The Observer - Road to 56 Observer AAR

[Renzo da Lusari]

THE OBSERVER - A No Country AAR

INTRODUCTION
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I have consulted the AAR rules, and they rightly state that only experienced AAR writers can make interactive ones. Since this is my first AAR I have decide to make it so un-interactive that even I will not play a country.

"Some men just want to watch the world burn", said Alfred, and I am one of them, so I just installed Road to 56, set all AI behaviours to "random", got some soda, launched a new game and decided to sit back, as the world spiralled out of control and all logical sense. If you humor me I will narrate the events that unfold from 1936 onwards through monthly newspapers front pages and article extracts.

This is intended to be quite light reading, nothing too huge as I enter the AAR world, a front page, a couple of extracts and a few in-game screens. While I intend to write as well as I can (english not being my first, or even second language) the focus will be more on seeing how much the AI can make an absolute mess of the world. Mind you, I don't intend to write in a comedic style (except for a few joke headlines), but I expect things will get rather comical nonetheless as things get more and more nonsensical.

Thanks to the Road to 56 team for the great work they put in their mod, it remains one of my favourites for HOI4.​

 

[Renzo da Lusari]

THE OBSERVER - JANUARY 1936

EXTRACTS FROM THE JANUARY 1936 ISSUE OF THE OBSERVER
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FROM THE ARTICLE "ETHIOPIAN ADVANCES IN SOMALIA"
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"Italy and Ethiopia have been at war for four months now, since October 1935, and the italian forces have made very little progress, the main successes of the war so far have actually been achieved by the abyssinian army"

"The Northern front of the war, along the Eritrean-Ethiopian border, has been very stable until now. Italian General Giovanni Messe, leading over 50 000 italian troops, has launched repeated offensives in the Tigray mountains with little success. The Italian advances always bog down because of the difficult terrain and the stern defence of the Abyssinians."

"The Southern front, along the Somalian-Ethiopian border, has been much more mobile, and the Ethiopian army under General Seyoum Megenshi has managed to advance to the coast, reaching the town of Illig. The outnumbered italian defenders under the command of General Sebastiano Visconti Prasca are in full retreat to the naval base in Mugadishu, where they hope to make a stand and defend the vital supply line into Somalia. He still commands 7 000 troops and 60 tanks, and can count on the support of the somalian fighter squadron, but is pursued by nearly 30 000 ethiopian infantrymen..."

"Italian reinforcements are said to be on route to the Somalian Front from the sea, as much as nine infantry divisions under the command of General Vittorio Ambrosio..."


FROM THE ARTICLE "UNITED KINGDOM ORGANISES STATE VISIT TO GERMANY"

"The british parliament has approved the organisation of a state visit to Germany, sparking fears of isolation in the french government as Germany pushes to remilitarise the Rhineland..."

"While Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin assured the public, and his french couterpart, Albert Sarraut, that the state visit's goal was to appease tensions in continental Europe and counter the growing threat of renewed large-scale warfare, it has caused widespread concern over the growing influence of fascist sympathizers in both british houses."

"The Rhineland crysis is expected to come to a head soon and this visit will be key in its resolution, british tolerance of the remilitarisation would surely encourage Adolf Hitler. What the French plan to do if the Furher went through with his plans is still unclear. Europe braces itself as France and Germany butt heads once more."

A LOOK AT THE GAME (BYE FOURTH WALL)​

I'm pretty sure you all know the 1936 political map pretty well by now, so I will just post screens of regions where something is going on for now, I'll start posting screens of the war infoboxes from next time onwards. I won't start posting raw data (army, manpower, IC and such, of the countries) for now, unless it is requested;​

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The Second Italo-Abyssinian war as of January 1936:

Edit: Connection bugged loading the image the first time

P.S.: Not much has happened right now, but do not hesitate to ask anything about the state of the game. This was a short entry, i expect they will grow larger as this AAR gains traction.

P.P.S.: Does this count as an AAR since I don't take part in the action ? Hope it's not a problem...

 

[Idhrendur]

Observer games are a legitimate form of AAR.

 

[Renzo da Lusari]

Observer games are a legitimate form of AAR.

