Bill101

The Russians are getting rather aggressive in the Caucasus but it's nothing we can't handle at the moment. British troops are also moving into Palestine so we should see some good action here soon. Our Austro-Hungarians are a bit more passive this turn, repairing units and preparing replacements for the front. The Italians are going to start getting a little excited soon, and I'll have to decide whether or not to give them Trento and Trieste. That will be a hard decision. In East Prussia, while Mackensen builds up strength, Hindenburg decided that remaining on the offensive might be the best course of action, so a Russian Corps to the north of Siauliai is battered. The situation in the west is looking a bit dicey, so I've pulled back from the west bank of the Somme to take up a position on the east bank. In Belgium we attack and hammer a British Corps that had been threatening Brussels. I think that we'll make consolidating our position facing the French, and finishing off Belgium, our top priorities now. Coupled with stepping up our preparations for Trench Warfare of course. Well, I had to choose at the end of the turn whether or not to give Italy Trento and Trieste. I decided not to, they will have to fight for what they want!

The situation in East Prussia is starting to look a little dangerous, but fortunately von Mackensen has arrived to take command of a fresh body of troops being assembled near Konigsberg. The way things are going, they might well have to smash a way through to rescue Hindenburg! It is fortunate that our reconnaissance patrols show that the enemy don't appear to be making any preparations for an advance on East Prussia from the Warsaw area. Further south, skirmishing continues against the Serbs and Russians, with some wins and losses to both sides. In France, with the support of a crushing artillery barrage, German infantry smash and destroy a French Corps north of Amiens. Cavalry are then sent through to exploit, and we now have three Corps to the west of the river Somme. The Ottomans are deploying more troops, the German war economy is cranking into gear, and the Austro-Hungarians are stepping up shell production. The Kaiser remains positive!

Glad to hear it too!

Hi Cantona This makes me think that there is an Algerian flag in the wrong place in one of your amended graphics files. Hopefully making a careful comparison with default campaign's graphics files should highlight where this is, but if not be sure to report back. Bill

Well I never, the Russians have retaken Gumbinnen while I've been attacking Siauliai. That's got to stop, so this turn Hindenburg destroys their Corps in Siauliai and sends a Corps to take up a defensive position in Tilsit, with more to follow so that we'll be able to drive them out again, hopefully next turn. The Austro-Hungarians are switching to a more defensive role at the moment, as the Serbs have taken Sarajevo. But that doesn't stop us from hammering a unit of Cossacks and driving them out of Hungary, nor of launching some minor attacks near the Galician Oilfields. Our forces in the west have destroyed a French Corps near Amiens and another on the Chemin des Dames, but I need to get some reinforcements up into this area very soon. Hopefully winter coming up will buy us some time to strengthen our positions in the west. The addition of a new ally, the Ottoman Empire, also fills our hearts with joy, renewing our hope for victory!

Of course, but that's good! I see that you've since taken a look at the Strategy Guide, but essentially my plan is to batter the French and take as much of their territory as possible. I would then deal with the Belgians later. Usually I can advance much further than this, but his French Corps in Amiens has messed up my plans. In our last game it was my failure to finish off Belgium and take the port of Calais from the British that cost me the war. So this strategy relies on not neglecting to deal with the right flank before it can start to threaten the German position inside France.

No problem. Basically it enables most ground troops (excluding HQs) to be able to move double their normal distance. The conditions are that they can only do so when in good supply, on friendly territory, cannot attack in the same turn, and they suffer a morale & readiness hit to reflect the tiredness and exhaustion. So it's essentially a march move which it takes the unit a few turns to recover from.

There's a lot of fighting between my Austro-Hungarians and the Serbian and Russian armies. So far this is going ok as although the enemy have entered Hungary they are suffering losses and their supply level is low. But the situation is fluid and reconnaissance flights near Warsaw indicate that the enemy aren't planning any moves on East Prussia from that direction. Therefore I have a feeling that the Russians are moving forces south to put more pressure on Austria-Hungary. Consequently the best thing for Hindenburg to do is to advance into Russia and launch a full scale attack on Siauliai. Now to the west where my main effort at the moment is in maintaining my bridgehead over the river Somme, and removing some of the irritations on my right flank. This is partly achieved by destroying the enemy unit holding Calais, and in coming turns we hope to be able to follow this up by knocking out Belgium. Hopefully Dan won't send any reconnaissance flights out in the direction of Maubeuge, because were he to do so it would highlight just how weak my left flank is. The only good news is that some more Reserve Corps have arrived, and they will soon be Force Marched into action (a new feature we're currently trying out). Oh yes, and three tech hits!

The BEF's I Corps in Abbeville is destroyed, The French in Amiens are hammered some more (but only down to strength 2) and minor attacks are launched on Calais and Le Havre. I think I'm going to have to admit that my rebuff in front of Amiens last turn calls for a new plan of campaign in the west, with more methodical and better prepared attacks. Things should get better once my HQs have caught up and are better able to provide some decent supply. Better news elsewhere as the Russians are driven from East Prussia, and we batter some Russian Corps in Galicia and southern Poland. Unfortunately both retreated before we could finish them off, but their time will come! Valjevo in Serbia is captured, but we've had to force march some units away from this front to deal with a Russian incursion near Klausenberg. It's time to start preparing for a long war as there's no way we'll have won this by Christmas, so Germany is investing heavily in improving her war economy.

