Best way to play each power

[Manfred]

I've got a question about Russia :
do you have to take both capitals (Moscow & St Petersburg) to make her lose all money at the economic step ?
I've played EiA for years and my friends always considered that taking only one capital was sufficient for it, but I've always been skeptic about it. So who's right ?

[eg0master]

ORIGINAL: Manfred

I've got a question about Russia :
do you have to take both capitals (Moscow & St Petersburg) to make her lose all money at the economic step ?
I've played EiA for years and my friends always considered that taking only one capital was sufficient for it, but I've always been skeptic about it. So who's right ?

Rule 8.2.1.2.1.5 states thet both Russian capitals have to be occupied by unbesieged enemy troops in order to deny Russa trade.

8.2.1.1 Also states that Russa may not collect any money at all if ONE of the capitals are occupied by enemy unbesieged factors.

So you are both right in a way but your friends are more right... [;)]

[fjbn]

I don't think so. France is at its weakest point in the begining. If Rusia began to divert its forces in Sweden, Mediterranean, etc. It will have few forces to face France; and Prussia and Austria will be destroyed individually. Austria and Prusia have only a good general (Charles) but maybe it won't be enough.

You have to think that if Russia doesn´t join the coalition from the star and makes a previous DOW to france, maybe in january Spain will join its navy with France and will make a sortie against Royal Navy in february, disembarking in England.

My recomendation: deploy a very strong fleet in Corfu to join the Royal navy in the blockade and negociate the conditions with England. Maybe 35 gold per phase, Sweden and par or the whole of Denmark. This will create a strong Russian Navy and leave forces enough to attack Turkey ot others.

[rhodopsine]

I'd be surprised that Britain would allow the Russian to have both the Dane and Swede fleet. The game is long and alliances are easily broken. I'd be suspicious as a Russian if England allowed me to have both of those 2 fleet and then give me that much money. As for Prussia and Austria, I would consider to threaten them to invade if one would surrender with nice conditions leaving the other one at the mercy of the French. Going to war with France early in the game is probably the way to go, but let the German fight most of it. You have the leisure to sent 4-5 corps around Berlin or even in Silesia and wait for the French to show up, and put some pressure on the Turk so that Austria don't get a visit in their back

The Pr-Au forces are still pretty tough to beat, if played intelligently at the start of the game because they can generally field more men then the French and it finally turns out as an attrition war. France must keep a sizable amount of troops in it's home country to garrison it's ports and the Paris/Channel sector. Au-Pr can usually field around 150 factors while France can field 100 factors. Of course, they'll lose lots of battles, but in the end, France will be seriously depleted. The problem is really to keep the strong Pr-Au alliance.

Martin Paradis

[fjbn]

Of course you're right about the convenience of a strong and serious Pru-Au alliance, but my experience is that Prusia will commit its forces if Russia is behind, because if Prussia losses many factors doesn't have the manpower nor the gold to replace the losses, specially cavalry losses, and Prussia has horrible leaders in the beginning. I fact, playing as Prussia I asked the Russian to send me only one corp and Bagration (tactical 4) to balance the fight against France.

About Denmark, maybe not the whole of it, but you can get Norway, and leave Denmark and its fleet to the brit.

[Forward_March]

ORIGINAL: fjbn

My recomendation: deploy a very strong fleet in Corfu to join the Royal navy in the blockade and negociate the conditions with England. Maybe 35 gold per phase, Sweden and par or the whole of Denmark. This will create a strong Russian Navy and leave forces enough to attack Turkey ot others.

I've tried this same tactic...but Britain changed his mind and decided that running the 20 guns of Corfu and destroying what Russian ships were there was a better option...I've little doubt that some form of Pippin Death Grip would happen here again.

Like someone else said, alliances are broken easily. And Corfu is a long way from Russia...and very undergunned.

[YohanTM2]

No way I would put a large fleet in Corfu (except maybe against the AI)

You are begging for it to be wiped out.

[fjbn]

I don't understand you. If Russia is atacked in Corfu in january 1805 it means that GB prefers a Russia allied to France.That means that Prussia and Austria will be destroyed.

By the way, if GB atacks Russia in Corfú, risking an attack of harbour defences (OK, only 20, but they attack first) how many ships are blockading French Navy? and what about Spanish Navy?.

I think this is not a good strategy. You can attack Russia only after France has been defeated, not before.

[Forward_March]

ORIGINAL: fjbn

I don't understand you. If Russia is atacked in Corfu in january 1805 it means that GB prefers a Russia allied to France.That means that Prussia and Austria will be destroyed.

