Review
The feeling of playing this WW I Mod is similar to the very first Poland maps of Panzer Corps. Infantry and Cavalry are powerful. There are no tanks and no planes except the scout Zeppelins. Dominating is the artillery that is deciding over victory or loss. The artillery can shoot between 5 (!) and 7 (!) fields wide and has a strong impact suppressing the target immediately.
Thus in most maps it is deciding to destroy the enemies artillery first before they can hit the own artillery. If the own artillery is hit it will be suppressed and can’t cover the infantry any more. That is in most cases a very critical situation.
Fighter planes come later and tanks for the Germans even much later. Fortresses and barbed wire play an important role on nearly all maps.
The gas artillery I did not really understand. It is a single shot artillery. After you shoot it is changed to a moving shell that can be directed to the target inflicting high damage, but only once. After that you have to buy new gas artillery, deploy it on the map, move it near the target and shoot again. Very time consuming. Normal artillery is much more useful in my opinion.
I played on General level and had the feeling that the first three years are not difficult to be played successful but then in 1918 at the west front the difficulty is increasing very quickly from map to map.
The Schlieffen Plan: First small map to get familiar with the different troop types.
Marne: An important map. A DV will allow to attack Paris and maybe to defeat France. You have to destroy all French core units and capture all victory objectives. Later in the game French reinforcements spawn in the southwest and southeast corner of the map. I moved my troops on the left and right flank and not in the center. Because of that I have overseen a single French Cavalry unit in the center that was not moving and I did not get a DV.
Race to the Sea: Nice map where you really make a race with the French and British troops the reach the coast before them.
Poland 15: Invade Poland. Some weaker aux Austrian troops in the south will have problems to capture their victory objectives and have to be supported by the Germans in time to get a DV. The DV will open the way to Moscow.
Ostaufmarsch: Storm on Moscow. That is not the capital of Russia, so a DV will not end the war in the east. The Russian Tsar tanks are crazy. You get aux antitank Fahrpanzer but I never got them near the Tsar tanks to attack because the Fahrpanzers can’t cross fortifications and the Russian tanks always stayed on the eastern side of the fortifications. It was no problem to destroy the Tsar tanks with artillery and infantry.
Arras 17: First heavy fight against the British troops. A DV will allow to select to fight in the west, go back to Russia or kick the Italians out of the war. I decided to finish the Russians.
Estonia: Nice idea to help Lenin. The Germans have to move to the Russian capital Petrograd and capture all victory objectives. Spawning Soviet troops help the Germans. The DV will end the war in the east.
Michael: Now we are in 1918 back at the west front and the difficulty suddenly is increasing strongly. An important map because a DV all again open the gates to Paris. DV requires to capture all objectives. I fulfilled this but got only a minor victory and thus has no chance to attack Paris.
Georgette: More difficult than Michael. The routes are very long and a lot of enemy units stand in the way. I saw no chance to reach the coast in time and get a DV. I got a minor victory.
Arras 18: The doom of my army. I have chosen the risk and tried to get a DV (because it is the last chance to attack Paris) by holding all objectives. But my split troops could not withstand and were totally outnumbered. You have a big number of aux units but they fade away quickly. I could not prevent the enemy artillery to shoot on my artillery what started the disaster. A very interesting map and it would be a challenge to find a strategy to get a DV. A minor victory should be achieved without big problems by using all core troops to defend only one city.
Mons: I would rate it as a fun map. 200 enemy units (including around 30 artilleries) attack the Germans. The German aux troops are all standing on a plane field and are not hidden in fortifications (what they normally should be!?). The enemy attacks first and the useless aux units are gone quickly. I could hold Brussels because the enemy planes could not attack my ground troops. I had three strong fighter plane units covering all my (few remaining) troops. My artillery covered my troops and the enemy artillery did not come in range to fire on my troops because they were blocked by their own infantry that is crowding half of the battlefield. If the enemy artillery could fire on my troops the game would be over in one round for sure. But so I got a minor victory.
German revolution: Fighting in Germany against German republican troops. I avoided all fights and accepted a Loss. Wilhelm II was gone and WW I was over. So I got exactly the historical end.
I would recommend this Mod to all players that are interested in artillery duels and cracking of fortifications. There is an American path that I did not see. Maybe other players can report about it.
I will now have a look at the Grande Map with 75 rounds.
Concerning this AAR please note that the story of Karl Mankewitz, German Major in WW I is continued in the following WW II AAR
viewtopic.php?f=145&t=65020
... Michael is easier than Georgette, and afterwards I can easily doom you in the Entente Offensives of 1918
. I was really hoping you would make it to America.
)
