Serbia '14

[Mr Grumpy]

I have started digging through and this is fascinating.  There is so much in here, especially for the 4th Invasion and Allied interventions.  Going to start with some small scenarios from the 1st Invasion.

The 4th invasion is my favourite campaign, not only do you have the addition of the Germans and Bulgarians to the CP side, but you also the French/British forces advancing up the Vardar valley to attempt to assist the Serb's.

There are also French/British and Russian forces in Belgrade and you have the opportunity to attack the AH river monitors with British torpedo boats!


Fighting between units on full water hex's is a first for a title on this ladder.

[Volcano Man]

The designer notes are 189 pages.

Volcano Man and for the rest of the titles Strela and others are some of the most underrated writers of our time.

Thanks, much appreciated.

Speaking of the notes, apologies to everyone about the handful of typos in the "Introduction" section  - the section where I gave my final thoughts and reflections on the project.

I typed that section in the 11th hour while we were racing to the finish line, when so many things were in motion. Anyway the typos have been corrected since (and updated just now in the version on the Game Info page), but it missed the installer.

As always, these projects are a constant pursuit of unobtainable perfection. I am sure I will be fixing typos in it in future updates until they put me into the ground. :)

Enjoy!

[Mr Grumpy]

The opportunity to enjoy a great game AND learn about history at the same time.....win, win...… 

[merovingian]

Just downloaded Serbia 14 and looked over the designer notes and OOB's. Both are impressive. Outstanding work on the Serbian & Montenegrin OOBs, Volcano Man.

Refresh my recollection: I'm using a laptop with a touchpad & no mouse. How do I move units using the touchpad? The left and right regions of my touchpad don't seem to function as left & right mouse clicks

[Volcano Man]

Just downloaded Serbia 14 and looked over the designer notes and OOB's.  Both are impressive.  Outstanding work on the Serbian & Montenegrin OOBs, Volcano Man.

Refresh my recollection: I'm using a laptop with a touchpad & no mouse.  How do I move units using the touchpad?  The left and right regions of my touchpad don't seem to function as left & right mouse clicks

I'm not an expert but...

Usually a touchpad will act as a "click" if you tap it with your finger.  At least that is how mine works (so if you double tap it then it acts like a double-left click, for example). That said, you might want to buy a cheap USB mouse to connect to it instead because touchpads can be awkward.

Hope that helps...

[Hoplite1963]

Yes we finally made it to release day, a huge project to design a game that recreates this theatre of WW1 that has been almost completely overlooked by historians who tend to focus just on the western front, a real David vs Goliath story with plucky Serbia repelling three AH invasions before succumbing to the intervention of German forces and of course the "stab in the back" by Bulgaria which sealed Serbia's fate. 

As well as the extensive designer notes which are a must read, if you want to read about the initial campaigns then I can highly recommend James Lyon's book "Serbia And The Balkan Front 1914" which only runs to 300 pages and is inexpensive to buy. 


There have been many updates and new features added to Serbia 14, these changes will also be carried over to both F14 and EP14 in patch's that hopefully will be available soon, this will ensure that all three titles are equal in that regard, here is a list of the main changes..............

