The Anthology of HoI AARs

[coz1]

The Anthology of Hearts of Iron AARs​

Following on with the seeming success of the EUII Anthology thread it seems time to include the other great motivator of these AAR forums...Hearts of Iron. The game came out fairly soon after the EU series and we've had the benefit of such AARs ever since. HoI2 may be a bigger game, but this was the one that started the HoI AAR tradition. While Europa Universalis might have been the originator of the Paradox AAR, the Hearts of Iron crowd is as immense and fanatic as they are talented. That excitement pulled a whole new group into the mix in 2002 and the AAR tradition of course continued. The new folks certainly made themselves known.

What we have to remember it by is the following list:

A Pictorial Lesson in the Art of Warfare: The Italian Army 1936–
(2Coats)

1914-1924 'British interests; British honour; British obligations'
(Allenby)

A German Mechanised Strategy
(Kanitatlan)

The greatest gamble - A German AAR
(King)

At the Gates of Paris: A Fascist France AAR
(Lord British)

Forza Italia! comments...
(Maximilian I)

The United States: 'Advantages without Obligations'
(Mettermrck)

The World at War - An American Perspective in World War II
(Miral)

To Stand Against The Night
(Prufrock451)

The German RISK AAR
(Rustican)

The Rest Stop to the West: A Luxemburg AAR
(Satcho)

Siam - The Pocket Empire
(Semi-Lobster)

Home Before the Leaves Fall - an AAR of The Great War
(StephenT)

War and Peace II - Back in the U.S.S.AAR (1936 - 1947)
(Syt)

Chronological Influences: A Soviet AAR
(TC Pilot)

Where the Iron Crosses Grow - German AAR
(The Yogi)

Gotterdammerung: 1944-1948
(vigilantsldr)

Doomed from the StAARt (large pics ahead)
(Wolfhound)​

Once again, not a perfect method to judge AARs but so far it seems to work. This is the same deal as the EUII thread - I looked at the top 10 in views and replies and then opened it to the top 20 to see which AARs fell on both lists. Here we have 18. As before, these numbers are themselves a testament to different times and tastes. But given that they have been built over several years, there seems a fairness to it in a pretty objective way.

So now what to do with them?

Same deal - this is a poll in which anyone may vote and may vote for as many or few as they like. It will be an open ended poll and let me be clear...this is not a vote for favorite or best (no winner will be crowned)...this is simply a vote for the ones you enjoyed then and/or the ones you enjoy now. You only get to vote once, however, so make it count.

Take a look at the offered works and give support to those that inspired you...made you laugh, think or learn better to play the game...or those that tickle you now many years after the fact...give your vote to those AARs that you feel best represent the AARs of HoI 1.

That's why this is called an anthology rather than best or anything other. I hope it to be a good place for future members to see and head off to read said AARs if they are curious about the past or previous works. And please feel free after you voted to offer your own top 15, or at least some AARs that deserve to be considered in such an argument. After some time has passed, this thread will be moved to the HoI forums and permanently stickied there as recommended reading.

I hope you have fun reading these old works and perhaps remembering them if you've been around long enough. If you are a newer member joined since many of these were ended, I hope you enjoy the look back. If anything, I hope those that take the time to look at these AARs enjoy a look back at the history of this forum as each were instrumental in creating the place that we inhabit today.

Happy reading and perhaps these AARs inspire you to...Write On!

 

[Alfred Packer]

I remember Yogi's Iron Crosses. I printed that thing out (the pdf) and read it a work during meetings over the course of a week or two. That thing is a classic.

Oh, and Allenby...wow...that's another great one.

 

[TC Pilot]

Several of these AARs were what inspired me to write AARs of my own. In my less-talented days, I even resorted to stealing characters and ideas from them. o

Where the Iron Crosses Grow, To Stand Against the Night, Advantages Without Obligations, British interests... all great AARs. Just impossible to choose from.

I was sorry to see 'Gotterdammerung' go quiet all those years ago. It was a great, fun idea, one I tried (unsuccesfully) to replicate in HOI2. In a way, I see it as the progenitor to the more 'interactive' AARs we have nowadays. It's also downright tragic that none of the picutres to 'A Pictoral Lesson' are still up.

