The Great European War

[blklizard]

I'm sure all the men on the ships that the French admiral decided to sacrifice for his own survival were really happy with his decision.

Well if you do add storms, I would imagine that ones out in the Atlantic would be much more devastating than in the Mediterranean. Then low visibility must be accounted for. I can see how adding storms would be very tricky.

It was the era of nationalism. They were more than willing to sacrifice themselves for their nation. For storms, I've decided to make them equally devastating with some other minor effects on the battles. I don't want to complicate things too much as long as I resist the urge to be very ambitious.

That was a great battle, I laughed at this little gem, well done

Thanks! I enjoyed adding small things in there to make it more interesting as opposed to being rather dull overall. I hope the next battle will be even better. I think I will likely have time tomorrow to get the first bit of the next battle out. Should be a fun one once we have more balances in place.

 

[blklizard]

A new naval battle has started and I want to give a few heads up. First, I'm no longer including the commanders since I haven't been using them effectively anyways. Secondly, I've made some balance changes so one faction doesn't get enormous advantages by having the most ships. Thirdly, each belligerent will have at most a single first rate in a single battle. Background and deployment will be up on the weekends. Enjoy!

Great European War

Naval Battle of Balearic Sea

Location: Balearic Sea
Date: 14 March 1750

Belligerents:
-France (FRA)
-Spain (SPA)
-Netherlands (NED)

//

-Great Britain (GB)
-Lotharingia (LOT)
-Italy (ITA)
-Belgium (BEL)

//

-Sicily (SIC)
-Greece (GRE)

Strength:
-11 ships // -16 ships // -12 ships

Background:

While the naval battle of Tyrrhenian Sea was still fresh on the minds of the sailors, a new naval engagement was taking place at Balearic Sea. The three factions continued to fight over the Mediterranean Sea for control of the body of water that may determine the final outcome of the Great European War. While the soldiers fought bravely on land, the sailors needed to claim the seas for their factions. The Tyrrhenian Sea was quite peaceful during the previous engagement but the Balearic Sea was a different matter. A storm was already brewing before the engagement even began. Yet, the admirals and their sailors weren't backing down. The storm might endanger their lives but, as sailors, they couldn't back away from the battle. If they were to die, they would gladly give up their lives at sea where they basically lived and thrived. According to rough reports, the three factions were believed to have equally sized fleets in the vicinity by the time the storm hit the Balearic Sea. The League of London looked to continue their streak while both the Entente and the Balkans League looked to regain their honor by coming out victorious this time.

Map of Battlefield and Deployment of Belligerents.
​

Deployment:

Despite the stormy conditions, the various belligerents were still heading out of the safety of their ports knowing that their enemies were somewhere in the Balearic Sea. Terrible weather hasn't stopped the land forces from fighting combat so the sailors had to prove they were superior to their land counterparts. The stormy conditions did affect the visibility of the various belligerents as they moved around rather blindly until they spotted land or enemy ships. The French sailed southwards until they spotted the British navy which happened to be scouting the region as well. The two nemesis were destined to fight one another without their allies early this battle which wasn't possible last battle. Meanwhile, the Italian fleet stopped off some islands which offered some shelter from the storm but their rest was a short one when a Greek navy was spotted heading towards them from the east. Both sides quickly prepared for a difficult battle since both sides boasted six ships. The Lotharingian navy was taking shelter near an island while the other remaining belligerents were wandering aimlessly in the storm eagerly awaiting their chance to fight their enemies.

March 14 - 7 AM:

(Map same as above)

With the storm raging on, two engagements were taking place in the Balearic Sea. The Italian fleet was taking shelter at an island when the Greek fleet was spotted. Thus, the two fleets engaged each other and, for the Italians, it went downhill quickly. While the Greek ships were laying heavy heavy on the Italians, the reverse couldn't be said as the stormy conditions made it nearly impossible for the Italians to do the same against their enemy. It also didn't help that the Greek ships got better positioning while the Italian sailors returned to their ships. The end result was the Italians taking a fair beating and them withdrawing from the battle. Meanwhile, the British and the French engaged one another in the stormy condition as they renewed their age old rivalry. The British had both the numerical advantage and higher quality crews so they were able to deal slightly more damage on the French who performed quite decently. For all the fleets in the Balearic Sea, it was becoming obvious that the storm was taking a toll on them whether or not they were fighting or not. If the storm lasted indefinitely, then more ships were likely to be sunk by the storm itself than at the hands of an enemy vessel.

