WIELKOPOLSKA - Rise of the White Eagle - A Polish AAR

[unmerged(80988)]

Tasty update again. These are really worth of waiting.

 

[unmerged(51164)]

Great AAR so far. Your progress has been very impressive.

 

[unmerged(95076)]

Release a Germany with Austria and Czechland included; maybe give them some Russian baltic coast territory as compensation for Silesia?

 

[cegorach]

Release a Germany with Austria and Czechland included; maybe give them some Russian baltic coast territory as compensation for Silesia?

Do you mean Leningrad ?
You know the choice i s somehow limited in this matter.

 

[_tr]

Why he should give any compensations to Germany? They started the war and they lost it... Germany wasn't friendly country to Poland in period 1918-1939 (examples: blockade of weapon transit from France in 1920 or The Customs War 1925-1934) and partitions period ended only 20 years before...

So Germany should be happy if they stay as one united country.

 

[CthulhuPL]

Hm... I wouldn't risk arguing about the post-war setup of provinces. Wielka Polska has been established, do not anger the writAAR

I'm not arguing with anyone, especially with Rob. I'm just posting my personal thoughts what IIRP would do and no what would WritAAR do! (Although I'm curious ). I'm just asking a question to all of you, what would IIRP do. Your thoughts and opinions, that's all.

 

[trekaddict]

Something new, what about a German buffer state on the left of the Rhine? (after the IC has been transferred east via event of course?) Not only would this elevate Poland's standing in the world but it would also provide the Poles with decreased TC and perhaps even a couple of Divisions he can use for Anti-Partisan duty.

 

[robw963]

Whew! Lots to respond to here. I want to do my best respond to each and every idea and comment as best I can. Here goes:

Again an incredible update!
A picture says a thousand words, so you AAR is getting quite lengthy

I realize some readers are getting anxious for some action while I plod through the background stuff leading up to the continuation of hostilities. For me, thinking ahead and planning are really where this game lives. My hope is to always have things planned so well that by the time any warfare actually starts, the outcome is nearly certain. To keep people interested during this period, I've tried my best to keep the visuals historical and entertaining. I'm having a great time doing all the background research.

Impressive so far, for several reasons:
1. Excellent graphics.
2. Excellent information density - good explanation of gameplay with historical flavour.
3. Excellent performance in-game - Poland is a very hard nation with which to be successful.
Keep up the good work!

I'm glad you like it! Poland is a fun country to play. Certainly not a major power but hard to call it a minor either (nothing like playing Luxembourg...haha). That said, it's definitely a challenge to play Poland since it basically begins the game surrounded by powerful enemies and some pretty signficant weaknesses (manpower, tech teams, relatively low IC, etc). That's what makes it fun.

Not just a little. I heard your AAR is so awesome that it is considered an aphrodisiac in Poland and a couple of other Central European countries. :rofl:

Easy on the aphrodisiacs...that might be what got budseligsucks in mono trouble to begin with.

Damn, Finland got screwed over in that encounter, 7 Divisions to the Finns is like 5/8ths their Army, they probably lost their HQ and Mountaineers there too......
Day in day out with Poland it seems, I don't see why you don't put some Garrisons in Czechoslovakia and end the partisan menace there once and for all, you really dont need Garrisons watching the front of your Allies........
Very nice looking update though.

Yeah I was pretty surprised myself with the loss of so many divisions. Finland began the Winter War with 22 divisions. Losing 7 is nearly a 33% loss...pretty devastating. I'll be interested to see if they can recover from that. I may even help them if I can. As for garrisons, the main objective with garrison placement is to locate them in the provinces with the highest IC levels in order to derive the maximum amount of TC improvement from the garrison mapower/IC investment. Good examples of provinces like that are Berlin (19), Vienna (13), Cologne (12), etc. Garrison placement near the frontier is merely a consequence not a specific goal. Sure...I'm concerned about the revolt risk in the Czech territories, but it's nothing I can't manage. No single province in the Czech region exceeds 4 IC, so I regard garrison placement there to be wasteful.

I suppose there will be no bitter peace.

Actually there will be...assumming my campaign in Russia goes well . I have modified the Bitter Peace event to allow for a similar event chain as originally exists in the vanilla germany.txt and ussr.txt event files.

Great AAR. Have been following it from the start
I might begin doing one of my wacky-minor AAR's soon.

I liked the Korean ones you were trying! PRNK propaganda graphics are always amazing to me. I'm reminded of an incredible piece of video footage I saw awhile back showing Madeleine Albright (US Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration) visiting North Korea. That's unusual all by itself...I believe she's the highest ranking US official to ever visit there. Anyway, from the airport in Pyongyang, she was immediately escorted to a sports stadium for a welcoming ceremony. The North Koreans literally had rehearsed and choreographed a VERY threatening and ominous placard card animation with 25,000 people depicting North Korean missles striking the United States. Such a friendly welcome. You should have seen the look on Madeleine Albright's face...priceless!

And why won't the french help garrisoning germany?

