Doubts: Paris or British

[montgommel]

Hello,

I am playing a game with the Central Powers, following the Schlieffen War Plan. During the preturn, August and September I have managed to beat the Belgian Army to conquer all Belgium and force its surrender because I have followed the intended historical plan (not the one followed by the germans) and the german first Army has attacked in two axis parallel to the coast after conquering Antwerp and now is in Arras (conquering also Calais and neighbouring towns). The second army is sieging Mauberg (but without siege artilleries- I have made something strange with them and are still arriving), while 3rd army is closing the gap in the Sedan area.

In october I lost the initiative and the french launched two or three armies (+ the GHQ) against 2nd and 3rd army. The french got the worst part of the battles but the 2nd and 3rd armies are more or less in bad shape, so they cannot make nothing more than fight back the mauled french armies and try to inflate the french losses. No much more movement is possible.

The 1st Army, however, is totally free for movement and without damaged units. In the event phase I received the Mata Hari event so I have discovered the french/british position: the British are in a port (Le Havre or Rouen), Paris is void (only the fortress and garrison) and 6th french army is adjacent to Paris.

I have an Initiative event, so it is posssible to obtain a double turn (moving last in Octover and first in Nov-Dec)

What to do? Use the first army to close the british in the port area or run towards Paris and try to conquer before winter risking leaving gaps between the armies with only two or three cavalry units to close them or be more conservative and make a stable front for the years to come. Suggestions?

[Random]

Sounds like a race of cripples; sweet...

Just $0.02 but you are in a high-stakes situation where where the risky option promises the greatest gain. Taking Paris may trigger French surrender but even with a reduced fortress the city might hold out until winter and the firepower doctrine changes kick in to make offensive operations that much more difficult.

My take, go for the big prize; Paris. If you fail and need to withdraw you have lots of economically worthless space to trade for the time needed to consolidate.

Good Luck

[montgommel]

Thanks. I'll try and give you feedback. Is normal that the BEF is not fully operative until Nov-Dec turn? I suppossed I would find it before.

[Tamas]

Thanks. I'll try and give you feedback. Is normal that the BEF is not fully operative until Nov-Dec turn? I suppossed I would find it before.

Depends on when did the Brits join the war. But under normal circumstances, no. Usually they ram into me in September.

[06 Maestro]

Beware of the BEF. In the early months it has two real killer corps. If you go for knocking out the BEF you better have the 1st army concentrated-and plan on a second battle-it will be very costly.

Without seeing the exact situation it is sort of a guessing gme as what to do. However, I would be inclined to go for the gold-take Paris. It seems you should be able to mostly repair the damage the the 2nd and 3rd Arnie's, concentrate and achieve a breakthrough towards Paris.

I would not leave the right flank open. Sounds like you did a good job on clearing the coast-should not loose that safety. The 1st Army should be able to hold the extended line and perhaps position a corp or two between the BEF and Paris.

Of course, if the the big guns cannot catch up to the second Army in time for the Paris battle you probably should just try inflicting maximum losses on the French before the front hardens. To take out the BEF will be nice, but be prepared for the most costly battle that you have had so far. In a few months those two super corps will be replaced with normal elite corps-much easier to deal with.

Good luck-

[montgommel]

Depends on when did the Brits join the war. But under normal circumstances, no. Usually they ram into me in September.

September is when I expected them.
Britain entered the war in the first Diplomatic phase (before the preturn. I don't know if Brit level started too low or Entente was very lucky with Diplomacy or I did something wrong during the diplomatic phase -probably the last one, although on the other hand Turkey allied with me also in the preturn).
In all these turns until now I have been developing a mixed strategy of running to grab belgian and northern french cities without exposing too much the flanks waiting fo the BEF.
So I was very surprised when I saw them yet in the french port and without moving at all during the October turn.
Can they be waiting to activate using reaction during my turn? The boardgame rules states clearly that an army that rolls succesfully a Reaction attempt can move twice in the same turn (once in the enemy turn, the other in its own turn). is this the same in the computer game?

[calvinus]

So you captured Mons before the arrival of BEF!
Thus the BEF was forced to land in Le Havre...

Anyway it's very strange the BEF didn't move in October. When I play in WEGO, I see the BEF moving fast towards Belgium.

[montgommel]

So you captured Mons before the arrival of BEF!
Thus the BEF was forced to land in Le Havre...

Yes I managed to capture Mons in August14 due to a succesful surrender of Antwerp and Liege during the preturn by the I and II army respectively and a rush of two corps of the IInd army bypassing the Belgian Army beaten several times until was defeated and encircled in Gent which triggered the Belgian surrender.

