The Great European War

sebas379 said:

The updated OP with maps and the weapons of the era post have definetly gotten me exited for this war, good looking stuff! This is going to be a lot of fun to follow.

I'm not sure if you are still looking for alliance names, but the third faction (Russia, Austria-Hungary and friends) sure looks like a Balkan League, with only 2 relatively small states outside the region.

The other 2 factions are more difficult to name by location. If you want a catchy name you might have to get a bit creative, but coming up with stories is not a problem as you have proven before (no pressure )
I was reading the updated post and suddenly the War of the League of Cambrai came to mind. Not because of the era, but for namesake. It was basically a bunch of nations ganging up on Venice and they signed the agreement in Cambrai. Pick a faction leader and name the alliance after a pact signed in her capital. They did it IRL so why not.

Just to throw you some info you could perhaps use as inspiration, since I thought you might still be interested.

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I've also planned to make a ledger showing the initial strengths of the nations (soldiers, manpower, ducats and other goodies).

Thanks for the suggestions! Especially the one with Balkans League which I've planned to use. I still need names for the other ones though and it's not easy. I would choose making up story over making names any day . With your last suggestion, I guess we'll have the League of London and the League of Paris unless anyone else have any better sounding names. Sounds, legit, right?

sebas379 said:

The first faction, with France, looks to be the most centrally located one. I'm not sure if Central Powers would really suit them since they do have faroff nations like Finland, but they are still pretty muhc pinned between their enemies.
If I think of anything better i'll let you know.

BTW, just based on the map, the size of nations etc, atm my money is on that faction. So many major powers! but looks might be deceiving...

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Thanks!

I don't feel Central Powers suit them since they are quite spread out. The random number generator hasn't been generous with the faction locations except for the third faction.

The first faction does appear stronger but you must remember that this is a three way war. More than one nation have to fight multi-front wars so it's too early to determine the winner. France and Spain are in a good position since their western flank isn't really threatened except for naval landings. Great Britain and Scandinavia also have good positioning in the north. The consolidation in the Balkans give the third faction a pretty big advantage there. It's far too early to tell the victor. Plus, I haven't done the ledger yet so we're all in the dark.

Faction 2 Infantry

Elite Units

Black Watch (Great Britain)

Recruited from the Highlands in Scotland, these men are not the average soldier. Their presence inspire all those around them and commanders can send them into battle knowing they could get their job done. Excellent training and conditioning can see these men fighting against overwhelming odds and still hold their ground.

Guards (Lotharingia, Italy, Scandinavia)

The duty of guards involve protecting those within the royal family. With monarchs actively leading soldiers into battle, the guards are there to ensure their safety. In a dire situation, the guards are the last line of defense between their monarch and the enemy.

Grenadiers

Grenadiers (all)

These men carry a musket and bags of grenades. Grenade doesn't have the most reliable fuses but, once properly executed, they can be used to deadly effects. These men are often leading the assault on the battlefield and in siege warfare making them some of the bravest men in the armies.

Light Infantry

Light Infantry (all)

The job of light infantry is to provide a skirmishing screen for the main body. They often serve as a harassment to the enemy or, in some cases, delay the enemy advance so their main body could get more ideal positioning. Their maneuverability on the battlefield makes them a key contributor to any battle.

Line Infantry

Line Infantry (all)

Unlike light infantry, line infantry use mass volley for offense while they withstand enemy fire by utilizing their discipline. Line infantry has, by 1750, formed the main backbone of any European army. Their formations, line, square and column, made their quite adaptable to the changing battlefield.

Militia

Conscripts (all)

These men are often forced into service due to lack of soldiers on the front line. They are provided basic training but their lack of enthusiasm could result in desertions and routs. The biggest drawback for conscripts is the decrease in laborers which in turn lowers the nation's productivity.

Militia (all)

Militias are recruited to defend their homes as opposed to fighting in foreign territories. These men are inferior to regular soldiers but they are sometimes the only available soldiers a nation could rely on. While they have significantly less training and poorer armaments, militias are quicker to recruit which can help bolster a garrison in a short time span.

