good game !
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 8:34 pm
I’m having a very good time playing CTGW as the Central Powers (Single Player, balanced AI)
At the beginning in 1914, I decided to go mostly for a Western Strategy with the German, leaving a minimum of troops on the Eastern borders. The Austrian likewise decided to go full blast against the Serbs and only raised a few garrison to hold Galicia against the soon to come Russian hordes.
This saw partial successes: Belgium was swallowed quickly but France held. The Serbs lost rather quickly Belgrade but took a while to be subdued. On the Eastern front, the Russian surrounded Koenigsberg and took Danzig and Posen.
The solution was to push against the Serbs relentlessly to free the Austrian army where it was most needed: north against the Russians!
Eventually, the Serbs surrendered in 1915, but after one or two turns, before the Austrian army could be moved to push back Russia, the Italian joined the allies ! The German already started to pour men on the Russia fire, hence the western front started to calm down.
The Russian started to roll back but Trieste was lost in the opening moves of the South Front. The Italian started to push North trying to take Trento that a few German garrison held. In the Near East, the British attacked Turkey that just joined the CP. The Turks quickly lost Gaza and Aqaba and tried to hold Jerusalem. In the Caucasus, they managed to grab a few Russian towns.
1916 was terrible for the CP. No progress on the Western Front, no success at all in the Submarine warfare, ground lost in terrible fights in the Alps where the allied pushed relentlessly, helped by artillery, airplanes and blimps (flying machines that the CP up to that point thought to be decorative more than useful). Also, the Turks only then realized that they did not fund any research lab in Infantry science, that could explain why the Brits were slowly conquering Palestine. The only ray of sunshine was that the Russian were really losing ground (Warsaw, Brest, Kovno, Vilna...). Bulgaria’s help was great to help patch holes in the Italian front and to try slowing down the Brits in the Near East, but Romania’s entry on the Entente side meant that most of their troops had to wait for that new front to open.
1917 started bleakly for the CP. Trento was taken in the Alps. Zagreb was shelled. The Russian lost Riga, Pskov, Vitebsk but still did not give up the fight. The Bulgarian and the Austrian started to kill Romanians, but Bucharest, even completely surrounded had no supply problems (it is a capital city).
In the Near East, The Brits took Beirut, Damascus and attacked my feeble Turkish defenses in Aleppo. The Arab troops that you saw in “Lawrence of Arabia” were roaming the desert in armored cars, the Russian even sent troops to the Caucasus to try to get me out of there.
Losses were staggering, National morale of CP countries sank to between 45 and 55, the only exception being Bulgaria that did not lose enough troops yet to wonder if it had been a good idea to join the war.
The Western front saw renewed action because I had most of my good German troops there while many of the French and British corps were busy fighting in Italy or the Middle East. So we took Calais, and even approached Paris with one infantry and a cavalry and tried a half-hearted attack against the French garrison that was barricaded in it but without artillery support. We decided to pull them back one hex to the East where we could shorten the frontline and benefit from the extensive network of trenches that were already dug.
That’s when the AI clearly made a mistake: seeing us pulling back, it replaced the French garrison that was still at 8 or so with a Portuguese one worth 4 and red colored (meaning that their efficiency was terribly low). The German army took it as an insult, turned back and took Paris, only to be left isolated around the Eiffel Tower as vigorous counterattacks destroyed the accompanying German troops on the wings.
Then, 3 things happened at the same time:
-One, Russia surrendered. In April 1917, I heard of a revolution going on there, in May, they asked for a cease-fire which I was only too glad to accept. Romania kept on fighting but would soon be swarmed. Hurrah ! I just have to move my few survivors from the Eastern Front up to Italy, the Middle East and the Western Front !
-Two, The allied trounced me in the west with 2 tank divisions. TANKS! These could blow-up a full unit every turn.
-Three, The Italian front started to collapse, with Allied troops going North and taking Trento and even Stuttgart.
Would I be able to save the Western, Southern and Middle-Eastern fronts with the disappearance of my Russian foes ?
