[Game 4] TGC (CP) v DoManMacgee (Entente) -oob, no bid, RR

@the_good_captain Oh whoops you’re right. Tanks first then ART.

@the_good_captain Game History

Round: 12

    Puchase Units - French
        French buy 1 artillery, 4 fighters and 3 infantry; Remaining resources: 0 PUs; 

    Combat Move - French
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Removing units owned by French from Ruhr: 1 infantry
        EDIT: Adding units owned by Neutral_Allied to Ruhr: 1 infantry
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
        2 infantry moved from Picardy to Lorraine
        2 infantry moved from Burgundy to Switzerland
        2 fighters moved from Paris to Switzerland
        2 fighters moved from Paris to Lorraine
        3 artilleries, 12 fighters and 2 infantry moved from Belgium to Alsace
        1 artillery and 1 infantry moved from Paris to Burgundy
        13 artilleries moved from Ruhr to Belgium
        1 infantry moved from Arabia to Syrian Desert
              French take Syrian Desert from Ottomans
        1 infantry moved from Gold Coast to SZ 23

    Combat - French
        Battle in Alsace
            French attack with 3 artilleries, 12 fighters and 2 infantry
            Germans defend with 2 infantry
                French roll dice for 3 artilleries, 12 fighters and 2 infantry in Alsace, round 2 : 7/17 hits, 7.00 expected hits
                Germans roll dice for 2 infantry in Alsace, round 2 : 1/2 hits, 1.00 expected hits
                2 infantry owned by the Germans and 1 infantry owned by the French lost in Alsace
            French win, taking Alsace from Germans with 3 artilleries, 12 fighters and 1 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
            Casualties for French: 1 infantry
            Casualties for Germans: 2 infantry
        Battle in Lorraine
            French attack with 2 fighters and 2 infantry
            Germans defend with 1 infantry
                French roll dice for 2 fighters and 2 infantry in Lorraine, round 2 : 1/4 hits, 1.33 expected hits
                Germans roll dice for 1 infantry in Lorraine, round 2 : 1/1 hits, 0.50 expected hits
                1 infantry owned by the Germans and 1 infantry owned by the French lost in Lorraine
            French win, taking Lorraine from Germans with 2 fighters and 1 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is 0
            Casualties for French: 1 infantry
            Casualties for Germans: 1 infantry
        Battle in Switzerland
            French attack with 2 fighters and 2 infantry
            Germans defend with 1 infantry
                French roll dice for 2 fighters and 2 infantry in Switzerland, round 2 : 2/4 hits, 1.33 expected hits
                Germans roll dice for 1 infantry in Switzerland, round 2 : 0/1 hits, 0.50 expected hits
                1 infantry owned by the Germans lost in Switzerland
            French win, taking Switzerland from Germans with 2 fighters and 2 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
            Casualties for Germans: 1 infantry

    Combat Move - French
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Removing units owned by Neutral_Allied from Ruhr: 1 infantry
        EDIT: Adding units owned by French to Ruhr: 1 infantry
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode

    Place Units - French
        1 artillery, 4 fighters and 3 infantry placed in Paris

    Turn Complete - French
        French collect 33 PUs; end with 33 PUs

Combat Hit Differential Summary :

French regular : 0.33
Germans regular : 0.00

@domanmacgee Game History

Round: 12

    Puchase Units - British
        British buy 1 artillery and 11 infantry; Remaining resources: 0 PUs; 

    Combat Move - British
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Adding units owned by Neutral_Allied to India: 12 artilleries and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Removing units owned by British from India: 12 artilleries and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Adding units owned by Neutral_Allied to Rome: 2 artilleries and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Removing units owned by British from Rome: 2 artilleries and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
                Germans roll mine dice in SZ 6 : 0/1 hits, 0.17 expected hits
        1 artillery and 1 infantry moved from Trans-Jordan to Smyrna
        1 infantry moved from Egypt to Trans-Jordan
        1 battleship moved from SZ 28 to SZ 17
        1 infantry and 1 tank moved from Belgium to SZ 9
        1 infantry, 1 tank and 1 transport moved from SZ 9 to SZ 6
        1 infantry and 1 tank moved from SZ 6 to Karelia