Mercenaries

Belgian Elites (Great Britain, Belgium)

Well trained and disciplined, these men are definitely worth the price. They have made a name of themselves in the British campaigns against the Ottomans. These men are feared by many on the battlefield and many royal families across Europe hire them as bodyguards due to their unwavering loyalty.

Faction 3 Infantry

Elite Units

Siemenovski Foot Guards [or Foot Guards] (Russia)

They are charged with protecting the Russian Imperial family. These men are arrogant for good reasons since their abilities were well known across Russia. Not only are they reliable on the battlefield but, as part of the garrison, they guarantee heavy casualties for the attackers who dared to underestimate them.

Guards (Austria-Hungary, Illyria, Greece)

The duty of guards involve protecting those within the royal family. With monarchs actively leading soldiers into battle, the guards are there to ensure their safety. In a dire situation, the guards are the last line of defense between their monarch and the enemy.

Grenadiers

Grenadiers (all)

These men carry a musket and bags of grenades. Grenade doesn't have the most reliable fuses but, once properly executed, they can be used to deadly effects. These men are often leading the assault on the battlefield and in siege warfare making them some of the bravest men in the armies.

Light Infantry

Light Infantry (all)

The job of light infantry is to provide a skirmishing screen for the main body. They often serve as a harassment to the enemy or, in some cases, delay the enemy advance so their main body could get more ideal positioning. Their maneuverability on the battlefield makes them a key contributor to any battle.

Line Infantry

Line Infantry (all)

Unlike light infantry, line infantry use mass volley for offense while they withstand enemy fire by utilizing their discipline. Line infantry has, by 1750, formed the main backbone of any European army. Their formations, line, square and column, made their quite adaptable to the changing battlefield.

Militia

Conscripts (all)

These men are often forced into service due to lack of soldiers on the front line. They are provided basic training but their lack of enthusiasm could result in desertions and routs. The biggest drawback for conscripts is the decrease in laborers which in turn lowers the nation's productivity.

Militia (all)

Militias are recruited to defend their homes as opposed to fighting in foreign territories. These men are inferior to regular soldiers but they are sometimes the only available soldiers a nation could rely on. While they have significantly less training and poorer armaments, militias are quicker to recruit which can help bolster a garrison in a short time span.

Mercenaries

Swiss Guard (Austria-Hungary)

Once replaced by the Belgian Elites, these men were given a new chance under Austria-Hungary. One didn't become a Swiss Guard until one went through intensive training both physically and mentally. Entering the Great European War, the Swiss Guard intend on besting their counterpart, the Belgian Elites, on the battlefield.

Faction 1 Cavalry

Dragoon

Dragoons (all)

The word dragoon translate into mounted infantry. These men use the mobility of a horse to get into battle and then dismount to engage the enemy. Their mobility makes them one of the more dangerous soldiers on the battlefield seeing dragoon regiments established in all European armies.

Heavy Cavalry

Cuirassiers (Revolutionary France, Spain, Germany)

Wielding a sword in an era where firearms are popular, only a fool dared to underestimate a Cuirassier. Their name originates from the cuirass, the armor they wear, and the veterans often have dents in them to prove that they survived a pistol ball in battle. At key moments, these cavalry can perform devastating charges from the rear deciding the outcome of the battle.

Winged Hussars (Jagiellon)

These cavalry makes Jagiellon a fearful nation to wage war against. Armed with long lances and sabres, their killing power in close range is incredible. Their charge and their name are enough to strike fear in their enemies. Rumors say that, when soldiers see two towering, feather wings, they start retreating hoping to avoid the engagement.

Light Cavalry

Hussars (all)

They are light cavalry with the purpose of skirmishing and scouting. During the heat of the battle, they can serve to screen the main army. Prior to battles, their scouting capabilities could deicde the battle. They are widely adopted by all the European nations for their versatility on the battlefield.