By the way, if GB atacks Russia in Corfú, risking an attack of harbour defences (OK, only 20, but they attack first) how many ships are blockading French Navy? and what about Spanish Navy?.

I think this is not a good strategy. You can attack Russia only after France has been defeated, not before.

Perhaps it isn't a good strategy. But with Spain not alligned with France, and a British player who seeks to ensure that no combination of navies can be brought against it, it works in their favor. They have enough to ensure they can blockade France, and still take out the Russians in Corfu.

The Brits have always been made jumpy by any power who sought parity with their navy. This is the main reason why Britain sought to change their long-lived enmity with France before the outbreak of WWI. It is the same reason that French sailors died at Oran some 20-odd years later.

Placing a lot of trust in Britain will never be easy unless the English players shows himself wothy of such trust over a period of time.

[fjbn]

Yes, but showing that strategy is a clear sign to Spain that it's better to ally with France, because now it's clear for everybody that Britain considers every foreign fleet a menace, so, if Spain wants to preserve her fleet, there is only one way, coalition with France and Russia, and this is a very superior sea power.

You say that atacking foreign fleets its a British tradition (Coppenhague, Oran, etc), and you are right, but continental strategy were in two ways: don't let other countries to build strong navies and, more important, don't let any country or coalition of countries to dominate Europe, because Britain knows that, if a power dominates the continent, he will have concentrate his forces building a very strong navy.

Striking Russian Navy in Corfu instead offering an alliance is suicidal because you don't kill Russian navy, throw Russia and probably Spain into France's arms and create a coalition with no match in Europe. A coalition joined with an aim: to destroy Britain.

[heychadwick]

Someone posted earlier that it was not good to have Britian's fleet used the entire game bottling up France's fleet. I'm not sure how to avoid this from happening. I've used the Pippin Death Grip to great advantage before (though not quite called that) and it is a favorite to take out French fleets. Besides that, how else am I to avoid spending the whole game blockading France in?

[yammahoper]

You can avoid having to blokade the French by placing garrisons in your ports, which prevents the French from sailing into a port with corps and England being unable to chase them away. Second, keep a respectable fleet presence near home/in the channel. During eco phases the brit will typically have to move last to insure his safety before porting his fleets to save money. Basically, if you ensure you have a sizable fleet close enough to all the sea hexes around england, the rest of the fleet can move at will and no one needs to be blockaded.

With the brits, you must stay aware of where enemy fleets and corps are in relation to each other, but only so far as "can that fleet pick up that corp and move it?" Keeping that in mind, you are free to range the waters. When fighting Spainand Turkey, those fleets are very valuable indeed, as is taking every last available island nation in the game, so you need to get use to moving those fleets about the board freely.

The greatest limitation in the game is the optional rule that slows multiple fleets down. I hate the rule, but have alsp played with it many times. Let me tell ya, that will cause you to keep no more than two fleets together in order to maintain enough movement to protect england proper.

One last note: if a nation does drop a corp or two in england, if you have garrisons in all your ports, you will have troops to fight with (always buy an extra corp or three). The enemy will and should stay out of supply, so a few won battles and enemy foraging should handle the rest.

yamma

[Murat]

Well I have played this game for years and played many of the powers, but every time I go on boards and discuss what we have done and how we play people always act stunned and like the games we play are the most bizarre they ever heard of, that being said I will proceed. First though a note on bidding, we got tired of people bidding unrealistic amounts of VP to get the nation they wanted so we used an exclusive 10 points system: you can only bid 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0 once; for example I may go France 10; Russia 9; Britain 8; Turkey 3; Spain 2; Prussia 1; Austria 0. Highest #s are compared first (all the 10s) and if a tie ensues, then a d6 is rolled, highest # getting country, then out of those who remain all the 9s, etc. People do not always get the country they wanted but noone ever got the one they hated the most.

