France 14 Offensive Tactics

[Sir John Cope]

I'm bamboozled and at a loss. Turn 4, Home Before The Leaves Fall, I'm playing German, and I simply do not have an answer to French defensive firepower. German field guns are ineffective, MGs are shot to ribbons attempting to deploy, and any infantry battalion which manages to close to range is disrupted. 

The designer notes aren't much help: they refer to the Germans as an "unstoppable steamroller". Oh, yeah? As far as I can see, my best option is to run and hide: fall back out of range of the damn'd 75s and entrench. Is that really how you play this game?

[NikolaiB]

I am playing East Prussia '14 and am also learning how to attack. I have some tips, that might not be applicable to France '14.

(1) If I am moving a big stack forward, I usually move some smaller units out on the flanks. The goal is to block field of fire to the large stack from enemy field or machine guns. Later on they will also fire to attract opportunity fire from the large stack.

(2) I always look for points that are vulnerable to a machine gun and field artillery fire base. Weirdly this includes enemies who are at a higher elevation.

(3) Units who are not in command go down a morale level. I find this really important as the Russians. Out of command units go down to morale D. However, they are not easy to keep in command b/c the regimental HQs have a command range of one! I am worried that a human opponent will find it easy to target them.

(4) So far, other than point (2), I don't really put my machine guns or field guns to the front lines. I keep them in the back in case the enemy counter attacks. If they do, they are there to make them pay.

I am sure more experienced players can offer more advise or point out the faults in my plan! Tbh, I am finding learning how to attack a real treat in this system.

[Sir John Cope]

I am playing East Prussia '14 and am also learning how to attack. I have some tips, that might not be applicable to France '14.

(1) If I am moving a big stack forward, I usually move some smaller units out on the flanks. The goal is to block field of fire to the large stack from enemy field or machine guns. Later on they will also fire to attract opportunity fire from the large stack.

(2) I always look for points that are vulnerable to a machine gun and field artillery fire base. Weirdly this includes enemies who are at a higher elevation.

(3) Units who are not in command go down a morale level. I find this really important as the Russians. Out of command units go down to morale D. However, they are not easy to keep in command b/c the regimental HQs have a command range of one! I am worried that a human opponent will find it easy to target them.

(4) So far, other than point (2), I don't really put my machine guns or field guns to the front lines. I keep them in the back in case the enemy counter attacks. If they do, they are there to make them pay.

I am sure more experienced players can offer more advise or point out the faults in my plan! Tbh, I am finding learning how to attack a real treat in this system.

Thanks for the reply! 

1) By smaller units, do you mean single infantry bns, or cav sqdrns?  Not being able to break bns down to companies a la PzC limits the options for that sort of "skirmish screen". 

3) The article here comparing to PzC forewarned me about shorter command range, and I've been very diligent about maintaining my command structure. But what's killing my infantry morale is the lethality of French guns: any attempt to advance puts 50-100 fatigue on every front-rank unit, and attempts to cycle fresh bns to the front merely means they're shot to ribbons and fatigued the next turn, resulting in utterly helpless divisions in the first day of combat. I'm sure that's abnormal, and I'm sure I'm making some great blunders, but I've tried several approaches without success. 

Frankly, I don't see how any offensive can work without bringing up every howitzer battery I possess, spending three or four days in barrage, then hoping the enemy is so shot up that when my troops finally move forward, they make it across the killing zone reasonably intact. 

This is a vivid lesson in why the last three years of the war were as they were, of course. But I had the impression that FWWC was more than a teaching tool in that sole respect, and that it might simulate the first few months of the war rather than just the last three years?

[NikolaiB]

In regards to (1), yeah, I put in a battalion on the flank to block LOS to my large stack that will actually assault. They have a tough job (soak up fire that would go to the main stack) and are usually shot to pieces. The large stack also takes damage from the units in front, but due to its size it can give a ton of punishment back. Other times, before I move in my large stack close to the target hex, I move in a single battalion first. Its there to draw opportunity fire before I add more units.

Another point that I remember people making is that you have to attack on a much smaller front than PzC. So, far I haven't put that to use. The few small games I played have spread out objectives.

[Mr Grumpy]

As a long term player/tester of the FWWC titles I do understand the problem that tackling the French 75's poses and so I am not surprised that you are scratching your head a bit to find a way of dealing with them, I went through the same process some years back.

You should understand that the 75's are the French players only real advantage over the German forces who are superior in just about every other measurable category, they literally are the glue that holds the whole line together, there are lots of 75 units but there are not enough to man the whole line and where possible you should avoid tackling them head on, I have found (especially in the larger scenarios) there is always a section of the French line you can attack where their effect is limited by range or where there are no 75's at all or where you can outflank their line entirely.

Remember historically the French army retreated as they were being constantly outflanked to the northwest, there are very few occasions where the German's simply burst through their lines with ease.

