Chevalier Plays AGEOD Let's Play/AAR

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Now I'm wondering what an 18th century version of a "pencil pusher" would do with his life.  It probably involved writing long political pamphlets.  Will you write the history of the King of Prussia Mall as an epilogue to the exhaustive Let's Play? 

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Lehwaldt was a solid marshal who fought well in the War of Austrian Succession 15 years before, but was tired and past his prime by the Seven Year's War. He retired for reasons of health to Berlin the next spring after Gross-Jagersdorf, and died about 10 years later. 

September 1757: The Walls of Vienna

These final days of the war see frantic efforts by Maria Theresa's generals to disrupt the Prussian advance - but it becomes pretty clear that Austria is running out of steam.

Situation in Bohemia on September 1, 1757:


Austrian elements:

• Piccolomini's corps - depleted and out of supply north of the Elbe near Lobositz depot
  
• Kollowrat's corps - depleted and out of supply in the mountains east of Koniggratz
  
• Daun's Army of Bohemia - battered, astride the road south from Prague to Tabor
  
• Cavalry raiders - two isolated stacks raiding Silesia, no real threat to take cities.
  

By and large, apart from Daun, the Austrian field forces are disintegrating. Daun still has a bit of teeth, as he'll show, but his army is mostly Imperials and they're very poor in terms of leadership and replacements, so quite a bit below paper strength.

Prussian elements:

• King Frederick with the central reserve - defending Prague
  
• Saxon regiments - impressed Saxons, about 6 battalions. I transferred them from defending their homeland in the early summer into Bohemia, to cover my vulnerable communications at Lobositz and Prague. They're mostly useless on the battlefield but can be good garrisons. Stationed in Prague atm.
  
• Ferdinand of Brunswick corps - drove off Piccolomini from Lobositz, was pushing front south from the depot for security.
  
• Prince Moritz of Anhalt-Dessau corps - small corps, partnered with Katte to secure Bohemian/Silesian frontier.
  
• Keith corps
  - Encircling Vienna.
  
• Schwerin's Army of Silesia - Successfully seized Brunn.
  
• Cavalry corps - chasing raiders around Bohemia. Notable is Gessler south of Daun near Tabor.
  

All told I think I field about 100,000 men here against 70,000 Austrians scattered in various field and garrison forces, especially Vienna's nearly 20,000-strong garrison.


The orders are simple enough - Schwerin is to march to Vienna, incorporate Keith into his army (giving me two armies on Bohemia - the Army of the Elbe under Frederick, 3 corps of 50,000 men and the Army of Silesia under Schwerin, 2 corps totaling 50,000 men), and take over the siege with his specialized engineers and siege artillery. Ferdinand will push south and secure Lobositz against more raids from Bohemia, Moritz will chase Kollowrat out of Bohemia.

In Pomerania, I shift my forces around so that 2 corps will continue the siege of the Swedish base at Stralsund while two will contain a Swedish force shifting towards my communications:


The Right Wing of the AoO will move to cover the depot at Waren, while Pennevaire's Militia Corps will assault the Swedish Haxhausen Column and attempt to drive it towards Stettin. The thick woods here will make it difficult for the Swedes to break out to the north back to Stralsund or to the west towards Waren, while Stettin blocks escape to the south.

Through early September, Keith steadily fends off attempts by scattered companies of Hungarians to break through his siege lines into the encircled Austrian capital:




Again, we note a HUGE number of lost elements relative to casualties - that indicates that all of the elements haven't replenished at all since the earlier battle. Basically, we know that Austria's replacement pool is completely empty over the summer months - the horrible losses over the winter and spring drained it entirely. At the time it may have seemed like the isolated armies were surprisingly durable, but now we're really seeing the benefits: the Austrian army has been hollowed out, and most of the brigades and companies we see are paper formations only.

