Post by John Marston on Jun 24, 2021 9:58:07 GMT
We begin with an analysis of 1809 Prussia, her positions, strengths, and weaknesses.
Strengths:
● Generals: 6, of whom 2 - Scharnhorst and Blucher - are good
● Unit system: the Prussian/German unit system favors grenadiers, light cavalry, and light artillery. These are convenient units.
● Central position: not being in a corner means we won't have to schlep our units across long distances.
Weaknesses:
● Two fronts: we face both Poland and the Confederation of the Rhine right off the bat. Germany's record on two-front wars is not promising.
● Strong enemy generals: Sulkowski, Dombrowski, Poniatowski, and Davout.
● Underwhelming economy: speaks for itself. 1809 Prussia doesn't have too many cities, and the ones it has are mostly small.
We also note that 1809 in general is full of generals with relatively high health, especially Soult, Lannes, and Dobeln who have Mass Fire. This means that artillery is going to be useful. I have come to the conclusion that for this conquest, you will want to use 3 artillery generals and 1 cavalry. It's preferable that at least 2 of the artillery generals be good (Sophia and Isabela are ones that most EW4 players should have, and they are two that I used), and it's important that you have War Horse.
I used:
Radetzky (86 health, 5 regen)
Nelson (74 health, 3 regen)
Sophia (64 health, 3 regen)
Isabela (36 health, 4 regen)
With items War Horse and Snare Drum. It's worth noting that Isabela leveled up to 44 health in the course of the conquest. Now, I shall address the strategy. The war divides into two efforts: east and west, which scarcely intersect.
The Eastern Front
Generals: Yorck, L'Estocq, Scharnhorst, and a decent artillery of yours.
We begin, as is German tradition, by invading Poland. In the first turns, we try to remove Sulkowski and his ilk from the running by throwing everything at him. The artillery general goes on the single rocket (Prussian rockets are strong), and his firepower combined with Scharnhorst will be crucial later.
Sulkowski should be easy to deal with, and you'll be able to take out Poznan, Krakow, and Lvov with ease. After that, use massive artillery power (spam light artillery from Krakow and the factory in East Prussia) to take out Dombrowski and Poniatowski. By turn 10, you can have Dombrowski dead, Warsaw under control, and Poniatowski on his last legs. In Danzig, build a privateer in the port as needed to keep the Swedes and Danes out. This should be enough to kill Falsen and the Swedish frigates.
Now, you send Yorck north, to Sweden, with a few units (light artillery, Grenadiers, whatever leftovers you have from the sieges of Warsaw and Plock). With these, take the stable in southern Sweden, and then all the Swedish farms. In this manner, you can starve Sweden as you take over its towns, and make Dobeln unable to fight back when you get to killing him. The rest of your forces go south. L'Estocq can try and slip between the lines to take the stable south of Belgrade, and then Tirana, while the others take out Wallachia and defend (or liberate) Belgrade. Afterwards, use common sense (no particular strategy) as you chop up what's left of the Ottomans.
Note that Russia is very little use and cannot be relied upon for a whole lot.
The Western Front
Generals: Blucher, Bulow, Wilhelm III, two artillery of yours, and one cavalry of yours.
For a start, you should focus Wilhelm and Bulow on the Rhine units directly south of Berlin. From there, they will (with Austrian support) proceed to Dresden, and then Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. Once your budget permits, you will build double light artillery near Berlin for each of your two generals and send that south to join them, allowing you to take out Munich and then Frankfurt.
If your own cavalry general is pretty good (Golitsyn, Sulkowski, Raevsky, any of the Tier-3s, or Dumouriez with good health), you should send Blucher to the north, to kill Jerome, and then to the small city west of Brunswick. From there, you will have Blucher to west, towards the British forces landing in France, and Davout will follow him, and therefore leave everything else alone. If your cavalry general is weaker, that's fine. You can spam Grenadiers, and hope the Austrians send units, to deal with Davout instead.
After you've finished most of the Rhenish cities, you proceed into France's territory, and build a double armored car in Stuttgart for your general. Here, you should send about half your resources towards Paris, and then southwards into Toulouse and Spain, and the other half towards Zurich, Italy, and finally Algeria. At this point, if you were good about upgrading your cities and factories, you'll have the economy to spam immense amounts of units against everything in your path (Murat, Lannes).
Note that Britain will be competent until about turns 20-25, and that if you're lucky, Spain and Portugal will retain most of their territory.
Afterword
I got this in 47 turns, so it's by no means a rushing conquest (1809 in general is slower, because the map has more cities and units on it than 1798), but it's fun. Just remember: artillery is king.
