Here are Tim’s observations.
- There a couple of cards that should not be allowed to cycle through the deck. Even if the prerequisites to play the card haven’t been met, I think it would be wise to keep it in the hand until they are. I’m thinking mainly of the ‘Tsar Takes Command’ card. IIRC, there was another game we played where the central powers player didn’t play it as an event and had to wait for it to cycle back through the deck. Needless to say, the game was pretty much over when it came back to him again. I don’t think it is as big an issue for the Entente. Maybe the cards relating to US Entry fall into this category for them?
- You did a much better job of remembering to entrench than I did…The level 2 trench in Brussels cost me a lot of men.
- Yes, I did use attrition in the west. I was playing a lot of big replacement cards to keep the Russians from melting away (you pounded them pretty hard) and I didn’t see why I should ‘waste’ the French and British replacements by not attacking on their front. I also had some mandated offensives for the French and I was trying to wear down the Germans, which I think I had accomplished by the end of the game.
- I think taking replacements every turn is pretty much a must in this game. I know you felt you had the opportunity to do some damage by playing cards as OPS cards and not taking replacements, but armies can melt away very quickly in this game.
- I actually was worried that you were going to counter attack on the Italian front. The Italian armies, especially when they are reduced (like they are at the start) are not very strong. They’re good enough to capture undefended areas, but struggle against anything else… I was concerned that you would use the Austrian army in Trieste to punch through and capture Venice.
- Good use of the Rathenau card. I think in the past I’ve violated my first point and usually played it for OPS…:)
- You didn’t seem to get much use out of the Turks. I don’t know if it would have been worth it to build up some concentrations in the Caucasus or in Mesopotomia to threaten Baku or Ahwaz. In many ways the trick to winning POG is balancing the demands of multiple fronts and the Turks could be used to threaten those two areas (or if they’re very lucky, egypt). At the very least, they might force the Entente to spend time and OPS moving troops to the Med from other theaters.
- I think it would be a good idea to eliminate the Serbs. Destroying them frees up two badly needed Austrian armies and some bulgarian troops for use elsewhere (Romania?).