In northeastern Bohemia, Moritz hounds Kollowrat through the foothills towards Silesia, losing a few men but taking many prisoners as Kollowrat crumbles:


In Pomeria, on September 6 the militia hit Haxhausen's column of about 5,000 men with 20,000 (low-quality) Prussian militia, driving them back after a sharp little skirmish:


The biggest battle in September, though, is fought just south of Prague at Pibrans, as Daun's Imperials come storming at Frederick's reserve column. Frederick's immediate command, which I intended mostly to reinforce other corps, not function independently as it has been, has only one brigade of infantry (Wilhelm's) but a massive number of cavalry. Wilhelm, the king's brother, stolidly endures the imperial attack before Prussian cuirassiers launch an overwhelming countercharge that quite literally sweeps the Reichsarmee off the battlefield. 1500 Prussians fall but exact three times their number of Austrians:



The Reichsarmee is down to 19000 men but is shedding elements left and right - rapidly disintegrating.

The situation in Bohemia by September 15:


Schwerin has joined Keith, Ferdinand has reached a fortified camp south of Lobositz but found no enemy there, Moritz and Katte continue their pursuit of Austrian raiders near Silesia, and Daun is pinned between Frederick and Gessler's cavalry near Tabor.

At Vienna, I use all my remaining siege cards: Siege works, a mine, a traitor in the walls, offering the garrison terms - a blizzard of cards in an effort to break through as quickly as we can. Schwerin and Keith are issued assault orders if a breach develops. I also note Daun's numbers over Frederick, and take two moves to reinforce him. I order the Saxons to leave Prague and rendezvous with Frederick to give him some needed infantry support, thinking that they'll fight decently under the King's personal supervision. Ferdinand is also ordered to join the king and serve as muscle to crush Daun once and for all.


Daun has about 1100 power to Frederick's 1200.

In the north, Stralsund is breached and we're ready to assault:


The Duke of Cumberland is ordered to lead the armies of Hanover against the Swedes, while the Ring Wing will attempt to drive Haxhausen back towards Stettin and our militia will resume the blocking position south of Hanover.

Victory screen shows we just need Vienna for the win:

Total casualties are 47,000 Prussians to 110,000 Austrians, plus another 34,000 prisoners, so 47,000:144,000 ratio, nearly 3:1. Very good results.

Our replacement situation is good and I have managed to rebuild my pools:

Elite replacements are depleted, and line infantry and cavalry are down to only 5 total elements, but that's not 0, and Hanover's pools are mostly intact since we haven't had heavy combat in the north.

That changes this turn. The Duke's attempt to storm the walls of Stralsund develops into a costly fiasco:

Emplaced Swedish cannon massacre the charging Hanoverians. 30,000 Germans against 12,000 Swedes leads to over 7,000 combined casualties - but at the end of the day Sweden holds Stralsund and the Duke leads his army in disordered retreat.

Vienna is bloodier, though. Schwerin is scarcely a week before the walls of the capital before ordering an assault on September 15, 1757. 47,000 Prussians against 13,000 Austrians (a solid quarter of the garrison put out of action in the earlier weeks of the siege).

11,000 combined casualties - 5,000 Prussians and over 6,000 Austrians, over half the garrison, fall in a brutal battle of attrition. Prussian companies march to the breach and blaze away, while Austrians under the eye of their very Empress herself frantically load and fire back.


Storming the breach at Vienna, September 15, 1757

The battle lasts all day. Men's faces are stained black with powder. Heroic medics dash into the cauldron of fire at the breach time and again and drag out casualties. Keith and Schwerin's massive artillery park - 340 cannon - pound the walls and the defenders, attempting to blast the defenders away by main force. Battalions and entire brigades shatter, and flee - but more are behind and are fed in.


Another Prussian wave goes in at Vienna, 15 September 1757

Eventually, the sun sinks below the horizon, leaving both sides to tend to their wounded and count their dead. Honors were equal on both sides - but the Prussians outnumber the Austrians 4:1. The remaining Austrian army of about 4,000 men is a hollow shell, while the Prussians field about 43,000 able soldiers even after the day's bloodletting.

When they come back on the morning of the sixteenth, the Austrian garrison shatters:


Elsewhere, oblivious to the momentous events along the Danube, the war continues. Daun is a talented general and manuevers to ambush the Saxons as they march to join Frederick:

The Battle of Ritschan, 21 September 1757

The Saxons are soundly drubbed and flee back towards Prague. Daun attempts to withdraw to the East, but Frederick and Ferdinand have linked up and are marching hard on his heels. The King's genius for quick movement, and the massive number of cavalry, quickly bring Daun to bay. The result is a repetition of the earlier battle, as the Prussian cavalry massacres 4,000 Austrians for scant loss:


Daun's Reichsarmee is down to 14,000 men.

