Belgrade for dummies

[Cfant]

Hi!

Everyone says: Take Belgrade on turn one, it will be fun.I have 4 units, attacht them to the HQ and attack. I never come ever close to conquer the city. Do I have to sacrifice a billy goat first? Give the engine my firstborne? Or ist there a hidden "delete belgarde garrison" button anywhere [;)]

In other words: how to do it?

[stockwellpete]

Just continue attacking in the second turn and eventually the Serbian unit there collapses. I have always captured Belgrade very quickly when playing as the Central Powers.

[Cfant]

Ok, thanks. I'll take that as an it is neither sure nor necessary to take Belgrade on turn one

[Chernobyl]

If you want a near 100% guarantee you can cancel your Airship tech and use 18MPP to rail over an experienced German corps and do a turn 2 attack. Run one Austrian Cavalry south on turn #1. Move your units near Belgrade and occupy the hill to the southwest of the city. Then on turn 2 attack (obviously you have to choose the event option to deploy your army immediately to Serbia and not to Russia). You can even get a slight boost by spending MPP to upgrade your HQ general before you attack. You have 8-9 attack units depending on where your opponent placed his guys on his turn.

[Cfant]

Hi Chernobyl,

thanks, yep, Belgrade can be taken. I mostly use the german artillery to take the city early on. I only wondered why some people say you can take it on turn 1. [&:][:)]

[Dazo]

ORIGINAL: Cfant

Hi Chernobyl,

thanks, yep, Belgrade can be taken. I mostly use the german artillery to take the city early on. I only wondered why some people say you can take it on turn 1. [&:][:)]

Hi Cfant, a bit late but here I go anyway:

Because it's possible but not certain, just a gamble with that atrocious AH HQ (lvl 3) that still gives some bonuses [:D].
There is no definite way to do it so you can only practice a bit in hotseat to see the various tactics and outcomes.

Usually you have to move your starting AH HQ towards Belgrade so it can attach all units there then organize your attacks to get the best chances to eliminate the serbian detachment.
You also have to keep one unit with enough APs to advance after combat, capture Belgrade (and entrench there if possible).
(usually the corps starting adjacent to the city, north of it)
Lastly, you need 4 attacks (meaning 4 corps) to have a chance most of the time.
If you kill 2 steps on the first strike, you're lucky, 1 step is ok, 0 is bad.

The debate here is wether it's better to use units with best supply/morale first or last after reducing enemy cover.
(your odds should increase with each attack reducing cover UNLESS you give too much XP to Serbs because of bad rolls)
You also have to decide if the only corps (easternmost) able to attack without fighting through a river should go first or last.
Same for corps being able to attack with prepared assault bonus (not moving before attacking).