Larry Harris 1914 Tournament Rules ( "potential rules" using his language)

Oh, so it that OOB is Allies favored and PTR is Central favored?

It has always been a CP favored game.

Just wondering if any experienced CP players showed off and went France first in a live tournament. I am actually really upset at axis and allies lately, since Anniversary the axis have been stacked hard and it is has been too easy to crush opponents out of box. I am racially German and Japanese… it is no fun having it so easy, does not matter if it is global, 1942 2nd edition, 1914 or what… the allies suck.

I miss when the allies were fun to play and you could sit down and have no idea who is going to win this thing.  In global people used to tell me the allies win blah blah blah, then I put out my playbook and the allies now get 21-30 bids on a regular.  1942 2nd edition is just a joke, no excuse for that print. 1914 is more like global, new comers sit down and the CPs get rolled… then someone figures out how to crush each capital with proper movements and buys… and the game becomes a matter of which guy sitting at the table do you want to make sad.

@Cow:

It has always been a CP favored game.

Really? Other people in this thread have said that Allies are favored…

They new. CP generally speaking take out one capital early on within the first 5 rounds. It usually goes Russia first. Seen Italy first then Russia.  If you play revolution rules the Italy first thing is preferred among more conservative players. The g5 France is the hyper aggressive play, if you are crazy enough you can take Italy with it… you put Germany or AH at risk to Russia, but you usually come out on top because Russia is kind of far away.

Is there a thread about the French first attack? I remember seeing it, but can’t find it now…

@calvinhobbesliker:

Is there a thread about the French first attack? I remember seeing it, but can’t find it now…

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=33279.0

I think that’s the thread you’re thinking of. Funnily enough, Cow was with the “France first is impossible” camp in it.

I had to nut up and just do it.

@Krieghund:

Land units can move two spaces and attack only if the attacked territory was already contested at the beginning of the turn.  If the territory was hostile or neutral at the beginning of the turn, they may only move one space to enter it and attack.

Are the tournament rules on the first page of this thread still current? I’m asking becuase it seems to read something different from what is being said here…

Want to try this game (again) soon, but as yet I’m undecided about whether to use the official rules or the tournament rules.

Other than the fact than the official rules slowing down play (movement value of just 1 for land units), is there any reason why I shouldn’t use them? I have to admit I do like the rules for political and economic collapse from the tournament rules! I do believe the move 1 is defensible; most movement did occur, on this scale, as far as I know on foot…

The current rules can be found here.

I have to be honest I’m not a big fan of the political/economic collapse rule. I play with little army men so I can kill other little army men. If you want to play something else why not go to your sister’s room and play Monopoly with her and her friends. She has some nice friends and Monopoly is a fine game I’m sure it will be fun.

So on the second turn Jim’s out of the game because he has suffered political collapse due to an Ottoman first strategy employed by the allies. He’s still got lots of little army men to play with but instead he has to remove them and leave the game. Who here thinks that Jim is going to volunteer to serve us all drinks and appies and be the banker for the rest of the night? More likely he is going to play Monopoly in the other room.

I played with these rules last week and I thought it was a lot of fun. I especially liked the political and economic collapse mechanics. Much more interesting than the traditional rules for knocking out a power, and WAY better than those Russian Revolution rules…

The Central Powers won. Italy was taken out basically right away. Russia collapsed not long after that. There was a lot of back and forth in the middle east as Germany came to the Ottomans aid as soon as Russia fell. The game ended with France collapsing on turn 12.

Despite an exciting game, I think we played incorrectly…  We found the movement rules a little vague, so we made a decision early on to play so that land units could move two spaces and only had to stop if they entered a contested territory or a territory controlled by another power. I think this really accelerated the Italian collapse and saved Ottomans, ultimately leading to a fairly decisive CP victory.

My question is, can armies only move one space if they are moving into an enemy territory? Therefore, would it be an illegal move for an Austrian army in Vienna (along with armies from Tyrolia and Trieste) to attack Venice on turn 1?

Thanks guys!

Yes, that’s correct.  Land units may move only one space when moving into an enemy or neutral territory.

Thanks for the clarification Krieghund.

Does the same go for a contested territory?

I’m looking forward to trying these rules out again.

No. You can move 2 into a contested territory. You must end your movement in a contested territory. You can only move one space out of a contested territory.

My main problem with the economic victory idea is that its only ever likely to benefit the CPS. Most games will be fought primarily on Allied/neutral tt; if the Allies are driving into German/Austrian tt the game is already over.

I prefer a “Victory Curve” defining how much tt the CPs have to gain on a particular turn to achieve victory.
Or political collapses factoring criteria such as number of casualties suffered.

I got about a turn and a half into a game using these rules and decided they were NOT for me.  It seems to be way too much of a CP advantage - let alone it just so radically changes the game. To me a big part of 1914 is Russian Revolution and how much Germany goes after Russia, and then if succeeds, how long it takes to get back to save the homeland from France and UK in the west.

AND could someone explain the purpose of the Naval Retreat rule since combat is optional in a SZ.

I find these new tournament rules interesting.
Worth trying for sure!

Victory conditions  OOB does not work.

I’d suggest holding two enemy capitals at the same time  and keep Paris/Berlin as a knock out major victory otherwise the game end turn X, agreed in advance, by then CP must hold enough or the Entente wins a minor victory.
It should be a target to reach for CP minor or major victory turn 3+ (or even turn 1+?). The target includes minor/major Entente victory (0-40  major Entente, 41-60 minor Entente, 90-110 minor CP, 120+ major CP victory as an example). Before the game both sides agree on a maximum number of full turns. If the CP did not win at the end of that turn they have lost the game and the Entente wins a minor victory.
The rules for moving twice on land (not blitzing but in friendly areas) and also 3 movement points for all ships from seabases (and planes in friendly areas only?) whould be used to keep the game faster.

Probably just IPC’s = points +/- some easy things like a player nation in your alliance was conqured +/- 10 each even if later liberated, having a  land unit contesting or adjacent to enemy capital +/-5 per capital including India and South Africa, having starting areas outside Africa but including South Africa occupied by the enemy +/-3 per nation. I know the hard part is setting good limits…

I agree that the best solution is a “victory curve” by which the CPs must hold X at the end of turn Y to be deemed winners. As long as US entry is automatic the Allies will always win in the long run. The conceit is that if the CPs have gained enough ground the Allies will sue for peace rather than ruining themselves in a long war.
Is you base this entirely on capitals then it’s too easy for the Allies to just pile units into those areas to hold out until the Yanks turn up in sufficient numbers. For me, number of units lost should be just as important as territory in determining the point at which a nation throws in the towel.

Are we still making rule changes or can I release my play book? I like axis and allies games favoring Germany strongly to win as I believe the world would be a better place had they done so in either world war, Japan moreso in WW2, imagine a glorious Japan owning all of Asia and the Pacific, the world Peace.  Only in a&a could I live with glorious axis domination.

Thank you for making global 1940 so glorious for Japan. Thank you for making transports not defend itself in every new 1940-1942 release. Thank you for making 1914 have 3 solid strategies for a central power victory. The old days of classic and revised make me cringe as things weren’t so great for the axis.

Thanks you Larry Harris for your continued support of Germany and Japan. It is good to imagine a glorious world. /Endsarcasm