The Flashman Report

A brief summary of the first 3 turns of my first test game.

The broad strategy for the CP was the Swiss Roll/Ostfront: a drive to Paris-Rome and holding the east on the line Poland-Galicia-Romania. At least, that was the plan.

Left out Russian Revolution rules as I consider them broken until there is a substantial rewrite.

Setup

I raided my ancient MB edition for a lot of stuff. Factories in the 9 mobilization areas add a focus on the capitals. I have a small metal Eiffel tower, but need 8 more for a set…

The MB production chart is rather small, but still better than that chocolate tea pot in the Sahara. But I use the nice big one from AAE instead.

Used MB money too.

Also might use MB white chips; the blues and reds are too similar.

I found it convenient to place spare red & blue chips in the mined SZs to remind me about these hazards. Will try to find something more mine like to use instead.

AUSTRIA

Decided to leave Albania for now.

5 units into Switzerland
10 into Venice
Galician army into Romania
Budapest army into Serbia
Reinforced Galicia & Tyrolia
Fleet sits still

bought 1 fighter and 5 artillery

Serbia and Switzerland captured easily. France was given Swiss control; I’ve decided that a French marker should be placed beneath the Austria one to denote that this is now a French client for the rest of the game; still don’t know if this is the official rule.

Romania and Venice contested with rather heavy casualties. I curse Larry for making the Serbian attack mandatory.

I pick up cash and put down my new units in Vienna, only to remember too late that I should have bought an infantry, so one artillery is demoted in rank.

RUSSIA

Looks like Austria has over-extended itself, so Russia can go on the attack! It looks like the CPs are going for a western strategy, so Russia is likely to be doing a lot of attacking. It therefore purchases - surprise, cock-fag! - 2 fighters, 1 infantry and a submarine.

By prior arrangement with its Allies, Russia is committed to destroying the Turksih fleet as soon as possible, so the 2 cruisers sail into the attack. After casting greedy eyes at Galicia, only one land battle is decided on, the relief of Romania. With the British committed to a Mesopotamian campaign, Sevastopol can be left empty, so a large force moves in and defeats the Austrians. Russia also now assembles a huge army to defend Poland, and has another large force building in Ukraine. The Romanian Front looks like it can march unopposed into Budapest.

However the naval campaign starts badly as one cruiser is lost to a mine. Nevertheless the surviving Russian ship manages to sink the Breslau before going down to a double salvo from the Turkish cruisers.

The inf, art and 2 fighters are placed in Moscow, and after some dithering the sub is launched in the Baltic; the Western Allies can take care of the Goeben.

GERMANY

With Austria already corpsing, Germany decides against the planned move into Poland. The odds are poor, and those Russian fighters could cause a major headache in a counter-attack. Prussia and Silesia stand.

Germany will attack the UK home fleet, but should it buy some naval back-up? Again, those accursed Russian flyers are a powerful deterrent, and Germany orders up a couple of Fokkers, along with an infantry and 5 guns.

The Alsatian and Bavarian armies pile into Switzerland and look down on the plains of Burgundy. Ruhr army moves into Belgium. The other armies march slowly west, ignoring the fast trains heading straight for the front lines. The Berlin army moves south to cover all possibilities. A single infantry garrisons Alsace and dares the French to come on over.

Four German African forces move into 4 undefended tts and wonder why war is so easy.

The naval battle proceeds as planned; one sub is lost to a mine, but the British fleet is sent to the bottom with an intact BB and a cruiser remaining to the High Seas fleet. The French navy may have something to say about this, but the delay of British units moving over the channel is vital.

Germany puts down 2 fighters, 5 art and an inf in Berlin. Except that there are no German infantry left in the box. So once again I raid faithful old Milton Bradley for a German youth regiment to man the Berlin defences. It’s just like 1945 all over again.

