• No, anytime you make a dogmatic assertion about what can and cannot happen it is well within my rights and ability to poke holes in it. There can be a historically sound World War I game where losing Paris isn’t the only way France collapses, and the mutinies, attrition, and potential for German U-boats to succeed make that clear.


  • No, anytime you make a dogmatic assertion about what can and cannot happen it is well within my rights and ability to poke holes in it. There can be a historically sound World War I game where losing Paris isn’t the only way France collapses, and the mutinies, attrition, and potential for German U-boats to succeed make that clear.

    Well you got the dog so assert. As far as poking holes, you don’t demonstrate this yet.

    Here it comes…

    The note triggered the war, so get over it.


  • Perhaps according to “common knowledge” and “basic reasoning” (Translation: IL’s terms for his delusions), but according to actual historical sources, the war for the US was triggered by German sub attacks.


  • But it wasn’t. Changing the facts based on misunderstanding is your choice. The note triggered the war and that was proven. It wasn’t even hard. We even had a parade and everything

  • Customizer

    There is no evidence that the German objective was to capture Paris. The city was heavily fortified, and would have cost more to capture than it was worth.

    In fact, the German plan was to envelop and crush the French army in the field, just as in 1940 when France surrendered without Paris being captured. Defeat the enemy’s forces and he’ll offer an armistice; that’s how war actually worked.

    Even in WWII, it’s really only Berlin that was directly captured, and this an extreme case due to the ideological extremes of the regimes involved. Tokyo and Paris were occupied after their countries surrendered, and Rome was captured from the Germans after Italy had flip-flopped.


  • Even in WWII, it’s really only Berlin that was directly captured, and this an extreme case due to the ideological extremes of the regimes involved. Tokyo and Paris were occupied after their countries surrendered, and Rome was captured from the Germans after Italy had flip-flopped.

    Rome was captured and in two days the king told IL Duce to step down
    Paris was captured and negotiations began right after.
    Warsaw falls on Sept 28 and Polish enter surrender talks 27th
    Berlin same thing.

    Capitals are important. Also, you cant count capitals that were never reached.


  • @Flashman:

    There is no evidence that the German objective was to capture Paris. The city was heavily fortified, and would have cost more to capture than it was worth.

    In fact, the German plan was to envelop and crush the French army in the field, just as in 1940 when France surrendered without Paris being captured. Defeat the enemy’s forces and he’ll offer an armistice; that’s how war actually worked.

    Even in WWII, it’s really only Berlin that was directly captured, and this an extreme case due to the ideological extremes of the regimes involved. Tokyo and Paris were occupied after their countries surrendered, and Rome was captured from the Germans after Italy had flip-flopped.

    Correct-ish. Paris wasn’t the objective in the original planning, but it was something that had to be taken into account given there was a rather large garrison force that could strike out. But Paris did in fact turn into an objective in the autum of 1914, to the eventual doom of the Germans they thought they could do it, and so took divisions that originally were planned to march to the east and sent them south to Paris. In the end the German strike force was left with two avenues of attack with not enough troops for either, so they did differ from the original plan and made Paris an objective….not that the plan was ever going to work even if they didn’t.


  • Let’s just keep in mind that there is a difference between what one side’s objective was and what would have caused the other side to collapse. Paris having been the German objective or not really has no bearing on what would historically make France fall.


  • Correct-ish. Paris wasn’t the objective in the original planning, but it was something that had to be taken into account given there was a rather large garrison force that could strike out. But Paris did in fact turn into an objective in the autum of 1914, to the eventual doom of the Germans they thought they could do it, and so took divisions that originally were planned to march to the east and sent them south to Paris. In the end the German strike force was left with two avenues of attack with not enough troops for either, so they did differ from the original plan and made Paris an objective….not that the plan was ever going to work even if they didn’t.

    Right. It is also true that if Paris falls, France falls so in a game design for light wargame, it is a simple solution that is both Historical and practical. France could have also fallen by other means, but taking Paris does the job just as well.

  • Customizer

    @Imperious:

    Even in WWII, it’s really only Berlin that was directly captured, and this an extreme case due to the ideological extremes of the regimes involved. Tokyo and Paris were occupied after their countries surrendered, and Rome was captured from the Germans after Italy had flip-flopped.

    Rome was captured and in two days the king told IL Duce to step down
    Paris was captured and negotiations began right after.
    Warsaw falls on Sept 28 and Polish enter surrender talks 27th
    Berlin same thing.

    Capitals are important. Also, you cant count capitals that were never reached.

    No, Mussolini was sacked when the Allies invaded Sicily. When Rome fell Italy was on the Allied side.

