New PBEM adaptation of TGW-Div 1.6: Playtesting!

[Tigranes]

Final countdown:
Centrals: 378170 VPs (+8,050)
Entente: 274250 VPs (+7,040)
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Britain

The most uneventful turn ever! British plains managed to destroy the railroad near Cologne (on Iron).

Italy

Ragusa was shelled by Italian Navy. Observation Plane destroyed. Survivors captured.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

gps Cyc


Week 44, 1915


Ottoman Empire:

Russian spy detected near Constantinople. A single Turk Rifle sent to deal with him. Russian spy is no longer detected near Constantinople.

A surprise attack by a Turkish mine near Constanta Rumania against a Russian Gangut ends up not being so surprising at all. Russian BB totally destroys the mine with no damage suffered.

On the Silk road to China Turkish wounded Rifle kills Russian Light Artillery and outpost. Captured Russian worker from previous impulse swallows cyanide due too being too far from Turkish lines.

Ezerum - Russian RR killed after being bombarded and redlined by Turkish LA. T Rifle does the killing.

Mosul - Russian RR killed by Turkish Army.

Gaza - After a long bombardment of the city by assorted T LA and TA Turkish army attacks an uninjured British Rifle A and kills him.


Austria-Hungary:

Due West of Fiume - Austrian AC ventures out and kills Italian DD detected near the Italian coast opposite Fiume.

Tarnopol - 3 Russian RR destroyed after heavy bombardment by LA and TA. 3 Austrian Armies are victorious.

Lemburg - A Russian RR and a Russian LA are killed by a Cavalry and Rifle A respectively The Russian RR was first softened up and redlined by a LA and TA.

Near Krakow - Another Russian RR killed.


Germany:

Liege - Interesting developments near this city. German Cavalry crosses the line and destroys British observation balloon there. Then it is discovered that there seems to be a single British Camel defending the city! A second Cavalry crosses the border and marches into the city killing 4 British Camels (the kind that fly that is) and capture the city. Reinforcements are mustered from all over Germany and sent via the road connecting Liege to the Reich.

Warsaw - German Rifle A attacks and kills a Russian RR.

Lublin - German Rifle A dies whilst trying to kill a Russian RR

Metz - Capitalizing on the fall of Liege German artillery is brought to the border near Metz. French stacked shelled then 3 German Armies kill 5 French RRs. 4 more FRRs die at the hands of 4 German RAs. French RA killed by another GRA. French 155mm gun destroyed by German RR.

 

[Cyc]

An AC takes 2HP from the Landwehr North of Memel, followed by a Gangut Class which destroys the road.

Light Artillery redlines an Elite Turk Inf down by the Silks. An R-Inf dies trying to finish it off, but the second R-Inf finally kills it and promotes. The Silks are safe for the moment.

The undetectable Russian Spy receives honors at Petrograd for successfully disconnecting the Ottoman Iron before his demise.
_______________________________________________

Near Smyrna, A Corbet class sinks a sneakily placed unknown. Figuring a Sub would be waiting there, the ship's commander keyed on it instead of the original target and deftly sunk it, taking no damage, no survivors. Then a Battle Cruiser slips in behind the Corbet Class and quickly sinks the original target, the Ottoman AC.

@ Metz, 155mm were brought in to the city and surrounding area to flush out the visiting Germans. They took 11HP from the Alliance Machine Gun and 2 R-Inf dug into the Barbed-Wire Trenches. The an A-Inf was sent in only to be cut down by the MG. They were followed by Americans, who met the same fate. 15mm again shelled the MG successfully. Americans were ordered to charge the trenches and remove the MG. Two more American units were sent in to take out the wounded R-Infs. The Americans now control those Trenches.

gps to Tigranes.

