I got the game yesterday and played through the first round.
The map is big, with huge writing on it, but otherwise fairly nice and the two sides line up good for me.
I did not run out of pieces; I came close with German/UK Infantry, but I consolidated many territories (not for the purpose of running out of Inf), and always seemed to have enough. I suppose if you kept single UK Inf in the two northern territories of Britain and if you kept both UK and German ‘armies’ in Africa separated then you have a problem.
Austria can take and hold Romania. They can send their Budapest and Galacian armies there- Russia does not have the troops to take it back. When I did the battle in Romania, Austria took sole possession of the territory after one round of combat. Also attacked and contested Vienna and Serbia.
Russia has a tough time. They cannot take Romania back, they can make a stand in Poland (but Germany should be able to dislodge them), and they can attack Galacia (but can be counterattacked from Vienna turn 2). If Ottoman mass in Mesopotamia, then Russia has to worry about Sevastopol.
Germany has a lot of troops, but do have a tough time on the western front. France can counterattack Lorraine pretty hard. Poland should not be a problem for the Prussia/Silesia armies. All available ships attacked the British home fleet and destroyed them.
France- Yup can counter attack Lorraine. Transport troops to Portugal and from Africa to Southern France somewhere. Move BB in Atlantic to UK SZ
UK- Gotta build 1 BB, 2 CA with the French BB and bring over Canadian ships. Attacked Jordan and activated Arabia. Attacked the SW Africa German troops.
Ottoman- Wow they suck. Cannot contest the Mid east. Massed what troops they had in Mesopotamia and Smyrna (south of Istanbul). Activated Bulgaria.
Italy- moved more troops to Vienna. Transported African troops to Italy. That’s it.
US- did not play them. Felt like it was time to go to bed, so I cleaned up the board (my 3 year old would have a field day).
Overall- Looks bleak for the CPs after 1 round. Russia is the only place where it looks good. France and Italy are not going to fall easily. UK forces out of India will be enough to limit the Ottoman fairly easily. Would probably invade Persia turn 2 (or turn 1 next game). Germany cannot contest the Atlantic beyond its starting ships or risk not having enough reinforcements for both fronts.
I like the potential in the game, but feel it needs more polish for sure.
The map sure looks good, and the only problems are the far too small territories on the Western Front. Its bad enough when only France and Germany contest Belgium or Picardy, imagine when UK too start to reinforce that little territory, and from turn 4 even USA and tanks need space for their stacks, in this tiny territory. Luckily Russia have some huge territories to host its lone infantry, so he’ll never get this space issue.
The difference in territory size also makes for some funny stuff, man. Like an aircraft in Berlin cant reach France in one turn, but the Russian aircraft in Moscow can easily reach the Middle East in one move. I guess Russia had developed long range aircraft already then.
I love how the Rulebook use cartoons to explain the difference between Amphibious assaults and Amphibious reinforcements. Too bad they used dark colors, so its hard to see. Maybe in next editon.
The plastic pieces were beautiful, except for the artillery, wich looked like it was liftet from Risk.
Agreed on the small territories on the Western Front. I kept knocking over infantry when moving units in France.
Some more movements:
Canada to Marseilles - 1 turn by sea
London to Karelia - 1 turn by sea
Washington to Rome - 2 turns by sea
Vienna to Rome - 4 turns over land
Berlin to Lorraine - 4 turns over land
What did someone say about Germany being screwed?
Possible Solutions:
Give the CPs trains
Reduce all naval movement by 1
Make Munich a production centre
So why not buy new production centers/factories @ 10/12 IPC??
Buy rail lines to connect territories @ 5 IPC, then any units may advance along any contiguous territories linked by the rails?
I agree: I think Germany should have had a second (Western) mobilisation zone.
As Germany you need to build a Fighter a turn, but can only really hit Poland with one on T2, then probably will be building one(T3 on) simply to move it close to the Front.
Because all of these would have been in place in 1914 - you shouldn’t need to buy them.
Next game I will experiment with the Munich factory only. That might be all that is needed to balance.
So why not buy new production centers/factories @ 10/12 IPC??
Buy rail lines to connect territories @ 5 IPC, then any units may advance along any contiguous territories linked by the rails?
I think rails would benefit the CPs too much, but the Munich factory may be just enough to make it more balanced. Also perhaps Ottoman could be boosted a bit in the Mid East- as it is now it seems like all they can do is threaten Sevastopol and hold on to Istanbul and Smyrna.
Indian production might need to be limited to give Turkey a break; I’ve suggested max 6 IPC spend per turn in Bombay.
Think 6 IPC spend is too low, Flashman.
I expected it to be the IPC value: 4 units (maybe max 2 non Infantry).
That would have been sufficient.
Indian production might need to be limited to give Turkey a break; I’ve suggested max 6 IPC spend per turn in Bombay.
Agreed, as it is Britain has 2 transports to move 4 units every turn to Ottoman territory - or can just take Persia too easily.
Indian production might need to be limited to give Turkey a break; I’ve suggested max 6 IPC spend per turn in Bombay.
In general, I don’t like the idea of limiting spending artificially like that. If Britain wants to sacrifice from their strength on the Western Front by overloading the Ottomans, they should be free to do that.
I could maybe get behind restricting the types of units they can place there to represent industrial limitations, etc.
The British don’t even need to put much in India- they start with significant forces in India and Egypt- not to mention they can activate Arabia.