FRANCE: NOTHING is as much fun as being 1805 France. You may lose, you may win, but the constant diplomacy, betrayal, chit pick suprises, die rolls, etc. will always give you something to discuss with your fellow players. As France, you need an ally, ANY ally. And when I say ally, it is someone who is going to join every war you are on as a pre-existing at the start of the scenario (which means Britain). On that note, you start at war with Britain, try to keep it that way. Tell the others that Britain OWES them $$$, especially Russia, and if there is not enough $$$ promised immediately, you will help them get their share by force. (See Spain below for Sack of Britain)
My first choice is Spain. Deep down Spain knows that Britain will always want her fleets at the bottom, and Britain for some reason always acts like the Spanish need to use their fleets to weaken the French for the British naval death blow (thus ensuring the safety of the channel), so this is frequently not as hard a sell as you would think. I tell Spain I will make them Dominant and I keep my word. There is NO reason to ever enter Spain, even if they are an opponent. I am not saying let them ravage France, but don't go across the border, there is no reason to give them free troops even if they are militia. If you can get Spain as an ally, stack with them AT SEA at the start (dont have my map, but you share a sea zone in the Atlantic). Odds are the British will use their entire fleet to smash you, but these are the best odds you will ever have in a fight with them and there is an 80 gun port to fall back on. In the event Russia decides to help, TAKE LONDON and go unconditional. Once London falls, you can do forced capitulation even if Russia backs out with a conditional peace (which actually only helps your goals - 2 peaces are more damaging than 1). Sow the fields with salt. Britain will never back off no matter how light a peace they get so strip them clean.
My second choice is Russia. If Spain is not on your side you will be fighting a holding action in the West so make sure that Austria/Prussia has a 2 front war too. Russia is frequently greedy for territory and you can offer them tons of other people's territories (you are Dominant, you just need to keep wars going with out losing to win the game). If they are a trustworthy player, you will have a 3-power Europe. The 2 of you can't take out Britain, but they are the only ones that will be able to stand against you. Tell Russia to declare right after the Prussians declare a pre-existing Poland (if they are good at decit, the Prussians might think the Russians are HELPING them by taking Poland, we called this the Russ Mind Ray - our Russia was frequntly played by a guy named Russ!)
My third choice is Turkey. Turkey is always $$$ starved and you usually need $$$ for your own armies, so they are not the best, but they will stretch the Austria/Prussia/Russia lines thinner. Encourage Turkey in the Ottoman dream, it keeps them energized and it costs you nothing since they cannot reasonably expect you to help much in that goal since you are not connected to Africa by land. Turkey is my one exception to the starting war rule with Britain. I tell Turkey to be deceitful. Get Britain to give them Ottoman (pointing out that they can always take it away if things go bad...) and lots of $$$ to get their troops in the field and that they will help with France once their morale is up and then turn when the time to fight France comes. By then they should have a stronger army than Britain and Britain will have a hard time taking Ottoman way especially with France pushing the Central Powers harder due to the Turkish ruse.
If you cannot get the above, try for Prussia, and focus on taking Italy and splitting the germans with Prussia (while carving up Austria) but you better really trust the Prussian since they really are best served by your defeat(s). We have had games with British "neutrality" but the negotiations to get around the pre-requisite surrender requirements to achieve this have been monumental and those alone (not to mention the power of the resulting alliance) have caused players to go play another game instead of waiting on 2 people for 8 hours
OVERALL STRATEGY is to always have an enemy but rarely (if ever) declare war. Two things are critical for France: war and supply. The PP machine for France is built off of land battles and you need to keep having them, so always have an enemy (Britain is good at the start but they will die quick if they are your only enemy). Tell the other powers they can have a free hand with the minors, you just want to kick British butt, roll on every control, but go to war over important ones like Holland and Sweden (Britain once gave me these gifts right off the bat and spent the rest of the game rebuilding her shattered fleets and economy). Usually you will Prussia/Austria/Britain at war with you at the start. Act scared of them and offer them all the minors they want. Every one they declare on gives you more troops and supply bases. French wars are best set up on a "rotation". Try to get your enemies on a rotation where every 6 months an enforced peace expires so you can fight one at a time and keep beating them. Strip them of money, and a few pieces of land but make sure they can make war again! You need an opponent (plus you look to be magnaminous in case you need them later, like if you never touch Prussia's land and Russia HAS gotten Dominant, the Prussians are excellently situated for you to ally with to get the Russian's non-Dominant again). Supply is the final aspect of French (and everyone's) strategy. Depots do not supply much and even with garrisons, supply chains are the easiest targets in the game. Keep in mind Napoleon won entire national surrenders from a single battle. Follow his example and only chase the big battle - learn from US Grant too and keep in mind, only key cities (Atlanta, Richmond, Vicksburg in Civil War, but Capitals in EiA) are worthy of capture, otherwise destroy your enemies' armies. Try to stay close to you borders, plan movement so that you can "auto" forage (forage roll is 6 for all corps), pay supply for those corps that can't auto forage and go last in land until you need the double move to engage the Great Victory KEEP MILITIA IN YOUR RANKS. MANY people have argued this with me. They say that for the $$$, it is worth having only infantry in corps. If you place a few militia in your corps, you will lose .1 or .2 overall morale and can lose some cheap troops (ESPECIALLY if the people in your game do not use the proportional losses rule, nothing like having a 10 unit loss that you can soak with militia, but even proportional, you may be able to take 1 militia and that is $3 saved). I have seen more national armies destroyed from having to forage than from losing a battle, so the extra $$$ is important in my mind.

