Larry Harris: 2-Space-Movement & other ideas

BTW, just wondering, do you ever even play the AA games that you make reference to, or do you just troll the boards to pick fights. Have you actually played AA1914 using the proposed 2 movement rule that this topic is about? I have just started a new game BTW to give it a whirl, along with the other things Larry has presented. I haven’t seen you post an actual game report, or even anything that resembles your experience in playing this game at all. I know you probably bought 6 copies (your standard purchase from what you say), but have you opened one of them yet LOL. Most ppl talk about what happened in their game, or a rule change they would like to see based on personal experience of playing one of Larry’s games. You just seem to toss out a bunch of BS, hypothetical theories, and site a bunch of historical nonsense about how something should be, like you are some game master, or historian. Do you have a group of ppl that you sit down with from time to time and play AA FTF ? or does your personality turn ppl away, and you have a hard time getting a group together?

Typically i am not into posting about game sessions. The only thing you got right is i bought 6 copies. I don’t pick fights for starters. I make a post and the usual suspects take exception to it. Check any threads where that occurred and you will find common denominators. They are always the same people. People really hate other people with confidence and a keen knowledge of facts. They hate because they lack this in themselves. As you know this is entertainment of great measure for me because it is so easy to defeat false arguments if they are not based on truth. The accolades you mention ( game master, etc) are not references from me. All i do is present the truth and some people just don’t like it, which is very amusing to me. I have regular gaming sessions with about 4-6 people on a regular basis with the next session on Friday. I don’t typically post because often we play with house rules which i already posted in like every case for every game. Our group is never satisfied with OOB rules so to take our results wouldn’t help anyone, which is why i don’t post them.

BTW i have some 63,000  unique downloads from my files. They don’t seem to be turned away from them. I am quite sure many thousands are very happy. Here is one such note the other day….

Hi buddy,

Just a quick note to say thank you very much for the work you did on that AA50 map.  I downloaded it and recently had it printed and laminated in its full size.

It looks awesome

Thanks

here is another one 2 days ago.

HI!
Superb map for WWI!  Thanks for letting the community use it!  If your sure your done, I’m going to measure up a board and talk to our local printer about taking the file and prinitng it out!  The only thing we dont use/like from the main original is the IPC chart in the center, but its just because we dont use it. It would be neat to have the turn order there.  Otherwise I’m totally ready to use this!  Thanks a lot!!!

I get these like 3-4 times a week, so turning people away is just you and perhaps 4 more. But i like my odds.

Now let’s not hijack this thread anymore and continue any further posts in a PM. You should agree to that.

Here is something more uplifting for the moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9jXlp8tY1c

Ok, so seriously back on topic- I want to play 1914 in a couple weeks with my brother, who has not played it yet.  Does this 2-space move rule really help that much?

@BJCard:

Ok, so seriously back on topic- I want to play 1914 in a couple weeks with my brother, who has not played it yet.  Does this 2-space move rule really help that much?

I think it is better for sure, but I think sticking closer to Larry’s original idea had a lot more potential.

Been thinking about tying together 2 space moves and victory cities.

The latter is, I think, a potentially better way of determining a winner in games ending early or within an agreed limit; the “economic victory” idea is a pretty much guaranteed CP win in short games, encouraging them to adopt a grab and defend strategy.

The number of VCs the Central Powers must hold at the end of each completed round is predetermined according to how well they should be doing at that point.

I’ve used VCs as rail hubs; that is you can only make 2 space moves from one controlled VC to another through friendly tt. This makes some areas vital transport centres, while excluding unhistorical rail movement in Africa and across Persia.

I’d also suggest allowing limited infantry placement in all original controlled VCs, maybe max 2 units, permitting some new units built in Africa.

Other points on this map:

Petrograd-Moscow and Vienna-Budapest are joint capitals.

Constantinople controls movement between SZs 20 & 20b.

Other unhistorical borders corrected (still working on Denmark).

Austria navy more freedom of movement A1 - can invade Italian North Africa!

Sz17b might be given Italian mines, with a NB at Taranto (Naples), but that would mean splitting the Italian fleet, tempting the Austrians into battle…

We have played quite a few games now with the 2-move rules. These work great! Lots of action, very competitive, never a dull moment. Have also been playing Larry’s tournament rules too. Not ready to sign off on the victory conditions yet, but game play is really good and play is dynamic. You will have a lot more fun with these rules then OOB, and you will find the Central Powers will be much stronger now.

There still is some fine tuning being done based on actual games played (as opposed to the theorists) but this is probably going to be the standard for the future of this game in my opinion. I know my group will stick with playing this system from now on.

Might see some small changes in game set up in the future, but for now, you can’t go wrong with them.

My personal recommendation is play the Tournament Rules for now, but play to the OOB victory conditions. Forget the Russian revolution rules OOB.

You may seem some minor changes in the future, but for now, you will enjoy this a great deal more.

Kim

Kim, you say tournament rules; I thought those were the economic win conditions?

Doesn’t the OOB Russian Revolution rules (clarified by Kreig) help the CPs by making it easier to secure the East front?  Why would you make it harder for by forcing the CPs into taking Moscow?

So you advocate the 2 land movement?  What about sea?

@BJCard:

Kim, you say tournament rules; I thought those were the economic win conditions?

Doesn’t the OOB Russian Revolution rules (clarified by Kreig) help the CPs by making it easier to secure the East front?  Why would you make it harder for by forcing the CPs into taking Moscow?

So you advocate the 2 land movement?  What about sea?

BJ,
Larry’s tournament rules compiled the 2 move rule with some set up changes as well as the economic/political collapse rules. It also put forth “victory conditions” based upon playing to a time limit for tournaments. The VC conditions for taking capitals is same as OOB and that’s what we play to.

The Rules Larry added for economic/political collapse now apply to Every Power (and no Russian Revolution), they actually work in a similar way to the Russian revolution and you can knock out the ability to buy units and collect income prior to capturing the capital.

Once Russia collapses economically, she will be out of the game in a turn or two, and the Central Powers can march into the Capital to collect her IPCs and one of the Victory conditions. Works better and more clearly then the revolution.

At sea, naval units now get +1 move bonus when starting a move from a naval base. These work great. The US can now get troops to France right away, then ship the transports right back the following turn.

You will find there is a greater number of strategies now, and  tough decisions are going to have to be made. Don’t theorize who you think has an edge…play the game!

Kim

sounds good, gonna have to try this out in two weeks.

Thanks Kim.

Some would argue that the Central Powers not being able to take a lot of Russian income because of the Revolution hurts them.

On a side note: the 2 movement rule seems to better the central powers on the Eastern front but might allow the allies to put pressure on the Germans right away

On a side note: the 2 movement rule seems to better the central powers on the Eastern front but might allow the allies to put pressure on the Germans right away

It’s actually the other way around. Once you have played a few games you’ll see.

Kim