These are the reports of the still ongoing Full Campaign game of MTV/OT started by Todd E. Jahnke in 2005.

 Game Settings

  • Entente Player: Todd E. Jahnke
  • Central Powers Player: Mike Dorn
  • Scenario: Over There Full Campaign Game
  • Game played: 2005 –

 

Turn Reports

Note: Some of the turn reports have gone missing in the past 10 years. We are working at reconstructing them from my emails, until then we present the report as complete as we have it.

  • August II 1914 - Central Powers Special Turn Mike Dorn’s Central Powers began their standard scenario attack against my Entente Sunday night; a report of the surprise turn follows: A full stack of German rifle troops pushed across the river east of Liege, accepting fatigue in exchange for a better position for the attack and a better position to […]
  • September I 1914 - Entente Turn Just inside the Franco-Belgian frontier, French and British forces stopped dead the German assault into France during the first weeks of September 1914! This is no mere delay either; there is little hope of a German penetration much past the defiant but nearly surrounded fortress of Maubeuge and only a moderate chance that […]
  • Africa AUG-SEP 1914 - Note: Due to a significant error in rule interpretation, the Africa part of the game was reset in December 2015 and completely replayed. this turn report it therefor obsolete. Even as diplomatic notes flew like paper airplanes hurled by a class of rowdy schoolboys in Europe, the flames of worldwide war lit the tinder that […]
  • September II 1914 - Entente Turn Neither French nor Prussians went into late September with many troops in the replacement depots and the meager results reflected that leanness. Each army rebuilt one cadre into a division. French authorities scrapped a fourth line division, a weak brigade, a poor regiment, and a modest colonial brigade from the replacement pool. Belgian […]
  • October I 1914 - Entente Turn October 1914 opened with signs of change in the air. The North Atlantic was rough, presaging an autumn not yet arrived on land. French forces rebuilt one each infantry and cavalry cadre, almost as if there was any chance that the French army might mount another attack in this war. German forces rebuilt […]
  • October II 1914 - Entente Turn Autumn came to France and Belgium in late October 1914; General Mud ordered both sides to stand down and the Entente, at least, obeyed her directive. Ecstatic Belgian generals breathed a sigh of relief at their reprieve and ordered two formations scrapped and two heavy artillery units rebuilt in hopes of rebuilding their […]
  • November I and II 1914 Summary - The November 1914 initial phases did not pass without significant impact on the conduct of the war. Neither Germany nor Britain suffered morale losses at sea. German economists pressured their government into buying four points of food; the General Staff agreed with the decision because their armies had signally failed to seize expected Belgian granaries. […]
  • December I and II 1914 Summary - Little in the first half of December changed when compared with all of November 1914. The Belgians called up their training and replacement forces garrison and continued their rebuilding of military and diplomatic clout. German forces massed their siege train and sundry heavy artillery divisions near Oostende. Neither side launched any attacks. The arrival of […]
  • January I 1915 - Entente Turn January 1915 initial phases came and went with the impact usual of a production phase. Both French and German rail nets deteriorated, with the French in the neighborhood of half as capable as the Germans in that arena. All armies continued their buildups. Both major Canadian formations remained at reduced effectiveness for what […]
  • January II 1915 - Entente Turn The Entente movement phase of II January 1915 was a response to the preceding German withdrawal from their salient at 0923 and strong attack against British forces south of Oostende. Sixty defense strength points of Belgians massed from several non-overrunnable positions in the second line into fifteen miles of fieldworks on the front […]
  • February I 1915 - Entente Turn The Entente initial phase of February 1915 was certainly the most important and eventful such phase of the game, almost totally because of the first annual morale check. Three German cadres received replacements for rebuilding. French forces replaced two cadres and three field artillery regiments besides rebuilding one cadre. British forces replaced their […]
  • February II 1915 - Entente Turn The second half of February 1915 began with the usual and the unusual. German forces rebuilt two cadres; British Indians and French Africans and Metropolitans rebuilt one each. French forces replaced one field artillery regiment. The Canadian heavy cavalry brigade again refused to leave its reduced effectiveness status. Far more importantly, an unexpected […]
