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Ouch! Well despite the setback Prussian losses have been minimal against Denmark. How are manpower levels looking?

Prussia has 40,000 men, ready and waiting, so we'll be able to resupply for quite a while.
On the other hand, it is France we're fighting, so 40,000 might be far from enough. I need to inflict about ten times the losses Napoleon does on me, unless I can get someone else to join in.
Hey Russiaaaaaaaaaa...
 
Thanks to JimThePocket, I discovered this AAR.:) I love it so far.:) Keep up the good work! And congrats on the showcase!
 
I also came here following the weekly showcase. Good stuff although the Austrian campaigns seem fairly chaotic. I look forward to more.
 
Hey Voffvoffhunden , just to let you know that I've named this for the Weekly AAR Showcase. Keep up the good work!

Wow, thanks!

I've had a brief pause in updates while I finished my university degree, but I should soon be back on track with the important stuff!
 
Chapter 8: Supremacy or Death – Part 1

[PS: Slightly spotty screenshot-coverage in this one. I must have been distracted by the great power knocking on my door.]

So, I am at war with France.

I am also at war with Denmark, but not for long. I take Frederica and Kiel, and peace out. That’s all they’re willing to give me, but I’ll be back, Denmark. Just you wait.

My armies have to storm across Prussia from the Russian border, as the French are already well on their way, and I am open and defenceless.

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As fast as they can, but will it be too little too late?​

The army stationed in Iceland loads onto their ships, and rushes south as fast as the wind will carry them!
Unfortunately, the French seem to be aware of this, and I run into their fleet north of Britain. I anxiously bite my nails as the two fleets – the fresh French one and the Prussian grand navy tired from months at sea, meet at Cape Wrath. It will go down in history as one of the greatest naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars.

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I really hope they had a big fat army on board there as well…​

I win, but at a terrible cost. All my transports have been sunk, destroying what was left of one of my armies. Very, very bad. That also means that I am unable to do anything with the army that was busy occupying Kobenhavn. They just have to wait in Sweden as I watch town after town fall.

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The French have superior army quality, they have excellent leaders, and the manpower that has been an issue for me since day one is something they laugh at. 320,000 men are ready to replace any French losses. Ouch ouch ouch.

The only positives are that Great Britain has seen it fit to endow me with war subsidies – they themselves still have a truce – and that Austria is very busy being crushed by the Ottomans.

Just as my armies arrive in the north, the forces occupying the cities there have run off to join the rest of the French troops occupying the south, along with Dutch, Swiss and Italian forces.

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SWEET ATTRITION, HOW MANY SOLDIERS CAN THEY FIELD?!​

There is no way I can fight that many troops on my own, so my goal becomes to reoccupy the cities, hoping to lure the northern forces back, instead of bunching up into super-armies.


It works! By maneuvering back and forth, I am able to meet with the French armies, and scrape together a desperate and costly victory in Braunschweig.

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I pursue, following them back to Hannover, where I lay siege. It doesn’t take long before they try sallying forth, but with support from an army marching to the sound of guns, I crush them. Then, in one final battle I eradicate the army. A hundred thousand French troops have just been destroyed!
PIC: Grand victory 1

I realise that the only way I’m going to get out of this is by bringing in what little support I have. I take the money Great Britain has passed me, and funnel it all into building transport ships.

When does that damn truce between Britain and France run out?!


Then, in November, there is another grand face-off. I manage to soundly defeat the Dutch before the French support arrives. However, at this point I have run out of my manpower reserves, and I retreat all the way back to Berlin. The French are slowly creeping in, threatening the very existence of Prussia.

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Next: Is the dream of Prussian continental superiority going to fall as quick as it rose?
 
Two fantastic victories, first over the French navy and then on land at Braunschweig. It is worryingh that a good deal many more victories of this order are required! Drawing Britain into the war would help, but what you really need is a continental power which can bring a few hundred thousand men to bear against the French doomstacks. Since Austria has been effectively disabled, what are the chances of bringing either Spain or Russia into the conflict?
 
Russia does not seem very fond of me, and as it turns out, Spain is the whole problem! Britain is tangled up in a war with them, which means both are uninterested in anything happening further north.

I am holding out hope, but it is slowly dawning on me that I might have to bear this on my own.
 
