RoP, the White, Blue and Green version

[loki100]

lets all run around Bohemia ... May 1760

So at the start of May, the Russians re-invest Kolberg and the big guns will arrive by late May. My worry is again the supply net has fallen apart (despite the depot) and with only 1 wagon there is not much I can do ...



In the Frankfurt sector, I'm a bit stuck. I can't move beyond the city till it falls



given the lack of Prussian response, I'm tempted to send one corps from here up to the northern wing to help out with the sieges (but I'll wait just a while, just in case)



as you can a newly raised brigade is going up there which will bring the weakest corp up to strength.

Now in Austria, my weakest corp and general decides now is a good time to snooze



Given I envisage more movement than normal he's a liability so when I can I'll lodge him in the rear and just use Daun and Nadrasy (who have the bulk of the good stuff in any case). Nadrasy in particular now has a 5 as his strat rating so is pretty likely to be active every turn. For the moment, I'll move out of range, but swinging around to the west of Prag seems a good idea.



not surprising not much happened



on the N Rhine sector I decide to gamble on splitting up the Army of France. I'll send one corps to Paderborn to see if I can speed the sequence of sieges up. If something worrying moves my way I can always pull back.



and in Bohemia, the bulk of the Prussians menace Prag so I decide it is indeed a good idea to move west.

Now it turns out I'm not the only person with this good idea



as I run into one Prussian corps and fairly neatly beat it

and



another. Neither is decisive but any Prussian losses are good, and those 2 corps will be in poor organisational shape for at least one turn



so the sieges all seem to stall ... but the NM gain is good, as is Prag holding out (it is has a 'siege-defender' trait commander).



and here's the situation in Bohemia at the end of May.

I've now got a campaign of manouvre on my hands ... which may or may not be good.

I assume Fred is after Karlsbad and all of a sudden their forces at Prag look tempting ...

 

[Stoertebecker]

I'll send one corps to Paderborn to see if I can speed the sequence of sieges up

You know that you can just assault cities without fortresses? If there are no additional troops inside a city, it's usually engough to assault with just one cavarly brigade.

And don't you want to be more offensive in Bohemia, now, that you managed to beat two corps?

 

[loki100]

You know that you can just assault cities without fortresses? If there are no additional troops inside a city, it's usually engough to assault with just one cavarly brigade.

And don't you want to be more offensive in Bohemia, now, that you managed to beat two corps?

well I'm still being very very cautious - maybe too much so, so I'm rarely moving with assualt orders in case I bump into something rather nasty. In this case, as long as it falls by the time I take Lippstadt its not too important.

in Bohemia, with no real front, its a case of dancing around trying to find a safe target ... one of the remaining Prussian groups has more men than my entire Austrian army so I don't want to clash with that if I can help it

 

[loki100]

ducking, diving and dieing: June 1760

So start of June, with the French and Russians its a case of carrying on with May's operations.

With Austria I have some options and some gambles.



this risks having Daun and Nadrasy trapped between Freddie and those Prussians at Prag ... but the potential gain is it closes off their supply lines.



In the event, little really happens, except I take Paderborn and will be able to assault Lippstadt next turn.



Here's the late June position in Austria. That Prussian force at Prag is huge (just under 100,000 as I find out - Duan and Nadrasy have about 50,000 combined), Freddie has a small force and I think that lot off to the NE are retreating back into Saxony for some reason.

I'll keep to my gamble of cutting their supply lines.



on the north Rhine sector its going steadily pretty well, no opposition just take the sequence of cities and forts I need ...



on the South Rhine, I'm still stuck at Frankfurt and I'd really like to get into Cumberland.

I also semi-suspect a Hannoverian column has gone 'missing' ... & find out soon enough where it is



NM differential is back in the reasonable range



ah well ... I gambled on it taking longer but at least that cost them heavily in manpower



sort of evens up the score



ah, that finishes off the Russian offensive ... its time to run all the way back to Koenigsberg with the survivors



so a lot happened, Freddie has taken the lager stocks at Pilsen again, the loss of Prag will hurt, the Russians are no longer a threat and the French make steady progress

 

[Stuyvesant]

Hm. Prag didn't hold very long, but its fall validates your earlier decision to retreat from it: given the large quantitative and qualitative gap between the Prussians and you, any 'last stand' at Prag could easily have turned into an actual last stand for the Austrians. What I mean to say is: there's no way that you could've gathered enough troops to defeat the Prussians at Prag, so a defense of the city would've resulted in the same end (Prag captured), as well as trashing your Austrian armies and NM. Still, it's hard to see how you can turn the situation in Bohemia around - I fear any improvement there will have to come as a result of French progress in northern Germany.

 

[Stoertebecker]

Hm. Prag didn't hold very long, but its fall validates your earlier decision to retreat from it.

