Stefan replaced the Ottoman bot, but Russell, had to leave early and was replaced by the Russian bot.
Once again, for your delectation, Richard, has provided a very fancy AAR which I have done my very best to preserve the formatting and fonts despite the assistance of Google Blogger.
From Entree to Main Corpse
Russia as a P(r)awn in Great Power Politics
A Degustation by Richard
Entree:
Stuffed Ottomans on a bed of Greek Treachery with bitter Sauce Anglaise
Turn 4 resumed with the Russian Impulse.
Tsar Russellovich Romanov ordered the army to be strengthened and all leave was cancelled. The German legation to the Ottoman Porte urged the new Sultan Stefan to bring his armies to a state of readiness and offered the assistance of German military advisors in the event of an outbreak of hostilities.
Britain played Hydraulic Recoil to ensure there would be more casualties, as all battles would now be more deadly.
In a widely telegraphed move, Russia plays Russo-Turkish wars and declares a war of conquest against the Ottomans with the capture of Bulgaria as the war aim.
The Russian player calls on Alliance partners Britain and France to join them in the war against the Ottomans*. France honourably rebuffs the Russians and they suffer a loss of stability and gain 10 Neutral CP on the Alliance track. In a shock move, Britain sides with the Russians and enters the war against the beleaguered Ottomans.
* The Russian player needn't have asked formally. The difference is that asking for help causes consequences if the request is denied. There is no obligation on Alliance partners to participate in an ally's war unless they are asked.
Unwilling to suffer a loss to stability, the British cynically support Russia. But Prime Minister Mark is not happy having to play a valuable card that had (ironically) been earmarked for use to re-calibrate diplomatic efforts with the Persians in the Great Game area, control of which is contested with their erstwhile Russian allies. The British eventually repay the Russians the "favour", but more on that later.
Britain plans on using their Greek allies as proxies in the same way the Russians will use their Romanian allies. This will put the Ottomans at a significant disadvantage as they will not be able to concentrate their forces against the main threat from Russia.
Russia sends its Romanian allies against the Ottomans who are repulsed with heavy losses. Despite a gallant defence, including being stabbed in the back by the Greco-British force who menace the Ottomans from the rear. The Russians bring up reserves and eject the Ottomans from Bulgaria. The Ottomans withdraw to Istanbul and it appears to be too tough a nut to crack so Russia concludes hostilities. Russia achieves its war aim and Bulgaria is annexed to Russia.
The Austrians play the Wilhelm II mandatory card which means that the Germans lose access to the Otto von Bismarck home card for future turns. This causes the Germans no real problems as the main advantage of the Bismarck card is in wars of unification, which had already been completed.
The Russians and Ottomans exchange truces and there can me no more wars between them until turn 6.
Meanwhile a scandal erupts in Britain over the Balkan Affair.
BALKAN BEAR BAITS BRITAIN -The Honey Trap the headline in THE TIMES read
Following an expose in an editorial highly critical of the Prime Minister, there is widespread criticism of Prime Minister Mark who is condemned as a Russophile for siding with Russia.
The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Richard, tabled a leaked Démarche (see below) from the Germans.
"The Prime Minister had been warned in advance and failed to take any action to deter Russian aggression to avoid the risk of Britain being dragged into a Balkan conflict for no appreciable benefit. In joining in a war of aggression Britain's good name has been trashed by the Prime Minister" he raged.
The Prime Minister was roundly boo-ed in the Commons whilst trying to defend intervening in the Russo-Turkish conflict on the side of the Russians.
"Shame!, Shame!" shouted the Liberals.
"but we needed Stability" cried the PM plaintively, barely audible over the boos.
Several Cabinet Members resigned in disgust and the Conservative Government of Prime Minister Mark fell after losing a no confidence vote in the Commons.
The Liberals are emboldened and embarked on a highly successful anti-militarist campaigns which plagues continental powers in nearly every turn for the rest of the game, forcing them to disband armies, including ones which had often only just been raised.
The Franco-German truce expires, but there is friendly frontier fraternisation and all is quiet. To celebrate the rapprochement, the Germans rename their famous Torte to "Black Forrest Cateaux" in honour of the French President.
