Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen [Entente] v Elmer [Germans])

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> The Operational Art of War IV >> After Action Reports >> Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen [Entente] v Elmer [Germans])

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Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen [Entente] v Elmer [... - 5/3/2020 2:47:08 PM

Hellen_slith

Posts: 1990
Joined: 10/10/2005
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EDIT: changed title of post, resumed game w/ Elmer):

One the frustrating things about going through this encyclopedia project is when you come across what seems to be a "forgotten gem" and I think the WWI scene "Home Before the Leaves Fall" is one of those gems, so I just had to give it a go against the PO. The "easy to read" scenario briefing can be viewed / downloaded via this link (a 3 page pdf that will open in a new window for you)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eV1Ceb9mmEu3eOYdeIPeJAWi0wRz44al

This looks like a fun scene, based on a board game classic, and looking at the various reviews / notes I saw it pegged as playable (in the original version) as being able to complete a board game version of this within about six hours, so I thought that would be a good scene to try on this lazy day to see if I can get through it in one day. I am not familiar with the board game, other than what I looked at on the interweb thing, so I might not be playing this right, but I will give it a throw as best I can....

So, the first turn seems to be a set up turn (I was surprised to get the first move as Entente, but it is starting to make sense.) Here is the screen as of the beginning of move 1 Entente (looks like a nice map!!)

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< Message edited by Hellen_slith -- 7/30/2020 7:24:02 PM >

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 3:43:31 PM

pz501

Posts: 180
Joined: 10/1/2003
From: Southern Pennsylvania
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I designed this scenario for TOAW: Wargame of The Year, then updated it for TOAW III, and then TOAW IV when I (briefly) was part of the beta team. I don't consider the version included in TOAW IV to be finished, working correctly, or taking advantage of all the new features. It probably should never have been included in the TOAW IV package. That was beyond my control. Just a friendly heads up if you encounter any problems or weird things using it.

Since I'm no longer active with TOAW in any way, shape, or form, anyone (so far as I'm concerned) is free to modify, and improve on this scenario, and introduce new versions, etc.

_____________________________

"And I will show you where the Iron Crosses grow." Oberfeldwebel Rolf Steiner, The Cross of Iron

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 4:22:13 PM

Hellen_slith

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Joined: 10/10/2005
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Thanks for the input and the heads up! So, this one truly is a "forgotten gem!" So far, seems playable to me, but I know next to nothing about the board game (or the scenario editor either) so maybe someone with knowledge of those areas might consider updating this one. Thanks again!

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 4:50:12 PM

Hellen_slith

Posts: 1990
Joined: 10/10/2005
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One kind of funny thing about the scene, is while I expected Germans to move first, it took me a few "restarts" of the game w/ me choosing Entente against Germans PO, until it did give Germans first move. Not sure if that matters, but anyway now Germans are "side 1" I guess you might say, and they invade Belgium on schedule ... crushing Belgian border guards and pressing toward Leige. News item says France Army of Alsace now ready for action.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 5:15:52 PM

Hellen_slith

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Joined: 10/10/2005
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@Entente turn 4 (August 4, 1914)

The Leige Fortress Artilleries are slaughtering Boche left and right!!
But, artillery has only so much ammunition,
Liege 5 Fortress is nearly out of shells!!

France Alsace Cavalry paws the ground, but exclusion zone is keeping them at bay...
they want a piece of Boche, too!

Attachment (1)

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 5:28:35 PM

Hellen_slith

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@Entente turn 7 (August 8, 1914)

Liege continues its valiant defense.
Germans are being mauled!!

but, now they send in siege artillery ...

French bide their time, watching the slaughter.

Attachment (1)

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 5:47:16 PM

Hellen_slith

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Joined: 10/10/2005
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@Entente turn 11 (August 12, 1914)

German disaster! The heavy German artillery is no use against cavalry charges in at close range,
Boche are forced to retreat to German lines!!! Belgians are emboldened!!

PS: the scene notes indicate "best played as Entente" w/re/to PO play,
not sure if that meant best to play as Germans against PO,
or Entente against PO

but in this go, the Belgians (human) are beating Elmer PO pretty badly.

