@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.
Besides the absolute need for CP Naval dominance, in the several games i have played I’ve seen that a handful of planes can reap MASSIVE benefits for A-H & the Ottomans. I even go so far as to buy 2 planes on O1- you can bolster your infantry by activating Bulgaria on O1 and then shift as much as you can towards Egypt. The air power balances out the Ottos’ scarce ground forces and their limited income till they can make some land grabs.
Air power also helps me bottle up Italy as A-H. I’ve played A-H 2 ways, one crushing Italy as fast as I can and the other is to Stalemate Italy while I push hard into S. Russia. Italy first is painful in the beginning but better in the long run I think. Tossing 2-3 planes into the front forces the Italians to choose between their own air force to prevent superiority OR battling a A-H navy that keeps popping up in the Adriatic… they really can’t do both. If I push hard at Russia, the planes are less effective but can be a real life saver to support the Ottomans…
I tried pushing hard east with Austria supported by Ottomans and left the Germans to deal with France. It can be a gamble but the 2 games I played it forced Russia to divert some of her stacks southward, relieving German pressure in Northern Europe.
As for the fleet? My first game I sortied out to the Med, took out the Italians with minimal damage but got wiped by the French. The Ottomans are a wash with the Black Sea cruisers.
The biggest … ace I’ve found in the East/N. Africa is Air Power. Get a plane or 2 in Austria and 1 in Constantinople and suddenly your are doing MUCH better. The other key is to coordinate with Germany to stretch UK to the breaking point. Not so much beat them in combat… but force the British to constantly switch buying priorities. If they go whole hog in India… Ottomans are done. BUT… distract the Brits a couple turns and the Turks can really really capitalize. Once they break the line at Sevastpol… the Russian east is wide open. Sevastpol needs to fall really by turn 3… or at least contested and bypassed.
Only problem is the game is designed for, and playtestet for, no railroad
Although its early, a lot of the play reports I have seen suggest Germany cannot move fast enough to have a decent chance at winning.
I would support Germany being allowed to move two spaces from Berlin to Ruhr (and vice-versa) if Hanover is CP controlled, if a faster movement is necessary for Germany.
Another idea that I came up with last night was allow a 2 space movement anywhere within your original starting territories… that may allieviate the slowness Germany is hurt by.
Since I think we can all agree railroads are missing from the game and hurting reinforcement moves- I was toying with this idea last night.
1 IPC per land unit to move the unit up to 3 spaces. The spaces must be controlled by you or a friendly power- they CANNOT be contested.
This should help the Western front Germans as well as allow them to shift their Eastern front troops west post-Revolution. There’s still a limit via money… It should also help A-H against Italy or even Ottoman to make a play for Bombay…
@ll:
Good thing all my current GFs find geeks sexy…
Wait….what?
An AA player with multiple? Impossible.
What, it’s only 3 women….
Getting back to shipping… mine left Orlando yesterday morning… soooo here’s HOPING it’s on the step when I get home tonight… 2 hours to go…
You people have time for wives?
Actually, no. She might have to go.
See… this is why I only date gamer girls!! Makes everything soo much easier. Good thing all my current GFs find geeks sexy… 
My wife likes to call me a nerd or loser for playing these games. I told her it could be worse I could be addicted to on-line gaming or drugs. Mine are coming tomorrow according to Fed ex.
Yes, on the nerd scale (1-10 with 10 being the most nerdy) historical wargaming on the scale of A&A is like a 4 with games such as WOW being a 7-8, Magic/paper D&D being a 9 and LARPing a 10.
Let’s see… Having 3 Accounts on City of Heroes MMO while it was running (as well as flying out to CA for the CoH Convention withe the design team…), an entire 2 rooms devoted to Dr Who memorabilia, playing SEVERaAL minis games including 40K, WHFB, Dystopian Wars and AT-43, and have 2 entire A&A gameboards set up in my library… yeah I rate about an 11…
The other reason is in the books after WW1 The USA carved off the NW tip of Texas and created it’s own Rump State of Houston… and that did NOT end well…
The only reason being a good portion of the story takes place in Lubbock… it’s where the USA first started training and building barrels and figure out how to use them.