France moves towards neutrality following Alliance Resolution, whilst the Ottomans are pushed further into the Triple Alliance.
The German Démarche:
Botschaft des Deutsches Reiches London
9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG
The Right Honourable Mark H
Foreign Secretary
Excellency
Our embassy in St Petersburg is currently investigating rumours of preparations for War in the Balkans by Tsar Russelovich Romanov.
Our Ambassador, Count von Richard had attended the Winter Palace to present his letters of credence to the Tsar. Following on from the formalities, the Tsar accepted an invitation to join our Ambassador in a day of games today in our Embassy on Ballajurovskaya Square. The Tsar was found to be keenly studying our map showing the dispositions of the Great Powers. The Tsar openly talked of "Balkan Options", how various Home Cards worked as well as discussing how alliance partners might react.*
His Imperial Majesty's government wishes to convey its grave concerns of a wider conflict should Britain be drawn into the conflict as an Alliance partner of Russia following any request by the Tsar.
His Imperial Majesty's government cautions against any move likely to enfeeble the Ottoman Empire through a war of conquest as the primary beneficiary of such a course of action is likely to be Russia.
His Imperial Majesty's government further expresses alarm at possible consequences for Her Majesty's Imperial Possessions in the East should an emboldened Russia continue her reckless expansionist agenda.
Whilst not formally obliged under current Alliance obligations, His Imperial Majesty's government intends to send a high level military attache to the court of the new sultan Stefan to assist him in organising and repulsing any Russian aggression which might be directed at his realm.
I'm sure your Excellency is alarmed at these developments as is his Imperial Majesty and will join with us in doing all that is possible to ensure the magnificent pacificity that is your Pax Britannica.
Our Ambassador is ready to call on your Excellency at your convenience to discuss these alarming developments with a view to Alliance positioning options in the future to deter not only Russian but other voracious expansionistic attempts to undermine your global Power Projection.
Your Excellency's Obedient Servant
Prince C
* This cryptic is a reference to the fact that our game has to be left set up over several weeks and can be observed by other players during different gaming sessions.
Turn 5
Main Corpse: Russian Riga Rolls topped by St Petersburg Sally
There is a flurry of diplomatic activity from the Wilhelmstrasse.
Germany sounds out Britain and France on their attitude to a war against Russia. Britain declares they won't intervene and France has other plans. Germany explains to France that it is reluctant to open hostilities against Russia as the attitude of the Austrians is unknown. Clarity could be provided by France if they launched their own war against Austria suggests Count von Richard. Monsieur Cateaux listens impassively, but with a fistful of cards informs his German counterpart that France has other plans.
The Sepoy mutiny breaks out in India. Britain builds another colonial army and the Sepoys are swiftly crushed.
Russia plays Dreadnoughts as their first card play and as a result gets 2 free Dreadnoughts.
An uprising in Sicily is quickly crushed by the Austrians, snuffing out any shoots of an Italian unification.
The diplomatically mischievous Austrians play Polish Revolt and select Poland and West Ukraine for the site of the Polish Rebel armies.
Russia mobilises against the Polish insurrectionists, but suffers an embarrassing initial defeat with heavy losses. They eventually succeed in putting down the Polish rebellion.
Against the advice of his ministers, the Tsar embarks on tour of re-pacified Poland.
In a shocking development, the Tsar, Russelovich Romanov is assassinated by a German railway clerk with Polish sympathies whilst he was reviewing troops who put down the Polish revolt. The Kaiser was aghast. REGICIDE! he scribbled in margin of the official report of the incident. Poor Nicky....he wrote.
Unbeknownst to the Kaiser, a pro-war party has gained the ascendancy inside the German government and the Assassination of the Tsar was a calculated move to weaken the Russian hand of cards.
The Assassination costs the Russians a card. The new Tsar, is the former Tsar's cousin, Grand Duke Botovich II and he now takes a more prescriptive approach to managing the empire. (One of the advantages of this game is that a Bot player can take over as happened at this point when the Russian player had to leave the game).
With the Russians having been weakened, suffering heavy losses putting down the Polish revolt, the War Party in Germany senses now is the time to make their move to avoid the dreaded Einkreisung (encirclement of Germany) which is the motivation for one of the German National Goals selected during the game.