RUSSIA: As you can see from my bidding list (really in my order of favorites), Russia is my 2d favorite to play. Russia is the "free agent" of EiA. Everyone wants your help or at least your neutrality. Sweden is yours. Anyone who disagrees is your enemy. If Britain disagrees, tell them OK, they can have Sweden and Denmark but they better declare on them at the first round or you will on 2d Econ. Run to France and tell them you are going to help with the Sack of Britain and go to war with Britain when they declare on the Nordic minors (even if they just declare on Denmark). They will quickly be offering Sweden and MUCH more to get you away from the French. I tend to be ambivalent to Prussia and Austria. I tell Turkey that they need to focus on Ottoman (so what if they get it - they are not going to come into Russia and use it - they will die NOONE, not even Nappy, succeeds in a land war in Russia) and then do whatever they want and that you will keep the border unarmed if they will (even if they lie, who cares? As I said NOONE....).
OVERALL STRATEGY: Britain and France are the key people to be talking too. Think like a German Prince of this period. You have some mercenaries for sales, who wants them? Make them pay IN ADVANCE full price for each factor they want to have fighting for them (you will graciously eat the MP). They also need to reimburse your supply costs and full price for each factor that dies, if they fail to do this, your troops are heading home (you got some $$$ up front). France will usually tell you to kiss butt (they may buy part of your navy for the Sack of Britain), but to Britain you are offering them a way to make up for their weak army by using yours. They will usually offer a more moderate arrangement, but as long as you are not bearing all your costs, the British are good friends. Never forget that yours is the only army that can go toe-to-toe with France's. Make them come to you. Outside of the mercenary principle and taking Sweden (NOT IN WINTER - the infamous March of Neal lives to this day among us from where a Russia lost ALL his land factors executing a Winter Campaign by land against Sweden) there is no reason to venture far from home. Like France, you can use an enemy at all times to get PP, but you can go without longer than France can. If going for dominance, take the Austrain areas early and make it up them with Italian minors (if you are doing well, you can even give them the income from the provinces and tell them your Dominance will hurt France and help them). Prussia, on the other hand, will adjust. You can take their provinces at will and as long as the Austrains are not unduly offended (Dominance will hurt France...blah blah blah) there is no real need to appease them (Austria can wear the target for Turkey, Prussia cannot). Austria/Prussia should be viewed as "buffer states". Think like Stalin, their land is your land, their supply is your supply. The French have too much territory already and every step they make East is one step closer to making you fight. Only take what you need for Dominance (if that) and if Britain is not keeping them alive, you have to, even if your entire army has to be militia. Keep in mind though, while this is ultimately what you must do, do not let them know you think that way, even if you have to let them sweat it out for a while. Always act like you are doing everyone a big favor by even getting involved in these "European" problems.

BRITAIN: I hate playing Britain mostly because I hate beggars and whiners. I also hate the fact that I have to help defeat France and everyone knows it. That means carelessness by others, particularly Prussia and Austria, is paid for by me. As someone said here earlier, you must keep the anti-French coalition together. Give Russia Sweden (you can't take it anyway, not against the Russians), take Denmark (someone also pointed this out earlier, but it and N.Africa are defendable by sea - N. Africa due to the deserts), and mediate Africa. Either tell Spain and Turkey that you will hold Tunisia and keep both separated or convince Spain that a Ottoman Turkey will hold Russia off and secure Spain a good Italian empire. You must negotiate all the minors for everyone (who gets what) but agree minors will get taken care of once France is defeated. Then minors get grabbed, then hit France again. After that, everyone is free to act as they wish. France must fall twice to truly weaken it enough for it to be on a semi-equal footing with everyone else. I tell Spain that I will not build new ships if they do not so that we can focus on France and then offer $$$ proportional to MP to everyone in the alliance. Only ever block France's trade. $$$ is $$$. Even with Spain as an enemy, do not hit the Gold Fleet. Spain + France is bad for Britain and if you are not pouncing on Spain, they are more likely to stay neutral at the least. Get the French fleet! No matter where it is pursue it (don't impale on port guns), attack attack attack until it is no more. If it stacks with Spain at the start, you still have the odds with you, but try to gather all the allied fleets together (Turkish or Russian) and get greater numbers. I have never believed that Britain has anything to really offer Spain, so find out what they want and get it for them from the others (pointing out that France is the real enemy). Once the French fleet is sunk, you have a free hand navally which is where your military strategy comes into play. I keep a corps (even a minor one) in Britain, at a port, and use a mobile force to hit the French. If they are moving deep into Central Europe, I start taking French provincial capitals and costing them $$$. If they stay home, I jump isolated corps (remember the 8 space movement France can make) near the sea. If they are foolish enough to sea or coastal supply I cut supply. Almost forgot to add, Britain also need constant battle. Fleets only last so long in the game if you are doing your job right so you will need some land battles. Spread your corps throughout your allies' armies. Your morale (and leadership for some allies) helps them and they usually like getting 2 PP to your 1 (like trade, each individual spot you get less but you have more spots so overall you reap more PP).

