Wars in America: A 'how-to' AAR

[loki100]

So you've looked at your freebie version of WiA (or like me, you bought it the day before it was made available by Paradox!) & ... its different. Very different.

Well you may have found some help. This AAR uses the French & Indian Wars scenario and is based on a Play by Electronic Mail (PBEM) between two players. We'll try and put up posts on each turn explaining what we did and why. This scenario is effectively the same time period as Rise of Prussia, but its the Seven Years War from a North American not a European perspective.

We come at this from very different experiences. Narwhal will introduce himself soon but he's very experienced with the AGEOD system and PBEM, check out his Rise of Prussia thread to see what I mean. Me, I've only played one AGEOD game (Rise of Prussia again, read the AAR here and never used the PBEM system). I'm also much more used to Paradox's approach to game design.

Hopefully between Narwhal's brilliance and my incompetence we'll produce an entertaining AAR that will also serve as an introduction to the game system.

For those of you used to multi-player in the Paradox games, AGEOD is very different. Due to the turn processing model (you set up your orders and the game then executes them and you can't intervene as it does so - this can be traumatic if its all going wrong before your eyes), multiplayer works by emailing the save game to one of the players. So its fairly relaxed, you don't need to be both on line at the same time and you can muse & fuss over your moves as if it was single player.

We'll try and get the game posts on the go later today.

[loki100]

1755

1st impressions from the French side
1st impressions from the English side
April 1755 ... what the French side saw
April 1755, British plans and lots of good advice
British moves May 1755
French Moves May-August 1755
British moves June 1755
British moves July 1755
French perspective for the rest of the year
July 1755, in which a very suspicious death occurs
English advances at Duquesne and Grand Pre, and repulse at Lake Champlain
English triumph at Duquesne
English triumph at Grand Pre

1756

French Plans 1756
Winter Events and English analysis 1756
Opening skirmishes, May-June, in which the English are rather beastly (French view)
A French view on July 1756
The English view of July 1756
The French view on August 1756
The French view on September 1756
The English view on August 1756
The English view of what happened in September 1756
The French view on October-November 1756
Terrible English deeds October-November 1756
A formal report on English crimes over Christmas 1756 .. that carry on into January 1757


1757

French view - February and March ... in which a major English crime is prevented
English activities Dec-April and plans for the summer
French activities - April/May
English plans - April/May
French manouvers - June
English manourvers - June
A glorious (well a rare) French victory - July
English actions - July
More English crimes - August
The Royal Navy arrives - August
September 1757 ... Cavalry vs Indians is so unfair
October 1757 ... a litany of English crimes
November 1757 ... the English perspective
November 1757 ... what the English forgot to mention
December 1757 ... its hot in the South ... English view
December 1757 .. an act of revenge and preparing the barbecue ... the French view

1758

January 1758 ... pretty quiet (English report)
Jan-Feb 1758 ... French triumphs in the south
Feb-March 1758 ... some victories in the south (English view)
March-April 1758 ... skirmishes in the South (French view)
April 1758 ... preparations for the siege of Louisbourg (English view)
May 1758 .. English plans
June 1758 ... things start to happen (French view ... & yes I have somehow lost a month)
June 1758 ... the English noose tightens
July 1758 ... a bit of a bad turn (France)
July 1758 ... almost too many triumphs to mention (English)
August 1758 ... a bit better (France)
August 1758 ... escalating English pleasure
September 1758 ... apocalypse maintenant (France)
September 1758 ... even the English admit it was a good turn to be French
October 1758 ... counting out the last croissants (France)
October 1758 ... a tale of an English beach party and other events
November-December 1758 ... the end approaches at Louisbourg
November 1758 ... English naval matters


1759

Dec 1758-Jan 1759 ... the English plot a massacre
Jan-Feb 1759 .. the English celebrate with a massacre
Feb-March 1759 ... in which an English massacre has consequences
March-April 1759 ... in which some Indians change sides
April 1759 ... English plans
May 1759 ... first contact
May 1759 ... the English offensive develops
June 1759 ... it looks good for the English
June 1759 ... the English are looking for Montcalm
July 1759 .. typical English actions and French revenge
July 1759 ... the English find Montcalm
August 1759 ... a lot sieges and a few insults
August 1759 ... the English lose something valuable
September 1759 ... irregular verbs and an obsession with food
September 1759 ... Englsih on the defesnive (briefly)
October 1759 ... both sides disengage for winter
October 1759 ... and rest (and a useful discussion of military control)
November-December 1759 ... the English go away (for now)
November-December 1759 ... the English miss their Christmas dinner and events in the South