They flee north, along the roads, harried all the way by the ubiquitous Prussian horsemen. Scores fall to their sabers in the chaotic pursuit as Daun atteempts to hold some organized core of resistance together. As his army disintegrates through desertion and unrelenting Prussian pursuit, Daun turns for a last stand on September 27:


Of the 8,500 men he can still muster, 3,500 fall to Frederick. Daun's column is effectively destroyed over the course of September.

The final battle of the Third Silesian War, as it will come to be known, is fought in Munster and is, ironically, a French victory as the siege column overwhelms the light Hanoverian horse in defense:


And then the bloodletting stops. Maria Theresa is found, proud and unbent, in her palace as Keith and Schwerin's men flood over the walls into her capital. The marshals put a halt to the looting after only a few hours, sickened by the bloodshed and the suffering of the Austrian civilians. The Empress is placed under guard and Frederick quickly rides to Vienna, negotiating peace at swordpoint. The Empress really has no choice - her capital and much of her principle cities are captured, her entire government has been decapitated with her capture, and there are no real organized armies in the field. Piccolomini is effectively a bandit in northern Bohemia, Kollowrat has been pursued into Troppau by Moritz, where he will be besieged, and Daun's effort to relieve the capital with the Reichsarmee has failed. Austria capitulates.

With Austria out, France has no real desire to fight Prussia alone, having no especial quarrel with Frederick beyond his alliance with Britain. Under threat of facing Prussia and Hanover united, France is too happy to sign an armistice and retreat across the Rhine. Sweden is proud of its stand in Pomerania, but doesn't push its luck and withdraws the army, and Russia cannot function over the Vistula without Austrian logistical support. With Maria Theresa out, the coalition facing Frederick falls to pieces, and the Third Silesian War confirms Prussia's ascendancy in Germany and her mastery of Silesia and Saxony.

The final dispositions, north and south:




On the whole, a solid victory. The decisive moment was the Second Battle of Prague in late November. By moving north and exposing his supply lines at Prague and Koniggratz, Browne made a crucial error - he should ahve stayed on the defensive in Bohemia. But Charles did historically argue for an invasion of Lusatia, and had his course been adopted something like this might have happened. But even having made that error, Browne came within an eyelash of victory at Prague. Had he done so, we should have had to retreat into Saxony for the winter, and in the spring there would have been tough fights with the enlarged Austrian army in Bohemia - not weakened by a long winter out of supply, but fully rested, restored, and reinforced to something like 120,000 men against our 100,000. Then we have no chance of taking Vienna, in turn, before the French overrun Hanover and require our attentions. The result would have been a long fight trying to knock out one of the French, Austrians, or Russians, and we probably would have had the historical Seven Year's War.

Thanks for coming along! AGEOD's games are very deep, very intimidating - but there's a lot of depth to them and I think there's nothing else on the market once you get the hang of them. See y'all in my next adventure.

[sunrise089]

Great thread, sorry to see it end so soon but also happy for the Prussians that they knocked out Austria just in time.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yeah, I knew when I started that it would either be a short one-year campaign or we'd probably go the distance to 1763. Pretty much those were the same options facing Frederick when he decided to invade Silesia, either a short victorious war against Austria, or if he failed a grinding war of attrition against most Europe.

There are other AGEOD games I might showcase here - Civil War II I think is their most polished, but Wars of Napoleon is lots of fun (turn processing is murder - about 15 minutes for each week-long turn, in a game that spans a decade of time), and To End All Wars would be an interesting change of scale. Their latest, Field of Glory: Empires is a grand strategic empire-building game rather than an operational wargame, but it's pretty fun, too.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

There are other AGEOD games I might showcase here - Civil War II I think is their most polished, but Wars of Napoleon is lots of fun (turn processing is murder - about 15 minutes for each week-long turn, in a game that spans a decade of time), and To End All Wars would be an interesting change of scale. Their latest, Field of Glory: Empires is a grand strategic empire-building game rather than an operational wargame, but it's pretty fun, too.