    Combat - British
        British creates battle in territory SZ 6
        Battle in Karelia
            British attack with 1 infantry and 1 tank
            Germans defend with 1 infantry and 1 port
                British roll dice for 1 infantry and 1 tank in Karelia, round 2 : 1/2 hits, 0.67 expected hits
                Germans roll dice for 1 infantry in Karelia, round 2 : 1/1 hits, 0.50 expected hits
            Units damaged: 1 tank owned by the British
                1 infantry owned by the Germans lost in Karelia
            British win, taking Karelia from Germans with 1 infantry and 1 tank remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
            Casualties for Germans: 1 infantry
        Battle in Smyrna
            British attack with 1 artillery and 1 infantry; Americans loiter and taunt
            Ottomans defend with 1 infantry
                British roll dice for 1 artillery and 1 infantry in Smyrna, round 2 : 1/2 hits, 1.00 expected hits
                Ottomans roll dice for 1 infantry in Smyrna, round 2 : 0/1 hits, 0.50 expected hits
                1 infantry owned by the Ottomans lost in Smyrna
            British win, taking Smyrna from Ottomans with 1 artillery and 1 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
            Casualties for Ottomans: 1 infantry

    Combat Move - British
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Adding units owned by British to Rome: 2 artilleries and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Removing units owned by Neutral_Allied from Rome: 2 artilleries and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Removing units owned by Neutral_Allied from India: 12 artilleries and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Adding units owned by British to India: 12 artilleries and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode

    Place Units - British
        1 artillery and 11 infantry placed in India

    Turn Complete - British
        British collect 37 PUs; end with 37 PUs

Combat Hit Differential Summary :

Germans regular : 0.50
Ottomans regular : -0.50
British regular : 0.33
Germans mine : -0.17

1914-game-4-b12.tsvg

Can you do me a favor and do:

-1 F ART to Alsace
+1 F INF to Belgium?

I forgot that allied units don’t count for the “1 INF per territory” thing. I brought 12 FTRs to Alsace against 1 INF so the dice shouldn’t statistically be an issue.

@the_good_captain said in [Game 4] TGC (CP) v DoManMacgee (Entente) -oob, no bid, RR:

@domanmacgee gotcha - and just a heads up, armor don’t absorb hits on an amphibious assault so I have to edit that off too.

Are you sure? I read Page 22 as them not being able to absorb the hit from the defender’s artillery bombardment. Was there a FAQ?

@the_good_captain Thanks for that. Didn’t know you already had a thread open.

Agreed that we can just play on, as the result of your ask won’t matter until Germany’s next round (when I assume you’ll be wanting to dive on Karelia again).

OOL? I assume all INF but figured I’d be safe as USA’s turn is right after this.

@the_good_captain Game History

Round: 12

    Puchase Units - Italians
        Italians buy 1 artillery and 3 infantry; Remaining resources: 0 PUs; 

    Combat Move - Italians
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
        2 infantry moved from Piedmont to SZ 17
        2 infantry moved from SZ 17 to Rome
        1 infantry moved from Nigeria to Kamerun

    Combat - Italians
        Battle in Rome
            Italians attack with 7 artilleries, 1 factory, 5 infantry and 1 port; British loiter and taunt
            AustroHungarians defend with 7 artilleries, 5 fighters, 7 infantry and 2 tanks
                Italians roll dice for 7 artilleries and 5 infantry in Rome, round 2 : 6/12 hits, 6.00 expected hits
                AustroHungarians roll dice for 7 artilleries, 5 fighters, 7 infantry and 2 tanks in Rome, round 2 : 12/21 hits, 10.17 expected hits
                5 infantry owned by the AustroHungarians, 1 fighter owned by the AustroHungarians, 7 artilleries owned by the Italians and 5 infantry owned by the Italians lost in Rome
            AustroHungarians win with 7 artilleries, 4 fighters, 2 infantry and 2 tanks remaining. Battle score for attacker is -22
            Casualties for Italians: 7 artilleries and 5 infantry
            Casualties for AustroHungarians: 1 fighter and 5 infantry

