Conquest: Germany

[archkyrie]

The Fatherland is invading Germany.
1st Brigade with 10 units with Marskman Rifle KF1904s
10th Iron Brigade with 100 units with Infantry Rifle GF1856s
Supported by 10 infantry carried Man-Portable MG MF1904s
2nd Calvary Brigade with 10 units with horse mounted MG MF1904s

[Sgtsammac]

Germany is a well established country that has until now boasted a strong military presence. The rise of "Nations" however has severely threatened this strength. The battle shall take place in the fields just outside the capitol city. The terrain is very open and hilly, creating several shallow valleys and providing ample places for crewed guns.

The German militia will be formed of 100 infantry with generic standard rifles, 5 marksmen, 5 MGs, and a pair of 6lb howitzers. Due to the fight taking place so close to the capitol, the militia have had time to prepare.

You may make the assaulting post. Be aware the howitzers are placed a few thousand yards behind the German front lines at the peak of one of the hills.

[archkyrie]

Using the hills as cover, the majority of the men move in to get within marksman range.
The 100 infantry and their 10 mgs are hunkering down in cover and engaging the enemy from positions in the hills.
Four of the snipers are focusing on the howitzers, two per gun, to attempt to kill the crew or at least keep them suppressed and unable to fire their weapons.
The remaining 6 markmen are aiming and picking off the enemy infantry when they expose themselves to fire at the Austrian infantry.
The 10 horse mounted MG gunners Have flanked in the opposite direction, using the shallow valleys and taking a wider circuit to flank in from just behind the enemy line and to the side, plunging straight toward, and then through the enemy infantry, possibly trampling several, while firing their MGs at them the entire time (accuracy getting better as draw closer, being point blank as they storm through the infantry).

[archkyrie]

(I wanna conquer this place already Malachi, y u need sleep?)

[Sgtsammac]

(You went to sleep as I posted, then I had to work all day )

Your men took some losses as they were moving into position, from the howitzer fire. (10 men)
From there your marksmen very successfully instill fear into the German main force, keeping most of them pinned, or dead. (40 Germans dead)
However you have a few major flaws in your plan so far.
First, you've ignored their MGs. 2 of which focus on your anti-infantry marksmen, sending hundreds of rounds into the cover they were hiding in or behind. (You lose 3 of them, the other 3 are left pinned)
Second, you've forgotten how vulnerable mounted cavalry is to MG fire. With the MGs stationed higher than the infantry, they have a better view of the area and spot the cavalry as it's making it's way through the final stretch. Unleashing the final 3 MGs upon the horsemen, they won't last long. (5 are dead now, the rest will die if you don't alter their plan)
Third, you've ignored their marksmen, who triangulate and spot 2 of the anti-howitzer snipers and kill them.
Fourth, and I'm letting this one slide, you've grossly miscalculated the distance to the howitzers you're trying to snipe. "A few thousand yards" is far more than any marksman in this era could possibly hope to reach. At minimum the howitzers are 1.7 miles behind the front lines. (Taking 'few' as 3, though it can mean more, where 'couple' is of course 2) After letting it slide, your marksmen do manage to disable one howitzer crew (Assuming it happened at the absolute max range they could, both of them should receive amazing medals or something).

You still have most of your infantry, and some of your marksmen. If your cavalry retreat you'll also have half your cavalry. And now that your men have made it to the hills they are mostly protected from the howitzer.

(I honestly didn't expect you to make the choices you did, I may have planned this battle above you. But I promise you this is still winnable, it's just going to be painful at this point. Also, before you try and go head to head with the MGs using yours. I'd like to remind you the trade off between light and heavy MG. Mobility vs Range/Power. Deployed MGs are deff going to outrange, and out accuracy, light MGs fired from horses.)

