The Guns of July- A French WW1 MP AAR

[dizzle3]

Britian and America aren't ever going to build a big enough army to liberate anything, and the German and Austrians can completely overwhelm Russia while the lesser Central Powers stand port watch. If France falls just start a new game.

I don't know that Russia is that easy. With General Winter, plus being fully dug in and at least some British/US lend lease, is it all that simple? I imagine that it is hard to do in winter 1914, but waiting till summer 1915 isn't great with the massive disparity in both IC and manpower.

Also, with Japanese manpower plus US IC, can't there at least be enough to cause a distraction?

 

[Baltasar]

I don't know that Russia is that easy. With General Winter, plus being fully dug in and at least some British/US lend lease, is it all that simple? I imagine that it is hard to do in winter 1914, but waiting till summer 1915 isn't great with the massive disparity in both IC and manpower.

Also, with Japanese manpower plus US IC, can't there at least be enough to cause a distraction?

In the short term, ie before mid-1915?

 

[dizzle3]

In the short term, ie before mid-1915?

Well, I think it depends on how long France holds out. If they can survive till October, the chances are that General winter will make life very tough for the Militia, Cavalry and Austrians on the eastern front. In our last game, the majority of the damage was done by elite German infantry with the Schlieffen plan bonus, and by the time winter came the Austrians were in full retreat. This will definitely be harder than that.

 

[DarthShizNit]

Just don't invade Russia in the Winter....Also the US will be giving about 0 IC in LL if it joins in 1914 due to her neutrality, UK still needs hers to actually build an army seeing as how about a 4th of it went and died in Montenegro, and the exact same with Japan, who currently has a whole two artillery brigades. No idea why you (the Centrals) would feel stupid enough to rush headlong into Russia in the middle of winter. Just sit on Warsaw for the winter, go kill Serbia/Greece in the meantime, then curb stomp Russia, especially given the fact that you will outnumber Russia and have her beat in techs, and it's really not much of a game.

 

[dizzle3]

Just don't invade Russia in the Winter....Also the US will be giving about 0 IC in LL if it joins in 1914 due to her neutrality, UK still needs hers to actually build an army seeing as how about a 4th of it went and died in Montenegro, and the exact same with Japan, who currently has a whole two artillery brigades. No idea why you (the Centrals) would feel stupid enough to rush headlong into Russia in the middle of winter. Just sit on Warsaw for the winter, go kill Serbia/Greece in the meantime, then curb stomp Russia, especially given the fact that you will outnumber Russia and have her beat in techs, and it's really not much of a game.

I'm guessing that between the UK and the US you can muster 200+ IC to Russia. Between august 1st and April 1st that's enough to get Russia potentially up to date on techs and with some tech sharing, maybe even get them some more artillery and extra divisions. That has the potential to totally change the war.

You can also hold key points in the line with the BEF

I'm just saying I would probably rate it as 75% chance of CP victory, rather than 100%

 

[DarthShizNit]

The US won't be mustering any IC to Russia, it literally can't due to neutrality, even if you declare war on her. After the Fall of the Tsar event and you guys declaring war on me a 1915 US could give 44 IC to the Entente for half a year before another event came in and gave you stuff. The UK can muster more, but he first needs to spend it on actually building his own army. I'd put it at 90% CP victory, with a meteorite or Teddy Roosevelt landing in Hannover as the only things that would stop the Central Powers .

This is of course assuming the Centrals can ever take on my secret weapon I'm mustering around Paris....

 

[Baltasar]

So it all depended on Italy not being in the CP? How many units did you deploy against them?

Any word of the war at sea?

 

[DarthShizNit]

The War at sea is nonexistent at the moment, aside for subs sinking convoys and ships sinking subs.

And 3 "meh" corps of infantry, 2 Militia corps, 1 cav corps and one garrison corps. All in all, France holding out against both Germany and Italy isn't going to happen no matter the set up, simply to many fronts to cover and not enough reserves (well okay, I have 5 corps of Militia, but guess what? They're terrible so they don't count).

 

[dizzle3]

I'd put it at 90% CP victory

So, as the old joke goes, we are just haggling about the price

So it all depended on Italy not being in the CP? How many units did you deploy against them?

Any word of the war at sea?