    Combat Move - Italians

    Place Units - Italians
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Adding units owned by Italians to Rome: 1 artillery and 3 infantry
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
        1 artillery and 3 infantry were produced but were not placed

    Turn Complete - Italians
        Italians collect 8 PUs; end with 8 PUs

Combat Hit Differential Summary :

Italians regular : 0.00
AustroHungarians regular : 1.83

@domanmacgee Game History

Round: 12

    Puchase Units - Americans
        Americans buy 1 artillery, 1 fighter and 4 infantry; Remaining resources: 0 PUs; 

    Combat Move - Americans
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Adding units owned by Neutral_Allied to Smyrna: 1 artillery and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Removing units owned by Americans from Smyrna: 1 artillery and 1 infantry
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
        Turning on Edit Mode
        EDIT: Turning off Edit Mode
        2 artilleries, 1 fighter and 3 infantry moved from United States of America to SZ 1
        2 artilleries, 1 fighter, 3 infantry and 3 transports moved from SZ 1 to SZ 13
        4 transports moved from SZ 14 to SZ 1
        1 infantry moved from Togoland to SZ 23
        2 infantry and 1 transport moved from SZ 23 to SZ 14
        2 artilleries, 1 fighter, 3 infantry and 3 transports moved from SZ 13 to SZ 14
        3 transports moved from SZ 17 to SZ 16
        3 artilleries and 3 infantry moved from Spanish Morocco to SZ 16
        3 artilleries, 3 infantry and 3 transports moved from SZ 16 to SZ 17
        1 battleship moved from SZ 19 to SZ 17
        2 artilleries, 1 fighter and 4 infantry moved from SZ 14 to Spanish Morocco
        3 artilleries and 3 infantry moved from SZ 17 to Tuscany
        3 transports moved from SZ 19 to SZ 17

    Combat - Americans
        Battle in Tuscany
            Americans attack with 3 artilleries and 3 infantry
            AustroHungarians defend with 5 infantry
                Americans roll dice for 1 battleship in Tuscany, round 2 : 1/1 hits, 0.67 expected hits
                Americans roll dice for 3 artilleries and 3 infantry in Tuscany, round 2 : 3/6 hits, 3.00 expected hits
                AustroHungarians roll dice for 5 infantry in Tuscany, round 2 : 2/5 hits, 2.50 expected hits
                4 infantry owned by the AustroHungarians and 2 infantry owned by the Americans lost in Tuscany
            AustroHungarians and Americans reach a stalemate
            . Battle score for attacker is 6
            Casualties for Americans: 2 infantry
            Casualties for AustroHungarians: 4 infantry

    Combat Move - Americans

    Place Units - Americans
        1 artillery, 1 fighter and 4 infantry placed in United States of America

    Turn Complete - Americans
        Americans collect 22 PUs; end with 22 PUs

Combat Hit Differential Summary :

Americans regular : 0.33
AustroHungarians regular : -0.50

1914-game-4-usa12.tsvg

@the_good_captain That’s fine. The dice added up over the course of that Rome fight so it’s about time for me to give this one up anyway.

@the_good_captain I need about a day to analyze where this one went off the rails, actually. Will probably have something relatively thorough ready in a few hours/later tonight.

@The_Good_Captain alright, here goes. Will give you the mercy of a short summary first before I dive into my play-by-play and giant rant.

Basically, in this game I did not handle/respect your fleet moves with the CP properly. I was not 100% familiar/comfortable with this game’s unique mechanic (being able to refusing battle in contested SZs for the sole purpose of denying the enemy use of Transports). This caused massive bottlenecks/tie-ups in several key factors that ultimately made me too slow to save Russia and later Rome. Specifically:

1. Not building UK fleet meant your Germany fleet was able to move around and harass on other parts of the map, leading to…

2. France and Italy had to build varying sizes of fleets to defend themselves in the Mediterranean, which cut a turn for each of them (which stymied their respective progress against AH and Germany, ultimately making them unable to break out of Venice/Alsace later in the game).

