Chapter Twenty-Two: To The Eternal Glory of the Infantry
morningSIDEr I wish! The Battles score doesn't count in separate peace deals, as I discuss before too long. Puts a crimp in making two deals (which is probably W-exactly-AD).
Dewirix Numbers, I think, are going to be a problem for me until the end, though I will try to mass my ships together. My usual strategy isn't working, ignore the navy and hope for the best, so I do need to try something different.
BootOnFace It came as quite a surprise to me, but I think that you're right.
Previously on "Last Tango" - Argentina was in the midst of an invasion of Britain, and outnumbered 270k to 160k in the primary battle
The war is going well where it doesn't matter, like Korea, or doesn't matter much, like Odessa, and this is before the Russians mobilize. As if to taunt me with their meaninglessness, on the 13th of March 1914 I take two more Korean provinces, and yet another on the 14th. More importantly, on the 14th I finally win Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Yes, it looks to me as though the not-surrounded-by-a-long-shot UK troops all surrendered. Or were overcome by gas? I'm not sure where the 18,000 men went [ed - I see in a later screenshot that retreating enemy flags can be quite small, so they are almost certainly doing just that; if I had moused over the stacks of armies I'd have seen them on the list].
I have now inflicted roughly 60,000 casualties on Britain however, between South Africa and the UK itself. Only 5 million to go. Three days later I successfully pocket the 45,000 Russians in the Budjak area.
The British throw everything they have in the UK, that I can see, into Hull, and I think to myself "I have an idea".
Meanwhile, I pocket 23,000 troops in the St. Petersburg area. On the 24th, Kiev falls, and my Ottoman-based troops spread out over southwest Russia. I take two more Russian provinces while setting up around Hull.
The Brits in Hull turn red by March 29, but it turns out they had plenty of troops hiding in shadows [ed - invisible armies! me - quiet, you]. My transports try to make a fast break to the UK coast to reinforce the Argentine invasion. The battle in Leeds, which appears to spill over into Manchester, is the key to holding the Hull pocket together. Three thousand Argentines will fight to hold off eighty-thousand Brits for as long as possible. If they're still fighting when I win in Hull, vast quantities of Brits will surrender, if not, the Brits escape.
Meanwhile, as long as we're making pockets, nearly 50,000 UK soldiers are surrounded near the state of Benin which I share with the UK.
The battle in Hull goes very well, and more men are on their way, but the battle in Leeds is what holds the pocket together. In Leeds, 2300 Yaounde infantry hold off 120,000 British troops. The famous sheer cliffs and volcanic craters of Leeds provide excellent defensive ground for such a fight.
Meanwhile, the equally useful defensive terrain in Thabu Boiu, near Zulu, proves the undoing of the British in South Africa, especially combined with gas attacks, and my Zulu warriors lose 5000 men while killing 50,000 British Empire soldiers (the total is 110,000 now). It's the second battle of Isandlwana, only this time the Zulu have better weapons.
The pocket in Luga, near St Petersburg, holds, and 40,000 Russians are killed or captured. There are now no Russians visible near their capitol, and on April 24th we capture it. We now have a warscore of 8, with a nominal warscore needed of 17 (which last time meant 30+). Our fleet off Tyne is badly mauled, losing all 55 transports and all eight medium ships. Only 14 large warships retreat. However, they did their job, and the Hull pocket now has 240,000 Argentines, while 2100 Yaounde infantry continue their battle in Leeds, holding the pocket together.
The first of May sees more provinces fall in both Russia and Korea, while all the battles in the UK continue. The eighth of May sees yet another province fall, and the troops holding out in Leeds are back in green! Frankly, I'd given these guys up for lost the minute that battle started. I had no idea it was even numerically possible for this battle to go the way it did (if I recall correctly, changes in 1.4 will wipe out armies like this one, which is for the best). I tried to pull men out of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne fight into Leeds, but you cannot retreat (directly) into a battle.
On May 11th, To the Eternal Glory of the Infantry, the Leeds troops hold the pocket together to the end, and the battle of Hull is won! A total of 280,000 Brits are added to the Argentine tally, at a cost of 9400 casualties.
That's 390,000 for those keeping score at home, and our brothers in Leeds look like their odds of victory just went up. Many of the troops from Hull have to take the long way around, given that the Newcastle fighting still rages, but a new pocket is planned for Leeds. It hardly seems worth doing. Any 120,000-strong army which cannot beat 2300 men ought to surrender in shame. Cliffs and craters notwithstanding. The Benin pocket begins to look a bit raggedy when 50,000 Brits are added to the fight in one of the surrounding areas. However, you can retreat into a fight, indirectly. So some of my soon-to-be-victorious troops withdraw from the main fight to circle around to part of the pocket.