    The Germans entered an undefended Paris; in other words the French were already defeated in the field before the Germans reached the capital. Taking the capital was a consequence of forcing the enemy to collapse, not an objective in itself.

    This “capture the capital” thing is a lazy design standby, all credible variants allow a nation to continue fighting and building units as long as they control IPC income and a factory.

    Too many A&A game have defaulted to who can pile the most units into Moscow; I thought we’d moved on from that.


  • The Germans entered an undefended Paris; in other words the French were already defeated in the field before the Germans reached the capital. Taking the capital was a consequence of forcing the enemy to collapse, not an objective in itself.

    Surrender talks began right after Paris fell. I guess the other capitals falling don’t fit your criteria. I guess im not saying it right. Take the capital, and the nation that lost their capital either enter peace talks or surrender outright.

  • Customizer

    But the fact that France didn’t bother defending Paris proves that they already considered the war lost. There was no desperate attempt to save the capital because they understood that modern war is about defeating the enemy forces in the field, not marching into the capital.

    OK, then, what happens afterwards? Do you make surrender automatic? What happens to surviving French forces - do they just disappear like Russians in 1918?

    What about French forces in French tts which also contain UK units? What happens to the French fleet? What about French units in non-French Allied tt?

    Do you, in effect, have Vichy France rules for 1915?


  • But the fact that France didn’t bother defending Paris proves that they already considered the war lost. There was no desperate attempt to save the capital because they understood that modern war is about defeating the enemy forces in the field, not marching into the capital.

    OK then if the enemy gets within 20 miles of an undefended capital, they surrender. But the space of where Paris is located is large enough to state: When the capital falls, the nation falls.

    OK, then, what happens afterwards? Do you make surrender automatic? What happens to surviving French forces - do they just disappear like Russians in 1918?

    The Russians don’t disappear. Germany occupies the areas stipulated in the surrender treaty and other Russian forces remaining outside these areas just remain…they don’t disappear.

    When France falls the army in France fights in place. They just stop building. Its just like Axis and Allies.

    What about French forces in French tts which also contain UK units? What happens to the French fleet? What about French units in non-French Allied tt?

    They fight but don’t research or build. Simple.


  • Paris was declared an open city on June 10th by the French government to prevent its destruction in battle, but they did attempt to defend the approaches to the city.  The government had already relocated prior to its capture by the German’s, and the French prime minister did not want to surrender, but resigned due to lack of support in his cabinet.  Petain became the new prime minister with promises of suing for an armistice.

  • Customizer

    Even if I conceed this one, it still means that in both World Wars there are only 2 examples of a major country surrendering as a consequence of losing its capital, the above example being dubious indeed.

    And, in fact, it was Hitler’s suicide rather than the loss of Berlin that counted in the other example.


  • I am not saying they could fall by other means. Only that if the capital falls, its a sure and universal way of dealing with a game ending scenario in a light wargame. It is consistent and makes sense in a light wargame like AA14.

    To me a defeated nation would be one that lost their last factory ( which simulated industrial base), but capital makes alot of sense too.

  • Customizer

    I would go with the last factory option, but while mentioning that I prefer every industrialized region to have a factory capability.

    However, for a WWI game I still think a mechanism should be in place whereby a nation that is anywhere near losing its last factory area will have collapsed internally before this, like Germany in 1918 when it still had all the European tt it held in 1914 plus a large area of Western Russia. Otherwise, if the game is a realistic simulation of the war, it is unlikely ever to be fought to a conclusion, even given a limited number of turns and secondary winning conditions.


  • Well that brings back the “national morale” index, where a nation falls at any time when the support of the people are so far against it that they just collapse. I know public opinion means nothing to some people here, but in this war that reality was the result in at least two cases.


  • @Imperious:

    Well that brings back the “national morale” index, where a nation falls at any time when the support of the people are so far against it that they just collapse. I know public opinion means nothing to some people here, but in this war that reality was the result in at least two cases.

    :roll:

    Just because I showed that public opinion was not the most important factor in determining when the USA went to war does not give you license to hypergeneralize that to make it look like I said that unrest in a country is irrelevant in determing a full-blown uprising.


  • Just because I showed that public opinion was not the most important factor in determining when the USA went to war does not give you license to hypergeneralize that to make it look like I said that unrest in a country is irrelevant in determing a full-blown uprising.

    You still here? You didn’t show anything, public opinion gives the politicians the support to do or not do. Don’t be naive. Public opinion brought down Imperial Russia and Germany. Translation: mutiny and revolution.

    Incredible.

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