1760

Jan-Feb 1760 ... The English do what they tend to do ... & so do the French
Jan-March 1760 ... The English try to obscure their crimes & another town does indeed burn down
April 1760 ... the English plans to destroy Canada
March-April 1760 ... the heroic French defense is put in place
May-June 1760 ... the English march north
May 1760 .. the French march around
June 1760 ... the English plot to steal all the food
June 1760 ... the French plot to cut the English supply lines
July 1760 ... the English try to divide France
July 1760 ... English crimes against Indians and Croissants
August 1760 ... the French fail to cut the English supply lines
September 1760 ... loads more English move north
Sept-Oct 1760 ... the French are the proud owners of Dismal Swamp
October 1760 ... The English head for their winter vacation spots
Nov-Dec 1760 .. for some reason the English engage in winter sports instead

1761

Winter 1760-1 ... the English have eaten all the food
Winter 1760-1 ... France plans its last offensive
Spring 1761 ... the English move in for the kill
Spring 1761 ... the French offensive gathers momentum
June 1761 ... Montcalm is defeated and an explanation of the combat mechanics
June 1761 ... a small setback
July 1761 ... more English victories
July 1761 ... not that good for the French
August-September 1761 ... the possibility of defeat is raised
August 1761 ... the English are rather optimistic
Sept 1761, The English dice the carrots
Oct-Dec 1761 - France resurgent,
October seen in a very different light
November 1761 - the chill settles in
December 1761 - England like to lose battles?

1762

January 1762 - English triumphs
Jan-Feb 1762 - it does look as it the English might win
Feb 1762 - or maybe not, here come the Spanish
March-April 1762 - the French riposte
March-April 1762 - the English squash the French riposte
June 1762 - English triumph

[TheExecuter]

In!

Sadly I realized that my laptop is unable to run these games, so, my wife still loves me...and I will try to 'play vicariously' through you guys again...

Looking forward to the game!

[loki100]

Should stress - this post gives nothing away (as if I had a clear plan in any case) as you can access all this info just by loading the scenario start as the French.

Now, so far my experience of AGEOD has been with Rise of Prussia (RoP) with its map of from the Rhine to the Memel and the Baltic to just south of Wien. Here's two maps that more or less capture the bulk of the WiA map:



This is the northern section - the bit that matters

I know this is a bit trite, but as a European you sort of forget how big America is ....



And this the south. Very unlikely to come into play and all those nice Indian tribes who are notionally on my side won't actually do anything.

And, just in case you need reminding, here's what the war is all about:



Here's my army:



This just shows the potentially active units as I have a few fixed garrisons in addition. You can see the Indian tribes who are active on my side such as Fox, Huron and so on, all with relatively low Power ratings. Power in the AGEOD system is a compound of numbers and fire power.

To put that lot in context, in RoP a decent sized Corps will be around 900-1200 Power, so the entire French army is less than, in European terms, a single Corps (& the French army in RoP fields about 8 at the start of the Seven Years War).

Another difference is the relative lack of potential replacements:



So better not lose much then...

My navy is mostly bateaux for the lakes and rivers, I have some sea going vessels but I fear the RN may be larger?



Anyone who has read any of my earlier AARs will know that things naval is not my strong point in any case.

So lets look in a bit more detail. One feature of AGEOD games is off-map boxes, in this case covering the Carribean:



Not much I can do down there, but hope.

The main area to the north of the English:



Most of my regulars are at Mont Royal and Quebec at the start.



This shows NewFoundland etc. There a lot of Indian tribes I could scoop up (I need to move into their province to activate them), so that is one sector with possibilities. Potential targets are Halifax (unlikely) and Fort Western.