If you have to take on a section of line manned by 75's then you do indeed have to take a more methodical long term approach to dealing with them that requires planning, simply bustling up to them hoping to break through will end up with high casualties and high fatigue. If your opponent decided to stack multiple 75 units in one hex you may have to decided that hex is just too difficult to take, but if they do this there must be sections of the line that they are not protecting.

So you need to approach them with stacks of single battalions, you need to use the cover of night moves to move up and deploy MG/FG units into range without taking heavy losses, if there are not road/rail lines to move along at night you will have to accept they may disrupt but if they are in command you will find they should undisrupt quickly anyway, you need to have your arty assets in range and set up.

Once you are in this position you can pound the 75 units with ranged fire and arty, it may not be obvious at first but they will start to accumulate fatigue which makes them more likely to disrupt, you will need to continue this turn after turn until you sense they are weak enough to bring more battalions forward to assault and even then I have seen assaults falter and fail.

FWWC requires a much more methodical style of play than PzC and that is why it does not suit all players, but as long as you realise you cannot just roll over the 75's you then can plan to either avoid them or whittle them away methodically. 

Also note there are a number of 75 units that are D quality and hence easier to deal with that their C quality brothers!

All in all you will need to practise to gain the experience and gut feeling to deal with these units, but apart from them you will find the rest of the French forces quite brittle.

[Steel God]

I'm bamboozled and at a loss. Turn 4, Home Before The Leaves Fall, I'm playing German, and I simply do not have an answer to French defensive firepower. German field guns are ineffective, MGs are shot to ribbons attempting to deploy, and any infantry battalion which manages to close to range is disrupted. 

The designer notes aren't much help: they refer to the Germans as an "unstoppable steamroller". Oh, yeah? As far as I can see, my best option is to run and hide: fall back out of range of the damn'd 75s and entrench. Is that really how you play this game?

This was my experience with F14 as well, every scenario plays out like Pickett's Charge, great fun for the defender and frustrating as hell for the attack, with only divine intervention to hope for in an offensive victory.  I was hoping for some of the fluidity and mobile operations that took place in August 1914 historically but if that even exists in the Campaign Games I never got there as I couldn't get past the "massive Stack - fire - everyone looks like hell" effect of the basic combat.  I am quite certain that the game models the reality of WW1 operational level combat very well, it just doesn't make for the type of game I look for.  I want mobile operations and fluid fronts.....I like France 1940 not 1914....the best operations are the ones where you move someone out of a position without much in the way of actual combat, and that is NOT WW1.

[Sir John Cope]

I'm bamboozled and at a loss. Turn 4, Home Before The Leaves Fall, I'm playing German, and I simply do not have an answer to French defensive firepower. German field guns are ineffective, MGs are shot to ribbons attempting to deploy, and any infantry battalion which manages to close to range is disrupted. 

The designer notes aren't much help: they refer to the Germans as an "unstoppable steamroller". Oh, yeah? As far as I can see, my best option is to run and hide: fall back out of range of the damn'd 75s and entrench. Is that really how you play this game?

This was my experience with F14 as well, every scenario plays out like Pickett's Charge, great fun for the defender and frustrating as hell for the attack, with only divine intervention to hope for in an offensive victory.  I was hoping for some of the fluidity and mobile operations that took place in August 1914 historically but if that even exists in the Campaign Games I never got there as I couldn't get past the "massive Stack - fire - everyone looks like hell" effect of the basic combat.  I am quite certain that the game models the reality of WW1 operational level combat very well, it just doesn't make for the type of game I look for.  I want mobile operations and fluid fronts.....I like France 1940 not 1914....the best operations are the ones where you move someone out of a position without much in the way of actual combat, and that is NOT WW1.

That seems about right - the game is called France 1914, but it sure as hell feels like France 1915. 

One explanation that comes to mind is that no French player in his right mind will retain the offensive doctrine of 1914, and instead will play like 1915.  

In reality, given the superiority of defensive firepower, the only thing which kept the campaign in the autumn of 1914 fluid was a French doctrinal & mental opposition to positional warfare. But with historical hindsight, any French player will dig in behind his 75s as soon as possible. And as far as I can see, there is no way for the German to stop him. 

A simple fix would be to suspend "digging in" until a given date, but that's not possible within the system.

[Sir John Cope]

As a long term player/tester of the FWWC titles I do understand the problem that tackling the French 75's poses and so I am not surprised that you are scratching your head a bit to find a way of dealing with them, I went through the same process some years back.

You should understand that the 75's are the French players only real advantage over the German forces who are superior in just about every other measurable category, they literally are the glue that holds the whole line together, there are lots of 75 units but there are not enough to man the whole line and where possible you should avoid tackling them head on, I have found (especially in the larger scenarios) there is always a section of the French line you can attack where their effect is limited by range or where there are no 75's at all or where you can outflank their line entirely.

