I’m in a diplomatic fix!

Question

I’m England and as you can see I’m in quite a conundrum, I missed an earlier build period so was unable to supplement my forces and be in a better position. Me and France are allies however Germany and Russia are my enemies.

Russia has tried to be friendly, but I can’t trust it too much but I guess he might be desperate as he’s spread too thin. As England what are my best moves now?

I was thinking I should do move my fleet in EDI to NWG, convoy my army in YOR to NWY by way of my fleet in the North Sea and use SKA to support its move into Norway. There has been some friction between Russia and Germany (who are allies) so I can kind of assume that Sweden may not support Russia and the fleet in Denmark may move to the Baltic as it afraid of Russia doing the same. But this is wishful thinking.

Or should I attack Denmark and move EDINto NWG and the army in York to EDI so next time I can convoy it? But then perhaps Norway would be occupied that my support into Norway could possibly be cut off!

I’m trying to deal with the worst case scenario, diplomatic overtures haven’t garnered any responses yet. What should I do!?

Answer 1

Big picture, if Russia joins Germany, you're in trouble. Russia isn't spread thin at all: Turkey isn't doing anything, Austria-Hungary is dying, and you're tied up with the British; if Russia allies with Germany, there is no pressure on them from anyone. In that case, your enemies would have 4 fleets to your 3, plus an army in Stp that can take Norway, which means that you can stall but will eventually lose to pure numbers unless you can bring to bear other pressures on Russia + Germany. Let's examine options for those pressures:

1. The low countries. France can take Belgium if you ping Holland from the North Sea (they can ping Bur from Mar and do a supported move to Bel. They don't actually want to dislodge Bur because a German retreat to Gas would be disastrous). Alternatively, you can move NTH to HEL and refill NTH from SKA or Edi and set up to take Belgium in the fall and then attack Holland next year, but Germany is likely to move Kie to HEL which would foil that. If you pull it off, this puts Germany on the defense at least on land. You will have to stall in the sea long enough for this to matter, so it's not a perfect plan.

2. Attack Denmark. Taking Denmark in the spring is largely useless. If you took it, there will be 3 if not 4 fleets ready to kick you right back out before supply updates (expect BOT to BAL), and you would only have 2 fleets to defend, but you are probably not going to be able to take it in the Fall, especially if Germany moves Kie to HEL (which I would expect). If you're going to take it, you need to do so hard, namely with the North Sea filling the North Sea from Edi. This leaves you with 3 fleets to defend (if it works), which might be able to hold it. Alternatively, you could convoy the army over, which still leaves you with three strength to hold Denmark but also lets you go to the Norwegian Sea. This plan has several risks, notably that you can still end up in a 4 on 3 situation in the Fall and get kicked right back out of Denmark.

3. Gain other allies. This is probably your best option. You may have leverage on Russia because Germany took Sweden (a traditionally Russian territory). You may need to offer Russia a lot of concessions, Sweeden and Berlin at the very least. But if the fleet in BOT helps you against Germany, the whole situation changes. Now Germany is losing ground in both the low countries and Scandinavia and will quickly collapse. You could also try to court Italy. You (or France) could offer them Munich in exchange for one unit of help against Germany, which changes the German land offense from a slow slog through the Netherlands to a real threat against the German heartland.

I'm curious to see what happens. You should post an update in 1904.