Next map is a bit more detailed on area to south the around the central Great Lakes:



Now, if I am to have any chance, Albany is critical. Its a Victory city (discussed below) and if I take it a lot of the pro-English Indians lose interest. The challenge of course is to take it.

According to Narwhal, I start out as strong as I'll ever be, he gets stronger as the game goes on.



This psge from the ledger is quite important in the AGEOD system. The 'Controlled Objectives' is critical as they are the cities that determine victory. In theory I just need the 2 more and I win ... I like theory, but its turning that into practice that matters.

If the game runs to the end, then Victory Points determine relative success, which is what the listing of cities on the right generate.

I'll also take due note of the advice at the top ... in effect I need to survive first and worry about winning second.

[Jajusha]

Currently have a PON and ROP campaign games going, but would love to learn more of wars in America

[beuckelssen]

Congratulations for such a great idea. I´m sure that this AAR will help a lot to the novice players; and even the veterans can always learn a few things.

I´ll follow you with great interest.

(I´m going to start a pbem game with this scenario. I´ll be the french so.... perhaps I´ll steal you some strategies. )

[Roytje]

Good. I downloaded it yesterday, started the game and was stunned. I've played some ROP, but the map for WIA is a lot bigger with lots of towns, army composition looks totally different, and some slight differences in the interface.

Can you actually merge units with generals like in ROP? I cannot find the button....

[beuckelssen]

Good. I downloaded it yesterday, started the game and was stunned. I've played some ROP, but the map for WIA is a lot bigger with lots of towns, army composition looks totally different, and some slight differences in the interface.

Can you actually merge units with generals like in ROP? I cannot find the button....

No, you can´t. That aspect is less complex that in ROP. There isn´t the structure of "army-corp-division."

Anyways I´ll let the full explanation to someone who speak english better than me.

[baris30]

Excellent desicion to write an AAR as I think it is very enjoyable game
But beware ! Narwhal likes to act fast. You should harrass him with indians as much as possible. But you need to have a plan how to use indians. My suggestion is try to act quickly in regions north of Albany. British have events to have forts as long as they mantain some units stationed there. You should delay those events as much as possible by moving south as quick as you can. Dont neglect to build some river transports or light warships in Lake Champlain to intercept enemy or not to let the enemy make landing behind your lines. As it is the Narwhal's favorite Ageod game he can be so much dangeorus and unpredictable ! Wish you luck

[General_Hoth]

As a Québécois and a old BoA and new BOA 2 player...I suscribe! Go Nouvelle France!

[Narwhal]

Hello there, I am going to play the Evil Side, also known as the English.

I want this to be an AAR for beginners, so I will explain most of the game concepts. You don’t even need to read the RoP AAR to understand this one. I will also explain my strategy, but let’s be honest there, I have a significant advantage as the English… except during the first 2 or 3 years.

Differences between Wars in America / Rise of Prussia

Before I start the game, a short point on the differences between WiA and Rise of Prussia in term of rules. If you never played Rise of Prussia, ignore this section.

- The game is simpler : there are no commanderz-in-chief, no army buildings.
- Turns last 30 days.
- Supplies don’t travel. They are generated in each region, but are not pushed to regions without supplies. In practice, you need to be much more careful when planning expeditions in enemy territory… or in the wilderness.
- Damaged elements can restore “freely” their strengths if they have maximum supply in a region with a depot that produces more supplies than needed by the units in the region. The higher the “gap”, the quicker the unit recovers
- Fortifications can be assaulted without breach. This changes a lot. To balance this, structures can auto-generate militia garrisons when besieged. The militias will disband at the end of the siege.
- The maximum fortification level is 2, against 1 for Rise of Prussia. But as the land is much worse (lots of forest / mountains), being in defense gives a huge bonus in Wars in America.
- Permanent armies is only a (large) part of your forces. Another significant part sof your armies include levy militias, who only enlisted for one year, and Indians who go back in their villages every winter.
- The armies (in this scenario) of both France and England are divided between “regulars” (coming from France and England) and “colonials”, born in the New World. And “Indians”, too. Colonial leaders don’t lead regulars well, regular leaders cannot lead colonials well, and no one except Indians can lead them.
- Naval campaigns battles play a significant role, whereas in Rise of Prussia you cannot move boats in High Seas (they are only created there by events).

There are probably a few others I forget.

Short presentation of the scenario



Loki showed you a screenshoot explaining the history of the war. Of course, you can have more background on Wikipedia.
The interest of the scenario, gameplay wise, is that both sides look similar (a combination of “regular” and “Indians”, with many “Indians” as irregulars in bonus for the French) but play very differently and actually have very different strengths and weaknesses. The French have elite troops (both their regulars and their colonials are better than mine), excellent leaders, extreme mobility (the massive Indian forces, but also the Coureurs des Bois, French-Indians who have the mobility of the Indians and the sharpshooting skills of elite soldiers. I will dread them).


On the other hand, from 1757 onward, with the arrival of their elite leader Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, the French will not receive any more significant reinforcements, while the English will get more, and more, and more. The English, especially at the start, have poor troops, faulty leaders, little to no mobility and no Indians to help there – Hell !, they don’t even have sea superiority at first. This won’t last, though, as the Crown will send troops, and decent leaders, and a huge fleet, to destroy French America. Will it succeeds ? We will see.


The geography


Here is the main front, the Middle States, from New York to the Champlain Lake. The highway of the Middle States in the XVIIIth century is the Hudson, on which my bateaux will allow me to move troops quickly from New York, my second largest city, safe and far away from the front, to Albany, probably the most strategic city of the scenario, from which I will either attack North to the Champlain, or North-West to the Ontario.



Edit : The message in read below the circle says : "These indians are pro-English, but neutral in the war"
I have a lot of troops in the area, but most of them are “locked”, as the war has officially not started yet. An ill-advised operation more South – in which was involved a young general that would become one of America’s greatest characters– will start it.
As for the Indians, while the Indiansof the villages you see south of the Ontario hate the French with a passion – they won’t get involved in the war long as they are not confident they will help the winning side. The French will try to demonstrate their power along the Ontario, to dissuade them to get involved. I will try to show them how powerful I am, for instance by taking Fort Niagara, which is where you would expect it.

Here is the South. From Philadelphia, my capital (larger than New York, but not one tenth as important, as the city is small) to Georgia. Florida is still Spanish by then. This is my underbelly. Few troops, a lot of cities to plunder, but not many French in the area to do that… Not many French, but a lot of Indians. Still, those cities are threatened by Fort Dusquene, and every civilized area plundered by the French or their Indians bring them Victory Points. For this reason, taking Fort Dusquene is key, and would also discourage the Indians from helping the French.




Unfortunately, Fort Dusquesne is far in the wilderness, which is not much of a problem for the Indians, but is for me. Moreover, a network of rivers allow France to bring troops from as far as Louisiana in not much more time than it takes me to cross the wilderness… and with much less exhaustion for men.

Here is the Northern Front, Nova Scotia from which I could sail directly to Quebec… provided the Forteresse de Louisbourg would fall. As long as this fortress hold, my ships to Quebec have to take the long way lest they cross in front of its guns, and, worse, are always at risk of being trapped in the Saint Laurent by a French navy using the fortress as a base arrière.



Also, Grandpré and Saint-Jean, while easy targets, is a thorn in my side, from which the French can attack Hallifax, the closest port to England. I will have to make sure it does not happen.

Here are my targets… It is cold, it is frozen, and it won’t be easy to reach.



Finally, you might find this picture useful. The Caribbeans. Not a front… yet.

[loki100]

Currently have a PON and ROP campaign games going, but would love to learn more of wars in America

From general comments, it seems it is one of the most satisfying AGEOD games. Seems neat, focussed on the actual campaigning and the exceptionally low unit density gives it a very different feel

Congratulations for such a great idea. I´m sure that this AAR will help a lot to the novice players; and even the veterans can always learn a few things.

I´ll follow you with great interest.

(I´m going to start a pbem game with this scenario. I´ll be the french so.... perhaps I´ll steal you some strategies. )

It seemed very appropriate with WIA being given away as a means to encourage those used to the Paradox approach to fire it up & give it a go.