Remember historically the French army retreated as they were being constantly outflanked to the northwest, there are very few occasions where the German's simply burst through their lines with ease.

If you have to take on a section of line manned by 75's then you do indeed have to take a more methodical long term approach to dealing with them that requires planning, simply bustling up to them hoping to break through will end up with high casualties and high fatigue. If your opponent decided to stack multiple 75 units in one hex you may have to decided that hex is just too difficult to take, but if they do this there must be sections of the line that they are not protecting.

So you need to approach them with stacks of single battalions, you need to use the cover of night moves to move up and deploy MG/FG units into range without taking heavy losses, if there are not road/rail lines to move along at night you will have to accept they may disrupt but if they are in command you will find they should undisrupt quickly anyway, you need to have your arty assets in range and set up.

Once you are in this position you can pound the 75 units with ranged fire and arty, it may not be obvious at first but they will start to accumulate fatigue which makes them more likely to disrupt, you will need to continue this turn after turn until you sense they are weak enough to bring more battalions forward to assault and even then I have seen assaults falter and fail.

FWWC requires a much more methodical style of play than PzC and that is why it does not suit all players, but as long as you realise you cannot just roll over the 75's you then can plan to either avoid them or whittle them away methodically. 

Also note there are a number of 75 units that are D quality and hence easier to deal with that their C quality brothers!

All in all you will need to practise to gain the experience and gut feeling to deal with these units, but apart from them you will find the rest of the French forces quite brittle.

Thank you for the reply. I'm relieved to know that I've encountered a recognized problem, rather than evidence of my own mental decline.   

As a brand-new player of this game, though an experienced wargamer in general, I have relied on the historical facts to guide my play. But it wasn't just the swinging scythe of the Schlieffen plan that defeated Joffre and his commanders in August 1914. Lanrezac's 5th Army tried to defend the angle of the Sambre and Meuse: Bulow's II Army was able to fight its way across the Sambre around Charleroi, and III Army forced a crossing of the Meuse above and below Dinant in the face of a full French corps. In reality, Lanrezac found himself in a very dangerous position against frontal German attacks, despite the excellent defensive benefits of the two river lines he tried to hold. 

The "Before the Leaves Fall" scenario starts with II Army already partially across the Sambre and III Army approaching the Meuse, so I followed suit. The results have been simply disastrous, and now I have little choice but to withdraw, fall back, and dig in. In effect, I'll be fastforwarding from the German offensive of August to the German adoption of positional defensive in October, and effectively conceding defeat. And simply avoiding the French 75s wouldn't have been much of a solution in this instance: it can't be done without abandoning the offensive in that sector of the front entirely.   

I do take the point of your other recommendations, and my thanks for them. But overall, you seem to be advocating the solution of 1915: a methodical approach to an offensive, with heavy artillery preparation relying on attrition to eventually wear down the enemy's resistance through fatigue before launching the infantry offensive. 

And of course, that is exactly the conclusion the actual commanders soon came to. But not in 1914.

[jim pfleck]

One other point to make is to ensure that you use long range fire to disorder the defense as much as possible. As the Germans, don't stack more than one infantry battalion at a time unless you plan to melee OR if the 75's are at least 3 hexes away--two German battalions shooting at French infantry wears them down quickly.

Like Grumpy was saying, soften up the opponent before you move to melee. You are already rotating your attackers an that is key- over time, it will be harder for the French to keep undisordered infantry in the front line than it will be for the germans, with better ratings.

Also, the campaign scenarios are very different than the shorter ones---the short (30 turns and under) scenarios require attacking hard the whole scenario. The longer ones give you more time to maneuver and wear down your opponent.

The French can be formidable on the attack too, so beware. They melee better and if they have good fields of fire they can wear down the Germans and then smash forward. You see this in part of the Ardennes scenario and Marne scenarios.

[jonnymacbrown]

I'm bamboozled and at a loss. Turn 4, Home Before The Leaves Fall, I'm playing German, and I simply do not have an answer to French defensive firepower. German field guns are ineffective, MGs are shot to ribbons attempting to deploy, and any infantry battalion which manages to close to range is disrupted. 

The designer notes aren't much help: they refer to the Germans as an "unstoppable steamroller". Oh, yeah? As far as I can see, my best option is to run and hide: fall back out of range of the damn'd 75s and entrench. Is that really how you play this game?

You can't advance in stacks of infantry battalions. That ain’t gonna work. The Germans start with 1 million 175,000 men most of them on the front line. You have to be ready to take some hits. German indirect fire is a real problem for the French. You have to plan well with the big siege guns. German field guns too can be very effective. In the first few turns the French are dug in but after you force them to retreat (and you can) German 75s wreak havoc. One good tactic for field guns and MG sections on the attack is to move them into position at night and then open up at Dawn when you have the first turn. There are weak points in the French lines. There is plenty of space for maneuver. The game is 153 turns. Try to win it on turn 153.  jonny