New PBEM adaptation of TGW-Div 1.6: Playtesting!

[Tigranes]

Britain

Disillusion and sadness came upon Britain. 32 units butchered in Metz without a single German casualty was the most terrible tall British public had payed during this war so far. Nothing could make Britons happy. Not even the sinking of Yavuz. Not even recapture of Metz. French did the same mistake as British -- defending size 1 town with Corps, which can be easily killed by Moltke and likes... They also moved Artillery there instead of divisions from the borders. Another terrible German report feared gravely...

One more disappointment came from the fact that finally French had entire German artillery train parked in front of Metz, but not a single Counterbattery action was announced. What happened to all the French CBs, wondering in London... Any city training them right now?

Russian units in Tannenberg forest detected by British CL Cassandra are not that numerous as was expected . British CL shells German balloon near Koningsberg but fails to hit anything.

8 Turkish guns are detected in Syria. Battlecruisers shell the road on Iron destroying it.
French Navy is invited to participate in the siege of Beirut contemplated by British forces in Gaza sector.

HMS Ajax engages German battleship near the capital of Denmark. German ship is sunk with all hands lost.

German submarines start to worry British in the North Sea. The appalling condition of antisubmarine measures was blamed and new DDs were ordered by Grand Fleet.

British forces in Kuwait are wondering about the whereabouts of Turkish Sipahi which made his way into the Gulf region. Did Arabs kill him?

After the fall of Trieste Italy is in the grave danger. The remaining of BEF left Metz for Calais to take a break before departing to Isonzo theater.

Italy

Italian guns shelling 2 German (1 A Div and 1 L Div) units in the tile with the Vineyard, abandoned by French, leaving them with 1 HP. 18/18 Diaz almost loosing against German A Div, but wins with 2/18 points remaining

4 Counterbatteries killed 3 German Counterbattery (1 Elite!) and lost 1.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

How did the railroad to Jerusalem get cut? There was no report on that. I see that there is no spy in the area, and the cavalry that was on the border last turn in no way could reach the rail cut it and then disappear.


One of my biggest frustrations with this version of the scenario is the fact that there are only one way to repair rail and the central powers cannot do so as fast as the entente can. There is no way we can get those raw materials transported from iceland to germany which is nice because it simulates the blockade. Not being able to clear the pollution is one thing but why so hard to repair the rails? At least make all workers be able to repair rails but at a slower pace than the original setup.

 

[Tigranes]

I am sorry -- my Camel bombed the rail finally, after 10 fails... Perhaps , you right about rails, it's just so many people complained about the rails and unrealistic jumps back and forth, that I decided to nerf them a bit and also make Centrals desperate for those War Materials.. You really should try to trade with Neutral Sweden... Just attack their WM with your agent and see what will happen

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

gps Cyc

No worries Tigranes, thanks for the update.

Week 19, 1915

Ottoman Empire:

British Cavalry attacked and defeated outside of Basra by Turkish Army.

Turkey paid a heavy price as we underestimated French Naval strength in the area. A Turkish CL however shells a farm and road near Batumi? Black Sea coast near Turkish border.


Austria-Hungary:

Austrian guns shell Italian positions outside of Venice. Then a cavalry moves in and defeats a weakened Italian MG! Italian Counter battery gun defeated by Austrian Counter battery gun.

In the Adriatic near Trieste an Italian Pre-dreadnought is sunk leaving no survivors.

Russian infantry attacked near the Jassy area but the Austrian Rifle A dies in the attempt.


Germany:

Near Essen a French Cavalry is defeated by a German Armored Car.

In the Memel area a wounded British CL is sunk by a German BC leaving no survivors. Then an unknown is destroyed in the seas near the North West coast of Denmark. Survivors picked up. Finally near Scapa Flow a French CL is sunk by a German Submarine. Survivors cling to life aboard a life raft waiting to be rescued by someone. Who will save them?