Or they would have, if the fight hadn't suddenly ended with the death or capture of another 46,000 British soldiers (that's 436,000 now). With all the provinces I have captured in Russia, my needed score for Budjak is down to 13, but my warscore there is only 9 for a separate peace. My warscore against the Brits is 28, and I've reached the maximum +25 from Battles, yet they still won't accept the same +13 value peace deal. On May 22 I won the Newcastle battle, adding 31,000 to my British tally, though the rest were not surrounded and did not vanish (that's 467,000). This is when it occurred to me that the other UK flags might have just been quite small in the first battle I thought the UK survivors vanished from. I had originally thought enemy troops had vanished in South Africa, earlier, and only learned otherwise when I looked closely at the screenshot. Sauron has so many men that it's tough to know which are new and which have been in battle before. There's always a bigger stack. Sometimes what I had thought were new troops were men I'd beaten once already. A south African win pushes the total to 475,000. A new Benin pocket is looking pretty good, and so is the one in Leeds.
On June 7th we conquered Hull. The smaller battles in Zulu land continue, and probably took up more of my attention than all combat in Russia. In Korea I largely ignore events there. You have got to love China as an ally. On June 12 the Benin pocket collapses, adding another 48,000 Brits to our total, which now stands at 523,000. I lost 3700 men. June also sees the deployment of my first airplanes in Africa, where they won't matter much. However, any war in Europe is going to need the Recon of Aeroplanes to speed up occupation. I now have two more pockets in the UK. At this point, the UK battles look like the last Chilean war.
On June 23 I grant Serbia a white peace. I have no idea what they contributed to my warscore, and assume it's not much, but the deal was probably unwise. I did it because I always feel as though the AI likes allies, and hoped that taking one away would help (I recall totally occupied AI countries continuing to fight in EU2 [1?] if they had allies). Victory in Carlisle adds 53,000 to my tally, only 9000 of whom were killed. The jackpot now stands at 576,000. On July 1, Brest-Litovsk falls, giving you some idea how far my Russian occupation has gone. Still no mobilization. The Russians seem awfully sure that the Brits will do all the heavy lifting in this war. I assume they do not get news from England on a regular basis. On July 6 I lost Ipoh, I believe the first province I've lost since my Chilean wars. However, I took Kharkov, and most importantly the Leeds pocket collapses. For the cost of 6000 Argentine casualties I add 121,000 Brits to the NY Lotto Jackpot, which now stands at 697,000.
On the 8th I take Lincoln, and I begin to spread out to occupy much of the British homeland. I begin to have thoughts of wargoals added at this point, and I'm pretty confident that losing Argentinian Arucania is not in the cards. Another British army is pocketed in Zululand, and their defeat on July 11 adds 38,000 to the total (735,000). On July 12 we took Bryansk and Gomel, and word went out accross Russia. "Gomel!" They said. "Not Gomel!" And the Russian bear finally awakens.
morningSIDEr I wish! The Battles score doesn't count in separate peace deals, as I discuss before too long. Puts a crimp in making two deals (which is probably W-exactly-AD).
Dewirix Numbers, I think, are going to be a problem for me until the end, though I will try to mass my ships together. My usual strategy isn't working, ignore the navy and hope for the best, so I do need to try something different.
BootOnFace It came as quite a surprise to me, but I think that you're right.
Previously on "Last Tango" - Argentina was in the midst of an invasion of Britain, and outnumbered 270k to 160k in the primary battle
The war is going well where it doesn't matter, like Korea, or doesn't matter much, like Odessa, and this is before the Russians mobilize. As if to taunt me with their meaninglessness, on the 13th of March 1914 I take two more Korean provinces, and yet another on the 14th. More importantly, on the 14th I finally win Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Yes, it looks to me as though the not-surrounded-by-a-long-shot UK troops all surrendered. Or were overcome by gas? I'm not sure where the 18,000 men went [ed - I see in a later screenshot that retreating enemy flags can be quite small, so they are almost certainly doing just that; if I had moused over the stacks of armies I'd have seen them on the list].
I have now inflicted roughly 60,000 casualties on Britain however, between South Africa and the UK itself. Only 5 million to go. Three days later I successfully pocket the 45,000 Russians in the Budjak area.
The British throw everything they have in the UK, that I can see, into Hull, and I think to myself "I have an idea".
Meanwhile, I pocket 23,000 troops in the St. Petersburg area. On the 24th, Kiev falls, and my Ottoman-based troops spread out over southwest Russia. I take two more Russian provinces while setting up around Hull.
The Brits in Hull turn red by March 29, but it turns out they had plenty of troops hiding in shadows [ed - invisible armies! me - quiet, you]. My transports try to make a fast break to the UK coast to reinforce the Argentine invasion. The battle in Leeds, which appears to spill over into Manchester, is the key to holding the Hull pocket together. Three thousand Argentines will fight to hold off eighty-thousand Brits for as long as possible. If they're still fighting when I win in Hull, vast quantities of Brits will surrender, if not, the Brits escape.
Meanwhile, as long as we're making pockets, nearly 50,000 UK soldiers are surrounded near the state of Benin which I share with the UK.
The battle in Hull goes very well, and more men are on their way, but the battle in Leeds is what holds the pocket together. In Leeds, 2300 Yaounde infantry hold off 120,000 British troops. The famous sheer cliffs and volcanic craters of Leeds provide excellent defensive ground for such a fight.