Other

General's Bodyguard (all)

They have a single duty of protecting the commander in battle. The most loyal and fiercest men make up the General's Bodyguard. The high pay, along with their honor, sees these men wanting to keep the commander alive at all cost. Compared to other soldiers, these men always boast the finest equipment ducats can buy.

Faction 2 Cavalry

Dragoon

Dragoons (all)

The word dragoon translate into mounted infantry. These men use the mobility of a horse to get into battle and then dismount to engage the enemy. Their mobility makes them one of the more dangerous soldiers on the battlefield seeing dragoon regiments established in all European armies.

Heavy Cavalry

Cuirassiers (Great Britain, Lotharingia, Italy)

Wielding a sword in an era where firearms are popular, only a fool dared to underestimate a Cuirassier. Their name originates from the cuirass, the armor they wear, and the veterans often have dents in them to prove that they survived a pistol ball in battle. At key moments, these cavalry can perform devastating charges from the rear deciding the outcome of the battle.

Life Guards of Horse (Scandinavia)

These cavalry are elite soldiers whose fighting skills match their outward appearance. They are personally selected by the ruler of the nation which makes the Life Guards of Horse a very prestigious position. While they are unpopular with the rest of the army by rarely associating with a common soldier, most soldiers agree that they prefer to have this cavalry unit fighting alongside them during the heat of the battle than any other cavalry.

Light Cavalry

Hussars (all)

They are light cavalry with the purpose of skirmishing and scouting. During the heat of the battle, they can serve to screen the main army. Prior to battles, their scouting capabilities could deicde the battle. They are widely adopted by all the European nations for their versatility on the battlefield.

Other

General's Bodyguard (all)

They have a single duty of protecting the commander in battle. The most loyal and fiercest men make up the General's Bodyguard. The high pay, along with their honor, sees these men wanting to keep the commander alive at all cost. Compared to other soldiers, these men always boast the finest equipment ducats can buy.

Faction 3 Cavalry

Dragoon

Dragoons (all)

The word dragoon translate into mounted infantry. These men use the mobility of a horse to get into battle and then dismount to engage the enemy. Their mobility makes them one of the more dangerous soldiers on the battlefield seeing dragoon regiments established in all European armies.

Heavy Cavalry

Cuirassiers (Russia, Austria-Hungary, Illyria and Greece)

Wielding a sword in an era where firearms are popular, only a fool dared to underestimate a Cuirassier. Their name originates from the cuirass, the armor they wear, and the veterans often have dents in them to prove that they survived a pistol ball in battle. At key moments, these cavalry can perform devastating charges from the rear deciding the outcome of the battle.

Light Cavalry

Hussars (all)

They are light cavalry with the purpose of skirmishing and scouting. During the heat of the battle, they can serve to screen the main army. Prior to battles, their scouting capabilities could deicde the battle. They are widely adopted by all the European nations for their versatility on the battlefield.

Cossack (Russia)

From the Steppes of Russia and Asia, these men are fearsome warriors few dared to fight head on. Their home has made them adept in combat within harsh conditions so European climates suits them quite well. Their fighting abilities are recognized by all seeing Russia investing heavily in their recruitment within the Russian army.

Other

General's Bodyguard (all)

They have a single duty of protecting the commander in battle. The most loyal and fiercest men make up the General's Bodyguard. The high pay, along with their honor, sees these men wanting to keep the commander alive at all cost. Compared to other soldiers, these men always boast the finest equipment ducats can buy.

Michaelangelo said:

That's a lot of units to consider.

I think sebas379's idea of naming one a League of something is good for the British alliance, since I can assume their goal is to beat up on the aggressive France. For France you could borrow the alliance name from WWI and call the French alliance the Entente.

