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There.

Now I'm subscribed to this wonderful game.

I, for one, was hoping that you could have lured Freddie onto Daun earlier in the campaign season. You need to get into a situation where one of your armies can fight him. If he never sufferes casualties, you are never going to beat him.

Have the courage to occupy Frederick in losing a few battles to allow your allies time to seize key objectives while the Prussian armies are away.
 
Given the mauling Freddie managed to inflict on your hightailin' army (it must be hard to kill people who can run away so fast), I think you made the right decision to winter back on your turf. You'll need a good ol' EU2-style Great White Blob army to tame Fred, methinks - although TheExecuter's suggestion has merit, if you're willing to gamble a bit (me, I'm not a gambling man).

It must be frustrating to see your troops drop dead from the cold, without any way to move them. The Austrians (or more specifically, the Austrian high command) seem to be their own worst enemy - with the Freighteningly Incredible Freddie a distant second.
 
There.

Now I'm subscribed to this wonderful game.

I, for one, was hoping that you could have lured Freddie onto Daun earlier in the campaign season. You need to get into a situation where one of your armies can fight him. If he never sufferes casualties, you are never going to beat him.

Have the courage to occupy Frederick in losing a few battles to allow your allies time to seize key objectives while the Prussian armies are away.

that encapsulates my dilemna, I know I need to fight him, not least to kill all his current brilliantly trained troops and drag him down to my level. If I get split up, he'll take me apart corps by corps (as happened on his swoop to Leipzig), so I need to move relatively slowly (so that stuff catches up). What I'll do is to lumber to Dresden as early as possible next campaign year and then see how I can play the situation, to at least keep him occupied.

I've chucked away my fundamental advantage (numbers) due to all the attrition losses (some game engine, some my own mistakes). On the other hand forcing freddie to pay attention to Daun means the Russians (who seem to be facing no real opposition) can drive into Prussia and the French can joust with Cumberland on the west side.

I think the term "on a knife edge" applies here...

I certainly can't read the situation at all. I can see this stalemating, and if the Prussians take out either the French or the Russians (who I assume will withdraw due to scripted events in any case) then I might manage to lose ...

Given the mauling Freddie managed to inflict on your hightailin' army (it must be hard to kill people who can run away so fast), I think you made the right decision to winter back on your turf. You'll need a good ol' EU2-style Great White Blob army to tame Fred, methinks - although TheExecuter's suggestion has merit, if you're willing to gamble a bit (me, I'm not a gambling man).

It must be frustrating to see your troops drop dead from the cold, without any way to move them. The Austrians (or more specifically, the Austrian high command) seem to be their own worst enemy - with the Freighteningly Incredible Freddie a distant second.

thats the last time Charles gets to play with anything more than moving a reinforcement column to the front - end of Dec and he still slumbers on in his snow hole.

I think I have to gamble, but a really big defeat (or worse a big snooze after a big defeat) could cost me my Austrian army ... then I think we might as well just put a big snazzy 4 poster bed outside Prag and resort to the traditional Hapsburg model of diplomacy ...
 
Bashing a few Brits, November-December 1758

I'll again double up the months for these winter posts. Not much happens, I'm busy taking on reinforcements and catching up on Czech beer, the French are busy revolting (and bashing the Brits)

so down with the action:



this is the only area with any real activity. Cumberland is still interested in the area to the south of my armies (must be the Cumberland Gap then?), I'm buidling a depot at Dortmund and otherwise slowly sorting out the French for next year. My plan is to build a 5 corps army to keep Cumberland busy and a 3 corps army for siege work.

Being a bit opportunistic, I spot that small(ish) UK-Hannoverian column at Hamm



& whack it about a bit ...



not that winning a victory encourages the French to fight for no pay ...

Early December and the inevitable happens at Dresden



Its a pity as I'd left a HRE brigade behind and hoped it would hold out a bit longer



as you can see the Prussians attacked as soon as they'd made a breach (so the AI must have given them assault orders)

Well wiinning a battle was nice, mustn't get too used to it though:



One thing I am trying to do is to generate enough replacements to fill in the holes in my Austrian and Russian brigades (& to a lesser extent the French). I get enough engagement points to only raise one tranch a turn



and here's where the French front ended, hopefully Cumberland will suffer a bit from the cold

 
In the last screen you have Wedell appearing in the province north of Cumberland. Not only British/Hannoverian/Hessians but it seems Prussians have joined the party too.
 
