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Mark and I have been wanting to get back to various CDGs for a while, and with the new edition of Pursuit of Glory, I wanted to test out the updated Vassal module, so we finally got to our first full game of that in years. (I have played against a few other people in the meantime, notably Jason.)

Since I tend to have a rougher time as the Central Powers, I took them, and Mark started off turn 1 with a Russo-British Assault, and hit the two exposed TU cav in Caucasia, destroying them and the infantry in Basra, while taking a single step loss. I SRed a couple divisions to face the Russians, the Royal Navy Blockaded my ports, I appealed to Pan-Turkish sentiment and knocked the Russians out of Oltu. The Russians moved up and organized II Turkistani, while I moved though the Sinai, Russian Reinforcements arrived, I played for RPs, the Russians retook Oltu, I got Fresh Recruits, there was an expensive attack in Koprukoy, and I 1 OPSed to extend the front line.

I ended up with twin MOs for turn 2, thanks to Enver; TU and BR/IN/ANZ, while Mark also had BR/IN/ANZ. Enver Went East, costing me two corps (including the elite III Corps), but also knocking out the RU IV Caucasian Corps. I organized the IV Corps, moved X Corps into Erzurum (left empty by Enver) and reinforced Sinai. Mark enforced his Sphere of Influence while I attempted to Liberate Suez, but could not win a combat to get across the canal. Egyptian Coup was followed by Jihad, an Indian attempt to break out of Basra was blunted, while a Persian Push let me start taking places there, and rescue divisions who had gotten cut off in Maragha. Kitchner arrived and I 1 OPSed again to attack and re-take Suj Bulak in Azerbaijan.

We both went to Limited War on schedule, and turn 3 was BR/IN/ANZ and No BR MOs. Mark brought in Indian Reinforcements to Mesopotamia, and Germans Intrigued in Persia, bringing in the Tagistani, who were immediately attacked by Indian troops on their way to the Middle East, while an attack on Qurna was cancelled by Sandstorms & Mosquitoes, but a second attempt took it. Djemal Crushed Secret Societies to maneuver in Persia, and a second attempt failed to get across the Suez Canal (but did satisfy my MO). Murray Took Command, I took RPs, followed by a German Military Mission, while Churchill Prevailed but took out no forts.

Turn 4 started with Salonika Invasion followed by Verdun (removing two IN divisions for one VP), and a giant (three stack) attack on Oltu which knocked out the IX Corps and took the space. I took some Turkish Reinforcements, and Mark deployed on the frontiers (including sending a IN cav into Isfahan as I forgot—and Mark was not aware—that that’s illegal in second ed.) while I SRed to the Caucasian front. ANZAC Reinforcements came ashore in Abadan while Parvus Went to Berlin, and the Gallipoli Invasion showed up as reinforcements. I attacked Eleskirt, but only weakened both sides. This time, Mark needed to 1 OPS and knocked out the Bawi tribe, while I took minimal RPs.

Mark led turn 5 with Lawrence, and Commonwealth troops moved from Arabistan to outside of Kut (currently held by the Marsh Arabs), and I moved to reinforce Kut and activate the VIII Corps in Baghdad. The Arab Revolt started, but was Surprised by two extra divisions, letting me hold Mecca. I cleared Ercis, and took it, which was not a great move. The Asquith/Lloyd George Coalition formed, and Kitchener’s Invasion came ashore at Smyrna while Bulgaria entered the war and U-Boats Entered the Med. The British attacked Kut, knocking out the VIII Corps, but the river barrier allowed the space to hold (tied losses), and the Russians knocked out a sacrificial division in Bayburt. I got troops into Smyrna and cleared Bayazit.

