• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Myth

Strategy Cognoscenti
33 Badges
Jul 8, 2005
7.277
7
  • Shadowrun Returns
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory
  • Stellaris - Path to Destruction bundle
  • BATTLETECH
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor
  • Stellaris: Synthetic Dawn
  • Age of Wonders III
  • Stellaris: Apocalypse
  • Stellaris: Distant Stars
  • Stellaris: Leviathans Story Pack
  • Shadowrun: Dragonfall
  • Shadowrun: Hong Kong
  • Stellaris: Megacorp
  • Stellaris: Ancient Relics
  • Stellaris: Federations
  • Crusader Kings III
  • Crusader Kings III: Royal Edition
  • Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Cadet
  • Stellaris
  • Knights of Pen and Paper 2
  • Crusader Kings II: Horse Lords
  • Europa Universalis III: Collection
  • 500k Club
  • Semper Fi
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • Magicka
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • Hearts of Iron III
  • Europa Universalis III
  • Deus Vult
  • Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham
  • Crusader Kings II
Because I feel like AAR-writing, and with Bayonets Made of Milk going into semi-stasis with the coming of next week so that Discomb may return to his game in December, I’ve decided to begin another AAR. This shall be a N/A '36 game as the Guangxi Clique, and my general aim is to reunite China and defeat the Japanese menace. I like their color of blue better than light yellow or orange anyway. :D

I will be cheating a little bit, seeing as the current rulers of the Clique have been in control since the early 1920s, I figured it’d be almost semi-fair that I’d move my sliders around to simulate how I would have affected Clique policy before 1936, had I been playing since they took over. I also plan to tinker with the save game wherever appropriate to the story (ie, if a leader/minister defects or the populace of a region deliberately welcome the Clique liberators).

This will be updated on a purely “whenever I feel like it” basis, but I will attempt to keep it more or less regular.
 
001 - Overview of the Past Years

Li Jishen wearily sat down, cross-legged and stiffly, always straight as a rod; he was also rather dismal in his outlook, and few could ever guess what he was thinking. He was only part of a circle comprised of members of his cabinet. To his right sat his right-hand man, Li Zongren, a tough guy, if rather flamboyant. To his left sat Wang JingWei, the intellectual of the Clique government, if rather biased. To Li Zongren’s right sat Yu Hanmou, an outspoken proponent of the infantry-based army. Next to Wang JingWei sat Lei Zhong, a man frequently seen amongst the common people. Directly opposite Li Jishen sat Bai Chongxi, a man who advocated maneuver and an indirect approach to all things. To either side of him sat Chen Jitang, a man who could always exhort soldiers to lessen their waste of the Clique's precious few resources, and Wang Shuming, who was a fervent believer of owning the sky. These were the people Li Jishen had to work with.

001-01-CliqueGovernment.jpg

These are the men who ruled the Clique.

Li Jishen coughed once, drawing all eyes toward him. His face remained impassive as he eyed each of his ministers in turn.

“Thirteen years ago, when we came to power, you promised me that you would change the Clique for the better. I fear a storm is coming, and soon. I wish, therefore, to see what you have managed with those thirteen years.”

Bai Chongxi shifted slightly before beginning. “When we came to power in 1923, the Clique army was a complete shambles. Less than fifty thousand men in service, and those were in pathetic militia divisions—we had nine full 5,000 man militia units, as well as one 2,500 man unit. Between them they had perhaps ten obsolete artillery pieces, they were worthless. Now, our army has grown to field twenty-six true infantry units, of which twenty-three are at full strength and one may be brought up to full strength. Another is simply 2,500 men strong and the last 5,000 men, they shall not be brought up to 10,000 men. We have also bought a wing of interceptors from the Soviet Union and pilots are currently being trained so that the interceptors may soon be put to work.”

“We still field the Clique militia?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Get rid of them. Immediately. They are worthless and merely a drain on the Clique economy.”

“As you wish, sir.”

Bai Chongxi made a note of this instruction before turning to Li Zongren. “Li Zongren, tell of the Clique’s policy. Much has changed in 13 years, has it not?”

Li glanced down at a scrap of parchment before speaking. “When we came to power, our army was as far from the ideal of a standing army as any army could possibly be without disintegrating into a useless mass of peasants. Now, that has all changed. We are the epitome of a standing army, every nation’s army looks upon our own with envy. We have also gone a long way toward preparing the people for whatever eventual war that may come. They won’t, admittedly, whole-heartedly support a war but they shall not demonstrate any large amount. I suggest continuing to endorse this change.”

001-02-SlidersThenandNow.jpg

The Clique policy when they came to power in 1923, and when this meeting took place in 1936.

“I approve. What of army doctrine? I notice that this has not been mentioned yet. I do hope that you have made some progress here.”

“Somewhat, yes. You must understand, we are still working with pathetic peasants and it has only been recently that we have felt confident enough in them to begin teaching them doctrine. I have just begun the process of doing this, teaching them what I call a ‘spearhead’ doctrine. I plan to stress the importance of organization, though admittedly at the expense, somewhat of morale.”

“Very well. Continue in this vein.”

001-03-SpearheadDoctrine.jpg

Li Zongren has personally taken on the responsibility of teaching the Clique divisions his ‘spearhead’ doctrine.

Li Jishen looked around at his ministers once more. “You must realize, the Nationalists will not rest easy. You are all aware that they are attempting to crush the Communists. Mao Zedong is just the beginning—we are sure to be next. We are the next greatest threat to Chiang Kai-shek besides the Communists, perhaps the greatest threat. We must be ready for war. I want all units, other than those worthless militia which are to be disbanded, on the frontier as soon as possible. Any under strength divisions are to be reinforced with all speed. Make my wishes happen. You are dismissed.”
 