Credits : Jean-Luc Picard
Strengths:
● Generals: 6, of whom 2 - Scharnhorst and Blucher - are good
● Unit system: the Prussian/German unit system favors grenadiers, light cavalry, and light artillery. These are convenient units.
● Central position: not being in a corner means we won't have to schlep our units across long distances.
Weaknesses:
● Two fronts: we face both Poland and the Confederation of the Rhine right off the bat. Germany's record on two-front wars is not promising.
● Strong enemy generals: Sulkowski, Dombrowski, Poniatowski, and Davout.
● Underwhelming economy: speaks for itself. 1809 Prussia doesn't have too many cities, and the ones it has are mostly small.
We also note that 1809 in general is full of generals with relatively high health, especially Soult, Lannes, and Dobeln who have Mass Fire. This means that artillery is going to be useful. I have come to the conclusion that for this conquest, you will want to use 3 artillery generals and 1 cavalry. It's preferable that at least 2 of the artillery generals be good (Sophia and Isabela are ones that most EW4 players should have, and they are two that I used), and it's important that you have War Horse.
I used:
Radetzky (86 health, 5 regen)
Nelson (74 health, 3 regen)
Sophia (64 health, 3 regen)
Isabela (36 health, 4 regen)
With items War Horse and Snare Drum. It's worth noting that Isabela leveled up to 44 health in the course of the conquest. Now, I shall address the strategy. The war divides into two efforts: east and west, which scarcely intersect.
The Eastern Front
Generals: Yorck, L'Estocq, Scharnhorst, and a decent artillery of yours.
We begin, as is German tradition, by invading Poland. In the first turns, we try to remove Sulkowski and his ilk from the running by throwing everything at him. The artillery general goes on the single rocket (Prussian rockets are strong), and his firepower combined with Scharnhorst will be crucial later.
Sulkowski should be easy to deal with, and you'll be able to take out Poznan, Krakow, and Lvov with ease. After that, use massive artillery power (spam light artillery from Krakow and the factory in East Prussia) to take out Dombrowski and Poniatowski. By turn 10, you can have Dombrowski dead, Warsaw under control, and Poniatowski on his last legs. In Danzig, build a privateer in the port as needed to keep the Swedes and Danes out. This should be enough to kill Falsen and the Swedish frigates.
Now, you send Yorck north, to Sweden, with a few units (light artillery, Grenadiers, whatever leftovers you have from the sieges of Warsaw and Plock). With these, take the stable in southern Sweden, and then all the Swedish farms. In this manner, you can starve Sweden as you take over its towns, and make Dobeln unable to fight back when you get to killing him. The rest of your forces go south. L'Estocq can try and slip between the lines to take the stable south of Belgrade, and then Tirana, while the others take out Wallachia and defend (or liberate) Belgrade. Afterwards, use common sense (no particular strategy) as you chop up what's left of the Ottomans.
Note that Russia is very little use and cannot be relied upon for a whole lot.
The Western Front
Generals: Blucher, Bulow, Wilhelm III, two artillery of yours, and one cavalry of yours.
For a start, you should focus Wilhelm and Bulow on the Rhine units directly south of Berlin. From there, they will (with Austrian support) proceed to Dresden, and then Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. Once your budget permits, you will build double light artillery near Berlin for each of your two generals and send that south to join them, allowing you to take out Munich and then Frankfurt.
If your own cavalry general is pretty good (Golitsyn, Sulkowski, Raevsky, any of the Tier-3s, or Dumouriez with good health), you should send Blucher to the north, to kill Jerome, and then to the small city west of Brunswick. From there, you will have Blucher to west, towards the British forces landing in France, and Davout will follow him, and therefore leave everything else alone. If your cavalry general is weaker, that's fine. You can spam Grenadiers, and hope the Austrians send units, to deal with Davout instead.
After you've finished most of the Rhenish cities, you proceed into France's territory, and build a double armored car in Stuttgart for your general. Here, you should send about half your resources towards Paris, and then southwards into Toulouse and Spain, and the other half towards Zurich, Italy, and finally Algeria. At this point, if you were good about upgrading your cities and factories, you'll have the economy to spam immense amounts of units against everything in your path (Murat, Lannes).
Note that Britain will be competent until about turns 20-25, and that if you're lucky, Spain and Portugal will retain most of their territory.
Afterword
I got this in 47 turns, so it's by no means a rushing conquest (1809 in general is slower, because the map has more cities and units on it than 1798), but it's fun. Just remember: artillery is king.
Credits : Jean-Luc Picard
