03-25-2003, 10:37 PM
Yeah, that's what I called the smart play and it is. Thankfully, your fleets are there, and I think you'll have to abandon the attack on Denmark. Otherwise, you'll get forward-retreated and lose a home centre, which is bad.
You desperately need Italy to come in on your side right now, and you need to keep Austria pressing at Germany's south. Otherwise, you're going to have to circle wagons for a few years. That's the diplomatic problem.
France has two good sets of orders, both of which kill you if they succeed. This is the tactical problem.
1) F Bre-ENG, F MAO S F Bre-ENG, A Gas-Bre. Probably with A Par-Bur, A Bel S Par-Bur, A Pie-Mar (or A Pie H).
2) F Bre-MAO, F MAO-NAO, A Gas-Bre. Probably with A Par-Pic, A Bel H, A Pie-Mar.
With that in mind, the strongest defence and the one that defeats both these plans is:
1) F Lon-ENG, F Wal S F Lon-ENG, F Lvp-NAO, defending the German front with F Hel-NTS, F Swe H, F StP(nc)-Nwy.
This order gets you into the Channel in the fall, and does a pretty good job of preventing a French build. That is, if he doesn't order this:
3) F Bre-MAO, F MAO-IRI, A Gas-Bre, with the same land orders as #2 above.
This is a better position than either of the above two, though, because even if he does that you can hold France back with:
F NAO-Lvp, F Wal-Lvp, F Lon-ENG, F NTS S F Swe-Den, F Swe-Den, F Nwy-Ska.
This gains you Denmark (so long as Germany is still covering himself against Austria in the south, and leaves Liverpool open for the fleet build that secures you against France.
If France orders #1 or #2 above and you respond with the defence, you'll have stopped his offensive in its tracks, allowing you to use F NTS to attack Denmark just like in the above scenario. You can even order F Lon-NTS and build again in London. It's important to note, though, that you getting a build is entirely dependent on Germany not getting a unit adjacent to Den in the Spring 03 moves. That's the number one diplomatic goal.
One last question. I've been reconstructing the game in my Realpolitik, and I don't know what Turkey built. The smart build is F Smy, but I don't know that for sure, and given the strange Spring '02 where only two powers issued orders to all their units, I'm not assuming anything.
You desperately need Italy to come in on your side right now, and you need to keep Austria pressing at Germany's south. Otherwise, you're going to have to circle wagons for a few years. That's the diplomatic problem.
France has two good sets of orders, both of which kill you if they succeed. This is the tactical problem.
1) F Bre-ENG, F MAO S F Bre-ENG, A Gas-Bre. Probably with A Par-Bur, A Bel S Par-Bur, A Pie-Mar (or A Pie H).
2) F Bre-MAO, F MAO-NAO, A Gas-Bre. Probably with A Par-Pic, A Bel H, A Pie-Mar.
With that in mind, the strongest defence and the one that defeats both these plans is:
1) F Lon-ENG, F Wal S F Lon-ENG, F Lvp-NAO, defending the German front with F Hel-NTS, F Swe H, F StP(nc)-Nwy.
This order gets you into the Channel in the fall, and does a pretty good job of preventing a French build. That is, if he doesn't order this:
3) F Bre-MAO, F MAO-IRI, A Gas-Bre, with the same land orders as #2 above.
This is a better position than either of the above two, though, because even if he does that you can hold France back with:
F NAO-Lvp, F Wal-Lvp, F Lon-ENG, F NTS S F Swe-Den, F Swe-Den, F Nwy-Ska.
This gains you Denmark (so long as Germany is still covering himself against Austria in the south, and leaves Liverpool open for the fleet build that secures you against France.
If France orders #1 or #2 above and you respond with the defence, you'll have stopped his offensive in its tracks, allowing you to use F NTS to attack Denmark just like in the above scenario. You can even order F Lon-NTS and build again in London. It's important to note, though, that you getting a build is entirely dependent on Germany not getting a unit adjacent to Den in the Spring 03 moves. That's the number one diplomatic goal.
One last question. I've been reconstructing the game in my Realpolitik, and I don't know what Turkey built. The smart build is F Smy, but I don't know that for sure, and given the strange Spring '02 where only two powers issued orders to all their units, I'm not assuming anything.