The Balkans Wars

[McMonkey]

@Varwnos

I beg to differ. According to several sources I have to hand the majority of Dobruja, including Constanta, was gained by the Rumanians in 1878. The other city Galatz was part of an autonomous Rumania in 1822 and later a part of a united state in 1858/61.

During the first and second Balkans wars the Rumanians gained the southern part of Dobruja and the cities of Silistra and Balchik from the Bulgars.


Anyway, don't worry. You can liberate your home town! Is it OK to call it Salonica? I used one map to work out all the names to keep things consistent!

@Eivind
Re: RR
Back then I was young and nieve and new nothing of the evils of the 'Railroad'. Nowadays I just say NO!

[Varwnos]

Yes Salonica is fine

Btw Salonica was taken by Greece only a few hours before a bulgarian regiment arrived to it as well. The original plan was to go to Monastiri/Vitola, but the greek army got information about the bulgarian regiment, and so altered its route, in quite a drammatic way
Monastiri ended up being part of Serbia.

[McMonkey]

I love the description I have of this event.
"The main Greek army brillantly fulfilled its task. Advancing across the Thessalian plain, it made as rapidly as possible for Salonika, knowing that a Bulgarian division was heading southwards for the part down the Struma valley. It was an undignified race, but the Greeks won. On 9th of November the blue and white flag of the Hellenes was hoisted over the White Tower on Salonika's waterfront; the Bulgarian commander, General Todorov, could see it flying there defiantly when his advance troops came down the road from Siroz less than twenty-four hours later. A token Bulgarian force was allowed into the city, but it remained firmly in Greek hands.
The Bulgarians, who had been elated by their early triumphs in Thrace, were bitterly disappointed."

I have never been to Thessaloniki but I used to work with a lovely girl called Julia from the city. One day I will make it there, but like the Bulgars I will not stay

[tanelorn]

I always craved for this topic to be covered, great! Woohoo! Huzzah! etc.
A couple of points on the map:
My homeland, Crete, is shown in Turkish hands! This cannot be! After the Cretan insurrection of 1897 (which led to the ill-fated 1897 Greek-Turkish war) the great powers (Britain, France and Russia) intervened and expellled the Turks in 1898. So, an independent Cretan Republic, headed by Prince George of Greece, was founded which lasted until December 1913 after the first Balkan War. Under the Treaty of London that ended the war, the Sultan relinquished his formal rights to the island and we were united with the mainand. So, if the scenario starts after 1898, Crete is practically already under Greek administration.
More significantly, it was Eleuthérios Venizélos, the most important politician of modern Greece who led the 1897 uprising and was the mastermind behind the Balkan League and the subsequent war. He had already ousted prince George as sovereign of Crete in 1905 and after 1910 led Greece as prime minister and leader of the anti-royalist Liberal party till 1915. He resigned over his support for the Entente and led the "temporary government of national defence" from Salonica against the Austro-Bulgarian invasion and the wishes of the pro-German king (Constantine I by then, married to the Kaiser's sister Sophia). Whom he got exiled. And it goes on, to the Russian revolution and the Greco-turkish war of 1919-22 and beyond. So, during the balkan wars and WWI, Crete has to be Greek, somehow.
Moreover, Rhodes and the rest of the Dodecanese were already seized by Italy in the Italo-turkish war over Libya (September 1911- October 1912) and held till 1943 when Italy "tried to quit" the Axis.
So it depends on the date of the first game turn, which is=?

[McMonkey]

Crete will be restored to its rightful owners asap! I'm not sure how I got that wrong!

I am glad you like the concept, it has been one of my favorite periods for many years and I think it is perfectly suited for the Civ engine. It will also be good as a PBEM as the four main protagonists, Hellens/Serbs/Bulgars and Rumanins, are all fairly equally balanced.

The start year at the moment is 1900 but I would like to move that closer to 1913 and make it into a longer game, possibly using week turns instead of months.

Finally you will be able to recognize Eleuthérios Venizélos' dream of a united Greater Greece.