 

[Tigranes]

Final countdown:
Centrals: 378170 VPs (+5,320)
Entente: 274250 VPs (+7,170)

​

Britain

As the war nearing to it's end Entante is throwing all her forces to lose in style. As the Russian army brought some 200 odd units near Koningsberg Grand Fleet made a surprise visit to the East Prussia, in hopes to assit valiant Russian Ally. Roads, rails and everything around Koningsberg were destroyed, including observation balloon south off Memel. Two unknowns been sunk by British DDs in those waters. British spies delivered the following picture to Russian Stavka:

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In total 22 units defending the city. 4 MGs, 1 A div, 11 R Divs (1 Elite), 6 L Divs, and 1 CB (so there is nothing to hit for Russian CBs ). No reinforcement can reach Koningsberg in the next 1-2 turns.


BEF closed the trap on unfortunate Germans who were sent to defend Liege. After 8 Howitzers fired British forces killed all 12 defenders (1MG, 4 R Div, 4 L Div, 1 Cav, 1 Car, 1 AA Gun) and recaptured the city. British lost 4 A Divs, 1 R and 1 Indian.

Veteran Turkish AC was mined near thr Gazan coast. Another AC was sunk by the only survivng British BC, who carried Turkish survivors to Port Said for easy cash and Victory Points.

In skirmishes near Gaza British killed 2 Turkish Infantries and 1 Sipahi. Unfortunately 1 brave Vet A Div lost its life !

Italy

Regia Marina avenges the death of it's destroyer by sinking the offending Austrian AC and generating survivors.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

@ Metz, 155mm were brought in to the city and surrounding area to flush out the visiting Germans. They took 11HP from the Alliance Machine Gun and 2 R-Inf dug into the Barbed-Wire Trenches. The an A-Inf was sent in only to be cut down by the MG. They were followed by Americans, who met the same fate. 15mm again shelled the MG successfully. Americans were ordered to charge the trenches and remove the MG. Two more American units were sent in to take out the wounded R-Infs. The Americans now control those Trenches.

This account of American infantry in action reminds me of the story of how the US Marine Corps fought hard and won at Belleaux Wood. Nice report Cyc!

BEF closed the trap on unfortunate Germans who were sent to defend Liege. After 8 Howitzers fired British forces killed all 12 defenders (1MG, 4 R Div, 4 L Div, 1 Cav, 1 Car, 1 AA Gun) and recaptured the city. British lost 4 A Divs, 1 R and 1 Indian.

I knew it was too good to be true when I captured Liege. Good work Tigranes, you fooled me here.

Will play my turn tonight!

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

gps Cyc


Week 45, 1915


Ottoman Empire:

French DD Flotilla sunk near Athens by Turkish CL. No survivors.

Near the Turkish-Russian border - 2 Russian RRs defeated by Turkish Army.

Ezerum - Russian RR defeated by Turkish Rifle after being redlined by Turk LA and 2 TAs.

Gaza - British stack shelled outside of Gaza on the hill. Then Turkish Army defeats British Rifle A.


Austria-Hungary:


Tarnopol - Two Russian RR defeated by Austrian Army after being yellowed by several LA and TA.

Venice - Two Austrian CB attack and destroy an Italian CB and LA.


Germany:

Warsaw - German Rifle R dies while trying to kill Russian Rifle R.

Königsburg - Russian LA destroyed by German counter battery fire.

Baltic near the Königsburg front - British warships are shelled by various German artillery pieces.

 

[Cyc]

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I played the Russian turn as normal, well as normal as using a 200 unit stack to attack a city goes, finished up and saved. Then later opened as the French and saw the 1st screen above. It appears that the Russians lost enough men to speed the VP score over the top. Game over. Congrats all.

* I went through the Victory screens and chose the second options to play some more so that Tigranes would be able to gleen any info he might want from the save. But I couldn't play the French, as it was the Ottoman turn. Kind of strange.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

All I have to say is wow! I didn't expect the game to end so soon. Figured there were at least another 8 turns or so.

Btw, Cyc, did you manage to capture Königsburg? You had quite the impressive army at my doorstep, that plus Tigranes damage he had done with the Royal Navy had me really worried.