[b]Game engine changes/ updates[/b]
Limited Objectives
 These are objectives that expire after a set number of turns. When an objective expires, the side that held it at the moment it expired will gain the points and the objectives will then be removed from the map. When objectives are removed from the map then they can no longer change ownership, the ownership and points awarded are permanent. If an objective is a Limited Objective, then the Objectives Dialog will now display an "L" and a number. The "L" stands for "Limited" and the number listed is the turn number that the objective will expire (the objective will expire after that turn has been completed).
Rail Capacity Variation
 This allows the rail capacity of both sides to be adjusted on certain dates during the scenario. Any changes in rail capacity will be listed in the Command Report dialog.
Replacement Rate Modifier
 This is a Parameter data value in the PDT, which allows the overall replacement rate of both sides to be reduced or increased depending on campaign specific considerations. After this change, standard replacement rates will now be 1/2 in general, but in Serbia '14 specifically replacement rates are very low, or non existent due to the theatre.
Bunkers
In certain scenarios it is now possible to build bunkers, there has to be a percentage value greater than zero for bunker probability in the PDT table.
Field gun units
Change to Field Guns so that they are now always in Low Ammo status if Local Supply is < 20%, due to that fact that these rapid fire guns would not have enough ammo in that condition to ever be considered to operate at full capacity.
Field guns can now choose a specific target when firing alone, rather than the target unit being chosen randomly, also when a Field gun unit is fired upon there is an increase in the probability that Field Gun type units will be disrupted by enemy fire.
Lastly Field Guns and Machine Guns are now a little more effective at long range fire (firing at enemy units that are 2 or more hexes away).
Water mine hex’s
Mine hex’s that did not appear in either F ’14 or EP ’14 are included in Serbia ’14, they are located in full river hex’s to represent minefields located on the Danube river, they can add fatigue or reduce the strength of Riverbarge units that move into such hex’s.
These mine hex’s are very effective at damaging and eventually sinking River barge units, so be aware of this if you attempt to enter such a hex before it has been cleared by a minesweeping unit (if you have any).
Partisan effects
Change so that disrupted partisan units will not exert the Deception Range feature (only non-disrupted partisan units will have this ability).
Patrolling
Change so that Machine Gun type units cannot go into "Patrolling" status.
Detached units
Change so that detached units will no longer gain replacements.
Night movement
 Change so that it is now possible for units to move tactically at night without becoming disrupted (70% chance of disruption per hex, rather than 100% in the first two titles), mainly in order to allow for night assaults, but also short emergency movements.
The 70% disruption percentage is modified up and down by the quality of the unit attempting night movement (see manual).
Movement at night in T mode via road or rail lines where units where not disrupted (provided they did not exceed road stacking limits) is unaffected by this change.
Engineers ferrying
 Engineer units can now ferry units who utilise foot/horse/bicycle/ski movement class across rivers/canals and full water hex’s if the engineer unit has the "Has Boats" tag.
No ferrying of units is now possible during storm turns.
Recon Aircraft
 Change so that recon aircraft are no longer "high flying" in the First World War Campaigns series, which means they can now be fired at by light AA guns.
Siege Guns
Change so that Siege Guns have 10x their nominal fire value when firing at bunkers, rather than having no increase. That said, Siege Guns are still less effective versus bunkers than redoubts and forts, because bunkers are much smaller targets to hit.
HQ units
HQ units with 50 men or less no longer go Out Of Command when they move (but will still go Out of Command when moving in T mode). Larger HQ units are unaffected by this change and will go Out Of Command whenever they move.
Elevation combat modifier
This modifier has been increased from -10 to -20 per 100m of elevation between firing unit and target unit, this will make direct fire at units at a higher elevation much more ineffective (note that Mountain units only suffer half this effect).
Digging in modifier
The digging in modifier can now be a decimal number to reflect that in the early days of WW1 there was not a doctrine to dig in nor did troops have the necessary equipment to complete such an action, there is now a 1% chance for a battalion to dig in early 1914 which will increase to 1.5% in late 1914 and then 2% in 1915 scenarios.
Remember that engineer units digging in with a unit boost this percentage by x3.
Pontoon storm effects
Pontoon bridges cannot be completed during storm turns (the process is put on hold), nor can units cross a pontoon bridge during storm turns.
 
New unit types
Mountain Units
 This is a flag which can be given to all types of units. Mountain Units have...
* The ability to move through cliff hex sides
* 1/2 the normal combat modifier associated with terrain elevation differences
* 1/2 movement penalty associated with embankment and escarpment hex sides
 * 1/2 the movement penalty associated with moving up terrain elevations
 * 1.5 times higher VP value than normal infantry
 
Irregular Infantry units
In Serbia ’14 Irregular infantry refers to Montenegrin Infantry units, Irregular units represent unconventional military forces, similar to partisans, but slightly different abilities.
They are mainly used in hit and run tactics, attacking where enemy lines are thin and retreating when those positions are reinforced. Irregular units do not have a Zone-of-Control and do not interfere with the movement of enemy forces. They never suffer Low Ammo or Low Fuel,
nor can they become Isolated, but they can become detached. Unlike partisans, Irregular units can be used to spot for indirect fire or air strikes.
 *Do not have a ZOC
 *Ignore enemy ZOC
 *Cannot become low on ammo or fuel
 *Cannot become isolated
 *Can spot for air and artillery strikes
 *Can become detached from their HQ
 *Do not disrupt enemy movement
Chetnik Partisan Units
Chetniks were Serbian guerilla forces that did everything from partisan activities such as raids and disruption and sabotage of enemy rear areas and supply lines, to reconnaissance. They even donned captured Austro-Hungarian uniforms to disrupt enemy movement. Because of all this, the Chetnik units in Serbia '14 are very powerful.
*Can disrupt enemy Travel Mode Movement up to three hex’s away (provided they are not disrupted themselves)
*Cannot suffer from isolation or low ammo
*Cannot be detached from their HQ
*Ignore enemy ZOC
*Cannot be isolated
*Can disrupt enemy bridge demolitions (in the 1915 scenarios where wired bridges will not be used)
*Do not have a ZOC
*Cannot spot for artillery or air

