Experiences playing 1918 Ludendorff Offensive?

[mdsmall]

Hi - I just tried my first ever game in MP mode of the Ludendorff Offensive. It seems a very interesting scenario - I had not seriously looked at it before. However, we had to call off our game after just 10 turns, so I did not get to see how it plays out. I'd be curious if other experienced players wanted to share a bit about how they find this campaign - at least in terms of tempo and game balance.

[MoongazerSlitherineSSL]

I played it several times some time ago, both as CP and Entente, unfortunately, those games were pretty one-sided, my opponent was less experienced.
I remember that the first two to three turns were very important. Germans need to focus either on British or French and incapacitate their army since with time and arriving Americans Entente will have more opportunities for punishing counterattacks. Strategic bombers are potentially very powerful since they can stop German advance in its tracks by levelling supply hubs and there is not much they can do about it. But it takes time to build-up such an air force.

[lessavini]

Any overall tips? I'm playing it right now as Germans while learning the game. For example...

1 - should I concentrate troops/deployments between Soisson and Reims to try and get to Paris ASAP, or should I take the whole frontline with the other cities to drain their National Morale?

2 - should I push recklessly the frontlines, or wait for at least a handful artillery pieces to arrive as to mitigate my losses? (I suspect time is not on Central side in this scenario)

[shri]

It is an awesome scenario, BAVRE a player here is a master of this scenario. I had played against him and learnt some stuff which i used in a tournament conducted.

Basically, the Germans have to hit Belgium, Portugal and England hard at the beginning and try to trigger a collapse ASAP. Then once they get more troops hit the French hard. The first 3 turns the more troops you can knock out the better.
Key to defeat France is taking VERDUN.

The Americans are quite weak initially.

[lessavini]

Is cavalry worth using as Central powers?

I'm novice in the game and this is my first scenario. At first I thought cav wouldn't make much sense this being 1918 and all that, but now that I'm starting to break the french frontlines I'm reconsidering. Maybe it would be good having a couple cavs spreading havoc behind those units. Hmm..

[shri]

I personally do not think cavalry is good to use in 1918 scenario. The German level 2 corps are your key strength, when attached to good HQs and in normal supply, they can deliver devastating attacks and bleed the English and French.