This could be an incentive to sort out some choppers so I can move onto this project

[Varwnos]

I like the cities you currently use, and unfortunately i have no other styles so possibly the balkan set would not look good with the other ones you have

However it is your choice

Also, 'Mestovon' should be Metsovo (you could replace it with Trikala as well)

[McMonkey]

I suppose that at the moment evertyhing matches pretty well. I just checked my map and, as you say, Mestovo is the spelling I should be using. The problem is there are about 3-4 different spellings for every city name depending on which map you use. Some are German or Rumanian (Hermannstadt/Sibiu), some are Italian or Albanian (Durazzo/Durres) and some are Anglicised and should could be in the local spelling (Salonica/Thessaloniki). It all gets very confusing but it is fun finding out all the names and where they come from!

[Gagliaudo]

very original idea, Werd100
no scenario focusing on Balkan Wars til today
Have a good work !

(Brindise -> Brindisi)

just a little note: nothing against Russia, great support for Balkans Slavs... but focusing 1912-WWI... Italia fought against Turkey (Dodecanesos) and against Austria-Hungary (in Adriatic), then helped Serbians fleeing to Adriatic ports... Maybe it could be changed "Russia+Entente" with "Entente" (or "Italy"? ), giving the Italian flag...
hey, just a little (italian) note...

[McMonkey]

In my WWII game I compromised with the allies and made their flag half Union Jack and half Stars and Stripes, maybe the same would be appropriate here. I did think that the blue and white cross looked strange flying in Italian cities!

Idealy I would like to make Italy and Russia into seperate Civs but I don't see who else I could sacrifice and as they are allied during WWI I thought combining them made sense. I may give them a generic immobile defence unit and just create Italian or Russian units through events for the Italians capture of Rhodes and the Russians aid at Salonika. Of course I will try and squeeze in the Gallipoli and Salonika campaigns though they are going to be tricky. Luckily they were historical failures which the AI should represent quite well

The main strength of this scenario will be the infighting between the Balkans nations which the AI will excell at!

[Gagliaudo]

Indeed

btw, you got a really nice map of Balkans, I like it very much.
The only map I've seen til now is from the old-classic MichaelJeszenka's scenario "Danubian Empire", focusing the age of Mathias "Corvinus" Hunyadi, powerful king of Hungary 1456-1490...

... I can't wait for your map!
I'd like "playing" a little with it...

[McMonkey]

Check your PM box Gagliaudo

[Gagliaudo]

Originally posted by Werd100
Check your PM box Gagliaudo

done, thanx Werd100

and... because of this, I'll forgive you for non-Italian flag using

keep on the good work!

[McMonkey]

Back in business

I have decided to finish off this project as I have some time now that Aeterna Civitas is finished. Vietnam is a long way off being ready and I have not had the enthusiasm to go near it in a while, I will go back to it one day. I would like to finish off Fortress Europe but I think everyone must be sick of WWII scenarios now as I have had 0 feedback I played it so much the first time around I cannot face playtesting it again myself, not just yet!

The main things I need to do:
1, Brand new tech-tree
2, Events
3, Good victory conditions

I have learned a lot about making tech trees since I began designing and this should not be too hard.
The events too should be fairly simple, I may even try to copy some of Techumseh and Boco's techniques

The victory conditions are my main focus right now. Originally the game was going to be another sprawling epic. After playing Frederick the Great and Operation Market Garden recently I have convinced myself that a much shorter more pressurised game going from 1912 - 1918 would be much better. I have a clear idea what the objectives, both major and minor, should be for each nation. I need to work out exactly how long to make the game. Monthly turns would probably make the most sense.

The other big consideration is whether to leave this as an MGE game and appeal to the biggest audience or make it for ToT and make it as hard as possible but limit the number of people who will play it. If I can make it difficult enough as an MGE game that would be my preferred choice. One idea I have had is to make one basic game but four versions, each with their own events (Serbia / Bulgaria / Greece / Romania) plus a PBEM friendly version. We shall see

[Gagliaudo]

keep on MGE, Werd!

[curtsibling]

ToT offers far more options for scenario making.

More events, improved rules, better looks, individual unit sounds, etc.