What should I do? 1914

If you want to see balance issues, you should play totally without house rules a few times first, in my opinion.

@vonLettowVorbeck1914:

If you want to see balance issues, you should play totally without house rules a few times first, in my opinion.

Exactly.

Well, they didn’t won the real war either, now did they ?

If I am not mistaken the askaris thing is that in Africa you can buy 1 infantry for every original territory that you started with and still control at that time period.

I.E. Germany can buy an infantry for a territory they owned at the start and still currently own. They wouldn’t be able to buy an infantry in Egypt if they owned it because they never previously owned it.

This would make Africa quite interesting. I may be wrong though

You might want to try Rail Roads ,say allow units in Europe their Home or Allied Countries to move
3 TT .Flashman would have a better idea for them ,but the point is they would give the CP the
ability to use there interior lines to advantage.

Mmm, my game had long lines of Germans marching to the west, and Austrians marching slowly east. The Allies can just ship units pretty much where they want, and it gets really frustrating for the CPs.

As stated above, definitely play OOB to start to get a feel for the game, you might reach different conclusions from anyone else. There may be winning strategies for the CPs nobody has tried yet.

Askaris: attack 1/2 defend 2 cost 2

Must be accompanied at all times by a regular infantry; Askaris taken as casualties first.

Can be recruited in originally controlled African tts by owner only, I would suggest a mximum of 2 per turn per power.

It would indeed change the dynamic in Africa as particular tts would be worth defending, rather than the game of musical chairs with units dancing around to grab empty areas that we have at the moment.

I’m thinking about naval setup, but would definitely give Germany a transport with the HSF, and a cruiser in the Indian ocean.

The CPs are vastly outnumbered in ships.
Flashman and others: If you know they had a naval presence in the East, then giving  Germany a ship makes sense and would help.

I like how you say the Askaris should be taken as casualties first, Flashman.
Did the Germans push them into the firing line!

On the whole they were fairly well treated by the Germans, though the French used African infantry as cannon fodder on the western front.

The German cruiser off GEA would be:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Königsberg_(1905)

Thank you Flashman.
I suppose if it was just the one ship, then I can see why it need not be represented. (Though for balance and more African interest it could be included.)
Liked reading its history.

@wittmann:

Thank you Flashman.
I suppose if it was just the one ship, then I can see why it need not be represented. (Though for balance and more African interest it could be included.)
Liked reading its history.

I was more than one ship, though; the bulk of the German Far East Squadron went east, annhilated a British squadron at Coronel and then were finally annhilated in turn by the British CC’s at the Falklands… but they could have turned west w/ Konigsburg… then again, they had all successfully eluded the British Far East Squadron, so to maintain balance, perhaps both need a ship in the region if you give one such a ship… Idk, interesting possibilities for experimentation, but hard to know how to represent all the potential moving parts fairly.

I have played 2 games now and i do believe that without some real lucky dice the Central Powers are screwed.

Germany needs to be able to produce in Munich and i think adding a starting transport in SZ 10 would really help aswell.

Also maybe add a cruiser to Austria’s starting navy. As of right now the French fleet moves out of the Med toward mainland UK because the Austrian fleet is of no threat to anyone and they cannot afford to bolster it. So Germany has to either buy sea units to hold the Atlantic for a few turns or get crushed by the combined forces of France and UK.
Maybe the added cruiser plus an A1 sub purchase could keep the French fleet in the Med off of Germany 2-3 turns or so, and give Germany a real chance to stay afloat in the Atlantic (with limited spending) for a few turns keeping UK from landing large amounts of troops on turns 2 and 3.

It is also my opinion that UK’s Indian production needs limited to its IPC value of 4.

So UK can produce 4 land/air units in India and Germany can produce 4 land/air units in Munich per turn.
Add a German transport to their starting fleet in SZ 10.
Add an Austrian cruiser (or maybe add a German cruiser ???) to their starting fleet in SZ 18.

Uncrustable: that all makes sense and seems fair.
I too have found it hard going as  the CPs, so a little help would be appreciated.

Is everyone(did Flashman say it first) in accord that the IC should be Munich and not the Ruhr?
I am unaware of which territory produced more for Germany in WW1, not being a historian of the period.

Well,I think the idea was munich because that is closer to Paris than Berlin but not quite as close as the Ruhr. If we were going for what produced more, undoubtedly it would be the Ruhr.

Now that they’ve fixed the Russian Revolution rules, I think the only house rule I would impose would be as follows:

Tanks cost 5 instead of 6, and you can start purchasing them on Turn 3 instead of Turn 4.

I still have a conceptual problem with Russia being the only country with a revolution, but from a “game play” perspective, the way the game is set up it makes sense.

Thanks Von Lettow.

If you want to introduce some more historical accuracy as well let Germany produce in Ruhr and Berlin, of course!

And if we are at it: Let Russia produce in Karelia and Moscow. Capitol in St.Petersburg (of course!!!)

I can see how movement is a problem for the CP in the very short time I’ve been exposed to the game. I’m not ready to say there needs to be a fix yet at this point (will continue to play OOB and/or FAQ for the most part), and I’m uncomfortable with placing an IC in non capital territories because I could see oh we need one here too……or what happens when they are captured (keeping in mind that the enemy gets to use them in the other A&A games). I assume we are talking about a rule that might have a chance to become part of the game at some point.

In trying to keep with the theme set by this 1914 game of only the eight major capitals (+India) mobilizing units, if I was developing a house rule w/expectations of it maybe being adopted to the game (even as an optional rule) I would maybe look at allowing a capital territory to boost ground units +1. The Capital would need to be in your control (not contested). The units would need to be in that territory at the beginning of the turn to get the +1. Limit the number of units that can get this +1 to the IPC value of the capital territory (6 for the most part, Germany at 8’, and India at 4), and any unit that gets the +1 would need to end its movement in a territory that either you control, or is friendly (maybe allowed you to end movement in contested territories that you also have units in, but need to stop in the first contested territory you move to TBD?). Being that the English wouldn’t get much from this benefit (Island Capital) I would probably allow you to also get +1 when your units start in a friendly capital. I would think that if you capture an enemies capital you would inherit there network and get +1. Could help a bit to move surviving CP units in an event they capture Moscow.

This would at least allow your newly built units to get moving in your next turn, and you could funnel units through a friendly capital to gain a boost. If you look at the map most movement boosts would end on your own territories, or friendly territories w/exception of CP units heading to Russia. This would give the Germans & A/H a good push, but the French would also be getting units to the front if the Germans are playing defense on the western front in an all out Russian attack from the get go.

Anyway it would give you the feel of some type of rail (faster movement) from your central hub that is w/theme of the game IMO.