How would a World War I wargame work?  It can't be very fun to sacrifice most of your soldiers for a small gain of territory.  But To End All Wars be interesting to see since I'm studying World War I for a project that has nothing to do with Realms Beyond.  And you get an excuse to post pictures of those ridiculous Pickelhaube helmets.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

TEAW doesn't have the same level of maneuver that RoP or Wars of Napoleon do, but a lot of managing fronts, deciding how to allocate resources, building armies (artillery is at a premium of course), deciding the best time to reveal new technologies like gas or tanks...it's not as dynamic but it's a good simulation of WWI.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I think, since our campaign ended so swiftly, I'd like to continue this series.

Right now I'm envisioning continuing certainly through a Wars of Napoleon campaign and a To End All Wars game, possibly with a side-trip to the Civil War along the way. The reason why is all 3 games - RoP, WoN, and TEAW - take place on a European map and will follow roughly similar players, so we can follow some common threads.

I already intend to begin with Wars of Napoleon sometime around Christmas. The question is - which country?

Rise of Prussia, the youngest game, is very simple. The Prussian player controls Prussia, Kassel, Hanover, Britain - his entire alliance. The Austrian player commands the Austrians, Russians, Swedes, French, Imperials - a complex global war reduced to two players. Out-of-Europe events are generally handled in off-map boxes that you don't interact with. Scripted events drive most of the entrances and exits in the war, build most of your armies for you, and so on.

By contrast, Wars of Napoleon, the youngest, is very complicated. The map, instead of extending from the Rhine to the Vistula, and from the Baltic to the Danube, stretches from Scotland to Egypt, and Moscow to Lisbon. There are off-map boxes for North American states, various Indian princelings, African colonies, for the Royal Navy player to muck around in. And there's the catch - there's a Royal Navy player. Instead of two grand alliances, Wars of Napoleon is constantly shifting coalitions of nations constantly at war with each other, so you don't play a coalition, you play a single country. You control war and peace, you manage your resources and build your own army, decide which campaigns to fight and which not to fight, you decide when to trigger certain events - overall it's massively more intricate and complex (and a bit more clunky, tbh - AGEOD diplomacy never quite reaches even Total War levels of diplomacy, forget about Paradox).

The question for us, then, is this: Should I continue to play as Prussia? We'll inherit largely the same army that Frederick built, and largely the same territory that he conquered, BUT we'll be in a weak position and probably quite passive for years as we're forced to modernize and reform the army to match Napoleon's legions. OR we could drop the Prussia theme and play France - very much the protagonist nation much as Prussia is in, er, Rise of Prussia. We'll be a bit more engaged, but also quite powerful (I've marched from London to Moscow and back, twice, in the two French campaigns I've completed).

So, we want a country that will be in the thick of the action, but not a main character, one that can stretch the action. Per Ryan, I think that Austria is the best compromise choice. We'll have some continuity from Rise of Prussia, albeit as my old nemesis, and we'll be pretty in and out of wars with France while also needing to act elsewhere around the map. It should take a while, too, since in the early game we'll repeatedly get our ass kicked by Napoleon. So around Christmas that's what we'll plan on - starting a Wars of Napoleon AAR as Austria.

It's now Christmas break, so I have some time to write. Let's take a look at our newest protagonist, Austria:

Historian's Corner: Europe since 1756

It's been 50 years since Frederick the Great marched into Prussia, and much has changed in Europe (well, mostly France). The Third Silesian War in DSL's timeline evolved into the Seven Year's War in Earth's timeline, as Frederick's attempt to win the war with a quick knockout punch against Austria early in 1757 failed following the battle of Kolin. The rest of the war followed a steady pattern: Frederick would open the year's campaign by seeking to land a decisive blow against Austria, before being forced in part (2) to march against one of Prussia's other enemies threatening him from another direction. He would seek a decisive battle to rock this foe back on his heels, before having to race back in part (3) to deal with the Austrians advancing again in his absence.

This pattern held in

• 1757 (1) the battles of Prague and Kolin (2)the battle of Rossbach against the French and Reichsarmee (3)the Battle of Leuthen against the Austrians again.
  
