@Flashman:

I definitely agree with a simple strategic rail movement rule, for every strategic war game from c1850 - 1950.

I like the idea of event & tactical cards, but as an optional extra dimension, not something integral to the game system.

Horses were used to move material from rail heads to the front, which on this scale is not really relevant, since this should be a maximum of one area. The exception is regions without rail, and here cavalry units would be more relevant.

My dislike of capture the flag, AKA capture the capital is well stated.

However, I have a hunch that 1914 will be the best A&A game yet. If it is realistic in the way strategy develops, there’ll be little chance of capitals being captured, so there will have to be alternative victory conditions.

Some of the other bugbears I have with previous versions have been dealt with, so A&A is evolving slowly. If only Larry would see how silly it is to make infantry march across the map one space at a time we’d be more than halfway there.

The only way to deal with rail or river movement with a scale this large is cards…look at Academy Games Birth of a Nation: 1812 game…it does a good job of handling abstract movement on an area movement map.  I plan to make about 60 cards similar, but instead of simply playing them which creates a lot of random luck, if you get a really good one you would have to pay the operational/logistic cost of playing it so it levels out somewhat.

Wars conducted by industrial powers had changed rapidly between 1900 and 1941.  The Russo Japanese War illustrated the power of machine guns and entrenchments.  However, aside from the use of Rail, horse and horse drawn wagons, etc…was still most common in WWI.  So how do you represent this in 1914 vs. other Axis and Allies titles?

I personally think the A&A system works best for WWI, rather than WWII. Area movement is fine for infantry and cavalry, but armored units with break throughs and lack of supply lines, etc…never made sense to me.

Grab one territory, consolidate, move on…seems to work best here.

As I’ve said in other posts, I plan to create a National Morale Track on a 3 Front Model for winning and game ending conditions (othewise it feels like capture the flag ).  Aside from this, I’m going a step further in modifying the movement rules of the game that will incorporate technology of the day and benefit more industrialized nations by creating a generic movement/attack/fortify deck for all nations to use.  It will create a fog of war aspect to some degree and will only allow a player to move some regions per turn and will have to pay for the card when played the same as paying for replacement units. This will make IPC’s reflective of a nations logistical abilities as well as industrial/military.  Smaller, less wealth nations will have to launch offensives in a careful manner as not to squander resources, while some will have greater operational flexibility.

I believe this will help create a more realistic game.

Sounds like we’re moving in the same or similar direction.  Just have to wait and see the finished product and go from there.  I’m aiming at making a tight game that can be finished in an evening (or it will be sitting on the shelf for long periods).

I’ll create my chart or track at that point and share the results…we’ll see.

It’s cool to see WWI using the system…I like the map better.  Turkey’s location adds extra flavor and the German High Seas Fleet was second only to the British.  Attrition played a big roll on the Western Front and Eastern Front was sweeping.  It just feels less scripted than WWII, which I love as a period, but games on the grand strategic level feel “samey.”

Cheers…

Simple: you gain morale points when you successfully take enemy territories or eliminate all enemy units within a territory.  If you fail, you risk losing morale points.  The rewards are greater if you attack, but not always.  This prevents turtling, but also prevents ridiculous attack, attack, attack, without any consequence.

Agreed.  Keep it simple.  Can’t stress enough the importance of tracks for different Fronts/Theaters.  This will keep it interesting and relevant for all players.  If the Aust/Hun are getting hammered by the Russians/Italians, the Germans or Turks may have to come to their aid, which in turn takes pressure of the Western Front and opens door for British in Mediteranean, etc. etc…creates a strategic chess match.

Have to see the actual map before I make any definitive judgement, but preliminarily I would say key map areas would gain 2 points, lesser map areas 1 point, elimination of X number of BP’s gains 1 point, failed attacks (losing more BP’s than defender -1 point)….something like that.

If at the end of a game turn either Alliance has enough combined points on all 3 fronts or 2 fronts are past the Alliances Morale Factor limit the game ends immediately.  It would be possible and appropriate if one side were to be able to win in 4 or 5 turns.  However, the risk of overextending is obvisous, as you encourage both counterattacks, and failed attacks could also cost you negative points.

New poster, but long time gamer.

In terms of National Objectives, I believe they are too restrictive and create a gaming experience that is heavily scripted.

what I’ve done in the past with other A&A titles and similar grand strategic war games is create a National Morale or Will Track.

For WWI, I would establish a 3 Theater Track - Western Theater, Eastern Theater, and Mediteranean Theater.  Each starts at ‘0’ and moves in favor of Entente or Central Powers on a set critera, such as IPC’s gained or lost on a single turn in one of the theaters for example.  Then set a prescribed turn to end the game on (say 10 turns).  If no one has reached ‘immediate’ victory by gaining a certain number on each of the theater tracks) then the game ends and whichever side is ahead on 2 of the 3 theater tracks wins a conditional victory.

I’ve found that this creates a lot of tension and opens up strategies with many options and many different paths to victory.  Obviously some conditions would be considered heavily on the tracks, such as the loss of Paris or Berlin, or the High Seas Fleet controlling the channel.  Additionally, the game can be played out in 2 to 2.5 hours a big plus for me.