-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
If I can make a comment, the initial navy stacks in this scenario are not well balanced. One month and a half to travel from Norfolk to Puerto Rico is problematic.
The player has to separate slow moving ships from the others, i.e. gunboats and torpedoe boats should be in different stacks than destroyers, cruisers and transport ships.
Therefore, the US player can make fast sea trips to his marine troopers !
(And join Puerto Rico or other destinations in less than a turn).
The player has to separate slow moving ships from the others, i.e. gunboats and torpedoe boats should be in different stacks than destroyers, cruisers and transport ships.
Therefore, the US player can make fast sea trips to his marine troopers !
(And join Puerto Rico or other destinations in less than a turn).
This is very nice, and exactly the type of thing I'm looking for in approaching this daunting game.
Thank you very much for this nice AAR! Hopefully this encourages others to do more AAR's for other scenarios.
If I can make a comment, the initial navy stacks in this scenario are not well balanced. One month and a half to travel from Norfolk to Puerto Rico is problematic.
The player has to separate slow moving ships from the others, i.e. gunboats and torpedoe boats should be in different stacks than destroyers, cruisers and transport ships.
Therefore, the US player can make fast sea trips to his marine troopers !
(And join Puerto Rico or other destinations in less than a turn).
You do know you can move troops from norfolk to florida in 4 days via rail transport?
Sure, but to sail faster through the Caribbean and the Seven Seas, the Captain should remove gunboats from his navy stacks.
Apologies for the delay: I had problems with the computer the AAR image files are saved on over the weekend; but now I've access to them again. \o/
Turn 6 - Late July 1898
We’ve got the damn Yankees on the run again! (Or so shouted the elderly ex-Confederate General Joe Wheeler to his men, when he forgot which war he was fighting...)
My 79,575 men capture Santiago with a loss of 18,462 killed, but the Spanish army of 28,597 is wiped out and Santiago is mine. Note that the screen says ‘Cuban victory’ since this is their national province, but it still counts as mine.
Sadly, Roosevelt’s Rough Riders were at the forefront of the battle, and were wiped out while charging the Spanish entrenchments on horseback. Roosevelt himself is wounded and hospitalised back to the States.
As spoils of war I get two units of fortress artillery and a supply wagon (and 7100 Spanish prisoners). I leave the artillery to defend Santiago and send Shafter marching up Cuba towards La Habana. Naval transport would be much faster, but I don’t have any available – the transport fleet is still heading for Hampton Roads to collect the Puerto Rico force.
The US troops in the Philippines capture the last Spanish outpost in Luzon with no incidents. The enemy still occupy Mindoro, Panay and Mindanao, but capture of those places can wait until later. (They’re not scenario objectives.)
Notice from the screenshot above that Merritt’s force currently has a combat strength of 79. (It’s the number under the picture of the general on the counter.) If you look at the previous picture of the area in June 1898 (post #9) you’ll see that a month ago his strength was 261. That reduction of about two-thirds of his strength is entirely due to cohesion losses, from trekking through the muddy, rainy jungles of the Philippines for two turns. Fortunately, a few turns of making camp without fighting will restore his strength again... it’s lucky there were no enemies waiting for him in that province!
Turn 7 – Early August 1898
Nothing of interest happens. Everyone is still en route to their destinations.
Turn 8 – Late August 1898
Brooke’s forces have landed in Puerto Rico and linked up with the Marines. They have a combat strength of 535, the Spanish have 591 and an intact fortress. Assaulting would be suicidal, so we continue the siege.
In Cuba, I order Shafter’s army and the Cuban rebels to attack the Spanish force under Blanco y Erenas that’s blocking the way up the island.
Turn 9 – Early September 1898
The Battle of Camaguey is another Allied victory. San Juan, however, is still under siege and the walls are unbroken.
Turn 10 – Late September 1898
San Juan fortress is still intact. My army has recovered cohesion and is now at 820 strength compared to the Spanish who are down to 581. It’s very bad odds, but I only have one turn to capture this objective province, so I order the attack anyway.
Victory or defeat in the campaign will hinge on the results of this one final battle...
Turn 6 - Late July 1898
We’ve got the damn Yankees on the run again! (Or so shouted the elderly ex-Confederate General Joe Wheeler to his men, when he forgot which war he was fighting...)
My 79,575 men capture Santiago with a loss of 18,462 killed, but the Spanish army of 28,597 is wiped out and Santiago is mine. Note that the screen says ‘Cuban victory’ since this is their national province, but it still counts as mine.
