Question for WWI campaigns

[Sharky]

Hi Guys,

I have some question for the wwi campaigns in France and Prussia.

In the southern part of the front, as France i have a big river which, at least my cavalry, even in travel mode, cannot cross. However i have "obstacle" in front of those rivers. I'm not sure how to defend as France, big rivers cannot be crossed ? Like by anything ? 

Which would mean i can have few troops across the river right ? 

But what are the obstacle for ? does it just slow movement of enemy units ? should i put troops on obstacle or on the other side ? Does the stack limit on obstacle is lower than in open ground ?

I know that the southern part of the French army was supposed, according to the german plan, to advance in Germany, thus making the front larger and taking troops away from the main thrust, i'd like to take defensive positions on the south but don't know how best to use obstacle and big rivers. Any difference between "rivers" and "canal" by the way ?


Also, playing scenario "A", it look like I have a lot of troops aiming at the north at the beginning of the campaign, should i sent more armies to the south than the disposition at the beginning of the scenario is sending ? When looking at the scenario from the german point of view there doesn't seem to have that much german armies in the north.


thanks for any help !

[Mr Grumpy]

Cavalry can only cross rivers via medium or heavy bridges, if you are trying to cross one of these and you cannot maybe you have exceeded the road stacking limit across the bridge (2600)?

There is no difference between the effects of canals or rivers, they can only be crossed in F14 by the bridges on the map or a bridge created by a bridging engineer unit.

So yes rivers/canals are major barriers for the attacker especially if bridges are scarce.

Obstacles do not effect the stacking limit, here are the rest of their effects.......

Unpenetrated Obstacle hexes cost the full movement allowance of units to enter but cause no casualties. Obstacles do not block supply. Obstacles
are considered Penetrated after any unit enters them and from that point on,
their cost depends on the status of the entering unit:
• It costs Deployed units an additional ¼ of their full movement
allowance to enter Penetrated Obstacle hexes.
• Units in Travel Mode have no additional cost to enter Penetrated
Obstacle hexes but cannot do so using Road Movement.

[Sharky]

so rivers or canal can actually be undefended and the enemy still will not be able to cross ?

[Ricky B]

If there are no bridges, and the enemy has no bridging engineers, then yes the rivers are safe. I don't recall if there may be fords around either, F'14 anyway.

[Sharky]

ok thanks, wonderfull news !

[Liebchen]

ok thanks, wonderfull news !

The "bridging engineer" condition is a huge "if" though, Sharky. You had better not assume anything.

[Mr Grumpy]

Yes not sure if you are playing the AI or a human, but a human player will be looking for undefended parts of rivers/canals to throw a bridge over and avoid having to fight his way across.