Finally bought this game!

That’s always been my problem. It isn’t too hard to get your troops outside the capitol, bit you have to make sure you’ve brought enough to get the job done. If you only contest the territory the defender can reinforce during the battle and you can’t. So if you don’t take the capitol quickly you’re screwed.  Sounds like an entertaining game.

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).

Kreighund never explained why this was introduced, when it appears to benefit the CPs only in limited movement through such tts. They would surely be better off being able to withdraw from them.

@Koningstiger:

When exactly did the Americans enter WW 1? Wasn’t that 1917? In game terms they enter on round 4. War should be almost over by then following the same logic, haha…

Well, in the real war, the Germans looked at their watch, saw it was 4 o’clock in the morning, saw stacks of Brit, French, and US tanks in France, and did what half of the players I read about do….gave up  :-D

I’ve found if one side or another wants to put in the time, turn 4-5 is not late enough to determine the end result of the game, especially if one side (cough, CP, cough) is able to refocus to one front instead of two.

@KimRYoung:

Question,

Since you used the optional Russian Revolution rules, did youuse the rules from the game, or the new revisions from Krieg?

Thanks, looks like you had a great game!

Kim

Thanks, Kim.  I used the Russian Revolution rules from Krieg, which is great because that is how I was planning on playing anyway.  Make no mistake, RR is a GREAT thing for the Central Powers.  (Frankly, I think I even prefer it over capturing Moscow in retrospect.)

@Auztria:

Yes. If they truly had a historically accurate setup, Russia would have almost as many troops at start as Germany and Austria-Hungary combined. The Ottoman Empire would have no fleet, Germany would have extra cruisers in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, Britain would have just 1 infantry, and Africa would be even more barren. Of course they can’t do that, simply for gameplay reasons. If Russia could conquer Galicia and East Prussia effortlessly every game, people would quickly grow bored.

But you see… I went to school to be a historian! I will have to do a little bit of experimenting with the Russian infantry bordering Galicia and East Prussia. Naturally, it raises my hackles that the Russians can’t do much more than poke the CPs on this front. The Russian TTs containing six infantry probably ought to have eight (on the western border). Any attack they make in Prussia or Galicia is going to be bulldozed by a massive A-H or German attack with at least 12 infantry in each case to throw at the hapless Russians.

I have a soft spot for those intrepid Bulgarians c. 1915. This has led to some experimenting on my end to make them a playable country in lieu of a country in the direct Ottoman pale. Instead of collecting income, they would do something like China does in A&A:Pacific 1.0–crank out people or arty (no planes, tanks or ships). I even thought about allowing the Germans to give them a subsidy (1 IPC or something along those lines). Australia is often talked about for its commitment to the war (and justly so), but I was blown away when I read the Bulgarian stats. 1,200,000 mobilized out of about 5 million people!!  If Italy is in this game, surely Bulgars can’t hurt…

If I were Germany I’d feel completely cheated by the Revolution. UNLESS it created a new Bolshevik power friendly to the Central powers…

@ossel:

I find it interesting that none of the games posted on this forum have ended with the victory conditions that are stated in the rules…which doesn’t really surprise me due to the nature of the war, but I kind of wish there had been more of a design consideration for alternate game endings, besides ‘we don’t feel like playing anymore.’

Flashman, remember what Sun Tzu said:

Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.

I think the Allies are giving up too soon as well, but taking Moscow is a major morale victory for the CP’s, and it seems to be very effective.

[Edit]: I guess revolution was triggered in this game, but the effect is similar.

Between British India and Russian forces I’m not sure the Porte will have much time to pump out a fleet, a sub or two maybe but the British have a strong fleet down there and they don’t have to ever move out of the red sea.