A Russian Schliefen?

[boogada]

So everybody is talking about the Germans trying to conquer the French capitol as fast as he can. Paris is "only" 5 hexes away from the German starting position so he tries to run for it.

Checking the map I realized that Vienna is only 4!! hexes off the Russian boarder. It's worth 40 victory points, thats more than the entire Galician fortresses! Also there's Brunn between the boarder and the capitol. Unlike the Galician cities, Vienna isn't even fortified, so it's worth to try it. I once did (not playing a serious game, but it took only until the end of 1914 to get there. The Austrian were caught totally off guard. Of course Cracow (usually a stronghold) offers good chanced for an Austrian Counter attack, so keep them busy, but once you got there, Austria turns weak pretty easily. Also the Russians have a lot of arms refits during the first turns, so casualties on the way don't really matter.

[hjaco]

You are absolutely correct Boogada.

Which is precisely why i in my latest PBEM made a heave AH setup in Galicia - see this AAR:

tm.asp?m=1547483

It's taking advantage of the 3 fortified cities and 2 rough hexes so it's really a nut to crack because Russia lacks siege artillery. Furthermore it's difficult to set out of supply.

But the drawback to such a deployment is off course that Serbia is left alone for the time being and that Russia may concentrate on Germany in the first place.

[sol_invictus]

If Germany decides to "Go East", it could also greatly upset Russia's plans for conquest.[X(]

[Moltke71]

That's the beauty of this game: using historical OoBs, gamers can try a myriad of "what ifs" because they are liberated from many political, diplomatic and nationalistic constraints.