Domination 1914 No Man's Land


  • Kurt i like what i see in terms of how the territories are carved up. Is this your invention or some game you found on Triple A?

    If it’s yours, i think you have a great skill in game design.

    One thing however, i would l prefer a bit more out of the box thinking in terms of the unit values ( they are too similar to WW2 AA).

    Perhaps conversion to a D10 or D12 system, or having the units rolling D6-D12 depending on type ( like in fortress America)

    Also, consider some units rolling before others to model entrenched infantry, or Artillery before other units.

    These are part of what will become my own game coming out soon, which have all the pieces you brought up and more.

    Check out the Great War thread in Variants. Good to finally have something to agree on with you… anything… and something i never thought you had a proclivity for.


  • @Imperious:

    Kurt i like what i see in terms of how the territories are carved up. Is this your invention or some game you found on Triple A?

    If it’s yours, i think you have a great skill in game design.

    One thing however, i would l prefer a bit more out of the box thinking in terms of the unit values ( they are too similar to WW2 AA).

    Perhaps conversion to a D10 or D12 system, or having the units rolling D6-D12 depending on type ( like in fortress America)

    Also, consider some units rolling before others to model entrenched infantry, or Artillery before other units.

    These are part of what will become my own game coming out soon, which have all the pieces you brought up and more.

    Check out the Great War thread in Variants. Good to finally have something to agree on with you… anything… and something i never thought you had a proclivity for.

    Thanks for the kind words. However, I can’t take credit for this map. TripleK and Surtur created the original Domination, and Imbaked converted it to Domination 1914 No Man’s Land. This map can be played on TripleA, which I strongly recommend!

    Rand loves playing this map, is very good at it, and is working on his own version of it.

    If the attacker is using poison gas, that gets to fire before any other units.

    The benefit to being an entrenched infantry isn’t captured by allowing entrenched infantry to fire first. It’s captured via the trench unit.

    To give a specific example: suppose the German player uses his Pacific fleet to take Guadalahara on G2. Almost all neutral territories are defended, but Mexico City isn’t. Guadalahara is adjacent to Mexico City. So all you need is one German infantry in Guadalahara to take Mexico City on G3.

    Mexico City is worth 4, and has a factory. If Germany is going to defend Mexico City, it should use those four points of unit placement for a combination of infantry and heavy artillery. In addition to those 4 infantry/heavy artillery, Germany can also place 3 trenches in Mexico City each turn. It takes two hits to kill a trench, so Mexico City’s hitpoints are growing by 10 a turn! (3 trenches = 6 hitpoints, + four hitpoints from infantry or heavy guns.)

    The U.S. player decides to do something about this. So he spends 20 to build a factory in Texas, and another 20 to build a factory in New Mexico. Texas and New Mexico are each worth 2, so he can now place a total of 4 units right at the Mexican border. That’s good, but not by itself enough to let the U.S. take Mexico City against a determined German opponent. So he spends another 20 on a factory for San Francisco. San Francisco is worth 4, but it’s rather far from the Mexican border. So he uses the San Francisco factory to produce 4 cavalry a turn. (They give you mobility, and are artillery-supportable.) The Texas and New Mexican factories each produce 2 field guns a turn. At this point, the American player is now throwing 8 hitpoints worth of units at the problem, compared to 10 for Germany. The American player’s effort is good, but not quite good enough. He needs a bit of an extra push. So he builds poison gas in his starting factories in New York and Charleston. (Those are the only 2 starting American factories, by the way.) Those factories are very far from the Mexican border. But poison gas can move 3, so it won’t take all that long for the poison gas from there to threaten Mexico City. If the U.S. builds 6 poison gas a turn (in addition to the 4 field guns and 4 cavalry I mentioned), then eventually Mexico City will fall.

    This effort will consume all or nearly all of the United States’ income for a number of consecutive turns. The German player knows he can’t hold Mexico City forever against an all-out American offensive. His goal is to delay the American offensive into Spain, or the Pacific, or wherever else the American player had planned on going. The early game U.S. is a little weak. Its income is in the 60 - 70 range, compared to 120 for Germany, about 80 for Austria and Britain, and about 70 for France. Later in the game the U.S. income can be 150 or more, due to neutral farming. The U.S. can do very little neutral farming if it’s going all out against Mexico City. Edit: Britain’s income also tends to increase as the game progresses, with an income of 120 or 130 being fairly normal. Austria’s income should also increase due to conquests at its neighbors’ expense.