Chapter 9: Two Years of Solitude

Seeing the enormous French armies encroaching on the Prussian home territory, I have no choice but to back off even further. There is precious little I can do to stop the invading forces, and I just have to wait for opportune moments to pick off a few thousand here and there. That is how I see an opportunity to save most of occupied Saxony, but it is at the cost of my capital falling to the Grande Armée. Oh well, could have been worse I guess. (Not really.)

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I win some small victories, slowly picking away at the French manpower pool, but without intervention from others, I doubt I can weather this storm. Napoleon himself is slowly and inexorably marching deeper into Prussia, and I just don’t have the forces I need to stop him. It doesn’t help that no other great power wants to join my coalition. Even after Britain’s and Russia's truce with France runs out! Britain has gotten caught up in a war with Spain, and Russia is busy with the Ottomans. Britain also happens to be busy with a coalition formed by Algiers and Sardinia, but that doesn't seem to be much of a problem for them.

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Even offering them leadership is not enough!​

Of course, who else should take advantage of this situation than my hereditary enemy?

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And the Ottomans are busy with Russia! It's as if France was planning this all along! I’m not as concerned about Austria as I should, though: if all these French armies hadn’t been spread across my map like butter on toast, Austria would have been nothing but a minor nuisance. That’s why I decide to let them go about their business for now. I have more important matters to attend to.

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Look at them. "Invading"​

The war with France has already been going on for a year, so I am thankful their progress has been slow, but this just can't go on for too long. What if Russia decide to take advantage as well? Or Sweden returns with a vengeance? I decide to run a final gambit. My troops reposition to lure away one part of Napoleon’s enormous army, then swiftly reposition to hit his main force with all my might. A whole two of my three remaining armies! That includes the army formerly stationed in Malmö/"gramatically incorrect German name", which I have finally ferried across with my fresh transport fleet.

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It works!​

I am down to three remaining armies, but France is finally falling back. I win a couple more small victories, and finally retake Berlin.

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I am starting to think this was all suspiciously easy. The French armies are just melting in front of me, never putting up any proper resistance. I check the ledger, and my heart skips a beat.

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That’s manpower and army size, respectively.​

They still have an enormous advantage, but they no longer outnumber me three to one, and they’ve lost 200,000 men from their manpower pool! At least in some small sense, the WAR HAS TURNED! Or at least, I am a shorter distance behind now than when we began. France probably expected to swat me away like a fly, but here we are, more than a year later. If they keep wasting their manpower on small forces I can easily dispatch, I can grind them down. I am both relieved and desperate at the same time.

Things are starting to look up, and I slowly retake the land I’ve lost.

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Of course, that's not counting the south, where Austria keeps pouring across the borders. And for those of you who favour diplomatic solutions to every problem: what kind of feeble warriors are you? Also, they refuse all my offers of peace.

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Unfortunately, France still has her allies, able to put up some nasty surprises. After their crushing defeat almost a year ago, by December of 1813 the Netherlands are ready to march another army into my territory.

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I send two of my three remaining armies north to take care of it, and it turns out to be their rescue. I'll skim over what happened next, as it is slightly embarassing.

This is southwestern Prussia just as I think I’ve somehow halted France:

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This is southwestern Prussia, two months and one army lost later:

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It can be a bit difficult to see, but that's 73,000 men.​

All that manpower had to go somewhere. France is back, and two years after they started their invasion, they are ready to take everything they want.

Next time: Someone declares war on France! But is it too late?
 
*bites nails*
 
Nail bitting stuff good chap, really looking forward to the next update!
Hopefully Russia declared war and soon the Russian Steamroller will sweep the upstart's armies away! Or more likely it's Algeria that declared war, heh.
 
Nail bitting stuff good chap, really looking forward to the next update!
Hopefully Russia declared war and soon the Russian Steamroller will sweep the upstart's armies away! Or more likely it's Algeria that declared war, heh.

Algiers does seem to have the intention of keeping as many great powers occupied in "wars" as they can. The moment a coalition ends, they're ready to step up and carry on the fight!

Looking forward to seeing you turn this around, I have faith you can pull this off, you are afterall just lulling France into a false sense of security ;)

Indeed! They won't see it coming. Neither do I, but I am confident Prussian determination will win the day yet again!
 
You've done ridiculously well considering that you've essentially been running on empty all game.