Metz - German Army Hohenzollerin attacks Jean D'Arc Army and dies! It was a close battle however but the J of A survives with 7HP. Then Army Group Nord attacks and kills Joffre before retreating to safety.

Venice area - Italian forces are shelled by Trench Artillery before the troops move in. 5 German Rifle R units die for killing 4 Italian Rifle A units. Not a good trade off but the German commander in the area accepts the exchange.

Königsburg - Russian threat is shelled by many German 210mm guns then the troops move in. After a brief firefight the Germans lose 2 Rifle R units and 1 Flame Thrower. (flamethrowers so far have not had a good track record in this war)

The Russians lose 4 Rifle R, 4 Rifle A, and 1 Light Artillery (to German Counter battery).

 

[Cyc]

Russia begins the week by bringing the German survivors into Petrograd. Some were still hung-over and not very talkative.

In the Black Sea, the Nicolas Gang shelled Varna and took 2HP from an Elite Turkish Inf (6/8). 2 Ottoman Corp were spotted in the Hills close to the Bantum-Kars Rd. They were identified as Enver Pasha 21/21 and Forces of the Hero of Gaza 17/17. They were accompanied by 3 LA and 3 Inf. A lone Turkish Inf is spotted in the Hills 2 tiles West of Yerevan.
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In Liege, the French Field Commander is told of a German R-Inf with a machine gun unit sneaking into French Territory South of Liege, on the ole Coal Hill. He instructs his forces to eliminate them in the memory of Joffre and Petain. 155mm redline the units and R-Infantry take them out.

In Metz, Light Artillery take out the road on the Coal Hill east of town. A 155mm in Metz redlines the R-Inf NE of town, French Cavalry ride out and finish it off.

German survivors are picked up by Scapa Flow.

 

[Tigranes]

Britain

Aided with some vital intelligence in regards of whereabouts of High Seas Fleet our Grand Fleet suddenly appears in German waters and brings death, destruction and humiliation upon the German main submarine base -- Kiel! 30+ ships bombard Kiel this turn killing 2 population points, redlinining 1 CL and 1 Transport, shooting down the plane and taking surviving pilots aboard our CL, but most importantly destroying every single vital building in the city. Yes, I also mean unrecoverable Ruhr Factories and hardly recoverable Submarine Yard (available for Germany only with distant 1917 Tech). No more Mittle U Submarines and reinforcements from this city. To make matters worse British Navy was reinforced with Queen Elizabeth lethal sea bombardment super dreadnought. She will join the Grand Fleet very soon.

Arrival of some British volunteers in Calais allows BEF to return to the Western Front. We are happy to see that Metz was left unattended by German guns. Russia gets special thank you for distracting Germans! Some of our plans actually work sometimes!

Our forces in Kuwait are threatened by Kemal. We retreat for now.

Now, when it's over, we can report that Lawrence of Arabia, our super spy unit with hidden nationality got almost killed by Arab rebels! Lawrence retreated with 1 HP and now recovering somewhere.

ANZAC boys arrive this turn in Alexandria and shiped directly under the Haifa. Our planes bomb the roads around city, one of them actually destroying the road on the wine. Lonely BC takes care of some more roads in Palestine.

Italy

Italian Corps went over the top this week. After much shelling of Austrian positions north of Isonzo valley our best Corps Diaz 18/18 goes against 4/4 Austrian A Div. We cannot believe our eyes! Our very best Corps dies knocking down just 2 points from that Div!. Any intelligent commander would stop further attacks, but we are so frustrated with this loss that we order much weaker Corps to attack the same 4/4 Divis. Some relief was granted -- our both Corps almost die, but survive with 1-2 HP while taking down 2 A Divs. 2 CBs take care of Austrian CB and Light gun.

Elite Prinz Eugene shelled in Fiume to yellow. For some reason in PBEM ships in port will show fully recovered at the beginning of Austrian turn, not at the beginning of NEXT turn, turn 21 that is...