[archkyrie]

Well, to be honest, I didn't know what to do with the MGs since you didn't give me much information about where they were or how they were being used. Like, for instance, them being set up higher. I had assumed, since you made the comment about valleys and being good for machine gun crews, that the machine guns were set in the valleys.
Also I had envisioned the horse men flanking extremely wide and coming from behind, where they wouldn't be spotted before they hit the enemy line, or if they were spotted that it'd take time to turn the machine guns around on them.
I will admit I forgot their marksmen, and had lumped those mentally with the normal soldiers.
Regarding the howitzers... I admit I am fault there. With the distance measured in yards I hadn't really stopped to think just how far that was.
(I see now in my mental image RTS map it wasn't nearly far enough)
Not exactly sure how to fix my horseman situation. I think I had envisioned them being far more effective then they were. But also I had envisioned them getting the surprise and at least having a chance to kill things before they were shot.

Alright, well lets see... how on earth can I salvage this.... ugh...
Okay. 5 of the MGs with my infantry switch to targeting the enemy marksmen, the remaining 5 MGs continue suppressing the enemy main body while the remaining 90 infantry of mine continue to fire at those who present themselves, and continue to slowly move up.
My 3 anti infantry marksmen are now focusing on the MGs.
My remaining 2 anti-howitzer sniping teams are readjusting their cover to compensate for enemy fire and continuing to press forwards to get close enough to take better shots at the remaining howitzer crew.
The five remaining horsemen quickly turn to the nearest cover and do a fast dismount. Laying prone, they take advantage of the top feeding magazine of their mgs to fire from prone at the enemy mgs. They'll creep forward to get closer whenever safely possible to try and get close enough for better accuracy.

(While I take full blame for the mistakes in my plan, I should have planned better, I do think that if we're going to hold higher tactical standards, then the NPC opposition should be posted with better clarity, because it is hard to make a solid assault plan when very little has been made clear at the start.)

[Sgtsammac]

(Actually I left exact details on where the enemy was out on purpose. When you plan a battle you should do it in "if/than" style, especially when you are missing some bit of information. But, you're right for the future, I won't do it that way as it's not good for gameplay. And I meant valleys are good for machine gun crews to fire into, not sit in. Set a machine gun on the hill looking into a valley and you have a perfect bucket to shoot fish in. Which is exactly what happened. It's ok though, I accidentally lumped your 10 infantry MGs in with your normal troops as well xD So that's kinda an accidental ace up your sleeve now.)

The remaining howitzer randomly pounds the area your infantry was last seen, 5 stragglers die before your snipers manage to silence it.
Your other snipers at least manage to pin or kill all the MG crews.
Which allows your now dismounted MGs to move forward into range safely and unleash hell. (All German MGs are down)
You successfully control the field and your main force engages the German infantry, supported by your MGs and Snipers.

All German units are dead, you lost an additional 10 infantry during the final fight. (15 total this post.)
You now own Germany


(When I posted my original plan, the idea was your cavalry would make the 1.7mile run, using the hills as cover. They're fast, and the howitzers were unprotected back there. Your larger sniper group would be able to kill or pin both the enemy snipers and MGs long enough for your troops to move forward. The howitzers were mostly a shock and awe / attrition thing. You need full batteries of 6 or more for them to be truly helpful. So they could have even been left alone until last. With no one on the front lines to send coordinates, they'd have to guess where to fire. But the cavalry doing anything while snipers or MGs are active... is pretty much suicide. They're huge soft targets. Deff one of the things RL generals took too long to realize during WWI.)

[archkyrie]

(good fight )

The wounded are tended to, on both sides. Enemy injured soldiers are often a choice between jail or service in the Austrian army when they recover. Efforts to earn the goodwill of the population begin at once, using methods perfected during Wulf Eckhardt's unification of Austria.
The dead are buried in a manner respecting their sacrifice.
Plans to erect a statue to commemorate the battle are started.

