First Balkan War - a TOAW senario study

[Jmenschenfresser]

Don't have a beer so I'll start a conversation. Been a little bored lately, so I reinstalled The Operational Art of War (Century of Warfare) on my puter. First go round I never played through all the senarios.

Anycase, I found the Balkans 1912 senario very intriguing. I've yet to play the 1913 senario, leaving it for when I perfect and understand the first one.

First, before I played this senario twice, I knew virtually nothing about the balkans war. I played it once from the side of the Balkan Alliance and came out defeated. I was determined to find out how the actual war was fought, as the front lines sort of wrap. Instead of you fighting along a 180 degree front, as the Balkan Alliance, you control something like 4 different nations invading the Turkish holdings of the Balkan peninsula. Think of it as a car being crushed from the top and bottom, and the only way for Turkish reinforcements to come is through the tailpipe.

There are quite a few small objectives, but I think if you capture all of them you can't win...not enough points. Not sure though. There are 3 large scoring victory locations: Constantinople, Salonika, and Scutari. There is also Andrianople, but I believe it is only worth 30...the others are 60 or 90 points...and Adrianople is doable.

I lost the first bout because I failed to capture any of these. I did initially capture Adrianople, but was beat back off of it in the Last few turns. Throughout the game, fresh Turkish units pour over the straight from mainland Turkey, making it impossible to take Constantinople. The Bulgarians attack from the north, possesing the largest force. They sweep down over Adrianople which lies northwest of Constantinople. The Greeks are probably the second, or third behind the Serbians, not sure. They come up from the south natually. The Serbians are farther west, attacking south and the Montenegrians are furthest west, with the smallest force, also attacking south.

I read after losing the first time that pre-WW1 and WW1 senarios in TOAW consist of two phases, the manuever phase and the grind phase. It is important that you keep a static line from forming otherwise the game turns to the second phase...the grind, where you move slowly forward or backward.

I lost the first round because I went right into the grind. The Greeks, with the later help of the southbound Serbs couldn't uproot the Turks from Salonika. The Montenegrans couldn't take Scutari, a fort with a super high defense rating on the coast. And the Bulgarians couldn't even hold onto Adrianople.

Second bout, I was ready. First off I sent a small section of Bulgarian calavary south between Constantinople and Salonika. (FYI, I am not a grognard and don't remember all of the army lingo, divisions, brigade, etc.) In this vast nothingness, the Turkish don't have one unit, however, their main supply railroad runs along the coast. Destroy the bridge here, and this cuts off a major source of supplies for the western half of the theater.

I then send all of the Montenegrain army south and over the next few turns surround Scutari, cutting off supplies, digging in for a long medieval siege. I then switch over to the east side, and the Bulgarians. I know I need to move around Adrianople (and another small victory flag a few hexes to its east), surround them and contain the Turkish to a small triangle around constantinople. I move a division of calvary to the black sea coast and south, skirting the Turkish forces, staying out of sight. The calvary are the initial flank. They are soon followed by several strong infantry units.

The east plays out nicely. I drive a wedge between the two strongholds (Adrianople and the other victory hex), quickly surrounding them. I leave them like that for several turns, hitting them only with light attacks. I drive them off their hexes and wear them down throughout the rest of the game...by the end they are both eliminated. Huge loss for the Turks. During this time, I've been funneling units through the holes and I've mounted a hefty siege of the Last, say, 6 hexes in and around constantinople. I know I'll never make it. Before the end of the game, I get within one hex, having forced a wedge along the southern coast, but am beaten back. The key were the initial calvary units around the flank. As soon as the AI saw them nearing Constantinople, they formed a line and were never able to attempt to free their surrounded friends at Adrianople.

The West: Scutari is a mystery. I had it surrounded the whole game virtually. I waited a few turns before attacking. The Montenegrans, later reinforced by several Serbian units couldn't take the fort. Not sure what I did wrong there. I was wearing them down, but at a snail's pace.

To take Salonika, I decided on a two and a half pronged attack. I moved half of my forces, mostly calvary...near useless for attack...in a long arc around the city to the west. When the Turks saw this force they moved a significant number of units to stop it. I then quickly moved the more powerful part of my force up the coast and blew away the defenders about half way through the game. The Serbians showed up just in time for the final assualt on Salonika.

There's also another fort down near the border of Greece, which is easy to miss given that it isn't on the road to Salonika. I would say it is just as powerful a defender as Scutari. I got this one out of two mistakes. After having wasted precious units assaulting it the first time, I decided just to leave it be. But after one or two turns, the Turks stationed there, moved after my force assaulting Salonika. I stalled his unit in the mountains, skirted around and took the fort behind his back, virtually unguarded.

End result: a draw. I had a marginal victory for all of the game after I took Salonika...I think I lost too many men on the constantinople assault.

Why do I post this about a non-shrapnel game? Dunno. Anyone know anything about the Balkan Wars? I finally found a rough map on the internet depicting generalized force movements. They are the same as I moved my troops in the first bout and got spanked while my armies ground down to nothing. I can see that the designer nearly got the senario to end like the actual war everytime it is played. It's impossible I think, unless the AI completely screws up, to take Constantinople.