Larry Harris 1914 Tournament Rules ( "potential rules" using his language)

@Mutu98 said in 1914 contested territory multiple countries combat question:

Which units will fight on germany side?
Just the german 6 inf 2 art and 1 plane or the combined 11 inf 4 art and 2 planes?

Only the German units attack. See page 22 of the rulebook.

Does it matter who controled the contested territory prior to contention?

No.

@Krieghund

Good to know.

@imperious-leader said in 1914 Gen Con Rules:

@slip-capone Then this is to be in the smorey swamp section, they are his rules alone

They were used at both Gen Con and Origins.

I am just happy they are on the boards to share.

Four points I guess:

1. I usually stack Ukraine with Russia. Trying to attack the Central Powers will lead to what actually happened in World War 1, Russia getting steamrolled and politically collapsing.

2. It seems to me like your France isn’t playing aggressively enough in the face of Germany focusing on Russia. You didn’t mention the French once if your report, when it seems to me like you could have made a serious push for Ruhr, which would have either crippled the German economy or forced it to actually send units West.

3. If Russia is proving a challenge for you, you can always march troops from India -> Persia -> Sevastapol to keep the Russians alive. Even under tournament rules there’s nothing stopping the UK from dumping it’s entire income in India and rampaging across the Middle East. The Ottomans shouldn’t be able to put up too much of a fight unless you’ve got a really strong Ottoman player. This gives you free reign to either wipe out the Ottomans or prop up the Russians long enough for the Americans to win the game for you.

4. If the Italian front is stalling and Americans aren’t needed in France, you can send the Yanks to Italy instead. If you’ve established Allied naval dominance and the Austrians aren’t putting up any serious fight in the Trieste/Venice region, a steady line of Americans will probably be enough to ruin Austria’s day, or at least force them to divert troops away from Russia.

Thanks for sharing.  I’m always interested in new ways to improve this game while keeping it simple enough for a first or second time player to understand.  The CP’s are certainly in need of help.  But that help must not come at the expense of game play balance or time.  Most of my friends and family that I convince to play with me get “worn out” after a few hours.  We have waited so long for a A&A WWI game and now we finally have one, we just need to tweak it a little more to make it work the best.

My own thoughts on balancing the game:

1. Use the Tournament Rules WITHOUT the starting setup changes.
2. Added Political Rules: (a) Germany must attack Belgium on Turn 1, (b) Italy is neutral on Turn 1 (no offensive actions, but can move into Albania to mobilize) unless/until attacked, and © the US joins on Turn 6, not Turn 4.  Thus, each turn is half of a year (Fall 1914, then Spring 1915, etc. - which also makes tanks at Turn 4 makes sense.
3. Strategic Movement: one or more units in one (1) space of home territory may be moved together to any other space of home territory that is not enemy-occupied or contested which is connected by a line of unoccupied, uncontested home territories from the first.  This may only be used once per turn per country, and is in lieu of other movement that those units could make.

Obviously, those crazy people who actually get 8 living, breathing people together to play the game will not like the US at Turn 6, but they can always find one person to not invite and have the US player also be the Russian player.

@goalievogel:

How do units move from space to space without a non-combat phase? Sorry, I never saw the FAQ!

1. Can the Russians that were being attacked retreat from the territory? Or do they have to stay put?

There are fewer phases in this game.

Purchase
Move
Combat
Deploy purchases

Naval changes things up a little, and Air power adds in some twists, but in general that’s all there is.
You cannot retreat after combat (in the same turn) as there is no non-combat movement phase.  You have to wait until your next movement turn to retreat any of your land based units (including fighters).

All of these rules are very well spelled out in the book (minefields, movement, transports + planes, etc) though it MAY require 2 or more readings to understand how they all interact as not everything is laid out in a simple format.

@Flashman:

So no contested SZs, then.

Does that meant that, when a player with ships in a SZ that an enemy has just built a new ship into takes his turn, he must either fight the new units to the death or withdraw?

If I remember correctly, ships can avoid battle in previous A&A versions, but perhaps he’s changed it to simulate the necessity of breaking through the blockade?