For turn 6, the AP had gone to Total War, while I languished with mostly low-value cards for two turns, and I apparently missed counting a 2-war status card at some point. More Russian Reinforcements showed up, and I sent a Mission to Afghanistan. Fresh Russian troops moved to the front, and occupied Bayburt, while Cossacks moved through a gap and cut off Van and Ercis. Gorlice-Tarnow netted me 2 VPs and Turkish Reinforcements arrived as Greece entered the war. I moved to reopen supply to Van, and reduced the Serbs in Nis.

Turn 7 opened with an attack on Kut that I withdrew out of, and then SRed new units to the line in front of Baghdad. The Russians did a big three-space attack on Erzurum, which forced me out and knocked out X Corps, and left the fort besieged. I blocked Gumushane after a cav went through to near Kayseri, and then Mark cut the other direction; it was only around the end of the turn that we remembered that Erzincan is also a supply source. I moved to open the area up, and more Russians flooded to the south, taking Alexandretta, and I attacked Bayburt, following it with Save Tiflis to try and take pressure off me. Instead, he circled around to the east, and cut Persia off from all CP supply. I moved to retake Mosul, cutting off the Cossacks causing the current trouble, and entrenched in Baghdad, while attacking and taking Nis. Mark finished the turn by demolishing the Erzurum fort, while I moved to reassert control in Caucasia and attacked Belgrade to reduce the defenders there. Persia flipped to nearly all Russian control (putting Russian VPs at 5—6 if we hadn’t let an IN unit into Isfahan), but no troops were lost.

Turn 8 started with an Armenian Uprising; I immediately removed the uprising in Van and shifted over to Maragha. The Germans attacked Belgrade and took the city. An attack on Erzincan cost me the IX Corps, but held the space. Enver-Falkenhayn Summit let me reshuffle a little, send I Corps to Galicia, and let me get a BU army in Strumica. The Russians cleared Diyarbekir and Van of CP units, and took the latter. Bull’s Eye Directive let me have two attacks in Azerbaijan, and take Tabriz while forming the XV Corps in Erzincan. Romania entered the war and took Hermannstadt just before more Turkish Reinforcements arrived. The Russians took Diyarbekir and Mardin, while the Turks moved to the Caspian coast and interrupted the rail connection to Petrovsk. The Indians tried to attack Nasiriya, but were stopped by Sandstorms and Mosquitoes. Attrition regained east Anatolia, eliminating Cossacks, but I lost a cav and the IV Corps in Ercis. I had also finally made it to Total War (with two points still missed).

At the start of turn 9, Long Live the Czar was on turn 11. The Russians took Bitlis and eliminated the Kurds left over in Ercis, while the Indians finally took out the Marsh Arabs in Nasiriya. More Turkish Reinforcements arrived, and the defenders of Gumushane were Ordered To Die when faced with a Russian assault (this put us both on the same column), losing the XI Corps, but holding the space. The Indians deployed before the defenses in front of Baghdad, soon joined by the forces in Kut, but I sent a unit to start retaking Persia, getting to Hamadan on the first move. AH retook Hermannstadt, while Commonwealth forces crossed the Suez canal, taking Jifjaffa, and another Russian attack finished the defenders of Gumushane. I backed off in Suez, but also forced the one unit across to retreat (I couldn’t do enough to flip him), but they were soon back in force. I pulled my third stack back to defend Gaza, and then ended the turn by taking Qum and Teheran, and knocking out the 1st RO Army in Craiova. Jihad was up to 7, and I could start checking for Central Asia revolts. The Russians held four VPs in Caucasia, but had lost Urmia and Tabriz; RU VPs were at 2. The Russian Revolution started on schedule.