3. Germany parking its fleet remnants on top of America’s fleet (but not engaging) forced USA to not only build fleet, but also waste a turn killing off said German fleet. This, combined with a bad early build on my part, ultimately heavily disrupted the American logistics to the point where the Canadians had to make up a round of Transport shucks just to get the situation back under control.

This was one factor that proved disastrous in the late game, where reinforcements couldn’t get to Rome fast enough to prevent its fall. Of course, there were several minor mistakes/bad die rolls that also led to this point, but the main cause was the bad logistics, not unlike a normal A&A game where the Allied player could effectively transport troops to mainland Europe to make significant progress before the USSR dies.

The other main factor was that I did not discover the idea of building UK Transports and shucking troops into Karelia fast enough to prevent disaster in Russia. Once I had the chain going in rounds 4/5 it put in good work at forestalling the end but had they arrived faster (or I pulled the Russians out of Ukraine faster, probably after 1-2 turns of combat instead of the 3 I spent there getting attrition’d to death), they might have been able to save the day (key word being “might”).

And yes, this is the SHORT version. The LONG version is next. The play-by-play probably won’t be as helpful to your research as the rant I’m going to drop before said play-by-play.

@The_Good_Captain

General Theory Post (most of these are random observations about 1914 that I jotted down during/after the game. You may not agree with everything I say here) :

• Once Air Superiority is lost and/or economic superiority is getting narrower it may be a good idea to abandon FTR building in exchange for heavier INF.

  • FTRs still have great utility for their 2 move though.
  • Basically the same role as G40 Tanks (movement speed is extremely helpful on larger maps).

• Containing/squashing Germany’s African presence ASAP should probably be done just to help slow down their economy/negate their gains from taking Russian IPCs.

• Britain should probably take the main role in fleet building/cleaning up Germany’s initial navy, as the other Entente members can’t make offensive progress if they waste money on fleet.

  • Russia needs to spend 100% on land to survive
  • France needs to spend 100% fighting Germany
  • Italy needs to spend 100% fighting AH

• Overall, the Entente game plan should revolve around maintaining the IPC lead:

  • Start:

    • CP - 77
      • AH - 26
      • G - 35
      • O - 16
    • E - 93
      • R - 25
      • F - 24
      • B - 30
      • I - 14
        USA not listed as they don’t join until turn 4 (and don’t make it to the front lines until turn 6)

  • End of turn 1:

    • CP - 97
      • AH - 31 (+Romania +Serbia)
      • G - 44 (+Poland +Belgium +Africa territories)
      • O - 22 (+Sevastopol +Bulgaria)
    • E - 95
      • R - 19 (-Poland -Sevastopol)
      • F - 27 (+Portugal +Spanish Morocco)
      • B - 33 (+Persia +Arabia)
      • I - 16 (+Albania in a normal game)

  • So as early as round 2, Entente is actually effectively BEHIND on income, but this potentially gets worse as CP advance in Russia

  • General game state, post USA joining

    • CP - 106
      • AH - 33 (+Romania +Serbia +Albania)
      • G - 48 (+Poland +Belgium +Africa territories +Belorussia +Livonia) (Ukraine contested)
      • O - 25 (+Sevastopol +Bulgaria +Arabia +Persia)
    • E - 112
      • R - 12 (-Poland -Sevastopol -Ukraine -Belorussia -Livonia)
      • F - 29 (+Portugal +Spanish Morocco +Belgium)
      • B - 37 (+all Neutral/German African territories)
      • I - 14 (base territories)
      • A - 20 (base territories)

  • Basically, Entente needs to hold this basic position for long enough to make the TUV difference add up.

  • If RR fires then the IPC count goes to CP 106/E 100, which is CP-favored (and thus catastrophic) unless Entente can make corresponding progress elsewhere on the board.

  • Thus, the main objective would be to not let Russia die unless 12 IPC of value can be made up elsewhere on the map. Likely candidates include:

    • TJ - 1
    • Persia - 2
    • Alsace - 3
    • Switzerland - 1 (not CP-aligned but counts towards Entente-IPC total)
    • Retaking one of the Russian border territories - 2
    • Mesopotamia or Sevastopol - 3

  • If this can happen, Entente can recover even if RR fires.

