• Customizer

    There is no historical basis for Albania being Italian aligned, and indeed it does become a back door into the Balkans for the Allies.
    I prefer making it neutral; even giving it 1 IPC is generous. To balance, Greece should lose the unhistorical border with Constantinople, so the Allies can at least land there with a shout of survival early on.

    If Austria is forced to attack Serbia, shouldn’t Russia be forced to attack Prussia, and Germany Belgium (though the latter is most likely to happen anyway)?

    Incidentally, any suggestions on improving the map are welcome on this thread:

    http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=30553.30

    @Vondelaer:

    Actually owning Serbia as opposed to contesting it gives you a chance to react when the Italians in Albania contest Trieste one turn one. Incidentally, we are a little peeved that France can activate Albania for the Italians. Clever Austrian positioning and decent dice can deal with this threat, but my group certainly wouldn’t mind if this was addressed in any future rule update.


  • @Flashman:

    There is no historical basis for Albania being Italian aligned,

    Cough, yes there is. The Italian army occupied the port of Vlore in winter of 1914, and after it entered the war it took possession of most of southern Albania (the French divisions of the Balkans army had a chunk of the southeast around Korce). And upon Italy joining the Entente it was promised various islands and port cities in Albania, as well as a protectorate over Albania. Although to be fair once the war started Albania actually collapsed as their king left to join the German army, so the Serbs occupied the North, the Greeks parts of the south, and Albanian Muslims had their own little state, all in 1914. However since Greece is neutral, Serbia is under control of Russia, and as far as I know there is nothing in the game about Albanian Muslims, then the Italian occupation of Southern Albania and their recognized protectorate over it seems a good enough basis to give the nation to Italy in game.

  • Customizer

    Was this before or after August 1914, which is the vital point for initial game setup?

    Subsequent occupation and promises of future sovereignty do not make Albania Italian aligned at the start of the game.


  • By that logic then Arabia shouldn’t be British aligned. It’s a game, things are done for balance purposes (Portugal being French, Bulgaria being Ottoman) so all in all, as the major WW1 nerd, I have no issues whatsoever.


  • Do you guys think that it is vital for Germany to maintain naval dominance over the Allies?


  • @urmomsmom7:

    Do you guys think that it is vital for Germany to maintain naval dominance over the Allies?

    It’s absolutely essential.  Keeping the USA from crossing the Atlantic and making sure Britain stays homebound is key to Germany winning the West Front.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    @ll:

    @urmomsmom7:

    Do you guys think that it is vital for Germany to maintain naval dominance over the Allies?

    It’s absolutely essential.  Keeping the USA from crossing the Atlantic and making sure Britain stays homebound is key to Germany winning the West Front.

    Is that a serious comment?


  • @ll:

    @urmomsmom7:

    Do you guys think that it is vital for Germany to maintain naval dominance over the Allies?

    It’s absolutely essential.  Keeping the USA from crossing the Atlantic and making sure Britain stays homebound is key to Germany winning the West Front.

    Good Luck with that plan. Germany will do better in the long run with the ground game. Time is money, and a heavy investment in a fleet will be a drain on the land war which must be used to gain an economic advantage first.

    Kim


  • @ll:

    @urmomsmom7:

    Do you guys think that it is vital for Germany to maintain naval dominance over the Allies?

    It’s absolutely essential.  Keeping the USA from crossing the Atlantic and making sure Britain stays homebound is key to Germany winning the West Front.

    Since you have met some wind with this comment, how did Germany gain naval dominance over the Allies in your games and how has it helped the fight on the western front?


  • I don’t understand either. I do, however, buy a sub every turn for Germany and most of the times for AH. This helps allied spending on defensive ships for their transports and it makes the Russia lifeline a lot more difficult for them.
    But I can’t imagine me buying more ships for the CP against an experienced opponent. Sometimes, with an inexperienced opponent, i buy battleships for Germany. And even then, against inexperienced players, I gain very little with those ships and never, ever gain supremacy over the Atlantic.


  • In our (out of book) games we have the Germans attack the English home fleet with every thing they have (including German Atlantic U-boats going through 2 mined zones) to insure the English go down w/little German damage (on average). This leaves the Canadian (UK) mini fleet in tact, but sending German U-boats after it is dicey anyway, and just ends up getting your subs killed in a counter attack (which weakens the German navy as a whole). Keeping the German navy together seems to help, and you do get temporary control of the North Sea. This will generally bring the French Med battleship up to the Atlantic, because individually the English or French don’t have the strength to take out the surviving German fleet. It can also temporarily keep the UK from building ships off England (which is bitter sweet because it could cause them to spend all income in India early on).

