The Great War 1914-1918: Clash of Empires

Rules and setup
Please help to playtest this variant.

Probably Confederate infantry attire would strongly resemble British or French kit, to include either the Adrian, or, even more likely, the Brodie helmet.

One imagines that the Union would take its cues from the Germans, or, even more likely, the Russians, meaning either no helmet, or else some version of the stahlhlem. It’s also possible that one might see a distinctive steel hat more akin to the M1, or even a kind of “stovepipe” or “top hat” in steel.

I’m trying hard to think up certain National Advantages. Perhaps Confederate cavalry would be able to execute a kind of blitzkrieg. Would it be likely that a nation without much native automobile production, but having to cover a long border with a relatively small standing army, would develop a heavy emphasis on motorization?

As early as Bull Run, both armies were learning the military value of railroads.

My wife and I have played Richard Karpusiewicz’s “Great War” rules for AAE a couple times and thoroughly enjoyed it. We’ve thought of some rule changes that seem to enhance it, and I’ve put together a nice-looking manual for the whole thing (including new marker tokens for the WWI nations). The revised and reformatted rules are available as a PDF; I can’t post links yet, but you can get it here:

docs.google.com/open?id=0B4OjxFZJoutMQmMxOGJ3VzJBYUE

The end of the PDF summarizes most of the changes I’ve made to the rules. I’ve also laid out the new marker tokens for the Avery 4x6" circle labels, product number 5408; the PDF for that is here:

docs.google.com/open?id=0B4OjxFZJoutMX1p5ZTNDNEM2alk

I’ll eventually publish the LibreOffice source documents, SVG files and whatnot as well, in case others want to make further changes. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find Richard’s original rules online anymore. I haven’t played this scenario enough times yet to know whether it’s balanced; our first couple of games seemed to tilt slightly in favor of the Allies, which is partly why I shortened the number of turns until the Russian Revolution, and also added a probability of France having mutinies.

I hope my enhancements help to keep this great scenario alive, and I would love to hear feedback from anyone who plays it (either Richard’s original version, or my modified version).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivY3jFXoXSY&feature=channel_video_title

Playable in 720 and 1080 hd (recommended for good connections/computers)

This video was mostly an experiment. It is largely unfinished, and is far from a complete introduction to the game - mostly a few random thoughts, and some experiments with presentation. No, i will not be doing anymore work on it or making changes. I may make more videos in the future based on what I learned making this one.

Enjoy!

Very nice rules and map!
What program did you use to create this map?

It sucks that you guys are having a problem with the link. Can someone contact me when its fixed, id love to take a look at it?

I have it, but am holding onto it for further playtesting on the set-ups.

Europe is being slightly changed in terms of the map, and there will be some minor additions to the rules.  These changes will probably be part of the map/rule package I am looking into producing.  Pacific would be released this way as well if all falls together.

Cheers

ok great.