"Six Days in October" -- Game Time Is...

[JasonPratt]

Fixed link.  O0

[Cyrano]

BUGGER.

Thanks!

Jim

[Hatricvs]

I have just found that war is over....and I just never knew! Boo!

[Pinetree]

Yeah me too. Just when we were about to take Leipzig.

It feels weird being able to talk about it now.

[panzerde]

Wait, what? I don't recall that I was done beating on Prussians yet.

[MetalDog]

Is this thing FINALLY over?! 

[bayonetbrant]

Is this thing FINALLY over?! 

for everyone but you

[mirth]

I didn't think I'd live to see the day.

[James Sterrett]

Wait, what? I don't recall that I was done beating on Prussians yet.

They are more satisfying to beat on when they are still resisting, yes?  Now our toys are taken away.

[Cyrano]

I did very much want this to be a surprise and I'm grateful to Brant for working with me on it.

Pleased with how the first one looks and looking forward to revisiting the videos after all this time.

And, again, I'll have a lot more to say about the particulars as we go forward.

Immer Kriegsspiel!

[JasonPratt]

For those who have trouble getting to the front page's first article FOR REASONS  ::) here's the link: http://grogheads.com/aars/18315

Edited to add: and the link to the official article thread per se: http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=22292.new#new

[JasonPratt]

Now, personally, I need to find out what happened to our East Wing. I kept expecting the Prussians to be blitzkrieging us from the rear quarter back there at any time. YOU HAD BARTHHEART ON YOUR SIDE, I KNOW HOW YOU THINK! 

[JasonPratt]

I am full of squee for the video AAR so far! 

But dangit! -- I can see how lags from couriers are causing me a problem. In my head, Weimar is so important as a supply junction that I'm just sure the Prussians are setting up a defense line there (and scouting us out), and so I'm loathe to order Bernadotte to advance farther up into the crossroad area scouting for the risk of the main Prussian force (which I don't want to be counter-pushing against him and defeating him in detail). But it'll be Day 3 before couriers get back and forth enough for me to pass along new scouting disposition orders. Bern (i.e. "Duke of Earl" here on the forum) is doing his job by securing the expected pivot point for Central Thrust (and maybe for East Wing).

But I look at the map and gnash my teeth because IF ONLY WE HAD KNOWN WEIMAR HAD NO ONE, NO ONE EVEN NEAAARRRR!!  :pullhair: #:-) We could have advanced up to take it, and truly screwed over the Prussian West salient.

Then again, maybe not: a key concept I insisted on was that we should ensure we didn't run our troops into the ground and exhaust them. Bern has had a long row to march, one of the longest, to get in position, and he does need a good rest.


(I should clarify here that I'm talking as though I was ordering people around all the time; but actually I insisted on a lot of leeway for the other players on the French side, because I knew we were going to be out of contact a lot with plenty of lag time. Also it's more fun if they're making most of the decisions. And less work for me -- really I just had to ride along and act as the central newspaper office passing notes back and forth.  :-" )

Since Day 1 isn't showing up on the videos (for reasonable reasons, not much is happening but travel to position), I should probably post my general orders somewhere for prior context about how and why we got into those positions.

[JasonPratt]

My opening address to the marshals:

OPENING ADDRESS
---------------

To the brave French marshals and our valiant allies of the Rhine Confederation!

Having become the glory of world history, we now must set our faces to our most daunting task yet: the settlement of claim to inherit and reforge the Roman Empire, bringing peace at last to our continent, Europe, the mother of wars.

Besides myself, the Lion of Naples, two other rulers could make some legitimate claim to that throne in the eyes of many: the Czar (Caesar) of Russia, who effectively inherited seniority of the Eastern Empire from the fall of Constantinople and who styles his capital as the Third Rome; and the Prussian King Frederich-Wilhelm III.

Despite our crushing victory at Austerlitz, the Czar has not given in, but that is a problem for another day. This year, Prussia has thrown down the gauntlet against French honor. I have decided to strike while our blades are still sharp and our powder fresh, and before the Prussians might lift themselves up by their bootstraps to become again the iron legions of old. Out of date they may be, but we should not underestimate their future potency, nor waive off even now the veterans who define the meaning of respect for the Old Guard. Our noble allies themselves can testify to this!

