ORIGINAL: Chernobyl
Need more pics. I would be interested to see more screenshots of exactly what units were where in Russia and when.
And is this giant Poland attack made possible because of Montenegro's surrender boosting morale, or is it totally possible even while ignoring Montenegro? I assume that if the Russians can hold Lutsk then they should be okay. I didn't realize it was possible to brute force a capture of that rail town.
Unfortunately, those files for the second test were mislabeled by me and I thought I was deleting the First test.
The first test has better image documentation. In the first test...Bavre attacked Lutsk with AH troops. Even with the Luxembourg and the Montenegro surrender buffs going, I was able to counter attack and take back Lutsk and kill two of his AH corps there, and a German one in a swamp outside Wilno...and even break through to the Carpathian Passes at the Tartar Gates. We probably should of continued that one further btw.
The Second test was different in that Bavre used Germans on the attack on Lutsk forthwith. Now this is also a standard Russian First variation..and I have used it too...but only with the Luxemburg surrender buff. In test Two, we found that adding the Montenegro surrender buff changed everything. I attacked a 9 strength unentrenched German corp sitting on Lutsk with 8 Inf corps, and 1 Cavalry corp..all fully supplied..some prepared..and All under Yedinich HQ7 and Brusilov's HQ6 command. Even with some bad rolls I got with 9 attacks, I was only able to bring that German corp down to 1 point. If I had concentrated on AH units, I could have gotten better attack odds..but they where not in Lutsk! That image is on this the Second Test and should speak volumes.
Like I said previously, the giant Poland attack Bavre did is one of a few standard Russia First stratagems. Early last year, in a previous version of this excellent game, the Germans could get cavalry into Brestlitovsk..they fixed that somewhat (but I think it should be slightly stronger..but that is not relevant here)by placing 2 garrison units in Brestlitovsk and Bialystok. All the other moves Bavre did are standard issue openers for a successful (in time) Russia First strategy: Pinching and isolating Poland at Lutsk and Brestlitovsk.
The conclusion I have is that the Turn 2 Montenegro Surrender and the subsequent buff to the CP wrecks the early phase tempo of the game. Forget about unhistorical arguments. The fact is that in my opinion, and one held by many others, is whats happening here is not a gambit, but an eXploit. I invite anyone else to take the time, document and give this test a whirl to prove that this eXploit conclusion is wrong. Its quite possible that I personally was not up to the task of conducting the Entente side in the most optimal way. To be scientific about this whole issue..I nominate a Third Montenegro 'Gambit' test with other testers if there are doubts about this.