The loss of tribes saw me put both Senussi in Bahariya Oasis, which led Mark to try to cover his bases in Egypt at the start of turn 10. He also attacked and forced me out of El Arish, and eliminated the defenders of Karbala. I eliminated four unorganized corps for Caucasian Army Reforms (leaving me with one good TU corps and one TU-A in the box) and put the new corps in Rize and Gumshane. FR divisions SRed from Lemnos to Ft. Rupel, and AH moved from Galicia into Romania. Mark did a big attack at Kossaima, leaving only one unit to withdraw into Beersheba, and also drove me out of Museyib. I pulled the VIII Corps back to Baghdad, and AH took Bucharest. Mark attacked Ramadi, eliminating the reduced division there, and letting Tigris Corps get out of the desert, and the Arab Revolt moved to besiege Medina. The reduced TU-A division that had retaken Persia took a trip through Eastern Persia to Central Asia, immediately triggering a revolt, while AH took Braila. Russia retook Aleppo, I had to withdraw out of Beersheeba, but Gaza was saved by Pasha 1 (namely turning a fort and three SCU into 6 Heavy Fire) as Talaat Pasha Reformed the Cabinet. Ploesti fell in attrition (along with the 2nd RO Army); most of what remained of Mesopotamia went to AP.

Turn 11 saw the Grand Duke go to Tiflis (the RU units went to C Asia, while the Persian Cordon went to E Persia and S Persia), while Turkish Reinforcements arrived. An attack on Ctesiphon tied, but nearly knocked out the defenders, and the Berlin-Baghdad Railroad was completed. The Qashqai were disarmed, returning control of E Persia to AP, and I moved reinforcements into Gaza. Mark finished off the reduced cav in Ctesiphon, and I sent in a replacement while organizing the XIII Corps in Dera, and attacking Skopje; the Serbians had to sacrifice a step to keep the space. Another attack forced the new defender out, and the Armenians forced the garrison out of Mosul, while Yildrim arrived.

Mark started turn 12 with moving replenished units up in Sinai, and moving a pair of Indian elites into Afghanistan. I then moved into Afghanistan and triggered a revolt there and attacked Skopje, eliminating the remaining defenders. British Reinforcements arrived, with Dunsterforce in Abadan, and they promptly moved to Dizful, while troops in Isfahan drove the Persian uprising out of Kashan. The Germans attacked Veles, but didn’t get far, while the Persian Cordon entered Teheran. I sent Falkenhayn and a Yildrim to Mamure Station, and then cleared the Russians out of Aleppo. Mark then SRed the BR XII Corps to Alexandretta (I think we were both blind to this move for some time, though I’ve seen before that it can be hard to get loose of the port as a shackle), and a FR division to Veles. The Germans moved up Schmettow, AH attacked and took Cernavoda while the Afghans started cutting up the Indians, and the Damascus garrison went to hold Homs. Mark did a big three space attack on Baghdad, knocking out most of the defenders, but the city held thanks to Confused Orders. Renewed German attacks on Veles took the space, and eliminated the final Serbian army, forcing a collapse. On the other hand, the Turks ran out their RP limit this turn.

Turn 13 started with the second battle of Baghdad, which ended with the loss of BR VIII Corps and a Water Shortage. With the Russian army gone (Stage 4), I retook Van, reconnected east and west through that region, and moved a spare unit into Baghdad. Indian Reinforcements showed up, followed by a declaration that he’d be in Baghdad by Spring. I retook Erzurum as Lloyd George Took Command, with the new units going to Alexandretta. He then took Aleppo, forcing my survivors south to Homs. The third battle of Baghdad was tied (5-5), so I held it, but only had two reduced divisions left. Tigris Corps was also lost, leaving no LCUs in the region. The final round was 1 Ops for the fourth battle, which took the city. Having taken care of immediate problems in Caucasia, I started lining up on the Armenian-held area, hoping to drive south into Mesopotamia.

D’Esprey started off turn 14, and after some maneuvering, Project Alexandria came ashore at Haifa. I left a division in Homs, and moved Falkenhayn, a TU-A and XIII Corps to block that, but I was painfully aware that I couldn’t defend everything against three different forces, and Palestine’s days were numbered. Mark moved further into Persia, taking Hamadan and finishing off the Persian Uprising. Arab Desertion started, Townshend went to Lemnos, and I cleared Bitlis, and occupied Diyarbekir (with an uprising present).

