Apologizes again, it seems life comes in between me and my hobbies.
The last Big Sunday game was Guns Of August, the 6mm recreation of the Avalon Hill board game.
Last time (the first half of the 1915 year) left the Central Powers stuck and ended their overwhelming superiority in offensives and structural force. The Allies had landed successfully in Gallipoli! The balkan front was established. Italy was joining them on by sheer luck earlier in their war efforts to free Europe from the anti democratic empires.
Now it would be the question if they could keep on their momentum. And that was quickly answered on the Italian front. The Italian forces that swept way beyond their supply lines retreated and the Austro-Hungarian flottila made an attack the second naval battle of the war ... and was sunk. The front lines hardened and are probably beyond the capabilities of either side to break the stalemate.
The western front kept quiet troops were shifted, forts were build, but everybody seems to be waiting for the big push that whisperingly would be announced soon ... all quiet here.
The Balkan front, despite numerous counter attacks ordered by v. Hotzendorf, the French-Serbian balkan front established itself and kept digging in, probably with the same perspective as the Italian one. Nobody wants to storm entrenched positions in mountains. On the Turkish side things got from bad to worse,. They are just hanging in there by their teeth. And we all expect Constantinople to fall in the next half year.
The Russian front never kept quiet. As the A-H line kept quiet (their men were needed elsewhere to fill gaps), the German pushed steadily foward towards Riga and Minsk. Not quiet there, but close to be a major concern.
Even though the overall situation has been lesser successful for the allies, by the rules if the game would have stopped, it would be a "strategic victory" for them, the grand diplomatic situation though is less than optimistic.
We have 1916 and the first "Big Push" attacks happened in Belarus and the Karparthien (without much success though this time) - BUT if Russia falls 3 strategic cities would immediately swing the pendulum to the Central Powers (Operative victory). Also very disappointing is the abscence of the United States of America and Romania. Both could be and will be game changers, but remain still neutral to the anguish of both sides.
Also as we entered the phase of the moral check for each major combatant (each 3rd month), the forthcoming year 1916 will be a very decisive and unquestionably intensive year.
Even if Constantinople will fall, it will be too late for Russia. Rumania can elevate the Central Powers struggle on the Balkan, but can it help sufficiently to erase the front?
Same with America, even if it enters, it will take a year at least until its land forces can make a difference - will it be long enough for the Central Powers to turn the tide? 1916 was always (in previous games I played) the year of the Central Powers, the make or break - if played correctly and with a bit of luck they can smash the starting allies of the war ... or go down.
Barts blog for more images and a monthly description:
http://asienieboje.blogspot.com/2022/10/guns-of-august-3-081915-021916.html#comment-form
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| The western fronts in the summer 1915 |
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| The eastern fronts at the same time |
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| The German start the Belarus offensive |
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| All quiet around Swiss |
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| The Germans before Riga at February 1916 |
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| And threatening Minsk |
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| The eastern fronts at February 1916 |
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| The western fronts at February 1916 |
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| Casualties in relative relation so far |