Nothing yet at sea. Better wait for the French fleet to surrender before we start that up.

Italy certainly didn't help. I think Darth may have slightly overdone his forces there to prove a point, but I suspect he is right that you can't hold France with Italy against you.

 

[DarthShizNit]

I don't even think it's slightly overdone. It's not like I was going to hold Germany with some more crappy corps, and preventing Italy from linking up with Germany is a completely legitimate strategic concern.

 

[dizzle3]

I don't even think it's slightly overdone. It's not like I was going to hold Germany with some more crappy corps, and preventing Italy from linking up with Germany is a completely legitimate strategic concern.

Did you use combat tactics to slow me down? I was on very aggressive at the start, so maybe that's another factor?

I agree though, this is maybe 50% due to missteps of allies (RUS plus UK) and 50% due to schlieffen plan bonus being too big. I'm thinking +25% for 1 month (2 with Holland) for the next version.

 

[Rastrigin]

Did you use combat tactics to slow me down? I was on very aggressive at the start, so maybe that's another factor?

I agree though, this is maybe 50% due to missteps of allies (RUS plus UK) and 50% due to schlieffen plan bonus being too big. I'm thinking +25% for 1 month (2 with Holland) for the next version.

What about bounding italy to go Entente? In the past game Axis was about to win even with entente italy and early USA entry...

 

[Andre Massena]

Did you guys start in 1910 or 1914?

 

[DarthShizNit]

1914 as usual.

 

[SFSLovenought]

Wow, very interesting.

Subbed

 

[dizzle3]

What about bounding italy to go Entente? In the past game Axis was about to win even with entente italy and early USA entry...

It's a tough one, you don't want to make the game too historical, since the CPs are generally thought to have had no chance after the battle of the Marne. I think a great multiplayer game should be
- Initial German push west drawing in all available British and French resources
-if the French survive, then a period of stalemate with moves made on other fronts, but still big commitments needed to maintain the stalemate
-a potential for a submarine war that wins it for the CPs
- potential for Kaiserschlacht victory after Russia falls

The only thing that our current setup doesn't have is the sub war thing, just not sure how effective it was last game (in real life it was terrifyingly efficient in an era without sonar or much of a naval air service)

 

[Andre Massena]

It's a tough one, you don't want to make the game too historical, since the CPs are generally thought to have had no chance after the battle of the Marne. I think a great multiplayer game should be
- Initial German push west drawing in all available British and French resources
-if the French survive, then a period of stalemate with moves made on other fronts, but still big commitments needed to maintain the stalemate
-a potential for a submarine war that wins it for the CPs
- potential for Kaiserschlacht victory after Russia falls

The only thing that our current setup doesn't have is the sub war thing, just not sure how effective it was last game (in real life it was terrifyingly efficient in an era without sonar or much of a naval air service)

But that really isn't true at all since US involvement was far from inevitable

 

[dizzle3]

But that really isn't true at all since US involvement was far from inevitable

The US entry won world war 1 like the atomic bomb won world war 2.

 

[DarthShizNit]

I personally hardly give the Centrals a chance BEFORE the Marne, but from a gameplay point of view we obviously have to let them have more of a chance, although I'm still generally against a CP Italy as it makes it far to difficult to balance with the current set up of the game, we've buffed the Central Powers a lot since the days where Italy going CP was practically needed instead of optional.

I don't think I'll be able to hold the German push this game, although I wouldn't exactly say that's call for a nerfing of Germany right now as honestly I think much like last game my advice to a beaten CP was "play better" my advice to an Entente on the brink of defeat is also "play better" as player mistakes (Whatever that was in Montenegro, Russia being Russia, and me forgetting to switch to defensive stance and letting my militia get in the way once to often) are probably a good reason why the situation is as it is. But that said, while I do think the British and French can in fact drag the Germans to a stalemate eventually in a France first game (assuming Russia puts pressure on in the east), I don't think it's possible with Italy in the CP as the game stands, simply too many troops for us to contain and once they link up with the Germans the numerical superiority means trouble for the Entente. Although we should probably wait until Japan gets involved before delving to far into that.

 

[Surt]

And Japan as a CP doesn't have much chance against the overpowering force of the Entente's fleets.