TGW-Div 1.6 -- World War I

Glückwünsche!​

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Original description:

It is August 5th, 1914. The First World War has just begun after the assasination of Franz Ferdinand in June by a Serbian terrorist. Austria sought to punish the Serbians for the murder, but earned the ire of Russia at the same time. Austria then took refuge in the message that Germany had given them their full support. At this time France had given the Russians their support.

Russian mobilization followed, which recieved an ultimatum from the Germans: Terminate the mobilization or recieve a declaration of war. No reply was given, and on the 1st of August, Germany declared war. 2 days later, Germany declared war on France as well as they were Russia's chief ally. The Germans then decided to unleash their war plan: The Schlieffen Plan. The plan called for an offensive against france through Beligium to hit the french in the north and to defeat the french army in 40 days.

Germany asked the Belgians to give them free passage, but they didnt. This brought Belgium into the conflict, which in turn also brought in the British Empire when Germany refused to withdraw from Belgium at midnight of August 5th 1914.

1. Reassignments
1a. Serbia, Montenegro to Russia
1b. Belgium to France
1c. Albania and Rhodes to Italy
1d. Bulgaria to Turkey
1e. The rest of Civs, including Greece, Arabia and Romania assigned to the Neutrals (controlled by AI with capital in Bern ) . Neutrals are at peace with human players at the beginning and it is up to AI to decide when and if to go to war.
2. Mountains impassable
3. Russia is no longer in locked alliance, but she is on Entente side governed by the house rules (see bellow).
4. Two German regiments in Switzerland moved 1 tile east to German territory.
5. Tweaked research and gold per shield values for rushing.
6. Ports cannot produce destroyers automatically (too many cities with ports).



1. Main house rule -- no declaration of war on Neutrals, if they do it first -- thats fine. No RoP with them either.
2. No passing through their LAND, not even for 1 turn, unless they declared war.
3. SEA passing and stopping is fine (it is historical, one could spend 24 hours in real War). The time one can spend in Neutral WATERS governed by Civ3 engine -- when presented by option to move automatically one should always select that, and not the War.
4. Allied nations can help each other by all the possible means. This includes gifts of money and resources.
5. On first turn all 3 Lanzelot countries declare on Russia and no peace can be proposed before 1917.
6. No government changes until 1917.
7. No reloading period, except for technical reasons (no way to check it, but we agree on that as gentlemen). Real War was full of mistakes and unused opportunities. Just play as it is.
8. No short rushes. It is a very popular exploit, but it makes game very unrealistic. No one can really build a battleship by rushing University and switching to Battleship in a real world.
9. Everything else is allowed until adoption of amendments to these house rules. Even if scenario has bugs we play v1.6 adopted for PBEM not our new v1.61.

Amendum 1. No intentional city razing!

A new war!!

The Italian foreign ministry scrambles as the continent of Europe is plunged into war. All young men between the ages of 17 to 25 have been called for duty. No noticeable troop movements on our borders and our army is not mobilized yet.

The ministry of science begins research on a new tech which will sorely be needed for this war. Other than that no other news to report.


All of Austria is still outraged about the murder of their Thronfolger at
Sarajevo and declares war on Serbia and Russia.

The first actions of the war:
Heavy bombardment of Belgrade. Then Austrian troops take Belgrade! Losses on
Austrian side were high: 12 Inf A. Serbia/Russia looses 1 MG and 4-5 Inf.


Germany:
Bombardment of Liege. Inf A Armies Ludendorff and Falkenhayn take Liege.
Cleanup of the area.
French losses: 3 Border guards, 3 Inf.

Bombardment on iron location SW of Metz. Afterwords attack.
German losses: 3 Inf A. 1 Flame Thrower
French losses: 5 Inf A&R, 2 Artillery.
A new leader appears and forms an Army, which helps eliminating that stack: Kluck

Inf A Army Rupprecht attacks and takes Antwerp
French losses: Inf R

Cavalry attacks and takes Ypres
French losses: Cavalry

Inf A Army Moltke attacks Calais. An Inf R takes it afterwords.
French losses: Inf B, Armored Car


Week 30, 1914 Russia

Mother Russia and loyal Serbia both greatly shocked by capture of Belgrade. Never in test "games" did Austrian culture ever appeal to the Serbs just North of Belgrade. "Traitors!",-- commented his Majesty Tsar Nicolas. Wall Street, Pentagon, National Epic and Battlefield Medicine all used to be in Belgrade. The sickest thing is that Pentagon is no longer buildable due to the original scenario design, so Russians now doomed to Armies of 2

Entire country mobilized to punish Austrians. Each village gave a battalion, each city a division. "Soon our bayonets will taste Austrian blood",-- angrily said Brusilov.

