New WWI IH

[Ferret]

Shame Greece haven't sent in their orders though...

apart from that only Scandinavia and Switzerland haven't. Good work guys. About the write up....well it may be done tomorrow if I have the time but it's likely I wont and if I don't it'll be done on Wednesday. Hopefully you can wait that long...

[Sarmatian]

A segment from a popular Buglarian radio show.

President Vladimir Vazov of Bulgaria

To the people of Buglaria, it is my duty as President of this great country, to annouce that Buglaria has entered into this international conflict as a member of the Triple Ententre. I hereby formally and officially declare war on the alliance of the Central powers....God bless Bulgaria, and may this conflict soon be resolved.

Bulgaria was a monarchy during WW1, I believe

[King Jan III Sobieski]

Shame Greece haven't sent in their orders though...

apart from that only Scandinavia and Switzerland haven't. Good work guys. About the write up....well it may be done tomorrow if I have the time but it's likely I wont and if I don't it'll be done on Wednesday. Hopefully you can wait that long...

I just did!!!




Radio message, news reel and press release from Constantine I, King of the Hellenes:

I, your humble king and servant of the people, wish to announce that Greece has entered into a defensive alliance with the Kingdoms of Bulgaria and Russia. We seek no aggression, and those who would physically do us ill should be warned.

[Ferret]

Doing the writeup now, a lot of work :(

All I can say at the moment is: there's gonna be a hell of a battle in Southern Belgium

[Ferret]

The Battle of Bastogne, July 1914

Map:



The BEF, led by Haig, had been in Belgium for some years now due to the pact the British had signed to protect Belgian neutrality. However after the formation of the Lowlands Coalition political relations had changed and the Germans had been allowed to march their army into Belgium unopposed. A Lowlands official had also sent Haig a message asking the British to leave Belgium but he hadn't, he couldn't leave Belgium so defenceless against the newly arrived German horde. Instead he camped his army in the Belgian village of Bastogne and awaited the arrival of the Germans.

However he was not alone. French Generals Joffre and Foche had heard that the Germans had entered Belgium and so, while making sure their borders were still secure, they led an army each, both comprising of 2 and a half million French soldiers. This meant that the Entente forces now numbered some 6 million, 1 million of those being the specialist BEF under Haig. In addition to this Haig had recently constructed some 300 artillery batteries, more than had ever been fielded in an army before. However due to his exposed position Haig was low on supplies and so only 100 of those batteries would be able to fire if any battle commenced.

A few weeks later a Belgian army of 650,000 arrived and asked the British and French to leave or face war. This was a bold move seeing as the Belgians were so outnumbered and so the Entente leaders declined, but made no advance on the Belgians and instead waited for the Germans.

The next morning the German army came into view, numbering around 2 and a half million and fielding 10 batteries of artillery. And so the battle of Bastogne began.

The French commanders moved their forces to the sides of the British, Joffre to face the Belgians and Foche to confront the Germans. Despite being heavily outnumbered the Central Powers were not deterred and both their armies headed straight for the BEF, leaving a few soldiers to guard the German artillery. This artillery had already started it's bombardment and was causing heavy casualties on the unentrenched British, despite the British having more guns they ironically had less effect and struggled to hit the rapidly advancing German forces. As the Germans got nearer these guns also had to stop firing, out of fear of hitting friendlies, whereas the German batteries were able to start a new bombardment on the French, who were still far from the Town. The Germans had clearly put an experienced man in command of the artillery as the ten batteries had managed to cause twice as many casualties as their one hundred British counterparts.

However the Entente still massively outnumbered their enemies and the battle was swiftly an Entente victory, despite huge casualties taken. At the end of the battle there were only 450,000 British soldiers left standing, with only 200 batteries left as well, the others destroyed. The French suffered less badly, Foche only lost 200,000 of his soldiers and Joffre only losing 800,000, leaving 4 million French regulars still standing.

The Belgians had lost all of their untrained troops and 400,000 of their regulars. However the specialised men only took 100 casualties in exchange for the thousands they caused. The Germans had no such luck and lost 1.5 million men trying to assault the village, their batteries, on the other hand, were all able to withdraw safely back to German lands.

At the end of the Battle the British and French commanders were unsure of what to do about the now hostile Belgians. The battle had left the centre of Southern Belgium empty of enemy soldiers but their spies had reported more Germans to the West and fortified Belgian forces to the East, blocking off the French border. In the end they decided that they would stay and wait until the next month before making any decisions.

OOC: and so ends the battle of Bastogne. I wont be doing writeups like this for every battle, as that would take me years, but this one was very important in deciding what would happen in the West and so I decided to pay special attention to it.

The turn is still not over as, despite having already spent 2 hours on it, I am only about half done visually representing people's orders, and so I need to resolve a few more battle before putting up the end of turn writeup. This truly is a lot of work

edit: it seems I forgot to include the British artillery on that map as well

[Ferret]

Here is the map of the begining of August, 1914. Expect you feedback soon, nearly done after over 3 hours now



Austria has been recoloured to avoid confusion between them and England.

[Ferret]

Phew I think I'm done, if anyone hasn't recieved an end of turn and/or spy report please let me know.
Let August begin.