Meanwhile, the equally useful defensive terrain in Thabu Boiu, near Zulu, proves the undoing of the British in South Africa, especially combined with gas attacks, and my Zulu warriors lose 5000 men while killing 50,000 British Empire soldiers (the total is 110,000 now). It's the second battle of Isandlwana, only this time the Zulu have better weapons.
The pocket in Luga, near St Petersburg, holds, and 40,000 Russians are killed or captured. There are now no Russians visible near their capitol, and on April 24th we capture it. We now have a warscore of 8, with a nominal warscore needed of 17 (which last time meant 30+). Our fleet off Tyne is badly mauled, losing all 55 transports and all eight medium ships. Only 14 large warships retreat. However, they did their job, and the Hull pocket now has 240,000 Argentines, while 2100 Yaounde infantry continue their battle in Leeds, holding the pocket together.
The first of May sees more provinces fall in both Russia and Korea, while all the battles in the UK continue. The eighth of May sees yet another province fall, and the troops holding out in Leeds are back in green! Frankly, I'd given these guys up for lost the minute that battle started. I had no idea it was even numerically possible for this battle to go the way it did (if I recall correctly, changes in 1.4 will wipe out armies like this one, which is for the best). I tried to pull men out of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne fight into Leeds, but you cannot retreat (directly) into a battle.
On May 11th, To the Eternal Glory of the Infantry, the Leeds troops hold the pocket together to the end, and the battle of Hull is won! A total of 280,000 Brits are added to the Argentine tally, at a cost of 9400 casualties.
That's 390,000 for those keeping score at home, and our brothers in Leeds look like their odds of victory just went up. Many of the troops from Hull have to take the long way around, given that the Newcastle fighting still rages, but a new pocket is planned for Leeds. It hardly seems worth doing. Any 120,000-strong army which cannot beat 2300 men ought to surrender in shame. Cliffs and craters notwithstanding. The Benin pocket begins to look a bit raggedy when 50,000 Brits are added to the fight in one of the surrounding areas. However, you can retreat into a fight, indirectly. So some of my soon-to-be-victorious troops withdraw from the main fight to circle around to part of the pocket.
Or they would have, if the fight hadn't suddenly ended with the death or capture of another 46,000 British soldiers (that's 436,000 now). With all the provinces I have captured in Russia, my needed score for Budjak is down to 13, but my warscore there is only 9 for a separate peace. My warscore against the Brits is 28, and I've reached the maximum +25 from Battles, yet they still won't accept the same +13 value peace deal. On May 22 I won the Newcastle battle, adding 31,000 to my British tally, though the rest were not surrounded and did not vanish (that's 467,000). This is when it occurred to me that the other UK flags might have just been quite small in the first battle I thought the UK survivors vanished from. I had originally thought enemy troops had vanished in South Africa, earlier, and only learned otherwise when I looked closely at the screenshot. Sauron has so many men that it's tough to know which are new and which have been in battle before. There's always a bigger stack. Sometimes what I had thought were new troops were men I'd beaten once already. A south African win pushes the total to 475,000. A new Benin pocket is looking pretty good, and so is the one in Leeds.
On June 7th we conquered Hull. The smaller battles in Zulu land continue, and probably took up more of my attention than all combat in Russia. In Korea I largely ignore events there. You have got to love China as an ally. On June 12 the Benin pocket collapses, adding another 48,000 Brits to our total, which now stands at 523,000. I lost 3700 men. June also sees the deployment of my first airplanes in Africa, where they won't matter much. However, any war in Europe is going to need the Recon of Aeroplanes to speed up occupation. I now have two more pockets in the UK. At this point, the UK battles look like the last Chilean war.
On June 23 I grant Serbia a white peace. I have no idea what they contributed to my warscore, and assume it's not much, but the deal was probably unwise. I did it because I always feel as though the AI likes allies, and hoped that taking one away would help (I recall totally occupied AI countries continuing to fight in EU2 [1?] if they had allies). Victory in Carlisle adds 53,000 to my tally, only 9000 of whom were killed. The jackpot now stands at 576,000. On July 1, Brest-Litovsk falls, giving you some idea how far my Russian occupation has gone. Still no mobilization. The Russians seem awfully sure that the Brits will do all the heavy lifting in this war. I assume they do not get news from England on a regular basis. On July 6 I lost Ipoh, I believe the first province I've lost since my Chilean wars. However, I took Kharkov, and most importantly the Leeds pocket collapses. For the cost of 6000 Argentine casualties I add 121,000 Brits to the NY Lotto Jackpot, which now stands at 697,000.
On the 8th I take Lincoln, and I begin to spread out to occupy much of the British homeland. I begin to have thoughts of wargoals added at this point, and I'm pretty confident that losing Argentinian Arucania is not in the cards. Another British army is pocketed in Zululand, and their defeat on July 11 adds 38,000 to the total (735,000). On July 12 we took Bryansk and Gomel, and word went out accross Russia. "Gomel!" They said. "Not Gomel!" And the Russian bear finally awakens.