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I've considered these units for a couple of reasons. First, they add diversity to the armies which I will use to describe battles. Secondly, these classifications allow me to make the war more realistic in that certain units, like elite infantry, require a long time to train which means losing them could have devastating effects. As the war rages on, you might see more lower class infantry, like conscripts, that are filling the ranks of the armies which, ultimately, has a huge impact on the outcome of battles. Plus, these units are simple compared to the spreadsheet I'm considering of using.

It seems like we came to a conclusion. Faction 2 will be known as the League of London and Faction 1 will be the Entente!

As for updates, I hope to finish the units (artillery and ships) in the next week along with parts of the ledger. There will be a lot of preparations I must do with Excel before I know what works and what doesn't. So, there might a delay on updates until I could figure everything out.

RepublicanIV said:

Wow.

I have never seen so much effort put into an AAR without the first chapter of gameplay starting. Now that's dedication

The alliance web confused me a lot, but now that they are more clearly shown it is better. Have all the powers who are fighting on the same side formed one strong alliance or is it just an enemy of my enemy thing?

Also I am kinda gonna support Faction 1 as I am annoyed you didn't colonise and I want France to win. Also how in the hell did you get the idea to invade Arabia of all places in the 1400s?

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Who said anything about gameplay ? Everything except the map is made up so there's no gameplay affecting this AAR from this point onwards.

As for alliances, they each belong to one strong faction so they will work together against nations of other factions. There could be some battles where all three factions are participating so the outcomes can be rather interesting. I just haven't gotten down the details yet.

I don't mind which faction you cheer for. At this stage, this war could go any way. With the random number generator, the outcome could be very surprising. I'm in the dark too in case you were wondering. I'm still working on that ledger . It's a lot tougher than I first anticipated.

As for invading Arabia, this was the only way I can fit it into British history. Remember that I did the other histories first so I must make sure the British events align with those. Thus, the only period I could put invading Arabia is the 1400s.

Anyways, I had a busy day so no update tonight. I will hopefully get artillery, ships and parts of the ledger out tomorrow. Still need to update my other AAR so I can continue the trend of more or less talking to myself .

Just a heads up, I will be using the same artillery pieces and naval ships for all the nations. Too much diversity and my spreadsheets will be unbearable. Thank you for understanding!

Artillery and Navy

Fixed Artillery

Demi-Cannons (all)

This heavy artillery piece is very difficult to adjust its aim or move around. Thus, it finds itself stationed on city walls or town walls where a series of them placed in a line could cover the entire battlefield before them. Despite being what many consider obsolete, demi-cannons are still exceptionally dangerous with their twenty four pound cannonballs. The drawback of such a weapon is that it could no longer find a role in a battlefield outside a siege.

Foot Artillery

12-lber Foot Artillery (all)

These mobile artillery pieces are towed by horses, not men as the name may suggest. They support the main army by moving around the battlefield where they could provide heavy support fire for friendly units. Some may argue that these artillery pieces win battles as the tactics entering the eighteenth century grow more fluid over time. They are, however, vulnerable to light cavalry because they are slow moving and often a fair distance from friendly units.

Horse Artillery

3-lber Horse Artillery (all)

Light, fast moving and fast firing, these artillery pieces are the revolutionary inventions of its time. Foot artillery, while mobile, only moves at the pace of a soldier's march. The purpose of horse artillery lies in that the entire crew rides into battle so they could respond quickly from battle to battle. Horse artillery could quickly plug a hole where friendly forces are being pushed back or quickly exploit a weakness in the enemy's lines.

Ships

First Rate (all)

The shipbuilders spare no expenses by arming the first rates with around a hundred cannons making it both expensive and powerful. Such a large concentration of cannons meant that these ships could boast devastating barrages to any enemy unfortunate enough to be targeted. Despite being both slow and unresponsive, first rates, even in few numbers, are always necessary in key naval engagements.

Third Rate (all)

As a popular ship of its time, third rates are the compromise between maneuverability and firepower. The design saw this ship being built in far larger numbers than the first rates due to its affordability and versatility. In all the European navies, third rate as the backbone of the fleet is a necessity as their contributions to a naval battle could decide on the final outcome.

