Learning from Prussia - a Rise of Prussia AAR against a real player - for beginners

[Narwhal]

Part LXXXV – Late September 1760 - A brief respite

Not much this September, except the fall of Munster to Frederick’s assault. The garrison was Russian (?) and was anniliated.

It was high-time : the French (or what’s left of them) are moving toward Frederick.

I dropped a garrison in Münster and then get ready to take Minden, where I will join up with the glorious reinforcement. I don’t exactly understand why Baris separated his forces (especially De Lorraine).

In the North, Rostock capitulated, but Baris took Wismar back with a small Swedish harassing force. What’s left of his army, probably.

Bevern is going to take Wismar again. This time I will garrison Wismar better. And then, Stralsund…

In Magdeburg, the two Austrians armies joined up, and the city is now breached.

Not that my force did not go through Braunschweig as erroneously indicated in the previous post. I suppose I changed my mind at the last moment (these Austrian hussars in the city were lucky). In any case, they will go next turn to the province just North-West of Magdeburg, to be ready for an attack the following turn.

At the same time, small groups of cavalry are cutting the supply lines behind the Austrians. As I said, these cavalrymen will be decisive.
Finally, note that Magdeburg is breached.

Here is a large map of the situation in the West :

In the East, the Russians did not pursue me, and the retreat carries on. Next stop : the Polish city of Elbing. The retreat will take ages, and I am afraid that winter will surprise me…

 

[Narwhal]

Part LXXXVI – Early October 1760 - The Last Days When Austria Had a Glimpse of Hopes

Almost nothing these 15 days :
An unimportant skirmish between Bevern and the Swedish cavalry up North :

Henrich is resting in Poland, he will carry on the retreat next turn :

The French try to fight Frederick, who was actually going to Minden and does not meet them (I was not afraid to, though) :

Note the fall of Lippstadt to the Austrians, and the breach of Munster.

And finally, finally, there will be a huge battle next turn :

I have no idea what the Austrians have there. It cannot be stronger than what Keith have, though.

 

[baris30]

Excellent screenshots Narwhal
Berlin was out of question for Austrians. As they were pretty sure any skirmish will end disastrous for Austrians with that NM far from suppy lines, though inevitable is inevitable. Frederick move behind the lines of Austrian defense were excellent.

 

[Stuyvesant]

I'm amazed at the level of defeat and destruction wrought upon the Austrians and their allies. The way their morale is collapsing, it's hard to imagine any country in real life fighting on (well, in an 18th century setting. We'll ignore the example of Germany in World War II).

 

[Merrick Chance']

Narwhal, I have a question about RoP--is it best to just make a superstack with Frederich or keep him out entirely? I had him lead his own 10K army alongside a 15K Moritz Column and a 20K Keith Column, but the Austrians spent a turn just straight up destroying his army, and in each battle only frederich's army attacked. It ended with all of my commanders sent to Dresden in stitches! =[ (which probably made up for the insane victory I got on the 2nd turn--56 elements destroyed!)

 

[Narwhal]

Narwhal, I have a question about RoP--is it best to just make a superstack with Frederich or keep him out entirely? I had him lead his own 10K army alongside a 15K Moritz Column and a 20K Keith Column, but the Austrians spent a turn just straight up destroying his army, and in each battle only frederich's army attacked. It ended with all of my commanders sent to Dresden in stitches! =[ (which probably made up for the insane victory I got on the 2nd turn--56 elements destroyed!)

I believe it is better to have as few stacks as possible without command malus, but remember that in RoP there is maximum command points by stacks. Most of the time, it means 3 - 4 stacks. You might want to make a separate siege stack or a separate cavalry stack, though.
The Commander-in-chief stack should be weaker, as it will engage last in battle (the C-i-C will use his own stack as a "reserve"), but not TOO weak either - and certainly not the CiC alone (best way to send him directly to the hospital or the graveyard).