River Barge units
These are similar to Naval units but represent river monitors , river steam boats and torpedo boats and they come with a variety of soft/hard attack and defensive values, unlike Naval units they exist only on full river hex’s and unlike Naval units do have the ability to use opportunity fire.
Barge units will be attacked by minefields located in full river hex’s when they move into such hex’s.
Some of these units are minesweepers and can remove minefields that are located in full river hex’s.
Barge units can move past friendly pontoon bridges at the cost of all their movement points, they can also destroy enemy pontoon bridges by expending all their movement points to enter the pontoon hex provided there is no enemy units located on the bridge.

Enjoy the new game! 

The 1914 & 1915 Serbian campaigns are also well covered in the first 2 volumes of Prit Butter’s 4 part series on the Great War on the Eastern Front; Collision of Empires & Germany Ascendant, available on Amazon in hardback, paperback & Kindle versions.

[Xaver]

Very unexpected title... looks really interesting, a WWI title without masive armies and terrain to play... apart introduce 1915 scens to show evolution in OOBs.

Notes are very instructive and read them made i want it now... but i am going to be strong... not a lot 

[Sgt Jasper]

The designer notes are 189 pages.

After being involved in play-testing the game in a small way for a bit more than two years, I am in awe of Ed's work. The amount of research involved is staggering, as is the thought that goes into setting various unit characteristics and capabilities, parameter adjustments, terrain effects and so forth, with constant changes and adjustments right up to the very last minute. And the maps are amazing. It's been an honor, and great fun, to be included. Not to mention I've learned a great deal about a pretty obscure (to those living outside the region) theater of the Great War.

[ComradeP]

Volcano Man or others who know the answer: are Austro-Hungarian infantry regiments supposed to have 3 or 4 infantry battalions, what's the "normal" situation?

I noticed that there are regiments with 3 and regiments with 4, but couldn't find anything in the designer notes for Serbia '14 or EP '14 as to whether the 3 battalion regiments are smaller due to some sort of shortage or maybe a doctrine of sending part of a formation to a different theatre like the British Army did.

Battalions from regiments with 3 on-map battalions are also not always numbered I,II,III so it seems there should be another battalion.

The Austro-Hungarians seem to have made a determined effort to make their OOB as unclear as possible to any foreign interested parties.

The Serbian OOB is very tidy by comparison.

[Volcano Man]

Ah yes, a good question and an interesting subject.

The "normal situation" (if there is such a thing in the A-H Army) is that each regiment had 4 battalions, and a 5th "marsch" battalion used for replacements. However, this is with regular infantry regiments, not Landwehr and Feldjaegers.

So where are the "missing battalions"? The "missing battalions" were detached and deployed independently to form other formations, primarily mountain brigades. For the most part, the mountain brigades were ad-hoc creations which took battalions from other regiments, like the 4th battalion in a regiment (or spare Landsturm battalions) and then given mountain training. Also, some of those battalions were often used to create new divisions, especially in late 1914. But in the OOB you can see this by looking at the mountain brigade structure, which was not standardized. They were also used to form any of the ~ 40+ series divisions (as you can find in the OOB, these divisions do not have a standardized organization).

Also, this reminds me (not directly related, I guess): it is worth mentioning that as the war progressed, due to mass replacements, the A-H Army got even worse in effectiveness. For example, in 1914 and 1915, regimental ethnicity did create a mixed bag, but at least there was the possibility of having some reliable C quality units present. As the war progressed, replacements went everywhere, which essentially averaged out everything from C to E, making everything D, I would guess. I only mention it to demonstrate further how much madness the A-H Army was, historically speaking. It becomes easy to see how it was nearly impossible to plan with the A-H Army, because it was very difficult to quantify exactly how much combat power each division had at different periods of time. This is what makes them so interesting to wargame, in my opinion.