Very good updates. You were likely very right to choose the more defensive option whilst facing Freddy, a better oportunity to defeat him will hopefully crop up in the future. It is a real problem though, attempting to bring him to battle on your terms, I really hope you get that opening at some point. Although if the stalemate with Freddy continues, perhaps your Russian forces will get the chance to fall upon Prussia's flank as you stated.

I rather like the French grumbling straight after their victory at Hamm about not being paid, good to see they are motivated by the right reasons in this war! The last screenshot looks very promising, however for which side I am not quite decided yet.
 
(must be the Cumberland Gap then?)
Oh, me sides, they are a-splittin'... :p

Those two battles of Hamm really show your dilemma: if you can gather enough forces, you can offset the Prussian qualitative edge, but if your troops are caught out piecemeal, you get beaten (though that defeat wasn't too bad, in terms of troops lost).

I really don't know if, given your current situation and past events, you have any chance of winning this game - nor do I know if you're bound to lose. It certainly makes for an interesting game to watch. :)
 
In the last screen you have Wedell appearing in the province north of Cumberland. Not only British/Hannoverian/Hessians but it seems Prussians have joined the party too.

I'd spotted that earlier ... and given what happened next, should have paid more attention to what it meant ..

Hopefully frostbite will set in :)

I fear he was just using the cold to gets his troops in the mood ... you know a bit of rolling in the snow before battle and all that sort of stuff ...

Very good updates. You were likely very right to choose the more defensive option whilst facing Freddy, a better oportunity to defeat him will hopefully crop up in the future. It is a real problem though, attempting to bring him to battle on your terms, I really hope you get that opening at some point. Although if the stalemate with Freddy continues, perhaps your Russian forces will get the chance to fall upon Prussia's flank as you stated.

I rather like the French grumbling straight after their victory at Hamm about not being paid, good to see they are motivated by the right reasons in this war! The last screenshot looks very promising, however for which side I am not quite decided yet.

I know think they were grumbling because they knew what was going to happen next ... Russia is now my only hope ....

Oh, me sides, they are a-splittin'... :p

Those two battles of Hamm really show your dilemma: if you can gather enough forces, you can offset the Prussian qualitative edge, but if your troops are caught out piecemeal, you get beaten (though that defeat wasn't too bad, in terms of troops lost).

I really don't know if, given your current situation and past events, you have any chance of winning this game - nor do I know if you're bound to lose. It certainly makes for an interesting game to watch. :)

In effect, I concentrate for the winter and die of supply problems, disperse and get killed in a different way ... so onto the 4 'quiet turns in Jan-Feb 1759
 
Its winter, why aren't you hibernating? Jan-Feb 1759

Well it seems as if Cumberland is no longer interested in just scouting around, with his new Prussian contingent he has to show off doesn't he?



this was not what I wanted, its not just the manpower losses, its also the loss of organisation etc. Equally it means I now need to find some way to try and bring up the rest of the French army to help out



well next turn, he'll go away, ah ...



He really is annoyed isn't he? I think I'm making mistakes with stances but in effect the 3-4 corps at Dortmund are now rather wrecked



at least in early Feb he wandered off



but my fresh French troops moving up got damaged in the snow

and came back again






So overall, the impact of those defeats is a total disaster. My NM goes down (so does my ability to fight as a result) and in reality the French army is beaten before the campaigning year starts.



Now, I was going to do 3 screenshots showing my plans on the French, Austrian and Russian sectors ... well I did all the collecting of images etc so may as well



The Austrian plan is simple. I have about 7 corps in Prag and they all are off to Saxony. My gamble is there a couple of Prussian corps off on the east flank but the 3 fortresses they need to take are all fairly strong and fairly well defended. It'll (hopefully) take them most of the year to break through.



Russia again simple, quite wander through Poland, telling the Cossacks to be careful with the matches and then try to take some towns in the north - in combination with the Austrians this may create some useful pressure



well I had plans over here but they are reduced to survival. I need somehow to extract about 70% of the French army from Dortmund and let it recover a bit while what is left avoids destruction ... which with my inert commander problem could be a challenge

Oh and as above, that useles idiot Charles has still not woken up ...
 
Ouch! Cumberland really gave the French a lesson in "how to do war proper and all that."