 

[unmerged(262)]

Thanks for this marvelous and pedagogic AAR. I have enjoyed and learned a lot reading it. I'll look forward for more ones coming from you.

 

[Matnjord]

Well my good sir, you've conviced me to buy RoP, so go and get your commission!

And I'm really looking forward to see the Big Battle of Doom (tm) that you're talking about, Nach Wien!

 

[Narwhal]

Edit - oups, had already covered those turns

 

[Evans]

Fantastic AAR, I thought I'd be in for the conclusion on this page but seems it goes on yet. Congratulations for Narwhal for both the AAR, which is much needed publicity for this game and AGEOD, and his phenomenal victories - but also to Baris, an opponent who it seems to me has fought on tenaciously, albeit hampered by his opponent's careful balance of risk and foresight-bordering-clairvoyance. I have a question - is there any hope the Russians could bypass Konigsberg, would it be possible to ship a sizeable number of them to Rostock say?

 

[Narwhal]

Baris could have, but for some reason he did not do. I think he was so surprised to take Koenig he did not know what to do with it. Then, winter

I plan to finish the AAR any time soon. Actually, I had posted 2 turns yesterday ... i had actually posted (so I wrote the same turn twice).

 

[alvaro]

amazing! I just read the whole aar in one shot and really enjoyed it. but then I just got to this page and find...

And finally, finally, there will be a huge battle next turn :

I have no idea what the Austrians have there. It cannot be stronger than what Keith have, though. ... ... ...

please don´t come back at this point with "corrupted save" or something like that

 

[Merrick Chance']

I have yet another question! After 2 years of building fixed guns and garrisons, the Russians came to Koenigsburg, attacked it in one turn though it wasn't breached, and beat me--and now all of those troops and guns are in Koenigsburg.

A)What did I do wrong?
and
B)Is it even worth it to try to take back the city from a foe that has 70,000 men?

 

[Narwhal]

I have yet another question! After 2 years of building fixed guns and garrisons, the Russians came to Koenigsburg, attacked it in one turn though it wasn't breached, and beat me--and now all of those troops and guns are in Koenigsburg.

A)What did I do wrong?
and
B)Is it even worth it to try to take back the city from a foe that has 70,000 men?

A. I see the following possibilities :
- You were not in "Defend at All Cost" stance
- You did not have the good commander : Heinrich and his defense bonus, and no one else. Make sure no one with more seniority can take command over him during the battle.
- You forget to swap the not-so-useful cavalry for something more apt to fight in the forest
- You fight the AI and gave it bonus.
- You should have sent slightly more forces, like the Freikorps from Berlin and the area
- You were unlucky.

B. Not really - too far away from your supply lines.

 

[Merrick Chance']

Your Photobucket bandwidth has exceeded

 

[Featauril]

Is this AAR going to see more updates? I have to admit I've quite enjoyed following it.

 

[Narwhal]

Part LXXXVII – Late October 1760 – The Austrian Coalition Defeated Decisively

I am sorry you had too wait so long for that update.

The battle of the Magdeburg fortress is massive : 83 000 Prussians, Hannoverians and English met 70 000 well-led (Bilberstein has 4 in defense) and entrenched Austrians. Both sides lose the same number of men (circa 6000) but the Austrians are pushed back and Magdeburg is freed (it had just surrendered at the beginning of the turn processing) :

Now, there are additional excellent news on this battle.

Remember when I said Zieten and alii would be a critical part of the destruction of the Austrian army. Well, let me first explain you how retreat works :

Amateur’s corner : Retreats

Well, you have to bite it. You have been defeated. Now, what happens. The following information might very well be wrong, as I used both the AGE wiki and my personal experience to write this.

