Industrial Helix wrote:Another consideration that I am taking is whether the mess in narrows and dardenelles is even necessary. Shouldn't this map focus strictly on the land battle with naval power taking a secondary roll to land maneuvers. Thoughts?
I dunno... I like the naval aspect. And, to be fair to the history, the whole battle took place with the strategic aim of gaining direct naval access to Russia for supply purposes. Furthermore, the first several months of the battle involved naval forces rather heavily.
(OK... reading....)
The mines did much of the damage to the attacking navy, so they're a good setpiece to include. Apparently submarines and a Turkish torpedo boat supplied the final insult that drove off the BB presence, if the Internet cliff notes version can be credited (?)
From then on, though, the battle was an attritional slugfest on the land.
I like the dual nature of the map, with naval and land portions.
I also like how you're incorporating the BBs more into the map in separate places, rather than as their own special place apart.
I'm going to have to mull over this a bit... my feeling is that some better organization on the part of the mines/landing craft, or maybe changes in deployment could help. The Dardenelles/Narrows area is set up sort of like a gauntlet, which is accurate and also interesting from a gameplay viewpoint. However, having players start with regions at the end of the gauntlet sort of defeats the purpose... why aren't they neutral, for instance?
That's just one thought; overall, I think a lot more could be done to capture the spirit of the naval side. Bombardment from the beaches of the BBs is a step in the right direction, but perhaps makes the BBs a bit too vulnerable. If there was a U-boat pen/torpedo boat/Central Powers navy region(s) that offered bombardments...?