Game length

For those interested the last 3 rounds were played out.

The final score after 6 full rounds was Entente 29 Central Powers 27.

Unfortunately no notes or images taken.

In my opinion it is impossible for the CPs to win without the Russian Revolution rules (still super hard with them). Be sure however, to allow the Central Powers to decline the armistice if they wish, as detailed in the errata.

we must not play right or just have different playing styles but the CP for us usually win, i played a game where my ally germany built  transports on the first turn and took Norway, and sweden. I was Austria and fuming so i said screw it and went full bore into italy and russia by the time he finished his norwegian expedition i had no infantry or artillery left. The entire German army was intact we eventually won because of that extra production and i had driven the italians and russians far enough back he was able to wipe the french off the board. Now whenever he does something stupid i say yeah like take norway, it gives us a good chuckle but we usually have a winner by turn 7 or 8 and it is about 60/40 Allies vs central.

@Flashman:

The other main objective is that the SZs bordering Africa have no mines, which should make naval combat more lively; the CP fleets can link up, or invade north Africa.

That definitely think that could change things up a lot.  Those mines in SZ17 and the large allied fleets make any early AH naval plans difficult.

The tanks don’t really get rolling like you said until turns 7-9, but that is when you are going to need them. Our last game the CP won was around 16 turns, so got lots of use of the tanks.

Kim

@KimRYoung:

@rjpeters70:

Dude, no offense was meant whatsoever.�  I was not knocking you or Koreans at all (I’ve even been to the ROK, and loved it).�  It’s just the first thing that jumps in my head these days, given that we have a crazy dictator actively threatening nuclear war named Kim.

I’m not offended at all RJ, just letting everyone know who I am. It was also bad in the late 60’s when the name Kim became a common girls name (short for Kimberly), then if they didn’t know, they thought I was a girl. In H.S. I got put in an all girls health education class, which I thought was great! I still get mail to Ms. Kim Young  :lol:

Kim (white, non-Korean male  8-)

For what it’s worth, I know a Korean named Robert E. Lee.

@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…

Well they could have mixed some in.
My biggest gripe is the lack of artillery sculpts.
Just swap them all around. Like give France the Italian sculpt from 1940, and give Russia the Japanese sculpt, etc. Just recolor the old molds.
Better than one cookie cutter artillery.