Pursuit

First, pursuit. That’s how many damage you take while retreating. How is it calculated ? Well, I am going to try to explain using the AGE wiki, which is not extremely clear.
As far as I know, there is some randomness. Here are what can explain having more or less damages.
- For the army that pursuits:
Each unit in pursuit has a chance to deal some damage. I think the unit can only pursuit if it was involved in the last round of combat.
x The better the unit, the better the damage. Unit will range attack will only use they “fire” value to determine the damage they deal, while unit with assault will take their assault value.
x The faster the unit on the terrain the battle occurs, the more damage. Basically, the fire/assault will directly be multiplied by [15 – number of days needed for the unit to get in the area]. So, cavalry in open terrain will be a complete killer.
x Some units (Cossacks for instance, I think) have a blunt +50% bonus called “disruption”.
x The longer the combat (in number of rounds), the more damage are dealt. Basically, the damage dealt is multiplied by 50% + 10% per round of combat. I don’t know if the max is 100% or 110%
x The sum of this calculation will be multiplied by 8%

To take an example inspired by the AGE wiki, a Cossack (Assault damage : 1) in a Forest (2 days) after a 5-rounds battle would deal
1 [Damage] * (15-2) [Speed] *150% [Disruption] *(50%+5*10%][Duration]*8% [base] = 1,56 hits per element of Cossacks.
- For the army fleeing
x The larger the army, the more damage received, up to a maximum (-50% to +200%). I don’t know where are the limits.
x If the army has “screener” elements (like… Light Cavalry), the damage is reduced, down to 50% (depending on the number of screening elements compared to the size of the army – just a few screeners is enough to have the “50%” reduction
x If the army is in rout (and not in “retreat” because you gave cautious orders), the damage is taken is multiplied by 250%
For instance, if you have an army of just the average size, in rout, and a good number of screeners, the damage you will receive will be (if we carry on with Cossack example)
1,56 hits per elements of Cossacks * 100% (just the good size) * 50% * 250% = 1,95 hits per element of Cossacks. And trust me, elements of Cossacks are rarely alone.


If the stack is routed (=retreat in disorder), not retreat because you gave cautious orders) you take 2,5x the damage.

Where do I retreat ?

Well, it is fairly easy.
- If you were attacking, you are back where you started, except if you had no military control in that region, in which case it will be as if you defended.
- If you were defending, you are :
o MUCH MORE LIKELY to retreat to the place where you have the most military control (in %age).
o MORE LIKELY to move to the place the less distant (in days of walk)
o MUCH MORE LIKELY to retreat to a place where there is no enemy.
- You can never retreat to a place where you have less than 5% MC. If no place is eligible, you will stay where you are… and probably fight again.
I honestly don’t know what makes the game retreat you in a structure or not, when available.

End of amateur’s corner

So what happened to the Austrians ? Well, they retreated to the LAST place they would have wanted to retreat :

Why so ? Because my cavalry units took just in time Military Control of his retreat route. Austrian MC in Schonebeck (South-East) is 16%, in Strassfurt (South) 0% and in Halberstaft (South-West, where he is 26%). One turn later, he would have retreated to Schonebeck.

Note that Baris doesn’t even see my Light Cav [Picture from HIS side – the game is finished so I allowed myself to]

Now, my objective is to race to Halle as fast as possible. There are only three places where Baris can supply and reorganize his army :
- Torgau, he is controlling it but it is far away
- Leipzig, but I am controlling it
- Halle, which is small, Prussian but without walls. It is also on the way to Torgau. I am going to race to there.
To make sure I arrive first, I reorganized my column, so a column of my best troops is lead by the Ebprinz Karl, who has the “Fast Mover” trait. A part of my force will also start to siege Torgau, since even Halle won’t bring him enough supplies.

Now, I have YET MORE good news :

The Austrians tried to attack Frederick in Minden, and suffice to say that thanks to the English reinforcements it turned horribly for them (I still would have won without them, I think) :

Yep. 17 000 dead against 5 000 dead Prussian. I call that a victory.

