Is it just me?

[freeboy]

... or is this one fun and challenging game against the ai? I was sceptical but interested in the hq features enough to make the purchase... I tiook Paris and ran out of men and ability to get all I wanted.. looks like the Brits are coming ofver in force too! The Reds are pushing hard but I have the otts and the Bulgarians now! looks like it is going to be a laong war and this is only summer 1915!

Perspective players should note that unlike other 2 month turn games, or quarterly games ala ggwaw, these are not traditional turns as they have several impulses...

Very impressed and would rate this as easy for a grog to pick up and initially a challenge... we will see if I can learn any tried and true leasons!

[JudgeDredd]

I'm bogged down and it's only June 1915!

[SteveD64]

I knocked out Russia in 1915 and still lost.  Granted I completely forgot about the transfer option for raw materials so my German economy was producing 6 points a turn [:@]. 

[sjamess]

I think a France-first strategy is the way to go for the CP. I've tinkered with a lot of opening set-ups and moves and the most progress always seems to come with knocking Belgium out in the first few impulses and getting adjacent to Paris by the end of the August turn. The AI will then strip the French border to protect Paris and you can occupy those victory point cities, including Verdun, with relative ease. In the meantime, just hold on for dear life in Prussia and Galicia, take Paris in the next two turns, and hold on it to it during the inevitable counter-attacks (usually by fresh British troops). French morale will collapse and France will eventually surrender.

The other important thing is to build transports for the Germans and keep them at sea for as long as possible. That trade income generated gives you lots of extra points for research and refits.

My last game as the CP ended in a decisive victory in January 1918. Belgium went first, then Serbia, then France, then Italy, then Russia. Britain and Rumania were holding on, but U.S. entry was too late to help. Luckily, too, since the German and AH armies were down to rabble.

[JudgeDredd]

Sorry...but how exactly did you get next to Paris by the end of August?

I've just started a new game and with a mass of troops over at Holland and Belgium, it's now Nov-Dec 1914 strategic phase and I've just knocked out Holland and Belgium. Besides, don't you have to declare war on Holland and Belgium and, if so, how do you do it by August? You only have 1 political point and that's used to dow on Holland....

Just curious as to how you managed it. I've still got a hell of a lot to learn about the game, after reading the manual twice, starting over a half dozen games to get used to the interface and starting two proper games, one of which ground to a halt by 1915 because I wasn't clear on thinking ahead and not understanding the impulses and the absolutely imperative importance of the strategic phase!

Anyway, as I said, my second proper game and Belgium and Holland have been nuetralised by Nov-Dec 1914...France is quite well built up across the entire front though and I need to get some serious activation for my HQs

[Alex Gilbert]

I've just started a new game and with a mass of troops over at Holland and Belgium, it's now Nov-Dec 1914 strategic phase and I've just knocked out Holland and Belgium. Besides, don't you have to declare war on Holland and Belgium and, if so, how do you do it by August? You only have 1 political point and that's used to dow on Holland....

Declaring war does not cost political points

[sjamess]

There's no need to declare war on Holland (I think it speeds up U.S. and Italian entry). Instead, go through Luxembourg and Belgium only. There are 4 impulses in August, 1914 and there are 4 hexes that you need to take in order to get adjacent to Paris (or close to it). Advance your HQs each turn to keep the lead units in activation radius. If you have the opportunity, always move into an empty hex, while keeping a chain of units behind the lead stack to keep them in supply. If you have to attack with the lead stack, try to pick the hex with the weakest defender. With luck, you will end up between Arras and Epernay and will cause the AI to start peeling defenders out of Belfort, Epinal, and Nancy, which you can then attack in the fall. With those cities taken, you can then isolate Verdun and take it next.

[hjaco]

Some additional comment to Sjamess principles.

The key to the Schlieffen plan is to deploy ample reserves behind your starting units and not the least be damn sure to have enough HQ to keep up with the front line enabling activations.

Beware of units falling low on readiness let them rest one impulse before they move on. When reaching 6 in readiness i typically let it rest. Otherwise you are very prone to counterattacks.

Most importantly though. Paris is the key in knocking out France but not the end mean in itself. You must in addition take enough cities and/or inflicting enough casualties to persuade France to quit. What this means is you have eventually to fight and grind the French army so look out for opportunities and don't be afraid to take some attrition losses. Just be sure you attrition them and not the opposite. You typically has to take at least the northern cities and border cities incl. Dijon to conquer them.

[sjamess]

Most importantly though. Paris is the key in knocking out France but not the end mean in itself. You must in addition take enough cities and/or inflicting enough casualties to persuade France to quit. What this means is you have eventually to fight and grind the French army so look out for opportunities and don't be afraid to take some attrition losses. Just be sure you attrition them and not the opposite. You typically has to take at least the northern cities and border cities incl. Dijon to conquer them

 
I agree with this entirely. My only addition is that getting close to Paris on the first turn seems to unnerve the AI every time and unhinges the French southern defenses. If the CP player has HQs with activations remaining south of Metz, he can exploit the French withdrawal and take some victory cities on the cheap. This will inevitably hasten a French collapse, as long as the CP can hold Paris against counterattacks.

[hjaco]

Well wouldn't you be unnerved by hordes of Huns next to your capital just after war has been declared [:D]