Ha! The French can stay over behind their wall...thank you very much! I got what I wanted and didn't have to share any of the loot or spoils with them. But I'm sure happy to keep sending supplies over to them in exchange for money

Another tantalizing update . I almost want to see a flash movie of this AAR ; it would be like a post-modern documentary ! The diplomatic moves increased the colour quotient significantly and the highlight on the Empire of Japan demonstrated your finesse as an artist with an Eastern themed interface . The spy ring infiltration was very fun to read and the mad rush to keep russia at bay while you speed up research and production keeps me at the edge of my seat ! Lastly , the nobility of Poland comes out . Let's give those Finns that other day !!!

The poor Finns. They really got their butts handed to them in this version of the Winter War. I was all excited to show graphics depicting their brave defense and wiley cunning as they outwitted the Soviet AI...but umm...things didn't exactly work out that way. But i'll make sure they get their other day

As always wonderfull update! Love the "cinematic" feeling!

Oh what I'd give if this forum supported the SWF file extension so I could do something truly cinematic! Animated Gifs only go so far ya know? All the same, thanks for the nice compliment

I registered largely to comment on this AAR and implore you to go for a 'realistic' take on Poland's future rather than the WC you were originally intending - I could not post here until I had posted enough elsewhere on the board, but I am glad to see your other fans convinced you nevertheless.

You have truly created a spectacular feast for the eyes in this AAR, and both your skill at playing the game and creating events for it leave me salivating for what you have up your sleeve for the coming alliance against the Soviets and of course the conquest that will inevitably come - from my own very basic knowledge of historic Polish territories, I suspect you might claim huge swathes of land up to Smolensk and a fair bit of the Ukraine... I also wonder how you will deal with the USSR on its defeat. A unified but humiliated Soviet Union? Perhaps too dangerous. A resurgent Tsarist state too would have little love for the Poles. But a number of smaller states - Perhaps a rump puppet Ukraine and a carefully watched European Russia based around Moscow, then Siberia and the Central Asian states all brought into existence with a Polish 'guiding hand'...

...I'm getting so ahead of myself! Let's see if you can beat the bastards first. Onwards for Poland!

Wow! I'm really humbled by what you've said here. I'm honored that my AAR would actually motivate you to register on the forum. Hard to think of a response that appropriately conveys my appreciation for such a nice compliment. Thank you! Yes, you're right, I started things out with the intention of a WC as Poland, but I was slowly turned away from that by the persistent urgings of many readers here. There's really no way I can satisfy all the ideas I've received from everyone but I think I've arrived upon a reasonable compromise that is historically plausible and at the same time interesting. Much of that still has yet to be revealed, but suffice to say the year 1940 will reveal a lot of it. I hesitate to dole out lots of details other than to say I'll be allying with Romania and Hungary and possibly Finland in a combined effort vs. the USSR. I have yet to make up my mind regarding the disposition of Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, TransUral Republic, etc. My main focus now is constructing forces sufficient enough to give me the luxury of actually facing those decisions! Stick around, I'm hoping it will be a fun ride.

Let's think for a moment what IIRP would do in such situation after defeat of Germany and annexation of new territories (my personal thoughts):
1. Cede Memel back to Lithuania as a sign of good intentions (after all, whole Lithuania will be annexed, no doubt ).
2. Release Austria.
3. Release Czechoslovakia (without Ostrava) OR release Czech and Slovakia (plebiscite would decide).
4. Keep what left of Germany for a while (till defeat of Soviet Union), then release new Germany.
What do you say?

Don't forget, the USSR Baltic annexation events are right around the corner, so giving up Memel to Lithuania would basically be like giving Memel to the Russians. Never! As for the other ideas, I think Aux_Teergois and Jedrek and some others have offered lots of good arguments to show how what you've outlined has some historical plausibility. The whole puppet idea still doesn't appeal to me, however, but I can say some of these ideas are incorporated into the events I've re-written (I know I know...I keep alluding to these..but they're coming...really!). Just to be totally clear here: I want to ALWAYS welcome ideas here..I just can't promise they'll be incorporated into the AAR or not. Remember I'm playing ahead a fair amount of time, so in some cases, it's just too late to incorporate ideas.

The sight of Japan gave me an idea... In 1905, as the revolution spread across Russia, Józef Pilsudski went to Japan to ask the Asians to give support to the Polish independence movement. Perhaps you can forge an alliance with Japan against the Soviets? Abstract as it may seem, you currently share some things; hostility against the Soviet Union, mistrust towards the Allies... Even if it's made only an opportunistic alliance for the time of the Polish-Soviet war, it is worth a try, IMHO. The only problem would be to edit the save (or events) so that the Japanese won't make the Pearl Harbour mistake.

BTW, around V 1940 you should organise presidental elections. According to the April Constitution of 1935 (and the August Novelization of 1926) the president of the Republic should be elected by the Assembly of Electors (consisting of 85 people) for a term of 7 years. The last election in V 1933 elected Ignacy Moscicki for his 2nd term, so I guess it's about time. The Consitution did not specify if a person mustn't be elected on a 3rd term, so Moscicki can stay... But mentioning it will surely made the AAR more interesting

Actually, there's a benefit to the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor. It typically triggers a chain of events which puts the US into the western alliance and thereby puts me at war with them (removing my IC peace modifier). That of course assumes that I stay in the western alliance. If I don't, then the opportunity exists to do what you're suggesting here. Either way, I wouldn't remove the possibility of Pearl Harbor from occurring. I love when it occurs! The biggest problem with an alliance with Japan is the effect it has on the Bitter Peace event and the requirement for the capture of Vladivostok. I'm more intrigued by the idea of a Japanese alliance vs. the western allies....we shall see.