Yes, I thought the same when reading the update. I'm very curious, how you'll get out of the mess. At least, there is not much left to lose in Bohemia: If Freddie advances much more, you can easily cut his supply.

By the way: Don't you use tiny Hussar units to cut supply routes?

 

[iain_a_wilson]

If only your gaggle of armies at Frankfurt could move - you could give Cumberland a right bloody nose!

 

[loki100]

Hm. Prag didn't hold very long, but its fall validates your earlier decision to retreat from it: given the large quantitative and qualitative gap between the Prussians and you, any 'last stand' at Prag could easily have turned into an actual last stand for the Austrians. What I mean to say is: there's no way that you could've gathered enough troops to defeat the Prussians at Prag, so a defense of the city would've resulted in the same end (Prag captured), as well as trashing your Austrian armies and NM. Still, it's hard to see how you can turn the situation in Bohemia around - I fear any improvement there will have to come as a result of French progress in northern Germany.

Yes, I thought the same when reading the update. I'm very curious, how you'll get out of the mess. At least, there is not much left to lose in Bohemia: If Freddie advances much more, you can easily cut his supply.
By the way: Don't you use tiny Hussar units to cut supply routes?

with hindsight, I do think that (for once) I made the right choice, as it is I can now do quite a lot of damage by just existing and picking them off in small detachments

I've lost masses of Hussars so far, but the units cutting their supply at Leboswitz is a small Hussar brigade ... they are really useful for this sort of raiding.

If only your gaggle of armies at Frankfurt could move - you could give Cumberland a right bloody nose!

Yes, I really want to get moving before the summer is over, so I can exploit my current (shortlived?) domination along the Rhine.

 

[loki100]

In which General Giap teaches the Austrians how to make war: July 1760

On the south rhine front I decide to send one of the corps north. This will give me 2 equal size French armies but at the moment that seems a safe gamble.



and in the north, press on to start the next siege.



Now I don't know why this shot came out so ugly - and its important too.



I'm doing 3 things. Kollowrat is retreating back behind his river for safety. That small 1.5 brigade corps will try to run down that small Prussian force, but just in case he has ultra-cautious orders.

I'm going to take revenge on Freddie with Daun and Nadrasy, he can't have much over 15,000 and he is isolated ...



very isolated, and trying to escape northwards (note how scary his stats have become)



ah, the smell of victory in the morning ...



so many thanks to General Giap, we seem to have worked out a valid strategy (for the moment)



this shows the big picture on the N Rhine. In effect Hannover is worth lots of VPs (which is handy as I'm losing lots due to the Prussian hold on Prag), but Bremen stops the British reinforcing. Its rather nice to have to make this sort of choice.



and in Bohemia, I'll not move much this turn and see how/if the Prussians respond



a little leaving present



one large Prussian corps went after Kollowrat, he's so useless even the river didn't really save him ... but then I didn't expect it to



so things are hotting up in time for August, and I have the lager stocks back under control



& this suddenly looks a lot more re-assuring ... pity I have no Russian army left.

 

[Stuyvesant]

When you say General Giap provided a useful strategy, do you mean you're now sending sappers with bombs strapped to their chest screaming into the enemy command bunker? I mean, it does look like you took out Freddie that way...

Perhaps I should stop channeling 'Platoon' now.

Overal, astonishing (to me, the eternal pessimist, at least) turnaround. No need to gloat, though:

so things are hotting up in time for August, and I have the lager stocks back under control.

Historically, things have turned pretty badly for you once your Austrian troops get a taste of the golden brew... I foresee a large rash of inactivated Austrian generals, allowing Freddie to calmly walk back to the comfort of Prague or Saxony.

 

[Stonewall]

Lovely AAR. Really enjoyed you not giving up and quitting when the going got tough.

 

[iain_a_wilson]

*whooping, hollering, cheering and other assorted noises of celebration*

Shame about poor Kollowrat - him dying of disease is almost Crusader Kings-esque and I know what you and your marshalls are like...

 

[loki100]

When you say General Giap provided a useful strategy, do you mean you're now sending sappers with bombs strapped to their chest screaming into the enemy command bunker? I mean, it does look like you took out Freddie that way...

Perhaps I should stop channeling 'Platoon' now.
Overal, astonishing (to me, the eternal pessimist, at least) turnaround. No need to gloat, though:
Historically, things have turned pretty badly for you once your Austrian troops get a taste of the golden brew... I foresee a large rash of inactivated Austrian generals, allowing Freddie to calmly walk back to the comfort of Prague or Saxony.

well I must confess it was more the spirit of him as the guru of how to use organised regular forces in an effective guerilla war context (something that few other revolutionary military theorists worked out), but yes since Freddie is indeed injured (I think, I don't see him in August either), we can chalk that down to a particularly commited Grenzler (my Croat light infantry) going beyond the call of duty.

