| Analysis for Fall of 1910 in gauntlet |
Dear Rick,
Not much to say. By disloding my F(ENC) England has given me an opporunity to hold onto Liverpool for another year. I've not yet decided if I am going to take up that opportunity, it might be better to order F(IRI)SF(MAO), ensuring that I hang on in MAO until next year, when I should be ready to blitz France. If I'd know that Russia was going for such a weeny set of orders I could have taken Sev with A(Rum)&F(Bla) SA(Arm)-Sev.
Mark.
Dear Rick, I'm running the risk that F(IRI) will become trapped in IRI and forced to disband next year --- I'll never get another fleet so far foward. However its destruction requires England to tire up three units, a price worth paying? Perhaps.
I wondered if it were better to support F(MAO) or F(Spa/sc) into Por: there's a faint possibility that England and France will support each into MAO, in which case I can force Por. However, if I were France I would order into MAO this season to ensure that the support is cut. Ordering this way means that I either win the game this season or A(Ven)-Pie is successful. (If France orders A(Mar)-Pie then I either keep Spa or I capture Por.) In order to capture Sev this season I have to support A(Rum)-Sev, which produces an `unsightly' combination of units in Sev/Arm/BLA.
Incidentally this position shows the advantages (for the attacker) of keeping 1-center powers in the game. A(Gal)-Ukr is fairly obvious. If Russia realises that Sev is doomed to fall then he should consider ensuring A(Ukr)-Gal is succesful, so that in turn A(War)-Gal is successful. A hostil army in Gal would tie down several of my units. However the army in War is Austrian, not Russian. Consequently two players have to think of this idea.
Positionally I wondered if it were better to take Mun with either Boh or Tyr. However, ensuring that I take Mun this season gives me a good opportunity to force Mar next season. For example, suppose France recaptures Spain from Gascony, I retreat Spa/sc to WES. Then next season I can cut the support from Bur via an attack from Munich, cut the support from Spain by an attack from WES and make a supported attack on Mar. France should try enter Marseilles from Bur this season, either ordering to Mun or supporting England to Munich from Burgundy. Then next season he can order A(Gas)SA(Bur)-Mar.
I've commented several times during the course of this game that England does not have an optimal mix of units. Assume the worst case scenario for a moment (from my perspective). Suppose that E/F combine to ensure that I can't force any Iberian centres and that England recaptures Lvp, while destroying my rogue fleet in the process. Due to E's lack of armies E/F will find it difficult to recapture Munich before I capture War and Mos --- two centres which would take me to 18.
Mark.