Report from BJCard's Table

Almost is the operative word here.

I’ve had a large German stack in Burgundy, and an Austrian army contesting Rome, but neither was ever close to finishing the job because by the time they got there the Allies were able to bring in reinforcements more quickly than the CPs.

Almost is effectively never.

@BJCard:

I’m trying to figure out the optimal strategy for the CPs (even if they are doomed- what is their best plan?).  I think that this game may have been pretty close to it.  Russia knocked out, Rome almost taken, British on the run in the Mid East, France on the run for a few turns. Â

The CPs just don’t have enough gas to finish off Italy and France (after Russia is done).

It seems like you spent a lot of effort on Russia, in only knocking them out and not getting a capital it seems you go short-changed.

I am only a couple games away from limiting the India factory to 4, increasing production of Ruhr from 0 to 6, and/or counting the revolution as a VC.

BJ,

Your game was very similar the the one we played with the exception you used the Revolution. This is a drawback for the CP (despite not getting the capital) as they cannot capture Moscow and the remaining Russian territories. Without the revolution, the CP can defeat Russia, capture ALL her territories, and have enough IPCs to fund the war in the west.

Not building tanks for Austria may also have been a mistake as in our game she built up a large force of them to overrun the Italians, backed up by artillery and 5 fighters! Again though, she captured Moscow and several other Russian territories and could fund the fight. And yes, we had the Americans land units in Italy also, but they had to be diverted to France when Austria was moving to link up with the Germans.

The other thing that the CP did was being patient. They didn’t go all out until the IPC total had tipped enough in their favor and they had built up large enough forces to make a sustained fight. Also, guns and planes matterd more thatn infantry. If you know you can get air supremecy, don’t bother with too much infantry for soak off as the guns will pay for the losses in massive kills. Stacks of 20 some guns backed up by fighters with only around a half-dozen infantry and 4 or 5 tanks were killer.

One thing I like is even with a good stategy, there is still no guarantee of either side being overwhelming. Again, don’t play with the Revolution rules!

Kim

My first game was almost exactly like your game.  I had the CPs all focus on the Russians for the first 4 turns with the bulk of their troops.  I didn’t buy any naval units, but I did wipe out all the UK naval units in the Atlantic with the German navy with ease.  It forced them to build lots of ships for the next 2 turns without having to buy any new ones myself.  I encountered the same exact problems that you did with the CPs when going after France and Italy.  I got to the doorsteps of Rome and failed to take it due to the USA coming in strong to defend it.  It was all downhill from there.

The second game, I tried a slightly different strategy.  This yielded a victory for the CPs.  I had the Germans and Ottomans go all out of the Russians again, but only had the starting units on the board go to the Russians for the AH.  All their reinforcements went after Italy.  It allowed me to knock out Russia and Italy.  The USA was not strong enough that time to save the poor Italians.  The AH had knocked the Italians down to like 4-6 IPCs with great ease.  With the AH going after southern France to aid Germany in their pursuit of Paris, the allies surrendered.  I did not build any naval units for the CPs until near the end of the game.  That is when I started getting an Ottoman navy to go after Africa

All in on Russia is what I’ve played – seen.  Problem is that Russia can almost always go into Revolution, even as a defensive tactic to prevent the Central Powers from capturing the VC.  As seen by others, it screws the CPs by preventing them from capturing the rest of the IPCs.

Here is what I think may need changing:

1. 1 more German battleship (maybe swap out French BB in the Atlantic with a Brit BB)

2. 1 German Transport to allow amphib in Baltic

3. Change R. Revolution to include a die roll to make it a little more unlikely

Good point about Artillery, except I hate losing them; would rather lose Infantry if I can.  Having a few tanks are invaluable in protecting your stack as it advances on Rome/Paris.

If you know for certain you are going to get the air supremacy in a battle, then guns are in fact more economical then infantry. Attacking and defending at 4’s (8 total pips) compared to infantry at 2/3 (5 pips) you are getting more then 50% more combat power out of a unit that costs only 33% more.

So for  12 IPCs (3 artllery vs 4 infantry) you get 24 pips of firepower to 20 for the infantry. And while infantry can move up to 3 on the attack, this is a bonus provide by the Artillery which is not even figured into the economic comparison.

And yes you have to buy the fighters, but once that investment is made, then you can get your return on large stacks of guns. It sure worked in our game.

Kim

Remember to have enough infantry saved to allow you to split up your force when you need to.
Or you’re liable to get an army stuck in Moscow…