The Drang Campaign offers a huge amount of options but unless the Bolsheviks cave in when presented with the initial ultimatum - like Axe27 pointed out, this is the smart choice - the Campaign isn't so much about politics as it is about huge clashing armies. The sheer amount of troops dwarfs even the already big Short Campaign. The Red Army is a colossus in this scenario but it is no match for the Germans who hold the edge in every aspect: bigger army, better quality, better generals, ... Yes the Reds have a few doomstacks in this scenario but if Germany manages to get all possible allies involved, the Reds are pretty much toast. Even on their own the German win the doomstack competition.
And one final word: I love it that you have dared to tackle this huge scenario in an AAR. Not an easy task. Continue the good work.
The Red Army, numerically is slightly smaller than my army. However, German troops and stacks are significantly better than the Reds. However, the Reds have the advantange of the entirety of Russia to exploit, while I don't, meaning they will be building huge armies before this over. If we don't see 3000 pwr Red stacks when this is finished, I'll be disappointed.
And you're right on the Doomstacks, I almost found myself complaing about having
too many troops on hand that unlocked this turn. And that's just the Germans.I still haven't got the Austro-Hungarians that will unlock shortly, and even more troops will become available as I begin to involve more nations:wacko:.
Also thanking you answering the questions I don't know the answer to myself.
Baby, this is party is just getting started!Late February 1921
The turn inevitably starts off with a bang. Kiev is recaptured immediately in a short battle.
The boats are recaptured and not burnt,which all great and wonderful, but you will see why this is a bad thing (Hint: The Ukrainians are in assault posture).Kharkov is also recaptured,
Which is again all great and wonderful, but I will have to retreat from there, as a 21k strong army under Samoylo annihilates the garrison at Belogorod just up the road with hardly any losses. It doesn't really matter, as Kharkov will probably spend a few turns under Red dominion anyway. No point in wasting a perfectly good Ukrainian stack early on.
Now, a right bloodly mess this is:
Antonov-Ovseenko (having a significantly higher strategic rating than I remember) crosses the river and the Ukrainians attack him, and loses. Had they been in defensive posture they would've held Kiev - after all, attacking over a river is always a bad idea.
Unfortunately, this means the German division that was supposed to rally with the Ukrainians?
For a 20k sized force attacking into a 56k strong force, I'd say they gave as good as they got. Oddly enough, this transfers into a Strategic opportunity. Initial Army Group Centrum forces were to rally south of Kiev which they did. One of the corps also crossed the river, to make a move northward. This has suddenly transferred into a lucky opportunity.
If I'm lucky, the enemy force will have to spend a few turns in the marsh, which is great for me, as attrition will take a bite out of them. If I'm moderately lucky, their line of retreat will be cut off, and reinforcements will break them. If I'm not, well, at least I can retreat back into Poland. If I'm extremely unlucky, a Red stack will move south and reinforce at the right moment, meaning a disastrous NM sacking defeat.
Speaking of which,
A massive dreadnought fleet that I have roaming the Baltic runs into some destroyers escorting some transports. The destroyers are all sunk, the transports take some hits, and the armored cars they were carrying are killed. Firstly, I don't know how on earth I managed to
kill the cars and not the transports, and secondly, what exactly was the AI planning to do with some cars in Poland? Blow up railroads? Regardless, this balances out the disastrous defeats at Kiev, and gains us another opportunity. With the Red Fleet still in the Baltic, and the Gulf of Finland now mined, they'll either have to sail to Murmansk to find safety, run the mines and take hits, or face the powerful Battleship fleet on their own. All good.
Speaking of Poland, the current state of things:
As more troops unlock in Poland, Army Groups Nord and Centrum will receive massive reinforcements, tipping the balance in my favor. The current Army Group Nord continues its advance on Minsk. It won't be there till two turns from now, as the actual Army Group Nord stack is 15 days out of Baranvichy. And yes, the discrepancy in power is a mistake. I still have 6.500 power advancing on Minsk, I just forgot.
As for the Ukraine:
As it turns out, Romania entering the war also unlocked German stacks at Bucharest, Belgrade, and in Austria-Hungary, meaning a lot of troops are coming to the Ukraine from the South. These troops will probably be the ones to take Rostov, but we'll see. For now, they're going to organize at Odessa and meet up with the Don Cossacks, bringing almost 8000 power to Southern Ukraine. Hopefully, we can start smashing Anarchist heads after that, and Red heads after that.
Minor news that doesn't get a newspaper photo. The Red war machine is swinging into action, as the Reds just spent a lot of money on some new factories near Moscow. The SRK I'm guessing is either flavor with NM. They may control Kharkov and Kiev, but the numbers are still in my favor.
I meant requistion. Since I don't get conscription, I have to draw up my manpower exclusively through decision, meaning every dead German soldier is more of a loss to me than a dead Russian is to Lenin. I'll also need to start my propaganda machine into gear as time goes on and I advance into Russia, lest I face the wrath of the Greens.
Finally, an idea I had:
I may in the future transfer troops to Circassia (when I'm advancing on Rostov most likely) to create a new front in the south. This is two part: First, so that I can encircle the Southern Whites toensure I can knock them out later, secondly, to open up a potential Turkestan campaign later on, and finally, the capture Grozny and Astrakhan, victory point cities.
And finally, the decisions. They pretty much speak for themselves. Hopefully I come out in the positive this turn with a big win at Kiev, but we'll see.
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You may be wondering why I don't show the composition of my armies. Suffice it to say, there's a crapload of German troops. Next turn, I'll show the composition of a normal German stack, but understand that the number of stacks is very large, and so are the troop numbers, and I only get so many pictures per post.