The scene plays pretty quickly, I've done 10 moves in about an hour,
which indicates that this scene can be played out in about five or six hours.

Pretty fun and quick, maybe better to play as Germans against Elmer Entente?
not sure.....

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 8:36:32 PM

Hellen_slith

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Joined: 10/10/2005
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@Entente beginning of turn 14 (August 15, 1914)

Germans resume their effort into Liege, making some progress.

British reinforcements have appeared at the coast of France.

The exclusion zone has been removed ... perhaps time for Plan XVII

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 9:19:56 PM

Hellen_slith

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Joined: 10/10/2005
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@Entente turn 17 (August 18, 1914)

Liege (the starred hex) is reduced to rubble by German artillery.
The Belgians must retreat--better to declare Liege "open city" now,
and try to save Belgians for defense of Antwerp / Namur etc.

France Plan XVII has failed to put enough pressure on the Germans in Alsace.
Germans are now making their way into France frontier.
Elmer has awakened! He is bent upon revenge for the Belgian aggression!

With British and other reinforcements showing up for Entente,
and previously garrisoned units getting activated,
we have now 360+ chits on the board just for Entente (was around 160 at beginning of game)
and with so many options (e.g., how to proceed w/ Belgium / Alsace / British)
it is taking me much longer to cycle a turn and do it any real justice.

Revising my estimate to think, probably a good 12 to 15 hours total to play this one out,
if you wish to do close examination of options and units and formations.

I think it plays well, might be a pretty good scene for PBEM.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/3/2020 10:55:15 PM

Hellen_slith

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Joined: 10/10/2005
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@Entente turn 18 (August 19, 1914)

zoomed out a bit, and fog of war off so we can see Elmer's Germans.

Liege is now occupied by Germans, they've pushed beyond 10 or so KMs.

French not making any significant progress w/ Plan XVII.

Paris and the British are still a bit to the west of the screenshot here,
I labeled Amiens and the Argonne for reference down south.

I haven't yet made much use of Allied rail, it has lots of points,
so I will rail more now. Lots more units, as you can see.

Not quite half way through this scene, definitely more than one sitting needed to play this one.

I think it is pretty fun ... YMMV!

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/4/2020 7:30:42 PM

Hellen_slith

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@Entente 19 (August 20, 1914)

Elmer starting to get a little rowdy,
he is making some progress ... heading for Namur, looks like.

You can barely see over on the western edge of map,
some of the leading elements of the British making their way east.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/14/2020 11:56:46 AM

Hellen_slith

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@ Germans turn 20 (August 21, 1914)

I started a game in this with Felix on the server (I am Germans)
about 30 turns left, not sure if I can get to Paris,
but I'm going to try to turn this corner and just stab to the South.

Just destroyed / pushed back Lauden forces (empty hex w/ red outline),
but not enough juice to get a unit into the town proper;

I think that is Se Trond there right above Lauden,
managed to get the infantry in there.

I would add, that if you play Germans for the WWI scenes,
set your radio thing to "German Marching Songs of WWI":

a solid hour + of German marches from WWI. Really gives it atmosphere!

link to German marches of WWI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMGmImi4GF8

at end of Germans turn 20:

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/22/2020 12:11:56 PM

Hellen_slith

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@Germans turn 26 (August 27, 1914)

about 20 / 25 km till Brussels;
making some solid progress toward / into
Namur Fortress; I've got several troops across
to the Namur side of the river.

About the halfway mark in this scene. Briefing says about 25 turns to go.
All the battles are in this area ...
just artillery barrages farther south.
If I can turn this corner, then I can start either toward Paris,
or turn SSE and roll up the Maginot Line.
Or, even just head for the sea.

Pretty fun game!

Attachment (1)

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/24/2020 9:55:49 AM

FelixHu

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I realized i could start an offensive in south,so i started to liberate Metz.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/24/2020 10:01:29 AM

FelixHu

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thanks

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/24/2020 10:32:55 PM

Hellen_slith

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NP!! I play as if we actually had a board in front of us, so naturally, we can see each other's pieces.

For me: Namur (a *17 city) is in German hands now,
I am going to try to push through that gap b/w Namur and Brussels and fix those bridges.

