FWWC - Adjustment to number of turns

[ComradeP]

Both sides having more or less the same speed favours the side pulling back, as the attacker is likely to be more cautious for fear of walking into a trap.

Retreating from a line of trenches to the next line of trenches is indeed not as effective as it could be in France '14 due to the low French SA value, but walking into the fire of the excellent French field guns turn after turn is painful. One thing many players forget is that it isn't necessary, or often: possible, to stop the attacker. Slowing him down for several days might be good enough to win.

Due to the high replacement rates for the initial stage of the war for the French, units melting away is unlikely. The kind of disasters the French literally walked into during the opening stages of the war are unlikely to occur. The same goes for a Tannenberg-like battle, which is also unlikely to happen. The destruction of most of one or more armies was a realistic possibility during the opening stage on the Western Front, just like it happened in East Prussia, but it isn't likely to happen in the game against a competent player.

We tend to play to hold objectives, not to hold a certain line if there's no benefit for doing so and with no French objectives in the area north of the Aisne and west of the Meuse, the situation at the start of the Early Campaign or the Charleroi/Lanrezac the defiant scenario is less likely to be recreated in a full campaign.

It's a juggling act between holding ground and retreating, but you can retreat pretty far and win as the Entente in the early campaign in France '14. With good loss management and clever counterattacks, time starts to work against the Germans fairly soon.