Slitherine

Hey all! I enjoyed reading Happycat's AARs so much, that I decided to post my own. This one is between xriz and I, with myself as the Coalition. We're playing on minor French advantage, because even was too easy for the Coalition and moderate was too easy for the French. Feel free to pass judgment on my tactics and strategy, as I am always looking to improve.

This first set of screenshots shows the deteriorating situation around Vienna. You'll notice the weather: there were only clouds around Vienna for a couple turns, but the area was otherwise clear. The storms were all in Eastern Austria and Russia, which prevented me from wagoning in many Russian reinforcements. As a result, Austria only held until March 1806, putting me in an early hole.

On a positive note, the British Navy mopped up the French fleet while losing only one ship, though my opponent did make me chase him around for a while.

This next set of screenshots shows me building the Russian army in Austria, my opponent's brilliant blitz of Prussia, and my first major strategic blunder of the match. Instead of sitting back and waiting for the French to come to me, and building effectiveness at the same time, I aggressively counterattacked along a wide front. I had the numerical edge for a brief time, and I killed some French units, but in the end I took the worst of it and xriz was able to wagon in reinforcements. Suitably chastised, I pulled back to lick my wounds.

You'll note that the Coalition has no artillery. A boneheaded move on my part. I should have bought horse artillery instead of heavy cavalry. By the time I realized this, it was too late, and I had to spend the pp on infantry or risk being overrun.

Always good to see another AAR!

looks like you're quite evenly matched on the eastern front. Will be an interesting battle!

Here is an account of the evolving situation in Central Europe. My opponent divided his forces into two strike groups, one in Prussia and one in Austria, and I was forced to follow suit. I quickly found that I couldn't stop either one. The British troops I brought in were little better than cannon fodder, and the French overwhelmed me with artillery and vastly superior effectiveness ratings. The Coalition needs superior numbers to combat these French advantages--that's how they eventually beat Napoleon historically--and I don't have it. Also, I mistakenly believed that generals had a command range of 8 hexes as they do in CEAW. I found out later that they only have a range of 4 hexes. So that mistake didn't help.

I think you'll need to open a second front elsewere soon, to lure some of the elite frenchies away from the eastern front. A british invasion of spain or italy seems like the most obvious choice. Or british raids on french coasts. All happened in reality

Well, fall back and pray... for a hard and long Russian winter

adherbal wrote:I think you'll need to open a second front elsewere soon, to lure some of the elite frenchies away from the eastern front. A british invasion of spain or italy seems like the most obvious choice. Or british raids on french coasts. All happened in reality

I thought about an invasion of Spain, but Happycat's first AAR made me very wary of doing that. I think the French beat back his invasion and then conquered Portugal...and that was on even advantage!

depends on how quick the spanish forces can be destroyed I guess. It'll need a significant British invasion force.

The Russian army abandons Prussia completely and hopes winter will come down hard on the French. Kiev becomes the new battleground as both sides shift the majority of their forces there. I managed to time an Austrial revolt with a British landing in Northern France. I knew both were suicide missions, but my goal was to divert French reinforcements and buy Russia more time. In this regard, I think I succeeded. I considered invading Denmark or the German States, but the risk was too great. If I failed, and I probably would, it would give the French even more pp than they already had. I thought it was better to just strike in territory that was already hostile and not give myself any new enemies.

With the British and Austrians checked, the French turned their full attention to Russia. I actually forced my opponent to pull back from the outskirts of Kiev, but it turns out he was just waiting for reinforcements. A few turns later, he busted through my lines and the rout was on. Still, that small delay enabled Russia to last until November, and man did winter hit hard. *Look at all the pretty clouds!* I used the time to prepare my army for a last stand.

Is the weather system fun and fair to play with? Do you like the advanced weather icons and have you tried the simple weather option also?

