France - A Geographic Overview and Opening Considerations (Part 2)

In my first post about France, I talked about the eleven French land territories that are of importance to a French player right out the gate for defending his national sovereignty. Thankfully, there aren't quite so many sea territories to deal with. Only four. It just so happens one of those four is worth about a dozen of the land ones.

France - in all her starting glory.

1. English Channel

New players starting as France will be drawn irresistibly to the Channel. On their own side, Fleet Brest. On the opposing side, Fleet London. The import of taking the Channel and the fear of losing it to Perfidious Albion is obvious. However, this is largely a fool's game, to the advantage of Germany.

Having the English Channel is advantageous, certainly. But it is not a deathblow to the other player. It is usually just the sort of inconvenience that sends the wounded party into alliance with Germany. It also hinders both England and France from actually picking up dots in 1901 (another advantage to Germany). Therefore, you should usually seek a DMZ not a 'bounce' in Channel, and you can usually expect the other side to honor the DMZ. As always exceptions with exceptions, but the English Channel is both England and France's 'second best' sea territory, and a distant second at that. Keep an eye on it, but it should rarely if ever be your focal point but if you do move into it, you will need to follow up hard and likely as part of a multi-pronged attack (for France, usually either Irish Sea or North Atlantic). But unless open war exists between England and France, an open channel is a happy channel to the benefit of both sides.

2. and 3. Gulf of Lyon/ Western Med

These two are the only two French provinces I treat as a pair, and with good reason. Almost certainly whatever you are using one for, you are doing the same with the other, only double. Early game, likely the best thing you can do is DMZ both these provinces (along with Piedmont and neutral North Africa) as a 'no go' zone for you and Italy. I have never encountered a time when an offer was made to DMZ one without the other, though I suppose its possible. For me though, as Italy, that would just send up more red flags than no offer for a DMZ in the first place. What benevolent reason could there be to DMZ one but not the other? Hmmm...

For warfare, these two serve as the opening past the chokepoint that is MAO. It provides a second sea territory to attack TYS. It provides a second sea territory to attack Spain. Yes they have other points that only one of them touch, but odds are you'll be treating the two as a team in every situation: if you're threatening Italy in Tunis you're probably also trying to threaten him in Piedmont and Tuscany.

Unless you are fighting Italy or else trying to bottle a monster from escaping the Atlantic, a good French game will see these territories quiet most of the time.

4. Mid Atlantic Ocean

I cannot stress this enough. Control of Mid Atlantic Ocean ("MAO") is in almost all cases the most important thing you can have as France. More than even any one of your dots. Loss of MAO is always a catastrophe and often an existential one. Let's take a closer look at this badboy.



  1. It controls the bottleneck between the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions of the map.
  2. It borders three of your five homeland dots, including your sole Atlantic fleet build.
  3. It allows projection into three sea territories that border English dots.
  4. It allows projection into Western Med which borders Italy's fourth dot.
  5. By itself it can convoy newly raised armies between Iberia and Brest, or if need be as far afield as North Africa.

As I stated in the first French article, the most important purpose of your Brest dot is to protect and control MAO. Every turn you should ask yourself "I don't necessarily want to go to MAO this turn, but if I wanted to, could I?" If the answer is no, then this is almost certainly the most important thing to address this turn. If the answer is no because you've conquered Wales and Liverpool and Naples, then you should look at Germany and ask "If it was a race to MAO right now, would I win?" If the answer is no, then this is almost certainly the most important thing to address this turn.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

France - A Geographic Overview and Opening Considerations (Part 1)

Image
For this post, we will quickly go over the fifteen territories that make up France and what they mean to you. Wait Vlad, what ? I count six. You, my friend, count wrong. France, circa 1901 (colourised) These are the 15 centers that you as the French player are concerned about in 1901. Breaching of these centers must be dealt with either tactically or diplomatically because loss of your control over them almost certainly means your doom. We'll begin with the obvious: 1. Paris Paris is one of your starting dots, the only landlocked one. In exchange for this limitation is the dot most capable of supporting the other two, as well as the only dot capable of defending anywhere along your main land frontier. I'd say its importance is easily understood by new players. It is also the most flexible dot early in the game. It can move to Picardy to guarantee an adjacency to Belgium in Fall 1901 and thus giving you some influence on Belgium's destiny. It can go to Burgundy for a more th...
Read more

Trieste - The worst place on the board for a fleet!

Image
Maybe a slight exaggeration. Maybe . Let's have a look at Trieste. Things a fleet can do in Trieste. Attack Venice Move to/Support Adriatic Move to/Support Albania Hold An Army can also do 1, 3, and 4. Adriatic is of niche importance as far as sea territories go, but moving there is at least something unique to fleets. I can count the times I've seen Trieste supports Adriatic on my pinkies. There are a few other things a fleet could do, like support someone else into Albania or support someone else into Venice, but the above four are your bread-and-butter. Now: fairly standard things an army can do in Trieste. Attack Venice Support Vienna to Tyrolia or Budapest Move to/Support Tyrolia Move to/Support Vienna Move to/Support Budapest Move to/Support Serbia Support Budapest to Vienna or Serbia Oh, and also move to Albania and Hold. So in short, not only is a fleet vastly inferior to an army, a fleet also has another negative consequence: a fleet in Trieste prevents an army being i...
Read more

Meme Openings - Why not to do them.

Image
Ok, but what if Spring 1902 Turkey goes to EAS? I was going to do Part 2 of France today but I came across something in a game I'm currently playing that I thought would be good to address instead. New players after looking at the map are very likely to go online and look up articles or videos for 'Best Opening Moves'. I did it myself. Almost everyone I've introduced to the game that came back with interest claimed 'I went online and looked for some good ways to start.' It's perfectly normal. And very soon you see words like Lepanto  and Western Triple  and Juggernaut  and it's very easy to imagine yourself running a giant steamroller across Europe where your enemies flee in terror and everything goes exactly right. It's understandable and even advisable for new players to look at common opening moves and alliances. The classics are a classic for a reason. There is usually just one problem though: If you can find the moves readily available online, s...
Read more