Having secured diplomatic support (non-intervention by Russia's allies), the Germans declare a war of conquest, targeting Riga. The main purpose of attacking Russia was not really territorial gain, however, it was to tease out Britain and particularly France from the Triple Entente, more on how this plays out later.
Russia asks alliance partners Britain and France to join her in the war with Germany. Britain now finding alliance obligations irksome declines, as does France. Both suffer stability losses and gain 10 CP worth of Neutral CP on the Alliance track.
Germany quickly occupies Riga, but the real prize will be an attempt on St Petersburg and the two treaty options that would come with winning a major victory.
The Germans call up their reserves but the Russians use their excellent new railways (thanks to rapid industrialisation) to pour reinforcements into the St Petersburg area to screen their capital.
After a lot of manoeuvring, the Germans finally pick Novgorod as the place most favourable to engage the Russian army, which has consolidated quickly to face the German threat to the capital.
The Germans have a narrow advantage, only a +2 DRM, but succeed in inflicting a defeat (thanks to play of Prussian Military Tradition and an extra +1 DRM) on the Russians who must retreat . The Germans advance and occupy Novgorod driving a wedge between the Russian armies. The Russians immediately launch a counter attack from St Petersburg. This is successful and the Germans are expelled from Novogorod. Unfortunately after taking losses, the remaining impetuous Russians are required to advance from St Petersburg, leaving it undefended and they were then easily outflanked as the Germans took St Petersburg by storm in their next manoeuvre stage. The Germans win a major victory. Riga is ceded to the Germans and they also chose Colonial Cession, selecting Kuwait. Gaining Kuwait would be crucial in securing a vital end game +2 VPs if the Germans could also secure 6 colonial keys in total by game end.
Austria plays Death of Franz Joseph and grant full citizenship to the Czechs.
All powers industrialise except Germany which fails to industrialise, rolling a 1 (only a 2 or more was needed).
France allies Ethiopia.
Britain gains the Libya and Benghazi spaces from the Ottomans following play of Loose Grip.
Britain and France move toward neutrality following the Alliance resolution phase and France is now neutral.
Turn 6
The Ketchup Incident
The debut of Russian Dreadnoughts caused a sensation amongst the Powers.
Keen to see these new behemoths for himself, the Kaiser who had been on his annual Baltic cruise aboard the royal yacht SMS Hohenzollern, dropped anchor off Kronstadt and invited his distant 3rd cousin the new Tsar aboard for lunch.
In possibly the most fateful misunderstood order in history and one to which only the Kaiser could have been party, as they were about to make a start on their Bismarck Herrings, the Kaiser waving his fork over his plate, but looking in the direction of the two massive Russian vessels exclaimed "Vee must have Ketchup!". Sitting next to the Kaiser was the Head of the Imperial Navy, the elderly and slightly hard of hearing German Admiral Meishörd, . He dutifully noted in his diary: "Build Dreadnoughts to catch up to Russia" unwittingly sparking the most costly naval build up in history!
The turn proceeded briskly with all the powers concentrating on building their navies and armies and the carve up of Africa continued apace. The whole continent is eventually colonised.
The most exciting development, however, was generated by the Russian Bot.
Tsar Botovich plays Empire of the Sun, and Korea (French controlled) is targeted and Japan wins the battle to control the space. Then Russia persuades Japan to shed its alliance with Britain and join them. With one card play the Russian bot steals a space from France and then gains an ally at the expense of Britain.
Britain continues its diplomatic offensive and allies Mexico and works on re-aligning Japan after the Russian Bot upended the existing alliance arrangements.
Austria grants Romanian citizens full rights following the play of Franz Ferdinand and then incorporates Romania into the empire. This isolates the Russians in a Bulgarian exclave, ripe for re-incorporation into the Ottoman Empire should an opportunity present itself.
Turn 7
Dessert - Battered Bulgarian Baklava
Coffee - A bitter Austrian Blend
Following the Russians defeat at the hands of the Germans, the Ottomans seize the opportunity of reduced world tensions and declare a war of liberation on Russia to reclaim Bulgaria. The Ottomans easily rout the isolated Russians and reclaim Bulgaria for the Sultan resulting in much Turkish Delight.
