This AAR is intended as a suppliment to Lava's Quck Start guide. It is really intended for those still undecided about the game or those who just completed their download and want to jump in without glancing at the manual. (Like anyone really does that right? )
Those experienced with the game, feel free to chime in with any corrections to rule interpretations I probably will make, or suggestions.
I'm playing Central Powers with no advantages.
After clicking off the first screen I come to the one time only mobilization phase. I move Prittwitz and Herringen to the west and send the 34th, 35th and 36th reserve Corps to the east.
We now move to the Strategic Phase which occurs at the beginning of every turn. Since there are multiple impulses within each turn, what decisions you make here cannot be changed until all of the impulse turns are over.
I have two research points which I use for Artillery and Trench
With Research done I move to airpower where I will send all 6 air points to the west. Note that because I sent my reserve corps to the east, this opened up the east front theater as well for air point distribution. (thanks to Arinvald for pointing that one out)
With Research and airpower out of the way, I now turn to Diplomacy.
I use my one diplomatic point to send a bottle of chianti to Italy. Hopefully this overture will draw them close. I also declare war on Belgium and Luxembourg. No diplo-points are needed when declaring war.
Now that research, airpower, and Diplomacy are done, it is time to move on to the German Navy. I send the two subs out on anti-shipping and assembled a fleet to perform Raider operations in the Atlantic. Hold down the control key in order to make multiple selections. You start out with 64 naval asset points and each operation will use some of that up. You will be able to purchase more naval asset points in future strategic phases but I want to keep some of these in reserve in case I cannot afford to buy more later. The 62 assets shown on the screen reflect the deduction of 2 assets for the sub missions.
Now that we have completed Research, Airpower, Diplomacy, and Naval operations, we move on to building up some more forces. The top row shows your total resources and below that is each type of unit that is available and how much of your resources it will cost to build the unit. I start off the another HQ and good old boy Hindenburg appears on the right side queue. I also build another sub, 2 artillery, 1 seige artillery, and two transports.
Let's not forget about out Austrian partners as I go to the top toolbar and select them. Their choices are not as plentiful as the Germans due to a poorer economy. I select the Balkans for their one airpower unit, With only 4 naval asset points, I pass on any actions this turn. There is no Research to do this turn, and I buy a seige artillery unit for the Balkan Campaign.
Looking good. I especially like the way you are ganging up on Serbia...
Question: What are the mechanics to select the different ships for a squadron? I seem to only be able to pick a group of ships that are together with a scrolling technique using the mouse.
Now comes the time to spend some of your HQ's activation points in order to launch offensives during the orders phase. If you click on an HQ you will see a small "activate" window pop up. Click on it and that HQ will spend one of its' points to become active.
After activating a HQ unit, you will see a yellow border surrounding all of the units that you will be able to issue orders to during the orders phase. Note that I did not activate Prittwitz and Heeringen as they are not in a position to launch an offensive during the initial battles. It costs no activation points to move units around in friendly hexes so hopefully they will be able to advance if my front line can make a push....
It is also during the activation phase that, if you have air superiority you can spend and air recon point to check out an enemy hex. Just click on an enemy hex and you will see an air recon pop up. Click on it and a box will show you how many corps are in the hex and their strength
I do not spend any activation points on my Russian front but make sure all three HQs on the Serbian front are active. I also had air superiority on the Balkan front so this is what my air recon found....
Now we go back to the units that are activated and give them orders. Clicking on the Hausen HQ brings up a pop up with the available orders you can conduct for the impulse turn. I want to move the stack into Luxemburg and the yellow arrows shows you all the directions you can move. If you forgot to dow on Luxemburg during the strategic phase you will not see an arrow pointing in that direction, so you will be prevented from moving there. And since there will not be a strategic phase again until all impulses are completed in this turn, you are stuck. (hmmm do I smell reload )
Hausen has temporarily moved into Luxemburg. I can now move Prittwitz into the hex that Hausen vacated even though I did not spend an activation point. Note that the yellow outline is no longer on the Hausen stack as he has completed his orders.
I use some of my rail points to strategically move my newly acquired Hindenburg HQ to the east. On the Serbian front I order Kraznik into the spotted Serbian corp. The artillery unit is left behind and I select the barrage order. Because the Serbian corp has been spotted, the arty attack will be more effective.
I then issue orders to my remaing German HQ's on the west front, and you see below the final set up after all orders are given. It looks like a nice advance but I have not continued to the resolution phase yet when the bullets start to fly. I hope I can get a couple of hexes occupied when the smoke clears.
All the battle of the first impulse are over and I will show the final dispositions shortly. However, I like to view the victory screen after each impulse in order to get a feel how things are going....I've have 384,000 casualties compared to 660,000 for the TE.
Now this I found interesting and I wonder about....
I guess British master spy Sidney Reilly infiltrated the German Naval Offices and managed to divert the orders to send a fleet out on a Raider mission!
What I'm trying to say is that I goofed. During the strategic phase, when I allocated some naval assests to establish a Raider fleet (pic somewhere above) I must have inadvertantly pressed CANCEL instead of OK. I'll blame being preoccupied with this AAR for my reason, and not that I'm just a dope!
Anyway I had noticed that without my fleet out there (just my subs) the TE had control of all the sea zones. Usually, when I do it right, I either have control or at least contested zones in my favor.
I bring all of this up now because take note of that damn UK corp sitting in Belgium. This is the first time I have played the game and saw the UK be present after the very first impulse and I am wondering if it is tied into my fleet order blunder?
Perhaps other players can refute this by stating that they have seen the UK this early and they had some control of the seas. For me though it is a first.....
A question from your build screen. You built a sub and two transports. That should have cost you 42 Nvl_Assets but according to the screenshot you only had 20 points available for building naval units. Can you overspend or am I missing something? Note that I don't have the game yet, just trying to follow along here to decide whether to get it. Thanks.
Printable Version
All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War I] >> Guns of August 1914 - 1918 >> AAR/Quick Guide Central Powers 1914 
AAR/Quick Guide Central Powers 1914 - 
) 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread