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So costly to build a fort or depot, so easy to torch one! This AAR really gives a good impression of the challenges of "modern" depot-based warfare in a vast and not very hospitable wilderness and makes the time pressure of the "campaign season" vivid. I've started the same scenario as English and the supply rules are pretty unforgiving - the tutorials on logistics are very helpul. I will need to reread this and the rules to understand the calculations of a stack's sources of supplies.
 
Thanks for this excellent AAR. I'm learning a lot.

Andrés

glad it is useful ... I'm certainly learning a lot from Narwhal's posts ... he was very generous in offering to play someone new to PBEM and WiA and to convert the results into both an entertaining and educational AAR.

Good. *whispers* I would still like to see a French victory *whispers*

Well it gets tight ... I don't think I can win (we're in 1760 now), but I do think I can survive, if I can pull off a particular manouvre. If that works, my problem will be I can't counterattack due to my core defensive technique (I refer you to my Soviet AAR for a clue as to what this may have been).

This is a wonderfully enjoyable read. Very informative too, and not just regarding the gameplay elements of this title, I've learned to never attend a barbecue hosted by anyone in the French army or French alligned Native Americans, the flames always seem to get out of control... The game itself still seems relatively balanced to me, although as loki has apparently missed out on pressing home the advantage France has pre-1758, things may be about to get a bit hairy.

Alongside the gameplay generally I'm very much liking the propaganda war being run by both players. Needless to say I hope the fire raising, heroic officer killing, civilian harrying backwards savages are defeated! I'm just trying to work out which force it is I have just described...

well it has to be said there is no propoganda ... just accurate and inaccurate reports of events. You're spot on, I chucked away the good years, but then I am usually quite defensively minded in game play, so its a case of making Narwhal work very hard for his triumph.

To those used to RoP, by taking this into 1760 I've already deferred that mass of reinforcements the Prussian side get in 1760 into 1761/2 ... which would really change the dynamics in the European war.

What you read here is a confession, and also shows how uneasy Loki100 is about the story.
IndianTraders.jpg


Yes... a few families of settlers who had just finished the paint of their house !

Let me show them again :

Traders2.jpg


... We report. You decide.

Well ... ummh ... yes ... maybe, but I would like to reassure readers that no small kittens were harmed and that, alone, is a major difference to your average English attack.

So costly to build a fort or depot, so easy to torch one! This AAR really gives a good impression of the challenges of "modern" depot-based warfare in a vast and not very hospitable wilderness and makes the time pressure of the "campaign season" vivid. I've started the same scenario as English and the supply rules are pretty unforgiving - the tutorials on logistics are very helpul. I will need to reread this and the rules to understand the calculations of a stack's sources of supplies.

I'm learning a huge amount playing against someone as experienced as Narwhal and reading his explanations of key mechanics. As I find later, even in your own territory the supply rules can catch you out ... its often a good idea to disperse your armies in winter ... and then that'll cost you time to reconcentrate for the campaign season.

I think those events from Duquesne to Niagara really show up how the forts give sense to the geography of the region. In theory you can go anywhere, in practice, with regulars, you have to move along quite closely defined routes ... or use the lakes.
 
January-February 1758 (French version)

I'll conflate these turns as not too much happened outside the campaign in the south and even that is more a sequence of sieges and active scouting.

January



I won't show these repeatedly but like Narwhal I have a general with the 'training' trait (need I say that later on he tries to kill him?). Put him with a pile of militia and over time he'll convert them to regulars. Now my basic militia are better in any case, but even so best to make them as good as I can. This is a steady production line that I keep running for the next couple of years.



Over in the west, my garrison at Vincennes is now down to one month's supply. Kittens, children and other innocents across the region tremble at the possible outcomes if it falls. Due to winter, we are effectively starving each other, the fort will be held almost literally by the last man standing.



and here's the situation down the south. My scouts at Charleston indicate the garrison there is not too strong, so if I can dispose of the main English army in the region it could all go rather well. I'll send them to Atlanta to check that out, and assault Savannah this turn.

FEB



which falls ... so that is two ports I now have, though Beaufort will be retaken as its only held by a militia battalion - useful to know that these will automatically spawn in a fort when it is besieged.



and by scouting Atlanta, its clear there really is only one obstacle to complete French domination of the south (well there are two but we'll come to that in due time). Due to Narwhal's fleet, my boats with guns and supplies turn back to Louisbourg, but I have some more regulars and a supply wagon in the West Indies I can ferry around.



Now, I have a thing about cannons, so am spending my EPs (I usually get 2 per turn), on some more.

Time for a brief discussion of my strategy for 1758, Should stress I've only just learnt how much damage I indirectly inflicted around Ontario and Niagara. So what I thought I'd done was to force Narwhal to spend guns and supplies on rebuilding those forts ... especially on Niagara I reckoned this would take the year, so that Detroit (a VP city was safe).

On the central route, up Lake Champlain, I expected an attack. However, Montcalm was sitting around Mont Royal with a large army. If Narwhal went overland, I think I'd catch him with low org (as usual I'll have scouts out everywhere I can), if he comes across the lake I doubt he has the boats to deliver a really large force, so Montcalm (who has lots of nice bonuses ... he's sort of the Frederick in this scenario) should be able to fend them off.

That leaves the east. Louisbourg is key. As long as I hold it, Narwhal can't operate up the St Lawrence, that means I can prioritise Mont Royal over Quebec. If it falls, he can land at Quebec and I need to split my army up.

In bits over 1757, I've shifted more guns, more supply wagons and more battalions to Louisbourg. It has to be a passive defence, but I think I can build up a supply stock to last the summer of 1758, then Narwhal has to retreat for the winter. If it is still standing in spring 1759, he can't attack Quebec till 1760.

We'll come to why the extra supply wagons were so vital later. I did it 'blind' ie it seemed like a good idea to do, I now realise it was a very useful as forts that are out of supply (regardless of the strength of the garrison), &, I believe organic supply left with the battalions, run the risk of surrendering. So Louisbourg has something like 7 months supply there now ... enough to cover the campaigning season.
 
It seems that France has the most to gain by employing a scorched earth defense - both in Ohio and Lake Champlain. Rebuilding a line of stations in front of advancing troops when playing as the British is very tricky. Especially building forts seems to work quite strange; sometimes having 4 elements of artillery and supply each works, most times it doesn't.
 
Very interesting read. Also in a mildly entertaining tone ;)... You both are trying to be Perfidious. Good.

I think I'll start off a campaign in my free copy too...
 
<Seriously wishing his laptop had the capability to play this game>

Sigh...

Keep up the good AAR gents...if I can't enjoy it personally, I'll have to enjoy it by proxy!

:D
 
I am a bit short on Photobucket bandwith :) I am going to pay for more tomorrow.

Edit : OK, I paid 2.99$... that's circa 2 €, so the price of 2 good baguettes or 3,5 croissants.
 
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It seems that France has the most to gain by employing a scorched earth defense - both in Ohio and Lake Champlain. Rebuilding a line of stations in front of advancing troops when playing as the British is very tricky. Especially building forts seems to work quite strange; sometimes having 4 elements of artillery and supply each works, most times it doesn't.

well my logic is I might just be able to defeat one of Narwhal's large armies if he comes onto my terrain, if I do that, I might be able to think of going back on the offensive, I'll worry about restoring a fort chain at that stage ...

Very interesting read. Also in a mildly entertaining tone ;)... You both are trying to be Perfidious. Good.

I think I'll start off a campaign in my free copy too...

Can only recommend playing it ... the low unit density lends itself to a relatively quick style of play, but you do need to plan ahead as well.

I think the relatively small forces, and that we both have a lot of irregular units, lends itself to various sneaky/underhand tricks. Its not a RoP style clash of organised well behaved armies (at least till the cossacks arrive)

<Seriously wishing his laptop had the capability to play this game>

Sigh...

Keep up the good AAR gents...if I can't enjoy it personally, I'll have to enjoy it by proxy!

:D

glad that we are making up for your lack of direct gameplay

I am a bit short on Photobucket bandwith :) I am going to pay for more tomorrow.

Edit : OK, I paid 2.99$... that's circa 2 €, so the price of 2 good baguettes or 3,5 croissants.
Where can we donate? :)
We sincerely appreciate your sacrifice of good bread to a greater cause. :)

well while Narwhal tours the streets of France trying to raise the money for his breakfast ... I'll carry on with my own version of events :cool:
 
March-April 1758

Again, I'll conflate these turns as not too much happens (& I may have got muddled over time periods again as well)



So we both carry on gaining reinforcements and replacements



and as I feared Beaufort falls ... can live with that now I have Savannah

April:



more reinforcements - I noticed that Narwhal was stocking up on supply wagons and wondered why - I'll find out soon enough



so thats my Indian band scouting at Augusta discovered, I'm not sure why but it seems connected to that large English army arriving. Now its arrival is bad news as:



My main force down there crashes straight into it as I'd decided to take Augusta this turn ... damn. It also confirms by belief that I need some more regulars if I am to make any real progress.

Elsewhere, not much happens. We're still mutually starving to death at Vincennes, and up north its too cold for much action.
 
Fadi_Efendi said:
; sometimes having 4 elements of artillery and supply each works, most times it doesn't.

Checklist for Fort Building
- Do you have 4 elements of GUNS (not siege guns) and 4 elements of supply wagons ?
- Are they in the same stack ?
- Is there ANY "locked" unit in the stack. In this case the building of the fort will be cancelled
- Did you give an order like "enter structure" to your stack ? It will cancel the building for some reason. Similarly, giving the order than moving the unit in/out of the structure will cancel it.
- Is there already a Fort ?

If it still does not work, you are out of luck. Maybe you also need 50% military control...
 
February - March1758 – Action in the South

I will quickly cover February and March 1758 – most of it Loki100 already covered, but well. I wish I could cover April like Loki100, but on my side there are quite a few events, so that will be for later.

In Duquesne, my troops FINALLY made it… and I kept all my elements :

That was lucky, several elements had 1 hit left…

Allelementsmadeit.jpg


It will take several months, but my force will be at 100% strength again by mid/late-1758

In the South, as Loki100 said, Savannah is taken by the French assault (two battles – here is one ):

BattleofFortElizabeth.jpg


Very worrying – I need to haste if I don’t want to see the French start capturing more cities than I can take back. The next logical target will be Augusta, so I have to take Beaufort as soon as possible and then protect it. Logically, I decide to assault Beaufort now to gain some time, as the garrison Loki100 left is skeletal :

South-2.jpg


The assault is a success :

AssaultSuccesfulMArch.jpg


Unfortunately, the fort is destroyed during the assault. I now head to Augusta, probable next target of the French. Also, I want my troops to rest and recover some supplies. From there, I will try to attack Savannah, taking the road they need to use to reach Augusta…

RefitinAugustaMarch.jpg


There is no other significant event – normal, since everything north of Philadelphia is frozen.
 
I was just about to ask if you can burn a city to the ground, but you left me without doubts Narwhal.

You cannot burn city of size 2 or more, actually. It makes sense, but I believe the "no burning" is set to low. It should be at 3 or 4 IMHO.
 
This is an excellent AAR. I started WiA directly by playing a PBEM against an experienced player without playing the AI first. A bit crazy but it is going surprisingly well.:)
This AAR saved me multiple times since it gave me an insight in the particularities of WiA. Thank you guys!

December 1757 – Winter gets hot in the deep South

Now, I want to take this unoccupied fort in Niagara, so I send Dunbarr. I won’t send Roger, because irregulars destroy the forts they take, and this fort is considered “French”.
Small bug here, I suppose.

I don't think that was a bug. France won the battle, your troops were pushed out of the region. Since his force contained regulars your fort was not destroyed but rather captured when the province came under uncontested French control. At least that is how this would work in any other AGE game.;)
 
Checklist for Fort Building
- Do you have 4 elements of GUNS (not siege guns) and 4 elements of supply wagons ?
- Are they in the same stack ?
- Is there ANY "locked" unit in the stack. In this case the building of the fort will be cancelled
- Did you give an order like "enter structure" to your stack ? It will cancel the building for some reason. Similarly, giving the order than moving the unit in/out of the structure will cancel it.
- Is there already a Fort ?

If it still does not work, you are out of luck. Maybe you also need 50% military control...

Thanks for the list Narwhal. All the conditions you indicate were there. It may probably have had something to do with me playing the vanilla version at the time. A lot of other things you describe in your AAR (like the ability to build boats in the lakes) were not there either.

That, or that the area in question had been looted.
 
Would you send me your save (use PM if you want), your turn and your opponent turn (whether AI or not) ?
 
Sorry, I have uploaded the game, and the old saves have been probably overwritten. The game seems much more streamlined - including acquisition of boats, portraits on all leaders and the ability to construct/upgrade new buildings.
 
June 1758: Some action (at last)

I'm sorry about this, but somewhere in how I've stored the screenshots I've lost a turn. Part of the issue is that you see the results of the orders for the last turn in the next one (so what you ordered in April, pops up when May is showing on the little calender). The other problem was that I was being very passive. I wanted Narwhal to commit himself, especially around Champlain as I felt strong enough to stomp on an isolated column but not to risk a major venture anywhere near the areas where the main English army was.

The other issue is again that it takes 2-3 turns into a campaign season for any real action to occur.

Anyway, these 3 shots really are of June (honest).



This shows the second turn of Narwhal's siege at Louisbourg. He outnumbers me enough to prevent a sortie (especially as a lot of my strength is in those fixed guns), but I'm pretty confident my garrison is too strong to fall to an assault. Note he has 2 supply wagons, so again my estimate is I have about 5 months supply (with my 2 wagons), so that'll take me into winter, when (my assumption), he'll have to withdraw.



Down in the south, after my defeat at Atlanta, I fell back to Savannah. I'll gamble on bringing up more regulars and supplies from the West Indies (bit of a risk due to the strength of the RN, but it will give me the force to contest things with his regulars).

Anyway, managed to hold that attack pretty easily so it seems like a good safe gambit. I may well send out some Indians on a raid, just to keep things from stalemating.



In the meantime around Champlain, as you can see I have scouts out everywhere and gamble on sending a reasonably powerful unit to try and take Fort St Frederic (I don't think I can hold it, but it may force him to spend precious time retaking it). In reality the blessed place becomes a bit of an obsession of mine, not least as I can raid it relatively easily with forces located over at La Presentation.

So this is a bit of the calm before the storm, which does indeed break in July, and from my perspective, more a case of waiting and then responding rather than initiate any dramatic actions.