I am a simple Corsican, who has risen to the wings of the eagle on a principle of steel, upon which I dare say I will never fail so long as I engrave its directive into my heart: I must, must, care for my soldiers. The trained, supplied, and led soldier will work miracles of valor, out of love, in high morale. Strike daringly, but build the foundation to strike from.

Let us consider this, then, the absolute standard from which we shall never deviate: our first goal must be to secure and protect our logistic line. If we cannot advance without doing so, we shall not advance. If we must retreat to do so, we shall withdraw in good order.

Our second goal: let us strive to keep our morale high. Risk our morale only rarely, within the bounds of the first goal. And in fact keeping to our first goal shall help our second. We now have the advantage in both numbers and quality, precisely because we keep these dueling blades sheathed together in our hearts. And so we have become the terror of our foes.

These being our foundational strategic goals, let us consider our operational goals within them. Advance to force our foes to react to us; advance to force them onto a reasonable defense; advance to cripple their own logistics and so make their defenses brittle. This grand paradox, is our business to resolve.

As in fencing, we should consider our steps and advance, advance, without over-extension, ready to parry, but watching for our daring lunge opportunity.

Gathering our allies here, we see the roads to Berlin. This must be our final goal, to force capitulation to the Imperial claim. But we will not reach it today or tomorrow, and to try to reach it outside our prepared foundations would be foolish and even suicidal. What then?

As we threaten our advance, we trigger a defensive response; which we cannot avoid. So we trigger it sooner than they would wish. Let us probe forward and remove as many foes as we can in our way, as a mighty modern machine of science, working together in concert.

The third general goal, and the first for our operation in this region: find and shatter the enemy. But let us watch over our morale in doing so, and let us even moreso establish and protect our logistics.

The fourth general goal, and the second for our operation in this region: move out of this region securely on roads to Berlin. We must not do this without achieving the third goal; for otherwise we shall fail our first goal in the long run, leaving our foundation vulnerable, failing our soldiers. If we fail them, they must fail us: it is that simple.


In summary:

1.) Establish and protect our logistic lines. The paramount objective. Our army marches on its stomach.

2.) Keep our morale high. Never entirely possible in war, but something to strive for anyway.

3.) Find, fix, flank, and finish the enemies in our way. Standard field techniques, spear wall and rushing wings, writ large. We should especially strike for their logistic; we should especially, and first, protect our own.

4.) Forward to Berlin.

As leader, I am primarily responsible for ensuring Goal 1, and partly for overseeing Goal 2. As corps commanders, you are primarily responsible for Goal 3: mainly I should make sure you have what you need to go to work and do your jobs. If we succeed together in these goals, we shall also succeed in Goal 4.


Let me finish with an initial suggestion, and with some closing observations, and I will open the floor to your thoughts on procedure.

My closing observations, are Malfoy's Bell, and Malfoy's Corollary.

Malfoy's Bell: you should consider any plan that requires more than three things to go right, as sure to fail.

Malfoy's Corollary: since only a fool, or the desperately endangered, would take the minimum chance of success, the REAL rule is, no more than two things to go right, ideally only one, for success in a plan.

(You may debate and discuss my _four_ goals above in however much irony you wish! But notice they collapse easily into three, two, and even only one goal: do not reach for the second goal without achieving the first: do not reach for the third goal, etc.)

Since no long-term plan can realistically amount to only two requirements for success, I recommend we think in terms of stages where at each stage only one or at most two things must go right to succeed. (This can be fractalized down-command as far as you like in your own command of divisions, but we are considering here at the corps level now.) As we complete each stage, within the first and second goals, we shall look to the next one or two steps ahead and secure them next.

I also recommend that, so far as possible, we keep in near communication with each other as we advance, exactly for this purpose.

Finally, I recommend our first goal should be how to advance north through the two passes as quickly yet safely as possible. Perhaps each corps commander should consider surging your cavalry divisions in a reasonable order up through the passes to assigned areas to await our infantry toiling up behind. Perhaps we should send the cavalry reserve corps ahead as well, putting as much power as possible quickly into the theater; then bringing up our infantry divisions in order, to meet up with each integral cavalry division at the assigned location.

I do not insist on this -- perhaps it would be foolish in other regards, since for corps farther away their cavalry divisions will be somewhat out of contact a while -- but I offer it for consideration.

Gentlemen and allies! Let me hear your thoughts on how to proceed!

[mirth]

Would have been better as a haiku :P