I am almost in practically open field there, perfect for German cavalry / etc.
I am trying to avoid the major rivers, and just push South / SSW and (hoping) to encircle Paris.
Of course, I may just head for the sea and put Antwerp under siege.

I am sure you already know, France Plan XVII is just a distraction to me for now ...
Germans, to Belgium and beyond! I need to move artillery up ....

Okay, well, well met Mr. Felix and thank you for playing this one with me!

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/27/2020 12:51:34 AM

FelixHu

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game crushed twice while almost done

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/28/2020 2:31:51 AM

FelixHu

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still crashing,some point in battle

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/29/2020 3:50:45 PM

Hellen_slith

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Mr. Felix, sorry to hear you are having game problems.

If they persist, we might try emailing the tech support line,
in past they have been able to restore a save point in on line games.

Or, if you would rather, we can shelve this one and perhaps try another scene?
Maybe post the behavior / details of the crash in tech support forum?

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Post #: 19

RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/30/2020 12:58:39 AM

FelixHu

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i made same movements 3 times.
well i can stop attack this round,but what if next round.
fine to play from savepoint or another.
i'll make attacks and post.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/30/2020 1:19:41 AM

FelixHu

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can't get crash when i only did attacks.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 5/31/2020 7:12:16 PM

Hellen_slith

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I think this scene has some British navy in it? I wonder if the crash is related
to a naval "bug" we've seen in Next War beta, where that one would crash.

Anyway, I will look for the move, if I don't see it in next few days,
I will email the slitherine people and I think they can restore a save point.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 6/20/2020 10:05:20 AM

FelixHu

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Tried today,still facing crashes.After moved almost half units,i moved HQ 4eme DI to east Brussels 52,9,then crashed.But then i open the game again and moving the same HQ to the same position,nothing happened.Sorry

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 6/26/2020 10:26:42 PM

Hellen_slith

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Mr. Felix, sorry to hear the problems w/ the scene,
I guess we need to just 86 this one. Wish we could figure out what the crash is.

Ok, well, we will start another, maybe? Have you a preference for our next go?
Have a great day!

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 6/28/2020 1:29:57 AM

FelixHu

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How about Mars

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 6/28/2020 2:56:30 AM

larryfulkerson

Posts: 39932
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From: Tucson, AZ
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hey you guys: I'm one of the beta testers so I see crashes every day from one version of the game engine or another. I've discovered that I can save my game in PBEM++ by going to the menu and choosing "close" and then a popup menu appears and I choose "save and close" and the game engine will write the game to disk as it currently is and then closes the game. When you choose that game again from the online menu the game will open where it was last time you saved it. So if it crashes you just load your latest save and continue. I use it all the time. I usually save every five minutes or so. Yes, sometimes it crashes that often. Once Ralph fixes it some other bug shows up instead. It's progress of a kind.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 6/28/2020 5:02:45 AM

FelixHu

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thanks i'll try.

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 6/28/2020 9:21:58 PM

Hellen_slith

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quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

hey you guys: I'm one of the beta testers so I see crashes every day from one version of the game engine or another. I've discovered that I can save my game in PBEM++ by going to the menu and choosing "close" and then a popup menu appears and I choose "save and close" and the game engine will write the game to disk as it currently is and then closes the game. When you choose that game again from the online menu the game will open where it was last time you saved it. So if it crashes you just load your latest save and continue. I use it all the time. I usually save every five minutes or so. Yes, sometimes it crashes that often. Once Ralph fixes it some other bug shows up instead. It's progress of a kind.

Thanks, Larry!

Well, I think we are at a sticky point in our HBtLF scene,
I leave it to Mr. Felix to decide if we want to 86, or continue?

I think I can persuade the Slither Lizard People to restore once more,
not sure which point they might grab,
but it is worth a shot, if you want.

If not, that's cool, we'll look at Mars. I tried to start that one against PO,
but man...that is complex scene.

Well, let me know!

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 6/28/2020 9:23:09 PM

FelixHu

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i'll play today,with saves

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RE: Home Before the Leaves Fall (Hellen Entente v. Elme... - 6/28/2020 9:36:09 PM

Hellen_slith

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All righty, I will keep an eye out!

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