OK I will do the other 4 later :b

[Murat]

OK, onward:

TURKEY: Next on the list is Turkey. My main goal is to become Ottoman. Spain tends to be the main block to this (maybe Britain if they take Tunisia to block you) so I talk to Spain first and see if they object (usually I offer them help in Italy and the rest of Africa). Next you need $$$ for your non-Feudal corps, to build troops and to supply the corps. This means you need British or French (or maybe even Russian) funding. Britain is obviously your best bet. They have the power to assure you get Ottoman and the money to keep you well supplied. Once you have Ottoman, the key to life is maintaining your borders and earning PP through helping others fight. Who you fight doesn't matter. I try to make it clear that I have no ambitions beyond being Ottoman and that usually keeps everyone happy with me (it does not however mean that they lack ambitions on me). France as an ally can be useful in that they will allow you to piggyback on Austrian defeats, but they will not be able to help you hold Ottoman unless the British fleet is severely weakened. Also the French cannot be as generous with funds as the British. Strangely, the Russians can be as generous as the British, but they often want neutrality from you since they plan on fighting you at some point for PP (usually after they are done with a French war and have gotten their corps close to the south). Still, if they are happy to get their PP elsewhere, the "edge of the board" alliance can be very profitable for both of you.

SPAIN: Holy decaying empires! The Robin of the EiA world, Spain, the sidekick. Spain will need to talk to only 2 people: France and Britain. Either you are helping the British gain absolute command of the seas or you are aiding the French in Fortress Europe, with a possibility of the Sack of Britain. As Spain I usually tend to go with the French option. Britain has little to offer (they are not REALLY going to give you Gibraltar and Malta back no matter what they tell you) and mostly want you to impale your fleet on the French to soften them up for victory (usually with you losing PP for the impale and Britain gaining for the victory) since Britain does not want to combine move navally. You do make a nice base (and combine land move) for the British to work from and make inroads to France, and can gain some PP this way, but if you are going to lose PP at sea and win PP on Land, why not join France where you will get LOTS of PP at land (not to mention serve under some of the best generals ever) and you may even get PP from sea (not to mention Gilbraltar and Malta if the Sack of Britain occurs). Regardless of your choice, stack with your ally and follow their victories. If you are trying for Dominance (a price France can easily pay since you do not stop French land move, do stop British naval move, and France can get you your victories quickly once the 1st Coalition is broken) then your ally can help you rampage the necessary 5 provinces. One game Spain even saved my France since I had never attacked him, he chose a corps on loan when I had to surrender to the coalition (took unconditional with Russia, Turkey, Spain - bad bad 7 -v- 1 war) and my army was saved. I never asked for peace again that game and although Spain paid by invasion from her allies, I made her Dominant by the end. Some may disagree, but stick with France and you will not regret it (as long as they are honorable).

PRUSSIA: Good old Prussia. Prussia is as much fun as a sack full of wildcats as they say in these parts Prussia should have 2 constants: alliance with Austria and alliance with Britain. No matter what, Prussia lives or dies hand-in-hand with Austria. A Prussia/France alliance is a nice thought, but France is really using you to take the minors that do not award PP for combining (France would LOVE to make Poland.....) and for bases to launch a few forays into Russia who will not be very forgiving when peace comes between Russia and France. If you actually get offered surrender, take conditional every time or you will not be getting peace. Russia and France have no reason not to spurn your unconditional and leave you in the war just to recoup their PP (and even decimated by factor death they still outnumber and outgeneral you). Save LOTS of MP. This unique ability can turn the tide at unsuspected moments. Nothing scares Russian and French armies as the fact that you can suddenly pop up 20 militia on their supply lines. Austria, while you ally, should not be handed Dominance to "hold off France". Your life is foreit at that point. Their fear is your gain. Once of the keys to the Austro-Prussian alliance is set up. The most difficult part is to decide what France's intentions are, and Spain is usually the one to ask. If Spain indicates they are doing a pro-French alliance (and they will tell you for the most part since they want Britain to know and they know you will tell Britain and their French alliance really doesn't harm you directly.....) you will need to combine with the Austrians quickly, preferably at the French border. Regardless, set up all your corps exactly 5 spaces from the French border, this prevents them from double moving and starting the Great Battle. Yes it will take you a couple turns to move on France if you need to, but it will also cause France to go deeply East if they really want to get the Great Battle (and once they have a supply line, cut it). As for the British alliance, they need you as much as you need them. They have $$$, you have MP and cav. True, once the French fleet is at the bottom of the sea they can sit back and let Fortress Europe be made, but usually they are very attached to their German States and they can't truly "win" unless they fight and beat France. Encourage them to build you cav to supplement their Inf and offer stacking with them - remember this whole era ended due to the British/Prussian stacking!