March 14 - 8 AM:

​

With the first hour being a fairly close engagement, the British and French continued their bout with one another. Their part of the battlefield would soon be filled with new participants as the battle raged on. The Italians, following their unfavorable result from the skirmish with the Greeks, withdrew in the southwest direction when they came upon the engagement between their British allies and the vile French. The Greeks gave chase to the Italians which proved to be a terrible idea. Of course, the Belgium fleet consisting of a single sloop was also present but it was sunk so quickly that even Belgium's allies weren't aware of its presence until a few Belgium sailors were rescued from the waters to the surprise of their rescuers. The British and Italians, given their experience on the seas, worked well together as they gave both the French and Greek a major beating with the French already losing fifth rate. Meanwhile, another engagement was taking place in the north involving the Spanish, Dutch and Sicilians. At first glance, one would think the Sicilians were in trouble as they were double teamed by the Entente forces. Yet, the Sicilians fared quite well and even dealt more damage than what they received.

March 14 - 9 AM:

​

The French admiral, realizing that the engagement wasn't so favorable with the British and Italians joining forces, quickly ordered a withdraw westward. The loss of a fifth rate this early in the battle was quite a blow but the French were confident they could still recover from the situation. The British naturally pursued the French in hopes of maintaining the pressure. However, their Italian allies gave chase to the Greeks who fled in the northeast direction. The French managed to keep a wide berth between themselves and the British so minimal fires were exchanged. The sailors on both sides were resting a bit after their last engagement. The Greeks waited until the Italians were without British support before they launched a sudden counterattack. The Italians, caught unaware, sustained reasonably heavy damage from the engagement reminding them why they fled the Greeks following their first engagement. Lotharingian ships arrived late in the skirmish involving the Spanish, Dutch and Sicilians. Their inexperience immediately showed when they took a huge beating from the engagement. The Sicilians weren't performing as well with them taking a heavier beating compared to an hour ago. The Spanish and Dutch appeared to be slowly turning the tide against their enemies.

March 14 - 12 AM:

The Italians, following a sub-par outcome against the Greeks, withdrew to the west where they got themselves entangled in the mess at the center of the battlefield. The Greeks gave pursuit and got themselves involved as well. The British and the French were fighting it out when they happened to come across the engagement. With their allies present, the two belligerents also took part resulting in an all out brawl between all the remaining belligerents. Cannons were flying through the air as they pounded the hulls of enemy ships. A few ships got very unlucky when their powder kegs were ignited by incoming cannonballs and blew up the ships killing most, if not all, of the crew members. Many of the ships were damaged prior to this engagement so they could only take so much beating before they sunk to the sea floor. By noon, all the belligerents who survived the engagement chose to withdraw from the battlefield. It was far too bloody with too many lives lost. The Entente was wiped out with all their ships sunk and sailors drowned or captured. The League of London entered the battle with sixteen ships but left with only five ships. Some might consider the Balkans League the victors since they entered with twelve ships and left with half their ships, though most of those ships were barely afloat following the final clash. The survivors fled to the safety of their ports where licked their wounds.

 

[Michaelangelo]

How are the Lord Nelsons of the world supposed to shine if they don't get any recognition?

 

[sebas379]

Jay the Netherlands makes an appearance! Well I guess that means I will have to root for the League of Paris this time Sink those Belgians!!

The numbers of ships are a lot more even than last time, none of the belligerents have a very clear advantage. I understand that idea and it makes sense. After all, if you commanded 3 ships and you saw 15 enemy ships coming at you, you'd try to get the hell out of there. So yes, I think I understand and like the changes, good luck with the battle.

 

[blklizard]

How are the Lord Nelsons of the world supposed to shine if they don't get any recognition?

These are small scale battles where commanders don't make a name for themselves. I might include later large engagements that would have greater impact on the outcome of the war.

Jay the Netherlands makes an appearance! Well I guess that means I will have to root for the League of Paris this time Sink those Belgians!!

The numbers of ships are a lot more even than last time, none of the belligerents have a very clear advantage. I understand that idea and it makes sense. After all, if you commanded 3 ships and you saw 15 enemy ships coming at you, you'd try to get the hell out of there. So yes, I think I understand and like the changes, good luck with the battle.

I've decided to include them since they haven't had a chance at joining any of the battles. Should be interesting to see how they will perform since I don't know how the deployment looks. Thanks, I hope the battle goes great and, with the storm, things should speed up considerably.

The background has been written. The deployment will be known tomorrow and the first update will be sometimes next week.

 

[blklizard]

Deployment has been updated! Two battles are guaranteed in the first update but, depending on the movements of the various fleets, we could see interesting engagements developing.

 

[blklizard]

First update is out! Not too exciting yet but we do have two small engagements taking place. Will be interesting to see how the situation develops once we have more engagements or possibly larger engagements.

 

[Michaelangelo]

I hope a ship crashes onto the rocks during the storm. Now that would be exciting.