  • March I 1915 and Interlude - Entente Turn Being a production phase, the Entente initial phase of I MAR15 consumed considerable time and mattered a great deal to the course of the war. The contested hex at 1121 went Entente-owned, with the resident entrenchment downgrading to fieldworks and any tiny chance of German counterattack now gone unless the hex be upgraded […]
  • March II 1915 - Entente Turn Note: Errata from game report 14 reveals that the British are in fact at a National Will of 5 – by about two morale points. The Entente side of the front line during the second half of March 1915 was a seething mass of slow shifts of forces. Pervasive mud prevented any excitement. […]
  • April I 1915 - Entente Turn The onset of clear weather across Western Europe shocked the high commands in Berlin, Paris, and London as April dawned and furry meteorologists backpedaled on predictions of six more weeks of mud. German forces, caught with incomplete entrenchments in many places, braced for the long expected offensive that Entente forces, with superior morale, […]
  • April II 1915 - Entente Turn Entente II APR 1915 followed the same trajectory as did the previous version. French forces rebuilt a cadre and two engineer regiments. The Canadian heavy cavalry brigade finally, after close to six months, became fully capable – though a 2*-1-7 heavy cavalry brigade is useful on the Western Front only as one point […]
  • May I 1915 - Entente Turn May 1915 dawned with mud still prevalent in the Alps and Italy entering the war on the side of the Entente while economies on both sides chugged along. Both the Entente and Central Powers economies produced equipment and munitions at historical rates, despite the considerably less than historical German advance into France in […]
  • May II 1915 - Entente Turn The second fortnight of May opened with both sides rejuvenating their forces and the Entente upgrading Italian formations. German replacements filled one cadre while Frenchmen did likewise to two divisions. Many Italian divisions and regiments procured emergency shipments of French artillery and machineguns, dramatically increasing the combat strength of the Italian Army even […]
  • June I 1915 - Entente Turn The opening days of June 1915 brought some standard and some new-ish activities. Among the usual activities were dispatching German replacement drafts so as to bring the depots near to empty: 15-17-5 WUR XX and 14-16-5 BAV XX were rebuilt from cadres. A few French replacements and rebuilds are certainly normal, but the […]
  • June II 1915 - Entente Turn Initial phase activities during the second half of June proved intensive for the French and Italians. A vast array of independent French infantry formations combined with a small array of good field artillery to form some second-rate divisions. The best and worst of the French army remained largely untouched by this reorganization, but […]
  • July I 1915 - Entente Turn Whatever the state of the Germans, as July 1915 opened the Entente armies drank deeply in relief as gushes of manpower and equipment reached the front. French fortress artillery mobilization continues to provide extensive resources for the front, though the flow is soon to be cut off, and both Italian and especially French […]
  • July II 1915 - Entente Turn Given the relative lack of combat during the preceding fortnight, the initial activities of Entente late-July 1915 seemed a trifle boring. No British, German or Austro-Hungarian formations received reinforcements. French men and guns rejuvenated three field artillery battalions into regiments, a continuous process in the face of frequent conversions that robs the pool […]
  • August I 1915 - Entente Turn The Entente initial phase at the beginning of August 1915 passed with considerable note in press, but with less heat than light nonetheless. French replacements re-filled two metropolitan and an Army of Africa divisions from cadre and also rejuvenated a pair of engineer regiments besides putting a regimental-group of siege artillery into the […]
  • Africa Theater, December 1914 - Note: Due to a significant error in rule interpretation, the Africa part of the game was reset in December 2015 and completely replayed. this turn report it therefor obsolete. After a six year hiatus in real world play, during which our war in Western Europe progressed almost one year of game time and far surpassed […]
  • August II 1915 - Entente Turn The latest session of the DJ05 grand campaign of Over There began and ended with consecutive Entente combat phases on both sides of the September 1915 production cycle. The session happened in a slightly different tone because in a free moment months before we had actually calculated the effects of many turns worth […]
  • September I 1915 - Entente Turn The production phase of September 1915 proved interesting to war watchers across the world. Entente production, 12 RP and 18 EqP, with the maximum tithe in South Africa and withdrawals to South, was immensely welcome and would be sufficient for waging the previous style of war with the current supply of personnel (the […]
