The Great War 1914-1918: Clash of Empires

Rules and setup
Please help to playtest this variant.

@redrum making this into a playable triple a map is a goal of mine, but i have only just mow started to look into that process. I also want to get it printed on a roll up mat so i can take it to orgins and gencon in 2020. Also, i will need more of the italian, anzac, and french models. I have plenty of the other nation’s troup from multiple different versions of axis and allies.

My wife and I have played Richard Karpusiewicz’s “Great War” rules for AAE a couple times and thoroughly enjoyed it. We’ve thought of some rule changes that seem to enhance it, and I’ve put together a nice-looking manual for the whole thing (including new marker tokens for the WWI nations). The revised and reformatted rules are available as a PDF; I can’t post links yet, but you can get it here:

docs.google.com/open?id=0B4OjxFZJoutMQmMxOGJ3VzJBYUE

The end of the PDF summarizes most of the changes I’ve made to the rules. I’ve also laid out the new marker tokens for the Avery 4x6" circle labels, product number 5408; the PDF for that is here:

docs.google.com/open?id=0B4OjxFZJoutMX1p5ZTNDNEM2alk

I’ll eventually publish the LibreOffice source documents, SVG files and whatnot as well, in case others want to make further changes. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find Richard’s original rules online anymore. I haven’t played this scenario enough times yet to know whether it’s balanced; our first couple of games seemed to tilt slightly in favor of the Allies, which is partly why I shortened the number of turns until the Russian Revolution, and also added a probability of France having mutinies.

I hope my enhancements help to keep this great scenario alive, and I would love to hear feedback from anyone who plays it (either Richard’s original version, or my modified version).

I got a say, though I have never played anything other than AArevised, and earlier addtions, (including expansions), people always did buy all tanks. But when tanks defended on a 2, and cost 3, buying all infantry swamped the tanks. I never bought all men with the guys I used to play regualary with, but just enough not to give it away. I was amazed they never realized the advantage of buying all men versus tanks. I always bought just enough men to not make it obvious. I have been playing for over 25 years. When they made tanks defend at a 3 on revised it became a close battle, but with the addition of artillery, again unless  you had to travel far and fast, infantry and artillery is far superior in strength. It always has been, so I curious what game was it advantageous to do all tanks.

In World at WAr (Expansion), since you can improve factories to produce 2 tanks per turn at a $1 reduce price, those became the only tanks I would ever buy.

Looking at some of the maps like AA40, being so big in terms of spaces it might make sense. But tanks costing now $6, the need for speed really must overcome the advantage of fire power. If I have $42, I would much rather have 6 men and 6 artillery versus 7 tanks. Its a no brainer.

Has anyone here bought this game and can reveal their impressions?

In terms of pieces and map, it looks pretty much the same as what you get in Conquest of the Empire; I think the Eagle Games edition is still pretty widely available…

I play it like this:

Infantry attack at 2, defend at 3
Cavalry attack at 4, defend at 2 and have a 2 movement
Artillery attack at 3, defend at 5 and have a preemptive attack

Since I use CotE components, I use the income system from it, along with the cities, fortresses and roads and leaders

(and then I have 2 expansion levels beyond this by adding assorted other components)

:-o
May I suggest a possible infantry change based on historic facts. Russians had more men, Germans had better equipment and training for their troops not to mention their skill at combined arms tactics. So, why not let the Russians have their cheap infantry buys while giving the Germans a bonus in attack strength, say 2 in attack and 2 in defense when combined with armor or air units, ( no need for Artillary). Now that is what I call an easy fix. Since the germans start out with more tanks and planes than thier opponents they will kick butt early. But when the allies start to build up their combined arms, Germany will be overwhelmed in numbers. So the axis better do a lot of damage real quick to win.
    Should be more fun though.
If someone does play-test this in a game could they let me know how it worked out? Thanks.

:roll: Crazy Ivan

If something doesn’t work right,
                  fix it!
    I can’t help it, I’m left handed