 

[blklizard]

I hope a ship crashes onto the rocks during the storm. Now that would be exciting.

I don't think it's fair for any sides to lose a ship purely to RNG. Let's give them a chance to fight it out where they could at least deal some damage before they sink.

Second update is out! Sorry about the slow updates but I've been focusing on my other AAR more often lately. I'll try to get two updates out next week.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Poor Belgium. They lose their only ship and their allies don't even notice. Hopefully they get their time to shine in another battle.

 

[sebas379]

With such a concentration of force in the south, the League of London stands a pretty good chance here. If conditions improve enough to allow the Lothringan fleet to venture out again, they stnd a good chance of winning this, I think. But the Spanish-Dutch combination, if they can mess up Sicily enough, might stand a chance too.

 

[blklizard]

Poor Belgium. They lose their only ship and their allies don't even notice. Hopefully they get their time to shine in another battle.

I agree that their first appearance had a lot to be desired. The next battle, whether land or naval, will hopefully have a lot more belligerents taking part. I'm hoping to include most, if not all the belligerents to make the battles more interesting.

With such a concentration of force in the south, the League of London stands a pretty good chance here. If conditions improve enough to allow the Lothringan fleet to venture out again, they stnd a good chance of winning this, I think. But the Spanish-Dutch combination, if they can mess up Sicily enough, might stand a chance too.

I've made it so the League of London forces won't necessarily stick together if their enemies split up. The fact that the belligerents could split up without too big of a penalty will allow some of the belligerents to regroup. At the moment, the French are at the major disadvantage by losing the fifth rate.

 

[blklizard]

Update 3 is out! All belligerents are in combat with the battle getting into the heated stage. Still too early to determine the winner though.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Clearly Belgium is going to win. I bet they secretly placed cannons all over those islands after their ship was sunk and now they're going to bombard the enemy fleets.

 

[blklizard]

The final update of the battle is up! I have bad news and good news for my readers. The bad news is that I've lost interest in writing about this Great European War since it's becoming repetitive. I feel that, if I continue, I will be boring my readers. The good news is that I will be starting anew in this thread. The change will be the AAR moving to WW2 era. We will still be following similar formats of using RNG to determine the battles. Since I'm starting anew, I will be including history and modifications to this next section. In other words, section I has ended rather abruptly but we will transition into section II.

 

[sebas379]

Cannons flying through the air even, that was one hell of a fight!

Looking forward to part 2 of the Great European War!

 

[Michaelangelo]

Damn, no return of Belgium. They'll clearly rise to prominence in the next inevitable world war. No more getting used as a side entrance into France.

I'm very excited for the histories. I love reading how each nation moves up in the world.

 

[blklizard]

Cannons flying through the air even, that was one hell of a fight!

Looking forward to part 2 of the Great European War!

With the number of ships involved, it would have been quite insane. Sadly, I don't know enough of naval warfare at the time to really make good use of it. Let's hope I can do better with WW2 era naval battles.

Damn, no return of Belgium. They'll clearly rise to prominence in the next inevitable world war. No more getting used as a side entrance into France.

I'm very excited for the histories. I love reading how each nation moves up in the world.

Well, we'll see how Belgium will do in the WW2 era. Still don't know how the alliance webs will be like.

First update of part 2 will be up shortly after this post!

 

[blklizard]

Great European War (Part 2)

The man read through the account of an imaginary war that ravaged Europe. There were many great powers involved and battles were fierce. Yet, the author never did get a chance to finish his story. The author simply disappeared and his story left unfinished. The man got the most complete copy which, sadly, ended with the Naval Battle of Balearic Sea. There were mixed opinions regarding the work. Some say it was terrible while others claimed it was decent. For this man, he scoffed at it. The bloodshed of the war was pitiful compared to what might happen soon in Europe. There were rumors that war was inevitable as the great powers in Europe were mobilizing for conflict. The situation in Europe was looking tense where a single event, however insignificant as it might appear at first glance, might trigger a war. The man didn't look forward to the idea of war knowing that his country, Canada, was likely to get involved. There were close ties between Canada and a few European countries that happened to be mobilizing their forces. If called upon, Canada and her southern ally, USA, were expected to contribute. Then, the men of the nation would be dying in faraway lands.

The man put down his copy of the book and walked over to the European map.

The map wasn't pretty by any stretch. If the major powers get involved, there would be, without a doubt, the participation of the medium and minor powers. The man hoped the war could be avoided but, with the way the diplomacy was conducted, the war seemed inevitable.

Labelled Map

Background

 

[sebas379]

Ah so you are moving over to the historical map I see, interesting. Looking forward to see how the world changed between the 1st and 2nd Great European Wars. Its a map of around 1935-1936, so plenty of changes are bound to happen