The only causality of first week was Austrian Ulan squadron killed by Serb Cavalry near Belgrade.

War was declared on Austria's allies Germany and Turkey using diplomatic channels.

Urgent appeal was sent to London for financial assistance. Meanwhile Russian diplomats bribed French to sell Barbed Wire secret!


(reserved for France and Britain)

Dang! Too late. Spots already taken. I'll be watching this, curious if this tweaked version is better than the one I played years ago.

Turning to lurkmode

Redman

PS. Tigranes, post 2 tells me you're Russia-Serbia, but also have written the reports for the other countries.

Redman said:

PS. Tigranes, post 2 tells me you're Russia-Serbia, but also have written the reports for the other countries.

Click to expand...

Indeed we do. I am working on posting my update for France, England, then Italy Week 31, 1914. Real life work is keeping me at the moment from updating everyone here. Expect a report soon.

Week 30, 1914 France

France is sent reeling as German Troops pour over the border!!

With the fall of 4 important border cities the French army is sent into shock. Generals Joffre and Nivelle scramble units of the reserves and organize two Armies which are sent to the Calais area. Calais is bombarded by preparatory fire from 3 heavy guns and 3 light artillery pieces. Army group Joffre attacks the weakened defenders and manage to eliminate a German R Rifle Division. Army group Nivelle assaults Calais and eliminates a Garrison unit. No losses suffered by either of the attacking French forces. Unfortunately this effort is not enough to dislodge the stalwart defenders. Our intelligence on the defense forces of Calais is incomplete and the French High Command does not know the exact number of defenders in this town.

No other actions are taken by the French army.

France recognizing Italy’s plight begins shipment of raw materials to help the beleaguered Italian forces.

Summary of Losses:

1. French = no losses
2. German = 1 German R Divsion, 1 Garrison both located in Calais

Week 30, 1914 Britain

Within a week of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, Britain sends forces into Northern France to help with the war. The units are organized as the British Expeditionary Force, or BEF. Initial fighting between Germany and Britain is very light. A reconnaissance force consisting of one BEF cavalry unit comes into contact with a German cavalry reconnaissance force just outside of the Calais area.

While the French are locked in a bitter struggle for Calais a brief firefight ensues between the cavalry units of Britain and Germany. Men, horses, and bullets become twisted together in a cacophony of gunfire. If this is any indication of what this new war will be like, many will lose their lives in an unpleasant manner. The BEF Cavalry unit destroys the German Cavalry unit but not before taking heavy losses.

No other action taken by Britain this turn other than conducting diplomatic exchanges with her allies.

Summary of Losses:

1. British = no losses
2. German = 1 German Cavalry

Week 31, 1914 Italy

Italian forces continue to mobilize. No units are ready at this time to participate in the war but it is expected that Italy will do her part for the Entente soon.

Summary of Losses:

Nothing to report, no action taken



GP but need to Send save file to Lanzelot. It turns out I sent the incorrect save file this morning...

Redman, I just copy-pasted all the emails we were circulating. So I have wrote only Russian part

The tweaks made are absolutely mild and simply were needed to adapt for 7 human controlled Civs and 1 AI. THe default difficulty for PBEM is Mayor and I had no idea how to change it... so I made rushing a little harder, for more realistic unit production.

GPS proper save turn to Lanzelot.

Redman, I just discovered PBEM of TGW-Div v 1.4 where you have been playing Italy (Entante lost by the way). To my horror that game lasted 2 years! I hope with 3 players only this game will move faster. I know that some PBEM games last even 3 years, and I find it phenomenal. My own life changes so fast I am afraid even to think where would I be in 3 years from now :rollingeyes:.

Tigranes said:

Redman, I just discovered PBEM of TGW-Div v 1.4 where you have been playing Italy (Entante lost by the way). To my horror that game lasted 2 years! I hope with 3 players only this game will move faster. I know that some PBEM games last even 3 years, and I find it phenomenal. My own life changes so fast I am afraid even to think where would I be in 3 years from now :rollingeyes:.

Click to expand...

That's the one I was referring to. It was indeed a long but interesting game. As the Italians (even with control of Serbia) I couldn't stop Austria-Hungary, so I didn't make it to the finish.

The pace or the lack of it is mainly the players mentality and how many participate. So if you 3 want to go till the end, it's going to be an interesting game which will have a good pace.

Redman
former Italian commander

v 1.4 and v 1.6 have quite a few differences though... At what turn did AH capture Belgrade, approximately?

Tigranes said:

v 1.4 and v 1.6 have quite a few differences though... At what turn did AH capture Belgrade, approximately?

Click to expand...

Turn 24, wk 2 1915 to be precise.

