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I think in 1914 boths side both sides just have 6 mouths shells for there guns in 1914 to late 1915 how is this smimed in the game .

I am not a playtester. Please take this an a simi-educated guess from following development and the boards.

You have to collect "command points" to do things in the game. This represents the staff planning, amassing of material and men, and 10,000 other things that make up an operation. I would guess that you start with "X" command points and you recieve "X" each turn. Just assuming that production takes a while to catch up from late 14 through most of 15 you will have to be very stingy with what you do with your "points"

If any of the playtesters could help us out here with am I right or wrong, and the correct terms used in the game to model this it would be appreciated.

You have to spend resources to make command pints.  The ones you start the game with are mostly gone by mid-1915, and you will never have that many again without carefull husbanding!

You have to spend resources to make command pints.  The ones you start the game with are mostly gone by mid-1915, and you will never have that many again without carefull husbanding!

If I may add to that too - the British start the war with no artillery units (representing the lack of heavy guns). They play a catch up game whereby they have to build artillery units which is also a drain on their resources. The French and Germans begin the game with far more artillery - but it is almost impossible to keep them all in action because of ammunition shortages and demands on resources elsewhere.
In summary - you do get ammunition shortages. There is (the historical) lack of British heavy guns at the beginning of the war which has a big effect in 1914-15.

I assume that Germany has a distinct advantage in Heavy Artillery units at the beginning of the war against all TE powers? Is there a distinction between Corp Artillery units and the Fortress chewing 305mm/420mm monsters?

Players must also purchase "Barrage" which represents the munitions required to use the artillery units. WIth all the choices a player can make, this adds to the "Do I? Don't I?" factor.

That bodes well for gameplay. Having to make those critical decisions each turn and then wondering if it might have been better to choose differently after your carefully planned attack doesn't go quite as well as you had hoped, maintains that gnawing tense feeling in the pit of the stomach. I wonder how I will feel after my first "brillaintly planned" Somme.[&:]

ORIGINAL: Arinvald

That bodes well for gameplay. Having to make those critical decisions each turn and then wondering if it might have been better to choose differently after your carefully planned attack doesn't go quite as well as you had hoped, maintains that gnawing tense feeling in the pit of the stomach. I wonder how I will feel after my first "brillaintly planned" Somme.[&:]

You'll most likely experience sudden desperation at that point. [:)]

GoA is a really really great game.

There are 2 grades of artillery - "normal" and Siege - Siege artillery has the additional benefit that it can destroy fortification levels as well as inflict casualties.  the Austro-hungarians and Germans each start with 1 unit of Siege artillery (as well as a few more "normal" units).  the German one starts opposite Liege.......
 
I never built extra siege artillery in the game, but then none of the test games I played ever went long enough to get really high entrenchment levels that would reauire it.

Thanks for the reply. If the TE researches Artillery to a high level, can they produce the BIG siege Artillery pieces? Can Siege Artillery be used against any hex containing enemy units, or only Fortresses? I'm going nuts in anticipation![X(]

Siege arty functions just like any other artillery with the addition that it reduces fortifications, so yuo you can target any hex with it - you can even target empty hexes if you want to - on hte off chance that there's enemy there you can't see!!
 
Anyone can build it - it is not technology dependant, although IIRC you can research arty to make the units bigger hence more dangerous.

Sounds good. Thanks.

I've been wondering, how can you hit enemy units with artillary if all units move/attack at the same time?  If the enemy is in square 1 and you are in square 2. If I attack the enemy and he is moving away from square 1 to square 0 (in the opposite direction of me) do I still hit with artillary? Do I lose those shells?  How does that work?

Check the distance and time scales. It isn't tactical.

Although artillery barrages are calculated before infantry assaults - and so you (sometimes) get the sense of surrounding a salient - smashing it to bits with all your guns (assuming you have the ammo) and then sending the troops over the top.
 
I think (but am not absolutely sure) that the movement is calculated first - so if the hex is vacated - the barrage will kill no-one.