AUSTRIA: Good news and bad news. Good news: you know your eternal enemy is France and your eternal ally is Britain; Bad news: Russia, Turkey, Prussia and Spain may all want to carve you up. As with Prussia (above) the Austro-Prussian alliance is key. You need to set up your troops exactly 5 spaces from the French borders. this is often hard for Austrians to do since they focus on the easy minors at hand but it is imperative. You cannot afford to have France trounce you while you are divided from the Prussian and Russians. You have to convince Russia to join the alliance by assisting them in all things but Dominance. A Dominant leaning Russia is more dangerous to you than France (France doesn't need your territories, they just need your army to beat up on). Some games have even required an Austro-Prussian attack to dissuade Russia and insure a peaceful border for several months. Try to get Russia to set up on your border and move on the shortest path to the French front. Keep in mind the French need battle, use that against them. Get your forces concentrated on ground of your choice, ideally 8 spaces from the advancing French with some Cav corps 1 space back. This forces the French to double move to fight and lets your cav corps kill any depots the French use forcing them to forage home (watch their creative movement after losing their supply depot). In the event the French are poised to Sack Britain, move to the southern French border and then SCATTER trying to do 1 corps per spot (3 factors helps, enough to kill a garrison factor and acceptable casualties when the French jump it with a full corp). Yes the French will be all over you and you will get sacked for PP but they cannot afford to ignore you and you can regroup at a central spot. Britain will reward you for your losses and you can count on regaining those PP when the Russians arrive. Give Turkey free hand at Ottoman and ignore Spain.

SWEDEN: There is a variant where Sweden is a major (one for Holland too O_O) power. Avoid it like the plague. Sweden is the one nation I never played. Our group used this once and while we are all friends, we do not pull punches. Sweden ceased to exist. Actually our Spain left (same game where Spain saved me!) due to a sound verbal thrashing over letting French corps live to rampage Praustria so our Sweden got a week off and was back. Sweden starts off with the ability to whoop on the Russians at sea and the Spanish on land (NOT vice versa). If you are using the "3 core territory rule" (we were not) Sweden is doable since they have 3 territories, but they will be broke and have no army beyond what they start with (if I recall they are a 40/18 nation) and will be a pawn for the entire game, which is no fun. Better to play with the original 7.

GMing: OK, not really a country but I thought about it and figured I better put my 2 cents in here too. I only did this once and it was a lot of fun. You get to learn a lot about other players (especially their loyalties and their machiavellian natures) and you know how things turn out. Unfortunately I was boring as I learned later by seeing others. I would report the chit pick and the die roll and the casualties and a very statistical report on each turn. I much prefer the GMs who write up battle reports instead of giving the results statistically like:

October, 1813, Battle of Dogger Bank: Lord Admiral Nelson and his flagship Revenge, HMS Thunderer, HMS America, HMS Valiant, HMS Valkyrie, along with 15 frigates and 20 transports soundly thrashed the French raider Riposte and her 3 escorts. Riposte was captured and is being refitted in Glasgow, the escorts were sent to the bottom of the North Sea. We suffered one casualty when the Bowswains Mate on HMS Valkyrie, Master Tomlinson, was hit by an unsecured bucket and fell overboard unconscious mid battle. He drowned before it was noticed he had gone overboard but his body was retrieved and accorded full military honors.

Instead of: 15 factor British fleet met 1 factor French, British lost 0 factors, French lost 1 factor, +1 PP British, -1 PP French

Being Gm is a lot of fun, especially if you are playing a different game at the same time, and people really love you for doing it (they will even send you REAL LIVE CASH!!! to buy you a pizza and some Coke sometimes).