[woad&fangs]

Message from the Prime Minister of France:

Coalition of the Lowlands, you're oppression of the Walloon minority is at an end. Lay down your arms and you may receive mercy.

[shlin28]

So... is the Entente allied with Serbia?

[woad&fangs]

France declares an alliance with Serbia

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

So... is the Entente allied with Serbia?

Will Also Defend Serbia

[Ferret]

Okay guys, I've got a few rules to run by you all (to make sure you're okay with changes after we've started). A big thank you to Sarmatian for suggesting and refining them.

1)The recruiting of new soldiers takes one turn, so they can only be deployed on the map at the start of the next turn (eg if you recruited a million now then you'd actually get them in September)

2)Upgrading soldiers: can only happen in your borders and takes a full turn to implement. This means that you cannot instantly upgrade and attack in the same turn, the upgrading will take an entire turn.

3)Researched items cannot be recruited until the next turn. Eg: 1st turn=research tanks, 2nd turn=recruit tanks, 3rd turn=deploy tanks.

4)Researching takes two turns for non-major factions (anyone that is not GB, France, Russia, Germany, AH, Ottomans) if what they are researching has not been discovered before (you will be able to tell this from the end of turn reports I will be doing).

5)You can only deploy new units within your own borders, or those of a neighbouring ally, providing you have a leader there.


And actually I would like to ask whether everyone would enjoy reading an end of turn report, giving you all a general idea of what is going on across the world, because I don't want to spend ages writing it if no one does

Opinions welcome

[Sarathos]

I would like to know where Romania stands on this diplomatic field?

EDIT: Agree with rules and report.

[woad&fangs]

Yes to the new rules

Yes to the end of turn report.

[Sarmatian]

Yes to the new rules

Yes to the end of turn report.

Me too, obviously...

[Julian the apostate]

The new rules make sense
I'm all for situation reports for each turn

[shlin28]

Okay guys, I've got a few rules to run by you all (to make sure you're okay with changes after we've started). A big thank you to Sarmatian for suggesting and refining them.

1)The recruiting of new soldiers takes one turn, so they can only be deployed on the map at the start of the next turn (eg if you recruited a million now then you'd actually get them in September)

2)Upgrading soldiers: can only happen in your borders and takes a full turn to implement. This means that you cannot instantly upgrade and attack in the same turn, the upgrading will take an entire turn.

3)Researched items cannot be recruited until the next turn. Eg: 1st turn=research tanks, 2nd turn=recruit tanks, 3rd turn=deploy tanks.

4)Researching takes two turns for non-major factions (anyone that is not GB, France, Russia, Germany, AH, Ottomans) if what they are researching has not been discovered before (you will be able to tell this from the end of turn reports I will be doing).

5)You can only deploy new units within your own borders, or those of a neighbouring ally, providing you have a leader there.


And actually I would like to ask whether everyone would enjoy reading an end of turn report, giving you all a general idea of what is going on across the world, because I don't want to spend ages writing it if no one does

Opinions welcome

I agree, except that I must ask you to change Serbia into a major faction!!!

[Sarmatian]

So, are we gonna see end of turn report now? Huh? Are we, are we, are we????

[Baby Boomer]

I, as head of the Confederation of Switzerland, wish to commit my remarks upon this situation which has gripped Europe.

It is foolish.

Why fight for such useless things, by young lives and count by generations? Surely the recent battle of Bastogne has shown those foolish enough to fight, like barbarians of old, for land that it is not worth generaions of human beings for such mere thing's as land.

We are very disapointed, and remain certian by the fact that land can be won by more means then brute force, and for those act more barbarous then there forefathers millions of years old.

OOC: Sorry for the inactivity, Elite Ferret, but I needed a slight break. I am offically open for negoation, those, ah, willing to see if I am interested in a good deal for land, or war.

[Sarmatian]

It's simple Baby Boomer. You can either join the winning side or the Central Powers. Sorry guys, I know what happens, I peaked at the end.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Can join The Balkian (Serbia,Romania, Bulgaria (?),Spain and Greece0 Allaince :D

[Csargo]

I'm going to have to leave this IH and all the others I am participating in. Without my own computer I have limited access to the internet, so less time to do anything on it. I'm sorry.

[woad&fangs]

So both Austria and Germany are without players now

Are we going to try a recruitment drive or are we going to declare a victory for the entente?

[Ferret]

This game 'aint ending yet! I'll see if I can find players for those two factions. A lot of people haven't sent in orders anyway so this phase is going to be extended for an indefinite period of time, probably until all major powers have orders sent in.

[Caius]

The million qusetion, have I sent the orders?

[Ferret]

no...

[scottishranger]

Sorry I havent sent my orders in, I have been busy.

[King Jan III Sobieski]

New rules sound good to me, and my orders shall be sent in ASAP. The King of the Hellenes has been ill with a severely irritated dental crown. The royal dentist has been dismissed.



P.S. - I did get my end of turn report.

[scottishranger]

I would switch to Germany if it is alright...

[woad&fangs]

The lowlands should be all but finished off after this turn. A switch to the Germans would probably be a good idea.

I'll get my orders in sometime today.