On the victory points sheet who's the country with what looks like a black St Andrew's cross on a red background?
 
On the victory points sheet who's the country with what looks like a black St Andrew's cross on a red background?
Methinks it denotes a place that's contested, neither firmly held by the Prussians, nor by the Austrians. But, considering the fact I'm pulling this from thin air, I could well be wrong...

Cumberland really did do a number on your troops. Is it normal that so many commanders get injured? Quite a few of them are listed as recovering.

So, roughly 100,000 troops in western Germany, untold many with Freddie in Central Europe... Looks like only the Russian front is still going well for you - you better not get messed up there, or otherwise you'll risk facing really significant numbers of superior troops in Central Europe - and I have little faith that your so-so troops and incompetent Austrian generals will do much of anything (besides dying) if Freddie gets numbers like Cumberland.
 
That makes for rather grim reading, Cumberland really hammered your French forces. From what I've seen in Narwhal's AAR, national morale is very important, as you are now fifty behind Prussia I assume that will make quite a difference. Hopefully you can still recover, your Russian units draw ever closer and your Austrian forces are very fresh by virtue of having done barely anything!
 
Ouch! Cumberland really gave the French a lesson in "how to do war proper and all that."

On the victory points sheet who's the country with what looks like a black St Andrew's cross on a red background?

yes, here we have Cumberland the military genius ... Wesel has slipped out of anyone's control again. I don't actually understand why as this time I have it garrisoned, but maybe my force is too small? Its not at the moment too important as I'm abandoning it in any case.

Methinks it denotes a place that's contested, neither firmly held by the Prussians, nor by the Austrians. But, considering the fact I'm pulling this from thin air, I could well be wrong...

Cumberland really did do a number on your troops. Is it normal that so many commanders get injured? Quite a few of them are listed as recovering.

So, roughly 100,000 troops in western Germany, untold many with Freddie in Central Europe... Looks like only the Russian front is still going well for you - you better not get messed up there, or otherwise you'll risk facing really significant numbers of superior troops in Central Europe - and I have little faith that your so-so troops and incompetent Austrian generals will do much of anything (besides dying) if Freddie gets numbers like Cumberland.

well you know my aars and injured generals. It does seem to happen quite a lot for the brigade level commanders. Its no big deal as I've lost so many combat battalions I have no shortage of interchangeable brigade commanders.

My revised/reduced French strategy is to try and keep Cumberland over there so the Russians get a free hand.

That makes for rather grim reading, Cumberland really hammered your French forces. From what I've seen in Narwhal's AAR, national morale is very important, as you are now fifty behind Prussia I assume that will make quite a difference. Hopefully you can still recover, your Russian units draw ever closer and your Austrian forces are very fresh by virtue of having done barely anything!

I'm worried about the NM situation. It'll make my already less good troops fight even worse, so I just need to be even more cautious. Problem with my Austrians is they really do not seem very keen on this whole war thing.
 
Don't panic - March 1759

Well time for plan #2 for 1759. Despite the added NM problem, I don't think I have any choice with the Austrians and Russians but to stick to plan A. It just means I need to be more careful than I would have anyway.

So:



Here's Daun & the Bavarians, idea is to keep close together and I'll take back my depot at Lobowitz (with a canticle or two thrown in).



and the Russians are on a long march, preceeded by Cossacks (who will probably be careless with matches again), I'm not sure how to handle the supply chain so we'll have to see how that plays out.



France, Plan B is the 'army-in-being' model. So the Army of France is retreating to Koblenz and I'll try and escape from Dortmund with as much of the Army of Germany as I can. Whatever survives will be sent back to Paris to regain org and numbers.

My simple goal over here is to give Cumberland a reason not to go and play with the Russians



well that breakout attempt went well - note I am now routinely losing whole units due to the compound of attrition and prior combat losses



and, more NM lost, this is proving really expensive, I'm less worried to lose Count Blot though.



ah, at last an escape route opens up ... Cumberland is back in pursuit of his gap?



The Austrians and Russians got hit by a late winter - not too bad but it depletes their supply wagons, & you can see the French at Dortmund now start to suffer for lack of supply.



and, early April here's the Austrians, need to hurry things up so they are in the hilly terrain before Freddie responds
 
well you know my aars and injured generals.

I cannot believe I missed that from the last update! The officers in your AARs do indeed seem ever doomed to a life of pain, misery and the odd comedic injury!