• 1758 (1)the siege of Olmutz and the battle of Dornstadt (2)the battle of Zorndorf against the Russians (3)the battle of Hochkirk against the Austrians again.
  
• 1759 (1)The campaign in Silesia and Saxony to hold Austria at bay (2)the battle of Kunersdorf against the Russians (3)the campaign in Saxony against the Austrians.
  

By 1760 and 1761, both sides were feeling the exhaustion after nearly 4 years of war, and the pace slowed down, with France and then Russia dropping out of the war entirely by the end of 1761. That left Frederick free to face Austria alone in 1762, but by this point both German states were exhausted and neither side could impose peace on the other, so the Seven Year's War petered out in a negotiated peace that could be considered a negative victory for Prussia, as it retained its Silesian conquest and survived as a state.

Austria licked its wounds and rebuilt over the next thirty years, as did most of the rest of Europe (France and Britain fought another bloody war over America in the interim), but the real change happened about 15 years before our time, in 1789, when the King of France unexpectedly was toppled from his throne. At a stroke, the oldest and most powerful state in Europe was headless, and the power vacuum since then has seen the world turned upside down.

Maria Theresa and Old Fritz were both gone by this time - our own Empress passed in 1780, and Frederick in 1786. The current king of Prussia, Frederick William III, is no match for his famous grandfather. For our part, Emperor Francis II is also not really a patch on his grandmother. But we'll do our best with what we have.

After the French beheaded Louis XVI in 1792, we declared war with the other monarchies of Europe to put the rebels in their place and teach them respect for sovereigns. Through the 1790s, Austria bore the brunt of the war on land with France while Britain fought at sea. By 1796, we were on the brink of victory, when a Corsican adventurer was appointed to command the French Army of Italy. In a single year, he drove our armies back from the gates of France, defeated every foe sent against him, and ejected us from our Italian territories before imposing a peace on Austria, ending the First Coalition against France. After General Bonaparte betook himself to Egypt in 1798 in a harebrained scheme to overturn Britain's eastern possessions, we had another go in the Second Coalition - before Bonaparte returned, proclaimed himself First Consul of France, and kicked our asses again at the battle of Marengo in 1800. The war petered out afterwards, but last year, in 1804, Bonaparte crowned himself Napoleon I, Emperor of the French.

By 1805, Britain has been at war with France for years, while Napoleon squats in Boulougne and plots a way across the Channel. Britain has been pleading with the other great monarchies of Europe - ourselves, Prussia, and Russia - to rejoin the war against the upstart, and this year, we're inclined to listen...

Austria is the foremost power in Central Europe and has born the brunt of the war against France in the last 15 years. To our north is Prussia, still coasting on the reputation of Freidrich der Grosse, but Prussia has fought no major wars since Old Fritz. To the east is Russia, which cooperated with us and Prussia in dismembering moribund Poland. Moldova and Wallachia are Russian and Ottoman vassals, and to the south the Ottoman Empire is the sick man of Europe, not really capable of projecting much power at all. To the northwest are the German states, disunited and torn between France, Prussia, and Austria for leadership. To the southeast is the disunited Italian peninsula, though it has been largely unified under French domination. And finally, France to the east is once more our ancient enemy after a brief alliance against Frederick the Great.

Army technology hasn't advanced much since the great war against Prussia. We fight with the same cannon, the same muskets, the same cavalry, with the same tactics, by and large. We dispose of three major armies.

In Italy:

Our brother Archduke Charles, our most able commander, leads the Army of Italy, about 45,000 men, 3,500 cavalry, and 112 guns in 6 divisions. We historically have been successful in Italy, except when Napoleon commands in person (he humiliated us in 1796-97, culminating in the battle of Rivoli, and routed our army in a single battle at Marengo in 1800).

On the Danube:

General Mack leads the Army of Bavaria, about 65,000 men, 9,000 cavalry, and 160 guns in 8 divisions, our most powerful single formation, albeit poorly led and badly coordinated.

Finally, in the Alps, our brother John leads 15,000 men of the Army of Tyrolia, a reserve formation that can reinforce either front.