Good to know, thanks, I never stumbled upon one while browsing the AARs.

 

[Bullfilter]

Does this count as an AAR since I don't take part in the action ? Hope it's not a problem...

Really, they can pretty much be whatever you like. The genre includes ‘fan fiction’ as well so it’s definitely not a problem! And who says the action has to be human generated? Interested to see where it goes.

 

[Renzo da Lusari]

THE OBSERVER - FEBRUARY 1936

EXTRACTS FROM THE FEBRUARY 1936 ISSUE OF THE OBSERVER
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"GERMAN TROOPS ENTER THE RHINELAND"

"France might very well be left to its own devices against Germany as the United Kingdom's approach to continental politics under Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin seems to grow timider everyday. Opponents of the UK's governments current politics and much of the frustrated french political sphere even suggest the British leaders are becoming more and more sympathetic to the fascist regimes of Europe..."

"This is certainly one of the most egregious breaches of the Treaty of Versailles that Germany has committed, but with no real british support France seems reticent to stage any real intervention beyond a show of force at the border, as german leadership seems very aware of. As Italy and Germany threaten their neighbours, and with the Anglo-French alliance seemingly on the verge of breaking, it looks like too decades of relative balance in western Europe might come to an end..."

​

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"ITALIAN FORCES BREAK THROUGH ETHIOPIA"

"As many as ten italian infantry divisions under General Vittorio Ambrosio have landed in Mugadishu, pushing back the Ethiopian offensive in Somalia. after strong initial resistance from the Abyssinians the tide of the war seems to be turning in Italy's favour as it deploys overwhelming forces to the region..."

"On the Eritrean border Giovanni Messe's forces have broken through Ethiopian defences in the North and South. Italian attackers now outnumber the Ethiopian defenders as messe commands a little over 60 000 men now against less than 30 000 Abyssinians. Ras Seyoum Mengesha, "the Lion of Somalia", who had succesfully lead the the Ethiopian offensive into Somalia this winter has been transferred to the Eritrean front to stop the italian advance..."

"6 000 Ethiopian troops find themselves under siege in Macallè, in the central part of the Eritrean Front. The town is coming under heavy fire from italian artillery and planes from the Asmara airbase. Some reports indicate the Italians have begun to use gas in their african campaign, frustrated by Ethiopia's stern early resistance. As France and the United Kingdom focus on Germany little condemnation has come from the international community..."

SCREENSHOTS

The Italo-Abyssinian War - February 1936

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[TheButterflyComposer]

Interesting. Having never played the mod, the map already looks interesting. Italy is correctly identified as a kingdom, the raj is in control of Arabia...what else is different from base game?

 

[Renzo da Lusari]

It mainly focuses on adding focus trees with alternate history options of all ideologies for almost every country. I like using it for un-historical games where i want the world to go a bit crazy (like reforming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as Lithuania).

P.S.: Having a very fun time reading your Rome AAR on work breaks

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

It mainly focuses on adding focus trees with alternate history options of all ideologies for almost every country. I like using it for un-historical games where i want the world to go a bit crazy (like reforming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as Lithuania).

P.S.: Having a very fun time reading your Rome AAR on work breaks

Italy definetly needs some love from the devs, I'm a few years into the game now and almost completely out of development options and focus tree things. There's still yearly tech unlocks but Italy seems really underdeveloped compared to all its neighbours.

Plus I really wanted to spoof HOI because it's so inherently ridiculous and so many AARs try to take the bad games seriously. Saying that, I seem to be accidentally playing one of the only games of HOI4 where the AI (sometimes) works. This is a little embarrassing.

 

[Renzo da Lusari]

Italy definetly needs some love from the devs, I'm a few years into the game now and almost completely out of development options and focus tree things. There's still yearly tech unlocks but Italy seems really underdeveloped compared to all its neighbours.

Plus I really wanted to spoof HOI because it's so inherently ridiculous and so many AARs try to take the bad games seriously. Saying that, I seem to be accidentally playing one of the only games of HOI4 where the AI (sometimes) works. This is a little embarrassing.

I started this with little comedic intent, but the temptation to turn this into a parody is strong. If the tone changes it'll follow the progressing level of insanity world politics reach.