    In the battle for Mexico City itself, the American player will typically be dealing with a lot of German trenches! The U.S. player will spend most of the battle working his way through German trenches. Recall that of the 10 hitpoints of units a turn the German player had been building on Mexico City, 6 hitpoints came from trenches. The American player will get to kill some non-trench German units at the very beginning of the battle, with poison gas. After that, it will take several combat rounds before the German trenches are killed. Several rounds of the American force’s firepower decreasing, while the German force’s firepower stays the same. (Trenches don’t provide defensive firepower.)

    Maybe I’ve sold you on the map’s existing mechanics, and maybe I haven’t. If I haven’t, then I’d encourage you to learn how to create player mods to maps. Imbaked created a player mod to the original Domination map, and Rand is working on a player mod to Imbaked’s map. No one is stopping you from creating your own mod to this map. (Though there is a bit of a learning curve.) I’m over 90% sure that the TripleA engine would support all the changes you mentioned.


  • So this is a world map? The picture just shows Europe, so Japan is a minor player, etc?


  • I just found it listed as a TripleA map IL - so you can take a look there.


  • @Imperious:

    So this is a world map? The picture just shows Europe, so Japan is a minor player, etc?

    It is a world map. Japan starts off as neutral. There are no diplomatic or other penalties for invading a neutral nation. You just have to fight the neutrals physically present in whatever territory you’re invading. Japan is lightly defended in relation to its income, making it an excellent candidate for neutral farming. Typically, the Entente is more likely than the Centrals to be able to neutral farm Japan.

    The attached map shows eastern Russia and most of Japan. As you can see, there are several Japanese territories worth 6. Tokyo is worth 12.

    You can see that eastern Russia starts off under (white) Russian czarist control, except for the (red) communist capital. Russia has some unit placement capacity in eastern Russia, but not a whole lot. It is often possible for communists to expand at Russian expense. That is especially true if Russia is forced to spend the bulk of its resources on its western front, against the non-communist Central powers.

    It is also possible for Russia to wipe out the communists. Suppose for example that Germany and Austria launch a major offensive in the west. An expensive enough offensive that they have no choice but to adopt a defensive posture in the east, against Russia. If that happens, Russia will be able to go on the offensive against the communists, and eventually eliminate them.

    Domination 1914 map2.jpg


  • Attached is a map of most of Africa. Note the French factories in north Africa, the British factory in Cairo, and the German factory in eastern Africa. You can’t see it on the map, but there is also a British factory in Cape Town (worth 2). Normally, it is possible for a nation to control the territory physically near his African factories. Taking an African factory is a big deal. After Turkey conquers Arabia, it will often target the British factory in Cairo. The British player will often respond by making a strong effort to defend that Cairo factory.

    The German player would love to conquer as much of Africa as possible. But too much German spending in Africa could distract it from vital tasks in Europe. That’s why it’s rare to see the German player buy a second factory for Africa. If the German player does decide to buy a second factory, it would normally be placed in German East Africa or Ethiopia. Ethiopia is worth 3. Because it doesn’t border the coast of the Indian Ocean, you don’t have to be overly worried about Britain’s Indian Ocean transport fleet.

    Domination 1914 map3.jpg


  • Interesting starting positions…


  • Good article Kurt…this is a very interesting game.


  • I think the German colonies in China have about zero chance of survival…


  • Agreed. but Germany does have a chance in New Guinea. At least they can disrupt the allies from there.
    I don’t believe a lot would go on in the Pacific in this game. The allies could mount offensives against China or Japan, but the logistics of attacking those neutrals wouldn’t make it worth the gains.

  • Customizer

    Pretty accurate. Moldavia/Bessarabia are the same thing, border is post 1945. Volgograd was not so named until after Stalin’d death (Tzaritsyn).

    Rio de Oro is just desert, not worth 1 IPC.


  • With respect to Germany’s forces in China: typically it will consolidate its two Shanghai infantry into one territory, then build trenches in that territory. (You can place trenches in any territory you owned at the beginning of the turn, even if there’s no factory.) The trenches are normally enough to allow Germany to hold onto one Shanghai territory, with the Entente possessing the other three. If however the United States begins building Pacific transports, there isn’t a whole lot Germany can do to defend that last Shanghai territory. Unless of course it builds a factory there. A German factory for Shanghai is a rare, but not an unheard-of strategy.

    But mostly I’d like to address the subject of an anti-Russian offensive. There are multiple ways one can go about doing this, but I’ll focus on one approach in particular. The idea here is to have all four Central powers go after Russia. Under this plan, Germany is responsible for building a strong fleet in the Baltic / North Atlantic, to counter British naval spending in the area. In addition it should build several transports, and ship 8 - 10 Stormtruppen to Scandinavia each turn. Initially, Germany’s objective is to add to its income by conquering neutral Scandinavian territory. Having achieved this, it will move its Scandinavian force to Finnland, next to the Russian capital of St. Petersburg. If the Russian player is reasonably competent and careful he won’t allow that force to capture St. Petersburg. But that’s not the objective. The objective is to force Russia to spend money there, leaving it with less money for solving the other problems the Centrals will create.

