Report from the front!

So I found a copy of the game today at a local retailer and have played to the end of G2 with my roommate. While  my roommate is not the most adept at board games, he’s quite good and computer RTS’s and always gives his all no matter what (so try not to hold his moves against him too much  :-)  ).

To Begin; A1
Purchase: 6 infantry, 2 artillery.
Moves: 12 inf 2 arty Budapest to Serbia, 6 inf 2 arty Tyrolia and 6 inf 2 arty Trieste to Venice.
6 inf 1 arty Vienna to Trieste and 6 inf 1 arty to Galiacia, 6 inf 2 arty Bohemia to Galiacia.
Combat result: Serbia captured with 10 inf and 2 arty remaining, Venice contested with 8 inf and 4 arty remaining. Galicia held with 18 inf and 5 arty.
Austria nets a $2 gain and ends her turn with 6 inf and 2 arty in Vienna and $28 in the bank

R1
Purchase: 3 inf 1 arty and 2 fighters
Moves: 1 inf Finland to Karelia, 1 inf Karelia to Livonia, 6 inf and 2 arty Moscow to Belarus, 3 inf and 1 arty Tatarstan to Ukraine, 3 inf and 2 arty Sevastopol to Ukraine, 1 inf Kazakhstan to Tatarstan.
Combat: None
Reslut: Ukraine has 12 inf and 5 arty, Belarus has 15 inf and 6 arty, Poland still has 6 inf and 2 arty. Moscow mobilizes 3 inf 1 arty and 2 fighters.  
Russia ends its turn with $25 still in the bank

G1
Purchase: 2 inf 4 arty 2 fighters
Moves: 7 inf and 3 arty Ruhr and 7 inf and 3 arty Alsace to Belgium. 6 inf and 3 arty Prussia and 6 inf and 3 arty Silesia and 1 fighter Berlin to Poland. 11 inf and 3 arty Munich to Alsace. 3 inf and 4 arty Kiel and 6 inf Hanover to Ruhr. 6 inf and 1 arty Berlin to Prussia and 7 inf and 2 arty from Berlin to Kiel.  1 inf Togoland to Nigeria. 1 inf Kamerun and 1 inf GEA to Congo. 1 inf and 1 arty SWA to Angola. 2 sub SZ 7 to SZ 2. 1 Dreadnought and 2 cruisers SZ 10 and 2 Subs SZ 5 to SZ 9.
Combat: Belgium taken with 12 Inf and 6 arty left. Poland Taken with 9 inf and 4 arty left. SZ 10 1 damaged Dreadnought (3 ships lost to mines) no casualties inflicted on the British in SZ 9. SZ 2 1 sub remaining.
Germany ends with $43 in the bank and 2 inf 4 arty and 2 fighters in Berlin.

F1
Purchase: 8 inf
Moves: 6 inf and 2 arty Picardy and 6 inf and 2 arty Lorraine to Belgium. 1 fighter Paris to Belgium. 1 inf Brest and 1 inf Bordeaux transported to Belgium with Dreadnought. 6 inf and 2 arty Burgundy to Lorraine. 6 inf and 2 arty Paris to Burgundy. 1 inf Tunisia and 1 inf Algeria transported to Marseilles. 1 Dreadnought and 1 cruiser SZ 16 to SZ 2. 1 inf FWA to Gold Coast. 1 inf Morocco to FWA.
Combat. Belgium contested with 2 inf, 4 arty and 1 fighter French remaining, with 4 inf and 6 arty German remaining. SZ 2 had 1 damaged Dreadnought and 1 cruiser remaining.
France ends with $24 in the bank and 8 inf Mobilized in Paris

UK1
Purchase: 5 fighters!
Moves: 1 inf Scotland and 1 inf Yorkshire to Picardy. 1 inf BEA to GEA. 1 inf and 1 arty South Africa to SWA. 6 inf and 2 arty India to Persia. 6 inf and 2 arty Egypt to Trans-Jordan.
Combat: Trans-Jordan taken with 5 inf and 2 arty remaining. Persia contested with 4 inf and 2 arty English remaining and 1 inf and arty Turkish remaining.
UK ends with $31 in the bank and 5 fighters mobilized in India (the error was later corrected and 1 fighter was turned into and infantry).

