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Military Stratagems
Initiative
Description: This event will give you a bonus on determination of Initiative
during the next turn, either on the Western or the Eastern Front.
Historical notes: Rumors spread across the trenches telling that the next
successful attack will cause the enemy lines to break and save the victory
for our side. Our soldiers eagerly wait for the next assault order.
Conditions: automatic.
Difficulty: automatic.
Enter in play: Events phase, any turn.
Option #1: (historical choice) Initiative bonus on the West Front – Your side
will get a die roll bonus for the next turn Initiative determination on the West
Front.
Option #2: Initiative bonus on the East Front – Your side will get a die roll
bonus for the next turn Initiative determination on the East Front.
Notes: once successfully in play, the event is discarded and can be later
reshuffled in the deck.
Historical War Plan
Description: This event will allow you to abandon the war-plan adopted for
one nation under your control in favor for the historical choice.
Historical notes: Commanders-in-Chief frequently had qualms over their
latest plans and would sometimes revert to an old one, generating
confusion in the whole war machine. This happened in early August 1914
in Austria, when General Conrad changed his mind twice between Serbia
first and Russia first strategies, wrecking havoc in the II army transfer to the
front and achieving nothing but further disaster.
Conditions: automatic.
Difficulty: automatic.
Enter in play: Events phase, only during the turn #1 (Early August 1914).
Option #1: (historical choice) Back to Historical War Plan – You move
immediately the target nation Army to the historical War Plan, with no
penalty.
184 World War One: La Grande Guerre 1914-1918
Notes: once successfully in play, the event is discarded and cannot occur
again.
Brüchmuller
Description: This event will bring major bonuses for Germany on all types
of bombardments, gas firings and siege operations!
Historical notes: At the beginning of the war Georg Bruchmüller was a
divisional artillery commander on the Eastern Front where he developed
techniques to support attacks with a sudden concentration of accurate fire
instead of prolonged preparatory bombardments. In the spring of 1916 this
method was employed for a major attack at Tarnopol with impressive effect.
Bruchmüller’s technique emphasized fire in depth throughout the enemy
positions. His support included an accurate creeping barrage, the
Feuerwalze, for the advancing infantry. Bruchmüller rose in position in the
east, commanding the artillery of von Hutier’s Eighth Army at Riga in
September 1917. When his unit was transferred to the west in late 1917,
Bruchmüller arrived in time to participate in the Cambrai counterattack.
Conditions: automatic.
Difficulty: die roll 3+.
Modifiers: +1 in 1916 or later.
Enter in play: Events phase, any turn.
Option #1: (historical choice) Brüchmuller appointed Artillery engineer –
Germany will henceforth benefit from a +1 die roll bonus modifier to all
Preliminary Bombardments, Siege and Gas barrages. In addition, a new
“Fog” event is generated and shuffled in the deck.
Notes: once successfully in play, the event is discarded and cannot occur
again.
Grandmaison
Description: Colonel Grandmaison does not influence the French
mentality or military doctrine any more. This event will allow you to make
France abandons the Shock Doctrine, anyway keeping only some of its
benefits. Otherwise, the red/blue French uniforms will be not applied
anymore, giving also a bonus to the fire power of French infantries.
Historical notes: During the first year of World War, the common military
philosophy in many armies was the Attaque à outrance (Attack to excess).
It claimed that the victor would be the side with the strongest will and
courage, and that, consequently, every attack must be pushed to the limit.
However, the development of trench warfare and the invention of barbed
wire and machine guns rendered this tactic extremely costly and usually
ineffective. One prominent advocate of the Attaque à outrance was the
French general and Chief of Operations for the General Staff Louis de
Grandmaison.
Conditions: automatic.