 

[CatKnight]

I didn't vote for as many on this list as EU2, because at the time I didn't spend much time in the HoI forum.

Mettermrck's "Advantages without Obligations," however, is to me the epitome of the history-book style narrative. He manages to bring his characters to life and lets them guide his in-game decisions, freely modded the game (borders and the like) when the engine let him down, and otherwise told a rousing story.

I remember spending quite awhile studying his work, then downloading the PDF and studying it some more, looking for ways to incorporate his ideas into my works.

 

[coz1]

Mettermrck's "Advantages without Obligations," however, is to me the epitome of the history-book style narrative. He manages to bring his characters to life and lets them guide his in-game decisions, freely modded the game (borders and the like) when the engine let him down, and otherwise told a rousing story.

I remember spending quite awhile studying his work, then downloading the PDF and studying it some more, looking for ways to incorporate his ideas into my works.

I read it twice. Once for the first time and then again to review it. It was just as sweet the second time...plus, it has some extras goodies at the end after it "officially" ended.

 

[Director]

Give us the linky to the review, please.

 

[Stuyvesant]

Give us the linky to the review, please.

Link would be nice, yes. Advantages is, so far, the only AAR I've ever downloaded in PDF format to read. It was a fantastic work and it managed to create a plausible alternate history without clear heroes (I detested Lindbergh even while I was cheering him on to defeat the greater evils).

I also voted for Where the Iron Crosses Grow, since it was such a juggernaut. To my mind, the storytelling developed as the AAR went on, becoming more interesting the longer it went on.

To Stand Against The Night is probably my all-time favorite HOI AAR (across all three iterations of the game). The way Prufrock weaved together all his characters and created this incredible WWII/WWIII storyline, from the streets of Eindhoven to the skies over Vladivostok still puts a grin on my face, just thinking about it. And I haven't even looked at the AAR in years.

 

[Prufrock451]

Thanks, Stuy. I am continually amazed and humbled whenever somebody remembers work of mine from seven (!) years back so fondly.

And I can only echo your comments about Mett and Yogi's work.

 

[Lord E]

There sure are a lot of great AARs here, and it actually makes me feel a little old when I know that I read several of those AARs from their humble beginnings.

There are several great stories here, and some of them have been a great motivation for a lot of writers on these boards. I don’t want to single out anyone as they are all great stories, but I just want to say this. Mett’s Advantages is perhaps one of the best researched AARs on the forum and although it is a juggernaut I want to recommend it to everyone, it is a great story and well worth the time spent on reading it. Also if it was one of these stories that it still saddens me has never been finished it is Allenby’s British interests, and even though it hasn’t been finished… yet (one can hope, right?)… it is still a great tale and Allenby’s battle description posts, especially his naval battles are some of the finest tales of engagements that have ever been written on these forums!

But as I said there are all great writers, and I remember enjoying several of these back when they were new, actually this thread has made me start rereading them again and I still enjoy them today. So thanks for doing this coz, for us old-timers it brings back good memories and for all the newer members on the forum these are classic stories that everyone should read and enjoy

 

[coz1]

Give us the linky to the review, please.

Here you go. You can find a link to all pre-AARlander reviews in the fAARq (I can't get the AARlander and Pdox Tribune reviews isolated) -

Are there reviews for past AARs? - Yes, several AARs have been reviewed in the past, from an early project, to the Gazette and now in the Advocate. Reviews prior to the Gazette can be found in the EUII LibrAARy, reviews from the Gazette can be found in the Gazette Index and reviews from the Advocate can be found in the Advocate Index.

 

[ComradeOm]

Advantages without Obligations was the first AAR I ever read and remains one of the best. A true classic

 

[coz1]

Bit of a stall perhaps with the recent forum upgrade. Perhaps a bump is needed.

 

[Rensslaer]

I voted for 6 (a while back). The thing that amazed me is that I actually remembered 6 HOI 1 AARs fondly -- I don't remember even checking the forum except in rare cases, but I must have! I thought I'd read almost exclusively in HOI 2 but something must have drawn me back to HOI 1 -- probably the wonderful quality of these AARs on the list, which many others recommended! Thanks, guys, for the entertainment value!

Rensslaer