(Yeah, I can see what you mean. I hadn't really thought of that, I had mostly done a "this is what I know, so I'll fit a plan to kill what I know very well" in hindsight it is a pretty silly method Also, in hindsight the MG thing makes a lot more sense too, just going in my brain didn't connect the dots >.< But yeah, my infantry MGs are what kept me from losing hope. I was like "hey, I still has these, I should use 'em" and thinking back I probably should have used them in a more active sense as well.)(why am I still using parentheses? the battle is over )

Yeah, so, I'm thinking I'll learn my lesson and disband my calvary brigade, keep my MGs portable advantage where it is the most pronounced: in the hands of mobile infantry. I may resurrect the 2nd division once I get tanks
Yeah... the plan you mentioned makes a lot more sense. I've watched my brother play total war too much I really ought to have know to do that, since (even if it is set in an earlier era) that is what always happens. Calvary rush around the fight, and up to swarm the batteries.
I think I could have used both my MGs and snipers better, especially if I had let my cavalry take out the batteries.

So my losses are:
-25 Infantry
-5 MGs
-3 Snipers
Not fantastic, but not as bad as I was starting to fear they'd be. Factoring in the soldiers who stayed home to defend Austria during this attack, I'm not too bad off.
Though I really can't wait until the income starts and I can start restocking my army.

So, what do I get for Germany now?

[Sgtsammac]

Germany is a set $7500 daily income.

And yea, I'm using my experience in several versions of Total War for a lot of my thoughts. The only difference is we don't have scatter shot anymore for artillery. The only real use I see for horses in this day and age would be for snipers to move across the battlefield quicker. But they'd have to stay out of range or they're toast.
If anything this would be a great RP reason to begin attempts at armored mobile MG vehicles. Still won't be useable till it's allowed, but that doesn't mean you can't make prototypes in the workshop.

[archkyrie]

Awesome, can't wait for income to start

Yeah, my bro had some pretty mad awesome strategies in that game. He always was a super strategist. I never play RTS games against him, it is suicide.
Playing WITH him is awesome though
I think we had the most awesome game of Warhammer Dawn of War EVER. Like seriously. Me n' him vs 8 AI. Hard, crazy hard, especially since almost all of them were randomly selected to be necrons, who were ridiculously overpowered in the hands of AI. Made for some AWESOME fights though.

Yeah... but I think once those vehicles become legit, we should be able to mount any existing weapon on them.
I'm gonna have fun with motorcycles when they come around
I do agree though, horses might be good for sniper/ranger classes.

[Sgtsammac]

Well, to a point. Only light armored vehicles will be allowed at first. So small caliber cannons are ok, or MGs. Medium armor will come like 5 years later (So whoever wins the tank patent will have mediums when everyone else gets lights. Heavy armors won't exist until WWII time though.

[archkyrie]

Yeah, but I mean like... if we get motorcycles, why not arm them with MGs? When were motor cycles invented anyways?

[Sgtsammac]

You know you an look things up too sometimes
And sure, when decent LMGs are around you could mount them in sidecars. I think the Germans did that sometimes in WWII anyway.

[archkyrie]

Haha, I plan on it I do look some things up, I just haven't looked that one up yet.
Yeah... I'm pretty sure they did do that.
I'm thinking a sniper rifle mounted on a motorcycle would be pretty cool.
Or a mortar tube, also cool.

[archkyrie]

WOOHOO, motorcycles have been invented already booyah.

[Sgtsammac]

But are they reliable enough to do this yet?

[archkyrie]

I can't tell yet. The prototypes look like they weren't. But, commercial motorcycles were in use by then... not sure if that indicated more robust design or not. Still researching that one.

[Sgtsammac]

Well lets move this either to another chat or to your research thread so I can lock up this battle.

[archkyrie]

Ah, I found it already, this can be the last post.
They weren't robust enough yet. They were basically reinforced bicycles with a motor where the pedals would normally be. Not big enough to mount anything yet.
Future discussion will take place in my research thread.