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I've been thinking about this recently and I think its actually to do with the fact that people can imagine they are rewriting history rather than repeating it. Playing as the Allies and achieving a victory is following in the footsteps of someone else but maybe people get a sense of 'I changed history' when they play as the German forces and manage to get victories. Just my thoughts.

I play the Germans in Generated Battles and campaigns because it's good to have your squads do what you want - most of the other countries start the war with low morale and experience and it gets frustrating for me.

Now when I make a scenario it's usually whichever player the AI can't do well that is player 1. That's not always the Germans.

Plus - I just like all the German toys!!

Figmo

I rarely play a battle as the Germans. I prefer Pacific battles but when I do play something from Rurope, I like to try them all. My favorite is the French because I like their Legionaires!

With that said, I am designing a campaign on the Invasion of Norway from the German point of view. I selected the Germans becuase it offered the most unique opportunities in designing the game as they used all arms not just tanks and a friend from Oslo, Norway suggested it and helped with the maps.

I would guess that out of the thousand's of SPWAW players less than 20% love to play as the "Germans." I think that the German-preferred players are more vocal and involved in SPWAW so you see their threads more often. It might be a perception thing. :rolleyes:

Bruce
Semper Fi

I like to try out all sides, but I do like playing the Germans a good bit. A major factor for me is that they have good units throughout most of the war. And when playing a campaign, the first opponents you face are pretty easy so you can develop your units skills quickly, helping to prepare you for the tougher battles to follow. I must admit though, as the Germans, facing those T34/85s is a real bitch!

I like to play with the minor countries, and as the Soviets in '41. One thing to note is that if you're playing with something besides the default number of points in a generated battle with a minor country, you may want to lower the number of points. I recently played an online match with someone as the Belgians in May of 1940 with 5000 points per side- I bought so many units that I ran out of slots, and still had 800 points left! In the early years the minor powers don't really have anything in the OOB that's very expensive, so you end up with hordes of infantry and massive artillery parks.

That's all well and good, but I can't help but chuckle at the words "massive Belgian artillery barrage".

Originally posted by Fidel Helms:
I like to play with the minor countries, and as the Soviets in '41. One thing to note is that if you're playing with something besides the default number of points in a generated battle with a minor country, you may want to lower the number of points. I recently played an online match with someone as the Belgians in May of 1940 with 5000 points per side- I bought so many units that I ran out of slots, and still had 800 points left! In the early years the minor powers don't really have anything in the OOB that's very expensive, so you end up with hordes of infantry and massive artillery parks.

That's all well and good, but I can't help but chuckle at the words "massive Belgian artillery barrage".

almost as funny as "glorious French Assault"

sven

[ June 24, 2001: Message edited by: sven ]

Originally posted by sven:


almost as funny as "glorious French Assault"

sven

Tell that to the Imperial Guard.

Originally posted by Fidel Helms:


Tell that to the Imperial Guard.

did the Imperial Guard fight in the Battle of France '40?

man they must have been old

lol

Its just as it was back in sp3 days, If you get an online game you get "I'll be German"
why? Coz they have the best toys!! Simple.
Everyone wants to win.

Originally posted by sven:


did the Imperial Guard fight in the Battle of France '40?

man they must have been old

lol

No, but Americans have a habit of running around making all sorts of wild statements about French military ability based solely on the events of the spring of 1940. France has had kind of a bad century, and that was probably the darkest hour. Not fair to judge based on that standard.

I play the Germans because I like their tanks. They are superior to almost anything else on the battlefield (except, perhaps those *%#@*&*%#@ Matilda II's in North Africa). (and, of course, I like to win...)

Originally posted by Fidel Helms:


No, but Americans have a habit of running around making all sorts of wild statements about French military ability based solely on the events of the spring of 1940. France has had kind of a bad century, and that was probably the darkest hour. Not fair to judge based on that standard.

I play the French.... a lot.