Great, a new "Myth" AAR. I will follow this.

A whole different theater then lovely Italy. Interesting.
And, indeed, great ambitions, I hope you can pull it off! Good luck
 
Nice start. I'll be reading. :)
 
I do like a nice Guangxi Clique AAR.
 
An AAr as Guanxi Clique, how great !

I will be cheating a little bit
Boooh ! :eek: Full standing army, so many of us could kill for that !
;)
 
Hey i did this !!, :p . But seriously sounds cool i managed to conquer all of China in my Guangxi game (except Sinkiang, and Manchuria). So i wish you luck, be careful Guangxi is not an easy nation to play as
 
Once again, Li Jishen sat cross-legged, watching as his ministers filed into the council room. He eyed each of them carefully as they entered, none had seemed visibly ill at ease, a promising sign of their progress. None, that is, except perhaps Lei Zhong. He appeared slightly worried, Li Jishen could almost see a light sheen of sweat on his forehead and he kept his hands behind his back, perhaps to conceal shaking. As soon as all the ministers had sat down, Li Jishen immediately turned to Lei Zhong.

“Lei Zhong, you appear ill at ease. Do you have distasteful news to report?”

Lei Zhong stiffened and his eyes took on a semi-wild gaze before he sighed and slumped, casting his eyes down to the center of the circle in which he sat. “Yes, somewhat. The people of Guangdong are still not at ease with the Clique. We have mollified a small portion of them, but over 18% of the population can be considered dissenters. Not only that, but we cannot take advantage of the old Guangdong territories to their full potential.”

“And what do you propose we do to rectify this situation? Must I remind you that war is surely coming, and we must be fully prepared? And why did you not bring this up when I convened the Guangxi Council last month?”

“Apologies, sir. I had not realized at the time that the Guangdong territories were still being recalcitrant, my spies out amongst the people all disappeared overnight and I only realized when I personally went to visit the region.”

“Hmph, very well then. You have served me well in the past, I will not punish you, this time. Now answer my other questions, what do you propose?”

“We must overproduce on consumer goods, this never fails to quiet the populace. However, this does not address the base issue that the Guangdong territories are still identifying themselves with Guangdong, rather than Guangxi. I propose a policy of winning them over to Guangxi, though it will be a gamble whether or not this works. If it does not, we may be faced with even more unrest. If it does work, however, then we may see several Guangdong territories beginning to identify with Guangxi instead. It is quite literally based on a toss of some celestial dice.”

“Do you believe it is worth the risk?”

“Yes. The benefits of success outweigh the consequences of failure.”

“Very well, then. Implement your plan. Bai Chongxi, how is the army?”

“The last division arrived on the border just an hour ago, sir. We now have every unit in our army on the border, nothing remains in the interior.”

“Can you give me the full order of battle as it stands now?”

“Yes, I can. Here it is.”

“Hmm, yes. I see some of our units are well experienced. How did this come about?”

“Many of these men saw action in one way or another during the earlier clashes between Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek.”

“Ah, of course. I also notice that we have two divisions with the same name, one of them in your own corps.”

“We do? I shall have to remedy that as soon as I return to my headquarters.”

“Yes, indeed you shall. How goes the indoctrination of these soldiers?”

“That, sir, is a question for Li Zongren.”

Li Jishen shifted around to face Li Zongren. “Well?”

“It is going fairly well. In the past month I have taught the basics of motorized reconnaissance to all units. I have proceeded on to basic infiltration tactics, but have not yet progressed far with these yet.”

“Do you believe the army will be taught this doctrine before war?”

“Sir, that depends on when the war begins. I am doing my best and, if Heaven wishes, the army will have this doctrine fully at its disposal before war.”

“Understood. Now, let us see a map of our territories.”

002-01-AMapoftheClique.jpg

The map of Guangxi Clique, with counters denoting independent units, on February 11, 1936.

Everyone shifted closer to the map in the center of the circle as Li Jishen took a stick and began pointing around the map. “As you can see, at the moment we hold our frontier in strength, but the southern beaches are all unguarded. Remember this fact if the Japanese ever recommence their aggression against us. However, our freedom to advance will be limited by our small army. Li Zongren and I have been discussing a plan of attack for whenever war should come, and we have decided that we would need an alliance with Yunnan to be able to stand a chance of actually marching deep into Nationalist territory. Wang JingWei, do you think that we’ll be able to ally with Yunnan?”

Wang JingWei jumped a bit at hearing his name spoken, but quickly recovered. “Yes, our ties with Yunnan are very close. We simply need the money. If we overproduce the consumer goods as Lei Zhong wishes, we will get that money, though we may also trade for it. Once we have the money, it is a simple matter of proposing the alliance to Yunnan, they are sure to accept it. The money, of course, will go to bribery for control of their military, as I am sure Bai Chongxi will wish to direct their forces himself for maximum advantage.”

Li Jishen looked at Bai Chongxi, who nodded his agreement. Li Jishen also nodded. “Very well then, make it happen. I want Guangdong dissenters pacified and preferably even fully integrated into Guangxi, I want an alliance with Yunnan. I also want this ‘spearhead’ doctrine completed. You are all dismissed.”
 
An alliance with Yunnan is an excellent way to start to expand your power and influence. Things look to be going well. Hopefully the Japaneses will leave you be for now... :)

Good update.
 
That Chinese border looks very tempting.