[fjbn]

I think your analisis about Russia strategy is not correct. Your strategy, followed by many other russian players, is the main reason why France wins many games. An individual strategy ends in France's victory, because she has a much bigger army and better leaders. If you atack Prussia and Austria, they will see that a later coalition with France against you is very interesting, and you will lose all your gains, because you're not strong enough to face them and France will force your surrender.
So you have to defeat France with Prussia and Austria. You don't need the whole army. In fact, 20-30 factors and Bagration is enough to reinforce Prussian army. You say that Prussia must pay for it. I disagree.This is your contribution to defeat your main adversary to victory. If France is defeated, you are at the top without serious losses and you have forces enough to atack Sweden in spring, keeping at bay a good army in reserve. Turkey is not an oponnent because Moscow is too far, and Prussia and Austria, seriously weakened because they carried the weight in the fight against France, won't be a serious menace.

[YohanTM2]

If I am playing and not France I almost always try to work with others to defeat France right away, especially if they have bid big PP to play her [:D]

Once France has been humbled once you can roll out the other plans you have been secretly negotiating.

[heychadwick]

yammahoper@yahoo.com

What about the French forming a beachhead? I fear that if the french were able to get a few divisions on British soil, that they would have London before too long. It would be quite a blow if London were to fall to the French. Do you believe that a strong naval presence around France would be enough to protect it? Couldn't the French move up and around to land some troops via beachhead? The march south for the French would be short and not require much, I fear.

[Murat]

ORIGINAL: fjbn

I think your analisis about Russia strategy is not correct. Your strategy, followed by many other russian players, is the main reason why France wins many games. An individual strategy ends in France's victory, because she has a much bigger army and better leaders. If you atack Prussia and Austria, they will see that a later coalition with France against you is very interesting, and you will lose all your gains, because you're not strong enough to face them and France will force your surrender.
So you have to defeat France with Prussia and Austria. You don't need the whole army. In fact, 20-30 factors and Bagration is enough to reinforce Prussian army. You say that Prussia must pay for it. I disagree.This is your contribution to defeat your main adversary to victory. If France is defeated, you are at the top without serious losses and you have forces enough to atack Sweden in spring, keeping at bay a good army in reserve. Turkey is not an oponnent because Moscow is too far, and Prussia and Austria, seriously weakened because they carried the weight in the fight against France, won't be a serious menace.

You misread my Russian strategy. I said Britain and France have to pay for your war against the other if they want you in it (Britain must pay if they want you attacking France, France must pay if they want you attacking Britain). I never said Prussia had to pay for anything (they can't afford it and they would certainly wonder where all your $$$ is going). You also say in one paragraph that you cannot stand against France/Prussia/Austria (believe me, they cannot force capitulate you and they cannot afford to feed themselves too deep into Russia, and loss of their supply chain = Grand Army Retreat and we all know how THAT went) and then in the next say that Prussia/Austria will be too weak to oppose you [&:] Regardless, if you reread, I said that if you were going for Dominance, get it EARLY. And yes, I implied that it is OK to go dominant. It stings Austria/Prussia, but it is CRIPPLING to France, she loses her double move ablity (yes she can still move 4 MPs to your 3, but now morale is equal) and you have extra $$$ to keep the Central Powers fighting France (and can help their morale by mixing in with their stacks) The reason I said it has to be done early, and that you have to get them minors to make up for the losses, is that, as I said a little further on, you must keep Prussia/Austria fighting against France even if YOU are paying for it. Out of the two, you MUST keep Austria happy. Prussia can go against you, but as long as Austria thinks they are at fault you are OK. Austria will even press Britain hard for $$$ and let you keep a strong treasury as long as you get $$$ into their hands when they need it (you would be stunned what buying 3 cav for the Austrians on Econ 1 will do for long term relations - you thought dogs were loyal?) While Austria/Prussia(/France) cannot get your surrender (without some SERIOUS errors on your part), they can damage your ability to get PP. Actually, a surrender in the Franco-Austrain war by EITHER side is not good for your PP. Constant war and victory is the best way to win PP (losses of course are a quick way to lose PP too, which is why you must choose your battles well). Short version: always appear to be less of a threat than France.

I have seen more French victories come from the Coalition defeating France only to have the British/Austrian/Prussian (and they can usually add Turkey too) immediately turn on Russia and take out her armies since she is seen as the "big threat" after 1 French defeat. France can take a defeat and still come back for the second war and TROUNCE her enemies and a neutral Russia (usually licking wounds from a British encouraged betrayal) certainly would not help. I have also seen greedy Russias go for Dominance and hit Prussia/Austria at the start but even if you are one of these people, you have to replace what you take from the german and italian minors (I even suggested giving the $$$ from the captured home provinces to the Central Powers). BUT at least we agree that Turkey is no real threat [:D]