    At this point you have some options as Germany (I like choices). You can leave things as is (maybe buy a sub?), and the allies will eventually 1-2 punch the German fleet to destroy it (but they will have to build a boat or two to do so, and the CP mines can be a good deterrent). If you are bold with Germany, and maybe build a battleship early on, then the allies will have to respond (most likely the French as they will have the strongest allied fleet at this time if you did your job?). As the Germans you need ground units, and can’t really afford a naval race with the allies (they will eventually take you out unless you get lucky dice), but it can be a great distraction. For every IPC you spend on ships, the allies generally do the same (or more). By keeping the German fleet in tact and strong it also allows you to add a transport or two to help take Russian land, or keep the English from landing in the Russian north. I will also buy a sub for A/H turn1 to keep their fleet alive longer to see where it takes me. It isn’t much, but the allies don’t seem to like dicey or even battles when they are facing mines.  They tend to look for overwhelming odds, or a 1-2 punch (where they can salvage their big guns and send in a clean-up crew). Also the UK will generally send a cruiser to sz17 on their first turn to protect the Italian fleet (especially if you bought that A/H sub).

    We really like this game, but it has been my experience that the game is heavily weighted to the allies (OOB) for a couple reasons.

    1. The allied naval dominance.

    We have adopted swapping the starting french sz15 fleet (battleship & transport) for a lone cruiser. This seems more like the support fleet they had at the time (most of their strength was in the Med in anticipation of what the Italians were going to do). Larry has also commented about this, and made this change in his tourney rules (amongst other set-up changes).

    1. Slow ground movement (hard for the CP to get reinforcements at their fronts).

    We have been looking at Larry’s 2 move rules (also developed for tournaments to speed up the game), and so far have liked what it brings to the table.

    Just my 2 cents WB


  • Just finished a game with a friend and I wanted to see what you guys thought.
    I can’t really say that we finished it though because we both decided to give up because of a stalemate. We both killed each others stacks multiple times and they were always followed up by even bigger stacks that would meet similar fates.
    The board looked like this. The Ottomans had taken India and were in Egypt ready to take the rest of an empty Africa along with the Austrians that were taking over the empty French territories. (The CP had control of the Med.) The Ottomans had also taken Rome from the sea leaving the Venice Piedmont and Naples to the Austrians.
    Germany had very little flags since the Austrians took most of Russia. They were struggling to keep the Allies out of Ruhr and Alsace. They would rarely push into a French space or Belgium but the Allies would never get any farther. Austria sent troops to help Germany which is why they needed the Ottomans to help them take Italy.
    America had been backing up Italy so they had a very strong standing in Piedmont and the Austrians couldn’t hold on. They moved on to Venice with left over Italians since Rome was occupied. The Americans had a steady supply of men coming from Spain and Portugal via their transports.
    England and France were bunched together fighting Germany. England had many transports that were bringing men over in Sea Zone 8 or 9 (which ever one is closer to Berlin) The German Navy was too strong to get attacked by England and France but together the English and French navy couldn’t get attacked by the German Navy.
    Basically for 10 turns or so the same thing would happen. America would come to North Italy and fight Austria and Germany with the help of Austria would always crush the French and British forces but never have enough to keep moving on.
    We decided to stop because the game was going absolutely no where and it was getting very boring. What do you guys think could have ended it?


  • how did ottomans take india? aren’t the british spending their entire income there?


  • Well not their entire income, the English spent more money on sending troops to fight in France which explains how the Ottomans took India.


  • @urmomsmom7:

    Well not their entire income, the English spent more money on sending troops to fight in France which explains how the Ottomans took India.

    why did they do that? and if germany was pressing hard vs france, the russians could have invaded eastern europe fairly easily? and if austrians were fighting russians, the italians could have become a powerhouse…


  • Russian Revolution happened.


  • @Frontovik:

    how did ottomans take india? aren’t the british spending their entire income there?

    In our games when the CP is doing well it’s not uncommon to have India fall.

    Happened playing OOB rules, the 2-move rule, and the Tournament rules as well.

    Once Russia is knocked out, the Turks have free hand to go all out vs Egypt/Africa and India. UK cannot defend the two fronts in the Middle East even with everthing going to India and the Turks start making enough IPC’s to get the edge.

    Also, Austrian and/or Germans that have just knocked out Russia can be diverted towards India to help as well.

    Kim


  • @urmomsmom7:

    Russian Revolution happened.

    the RR can be postponed indefinately by abandoning moscow


  • @KimRYoung:

    @Frontovik:

    how did ottomans take india? aren’t the british spending their entire income there?

    In our games when the CP is doing well it’s not uncommon to have India fall.

    Happened playing OOB rules, the 2-move rule, and the Tournament rules as well.

    Once Russia is knocked out, the Turks have free hand to go all out vs Egypt/Africa and India. UK cannot defend the two fronts in the Middle East even with everthing going to India and the Turks start making enough IPC’s to get the edge.

    Also, Austrian and/or Germans that have just knocked out Russia can be diverted towards India to help as well.

    Kim

    all out, with a country making 20 at best VS country that makes about 45? i would let russian revolution never happen, much better for allies to make germany kill every russian, takes about 6 rounds (very pro-central estimate, can easily be 8)


  • Frontovik, in my game I believe that the Central Powers controlled all the surrounding territories around Moscow so leaving Moscow was impossible. The revolution happened with Moscow contested.
    Unless I am messing up one of the rules?

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