I like advanced weather, and I haven't really tried the game with the option off. It forces France to plan her attacks carefully and research weather knowledge, and I think it's realistic. I agree with the balancing issues that Happycat cited in his last post to his Late, Great AAR, but this AAR is far from over, trust me. Also, it seemed like this game I am getting no British merchant ships. And when I do get them, they're carrying horses instead of pp. Is that a change in the recent patch, or am I just getting unlucky?

Just unlucky, do not worry throughout the years it will even out hopefully...
I would like to see more games on normal difficulty also, since in patch the French manpower was adjusted upwards so I think they woudl do better now on normal setting.

I'll see if I can convince xriz to try another game on normal difficulty after this one is finished.

First off I want to thank Joe for such fun games; he’s been a excellent opponent to play against.

The use of Artillery is quite important, as he pointed out his defense of Russia had no artillery what so ever. This made it much easier to over run Russia with my own 3 foot and 2 horse armillary on the same front.

The real problem has been the invasion of England; Russia could be or not be tougher depending on the players mix of units but the amphibious landing of England part of the game, which puts a much harder job on the French to finish the coalition player off, when they have the PP to put up a good defence. The games concpet of supply makes it a win or lose situation based on how many lin infantry with a higher supply you can shove on the battle field.

Thanks, xriz, for the kind words. You are also a great opponent. What happens next isn't really interesting, so you only get 3 screenshots. Because of the winter, it took the French until June to move into position to attack Moscow. I held them off for a few turns, but barely delayed the inevitable. But this AAR is far from over. Stay tuned!

You'll notice that Britain has amassed a huge store of PP. That was intentional; I determined that to send Russia any more aid was pointless, but I didn't want to pay the upkeep cost on infantry units, especially since my opponent wouldn't be able to invade England for some time. So I horded my resources and waited until the last possible moment. Well, not the last moment; I built them early enough so the new recruits had a chance to get their effectiveness up by sitting near generals. I also invested in tech, maxing out research on my combat ships and infantry. My ships would be better than the French and my infantry would be equal, in stats if not experience, to the French.

Here we go with the Battle of the Atlantic. My opponent wisely saved up a store of PP before he started building ships, so he was able to crank out 2 per turn. Even so, I managed to wipe out the first wave, though I lost all my Ships of the Line doing so. I must have sunk at least a dozen French ships, but I didn't bother to repair any of my battered frigates, knowing it would have been futile. I was hoping xriz would let me keep my little lookout ships, but he was too smart for that. I started to recruit a line infantry per turn, then spent almost my entire stash of PP as soon as I saw transports in the water. I kept a small reserve to pay for repairs, which turned out to be a good decision in the end. I also recruited 3 artillery units, quite possibly the best investment I ever made.

I lost about 8-9 major ships, mostly SOL's and a couple of Frigats in winning the battle of the Attlantic. He's right I had it set up to deliver 2 major ships per turn for about 7-8 turns plus a few prirate ships to make up the slack in build time. Even with a minor French advatage, by this time in the game, I had to burn a few turns so I could produce ships with out manpower penalties.

The First Invasion of England

My opponent landed a large, experienced force in Scotland with 3 artillery units and basically all his generals. His goal was to take Edinburgh before his supply ran out, and I knew I had to hold that city at all costs. My artillery made a huge difference, allowing my infantry to counterattack with favorable odds and retake lost ground. For a while, I was content to just hold the line and let his effectiveness go down via lack of supply, but it wasn't working. He kept clearing the hex north of Edinburgh and landing a fresh unit there to attack the city. After a few turns on defense I decided to throw everything I had at him, and succeeded in wiping out his army. It was immensely satisfying to destroy 3 of his best artillery units, which had been hounding me since Austria and Prussia. Speaking of which, Austria, Prussia, and Russia all revolted at once during the height of xriz's invasion, preventing him from funneling more men into Scotland. He crushed the first two fairly quickly, but because of the winter it took him about 10 months to squash Russia.

This was a Phyrric victory if I've ever seen one. I lost 6-10 units, and my manpower was in the toilet. I was doing ok economically, but I knew Britain's days were numbered. Still, I was very happy to have beaten off the first French attempt to conquer England.