As for this most recent update, worrying that your French force continues to be whittled away but thankfully Cumberland seems to have granted you a reprieve at last.

and, early April here's the Austrians, need to hurry things up so they are in the hilly terrain before Freddie responds

I strongly suggest beginning rumours that there are numerous pubs and restaurants and so forth in the hills, otherwise I really cannot see the Austrian forces hurrying. With Freddie lurking, this could turn messy.

*dramatic Jaws music begins once again*
 
Hm, bit of a vicious circle, no? Your troops and generals are (not to put too fine a point on it) crap, therefore you lose battles, which lowers your NM, which means you lose more battles... At the rate you're going, I fear you're going to need something akin to the Persian hordes at Thermopylae to beat Freddie. What? The Persians lost? Oh bugger...

It's interesting how upbeat I was two or three updates ago (when you just captured Dresden and Dortmund) and how pessimistic I am now. If only you can invert this trend just as dramatically, you'll be in Berlin before the leaves fall! ;)
 
Hm. Normally I would to suggest to wait for the winter to regain the lost National Morale. But as it's just March, that idea might not be really useful. ;)

On the one side I'm feeling with you: Losing so much troops must hurt every armchair general. On the other side it's great to see, that the AI of this game does a great job.
 
I'm actually not too worried at this point.

No matter what Freddy does this year, he won't be able to take significant ground. He only has the troops to move against two of the three fronts. Once the Russians start biting into East Prussia...he will have to let up on the Austrians and French. So keep your Austrian and French armies alive, retreat in the face of his superior numbers and force him to transfer forces away to react to the Russian threat.
 
As for this most recent update, worrying that your French force continues to be whittled away but thankfully Cumberland seems to have granted you a reprieve at last.

I strongly suggest beginning rumours that there are numerous pubs and restaurants and so forth in the hills, otherwise I really cannot see the Austrian forces hurrying. With Freddie lurking, this could turn messy.

well in the next turn I applied a variant of your advice and sure enough the Austrians skipped and gamboled to their destination ... well except the 2 corps that decided, "nah, we're stop in the pub instead" ...

Hm, bit of a vicious circle, no? Your troops and generals are (not to put too fine a point on it) crap, therefore you lose battles, which lowers your NM, which means you lose more battles... At the rate you're going, I fear you're going to need something akin to the Persian hordes at Thermopylae to beat Freddie. What? The Persians lost? Oh bugger...

It's interesting how upbeat I was two or three updates ago (when you just captured Dresden and Dortmund) and how pessimistic I am now. If only you can invert this trend just as dramatically, you'll be in Berlin before the leaves fall! ;)

Its certainly a game that can change quickly. Now it might be that most of us (me included) are not really used to the dynamics so are easily taken one way or the other, but I think things can be turned around.

I think I've a strategy of sorts. I can't afford to lose a battle for a while, I can't let Freddie or Cumberland go walk about and menace the heroic Rodina (whoops wrong AAR - heroic Tsarist forces). So I need to be a threat but not cross the line if I can help it into actual combat.

Hm. Normally I would to suggest to wait for the winter to regain the lost National Morale. But as it's just March, that idea might not be really useful. ;)

On the one side I'm feeling with you: Losing so much troops must hurt every armchair general. On the other side it's great to see, that the AI of this game does a great job.

I am really impressed with the AI. It seems to have a nice sense of when to be aggressive (so Cumberland battering me at Dortmund) and when to hang back (so Freddie not attacking well deployed Austrians across a river). It also seems to have a strategy too - hence the very strong focus on knocking out Sweden.

I know what you mean about winter being the ideal time to recover NM. In this case I think I just need to be very cautious up to late Summer - which is not a bad idea with 50% of the French army in a bad state in any case.

I'm actually not too worried at this point.

No matter what Freddy does this year, he won't be able to take significant ground. He only has the troops to move against two of the three fronts. Once the Russians start biting into East Prussia...he will have to let up on the Austrians and French. So keep your Austrian and French armies alive, retreat in the face of his superior numbers and force him to transfer forces away to react to the Russian threat.

thats more or less where my own analysis got me too. I think if the Army of France gets time to replace losses and regain org then the 2 French armies combined are still quite potent. Equally I reckon I can stalemate the Austrian front, and that leaves NE Prussia to the tender mercies of my cossacks ...