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Jimmer -> RE: CleverDevils2 AAR (7/30/2008 4:55:42 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: delatbabel
Nah, the French will simply overrun Prussia, destroy the small remnant of the Prussian army that remains, take Poland, and then finish off Austria again. Hopefully Prussia will surrender early this time and get off lightly, while Austria deserves everything it gets for not supporting Prussia in the first war, and Russia will probably catch some of the same once the Polish army is at full strength.
I'd like to see this game continue as an object lesson to players who think that Austria or Prussia can just hold fire while the other one gets destroyed by France. It simply can't be done, doing so means you're out of the game completely unless France decides to let one of you back into the alliance. It's like playing chess, and as your first move handing your queen over to your opponent and saying "look after this for me, if you think I need it give it back to me", expecting that at some point in the game they just might.
I have to defend both the Austrians and the Prussians in this matter, since I don't believe either of them post here.
First, the Prussians were used to games where EVERYBODY declared war before the game started. Face to face, this makes some sense. However, we didn't have any diplomacy prior to using the GAP, so he didn't realize that whatever nation he chose would be all alone in whatever war they chose.
The real lesson in that war isn't how the central powers can be split up (although, that's a corollary). The real lesson is that a nation/coalition getting beaten needs to surrender early. The Prussians waited until their entire army had been decimated before surrenduring.
Regarding the Austrians not joining them, I don't think they should have. Once split up from the Prussians, the Austrians needed help from someone else. The Prussians were never going to be able to help him, nor he them. Remember that the Prussians were largely defeated before Winter was even over. The Austrians, at best, could have occupied a couple of minors in northern Italy.
Now, understand something: Not all French players would have pulled off such a massive defeat of Prussia in so short a time. Nor would they have been able to pull it off against Austria. I've seen such wars last 12-18 months. That's plenty of time for the other to join back in. THIS France is ruthless. He knows how to win and doesn't hold anything back (similar to Napoleon himself, actually). He would not have been distracted by the Austrians picking off cripples in the South, even if they joined the war right away. He would first have continued clobbering the Prussians until they were rendered impotent. Only then would he turn to the Austrians with more than a token force.
As I see it, yes, it's important to try to build the Austria/Prussia coalition early. But, failing to do so is not obviously fatal. But, failing to do so, AND having the Spanish and the Turks actively join in against the coalition, that IS fatal. It's hard beating the French alone or with one of those allies. Having two allies is really hard to defeat, as we are witnessing. It requires excellent play and no small amount of luck.
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