From: Steve Sickels Subject: AQ strategy...German strategic reserves In playing the complete campaign, anyone had thoughts about initially starting with a full (24) division strategic reserve for the Germans? I am currently playing around solitaire. At the conclusion of the first turn, the dilemma is thus....nearly 40 eliminated German divisions, plus approximately half that many reduced. If you comitt your strategic reserve, it kills your rail movement for the entire turn. wouldn't it be better, anticipating high losses, to not use the strategic reserve or use it for secondary strength divisions (4-4) because you will "fill up" your active HQ's with replaced divisions from the deadpile anyway, at least until the Germans win or lose the initiative. Any experience on this out there? other tips i think i learned... 1. as the NP player, always activate HQ's opposite an IP players active HQ unless you have a big fat counter offensive lined up somewhere else. 2. garrison your HQ's, with anything. 3. suppress enemy HQ's with CBS if possible, as otherwise they will play havoc with packed assault hexes. 4. practice the trench line stretch sidestep. most effective in non-fortified trench lines. 5. don't forget to use your air power. best use...i would say barrage spotting and strafe in that order. never put more than 2 units on AS. 6. make shallow attacks, there is no need for deep battle because most of your objectives are within 5 hexes of the starting trench lines. 7. make widely seperated offensive attacks, reinforce what breaks through. 8. the British are the best bet to attack in the first turn, but have a secondary theater to expand in case of rain. 9. the Germans cannot lose this campaign :-). From: Ted Raicer Subject: Re: AQ strategy...German strategic reserves In a message dated 97-06-09 17:46:13 EDT, you write: << 1. as the NP player, always activate HQ's opposite an IP players active HQ unless you have a big fat counter offensive lined up somewhere else. 2. garrison your HQ's, with anything. 3. suppress enemy HQ's with CBS if possible, as otherwise they will play havoc with packed assault hexes. 4. practice the trench line stretch sidestep. most effective in non-fortified trench lines. 5. don't forget to use your air power. best use...i would say barrage spotting and strafe in that order. never put more than 2 units on AS. 6. make shallow attacks, there is no need for deep battle because most of your objectives are within 5 hexes of the starting trench lines. 7. make widely seperated offensive attacks, reinforce what breaks through. 8. the British are the best bet to attack in the first turn, but have a secondary theater to expand in case of rain. 9. the Germans cannot lose this campaign :-). >> I would agree with most of this list, except the last two: who to hit on turn one depends entirely on the Allied set up...there will probably be a flaw somewhere and the trick is to find it. As for play balance, I'm getting about an equal number of Germand can't lose/Allies can't lose reports, which is usually a good indication the game is pretty even. Ted Raicer From: Richard Simon Subject: Re: AQ strategy...German strategic reserves << anyone had thoughts about initially starting with a full (24) division strategic reserve for the Germans? I am currently playing around solitaire. At the conclusion of the first turn, the dilemma is thus....nearly 40 eliminated German divisions, plus approximately half that many reduced. >> I don't know if Ted monitors this board or not but I suspect you are doing something wrong. I disagree with your assessment about shallow attacks - maybe that's why you are losing so many German troops. A deep penetration, if done well, works wonders. For one thing, it threatens to split the defending army, British or French, into separate wings, making coordination difficult, if not impossible, You also stretch out the defenders, making front line defenses thinner and more vulnerable. By the way, don't forget interdiction - maybe another reason why you are getting clobbered. If you can keep those reinforcements from bolstering the front lines, they'll have less firepower avalible to fling at yourt Stosstruppen. While nowhere near an authority on this, I might suggest that you limit your opening offensive to a fairly narrow front - maybe 10 hexes across. If you concentrate on these areas, use CWB where appropriate, you'll have enough extra Stoss, even with those 24 in resrve, to relieve some of your front line attackers. This way, you can run new, fresh Stoss in the second (and later) couplets while your ooponent will be forced to react with depleted forces. Also, by judicious opening stacking, you can feint attacking at a different location. helps keep the defenders from doing the trenchline shuffle. Like I said, I'm far from an authority but I've found that this serves to get the offensive started without gutting your army. From: Steve Sickels Subject: Re: AQ strategy...German strategic reserves Richard, mmmmm, don't think i'm playing it wrong....the end of the first turn, lasting 3 segments (not going to use that other term) sees the germans holding passenchdale, ypres, bethune and 1 hex from dunkirk and the same from calais. brit morale is at 17. the middle offensive is as far west as compienge and the base of the penetration is 5 hexes accross. the southern offensive is stalled 3 hexes from nancy. so...my point is, On Wed, 11 Jun 1997, Richard Simon wrote: > << anyone had thoughts about initially > starting with a full (24) division strategic reserve for the Germans? I > am currently playing around solitaire. At the conclusion of the first > turn, the dilemma is thus....nearly 40 eliminated German divisions, plus > approximately half that many reduced. >> > > I don't know if Ted monitors this board or not but I suspect you are doing > something wrong. I disagree with your assessment about shallow attacks - > maybe that's why you are losing so many German troops. A deep penetration, > if done well, works wonders. For one thing, it threatens to split the > defending army, British or French, into separate wings, making coordination > difficult, if not impossible, You also stretch out the defenders, making > front line defenses thinner and more vulnerable. its WWI, people are supposed to die in mass quantities. thats what makes it fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the initial allied setup does not really enable the brits or french