Tasty update again. These are really worth of waiting.

I'm really glad you like them! They're a lot of fun to make

Great AAR so far. Your progress has been very impressive.

Thank you! I'm always glad to see a new face here. I hope to keep the interest level high.

Release a Germany with Austria and Czechland included; maybe give them some Russian baltic coast territory as compensation for Silesia?

Oh look! another puppet release suggestion! (kidding...please know I'm interested in everyone's thoughts and ideas). You might want to read, however, my response above to CthulhuPL. In your particular case, I'm kind of sceptical about giving away territory to any (potential) puppet...HOWEVER...I might do that with an ally!

Do you mean Leningrad ?
You know the choice i s somehow limited in this matter.

yeah...I wouldn't do that either. Leningrad is a nice juicy prize and I like collecting trophies!

Why he should give any compensations to Germany? They started the war and they lost it... Germany wasn't friendly country to Poland in period 1918-1939 (examples: blockade of weapon transit from France in 1920 or The Customs War 1925-1934) and partitions period ended only 20 years before...
So Germany should be happy if they stay as one united country.

You mean a subjegated and humiliated Germany living under a Polish heel! whoa...sorry, I got carried away (sorry Enewald). Yeah, let's face it, there was no love between Germany and Poland. It's a big reason why I think a victorious Poland would choose the pathway I'm following here. Obviously it's debatable....but I find my way more fun!

Something new, what about a German buffer state on the left of the Rhine? (after the IC has been transferred east via event of course?) Not only would this elevate Poland's standing in the world but it would also provide the Poles with decreased TC and perhaps even a couple of Divisions he can use for Anti-Partisan duty.

Hmm...you mean The Netherlands and Belgium? Possibly Luxembourg? Interesting idea. Before I re-wrote the events after conquering Germany, I had an event in there that triggered an angry reaction from the western allies if I touched Benelux (it's the way I used to get out of the western alliance). That's changed...so there actually is now a pathway to do what you've suggested. Maybe I need to hear a little bit more about what you have in mind.

 

[trekaddict]

Left of the Rhine was probably not the correct choice of words as I had a real-life map in mind when I wrote that. In game terms thios would make more sense.

 

[Milites]

*glares in disbelief*

*opens photoshop*

*fails miserably*



erhm.. *cough*.. good job done, you're really starting to use those old maps a lot, eh?

 

[Akaki]

You know of course that Stalin wouldn't go for the annexation of Baltic States with vitorious Poland and untouched western allies? Since Poland never fell, France and UK still have something to say in eastern Europe...
Can't wait.

 

[unmerged(87183)]

Gah, so they lost 1/3rd their army.....


Anyways, leave the spoils to Poland, it's not like they are some pussy Democratic nation anyways.


To the victor go the spoils.

 

[The Kingmaker]

Congratulations, robw963!

You're the latest recipient of the Best Character Writer of the Week award!

Well done!

 

[Hellvink]

Left of the Rhine was probably not the correct choice of words as I had a real-life map in mind when I wrote that. In game terms thios would make more sense.

You were looking for this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_annexation_of_German_territory_after_World_War_II

It's is thoroughly known that the Dutch are very tolerant and keen off all the nice Poles living and working here today (please giev dutch lands!)
Kassel is a bit off tbh, you should redo the map but without that prov.

:edit: The United Dual Kingdom of Belgium-Netherlands, In Personal Union with Luxembourg, Lords of the West Rhine, Princes of the Low Lands?

 

[gooy]

i think getting japan to join your alliance is a really nice option and i think it would be pretty much viable. i think that with china already conquered they would be interested in having a partner to divide the ussr.
another idea would be that if you don't want japan in your alliance for some reason, you might make an event that makes japan backstab ussr in the case of a soviet-polish war.
and in case of a war against the allies, japan would make a perfect trade partner.

 

[Kanil]

I approve of an overly large Netherlands.

Although I don't really mind Poland keeping the whole thing, either.

 

[trekaddict]

No no. It's supposed to be a German state as a puppet of Poland.

 

[robou]

Poland continues its efforts admirably. You must be coming up with a lot of money for all this influencing. Your progress against the Soviets on the dipolmatic front has been most interesting.

 

[unmerged(81979)]

Hey, great update! As always...

 

[robw963]

Just a quickie notice for everyone. The December issue of the AARLander is up. I really hope people can support the AARLander which is an online newsletter published monthly with a variety of articles revolving around the theme of AARLand. Anyone and everyone can contribute and even if you don't think writing is your thing, you can support the efforts of the writers by commenting in the discussion thread. I also worked on this month's cover! Go check it out!

NEW AARLANDER IS UP go check it out , folks

And please follow the link at the top of it to comment on it !​