Austria-Hungary first turn

Anyone out there given this a crack after DoMan and I put it together?

I think the best time for Russia to buy fighters is if the RR is not being used and when they have giant stacks of infantry (mostly in the late game) then they buy artillery and fighters to start giving them fire power to go offense against the CP but this only happens in rare cases where Russia can go offense. Or you should buy fighters and artillery when the CPs go west instead of east (that’s the best thing to see :-D) because you are going to need them to really annoy the CPs!

Reading the rules again, I begin to get a bit fussy about the RR rule. We have always run with that Moscow have to be contested in order to RR to occur. I now realize that perhaps thats wrong and that for example  holding Ukraine, Polen, Belarus and Livonia is enough?
IN our games AH have to put enough units in AH% in order for Russia not to be able to kill them all in R5. However if we have been wrong about RR, the 4-7 remaining Germans from G4 is enough since Russia cant advance untill they have been destroyed… And in that scenario AH can have its entire stack moved from Ukraine to Sevastopol in round 5, very much changing Britians advance.

In the west Germany usually have to tactically retreat in r2-r3. However since all buys from G1 and forward will be moved into the west they wont need to retreat further. And even with Belgium and perhaps an orginal German territory gone they will have an income advantage against France alone and therefore push them back r4 and forward.

Same goes for Italy really. AH will use all its income towards Italy (exept 5 planes in r1-3 = 30 IPC). And by r4-5 AH will push Italy out of Trieste/Tyrole for good.

our group went with they have first strike and if you want to kill them you have to dedicate ships to do it and they all roll @ 1’s to sink them but they attack and defend at 1

AH softening France’s air force up to open the way for Germany to have air supremacy: this will henceforth be known as the “Happy Artillery” strategy.  Thanks for making my day, WB.

@WILD:

Yep, makes sense for the CP to have Germany go full tilt in one front, and Austria the other. We have seen Germany push France back to the brink, and Austria start off defending against Russia (and those damn Italians) then actually gaining the upper hand on their front as well with an aggressive Russia (they will need some inf from Germany, and the Turks). It is also helpful to have say a 10 unit friendly force with you to take out smaller adversaries, or grab more land so you don’t splinter off your main force. This can also help you to gain air superiority for the larger partner. Like Austria sacrifices a few inf and ftrs into a French stack just to force a dog fight and kill off a couple allied ftrs. Then Germany goes in full force, finishes off the air, and has very happy artillery.

I do an all-out Balkan attack aimed mainly for Romania and Albania with a comparatively token force in Serbia. Stack in Tyrolia and Trieste for an A2 attack on Venice; Italy won’t attack you and if he does it’s suicide. Buy a sub A1 to strengthen the Adriatic fleet, and a fighter and 2I/2A in Vienna. The Romania attack is the most important. Try to, if not outright capturing it, neutralize the Romanian army so any Russian counter-attack can be crushed by your forces in Galicia. Albania is taken to prevent an Anglo-Italian expeditionary force operating on your southern border and drawing valuable troops off the Russian or Italian fronts. Serbia is not particularly important; you just have to send enough troops that the territory is contested. I’ve played 2 games as the CP so far, using this opening both times. The first time I didn’t send enough soldiers to Italy and overextended myself in Russia, so I was doomed when the Russians smashed my army in Ukraine R3 and the Italians fought me to a standstill in Venice. In the second game I sent more Germans to the East freeing up more Austrians for Italy, and managed to capture Moscow and push to the gates of Rome before the Americans overwhelmed me.

What do you think about possibly pulling the two German subs back to SZ 4?  First, they wouldn’t have to dodge 2 mine rolls (and Germany has enough to kill Britain’s home fleet anyway). Second, you’re set up to make a joint attack on SZ 8 turn two if Britain should try to drop a fleet. A G1 build of a BB in SZ would help (a battleship could likely survive 2a mine rolls on its way to SZ 8).

I haven’t tried this yet, but it might help a Paris or Bust strategy (preventing British reinforcements to France).

@Texas:

The biggest mistake I have seen is Germany contesting too many territories in the west.  You simply can’t produce enough infantry to sustain that.  I have found hitting hard through Belgium is effective while leaving Lorraine and definitely Switzerland alone.

I don’t know about that- hitting Switzerland gives you a lot of flexibility to hit Italy or Southern France.