OE1
Purchase: 4 inf and 1 arty
Moves: 3 inf and 1 arty Constantinople to Bulgaria and 3 inf and 1 arty Constan to Smyrna. 3 inf and 1 arty Ankara to Syrian Desert and 3 inf Ankara to Mesopotamia. 2 inf and 1 arty Mesopotamia to Sevastopol. 2 cruisers SZ 20 to SZ 19.
Combat: None
Ottoman Empire ends with $21 in the bank and 4 inf and 1 arty Mobilized in Constan.

I1
Purchase: 3 inf and 1 arty
Moves: 6 inf and 2 arty Piedmont and 1 inf Tuscany to Venice. 6 inf and 2 arty Rome and 1 inf Naples to Tuscany. 1 inf and 1 arty Libya to Tuscany. 1 inf Somalia to BEA.
Combat: 2 inf and 1 arty Italian remaining in contested Venice against 4 inf and 4 arty Austrian.
Italy ends with $13 in the bank and 3 inf and 1 arty mobilized in Rome

US1
Purchase: 6 inf
Moves: None
Combat: None
USA ends with $22 in the bank and 6 inf mobilized in USA

SO by the end of Round 1 we have some very mixed results and an interesting situation on the entire map. Will post the moves of Round 2 once we’ve completed them.

@Texas:

Why didn’t Russia activate Romania?  3 IPCs basically left on the table.

Why no transports for the US?

Good questions. I believe the obvious pending German invasion of Poland and the large stack of 18 inf and 5 arty of the Austrian army in Galicia made the Russian player nervous and he chose to build up for a counter attack or to defend against the Germanic onslaught.

As to the US not buying transports, I believe the thinking build a large army first, then build a transport fleet, and amphip assault on US turn 5 or 6. We’ll see how it goes

@Flashman:

You can use the French fleet to bring over Canadian units, maybe American as well once Canada is empty.

One tip: make sure America loads up some fighters; I fell into the routine of infantry and artillery mixes from previous games, and my Americans are now taking on an invasion of Austrian held Italy with no air support.

The two French transports from the Med are currently traversing the waters of the sub-Saharan coast of Africa, and not the Atlantic. Also America has no fighters as of yet.

So we’ve gotten to the end of round 3, and rather then give you guys a blow by blow (partly because part one of turn 2 was fought last night, and partly because I’ve had a drink or two to celebrate my memory is a bit fuzzy) I’ll just give a run down of where each power stands economically and militarily.

Austria
By the end of turn 3 Austria is in ascendancy. Her Empire stretches from the Ukraine to Venice, with and economy of $36. Her armies are well stocked and plentiful, with 12 inf and 7 arty and 1 fighter in the Ukraine, 11 inf in Galicia, 7 inf, 5 arty and 1 fighter in Venice, 4 inf and 1 arty in Trieste, 5 inf and 2 arty in Budapest, and the road open to Albania open thanks to an Italian blunder into Greece. 7 infantry and 2 fighters sit in Vienna waiting to march west to finish business with the Italians. The fleet sits in docks and twiddles its thumbs.

Russia
The Czar finds himself in a bit of a quandary. His armies are still quite large, but seem to lack offensive hitting power. The Imperial air force is still strong, but there is little artillery to support. 6 inf and 8 arty gave up fighting for Poland after very nearly taking it back from Germany. The Powerful Austrian offensive made this decision more than anything Germany has done. Once again Sevastopol has been abandoned without a fight to invading Turkish forces, albeit this time from Romania rather then Mesopotamia. 15 infantry, 1 arty and two fighters defend Moscow from the Austrians, with 5 inf in Tatarstan as reinforcement. Livonia was also abandoned and was occupied by and single German scout inf unit. All said with $19 in the bank things look bleak for the future of the Empire.