Since I really don't know what I'm doing, it maybe a case that any game play learning is negative - ie don't do as I'll end up doing.

Good. I downloaded it yesterday, started the game and was stunned. I've played some ROP, but the map for WIA is a lot bigger with lots of towns, army composition looks totally different, and some slight differences in the interface.

Can you actually merge units with generals like in ROP? I cannot find the button....

As beuckelssen and Narwhal say, its a lot simpler than RoP in that respect. But the map size is surreal - its really hard to get your head around, not helped by having a 'european' geography in my mind but struggling with N America ... good time to learn methinks

No, you can´t. That aspect is less complex that in ROP. There isn´t the structure of "army-corp-division."

Anyways I´ll let the full explanation to someone who speak english better than me.

Excellent desicion to write an AAR as I think it is very enjoyable game
But beware ! Narwhal likes to act fast. You should harrass him with indians as much as possible. But you need to have a plan how to use indians. My suggestion is try to act quickly in regions north of Albany. British have events to have forts as long as they mantain some units stationed there. You should delay those events as much as possible by moving south as quick as you can. Dont neglect to build some river transports or light warships in Lake Champlain to intercept enemy or not to let the enemy make landing behind your lines. As it is the Narwhal's favorite Ageod game he can be so much dangeorus and unpredictable ! Wish you luck

It does seem as if the rivers open up the game a lot, something to guard against and try to exploit.

As a Québécois and a old BoA and new BOA 2 player...I suscribe! Go Nouvelle France!

I'll do my best, my personal goal is to argue that if I outlast 1761 thats a 'victory' compared to reality ...

[Derahan]

Great! You have inspired me to actully buy those games loki... and Narwhal! good luck on this AAR!

[Anazagar]

Five pieces of advice for loki
one - don't try capturing Albany too early (it causes the british to recieve massive reinforcements with good generals).
two - use at least one courier unit to unlock all the indians in the great plains and deep south.
three - Train militia like crzy when you get the general for that thogether with moncalm.
four - build at least lvl two depot (and a for if you can) on the southern bank of lake chaplain and bunker down there (putting albany at constant danger and blocking him from ports at the lake).
five - burn the enemy forts when you can as many as you can.

[Polar Mongoose]

Just what I was looking for to explain how this game works before I dive in and get crushed. Looking forward to reading more (especially when Britain beats France )

[loki100]

Great! You have inspired me to actully buy those games loki... and Narwhal! good luck on this AAR!

Well you should have this one for free courtesy of Paradox now ... with the recent newsletter. They are very different to the Paradox norm, what they capture brilliantly is the importance of transportation routes. So Rev Under Siege, really emphasises the importance of the rail net in the Russian Civil War & this one seems to be as much about river lines as anything else. Not yet sure about BoA, but Rise of Prussia really taught the importance of patience, its not always a good idea to move a unit just because you can. So you have relatively few units, but lots of options, hence the claim it appears simple and is really deep.

Five pieces of advice for loki
one - don't try capturing Albany too early (it causes the british to recieve massive reinforcements with good generals).
two - use at least one courier unit to unlock all the indians in the great plains and deep south.
three - Train militia like crzy when you get the general for that thogether with moncalm.
four - build at least lvl two depot (and a for if you can) on the southern bank of lake chaplain and bunker down there (putting albany at constant danger and blocking him from ports at the lake).
five - burn the enemy forts when you can as many as you can.

thats all brilliant advice, I'll incorporate that into my plans ... which is a posh way of saying I've finally started to work out a very basic plan due to these comments (& a lot of advice from Narwhal)

Just what I was looking for to explain how this game works before I dive in and get crushed. Looking forward to reading more (especially when Britain beats France )

If there is one thing that I think is so different its how to read the map. Due to the terrain, the rivers/lakes are the highways, so try and look at the map and the options in terms of the river lines. Control or close them and I think you really hamper your opponent.