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Britain

To make matters worse British Navy was reinforced with Queen Elizabeth lethal sea bombardment super dreadnought.

Does Germany get a ship that has lethal sea bombardment? If no, I would argue that is a scenario imbalance.

 

[Tigranes]

Sure she does Bayern has the best stats in this game. You get your super ship with 1917 tech.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Cool, good to know.

At some point when we've finished our play testing we should update the civilopedia file. Or alternatively, write a short tips and tricks guide to this new adaptation of WW1 scenario. I would be glad to help out in this regard.

 

[Tigranes]

I totally agree! Thanks for that intention!

 

[Tigranes]

Before I start working on Pedia, I need to stop toying with new ideas that come to me every other day Here is the latest one -- specially crafted Division unit.

Let me explain. As the definition has it --

Division tends to be the smallest combined arms unit capable of independent operations (usually 10,000 to 15,000 troops) with enough support organic to the unit to be capable of independent operations. Usually the direct organization of the division consists of one to four brigades or battle groups of the primary combat arm of the division along with a brigade or regiment of combat support (usually artillery) and a number of direct-reporting battalions for necessary specialized support tasks such as intelligence, logistics, reconnaissance, and combat engineers.

My idea is to represent Division by multi unit, brigade and smaller regiment with single unit and give division 1 space land transport capacity! So Division unit can "carry" divisional level artillery, MG regiments, Flamethrower regiments, combat engineers, etc. Just like you see on this picture.

Pros:

1. Allows realistic representation of the fundamental concept of division and alludes to the very name of this scenario: TGW-Div

2. Innovates tactics used by player and basically allows many new ways to fight the war ( I can expand on this later). You can use immobile engineers now or mobil flamethrowers with stealth ability!

3. Allows to introduce fust firing light artillery, just like the famous 75 mm gun you see on the picture. It is immobile, but has 2 MP and blitz, which lets you to fire the gun 2 times, without moving it like a horse across 2 tiles! Feels really cool when you playtest it.

4. As a very nice side effect of land transport your gun will not die if you send your Division (without unloading the gun) over the top and kill it. Division unit dies but gun is still there!

Cons:

1. Some players may find loading and unloading Divs tedious and time consuming.

2. Can be used only for PBEM, AI will never use "land transports" properly.

3. "Land transport" Div cannot form Corps! One way around it is to have 2 units with the same stats: "Corp Div" and "Stand-alone Div"

4. You cannot load a "Land trasport" into the regular naval transport British will be especially handicaped by this. One way around it is to rename Airport -- Troop Convoy (preplace them in the key ports, make this building unbuildable and coastal) and "Airlift" --> Sail the Troops. You can still transport sub-Div size units in regular naval transports, but you need to hit Sail the Troops button to take your Div from London to Calais. Interception message can be replaced with "Enemy aircraft detected your troop convoy and directed submarines to sink it".

So, what you think of this idea?

 

[Cyc]

So, transport capacity is one (1) and the transported unit is stealthed. I like that idea. Would transport Artillery be vulnerable to Counter Battery attack?

 

[Tigranes]

I need to test it. Stealthed -- we use it in different sense, I know what you mean, though. I also need to test what will happen if one attacks Div with def 15 and 4 HP carring MG with Def 16 and 4 HP. Would you see MG activating to take the defense? Not sure...

 

[Tigranes]

Guess what? This idea works even cooler than I thought!

• 1 Enemy unit "inside" Division is invisible -- you just know that your foe has a Div across the No Man's Land, but not it's exact composition or if it's empty.
• 2 However Counterbattery still works and gives you all the right options even though you don't see the "loaded" gun!
• 3 In case when "Land transport" Division is weeker than it's "cargo" (MG, for example) cargo steps up to fight!