The Russian Corpse continues to be hacked away, as Britain orchestrates an alliance re-alignment, with Persia. (payback for wasting a card on the Russo Turkish War intervention) Persia ally with Britain over Russia. This hands control of the Great Game Flashpoint to Britain.
The Russians have been severely battered over the last few turns, losing Romania as an ally, Bulgaria as a key, Kuwait as a colony and Persia as an ally, costing them control of the Great Game Flashpoint and multiple keys and stability. They have been the pawn and main casualty in this game of Great Power Politics.
The Boxer Rebellion breaks out. France and Germany convoy armies across the globe to suppress Boxer atrocities. Britain used their ally Japan's armies as a proxy, however, this should not have been allowed as Ally forces may only be used during a war (against another player power) not during peace turns. (Ed: No matter, Britain could easily have used the two Indian armies instead.)
France muses an attack on Egypt and her Suez Canal to shore up control of the Africa flashpoint, but with the World Tension Track at 3, they are unable to launch a War of Conquest. Despite a massive hand of cards (France started the turn with 10+ their Home Card), a frustrated France opts for diplomatic intervention despite being advised by the Austrians to be patient if they wanted to pursue a military solution.
Egypt ejects Ottoman diplomats and France installs their own, then ally Egypt seizing control of the Suez Canal and also control of the Africa flashpoint.
The cheeky protocol sticklers in Vienna play Death of Edward the VII, lowering the WTT to 2 and then reminding the French they told them to wait.
There was a lot of jockeying for position and trying to avoid a Crisis Roll as the WTT teetered into the danger zone at level 4 after the Black Hand and Shifting Alliances mandatory cards had been played increasing the WTT track again.
The powers spend the rest of the turn shoring up diplomatic missions across the globe.
Austria is particularly jealous of their rivals alliances and spends the rest of the turn, stripping Belgium from Britain, which ends the game unaligned and the Netherlands from Germany. Austria has been notable throughout the game for their aggressive Strudel Doctrine, concentrating on pin prick diplomatic actions to unsettle the other player powers' positions.
With the conclusion of turn 7 the game ends and all powers reveal their National Goals and score VPs accordingly.
The final scores are:
Germany: 12
Britain: 9
France: 8
Ottomans: 8
Austria Hungary: 6
Russia: 3
Denouement
Here is my summary of what I was trying to achieve in the game.
The choice of National Goals (NGs) is partly choice from a random selection. This means that cards which might have been advantageous given the game state haven't necessarily been available for selection. This is somewhat harsh as all the powers did well measured against the NGs they chose. Still it is part of the challenge to try and work towards the cards you've drawn, but not lose sight of what other powers might be trying to achieve.
It can be quite a challenge as illustrated by the German NGs I drew.
German National Goals and Strategy
The German National Goals drawn were:
Turn 1: No Great War
Turn 3: Surrounded
Turn 5: Unification.
I decided to pursue German Unification regardless of whether the card would come up. It has the advantages of strengthening Germany and weakening France. (Although France went from strength to strength in this game despite German Unification at one stage having a hand of 11 cards to play with!) Although Germany unified on turn 3, it wasn't until turn 5 and the drawing of the Unification NG that it generated any Victory Points, with it earning 4 valuable points in the final wash up.
The first two NG cards were the best amongst others drawn that were even less favourable. Surrounded, particularly, as this required France to either be neutral AND Russia and Austria to not be in the same Alliance. This card looked like being impossible to fulfill as France was fully committed to the Triple Entente for most of the game.
The only way to achieve the Surrounded NG was to somehow get France out of the Triple Entente. This opportunity presented itself and was the major motivator in the German declaration of a war of conquest against Russia. If France refused to participate, it would gain +10 Neutral Alliance Chart points and would start the march toward neutrality. An Ottoman attack to reclaim Bulgaria from the Russians sealed the French move to neutrality and this played into the German's NG securing another 3 VPs.
Overall it was a very close affair and the whole game and system is a delight to play even given a few teething issues with a first play through. The NGs are secret and whilst it should be possible to deduce some of them by observing game play, one can never be sure. This makes for a very interesting game and avoids a possible pile on to the leader problem in games where the VP total is public knowledge.