Sadly, Roosevelt’s Rough Riders were at the forefront of the battle, and were wiped out while charging the Spanish entrenchments on horseback. Roosevelt himself is wounded and hospitalised back to the States.
As spoils of war I get two units of fortress artillery and a supply wagon (and 7100 Spanish prisoners). I leave the artillery to defend Santiago and send Shafter marching up Cuba towards La Habana. Naval transport would be much faster, but I don’t have any available – the transport fleet is still heading for Hampton Roads to collect the Puerto Rico force.
The US troops in the Philippines capture the last Spanish outpost in Luzon with no incidents. The enemy still occupy Mindoro, Panay and Mindanao, but capture of those places can wait until later. (They’re not scenario objectives.)
Notice from the screenshot above that Merritt’s force currently has a combat strength of 79. (It’s the number under the picture of the general on the counter.) If you look at the previous picture of the area in June 1898 (post #9) you’ll see that a month ago his strength was 261. That reduction of about two-thirds of his strength is entirely due to cohesion losses, from trekking through the muddy, rainy jungles of the Philippines for two turns. Fortunately, a few turns of making camp without fighting will restore his strength again... it’s lucky there were no enemies waiting for him in that province!
Turn 7 – Early August 1898
Nothing of interest happens. Everyone is still en route to their destinations.
Turn 8 – Late August 1898
Brooke’s forces have landed in Puerto Rico and linked up with the Marines. They have a combat strength of 535, the Spanish have 591 and an intact fortress. Assaulting would be suicidal, so we continue the siege.
In Cuba, I order Shafter’s army and the Cuban rebels to attack the Spanish force under Blanco y Erenas that’s blocking the way up the island.
Turn 9 – Early September 1898
The Battle of Camaguey is another Allied victory. San Juan, however, is still under siege and the walls are unbroken.
Turn 10 – Late September 1898
San Juan fortress is still intact. My army has recovered cohesion and is now at 820 strength compared to the Spanish who are down to 581. It’s very bad odds, but I only have one turn to capture this objective province, so I order the attack anyway.
Victory or defeat in the campaign will hinge on the results of this one final battle...
Hey, win or lose, at least you're going out on a dramatic high.
The short length of the scenario forces you to trade men (lots of them) for time. Still, you seemed to have achieved quite a bit for the butcher's bill you've incurred. I take it that San Juan is the last objective you need to take?
The short length of the scenario forces you to trade men (lots of them) for time. Still, you seemed to have achieved quite a bit for the butcher's bill you've incurred. I take it that San Juan is the last objective you need to take?
good to see it all come down to one action, but those losses were brutal .. great stuff
Yes, that's right - you have to take Manila, Santiago and San Juan for a complete victory, otherwise it's determined by victory points for, at best, a marginal victory.
Oh yes, there is that detail, isn't there?
Let's hope we'll at least hear the final outcome, if not a full update. 
The suspense is disturbing - perhaps this means the Marines have gone to the same rest as the Rough-Riders!
However anxious the Marines appear to be to get there, given the odds they are undertaking, they are skeptical about finding the Army there - as the hymn goes:
"IF the Army and the Navy
ever look on heaven's scenes;
they will find the streets are guarded
by United States Marines."
Nice AAR! I have bought the expansion but haven't tried it yet!
On a side note: nowadays it is clear that the Maine sunk because of an internal explosion in the coal chambers. Probably some kind of gas accumulation made it be blown. All the rests examined recently, plus the era pictures, etc... show that the metal planks were bended from inside to the exterior, making it impossible that it was caused by a mine (as it was told at the moment) or any kind of torpedo. It was well known at that era too...but politics are politics, and the US government (and Hearst!) were looking forward that war to assure their coasts owning Cuba. Well, I cannot blame them...though if they bought Florida for some dollars from Spain, they could have done it easily too with Cuba, I guess (we, spaniards, are very bad negotiators )
On a side note: nowadays it is clear that the Maine sunk because of an internal explosion in the coal chambers. Probably some kind of gas accumulation made it be blown. All the rests examined recently, plus the era pictures, etc... show that the metal planks were bended from inside to the exterior, making it impossible that it was caused by a mine (as it was told at the moment) or any kind of torpedo. It was well known at that era too...but politics are politics, and the US government (and Hearst!) were looking forward that war to assure their coasts owning Cuba. Well, I cannot blame them...though if they bought Florida for some dollars from Spain, they could have done it easily too with Cuba, I guess
(we, spaniards, are very bad negotiators )