A tense race went on, with Eastern CP troops rushing to help my crumbling lines everywhere. In Belgium, I lost Antwerp. In France, I lost Calais and Paris that was surrounded. In Germany, Italian troops jumped from Stuttgart to grab Frankfurt (!!?). In Turkey, a mix of Turkish and Bulgarian troops started to lay trenches in front of Adana.
And then the tide changed completely. I stabilized the Italian front, liberated Frankfurt and Stuttgart in Germany, fought back in the west and took back Antwerp and Calais. Verdun was conquered, as well as Dijon.
In the Middle East, a series of counterattacks saw the whole British army collapse around Antioch with helpless artillery and airplanes being destroyed by Turkish Infantry and Cavalry. In a few early 1918 months, the Ottoman Empire took back everything it had lost (except Medina towards which we are advancing) and conquered Cairo and Alexandria.
The same spring, with the help of a few artillery units, Austrian and German troops took back Trieste, then Venice, then overran massed artillery and airplanes units that were laying behind. Florence fell, then Torino, then Rome. Troops are rushing towards southern France aiming for Lyon and other cities.
Higher North, huge fights are going on. Paris was taken a second time by our troops, only to be retaken again by the allied. French troops are seldom seen, I heard of mutinies going on there, the lines are held by a mixture of Brits, Italian and even Portuguese.
My troops quality is falling to appalling levels (6 only ! They can never be “good health white”, they are at best “yellow not so good”).
I have 2 German Artillery and 2 Austrian ones but I chronically lack shells to shoot. I have also 2 German fighters and one German Bomber (quality 6 alas, as I formed this squadron when the best men were all long dead already…). Funny is that I already have an Austrian Ace doing paperwork in the Headquarter, as the Austrian Empire never invested in building an airplane. So he’s not flying.
Regarding the deadly allied tanks, we developed new technologies to fight them and I started investing into designing a German tank myself, but I don’t know if the research will be fast enough for me to launch my own panzers at the enemy before war’s end.
Now it is September 1918, it seems we’re going for victory, but who knows when the French will surrender…
At the beginning in 1914, I decided to go mostly for a Western Strategy with the German, leaving a minimum of troops on the Eastern borders. The Austrian likewise decided to go full blast against the Serbs and only raised a few garrison to hold Galicia against the soon to come Russian hordes.
This saw partial successes: Belgium was swallowed quickly but France held. The Serbs lost rather quickly Belgrade but took a while to be subdued. On the Eastern front, the Russian surrounded Koenigsberg and took Danzig and Posen.
The solution was to push against the Serbs relentlessly to free the Austrian army where it was most needed: north against the Russians!
Eventually, the Serbs surrendered in 1915, but after one or two turns, before the Austrian army could be moved to push back Russia, the Italian joined the allies ! The German already started to pour men on the Russia fire, hence the western front started to calm down.
The Russian started to roll back but Trieste was lost in the opening moves of the South Front. The Italian started to push North trying to take Trento that a few German garrison held. In the Near East, the British attacked Turkey that just joined the CP. The Turks quickly lost Gaza and Aqaba and tried to hold Jerusalem. In the Caucasus, they managed to grab a few Russian towns.
1916 was terrible for the CP. No progress on the Western Front, no success at all in the Submarine warfare, ground lost in terrible fights in the Alps where the allied pushed relentlessly, helped by artillery, airplanes and blimps (flying machines that the CP up to that point thought to be decorative more than useful). Also, the Turks only then realized that they did not fund any research lab in Infantry science, that could explain why the Brits were slowly conquering Palestine. The only ray of sunshine was that the Russian were really losing ground (Warsaw, Brest, Kovno, Vilna...). Bulgaria’s help was great to help patch holes in the Italian front and to try slowing down the Brits in the Near East, but Romania’s entry on the Entente side meant that most of their troops had to wait for that new front to open.
1917 started bleakly for the CP. Trento was taken in the Alps. Zagreb was shelled. The Russian lost Riga, Pskov, Vitebsk but still did not give up the fight. The Bulgarian and the Austrian started to kill Romanians, but Bucharest, even completely surrounded had no supply problems (it is a capital city).