All told, we have about 127,000 mobile troops, 13,000 cavalry, and 330 guns in all field formations, backed by numerous garrison forces. It compares favorably with our strength during the Seven Year's War, and would be a good match for the armies of that time, but it's pretty badly outclassed by the French levee en masse. In fact, France has about 3 times our military strength:



In addition, the French are better led, better organized, better trained, with a higher morale...clearly, we can't hope to go toe to toe with Bonaparte on our own. We must form a Third Coalition with Russia, Britain, and hopefully Prussia to bring down the Ogre.

however, our objectives in this game are many. We need to conquer

In Italy:

• Milan
  
• Torino
  
• Firenze
  

In Germany:

• Munich
  
• Ulm
  
• Frankfurt
  
• Zurich
  

And in Silesia, Russia, and the Balkans:

• Breslau
  
• Belgrade
  
• Bucharest
  
• Sarajevo
  
• Corfu
  
• Kiev
  

So, we will need to defeat in turn the French for their Italian and German satellite possessions, the Prussians to regain Breslau (and Silesia), the Ottomans for much of their Balkan possessions, and finally the Russians for Corfu and Kiev. Each one of our major neighbors, then, must be attacked at some point in the next decade. I have never played as Austria before - as France you can comfortably war with all of Europe and defeat each in turn to gain your objectives, but as noted France starts with about 400,000 men, enough to overpower any single state or even any two in coalition. Austria does...not.

The biggest issue we have is that we are still maneuvering and fighting with small forces of 40,000 - 60,000 men, as if it were the Seven Year's War (when such a force would make up 2-3 stacks and maneuver on that smaller map). Now our operations span much larger provinces (a single stack now can encompass about 40,000 men without penalties, even higher once you build appropriate HQ units - but also the map is larger scale and your single stack covers more space) and we need to coordinate larger armies. For example, here is the old Rise of Prussia theater of war, now rendered (snow-bound since it's January) in Wars of Napoleon:


At the top of the map you can see Dresden, and Prague in the center. Vienna now fits on a single screen, and is at bottom. You can also see the old fortresses of Brun, Olmutz, and Koniggratz that figured so prominently when we were Frederick. The map in Rise of Prussia stretched from the Rhine to the Vistula, more or less, and from the Baltic to the Danube. Wars of Napoleon extends from Scotland to Egypt, Moscow to Lisbon, and many off-map boxes to manuever and fight in as well (the War of 1812 can distract the British, for example). It's a much larger scale we now operate on.

The French corps system, newly instituted by Napoleon, is the way forward, but our military establishment is conservative and tradition-bound. They won't hear of any French nonsense until we get our asses kicked in the field a few times:



We can't reform into the French division/corps system until 1810, which is going to be a new experience for me. Until then, we're stuck with our clumsy old command system, and that means the French will run rings around us and be able to defeat many times their numbers.

So, the plan for the first few years of the game is to try and be cautious. We won't repeat Austria's blunders of 1805, but make new, exciting blunders of our own. I want to try to minimize our losses to the French until we can reform our army, and in the meantime try to pick off isolated objectives from the Germans or Ottomans. If we can defeat the French in a war and get those objectives, we can then turn on Prussia and finally Russia for our final targets.

The game will be slow at first, as I try to remain at peace as long as possible, but the War of the Third Coalition may be scripted to happen regardless. So I won't do monthly updates until war breaks out, since mostly I'll be occupied with administrative tasks of recruiting and organizing our armies until then. I'll summarize the whole period of peace in one update, and then we'll do our usual operational updates and discussion. This will take a while - turn processing in WoN is very long, due to each individual nation having to plan its moves (in RoP it's just two players, the two rival coalitions), so one turn can take as long as 15 minutes to process. With weekly turns and ten years, that means 520 turns = more than hundred hours to reach 1815, and I can only play about 45 minutes a day, so don't expect daily updates.

Anyway, see you all soon!

[sunrise089]

It’s morning so I am ready for my promised daily update

[shallow_thought]

Presumably if you play as Britain you just hit "play", pay some money every few turns, turn up at the end and take the credit?

Don't get me wrong, that was the smart historical play ...

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I'll be looking forward to Wars of Napoleon.  Why does it take 15 minutes per turn when AGEOD doesn't have nearly as many characters and events to keep track of as in, say, Crusader Kings?