The enemy army has lost 50% of its force, I am going to move for the kill :

The objective is clear : destroy the circa 15 000 men left of Daun, then carry on and break the siege of Munster.
I have a huge headcount, leader and national morale (155 vs 45) advantage – it cannot fail. From what I know there are 15 000 men South, and 15 000 to 20 000 men at Munster, vs 40 000 Prussians.

Finally, the only place without good news is Poland, where the retreat carries on :

 

[Narwhal]

Part LXXXVIII – Early November 1760 – Battles on the race

The situation ain’t getting any better for the Austrian coalition. I don’t know how it could.

In the Magdeburg area, both armies are rushing to Halle, and of course meet each other :

A few days later, I meet the second part of the Austrian army, that Baris had separated (to go faster ?)

The result is not too bad for the Austrians, but they still lose more men than I do and in any case I know have the edge in number of men (Russia excluded), so this sort of trade-off is good for me.
More importantly, I will reach Halle first, while the Austrians are back in their forest :

Note that I mixed up with Brunck’s column, so he is still at Magdeburg. He will go toward Torgau next turn. The Ebprinz will take Erfurt, so there is absolutely nowhere for the Austrian to get supply from.

In the West, the French wisely avoided battle but retreated before battle on the other side of the Wesel. It sure won’t help the coordination of the different forces.

I am of course completely going to go toward Munster. Next turn. First, I will wait a little to block the French from crossing back. The French will have troubles getting supply.

Finally, still retreating in Poland :

Now, in the snow…

Here is a global view of the situation in the West :

My morale : 159. Their morale : 42.

Oh. Also. Bad news. King Georges won’t see the final victory :

 

[Narwhal]

Part IXC – Late November 1760 – Coups-de-Grâce
Well, this is basically the last turn we were “really” playing :

In the West, Frederick meets Charles de Lorraine army. The result is as expected. Not good for Charles :

I am now going to move against Munster. But I am going to first go North to break the French attempt to siege Munster :

In the East, von Brunck meets the… SWEDES ! Probably those forces Baris managed to evacuate by boats.

As you can see, they could not do much – 111 dead Prussians only.

The Austrian army is completely trapped in the South, with nowhere to go :

Quite complex moves. I want to hasten the siege of Torgau, so Keith will help von Brunck. As I suppose the Austrians will move toward Halle, I called the Ebprinz Karl back to protect it.

Finally, next turn should be the end of the Ice March in Poland :

This army is only a remaint of what it once was.

Situation :

My NM : 166. Austrian NM : 39.

 

[Narwhal]

Part XC – December 1760 – Endgame

Early December 1760 doesn’t see much action.

In the West, the enemy fled in front of Frederick [Baris moved them to Munster], who was delayed in his march to Munster. Unfortunately, it is now frozen, but I have enough supply wagons for long :

On the Austrian front, the situation is still perfect :

Torgau is breached and I expect to take it this turn [assault posture, not showed], while the Austrians are freezing. They are probably out of supplies, and their only chance is to rush to Torgau… where my army is strong. Should they try to target Halle, well, it won’t get any better.

In Poland, my troops finally arrived. [not showed]

Late December 1760 is, well, is last turn of the year and could be the last of the game…

Torgau is taken by assault :

There goes the Swedes…

As expected, what is left of the Austrian army tries to reach Torgau… to no avail :

6000 men (now 3 800 men)… is it what is left or the Austrian army ?

Oh wait… there are some forces trying to siege Magdeburg… Baris tried to split his forces.

They have little chances, as they are probably without anymore supplies so must take the city in the two coming turns… and Magdeburg is a level 3 fort. If they fail, they will be destroyed until the last men. Except the officers. In AGEOD games, the officers have it easy.

In the West, my movement were delayed by the snow, so I am not arrived yet :

I order my troops to assault on arrival, as the city is breached and might fall next turn. When not sieged, cities “repair” by one level of breach per turn, which means I will be able to use the breach created by the French should they succeed in taking the city.

The war is won already, and clearly God is upset at the English winning the war. After striking the King down in November, God decides to strike London down in December.