 

[Cyc]

Nice. Hidden suprises. I like the idea. Keep up the good work.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I think that is a great idea. I have been trying to come up with a solution for attached brigades such as; artillery, AA, engineer, etc. but have not been able to think of anything. Now comes your idea. Bravo!!

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

gps Cyc

Week 20, 1915

Ottoman Empire:

2 Arab rebels killed in Mesopotamia. Unfortunately one of them was blocking the way preventing me from reinforcing Jerusalem. Boy these rebels are really annoying! LOL

French Semi-dreadnought Mirabeau sunk mysteriously near the Dardanelles. No survivors.

2 Turkish Rifles die trying to expel the British cavalry force south of Jerusalem. I can't believe an attack of 4 lost to a defense of 3. My troops were veterans too but I think mobile troops like cavalry must have an advantage in defense against relatively weak offense units.


Austria-Hungary:

Austrian Trench arty fires at Italian positions outside Venice which we noticed is vacated! Not much damage is done however but a couple of the MG units took 1 or 2 HP of damage.

Austrian naval patrols very busy in the Adriatic. It seems something was trying to slip through up the middle past Fiume. 5 presumably submarines were sent to the bottom generating 3 survivors. Kaching!!

The Russian visitors near the Cluj area were hit with a Trench gun then an Elite Hungarian cavalry dispatches them. Close battle we got away with 2 HP left.


Germany:

Massive Trench arty and gas attack does some more damage to the Italians near Venice. Moltke comes down to kill an Italian Rifle A then goes home.

All quiet on the Western Front.

Every gun we could muster was sent to Kiel to pound the Royal navy. We couldn't do as much damage as we hoped but those ships are gonna need repairs methinks.

 

[Cyc]

MAJOR OTTOMAN ATTACK OF KARS!!! Well, for Russia and the Ottomans, it's a major attack. And it's spreading to the East and the West. An R-Inf loses to a Turkish-Inf on the Batum-Kars Road. An R-Inf loses to a Turkish-Inf on the Yerevan-Kars Road. Then that Turk is killed by an A-Inf. This happened twice, if I'm reading my notes correctly.
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The Vergiaud shells the Grasslands East of Dede-Aguch and takes the R/R. This is followed by the Paris, who takes the road. (Someone has snuck in and changed my notes to jibberish. It was probably the Austrians!) The Danton shells the tile NW of Gallipooli and takes the R/R. The Jean Bart follows up and craters the same tile.

gps to Tigranes.

 

[Cyc]

I was thinking about your "Land transport" idea. Would it be possible to assign a little upgrade system to it? By this I mean the transport capacities of the carrier unit. For example:

Conscript transports - 0
Regular transports - 1
Veteran transports - 1 or 2
Elite transports - 2 or 3

This may be way too complicated for the editor, but as you say, this is the DIV game. Could be a good kicker benefit for Divisions that get promoted.

 

[Tigranes]

Unfortunately, it is simply impossible. The only thing you see when your unit becames Elit is soem extra HPs (you can regukate with editor how much is the increase)...

What does it feel like when the fury of the entire Grand Fleet comes upon your city? Well, ask the citizens of Lubeck. They know. I mean those who still alive, for size 11 city became size 1 Most of the buildings got perished too, including Ruhr Factories.

German DD was sunk by British Sub in North Sea.

Bombardement of Haifa was very unrewarding. 2 planes missed. 1 Battlecruisser missed. 2 Guns missed. What are they drinking there in the Holy Land?

Cavalery destroyed rail near Cologne and a road near Jerusalem.

Italy

3 CBs were sent against 3 Austrian light guns at Isonzo. The score of this fireball game was 2:1 in Italian favor.

Regia MArina shelled Fiume, shooting down 2 planes and picking 2 Survivors! This was a lucky day for Italian Navy, Venice is very close and military comand paying hard cash for Austrian spy pilots.

Shelling of Austrian positions was not very accurate either. No attacks therefore...