Lovely AAR. Really enjoyed you not giving up and quitting when the going got tough.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. Since my object with this AAR was never to 'win' or to showcase my game skills, it did seem worth carrying on. Its not like in Rome where if you lose to the Seleucid blob, unless you get very lucky its just a long grind to defeat ... even losing in this game system is quite entertaining.

*whooping, hollering, cheering and other assorted noises of celebration*

Shame about poor Kollowrat - him dying of disease is almost Crusader Kings-esque and I know what you and your marshalls are like...

Just worked out it was another Kollowrat to the useless one (who is due to lose his command soon in any case). But yes, what with plague and injured generals I fear I've brough Harry & Astarte with me.

As a total aside, on which topic, I've been working up an idea for my next AAR, where that pair will indeed return ... its a quite natural fit to Vicky2.

 

[iain_a_wilson]

The thought of those two in Vicky is amusing. I've been playing Vicky 1 a lot recently (as Vicky 2 doesn't heart my graphics card) and it is quite honestly one of the finest games EVERY.

 

[iain_a_wilson]

"Finest games EVER".

What a dumbass I am.

 

[loki100]

The French revolution and General Giap continues to inspire Austria: August 1760

So, August comes around. Crops wave lazily in the sun, cats chase rats, and I work out a partial solution to being blocked at Frankfurt:



send 2 corps around the edge as a sort of bait and use 2 to finish off the siege. I do now feel confident at splitting up as I think Cumberland is fairly weak.



over in Bohemia, its all very chaotic. I think the main Prussian army has moved west, so I reckon its time to go east myself. I'll close up to Prag with Daun and my moustached hero, and bring back the Bavarians. If Prag is lightly held, I may get it back, if not that Prussian corps down south is nicy juicy morsel



ok, its a morsel with huge teeth, Kollowrat gets driven out of Tabor.



I now have yet another hole in Frankfurt, but no French assault. Pah.

Late August over on the S Rhine



I don't think that either of those Hannoverian-Prussian corps are that strong, so I'll keep up some sort of pressure to the north of Frankfurt and the rest can take the city this turn ... they have assault orders etc ...



and up north, Minden is now mine for the taking and I have 4 corps in the sector.



Bohemia is so busy these days. Not least the Prussian general with the Elvis quiff seems to be in two places at once. But at least I now know the main Prussian army (must be around 80,000 still) is at Prag. Time to munch on the morsel ...



which still has a mind of its own, not that Tabor was well defended.



and the mousetrap snaps shut. Again I gain from the odd retreat algorithm, but it just seems wrong to me ... if you have the ability to penetrate the Military Control barrier (ie you can enter a province), you should retreat away from any enemy forces, not ping-pong between them



so, as you can see Frankfurt is being dismantled stone by stone.

Minden fell with a lot of prisoners, there must have been something recovering there from earlier battles.

... and the French are displeased ...

and my NM is on the up



in fact, its almost equal ... remember they are also suffering from war exhaustion



This is a rather zoomed out view of the southern area at the start of September. I think one Prussian corps is abandoning the Rhine. They have a gaggle of smallish units on the Bavarian-Bohemian border ... not much I can do at the moment about them, and their main army lurks in Prag.



and here's the north. A few isolated generals with no troops after my earlier defeats are scattered around.

I need to think, but at the moment, I think both Bremen and Hannover are mine for the taking ... which would be a very pleasing end to 1760 if I can pull that off.

Thousand Islands, I hear you cry ...



well there's the explanation, my grumpy bunch at Minden would do well to learn from their example.

 

[Stuyvesant]

There, there... Don't beat yourself up about. I've seen far worse on the forums.

<Goes to paternalistically pat Iain on the head. Remembers he's dealing with a Scot. Thinks better of it>

Vicky certainly seems to hold potential for Harry and Co: the squalors of early industrialization, the corrupt machine politics... Not to mention an ever-increasing array of interesting ways to deliver people to Harry's doorstep... Yes, yes, I can definitely see this work.

But first, let's see if you can continue your amazing turnaround in Bohemia.

 

[loki100]

The thought of those two in Vicky is amusing. I've been playing Vicky 1 a lot recently (as Vicky 2 doesn't heart my graphics card) and it is quite honestly one of the finest games EVERY.

actually, I think V2 is better, its a really subtle exceptionally well thought out game where playing as a no-account minor is as much fun as one of the real powers

 

[iain_a_wilson]

Bloody French! You're doing your damdest to turn things around and all they can do is grumble! At least they're still in fight though, unlike your Scandinavian chums...

 

[iain_a_wilson]

actually, I think V2 is better, its a really subtle exceptionally well thought out game where playing as a no-account minor is as much fun as one of the real powers

Well, I've never played it, so I'll defer to your better judgement (and graphics card). That being said, playing as a minor is a lot of fun in Vicky 1. One of my most fun games was as the Transvaal which ended really well (unlike the game that my Oranjes AAR is based on!).