That might make sense. Either that, or have contesting the capital as a precondition to checking for them. However, in all three cases, the situation was caused by sneaky moves of troops to places just big enough to cause them to be contested, which is why I suggested giving the country the entirety of its turn to try to correct the situation (like in WWII games of A&A when a capital is captured). As it was, we sent armies on suicide missions right before the turn of the country in question just to trigger the collapse, even though the moves would otherwise NEVER have been made (like sacrificing a considerable army just to have 1-2 units survive, thereby contesting a territory).
The Flashman Report
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Flash sounds like your having a good time testing things out, and you may be playing w/yourself
Oh my bad, I meant playing by your self :-o
Well at least your out of the bath tub (that was an awful image)
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Flash, i wouldn’t worry about lack of pieces. HBG will soon be selling them. Perhaps since you like Attack! pieces, you can sell them to Coach so the rest of us can have lots of pieces?
Or you can buy like 6 games and fill the bathtub with plastic.
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So the Romania attack isn’t a good idea it seems.
The Romania attack will always fail if you attack Venice, due to a lack of reinforcements.
Look, just trust me on this!
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It looks like Austria needs to commit more to Romania to ensure it isn’t contested. If Serbia is contested, not as big of deal since Russia wouldn’t be able to reinforce it if Romania is Austrian controlled.
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I really think playing as the central powers you needed to gang up on Russia ASAP. If you can close off the Eastern front then it would make your job 10 times easier!
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Being able to buy more pieces from a secondary retailer that breaks them down doesn’t excuse the manufacturer from clearly providing the bare minimum or less.
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Can’t wait for the US release (not that I have a choice :| )
Having Austria-Hungary attack Romania on turn 1 just seems wrong even
Conrad wasn’t that wacked :-D ,still with the rules the way
they are ,if AH doesn’t the Ruskies will mobilize it uncontested.Neutral Entry will be among my Home Ruling -this may be the first Game
that collapses under my added chrome before I actually receive it :roll: -
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!
So, is it a cool game?
Fun?
Promising?
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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.
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Then house rule that the US has to sit tight in it’s sz until it enters war. KISS.
By the way, thanks for the reports Flashman!
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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.
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behind the Gothic line
Wrong war?
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The other armies march slowly west, ignoring the fast trains heading straight for the front lines…
I never thought I’d read a Flashman post with this kind of statement in it.
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Built some cruise liners. President Wilson assures a suspicious public that they have no military function.
ROUND THE SECOND
AUSTRIA
Pushes more troops into Venice from Switzerland and Tyrol, creating a large stack
to face a single annoying Italian defender. Austria takes (back) the city on the sea.The eastern front is thinly held, and the units are spread as best as can defend. The big problem the CPs have here is the length of frontier:
They hold: Prussia, Silesia, Galicia, Budapest, Serbia
Russia holds Poland, Ukraine and Romania.Austria must press the drive towards Rome, the entire CP strategy depends on it. So no more attacks in the east. Serbia is left with a token defence, Albania and Greece are left in peace.
RUSSIA
Now has 3 large armies on the enemy line, but where to attack? In the end Galicia is chosen, the Central Front can support the others and bring Russia to the very gates of Vienna. The first fighter to go into action helps Russia bring the Ruthenians back into the Slavic fold. The other fighter is sent to Romania to defend against an anticipated Turko-Bulgarian advance. Serbia is quickly overrun, and the Balkans look like falling into the Allies lap.
A transport is added to the Baltic fleet.
GERMANY
With Austria hard pressed, and an Allied transport fleet poised over the English channel, Germany decides that it cannot delay the big battle in the west. The Swiss army descends from the mountains and attacks the French in Burgundy head on.
In order to reinforce the front, Germany now attacks the lightly held Lorraine with the Ruhr-Belgian army, the Kiel army moving into its trenches.
In order to keep its main ally in the game, Germany also decides to gamble in the east by assaulting the Russians in Galicia. Prussia is denuded of defences (now consisting of a single Milton Bradley Hitler Jugend) and the Silesian army drives in from the north, accompanied by two new fighter squadrons.
African armies stand, fleet returns to home base. Three German armies were unable to attack this turn, owing to them not holding rail passes.
The Lorraine battle is up first, an easy conquest to back up the main attack.
Galicia is next to be fought. The Russian fighter is shot out of the sky in the world’s first air to air battle, and the German artillery is happy.
But disastrous rolling turns the move into a fiasco. The entrenched Russians inflict appalling casualties, leaving Germany with just an infantry and a fighter contesting Galicia, the other plane having to be taken as the last casualty. Still, Vienna has been given some breathing space.Now for the big one:
France has: 1 fighter, 18 infantry & 5 artillery
Germany has 1 fighter, 17 infantry & 6 artilleryI have 36 dice. Milton! You there?
