For the testers ...

[lettowvorbeck]

1. In your head to head games (or against the AI for that matter), how often are you capturing Paris in '14?

2. Are you finding that game models the static and the mobile periods of the war equally well? I gather that one of the greatest challenges of creating a good WW1 game is having stalemate create trench warfare not the other way around.

Thanks guys.

[xwormwood]

1) I've only played 6 head-to-head game until today, so my voice isn't that much important.

But to answer the question: in my games Paris wasn't taken in 1914.

For this you probably need quite a bit of luck, and a weak opponent.

I had neither.

So i'm not better than my grandfather, who didn't achieved this goal in the real war, too.

2) Here i was very skeptical too, when i started my first game, as we all know that it isn't easy to turn mobile warfare into a static / trench warfare.

But don't worry: you will soon enough find out the SC WW1 mastered this challenge with flying colors. You storm through belgium, you race to the sea, trying to grasp some canal cities and to find a gap to push through towards Paris.

It can be done, but before you know, you'll decide to close the front lines, as you need to send some real armies into the east, where Austria-Hungaria struggles to hold out against the russian masses while the Serbs are giving a hell of fight.

Great fun ahead, promised!

[lettowvorbeck]

Thanks for your insights. I would hope the German player at least has some chance of capturing Paris against a competent Human. As much as people like to the say the Schlieffen Plan was one field army short of having a chance to work, the Germans historically came very close, even with corps transferred east. At least it seemed that way after reading Holger Herwig's new book about the Marne. Of course, it helps if the French player is slow to realize the main thrust will be through Belgium and northern France and sends doomed offensives into Alsace-Lorraine!! Something he is not likely to do in the game.

[Bill101]

One great problem for the Germans carrying out the Schlieffen Plan is the speed of their advance. Too fast, and they run out of supply; too slow, and the Entente have time to build up their forces to defend Paris, so getting the right speed balance is very important. There is also the question of what their forces in Alsace-Lorraine are doing.

In one game I currently have the Germans hammering away at the gate of Paris and my French are really struggling to turn them away. I've recaptured Tours and Orleans, but Paris remains under significant threat.

But it's my fault, because although I deployed the BEF in France, I then sent all further British units to Egypt and Mesopotamia, along with the ANZACs and both Indian Corps. They are doing well there, but France could really have benefited from their help!

[abukede]

I've managed to take Paris twice in early 1915 and 1917. Against those same players I was not able to duplicate that again... seems they learned their lesson. The game slows on the Western front and then speeds up on the Eastern front... You have to be careful as the Central Powers because you do not have the resources to go on the offensive everywhere at once. There are 4 main cash sinks for the Germans... 1. Western Front, 2. Eastern Front, 3. German Navy 4. Diplomacy and Tech. Depending upon what you want to do... you have to balance them very carefully and it is extremely tough. If you are not successful... and put too much effort in one area you will lose. Essentially you have to be patient and plan ahead carefully to achieve long term goals.