Week 31, 1914 -- Mittelmächte
Ottoman Empire:
The Ottomans are very slow mobilizing, no unit yet ready to move, let alone fight.

Austria-Hungaria:
Holy cow, the Russians managed to mobilize faster than expected!
Brusilow and Kresenko broke into Galizien, a total force of like 80 units in three separate army groups. Our Serbian offensive is immediately abandoned and the troops are called back to defend the northern border near Krakow and Lemberg. Kaiser Franz-Josef has a personal discussion with Kaiser Wilhelm and asks for immediate help.

Heavy bombardment of Brusilow army corp. Brusilow itself is down do 4/9.
Austrian fleet bombards Serbian and Italian Adria coast.
Serbian Cavalry killed near Novi Parzar.

Germany:
Kaiser Wilhelm decides to slow down offensive in France und deal with the Russian
offensive first. Falkenhayn is ordered to Krakow immediately (at first Hindenburg was assigned to go, but he was busy at the moment. Further bombardment of Brusilow army corp. Then Falkenhayn attacks! Complete disaster for the Russian Army, Marshall Brusilow dies on the battlefield.

German artillery continues bombardment on remnants of Brusilow's forces as preparation for a second attack. Kaiser Wilhelm summons his Feldmarschälle and finally convinces them to abort the promising offensive in France and take advantage of the opportunity the arose in the east. Hindenburg, Ludendorf and Moltke are all ordered to Krakow and continue the offense. The opportunity of catching a large part of the Russian army in unprotected open field was too good to let slip by.

German losses:
5 Inf A, 3 Armored cars, 1 Cavalry.
Russian losses: too many to count. Approx 40 units, mainly Inf A.

On the other hand Calais needs to be abandoned. German troops retreat from Calais in good order and take up new defensive positions in a shorter front line until the Main army groups return from Krakow.

Lanzelot

Russia mourns the disaster at Krakow. Nobody anticipated such a swift arrival of German armies from the Western front. If one Infantry unit is about 12,000 strong division, than the loss of 40 units means that Russia lost about half a million men killed, wounded and taken into the captivity. Only the lonely field artillery remained on the field where a Great Army used to be! Nobody in Stavka understood why didn't evil Germans kill that valuable piece of equipment.

Thanks to the stolen secret of barbed wire from week 30 the second (survived) half of Russian Army at Krakow retired back to Russian Poland and took a refuge at the newly constructed trenches. Brave Cossacks made sure to destroy roads in Austrian Poland in hopes to halt the the momentum of German troops.

Great news came from Montenegrin coast -- old Austrian Battleship was sunk thanks to mysterious causes!

Light forces of the German High Seas Fleet is spotted next to Riga. Things does not look good there. Coded message is sent to Western allies advising them on situation.

Thanks to financial support from Britain Russian ambassador in Italy was able to carefully bribe Italian officials. The secret of Deck Gun was sold for 1700 golden bricks.

Losses:
Austria -- 1 Predrednought BB, 1 Cavalry squadron
Germany -- 3 Cavalry squadrons
Russia -- 1 Active Infantry Divisions Concript Reserve Division and 1 Regular Reserve Divisions.

Tigranes said:

Nobody anticipated such a swift arrival of German armies from the Western front.

Click to expand...

A number of German railway laborers have been substantial to this swift attack: they have been working day and night to finish the Breslau railway line on time!
(Anyway: I don't undertand, why in this scenario Breslau is not connected to the railway net yet?! I would think that in reality the German railway net was already pretty much complete by 1914. And Silesia was a major industrial area at that time, almost as important as the Ruhr area.)

Tigranes said:

Only the lonely field artillery remained on the field where a Great Army used to be! Nobody in Stavka understood why didn't evil Germans kill that valuable piece of equipment.

Click to expand...

I thought that a little light artillery was not worth setting an important attacking unit on an open unprotected grassland square right next to another Russian SoD...
It was more important to keep a strong defensive position on the Western front.

Tigranes said:

Light forces of the German High Seas Fleet is spotted next to Riga. Things does not look good there. Coded message is sent to Western allies advising them on situation.

Click to expand...

Sorry, forgot to mention: light bombardment of Riga destroyed a couple of airplanes and I think a library or something.

Week 31, 1914 France

The Western Allies are indeed shocked at the scale of the horror on the Eastern Front. So far the devastation is nowhere near the size on the West.

Minor battles continue on the Western front as Army Group Nivelle and Army Group Joffre launch limited attacks against Liege. One German Machine Gunner and one Garrison unit are lost. During the battle 3 French Cavalry units perish.

No other action this week. French diplomats send monetary aid to Russia.

Summary of losses:

1xGerman Machine Gun
1xGerman Garrison
3xFrench Cavalry