No real problem, anyone can easily pimp money, factories, mines, the odd extra unit. There’s nothing wrong with the chips, just that white are much easier to distinguish from dark blue than medium blue.

Yes, don’t miss out on this one.

After the first couple of turns it starts to rattle along nicely, but you will need a proper production chart and something to mark mines. The Sahara “ones” track can be used to count game turns for triggered events. Hopefully this will be sorted in the 2nd edition.

Austria in particular has a lot of decisions to make, but experienced players should have a plan for A1 which will save a lot of time.

I still question some of the map decisions; Poland having a coastline is a big advantage for Russia; just mass a big army here and Germany has a real headache. Now if Prussia was correct and had a border with Livonia the Russian defences would have to be more thinly spread.

Switzerland having just 2 defenders MUST be a deliberate invitation to a German outflanking strategy.

Germany being able to create Mittelafrica without rolling a single die seems wrong, but they must have decided it was the only way to make Africa interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelafrika

Askaris is the answer!

@Gamerman01:

So, is it a cool game?

Fun?

Promising?

FRANCE

So to the French. Their main concern is to get the British flowing over the channel, so they agree to an Allied naval buildup in SZ8, sending a BB and Cruiser there. Their transports carry 2 inf to Marseilles, and one to Portugal to activate another ally. The other transport moves to Portugal to pick up the newly mobilized pieces.

France’s main decision is what to do with the Lorraine army. Clearly the Germans intend to bypass it, going south through Switzerland-Burgundy and north through Belgium-Picardy. The single German defending Alsace is tempting, but France does not fall into the trap. Instead, 2 infantry are left defending Lorraine while the rest pull back to defend Picardy-Burgundy.

The other French Battleship fulfills its obligation to the Allies by sailing into the Bosporus and sinking the Goeben, taking damage in the process. France’s only combat this turn.

5 art and an inf are placed in Paris, a submarine is launched in Brest.

BRITAIN

The UK decides to tighten the noose around Turkey rather than a direct assault. The Indian army is ordered to invade Persia, while the eastern fleet concentrates in the Red Sea, dropping “one of each” into Arabia where the tribes rise in revolt.

Two undefended German colonies are captured.

However, disaster! The Persian expeditionary force is held at bay by Turkey’s new Persian allies, who suffer only one hit out of 8. Persia is now contested, and the Sultan dreams of a triumphant entry into Delhi.

I’ve also started running out of “1” chips and, you guessed it, dear old Milton Bradley comes to the rescue yet again.

Britain lays down 3 transports off Wales and 2 fighters in London, while the Canadian fleet joins the SZ 8 regatta party and offloads another one of each into Picardy.

TURKEY

The fleet has gone, probably forever, so Turkey must concentrate on defending its land frontiers and aiding Austria in the Balkans. The Constantinople army marches into Bulgaria, to be joined by the troops of the Tzar Ferdinand.

The long coastline will be difficult to defend, but an artillery is sited in each to cover amphibious assaults. Persia is heavily reinforced, and a modest build of 4 and 1 is reviewed in the capital.

ITALY

With two large enemy stacks in the north, Italy decides to pull back and concentrate in Tuscany. A single inf is left in contested Venice… or is it? If the Austrians decide to AA Tuscany could they move their Venice army straight through into Tuscany? Have to read the rules on this again before confirming the Italian moves.

The Somalian piece is moved to defend BEA.

Italy can’t afford to send units to Albania, the locals will have to defend themselves. If only I’d known before that the Brits could have activated Albania.

So the Libyan garrison is moved up to Tuscany; surely the Russians are strong enough to hold on in the Balkans?

Italy builds 2 of each and prays.

I really do not know what to do with America. The whole idea that it can build and move units into combat areas at this stage is so uninstinctive I can’t quite get my head around it.

OK, so Italy withdraws its main forces behind the Gothic line.

Austria now has to use the huge army in Venice to eliminate a single Italian defender in order to move on Tuscany in round 3.