I played the 1914 october turn, but due to the rain I didn't manage to arrive Paris from Arras, just adjacent to the french main city.

Something strange happened in the turn. I moved with the IIIrd army to attack a french army in Sedan (placed there after a victorius battle in Entente movement phase which forced the retreat of two corps) but there was no battle: both french and german army rested in the same hex until the end of the military phase and after clickng the end phase button, the french retreated to the adjacent hex. I don't know if the french succeeded in a retreat before battle (there were inf corps, not only cavalry) or played an unknown event or it is a bug. [I have saved the game. If you want, I can attach the save game file]

Unfortunately I have lost iniciative again (even having played the event Initiative. I played this event during the Events phase. Is this correct? or should I have waited until the reinforcement or military phase?) so I have to wait and probably the BEF or french VIth army can stop me before arriving Paris (although the AI has started moving Serbian and Russian armies, so I possibly can react and enter Paris before the french/british)

Note: I am still a bit confused with the movement and if art unit slows the HQ if in reserve or not. Can you check this? My 1st Army is in Arras with 4 inf corps and in reserve 2 more and the art unit. From Arras to Paris there is two clear hexes and the city hex covered by a major river (seine). If the art in reserve slows the movement (as the boardgame rules states), the army has 3 MP and only one hex can be moved (as rain adds 1MP to all hexes), but I have moved two hexes (I don't know if because the army has 4MPs or because the rain effect is not properly calculated).

Note2: How the front issue is treated in the computer game? In boardgame, the two main fronts act as two separated games. Initiative is rolled for each front and so on and Germany must split PRs and MUN to each front. In my game (2 player campaign) this is loosely treated: only one initiative seem to be rolled (I wonder what GHQ values are used) and Germany can move east or west fornt armies in no special order and use all the pool RP or MUN points with no front restrictions (in fact I spent nearly all the RP in th western front and when trying to attack in the East with the VIII army I realized I have no PR left so I lost an easy battle against 1st Russian Army )

[calvinus]

Something strange happened in the turn. I moved with the IIIrd army to attack a french army in Sedan (placed there after a victorius battle in Entente movement phase which forced the retreat of two corps) but there was no battle: both french and german army rested in the same hex until the end of the military phase and after clickng the end phase button, the french retreated to the adjacent hex. I don't know if the french succeeded in a retreat before battle (there were inf corps, not only cavalry) or played an unknown event or it is a bug. [I have saved the game. If you want, I can attach the save game file]

This happens (mostly in strictly turn-based mode) because a battle has already took place there.

Unfortunately I have lost iniciative again (even having played the event Initiative. I played this event during the Events phase. Is this correct? or should I have waited until the reinforcement or military phase?) so I have to wait and probably the BEF or french VIth army can stop me before arriving Paris (although the AI has started moving Serbian and Russian armies, so I possibly can react and enter Paris before the french/british)

That event gives you a bonus on initiative die roll for the following turn. So you probably was very unlucky with dice.

Note: I am still a bit confused with the movement and if art unit slows the HQ if in reserve or not. Can you check this? My 1st Army is in Arras with 4 inf corps and in reserve 2 more and the art unit. From Arras to Paris there is two clear hexes and the city hex covered by a major river (seine). If the art in reserve slows the movement (as the boardgame rules states), the army has 3 MP and only one hex can be moved (as rain adds 1MP to all hexes), but I have moved two hexes (I don't know if because the army has 4MPs or because the rain effect is not properly calculated).

Check carefully the MP allowance of all units in the first line. Also some terrain could have caused a MP additional cost?

Note2: How the front issue is treated in the computer game? In boardgame, the two main fronts act as two separated games. Initiative is rolled for each front and so on and Germany must split PRs and MUN to each front. In my game (2 player campaign) this is loosely treated: only one initiative seem to be rolled (I wonder what GHQ values are used) and Germany can move east or west fornt armies in no special order and use all the pool RP or MUN points with no front restrictions (in fact I spent nearly all the RP in th western front and when trying to attack in the East with the VIII army I realized I have no PR left so I lost an easy battle against 1st Russian Army )

Not possible in the PC game, sorry. But Germany has some special rule for the MUN spending East/West, so I recall.

[montgommel]

Finally, I won.

I took Paris by assault (IInd army siege art moves too slow to wait for them) so I bombarded with heavy art and assaulting with veteran and elite corps of the 1st army, until the garrison and fortress was destroyed.

I received lots of stars (100 points ) but in the winner screen the russian flag was present and I wonder why.

[rubys62]

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