to reserve large portions of their force, thereby ensuring they will spread out or clump up. neither will help them much, in fact clumping (more than 2 div per hex) will probably make it worse. If you make a "main" offensive, regardless of location you are giving up the strategic suprise of being able to pump in all the recycled stoss replaced, PLUS activating a bordering HQ and pumping in ALL 24 divisions into that. The allies CANNOT be everywhere at once and with the initiative AND the massive reserve you can "suprise reinforce" any area of the line that has been weakened. > > By the way, don't forget interdiction - maybe another reason why you are > getting clobbered. If you can keep those reinforcements from bolstering the > front lines, they'll have less firepower avalible to fling at yourt > Stosstruppen. > by striking at widely seperate areas, going for close range morale hexes, your opponent will not know where your main effort is, he will have to react or start another counteroffensive either into your guns or some other place. the german morale hexes on the other hand are not so close and they initially start with a massive morale cushion. > > While nowhere near an authority on this, I might suggest that you limit your > opening offensive to a fairly narrow front - maybe 10 hexes across. If you > concentrate on these areas, use CWB where appropriate, you'll have enough > extra Stoss, even with those 24 in resrve, to relieve some of your front line > attackers. This way, you can run new, fresh Stoss in the second (and later) > couplets while your ooponent will be forced to react with depleted forces. > Also, by judicious opening stacking, you can feint attacking at a different > location. helps keep the defenders from doing the trenchline shuffle. > > Like I said, I'm far from an authority but I've found that this serves to get > the offensive started without gutting your army. > well, like i said its WWI, people will die, and all you have to do is get that brit morale to "zero" and its brats and beer under the eifel tower!!!! casualties in AQ are irrelevant given the massive replacement rates. What type of allied setup have you come up with? would be fascinated to know, seems like their job is very challenging, looking forward to putting the boot on the other foot and play the allies resurgent. this is a great game. lots of suprises, options for strategies and doesn't appear that there is any "lock" or optimal strategy. a good purchase. now.....if i only had a flesh and blood opponent...... From: Ted Raicer Subject: Re: AQ strategy...German strategic reserves In a message dated 97-06-11 19:59:14 EDT, you write: << I don't know if Ted monitors this board or not but I suspect you are doing something wrong. I disagree with your assessment about shallow attacks - maybe that's why you are losing so many German troops. A deep penetration, if done well, works wonders. For one thing, it threatens to split the defending army, British or French, into separate wings, making coordination difficult, if not impossible, You also stretch out the defenders, making front line defenses thinner and more vulnerable. By the way, don't forget interdiction - maybe another reason why you are getting clobbered. If you can keep those reinforcements from bolstering the front lines, they'll have less firepower avalible to fling at yourt Stosstruppen. While nowhere near an authority on this, I might suggest that you limit your opening offensive to a fairly narrow front - maybe 10 hexes across. If you concentrate on these areas, use CWB where appropriate, you'll have enough extra Stoss, even with those 24 in resrve, to relieve some of your front line attackers. This way, you can run new, fresh Stoss in the second (and later) couplets while your ooponent will be forced to react with depleted forces. Also, by judicious opening stacking, you can feint attacking at a different location. helps keep the defenders from doing the trenchline shuffle. Like I said, I'm far from an authority but I've found that this serves to get the offensive started without gutting your army. >> Seems like generally sound advice to me (but then I get beaten at my designs all the time). The German player has to know when to break off an advance on one axis, and open another offensive (or reorient the old one) on a different axis. Ted From: Ted Raicer Subject: Re: AQ strategy...German strategic reserves In a message dated 97-06-13 05:19:07 EDT, you write: << mmmmm, don't think i'm playing it wrong....the end of the first turn, lasting 3 segments (not going to use that other term) sees the germans holding passenchdale, ypres, bethune and 1 hex from dunkirk and the same from calais. brit morale is at 17. the middle offensive is as far west as compienge and the base of the penetration is 5 hexes accross. the southern offensive is stalled 3 hexes from nancy. << Since the Germans can only activate 3 HQs per turn, that means each offensive is supported by only one HQ. For that reason an attack vs. the French and the Brits on the same turn is a bad idea, as it allows the Allies to concentrate 4 HQs vs. 3, instead of 3 vs. 2. Beyond the question of barrages, each German thrust is on so limited a front the Allies can ruthlessly strip the line elsewhere to block it, or they can simply calculate its maximum reach and get out of the way. I don't think you'd be able to do this vs. a live opponent. >>What type of allied setup have you come up with? would be fascinated to know, seems like their job is very challenging, looking forward to putting the boot on the other foot and play the allies resurgent. << For the Brits, I put one 4-4 per hex on the Michel battlefield, and 3 units per hex between Ypres and Arras (as much as possible). This can hurt barrage wise, but minus 2 CBS attacks the Germans can only do 4 barrages, and its important to keep any German penetration north of Arras as narrow as possible. For the French 2 4-4s per hex, except 3 around Rheims and 4 in Verdun. Stack 2 every other hex south of Verdun. Your reserve placement depends on where you intend to make a stand. The French line is too long to prevent a breakthru...your goal is to channel it where you want it to go. >>this is a great game. lots of suprises, options for strategies and doesn't appear that there is any "lock" or optimal strategy. a good purchase. now.....if i only had a flesh and blood opponent......<< Glad you are enjoying it. Thanks. Ted Raicer