Paths of Glory - it was over by the end of Summer 1915

After out first game and also since I've been playing this game solitaire on Vassal, I was keen to play Paths of Glory again.   This time I was the Central Powers and Richard the Allied Powers.

As per the historical scenario the AP had a successful attack on Liege/Sedan.  Moltke was then struck with indecision, but Falkenhayn soon put him right and this moved the Central Powers to Limited War (which brings in Turkey, but I didn't realise this till later).  Russia attacked Tarnopol, the Germans created the Sud Army (although weren't ready to put it into effect).  Austria-Hungary attacked Belgrade.  A significant battle occurred at Tannenberg which (in hindsight) took the wind out of any Russian offensives for the rest of the game.  The French used Paris taxis to rush troops to the front.

In September Ge attacked Lomza and Belfort while AH  launched a major assault against Serbia.  The Allies tried to gain the CP's attention by attacking Sedan and Liege.  Ru brought on their 9th and 10th armies, Fr made a first attempt to retake Belfort.  AP cried foul over the Rape of Belgium which the CP decried as fake news!

Fall 1914 Bulgaria enters the war.  Both the CP and AP raise new armies. Ge takes Warsaw, AH conquer Serbia and Albania.  The High Seas Fleet sorties and the AP implement a Blockade.

Winter 1914 Italy enters the war.  CP rush troops to the Italian border just in time.  Ge fails to make a mandatory attack.

Spring 1915 Ge use Chorine Gas on the Russian Front.  Phosgene gas is used by the AP on the Western Front.  Italy fails to make a mandatory attack.

Summer 1915 AH attacks in the Alps while Ge abandon Mulhouse which the Fr then occupy.  Italy makes a disastrous counterattack which is then exploited by AH.  Br has an equally disastrous attack at Liege.

This is the situation at the end of Summer 1915.  AP replacements had been allocated, but the VP marker not adjusted.  It should be around 15 or 16.  At this stage AH had achieved all its war goals and then some!  The Tsar is still on the throne but Britain has lost the BEF.  France and Germany can negotiate their border, and Poland?  Not sure how Russia can save face.

Very challenging game as things can develop quickly and a few bad outcomes can prove catastrophic if the forces are already worn down (as happened to Br and It).  

After this session it is fair to say Richard is not as enamoured with this game as I am.  I enjoy it as a game.  As a simulation of WW1, not sure and then did WW1 have to play out as it did?  Certainly area movement and card based make for a quiet different game to what we usually play.  

 

Paths of Glory - Completion

Richard and I finished our game.

Things started to look pretty grim for the Russians as the Germans launched an offensive towards Riga.

However, in a bold move the Russians were able to cut off the German armies.

While the Germans fought to reestablish supply, the Serbs and Italians launched a series of offensives that broke the Austro-Hungarian positions, threatening to surround their armies and capture Budapest and Vienna.

The Central Powers were able to get Bulgaria to enter the war and this caused the Serbs to about face.  The Greeks also came to the aid of the Allied Powers.

While the Central Powers were busy stabilising the Russian, Italian and Balkan Fronts the French and British started a rolling wave of offensives on the Western Front.  By this time the Germans were exhausted and losses quickly mounted, even as they hurriedly strategically brought troops back from the Russian Front.  Western Germany was overrun and British troops entered Berlin where they were warmly welcomed by their cousins, in-laws, and business partners, although a fight broke out about what they had been fighting about and whatever it had been, each side knew the other side had started it!

Great game, horribly nerve wrecking and fast playing

Paths of Glory

One thing leads to another and having played Guns of August I was told that Paths of Glory is highly recommended and before I knew it Richard had procured a copy and we had our first session yesterday.  Richard provided this AAR of our progress so far.

The Germans starting with their obligatory play of Guns of August, smashing the Liege forts and are immediately activated for an attack on Sedan. Electing to take the 66% chance of a successful flank attack on a solitary French army in Sedan, they promptly fail to outflank and are immediately counterattacked by the French who give the Germans a very bloody nose with a loss maximum of 5 losses. The Germans inflict an absorbable 2 points on the French leaving their army unscathed. In an all out Offensive au Outrance the French attack aggressively and inflict further losses on the Germans stalling their assault through Belgium. The BEF conducts a Mons style tactical retreat in the face of a successful German flanking attack on Belgium recouping the loss inflicted on them whilst dishing out more losses on the Germans. At this stage the Schlieffen Plan has fallen apart and the Germans don't even worry about a "race to the sea" unless they are thinking of the Baltic of course, instead, retiring out of the Sedan kill zone to lick their wounds.

Elsewhere the Austro-Hungarians take out their frustrations on the Serbs (and everyone else as they keep rolling the Mandated Offensives) who cannot hold Belgrade in the face of the Austro-Hungarian assault. The Russian front is initially quiet with some minor manoeuvring by both sides as both the CP and AP slog it out in Belgium and France. With a short lull in proceedings on that front, the Russians launch a major offensive into Galicia capturing that province and its VP locations. In the mean time, the Germans have commenced offensive operations against Russia and Lodz and Warsaw fall in quick succession and the Russians suffer a lot of casualties in the face of the advancing Germans. Further German attacks along the Prussian border see the Russians evacuate Kovno and the frontier fortress city with it's fortress now in ruins after heavy fighting is primed for the taking. Further south a German incursion through Brest Litovsk threatens the flank of the considerable Russian forces massed in  Galicia. After a long siege, the fortress of Przemysl falls to the Russians. In the meantime, Italy entered the war and was unable to resist an advance into Trent to besiege that fortress. Their joviality did not last long as a full German army arrived to break the siege just before the siege resolution phase. The weak AH forces can only look on as their pitifully weak frontier forces can only manage an equal exchange of losses after being forced to do yet another mandated offensive. Still the Italians look like they could be brushed aside without too much effort. If only there was a spare army.  (There are none).

In possibly the most controversial move of the day, Marechal du Haughey, henceforth known as "le toxique" not contented with Offensive au Outrance unleashed a phosgene gas attack on some, (suspecting as it turned out) Germans, who quickly donned their gas masks and blunted the attack.

In a further affront to accepted WW1 tactics, other than the initial play of the "Entrench" card which  the Germans played to give themselves are fighting chance and save themselves from a 3 pronged flank attack, has been the one and only trench dug in the game so far. The Germans seem to have dropped most of their shovels in the fall back through Belgium, and the aggressive British and French attackers have so far spurned digging, preferring a campaign of manoeuvre.

The French army's successes in blunting the Germans has come at a very high price with the corps reserves being run down to a bare minimum. Any more than a couple of big losses in the next few turns could see significant changes in the front line. The Germans are in a slightly more advantageous position, but having to fight so many simultaneous brush fires are also stretched. The Russian steamroller is gearing up, which way will it turn -to the North to save the VP locations or east to fight another day or emulate the French and try to break the AH Carpathian mountain defensive line.

Meanwhile in sunny Egypt the Turks and British glare at each other across the Sinai peninsula in a mostly forgotten near east. The Turks thought better of a mandated offensive and the British have their MEF unit poised for something in the Aegean just off the Gallipoli peninsula. A wait and see and wait some more approach by both sides.

Horrendous losses on both sides, teetering near the collapse point and its only just coming up to 1916. Which side has more blood to give?