Germany
The kaisers armies stand on the verge of victory on all fronts! After having smashed French forces from Belgium to Lorraine, the road to Burgundy lies open! 7 inf, 6 arty and a fighter sit in Lorraine, while 8 inf and 7 arty sit in Belgium. However, the Anglo-French forces have massed in Picardy, with 16 French infantry and 11 British inf and it is unclear if Germany has the forces to dislodge them. The high seas fleet has been rebuilt but has little hope to challenging the Allied armada in the north sea. 4 dreadnought (2 French, 1 English, and 1 Russian) and 3 cruisers (2 English and 1 French) sit opposing Germany. On the OStfront, Germany barely survived a round 2 assault by the Russians in Poland, which left Germany with 1 inf, 1 arty and 1 fighter. Now things have be stabilized with 7 inf, 5 arty and 2 fighters in Poland by the end of turn 3. That and the Russian retreat bode well for Germany next turn. In Africa Germ,an forces continue to run amok, cutting clear across the the continent. A bloody battle in GEA has left 1 inf and 1 arty as all that remains of the force that took Rhodesia last turn (3 inf and 1 arty). But the Allied forces in the region are left on a near equal footing. Germany has $47 in the bank and will be looking to reinforce the western front in force over the next few turns.

France
France has not had a happy war. After nearly pushing Germany out of Lorraine on turn two, a devastating counterattack rapidly reversed Frances fortunes. All of Frances modern military equipment was eaten up during the battles of the frontiers, and was left with nothing but infantry by the end of turn two. Playing defensively France has sent 2 inf to stiffen Italian resistance in Piedmont. Massive forces from Burgundy and troops of the Paris garrison have been sent to hold the German advance in Picardy while artillery and fighters are massed to counter attack. How long this will take and how long France can hold the Germans is anyone’s guess.

UK
Until recently the affairs of the French in Europe have taken a back seat to trying to bring the Ottoman Empire down. Massive infantry, artillery and fighter reinforcements have flowed out of India with the express intent of toppling the Sultan in Constantinople. 5 inf and 2 arty sit on the Turks doorstep in Jordan. Aided by the Arab revolt, 3 inf, 1 arty and 2 fighters have massed in Arabia. 5 inf, 4 arty and 2 fighters have just claimed Persia for the British Empire, while 7 inf and 3 arty wait to reinforce from India. In an attempt to bolster the flaggering French 11 inf have been landed in Picardy, Britain has $32 in the bank with a transport fleet in place to flood troops in to France now.

Ottoman Empire
Besides a few battles for control of Sevastopol, Turkey has had a largely defensive war. By the end of turn 3 Turkish forces have resolutely secured control of Sevastopol with 8 inf and 2 arty. In fact, all along the Turkish borders the picture is the same. 8 inf and 2 arty defend Smyrna while 8 inf and 2 arty defend Syrian Desert, and 8 inf and 2 arty face off against invading British forces from Persia. The Ottoman Empire also finds itself in control of Greece after a rather ill advised and bloody Italian invasion of the country. The Ottoman Empire has $21 in the bank and may be looking to finally counter the British for regional supremacy.

Italy
To call Italy’s war a disaster would be about right! After the disastrous counter attack I1 that left 2 inf and 1 arty clinging to Venice, not much has improved. Italy was pushed out of Venice all together on A2, but off set the loss by occupying Albania. This helped for a turn and panicked the Austrians who realized their soft under belly was exposed, and raced to get troops back in the region. While initial plans were to bring the Albanian forces back to Italy, instead an invasion of Greece was launched, with all but 1 inf. The invasion was a disaster for Italy with the entire force being wiped out by the defending Greek forces under Turkish command. Italy has massed a force of 13 inf and 4 inf in Tuscany, but Austrian air supremacy keeps them from trying to reclaim their lost Venice territory. Italy has $14 in the bank once again, but as Russian fortunes slump in the east, the Austrian tide seems to be rising in the west.

USA
America has been biding her time and building. She now has 12 inf and 8 arty in America waiting to get into the fight. America also has a fleet of 1 Dreadnought, 1 cruiser, and 4 transports to help her get into the fight fast when next turn comes. USA still has $20 in the bank and is looking to get “over there” next turn.

And that is where we stand as our 4th turn looms large for tomorrow. I will keep you all updated as events develop.