Central Powers turn, 29th August 1914 Some Russian cavalry and infantry made the mistake of marching into East Prussia and seizing Tilsit and Gumbinnen. Big mistake, though while we destroyed the cavalry their infantry have survived... just! Further south the Russians are threatening Galicia, but at the moment we still hold the oilfields. In Serbia we follow up our success in taking Belgrade with a big attack on Valjevo to the west. The Serbian unit here is made of sterner stuff and manages to hold on to the town by the skin of its teeth. In the west, a gruelling fight ensues for Amiens, and despite our best efforts the French III Corps ends the turn still holding the town. Our first setback, though we feel a little better after destroying a French Corps near Mulhouse to the south.

Feel free to observe and comment, but Dan and I have an understanding not to read each other's posts, so please bear that in mind. Though as the game progresses it'll be easier to discuss past strategies and mistakes... we're bound to make some!

Central Powers' second turn: Belgrade is captured and Austria-Hungary also destroys a couple of Russian units. But the war in the east has only really just begun so we're not celebrating just yet! Russian forces are threatening Memel so once Hindenburg has got used to being back at work we'll see about dealing with them. I don't know what Samsonov is up to near Warsaw, so my Recon Bombers might be put to work in that area in coming turns. Now to the west where our lead elements storm forward, taking Lille, Arras and Maubeuge. The British Expeditionary Force stood in our way and it has suffered for this, though our attack on Amiens from the south was a bit of a failure.

Hi Inspired by some of the other AARs, they gave me the idea to do one of a new game I've just started with Dan, another beta tester. We probably won't go into quite as much detail as the other AARs, just enough to give you a feel for our progress and to see how our strategies pan out. In our last game, I swept through Belgium and France and established a very good position to the north and west of Paris but I failed to follow it up successfully. One mistake was to fail to capture all of the Channel ports, and eventually the British forces established there managed to break out to the south, squeezing my German forces in the vice of a large pincer movement as I had to face them as well as a growing and revitalized French army to the south. Hoping for a better start, I've stormed into Belgium in turn one, capturing Brussels and now at the start of my second turn I'm poised to enter France. Here's the situation at the start of my second turn as I'd forgotten to take a shot at the end of turn one, showing my plans for turn 2: In the east, I've deployed my 2nd Austro-Hungarian army against Serbia.

I can't answer on the details but if you're wondering whether we're still incorporating changes to the WWI games based on feedback, for release in a patch, the answer is a definite yes.

Thanks for the feedback and I've just replied to your question about Romania in that thread. Sorry for the delay! On point 7, I will take a look at the Ottoman navy again, but I do like there to be some potential for "what ifs" that everyone can pursue if they see fit and have the resources. Plus with their long coastline that needs protecting some ability to increase their navy seems plausible. That said, I will look into this further to check that we aren't increasing their potential for growth too much.

Hi The timing of Romanian entrance into the war really depends on the exact mechanism which causes it to enter. There are scripts which could bring it into the war at the end of either side's turn, but if it's through diplomacy then it would happen at the end of the Entente turn. The real issue is whether they enter the war at a good time for the Entente, or at a bad time when lots of Central Powers units are already massing on their borders... a bit like in 1916!

Hi Graham Welcome to the forum! There is a Help file contained within the editor which should be pretty useful. Of course, you could just start by creating a copy of a scenario and in that copy, playing around with all the buttons to see what they do... then when you open up the Help file it will be a lot clearer. But that's perhaps just the way I work! Any problems or questions you can't find answered in the Help file, be sure to post in our Scenario and Mods forum: http://www.battlefront.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=59 Bill

Hi Templer Great to see you're loving the game, and as to the AI speed, there are a few settings in the Options screen that you may want to try out: Untick the Show Moves/Combat option, and tick the Quick Logic one which is further to the right. You could also untick the Messages (AI turn) box. This should hopefully make for noticeably faster turns. Bill

I hadn't until now! No promises mind... but I will think about it.

Hi It happens when you haven't got a friendly resource connected to either a Capital or Industrial Center where a unit can be deployed. The solution is probably to add a few more Industrial Centers into the game, providing of course this is only happening when you don't want it to.

That is a run of bad luck considering how high the chance per turn would be. It might pay to invest a chit in Intelligence in future as that can help too.

Yes, thanks very much for the review!

The aim here is to really make you think about what to do, and while investing in Foch is a good idea, it means that France can't afford replacements or research quite so soon. The painful decision is intentional!

38, so I have seniority over some, but am junior to others!

The funny thing is that I'm pretty sure that we restricted it before release to just Detachments, Heavy Artillery and Anti-Aircraft. Given that it's a WWI game, the thought of Motorized Corps didn't sit very comfortably with me.