In the Near East, The Brits took Beirut, Damascus and attacked my feeble Turkish defenses in Aleppo. The Arab troops that you saw in “Lawrence of Arabia” were roaming the desert in armored cars, the Russian even sent troops to the Caucasus to try to get me out of there.
Losses were staggering, National morale of CP countries sank to between 45 and 55, the only exception being Bulgaria that did not lose enough troops yet to wonder if it had been a good idea to join the war.
The Western front saw renewed action because I had most of my good German troops there while many of the French and British corps were busy fighting in Italy or the Middle East. So we took Calais, and even approached Paris with one infantry and a cavalry and tried a half-hearted attack against the French garrison that was barricaded in it but without artillery support. We decided to pull them back one hex to the East where we could shorten the frontline and benefit from the extensive network of trenches that were already dug.
That’s when the AI clearly made a mistake: seeing us pulling back, it replaced the French garrison that was still at 8 or so with a Portuguese one worth 4 and red colored (meaning that their efficiency was terribly low). The German army took it as an insult, turned back and took Paris, only to be left isolated around the Eiffel Tower as vigorous counterattacks destroyed the accompanying German troops on the wings.
Then, 3 things happened at the same time:
-One, Russia surrendered. In April 1917, I heard of a revolution going on there, in May, they asked for a cease-fire which I was only too glad to accept. Romania kept on fighting but would soon be swarmed. Hurrah ! I just have to move my few survivors from the Eastern Front up to Italy, the Middle East and the Western Front !
-Two, The allied trounced me in the west with 2 tank divisions. TANKS! These could blow-up a full unit every turn.
-Three, The Italian front started to collapse, with Allied troops going North and taking Trento and even Stuttgart.
Would I be able to save the Western, Southern and Middle-Eastern fronts with the disappearance of my Russian foes ?
A tense race went on, with Eastern CP troops rushing to help my crumbling lines everywhere. In Belgium, I lost Antwerp. In France, I lost Calais and Paris that was surrounded. In Germany, Italian troops jumped from Stuttgart to grab Frankfurt (!!?). In Turkey, a mix of Turkish and Bulgarian troops started to lay trenches in front of Adana.
And then the tide changed completely. I stabilized the Italian front, liberated Frankfurt and Stuttgart in Germany, fought back in the west and took back Antwerp and Calais. Verdun was conquered, as well as Dijon.
In the Middle East, a series of counterattacks saw the whole British army collapse around Antioch with helpless artillery and airplanes being destroyed by Turkish Infantry and Cavalry. In a few early 1918 months, the Ottoman Empire took back everything it had lost (except Medina towards which we are advancing) and conquered Cairo and Alexandria.
The same spring, with the help of a few artillery units, Austrian and German troops took back Trieste, then Venice, then overran massed artillery and airplanes units that were laying behind. Florence fell, then Torino, then Rome. Troops are rushing towards southern France aiming for Lyon and other cities.
Higher North, huge fights are going on. Paris was taken a second time by our troops, only to be retaken again by the allied. French troops are seldom seen, I heard of mutinies going on there, the lines are held by a mixture of Brits, Italian and even Portuguese.
My troops quality is falling to appalling levels (6 only ! They can never be “good health white”, they are at best “yellow not so good”).
I have 2 German Artillery and 2 Austrian ones but I chronically lack shells to shoot. I have also 2 German fighters and one German Bomber (quality 6 alas, as I formed this squadron when the best men were all long dead already…). Funny is that I already have an Austrian Ace doing paperwork in the Headquarter, as the Austrian Empire never invested in building an airplane. So he’s not flying.
Regarding the deadly allied tanks, we developed new technologies to fight them and I started investing into designing a German tank myself, but I don’t know if the research will be fast enough for me to launch my own panzers at the enemy before war’s end.
Now it is September 1918, it seems we’re going for victory, but who knows when the French will surrender…