The two fighters circle each other warily for four turns, nobody getting so much as a scratch on their doping.
But the grey Ace finally downs his man, and the German artillery is ecstatic.
In the ensuing battle, Germany has the advantage by 12 hits to 8, and both sides settle in for a siege. The Kaiser won’t have to sue for peace just yet.
But he does fall to wondering about a strange prophecy written many years later by the wisest of sages which says that:
“Basically, without rail movement, Germany is screwed”.
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Hey, I’m playing by the OOB rules. Just like you all told me to.
@Eggman:
The other armies march slowly west, ignoring the fast trains heading straight for the front lines…
I never thought I’d read a Flashman post with this kind of statement in it.
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Glorious Russia is still Glorious.
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Very entertaining Flash, I guess the legend of the Red Baron has been born
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Built some cruise liners. President Wilson assures a suspicious public that they have no military function.
I lol’d :lol:
The two fighters circle each other warily for four turns, nobody getting so much as a scratch on their doping.
I’m seriously considering houseruling air combat to only last 1 or 2 rounds… The idea that all my pricey planes can be wiped out every time there’s a battle is a little silly, considering how short ground combat is.
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FRANCE
Time for a rematch. France doesn’t beat about the bush, and flings every available man in France into the Burgundy mincing machine.
This time France has: 17 infantry & 11 artillery
Germany has 1 fighter, 9 infantry & 6 artilleryDespite the Germans having air supremacy, France grinds the invaders down to just 2 units for the loss of 12. France is saved!
The damaged BB limps home to Toulon for repairs, where it is met by 2 transports delivering the Portuguese army to Marseilles.
A new air corps is formed in West Paris.
BRITAIN
Africa finally sees some action as the UK moves in to contest 2 German held tts.
The Canadian Corps tools into Burgundy and, to the cheers of the watching French, shoots down a Fokker.
Four transports in SZ 8 bridge 8 UK units into Picardy to take over this sector from the French. Two fighters fly over the channel from London to join them.
The Egyptian army captures Jerusalem by beating the token Turkish defender.
After consultation with the Dog of War, the UK discovers that it is perfectly legal to land an infantry in Albania to activate that country, and it does so, grabbing the 2 IPCs to the annoyance of Italy. Four Albanian ruffians are drafted into the makeshift local militia. The British eastern fleet is now concentrated in SZ 17, poised to move on the Adriatic.
The PEF holds its ground, while a fighter and a stack of ground units “arrive in India from Australia”. These last include another new edition as by now I’ve run out of UK infantry. I decide that the Revised units are a better colour match than MB so this is another old game represented in the new.
TURKEY
The Ottomen now go on the offensive, storming into Sevastopol while the Russians are looking the other way. Bulgaria reignites the Balkan wars by marching into Belgrade, the third power to do so this game. Turkey is even confident enough to form an air force. The stand off in Persia continues.
ITALY
Even with a large Austrian army in the north, Italy has the opportunity to make the Central Powers weep. Three units from Piedmont march into Burgundy and deliver the coup de gras to a German infantry, last survivor of the Great Alpine army. France can start harvesting the vines again.
Italy then takes advantage of the Austrians earlier ignorance of the rules, sending its army of Albanian cut-throats straight into undefended Trieste.
Rules question here: if Italy had sent the fleet against SZ 18 this turn, would the capture of Trieste have neutralized the Austrian minefield? I suspect that in order to be deactivated the control must be from the start of the turn.
The Italian Africa corps marches in to contest the Belgian Congo.
Italy also now builds its first fighter squadron.
USA
Builds some more luxury pleasure barges, and some artillery pieces - “for the war in Mexico” according to Woodrow. Meanwhile 4 fully laden Ocean liners, a battleship and a cruiser are “on maneuvers” in SZ 7. In fact they’re waiting a ruling on exactly what is is they can and cannot do, and why the hell they’re allowed to sail to Europe when the President has expressly promised they would never do so.
Some observations:
It looks pretty hopeless for the Central Powers. They have to get a move on before the Americans turn up, but this means attacking before they’re really ready, and in tts closer to Allied production centres.
The laborious land movement and configuration of German tts holds up Germany from bringing its full power to bear, and as I predicted the CPs suffer from this much more than the Allies who can zip around by sea.
Another factor against the CPS is the number of turns the western Allies have between them; when America arrives it could be 4 to 1 versus Germany on the western front.
Africa would be livened up no end with the addition of Askaris; it really is a sideshow, and one that sees very little conflict; more a game of musical chairs. So far not one unit has been eliminated in African skirmishes (I can’t call them battles).
Can Germany win without the damned trains?
Like hell, says I.
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Glorious France is Glorious….also yay Canada!
Wait, Canada can get to Burgundy on turn 2?