  • September II 1915 - Entente Turn Central Powers Turn The bottom inning of September 1915 became an unexpectedly busy moment in the war, with everything rare happening again, another first, and an unjustifiably belligerent Entente military pressing for action. Part of the reason for the urgency was the weather, which threatened to turn muddy with the arrival October (it […]
  • October I 1915 - Entente Turn The first half of October 1915 passed in France, Belgium, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy with half-expected clear weather, a variety of rare events, and violence borne of hapless confusion. The never ending process of pushing fresh meat into the grinder began the turn, as usual, but a “first time” event led the month […]
  • October II 1915 - Entente Turn The second half of October 1915, surprisingly still under clear skies, passed like a nightmare through Entente ranks. Events began badly, moderated to become only the usual poor, and ended disastrously. In other words, “no news here.” Various formations received replacements as the middle of the month passed away: Prussian: 12-14-5 and 9-12-5 […]
  • Africa Theater, MAR15 – SEP15 - Note: Due to a significant error in rule interpretation, the Africa part of the game was reset in December 2015 and completely replayed. this turn report it therefor obsolete. Despite a feeling of decision early in the year, 1915 ground bumpily along in the various theaters of war in Africa, with plenty of reverses bedeviling […]
  • Africa Theater, OCT15 – MAR16 - Note: Due to a significant error in rule interpretation, the Africa part of the game was reset in December 2015 and completely replayed. this turn report it therefor obsolete. After the Entente made substantial progress despite occasional reversals during the previous half year, a feeling of decisiveness pervaded events in Africa during the period October […]
  • All of November and December 1915; plus all of January, February, March, and April 1916; plus I MAY 1916 - The poor weather of autumn 1915 and winter and spring of 1916 passed by with plentiful misery but minimal losses as the players agreed to “fast forward” the turns of poor weather in the interests of sanity and efficiency. October 1915 having ended with a British BX and French BX and two AX results, the […]
  • June I 1916 - Entente Turn After the bloodletting of May, June 1916 should have been a period of quiet recovery. The month began instead with both rivers of conventional blood and with an Entente amphibious attempt to break the stalemate. In the first days of June, replacements flowed to numerous formations Britain: 9-12-5, 8-11-5, and 4-7-4 RN rifle […]
  • June II 1916 - Entente Turn A scattering of “firsts” might almost have led future historians to find the second half of June 1916 to be a period worth recording in the history of the First World War. Replacements and Reinforcements: The Portuguese expeditionary force arrived in France at full strength and assembled at Lens because the Entente committed […]
  • July I 1916 - Entente Turn July 1916 brought the game a couple more “first” events during what has become an unexceptional string of economic and initial phases. During the previous two months, zeppelins hit several Entente factories and the Entente calculated that purchasing extra iron from Chile, simply to place into production factories that would probably not fully […]
  • July II 1916 - Entente Turn Initial phase activities in late July 1916 comprised the usual recovery from the ravages of combat. Prussian recruits refilled two 13-15-5 rfl XX’s from cadre Bavarian recruits did likewise with an 11-13-5 rfl XX British pilots ferried two half-groups of aircraft across the Channel to repair losses while Italian pilots brought half a […]
  • August I 1916 - Entente Turn Entente forces attacked in numerous sectors in early August, attempting to stretch the Central Powers to the breaking point somewhere. And breakage there was. A Canadian rifle division remained at reduced effectiveness, so no Commonwealth units acted in the initial phase. British forces rebuilt one each rifle and light rifle cadres to full […]
  • August II 1916 - Entente Turn The Entente half of late August continued usual trends of heavy losses without decision. Britain repaired an air group, rebuilt an Australian division from cadre, and replaced a siege engineer regimental group. Italy rebuilt a brigade from remnant and a division from cadre, plus repairing an air group. France replaced two engineer and […]
  • September I 1916 - Entente Turn Factory production in September 1916 presented few surprises. All 18 Central Powers factories produced at their tremendous, full rate, as the Germans still have a surplus of energy and the Germans never put the two captured Belgian factories back into production. All 35 Entente factories also enjoyed ample iron and energy, but three […]