In any case I would like to thank the two of you for a splendid game. I really enjoyed playing against and with you in our PBEM. You both amazed me with your battle strategies and I don't think there was ever a turn where it was not tense. Good show boys!!!

 

[Cyc]

Thoroughly enjoyed having you in the game also, Moff. I thought you were going to sweep into France a couple of times. I didn't take Konigsberg. I had almost all of the German units red-lined. Everytime I would red-line one, a Reg would pop up. The it would promote to Elite, then reverse until it was red-lined. Over and over. As I said, I lost a LOT of units.

Over-all, it was fun. Thanks to Tigranes and Moff.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Yes I have to admit I played very conservatively in the beginning. A little too conservatively because I didn't want to risk making a blunder so early in the war. Now that I think of it I should have pushed harder into France in the beginning.

Then we had those see saw battles on the Western Front. Everytime I tried to take a French city one of you would pull a bunch of reserves out and stop me. When I retreated and you guys came into Germany I regrouped and pushed you two back out but did not have the strength to push forward. It was Tigranes' skillful use of the Italians that kept me off balance. Then every once in a while you would bring the Russians into my territory forcing me to deal with that situation.

This gave France and England the time to rebuild for the next battle. Rinse and repeat. In the end it came down to who could kill the mostest fastest.

One thing I planned on surprising the Russians with an Austrian Spy who made his way almost to the saltpeter colonies deep in Russia near the Caspian sea!!

 

[Tigranes]

I really hoped to attack Koningsberg NEXT turn after my fleet reduce it to size 6 city (with only 10% defense bonus, since walls were missing).

 

[Tigranes]

Well, I must concede Centrals won this game in terms of the kills, but strategically this was a clear tie. Apart from Neutrals the only gain Centrals have is Lodz versus Metz and Gaza. (Those Arabian towns I don't even count).

In all events huge thanks to Moff and Cyc for hours of fun, playtesting and very important -- for the pace. Turn per day sets really nice routine, when you look forward for your save and anticipate new developements on constant rate.

I really think that if I would set VPs on 1 million level the war would last till 1918. Germans didn't even build Russian revolution Wonder! BUt on the other hand not everyone can drag the war that long

Good job, everyone!

 

[Cyc]

Actually Tigranes, I think it would be a much more interesting game if you left the Max VP at 400,000. What you might think about doing is removing the VPs for killing. To me that was a wasteful way of counting victories. I believe you should give each city a large chunk of Victory Points, or more the VP obliesks location to each city (plus some strategic locations). That way, you gain points only for being aggresive. I know.... You want this to be a war of attrition. Where nothing is accomplished strategically, but millions of people die. Just like in WWI. Oh well. It was just thought.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

You do bring up a good point Cyc. How do you simulate the horrors of attrition warfare of WW1 while at the same time rewarding the player for taking ground?

Maybe some of the key trench positions could be made into VP locations in addition to the cities. That way the player has an opportunity to take some ground that is a little easier won then taking a city but attrition warfare can still come into play. One would have to hurl a lot of troops at the VP locations and take heavy casualties, but some movement could still be had.

Just some random thoughts for the next version.

 

[Tigranes]

It's only been some four month as we started it. I caught myself still checking my email for saves from the Cyc

Anyways, what's done is done. Civ 5 actually occupies my all attention now, looking forward for it. It will be released on Independence Day for Armenia

Moff, can you pm me about the work you are doing? Is it based on this map? I did alot of fixes with Rocoteh scenario, and it's almost ready to be released in final form, but I doubt I will play this and Civ 5 at the same time , so I kind of posteponed all my plans for right now.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Hi Tigranes,

I will definitely share with you the work I'm doing. I'll email you later on today with some information. I have some nice images to send you, especially from this new WW1 game I found.

I myself am still a bit unsure of Civ5. Although it may have some nice features that Civ4 did not have, I'm a little worried that Civ5 will look as cartoony and unsophisticated as Civ4 did. I will watch and read what the user community has to say when the game is released.