A&A 1914 with trucks - First impression


  • Hey guys.

    So my friends and I play this game about 4-6 times a year and we like it, though we did think mobility could be some issue. We did try the Tournament Rules movement of 2 squares and found it to be frankly underwhelming and not as balanced as we would like.

    So we tried introducing a new unit into the game : trucks. It does make some sense historically and I was trying to think up a way to give players a way to choose to commit to mobility.

    So here’s how we played our first game with it :

    1. Cost : 5 IPCs
    2. Moves : 2
    3. No attack or defense value
    4. Can transport 2 Infs and 1 Art

    The purpose is that the units can move onto a territory, load into a truck and move another territory so the truck does a one-back one-forward motion. Under no circumstances can any unit travel more than 2 areas in one move.

    The end result was interesting : it saw action with about 8 units on the map. My friend played AH and by the end had 3 that could move armies effectively enough to counter Italian attacks from two fronts. I had some success with Germany and France made use of a couple later in the game to rush reinforcements in.

    Overall it seems to offer players a choice of flexibility in that you either choose to buy pure military power and have it walk slowly or you invest in speed and get more maneuvrability as well.

    We’ll be playing it again that way and it is fun. If you guys want to try it out, I suggest you do or post any questions and suggestions.

    Thank you !

  • '17 '16

    You’re for all intents and purposes inventing Mechanized Infantry for WWI and that’s not historically accurate… you’re trying to turn WWI Trench Warfare into WWII Blitzkrieg.  Trucks may well have existed during WWI, but they weren’t reliable or used in mass in the formation of Mechanized Infantry… yes, the famous Miracle of the Marne episode of September 7 and 8, 1914 is about as close as you’d get to that, but that was incredibly short distance and ad hoc… certainly not something historically accurate as being able to move armies to counter attacks from two fronts as you explained happened in your game.

    You can certainly invent all kinds of rules to make all things possible, but rather than trying to make mechanized infantry, perhaps look into some sort of custom Rail rules… that would be akin to “mobile” WWI forces… rail was king in WWI for movement.  You might want to try some custom rules along those lines… certainly you can make truck units from WWI, but I’d highly argue widespread use of trucks to form highly mobile infantry able to seal up two fronts in quick succession is anything but historically accurate for WWI.


  • I agree - railroads are what needs to be represented for mobility.  Here is a rule for a starting point:

    Railroads:

    Provides free movement into a territory.  Player can build railroads into territories as a
    contiguous line.  The cost per territory is 8 IPCs, and build must start from the capital or a
    territory with a pre-existing rail line.  Railroads allow units with a cost up to 16 IPCs to
    move for free along any part of the rail line.  After the free move, the units can move their
    normal amount, which also includes loading onto transports.

    • Railroad movement can only be used if starting in a territory with a rail line.
    • Rail movement is allowed into contested territories.
    • Rail lines are considered destroyed if the territory is captured - but can be rebuilt.
    • Rail line can be built between USA and Canada.

    May want to start with pre-existing rail networks; Berlin - Hanover; London - Yorkshire; 
    Paris - Burgundy.


  • Here are my doubts about railroads from a game perspective (I am aware they are historically more accurate) :

    1. Do unlimited railroads essentially make the game about holding a massive front like other A&A games with reinforcements dropping in the war zone almost instantly ? If so, this is certainly a historically accurate perspective but a very boring one game wise.

    2. Do limited railroads make for a stiff line of mobility and become obvious targets, again creating a stockpile of units ?

    What I do like about this game is that reinforcement logistics has to be accounted for. It has made for more fluid games.

    I know I do not want to recreate mechanized infantry and the no-combat value is in place specifically for that, so it makes little sense to build so much it hampers your striking force. The only advantage this method has over limited railroad capacity is some fluidity - again, only some.

    EDIT : I did forget to mention that trucks are not allowed to Blitz, obviously. That would make it beyond ridiculous.


  • I like the ideas of the trucks, the game does need some help moving troops

    The general fix for the 2 movement for tourney rules to me is not good.

    Could even limit the amounts of trucks, for countries like they do I. Battle of the bulge

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