  • September II 1916 - Clarification: We will be using the Mexican-American situation in this game, but will wait to resolve it until the USA enters the wider war, then hopefully complete the event in one session. Entente Turn High Entente hopes and low Entente expectations continued to drive the war in late September, but as usual the results failed […]
  • October I 1916 - Entente Turn With a weather roll of 6, mud arrived with October 1916 and the players duly committed to fast-forward through the entire month, with neither contemplating ground attacks. The French high command scrapped one of its two Russian brigades, enabling replacement of the other, which in Spring 1917 will disarm into a coveted Foreign […]
  • Analysis: Central Powers Food and National Will situation - Food In this game, as in presumably most TGW grand campaigns, food will be a critical consideration. The following chart reflects the starting condition, consumption as the war drags on, and Central Powers’ food income at each November harvest. New / Total / Change / Condition 2 2 At Start 0 -2 Consume SEP, OCT14 […]
  • November I and II 1916 - Meteorologists guaranteed mud throughout the theater for all of November and the generals of both sides guaranteed to their political leaders at least a brief respite from intense casualty returns. Both sides agreed to fast-forward through the month without attacking, but as we prepared for potential frost weather in December we also thoroughly analyzed the […]
  • December I 1916 - After a calm November and predictions of German morale gains in February 1917, the Entente wished for frost in December. The wish came mostly true, and with frost in the lowlands and mud in the mountains came the first change in the front line of the Western Front since very early 1915. The only initial […]
  • December II 1916 - During the Entente half of II December, with snow and bad seas everywhere, events nonetheless took a turn for the uneventful. Canadian troops expanded a machinegun II to an III with a printed flak factor. Frenchmen refilled six XX’s from cadres, for conversion purposes. Italian repaired their Caproni bomber in France and were sent fleeing […]
  • Replay of the Africa Theater, AUG 14 – DEC 14 - Note: While playing the May 1916 turn of the Africa Theater, as part of DJ05, we discovered a modestly huge error: there is no minimum movement in Africa and we had been minimum moving freely. Under the rules, if a unit lacks the MP to enter a hex, it may not enter a hex even […]
  • Replay of the Africa Theater, JAN 15 – JUN 1915 - Note: While playing the May 1916 turn of the Africa Theater, as part of DJ05, we discovered a modestly huge error: there is no minimum movement in Africa and we had been minimum moving freely. Under the rules, if a unit lacks the MP to enter a hex, it may not enter a hex even […]
  • Replay of the Africa Theater, JUL – SEP 1915 - JUL I and II, 1915 North Africa Italian forces continued their aggression in July. To buff their army’s strength, colonial officials replaced the colonial light regiment, albeit in unsupported form. The leading Italian rifle brigade seized an undefended Sirte. The metropolitan light regiment slipped further east along the coast, toward Sirte and a range of […]
  • January through April, plus strategic events of May, 1917 - We failed to notice in September 1916 that Austria-Hungary fell to national will one. This mattered not at all and a few rolls recently revealed their shaken and recovered status. The big news of the winter came from Russia, where the Czarist government collapsed in March, so Germany and Austria-Hungary reaped 150 morale points in […]
  • May I 1917 and Commentary - Entente generals deployed to conduct two major and two supporting offensives in the West during Spring 1917. Regular British forces at Oostende anchored the north end of the Entente line, which in its British sector curved to defend Lille then face the ruined fortress of Maubeuge before entering the fringe of the Ardennes. Eight miles […]
  • May II 1917 - Late May 1917 arrived with clear and calm weather across the broad Western Front and anything but calm in and above the trenches of the opposing armies. The French conducted only replacement activity during the Entente initial phase by repairing an air group and rebuilding a field artillery division from its cadre. British forces along […]
  • June I 1917 - When compared to recent carnage, the scale of replacement activities in early June 1917 demonstrated both the changing face of the Entente war effort and the failing strength of its Central Powers’ opponents. Saxon replacements, half of them from Prussia, rejuvenated a Saxon division’s rifle regiments. German policy from the very beginning of DJ05 continues […]
  • Entente II JUN 1917 - “Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.” In late June 1917, martial glory married misery and every army group on the Italian and Western Fronts experienced the glitz, glamor, excitement, optimism, copied equipment, improved tactics, low spirits, boredom, and terror typical of 1917 European weddings and war. Limited service veteran officers watched new […]