Added new rule clarification:
If the British units in Paris are destroyed prior to France’s turn, France gets 4 infantry for free.
Alliance Vs Entente
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We want them to have a fighting chance, which OOB rules do not provide given half competent Allied play.
There were occasions where the CPs came closer to winning than people sometimes think - the submarine campaign in the Atlantic; the French army mutinies, the Americans reinforcing the west just when the Allies were on the point of exhaustion.
But the CPs depended mainly on rail movement to reinforce their fronts, the Allies much more so on sea power; that is why the game is unbalanced without radical reform of land movement. Incidentally I’ve always had the same beef about WWII versions, but the problem there is less acute given that the distance from Berlin to the Atlantic is much less in terms of spaces. The fact that infantry (and artillery & tanks) traveled to the front by rail in both world wars (and every other industrial war from 1861) is something that LH has never incorporated into the game mechanics. Until now…
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To me a balanced game is two sides with the same amount of soldiers,the same amount of IPC’s and so on……but you will never get that.Yes I agree it’s very difficult to play Entente but few people here trying to take on board things like speed of wind,sunset,soldiers fighting with one hand,fighting with two hands(better ones)and that kind of things.(on the other hands I like the idea of 2 or more spaces move on your own terittories and year split up in to 2 rounds)
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@Dukla:
To me a balanced game is two sides with the same amount of soldiers,the same amount of IPC’s and so on……but you will never get that.Yes I agree it’s very difficult to play Entente but few people here trying to take on board things like speed of wind,sunset,soldiers fighting with one hand,fighting with two hands(better ones)and that kind of things.(on the other hands I like the idea of 2 or more spaces move on your own terittories and year split up in to 2 rounds)
If a year is split up in two Rounds then Italy should def. enter war R2, USA R6.
Flash, what about Italys Aligned Nation Abbania/Montenegro in this scenario? Montenegro would always be on Serbias side.
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Albania is another mess; virtually in a state of anarchy, with a German monarch (who later joined the Kaizer’s army) and a rebellious population. In my Balkan realignments I made Albania a Turkish aligned neutral, worth just 1 IPC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Albania
However, to make it more difficult for the western Allies to get a foothold in the Balkans I’d consider making both Albania and Greece neutrals, with the “Good Allies” rule.
Problem is how to allow the later entry of the Allies into Greece?Also note that restoring the historical Bulgarian border places Greece 2 land spaces from Constantinople, making it more viable as an Allied landing zone.
I find no support for the idea that Albania was in any way historically aligned to Italy.
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Albania was not pro-italy at all, but rather the population was more or less pro-turks (the majority in Albania were muslims). Albania got invaded by Italy during the war…
Greece on the other hand did join the allies during the war.So for v2 of A&A 1914, one might consider realigne Albania to the turks and perhaps a special align Greece with the allies from r4 (lower its value to 1 IPC). This with the “good allies” might accually balance this game pretty much perfectly.
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Also depends if you use rule that aligned neutrals can only be entered by the aligned power, so that for example Albania cannot be activated by Austria.
Together with Romania being French (or just possibly Italian) aligned, and Bulgaria aligned to Austria this makes the Balkans much more interesting.
Greece is still a problem - I don’t want the Allies to just walk in there round one. At one point I had a map with Greece in two provinces: British aligned Salonika in the north and German aligned Athens to the south.
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One very Nice alternative is having Bulgaria as a major state starting with 6inf and 2art and Worth 6 IPC and acting last.
In WWI Bulgaria wasent small, they had a very large army (by far the biggest in the Balkans) allmost double that of romania which is worth 3IPC.
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Yes, but this means a major reworking to balance the game.
It’s easier to take into account the fact that Italy had a secret agreement with the Allies from September 1914, and automatically enters in round two.
But it must not have a turn round one, otherwise Austria will attack it A1 every time anyway.
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I still don�t see that Flash, since the 3 CPs are screwed from the start.
I just had a game with two colleagues after work. Me and a friend playing the Allies.
Russia collapsed economically R4 but Turkey collapsed politically R4 so with only one German stack in Lorraine and Ruhr being British the CPs surrendered after Round 4 (!) And that with a German-Austria player that had so much luck with his dices…
(EDIT: I have to say there was one Hous Rule, that is alway installed when I play A&A1914. Switzerland is worth 4 IPC. I think this unbalances the game alot in favour for the Allies. Otherwise Germans or Austrians would always overrun it R1 and this makes Burgundy contested the next Round.)
Its soo unbalanced that I dont think it would be too harsh for the Allies to fight against Italy from Round 2 on.
Did you ever try it and if yes what happened?
The CPs still need good luck in roling dice to reach Paris before the Americans arrive.
P.S. the two colleagues loved the game and want to buy it tomorrow :-D
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Delaying Italian entry by a round denies it a turn of income. I’m intending to play a game with PTR when my extra bits arrive, then a game with various house rules intended to balance.
I still feel Germany and Austria should have unlimited non-combat movement within their own tts; also a release of POWs if Russia collapses.
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