Calling their 20th Century performance anything but abyssmal is being a tad dishonest though. Their General Staff is always fighting two wars ago. I respect the sacrifice that they endured, but come on they caved quicker than Poland.

sven

Originally posted by sven:


Calling their 20th Century performance anything but abyssmal is being a tad dishonest though. Their General Staff is always fighting two wars ago. I respect the sacrifice that they endured, but come on they caved quicker than Poland.

sven

You can hardly fault the French for not being at the bleeding edge of military strategy- they were up against a potent new doctrine which was mainly practiced by the Germans at the time, and had the misfortune to have Manstein's plan given the go ahead by Hitler- something the German general staff didn't want to do. Even employing blitzkrieg, the Germans would have fared far worse had they gone through the Low Countries.

Originally posted by Fidel Helms:


You can hardly fault the French for not being at the bleeding edge of military strategy- they were up against a potent new doctrine which was mainly practiced by the Germans at the time, and had the misfortune to have Manstein's plan given the go ahead by Hitler- something the German general staff didn't want to do. Even employing blitzkrieg, the Germans would have fared far worse had they gone through the Low Countries.

WW1: Pierre says, "I have an idea: attack! attack! attack!"(they won but only by throwing more bodies at the germans than the germans had ammo+the troops mutinied because they figured out they were cannon fodder)

WW2: Pierre retorts: "we lost too many men with ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!... I know DEFEND! DEFEND! DEFEND!"(they build the Maginot Line and develop some of the weirdest combined arms doctrine I have ever seen)

Vietminh: Pierre decides, "we are pacifists who still want our EMPIRE I know we'll send the Foreign Legion to do all the fighting!"(thereby ensuring that their best forces were thrown away in a 'Police Action' that was unwinnable)

Is all this a bit simplified? Of course!

Is it that far from the truth? No!

The ineptitude of the graduates of St. Cyr in the 20th Century was unforgivable. Nothing personal that is just the way that history sees it. Something killed the French Martial ability after the Franco Prussian War.

Wish I knew what exactly it was.

sven

p.s. love your sig!

[ June 24, 2001: Message edited by: sven ]

Originally posted by Kurt:
I've been thinking about this recently and I think its actually to do with the fact that people can imagine they are rewriting history rather than repeating it. Playing as the Allies and achieving a victory is following in the footsteps of someone else but maybe people get a sense of 'I changed history' when they play as the German forces and manage to get victories. Just my thoughts.

Well, Germans fought on many fronts
against many opponents and atleast games
portray German equipment and moral better
than their opponents. Maybe this is partly
justified, don't know, whatever the case, playing Germans is lot easier than playing somebody else. Anyway, they have bit better
tailor and fashion designer in equipment
and in uniforms. And winners always look
good too....

But I'd avoid Eastern Front after year
42 as a German. I guess I've played bit
too long campaign there in SP3. Get's bit tiresome to fight endless streams of T-34's and artillery barrages.

ehm..well..how can I say..I play the Italians because I AM italian with all the usual background of intense sense of partecipation, typical of my people :rolleyes: ....
and when I play the Germans I figure to be back in history and give my personal contribute for the victory of my country..
Not a question of equipment..only who plays the Italians can say this !!
I understand this can surprise a basically and general U.S.A point of view ...

Anyway I will NEVER miss any WB campaign..
SO with frustration and pain ( )I had to fire against my italians comrades in Preparing the Way... SIGH !

Hoped to help your thoughts..

I too, like to play Italy. They have some neat toys too.
And against matildas, those 90mm AA guns are very useful.

But the Italian army is difficult to control especially when playing with Command and control set to 'on'. I have learned to lead from the rear so my officers can rally the men as they retreat.

I like to play German because I like the color grey

No seriously, the Gerries have nice toys, and I like the thought of quality over quantity, although it didn't help in the end.. which we are happy about.

How long can you fight on when you have everybody against you?

I play the Germans because it is the only realistic option to play vs the AI.The AI models the Soviet mass attack tendency very well so Eastern Front combat is the most realistic the game offers. The AI cannot model any other country's combat tactics except perhaps the Japanese mass banzai charges

We all start off liking the germans. They fought all over, so you get the biggest variety of enemies. Also, they have good force quality and that makes it easier when you start off. It's frustrating to be suppressed forever, or routing unless your interested in managing that. Before SPWAW the german increase in quality didn't cost you anything, so it was a sure bet to play as them. Try a country settings on battle in 1940 GEvsFR in SP3. It's retarded. I personally am a huge fan of the Soviets... and don't really think the germans have the best equipment. But I didn't always think that way.

Tomo