as intact as possible until the winter. You already got Daun activated, soon I think you'll get more units.

And yes the open padlock (I think it's a magnifing glass used for reading, not a padlock ) means you've choosen that option(s) and the replacements will be available the next turn. .

I think for the most part, keeping the Austrians as a real threat and using the French and Russians to nibble away at Prussia is going to be my gambit for the first year ... then I can think about more substantive options.

Did you select the option according to which unactivated generals can't move ? It is a good way to balance the game vs the AI as the Austrians

Yes, it seemed a good way to reflect the clunky nature of the Austrian command system ... & another reason not to try to do anything too clever in case the whole army just grinds to a halt when badly out of position

Good AAR and colorfull pictures well done , Apart from chosen faction , Hard AI is also a good choice.
Clovis made some adjustments to the AI and it can be very challenging.
But dont be mistaken by the Frederick's lack of concentration. He will form 110 000 men and attack to Prag in 1757 may. He can move very fast in Hard difficulty. Just concentrate on Frederick not other armies. Try to form all the corps under Daun and bring the additional reinforcements from Wien not in winter. Start moving them in Spring with good OOB. And make sure you dont lose men from wheather while moving.

ah ... I've managed to ignore almost all your good advice in the November turns. I'm finding it hard to get used to the approach where the best move is often not to move, so when I can move something, then I sort of feel I should

Oh dearie me, another RoP AAR to follow. Don't know enough to be able to really comment (though Baris' comment about Fred and his Ueberarmy has me bothered...), but I look forward to the different perspective an Austria AAR will bring. Good luck!

ach, there are only 5 ... discounting the ones on the AGEOD forum ... yes the idea that Freddie is going to return in force worries me, esp given my manouvres in November ...

[loki100]

So here's a recap on the position in early November, no surprise that Browne really thinks being a general means never leaving the comforts of Prag:



and Picolomini is equally keen to stay nice and warm in Prag.

The cavalry are now out of supply so I order them to Prag to resupply and rest ... they have borne the entire military reputation of the Austrian Army in this campaign so far



Now looking around for things to move, I wandered back to Wien and Passau



As you can see, quite a sizeable force is piling up around there, mostly locked for 6-9 turns but, following Baris' advice, thats no loss as there is no real need for a winter march to Prag.

So what about the Saxons I hear you cry. Well they have woken up, there is only a very weak force besieging them (Freddie still to the south) and they are almost out of supply anyway. I order them to sortie ... I think they are lost anyway so killing a few Prussians seems a good trade off:



Late November and a few things happen (no battles though)



First a small Prussian force has displaced me from Karlsbad, too much for the Brigade I had over there to deal with ... but Picolomini has no woken up, so this might be a chance to catch and damage a small part of the Prussian hordes, so off he toddles westwards.

If you cast your eyes up to Prina, I've driven off the besiegers, but they fell back with no fighting.

And to the east, as hoped, the siege of Koenigratz has been lifted.

So, one of my armies is actually moving off, perhaps to engage in battle:



Nope, didn't quite make it, and now the rather foolish nature of this gambit becomes clear ... why should any self-respecting Austrian general want to be active for more than 1 turn at time. Having wandered off into the snow Piccolomini has decided its a bit chilly and he's not going to move next turn. The only good thing is that I moved supply trains from Browne to Piccolomini before I started this manouvre so at worst I'll lose supply not men to attrition ...

And Frederick moved to re-establish control at Prina:



As you can see, lack of supply is leading to some Saxon units falling apart.

[Narwhal]

The fact that you selected "No move if unactivated" makes this AAR go from "interesting" to "Extremely interesting" I never was man enough to play a game with that option at RoP. Did it once at BoA, and let me tell you, "no activation" + Canadian winters is a killer.

[Stuyvesant]

This "No move if unactivated" Thingy sounds like it will create a major headache... Good for an AAR, though. So, is that activation thing completely random, partially random or entirely governed by rules? Is there any way for you to predict who will activate and who won't, to any degree?

[loki100]

The fact that you selected "No move if unactivated" makes this AAR go from "interesting" to "Extremely interesting" I never was man enough to play a game with that option at RoP. Did it once at BoA, and let me tell you, "no activation" + Canadian winters is a killer.

oh ... ah well, all good fun for everyone else. There was a UK based comedy show called 'Yes Minister' in the early 80s. One classic line was a Civil Servant explaining to an over-excitied Politician that an 'interesting' policy was one that would lose votes, but a 'very interesting' policy would lose the next election, lets hope the same isn't the case here. I will however, double check that I have taken that choice, before claiming the credit.

This "No move if unactivated" Thingy sounds like it will create a major headache... Good for an AAR, though. So, is that activation thing completely random, partially random or entirely governed by rules? Is there any way for you to predict who will activate and who won't, to any degree?

Activation is random but related to the strategic value (the first number of a commander's sequence eg 3-1-1), the higher that is the more chance they will be active, so Browne with his 3 is pretty prone to not bothering to get out of bed, Daun with a 4 is more perky, but if I recall some of the Prussians have 5/6s so are active most of the time.

[loki100]

The astute reader will spot that December has gone missing ... well the problem is I've become terminally confused as to the time periods in RoP, in that the little clock shows early jan when you are planning the early Jan turn, it then executes that and shows late Jan (while you plan that), ... anyway this is the next 2 turns ... honest.



So here's early Jan (ie after I executed the late dec moves, I believe). Now some events have happened and they confuse me a bit. One is easy, Frederick, though now a bit chilly, has breached the Prina camp (& more Saxons have given up due to lack of supply).

In the west its not clear ... now if we recall Picolmini was in the cold, feeling sorry for himself, and refusing to move ... well he has, and his picture has changed as well. The Prussians have retired north west but are cut off from easy resupply which is nice.

Now in trying to solve the mystery of the active Austrians, I spotted that I too have a supply problem there ... but since I am next to the Eger depot, I hope it'll clear up:



So there's a clue as to the change in Picolomini ... Daun is now in charge



I don't have a clue as to how or why, last time I looked at Daun he was moving from Wien to Prag ... I can only guess I dropped him on Picolimini (this is rather easy to do in the AGEOD games).

Anyway, a bit of strategy ...

I suspect that when the snow goes away, Koenigratz will come back under siege ... so lets allocate a new Garrison force there:



As you can see, once I'd set that unit up to produce, I can't put another there immediately.

On checking, I'm pretty low on reinforcements (presume this relates to what I've been building as no Austrian has yet to fire a musket in anger)



So I'll order up some more ...



So we now run early Jan (I actually gave no new orders as I couldn't see much to do, Daun is doing a good job bottling up those Prussians for the moment)

and while that is running, someone shoots someone ...



Frederick is trying to force the pace at Prina ... chillblains I'd guess:



It wasn't a very decisive battle and it looks like more Saxons just went home looking for food than were hurt in the battle ... but it was a battle ... the very first.

Down in Bohemia, no one did anything:



As you can see Daun now has full supply again.

Now I'm intrigued by that Prussian force ... maybe it should be weakening in the snow?



but if I read the numbers correctly, it actually seems to be gaining strength?

[Narwhal]

It does. It is recovering cohesion.

The stack has some supply wagon, and is closed enough from a depot so that the supply spent to avoid being hit by winter are "recovered" on the same turn. The weather was probably fairly mild, while cold.

[Stuyvesant]

That Prussian force gained something like 150 strength points from recovering cohesion - and all that's happening to you is that you're losing a bunch of Saxons in Pirna (primarily through desertion). That doesn't strike me as the most auspicious start, but then Austria is in it for the long haul, right?