Fifth Rate (all)

Fifth rates may not have what it took to fight first rates and third rates head on but their speed and handling allow them to cover the weaknesses of their more firepower focused cousins. Some of the notable duties of fifth rates include pursuits, convoy protection and reconnaissance making the addition of this ship vital to any navy. To exclude these ships from a fleet is simply tempting fate.

Sloop (all)

With the naval battles largely concentrated around Europe, small vessels like sloops could be taken advantage with their ability to navigate through shallow water. The fact that these ships could perform inshore scouting and communication tasks without the need to constantly resupply themselves from naval facilities, along with their cheap costs, meant they could be produced in relatively large quantities to perform tasks in enemy territories.

Well, here is the ledger or, at least, part of it. Getting the numbers take awhile (I want to keep most of the spreadsheet hidden so you don't have to be overwhelmed with numbers) so bear with me as I need a few updates to complete it. The numbers are more or less randomly generated so they could appear awkward. Still, they will make the war more interesting.

Ledger

Guide

RepublicanIV said:

Wait I am still so confused as to how this AAR is going to work.

And The Entente does have 400k total possible troops so they will have a great advantage.

And you didn't put Iceland in the ledger.

And also I do not accept Lotharingia having more troops than France!

2.4 Mill Dutch soldiers while Russia has less than 1.5 mill? Those numbers may need some serious recalculation.

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Sorry if I haven't been really clear. Let me try to clarify it here.

1. I played as England and created the European map which we will be using for this AAR.

2. I introduce some units to slightly diversify the battles.

3. I introduce a ledger with a quick overview of how the three factions and individual nations stack up against one another.

4. Using a random number generator, I decide where and how the battles take place. I will be making up what actually went on with each battle depending on the values given to me by the number generator.

Essentially, the only aspect that's related to the game I played is the map we're using. From that point on, we rely entirely on my imagination and random number generator. I have no screenshots to rely on and even I don't know the outcome of the war. We are all in the dark so it's going to be fun for everyone. It's not your generic AAR where people rely on what happened in the game for content. I just got the map I needed to kick off everything. The histories earlier are all made up with me given the rough time frame and I had to make sure the events coincide with one another to make sense. Some events might be inspired by what happened in the actual game but most of it are my imagination.

As for the numbers, they aren't exactly complete so we shouldn't be making conclusions yet. Iceland isn't participating directly in the war so they aren't included. Their indirect participation will be mentioned soon but not now when I'm trying to get through the spreadsheet.

Lotharingia has more troops than France because France went through a bloody revolution. Recovering from the revolution takes time so they aren't completely at their max army force limit. Do note that France does have more manpower so they could field more men or replenish more in the long run.

Netherlands enjoyed two and a half centuries of peace. She also colonized a large portion of North America. The peace saw huge growth in the colonies which, in turn, give her lots of manpower and, as a result, required more soldiers protecting her borders. Conversely, Russia has been fighting in numerous conflicts until 1722. The conflicts drained both her manpower and her soldier counts which saw fairly low numbers early on.

Feel free to ask more questions since there might be details I overlooked. I welcome these feedback since they allow me to fix mistakes and try to further improve my AAR. All comments, advice and suggestions are welcomed!

Michaelangelo said:

It seems that randomly generating the values have made for some interesting results, as RepublicanIV has pointed out. Looks like the Balkan League is at a disadvantage in all categories.

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One of the factors I included was how peace really helped with the treasury and manpower. Fighting in wars drains a lot of resources which I wanted to emphasis. However, not fighting in wars for a long time have their maluses as you will see with the next few ledgers. Like I said, the numbers aren't complete yet so we can't make any conclusions.

Looking purely at the number, the Balkan League certainly appears to be at a huge disadvantage. Do note that they are quite concentrated so their forces aren't spread as thin. This may or may not affect the battles but I won't give up on them just yet.