Updates will be a bit erratic, what I'll do is try to post as it goes along but (to hide my moves), I'll concentrate more on what I think Narwhal is up to from the revealed moves etc. Later on, I'll do a longish post on what I was doing/trying to do and how it worked out. That should keep some sort of regular activity in the thread and a feel that the game is evolving without revealing too much of what I'm up to

[Narwhal]

Five pieces of advice for loki
one - don't try capturing Albany too early (it causes the british to recieve massive reinforcements with good generals).
two - use at least one courier unit to unlock all the indians in the great plains and deep south.
three - Train militia like crzy when you get the general for that thogether with moncalm.
four - build at least lvl two depot (and a for if you can) on the southern bank of lake chaplain and bunker down there (putting albany at constant danger and blocking him from ports at the lake).
five - burn the enemy forts when you can as many as you can.

One : Agree
Two : I did not even knew you could unlock the Indians south with the English. I just thought you had to wait!
Three : Agree
Four : Agree - but depends on the circumstances
Five : Agree

[loki100]

As in the last response, what I'll do to keep this trundling along is some posts on the evolving events, more what I can see of Narwhal's moves than on my own. At a later stage I'll put up a post on what I was trying to do ...

If you are new to AGEOD, the time frames are a bit hard to get your head around. So here's the basic routine:

April 1755 is the 1st turn. I do my orders (& send them off), the turn executes. So in the May 1755 time frame you do 2 things. One is to see what actually happened in April 1755 and the second is to put together your May 1755 orders, so the little clock at the top shows May 1755 when you are looking at the outcomes of April 1755. Its not that confusing, but it threw me for a while with RoP.

Another wee confession ... RoP (& Pride of Nations) are in 15 day turns, WiA is 30 days ... guess who only ordered 15 days of moves then?

Now it doesn't matter much as April is still mostly frozen & the British are locked in place, except in the NW where this menacing force appears:

(& remember this is effectively 1 May 1755, ie after the April moves have been made - so the weather is a lot nicer ... be the midge season soon too)



So as you can see the Army of Nova Scotia is, in local terms, a powerful force. The real key to me on this sector is the fort up on the NW corner (Louisbourg) which I think at the moment is too well defended. My mobile force (Boishebert) is far too weak to interfere with that Army. This also shows a typical position with the local Indians - I need to send a unit to their village to wake them up for the coming campaign.

The other thing to do on a new turn is to check the events (you can also replay the turn which is handy to see things developing):



The militia gives me 3 extra battalions in the Quebec-Mont Royal sector, that is very welcome.

New options sound exciting:



Some are military



and some diplomatic.

The numbers indicate the value in Engagement Points (EP) that you need to spend to trigger the option, as you can see I currently have 3 so can't do any.

EPs are the key currency in many AGEOD games, you gain them over time and by actions, you lose them by actions, by spending them and in RoP (presume also in BiA) if your National Morale dips too low (so if you are losing, EPs are converted to NM, helps in the short term but obviously slows the arrival of fresh forces).



and here's the rest of the relevant events. In this case replacements are added to existing units.

I won't show the movement ones at the moment.

So having reviewed April 1755, I now start putting together the May moves and planning out the Summer campaign ...

[Anazagar]

One : Agree
Two : I did not even knew you could unlock the Indians ! Can you unlock the English indians as well ?
Three : Agree
Four : Agree - but depends on the circumstances
Five : Agree

About the indians - how did you think I had so many of them. Also it depends - usually they are unlocked if you move a single unit of a strenght big enough (usualy 1 over the one the indians have - so indians with "power" of 24 require a unit with 25 "power" - and the single unit part is important - a stack with 30 "power" made from two 15 "power" units won't work)). Some are locked with only a turn counter tho.

It works the same way for the independence war scenarios.

[Narwhal]

About the indians - how did you think I had so many of them. Also it depends - usually they are unlocked if you move a single unit of a strenght big enough (usualy 1 over the one the indians have - so indians with "power" of 24 require a unit with 25 "power" - and the single unit part is important - a stack with 30 "power" made from two 15 "power" units won't work)). Some are locked with only a turn counter tho.

It works the same way for the independence war scenarios.

I honestly had no idea. I thought it was quite a lot but then they are very mobile, so it is hard to know whether it is because you moved them from one front to another, and also after one or two years about half the indians of the game "unlock", giving you a huge number of them.
You always learn new things
Can you unlock all the Indians this way, even those who else have a "timer" ?