War of movement in 1914?

[stockwellpete]

ORIGINAL: Patrat
Btw Dubail was the army commander, just like in the game.

Bonneau was the commander of the French VII Corps who initially took Mulhouse, but then failed to hold it. He was sacked by Joffre. The VII Corps then quickly re-took Mulhouse under a new commander (Pau).

[stockwellpete]

Just another thought came to me about this idea that could be used in a "house rule". No entrenching is allowed on the Western Front until the Germans decide to dig trenches there. No entrenching is allowed on the Eastern Front until the Germans decide to dig trenches there either. But entrenchment is allowed from the beginning of the war on the Serbian front.

The idea is to replicate the German initiative on the Western Front in their efforts to knock France out quickly. And to replicate superior German movement/Communications on the Eastern Front against the Russian attackers.

[Bavre]

In MP that would basically equal Russian suicide vs a Russia first and French suicide vs Schlieffen. It is VERY difficult to stop a determined onslaught by an experienced CP player as it is, trust me! In my last Entente game I was barely able to hold Paris vs the initial push.

[mdsmall]

I find all the fronts in the game pretty fluid until players begin to reach Trench Warfare tech 2. The French offensive doctrine in the first few weeks of the war proved to be disastrous for them, so I don't think that is something players should be encouraged or forced to replicate.

However, when all the majors have four chits invested in Trench Warfare tech, they start to reach Trench Warfare tech levels 3 and 4 by mid to late 1915. It might be interesting to experiment with a house rule limiting the number of chits players can invest in Trench warfare tech to 3 or even 2, to see how that affects the tempo of the game.

[stockwellpete]

ORIGINAL: Bavre

In MP that would basically equal Russian suicide vs a Russia first and French suicide vs Schlieffen. It is VERY difficult to stop a determined onslaught by an experienced CP player as it is, trust me! In my last Entente game I was barely able to hold Paris vs the initial push.

Not necessarily if you combined it with a modified operational movement that ended on a railway hex and historical deployment for Germany. With "house rules" you can use your imagination a bit and explore different parameters.

[stockwellpete]

ORIGINAL: mdsmall

However, when all the majors have four chits invested in Trench Warfare tech, they start to reach Trench Warfare tech levels 3 and 4 by mid to late 1915. It might be interesting to experiment with a house rule limiting the number of chits players can invest in Trench warfare tech to 3 or even 2, to see how that affects the tempo of the game.

telescoping

Yes, I think this is true for a lot of the Techs. I have just adjusted my Mod for my next game against the AI by reducing the maximum number of chits that can be used for any Research category to 2. As quite a high proportion of games in MP seem to be decided (if not actually finished completely) by the end of 1916, it would be interesting to investigate ways of extending the conflict into 1918, so things like US participation in the war and the Kerensky period in Russia in 1917 became more regular features of the game. I think a lot is being lost through the telescoping of the war into the period 1914-16.