Here are the impressions from the other players.
Britain:
"As Great Britain my goals were max stability, no GW and max allies. The most I could get was 3 points each, so I achieved that, but there seems no way to get additional VPs and so could never come close to getting 12 like Germany had (one was a 4 VP card, but they also had an extra 2VPs from keys)".
In so far as additional VPs is concerned, I guess in playing one has to be mindful of what the other players can be rewarded for. The German player was lucky to have drawn the unification card. Prior to drawing that, the other cards were no Great War which one can never be certain of achieving despite best efforts and the getting the VP from the Surrounded was immensely tricky and relied on several things going my way. Beating Russia and France staying out.
As far as I can see, only Germany and Russia get extra VPs from game state conditions as opposed to NGs. Germany gets 2 VPs from having 6 colonial possessions, whilst Russia can earn 2VPs by capturing Istanbul.
The German total could quite easily have been zero if a Great War had broken out. It would be an interesting exercise to game out a Great War outbreak from the current game state to see how this might have altered the outcome.
The likelihood of a Great War breaking out is also an interesting point. It was only really in the last turn that this could have been a possibility as the WTT track was only ever at 4 once and that was in the last turn. Militating against a crisis roll is the physical and mental state of the players who for whatever reason wish to conclude the game as quickly as possible, so there might also be some psychology involved in choosing this NG depending on your perception of how players in your group tend to approach such situations.
Russia:
"My NG included keeping OT to no more than two sites in the Balkans and capturing 4 sites in Europe - faint hope!
Mistakes included not building up reserve armies in readiness for war. So when you declared war I was short of troops. Didn’t really appreciate that reserve armies could be used to circumvent the manpower constraint. Also spent too much time faffing about in the Balkans. Should have gone for a quick hit against Istanbul".
You were doing really well, but you might have launched your attack too early. A well prepared strike at the Ottomans probably needs to come through the Balkans as well as the Caucasus. With a potentially significantly bigger army it should be achievable to break through to Istanbul. You also had the advantage of your entrepot in Kuwait, so a third front. All food for thought in future games, including for Britain and France standing up for the Ottomans if this scenario presented itself.
France:
"My National goals were: 1. City of lights: Achieved 3VP, 2. 6 x colonial territories Achieved: 3VP 3. Most allies: second with 2 VPs. but still only 8 VPs!"
You should consider it a success as in game terms you achieved your National Goals. You also had a plethora of cards so lots of fun opportunities to exploit.
Austria:
"In order, Prevent Italian Unification 3pts , Most European Keys *pts, Most European Allies *pts. Achieved first 2, failed last through combination of factors, my play, misreading of a card and enemy action. Better play would have got me 8pts. My last 3 cards to select were poor. If I had of drawn 4 nationalities included would have scored ten. After you convinced me not get involved in Germany I concentrated on dominating Italy and avoiding conflict. It could have been a winning strategy"
"In the last turn I thought the secret treaty card would allow me to grab Piedmont late in game, it being used against me earlier. If I had read it properly earlier, I would not have included Romania into the Empire but left it as an ally. Would have then got 8 or 9 pts. First game is always a learning experience and despite result I enjoyed it a lot".
I thought you did really well. I think an accommodation with Prussia frees the Austrian's hand considerably and would be my go to strategy if playing Austria. Yes that's right, If you had drawn the NG Bind them Together you would have got 4 points out of that as you'd granted 4 nationalities citizenship.
Ottomans:
The Ottomans were played by a Bot for the first session and then a human player for the second session. Normally Bot NGs are only drawn at the end of the game and the number depends on the difficulty assigned.
In order not to completely disadvantage the now human player, only 2 NGs were drawn at random for the Ottomans and then the human player drew another one at the end of turn 5.
The Ottoman NGs were:
Death Grip, which they achieved for a total of 4 VPs
Scramble for Africa: Most keys in Africa Third place for a total of 1 VP
Europeanisation: An industry level of 4 for 3 VPs (Achieved with the very last card play of the game!)
Without doubt, the toughest Power to play, but as can be seen in the final scores, the Ottomans are very resilient and do well if they can limit their territorial losses.
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