The British exploited their successes at the start of turn 15, moving VIII Corps adjacent to Homs, and taking everything south of Mosul. I removed the uprising in Diyarbekir and my northern force started pressing into Russia proper. I knocked the British out of Aleppo, and moved XV Corps and 2 Caucasian Corps to threaten Alexandretta, while I moved to take Nazibin in Mesopotamia. Mark Let the French Bleed to get two more divisions into Alexandretta. Turkish War Weariness started sapping RPs I didn’t have, and Mark attacked Mamure Station, but Jafar Pasha pulled my units out before the attack happened. Next, he attacked Aleppo and retook it, destroying 1 Caucasian in the process.

Turn 16 saw Kaiserslacht, which was negated by sending three divisions from Egypt. I assaulted and took Kars and Erevan. Mark took Mamure Station and knocked out the defender of Homs. He also moved to besiege Maan and Aqaba. I shuffled troops, abandoning Gaza to continue slowing him down. I took Tiflis, and sent more troops south, this time into Azerbaijan to block progress in Persia. I also attacked the Haifa beachhead, and won, halting that problem, but I pulled back to Damascus and Riyaq anyway. Mark attacked Adana, but couldn’t get me out of the space, and I took Aleppo again. Mark had to pull out of northern Mesopotamia, which let me cut Alexandretta off from the Persian Gulf again.

VPs had hovered in the 6-8 area for much of the game, but with my current successes, had gotten up to 14 by the start of the last turn. Even 9, which it had looked like we’d be at for a while, is a CP victory (since that’s below the at-start level, that was a surprise to me). I was now approaching Baghdad, so Mark moved a garrison back there, while taking Jerusalem. I pressed toward Baghdad and took Constanta as the final VP space of Romania. The forces gathered in/near Bagdad allowed Mark to counterattack, throwing back my advance, and eliminating that threat. However, the advance in Persia paid off, taking Hamadan, and threatening Teheran. Robertson sent another three divisions to France, but Mark’s assault on Damascus went well enough that only a Water Shortage saved the city. A second try (round 6) tied, so the Ottomans did not have to retreat.

Ending VPs were at 14, +3 for oil, +1 for high jihad, and -1 for the oil in Arabistan = 17 VP – Marginal CP Victory.

Afterword

There were a good number of mistakes made. The big two for me were not recording two war status somewhere around turn 3-4, making Total War much harder to get to, and not finding the rule about the condition for converting any/all GE RPs to TU until late. I kept expecting there must be a card for it, but it just requires rail access from Constantinople to Galicia. We eventually sorted out the war status problem, which had also been keeping us away from the high-status late war cards.

Mark went for a very active offensive early, which played havoc with both our armies; I was cycling divisions and corps in and out of the dead pile quite regularly. GE RP conversion would have helped, but wasn’t available until after the main offensive was over. Mark had 1-2 rounds where he could have gotten Smyrna fairly easily, though they’d still have to deal with the force I started assembling; it just wasn’t in Smyrna yet. Still, much more secure than the beachhead, which I considered attacking, but didn’t feel like I could afford the casualties. Much better to make him take the water crossing penalty.

I’m not that experienced, and this is at most the second time I’ve seen any jihad revolts go off. We also generally haven’t done that much with the Balkans, and my goal was to give more attention, and the four VPs of Romania and Serbia are a good reward. I spent a fair amount of effort looking at a stab towards Athens, mostly so Unrestricted Submarine Warfare would be worthwhile, but with Alexandretta often tied to Mesopotamia, it just wasn’t worth the high amount of effort needed.

Outside the Balkans, the second half was entirely playing for time. I was hanging on to various cards to frustrate advances and using them one by one to hold on to Baghdad and Damascus. Persia, also, was a case of block junctions as long as I could, as I couldn’t afford to match the units that slowly trickled in.