  • If RR is refused and CP try for a Moscow takedown this becomes much tougher, as Russia will either need help from Britain to not die or for France/Italy (probably France) to manage a critical breakthrough against Germany (breaking into Rhur+Alsace+Munich)

Overall, the game is Entente-favored, but skilled play is needed to keep/maintain the Entente’s IPC lead against a good opponent who is going all-in after Russia.

@The_Good_Captain And finally, the play-by-play, which will probably need multiple posts because of character limits:

(1/???)

NOTE: Sanitizing this a bit compared to what’s actually on my PC due to language
1914 - OOB - RR On

*NOTE #2: More random thoughts about gameplans, etc. are in here

Round 1:
AH - boats to SZ17, dive on Romania (to deny it to Russia). Stack Galacia. Standard stuff
R - All to Ukraine. Standard stuff. Rammed O Fleet (lost badly). Probably should have went to SZ17 and denied combat just to get all Entente boats in one place.

• Possibility - Ram R GG into G fleet on R1 to gamble on 1 cruiser hit. Theory is this would make G odds worse Vs. B in SZ9. Probably a bad idea.

G - Sent 2 SUB to Canada, rest to ram B fleet. Good dice. Standard (but heavy R) otherwise but 5 INF/ART went to Tyrolia.

• NOTE: Kiel stack walked to Berlin (to go East).

F - Standard. Rammed the AH fleet with the F Med Fleet. Battle was drawn (expected outcome).
B - Rammed Egypt into TJ (dice went SUPER BAD), rammed India into Persia (dice went well, got the OTK). Put 100% of build into India.

• NOTE: Possible mistake here?
• Was it worth going 100% all-in against Persia when it would have probably been smarter to bring critical mass to TJ
  • (Remember that Ottomans have a 6 INF/2 ART stack in Smyrna that can respond to the attack immediately, so any win there needs to be significant and not just minor).
  • Overall gameplan with UK Vs. a competent Ottoman player may be off. Might be smart to slowly mass TTs and shuck into TJ in an attempt to draw Ottoman troops south (and away from Russia).
• Also might be necessary to spend B1 building fleet to clean up the German fleet.
  • Using France to do it like I did in this game takes too much away from the western front, which stopped France from being able to effectively punish Germany for sending ~80% to Russia.

O - Activated Bulgaria but largely did nothing except sneak into Sevastopol and try to punish TJ (largely successful). Standard stuff. Moved fleet into SZ17 (no combat) to stop Italy from activating Albania I1.

I - Killed leftover AH TT. Built a SUB to eventually kill off O fleet. Otherwise standard movements.

• Buying fleet with Italy might be a bad idea. Should probably use B to handle all fleet buying in early rounds until Americans show up.

USA - Normal stuff. Only note is:

• “Who should get Spanish Morocco”

  • USA @ 20 income = 4 INF/2 ART (3 TT)

  • USA @ 21 income = 3 INF/3 ART (still 3 TT).

  • F @ 26 income (assuming Portugal) = 6 INF/2 ART

  • F @ 27 income = 9 INF (or 5 INF/3 ART or whatever.)

• So F taking Spanish Morocco may be more ideal, since USA is likely going to be put into a defensive roll wherever they land. The extra F income allows a transition to offensive orientation Vs. Germany instead of defensive.

• Overall shuck path should be:

  • 3 TT SZ1 (USA)
  • 3 TT SZ14 (Africa)
  • 3-6 TT spread across the Mediterranean. Probably should just be 3 in SZ17

• So buy order before USA4 should be:

1. USA1 = 3 TT (18, save 2, 22 total)
2. USA2 = 3 TT (18, save 4, 24 total)
3. USA3 = 3 TT/1 ART (22, save 2, 22 total)
   USA4 means USA can move
   total before being allowed to move = 6 INF/3 ART/BB/CR/9 TT
4. USA4 = whatever you want but at least 3 land units.
   NOTE: Navy can be mixed in here but not too much. You need 9 TT in full rotation by end of USA5