    While Germany’s main anti-Russian effort will be to the north, in Scandinavia, it should also send 2 - 4 infantry each turn to the Polish/Russian front. Those infantry are for back-and-forth battles, and to help Austria defend Galacia.

    The heart of Austria’s anti-Russian effort will be its factory in Galacia. That factory is right on the Russian border, and can produce six units a turn. Initially Austria will be on the offensive against Serbia, on the defensive against Italy and Russia. But once Serbia falls–as it should do on Austria’s fourth or fifth turn–then Austria can adopt a more offensive posture towards its other two fronts. There will be a large Russian force in Belarus. Austria should threaten to destroy that force. This will force the Russian player to build trenches in Belarus. The more defensively-oriented the Russian force there is, the more successful the next part of Austria’s plan is likely to be. Its goal is to split its Galacia force, with one half remaining in Galacia, the other half moving forward to Odessa. (The fact that Germany will have some soldiers in that area will help Austria get away with this.) If Austria is able to split its force without getting either half killed, then the Odessa half will normally be able to take Russia’ factory in Kiev. This is a “death by a thousand small cuts” strategy, and the conquest of the Kiev factory represents one of the intended cuts.

    Turkey’s initial focus should be on wiping out Arabia–with that objective to be achieved on Turkey’s third turn. After that it will be in good position to go after Russia. To achieve this it should take Caucasus in force, and build a factory there. The Turkish force there will threaten the factory that Russia will presumably build in Volgograd. Sure, you’d love to take the Volgograd factory if possible. But if not, then at least Turkey should be able to split its Caucasus force, with one half going to Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan half will then take Russia’s factory in Omsk. With the Omsk factory under its belt, Turkey will then be in a position to threaten the Volgograd factory with main force. Also, the Turkish player should be eyeing Russia’s factory in Moscow. Turkey’s approach should be opportunistic, with it taking whichever Russian factories seem the most vulnerable. On top of all this, Turkey should have a Black Sea fleet, complete with several transports. The objectives of this Black Sea fleet include creating more back-and-forth battles for Russia, and speeding the flow of Turkish troops from Constantinople to Caucasus.

    The communists have several objectives. Ideally, they’d like to capture at least one Russian factory. Preferably more than one. In addition, they should embrace opportunities for back-and-forth battles against Russia, as well as looking for chances to grab off Russian land wherever possible. The Russian hinterland is a potential candidate for a Turkish or communist invasion. The Vladivostok factory would be a great one for the communists to take. However, it’s four spaces away from the communist capital, making an early conquest of it difficult. The nearest and most tempting factory is the one in Irkutsk. However, the Russian player knows this, and is likely to heavily defend it. The communists might be able to take it anyway, especially if Russia is under so much pressure elsewhere that it’s unable to spend the money it would like to spend on defending that factory. There is also a plan B for the communists. Plan B involves them taking Bratsk in force, thus forcing the Russians to go into a defensive shell in Irkutsk. Then, they move the Bratsk force one space west to Novosibirsk, to threaten the Russian factory in Omsk. After taking Omsk, the communist force could then return to Bratsk to once again threaten the factory in Irkutsk. Or, it could continue west, with the thought that the Moscow factory is only two spaces away. Even if it merely besieges Moscow (after having taken Omsk), that could easily set the stage for the conquest of the Russian hinterland. The thinking is that even if you can’t take away Russian factories immediately, you can take a chunk of Russian income instead. The smaller Russia’s income, the easier it should be for the Centrals to take an extra factory or two here or there.

    The penultimate goal of this strategy is to take all Russian factories except the one in St. Petersburg. Once that’s been achieved Russia will be a rump state, controlling little more than the area immediately around its own capital. At that point, a dedicated effort by one Central power should be enough to finish off Russia. Other central powers can contribute to the finishing off effort via back-and-forth battles, or by gas attacks against St. Petersburg. (Gas is a good way to get a somewhat decent exchange, even if your attacking force is much weaker than the defender’s.)


  • There is a German factory in Tsingtao, which produces beer ( no its not Chinese but German)


  • Turkey is very fun to Play.


  • Only when Germany is drawing the UK’s fire and giving Turkey a free ride! :-P

    Of course it is a pleasure to help you out! :-D


  • Turkey is keeping the British busy so that Germany can walk into Paris for some crepes. :lol:

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