*** All of this brings up some interesting points: we used crossing arrows in all our games, without them Britain is MUCH more secure against invasion (and so is Denmark). BUT the main thing I thought about is that we had a sort of "secret loan" deal. While someone could always check your sheet and see where your $$$ was going, they had to ASK and often people would be too wrapped up in their own affairs to do that simple task. In addition, you just allocated $$$ to "loans" as a whole not identifying to whom so while Britain could make sure all the loans balanced, they were never TOTALLY sure who gave $$$ to whom. I channeled much loot to the Central Powers with Britain thinking I was being useless and offering more than they would have if they knew my true loans (I gave Turkey that $20, France is lying, they are building the Prussians up against me). Ona side note it was another reason I hated being Britain, did not like having to check everyone math every econ phase [>:] We usually get stingy British - not sure why, they will pay, but just enough to win, no more. The secret loans were something I really liked, it kept British $$$ flowing against France. We also had limits on diplomacy time: 30 minutes for the very first one, 15 min for each econ phase, 5 min between turns, everything else was over the table. Over the table stuff was fun too since you could agree in private that Turkey could get Ottoman and then act stunned over the table when they started to take it ("I thought I told you no Ottoman.....you %^#*%@" "I'm stopping at Tunisia!"). Also, if you wanted an unconditional surrender in our group, be ready to force capitulation. Trying to hold all those provincial capitals while your spread out corps are getting nipped at for 1 PP losses is frustrating and often led to a conditional just to net better PP (and a quicker return to battle).

AAAAAND (the reason I brought up crossing arrows).....

ORIGINAL: heychadwick

What about the French forming a beachhead? I fear that if the french were able to get a few divisions on British soil, that they would have London before too long. It would be quite a blow if London were to fall to the French. Do you believe that a strong naval presence around France would be enough to protect it? Couldn't the French move up and around to land some troops via beachhead? The march south for the French would be short and not require much, I fear.

We actually marched north from Lille due to crossing arrows. As long as no British fleet presence in the Channel (and then the Irish Sea if you have to force capitulation, which France usually has to do becuase of her requirements for making peace with Britain). Needless to say, the British Fleet must be a shadow of itself (and if you have the Colonial Fleet optional rule in effect, those extra ships will appear VERY fast) and you must move quickly. I can't imagine a successful amphibious invasion scenario so long as the British can attack fleets. You would either be loading up enough troops to land the army in one shot and risking sinking of fleet factors (and resulting loss of land factors from reduced naval capacity - we used that rule too - the limited capacity - no 1 corps/1 fleet deal) or you have to move in stages with a lot more naval battles, which the British can win even when the odds are against them. If we did the Sack of Britain, it was how the game started and it was never repeated again (people seem to be OK with one hit but that second one is deemed too risky, then again, Britain rebuilds those hulks pretty quick).

[yammahoper]

One fleet in the channel prevents any French crossing, assuming you use the optional land crossing in the rules (we did most of the time). If the board situation shows a threat of the french attempting to invade, then the Brits need to pick when to move in the naval phase carefully, which should allow them to stop an invasion force.

If your port guns are manned, no enemy fleet can eneter the port to disembark troops, so he will have to do so from the open sea hex or blockade box. Thus, if you engage the enemy fleets and win the battle, no troops will be able to land after they flee to the nearest enemy port.

Is the situation sometimes tense? sure it is. It helps to have the army at home or lots of troops in garrisons, a not so hard to achieve situation after taking a bunch of conquerds. I have had every city in Britain filled with troops, even had to begin placing them in north african cities I had so many. It is a long game, and certainly in the beginning you have to play a bit more cautious than later, but Britain has enough defense to allow for a respectable pffense with both army and fleets. I will note that I was once invaded while my army was in Egypt. I had to disband the army and place new corps in Britain proper to fight the invader and do it with out my cav corp. Was very painful indeed.

yamma

[Pippin]

The way I look at it, Britain's army is a joke. Hell, she starts off with the worst shaped army on the whole board. Lets see, she has a guard counter, but what good is it? Doesn't seem to make much damn difference. Hell, she can not even use the guard unit to commit the guard on a level 1 or 2, or anything. Cavalry can only go into 1 counter, which only holds up to 8 units. You want to add a cavalry leader? Sorry, you can not get any army leaders until after a year of play. And then you only get to put down 1 leader, wait another whole year for another, and another year for the last one, with a total of 3 leaders only.

What about the size of the counters? Well, sorry but they are not thick enough to squeeze in too many factors. So despite your enemy can't see what you got in those, he can make a worst case guestimate, fairly easy.

Oh ya, no toys to play with like cannons either.


It is damn good for Britain she has a navy worth something, because she certainly is no match for a corps battle. And if she messes up her navy at any time.. she will be stuck doing a repeated surrender loop for the rest of the game vs any group of competant players.

IMHO of course... anyone disagree?