Commander: The Great War - The Guns of August (LP Part 1)

In this video I play Commander: The Great War, recently released on Steam, made by the Lordz Games Studio, published by Slitherine/Matrix the game covers the First World War which began 100 years ago today.
My Twitch: / thehistoricalgamer
My Twitter: / historicalgamer

[@carny2797]

I watched this 8 years ago and returned today. Still a great game and great let’s play:)

[@strontvlieg01]

there should be more world war one games

[@krzysztofsachmacinski9591]

Wow this is so much better than recent ww1 games

[@Groundpenguin]

Little tip, you can hold shift and click to swap units. So you can make an attack then swap the unit with a fresh one where they can also attack this makes concentrating your attacks much easier.

[@rickmoreno6858]

Awesome i didnt know that thanks for the tip

[@joqqeman]

That naval action was a great move, never thought I could risk it!

[@Daneclaw]

I've had this game a year now and i LOVE IT!!!

[@joqqeman]

Also: control+left mouse when you have the arrows pointing at opposite directions, you can change places with units in adjacent hexes!

[@Partycommissar]

Being able intercept the British first wave is going to be huge. A very risky move because of the whole home water advantage thing, the reason why your cruisers had horrible odds against the British ones. But if you can pull your Battleships ships out before they get sunk it'll totally be worth it. Also you can swap positions with adjacent units by Shift clicking I believe. Things that the game doesn't tell you :D

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Is that what the different color hex's mean? Thanks I didn't know that!

[@worthygentleman3331]

"...oh...craaap..." @ around 23:09 haha, beautiful. I felt for you man.

[@RiotHouseLP]

Enjoy the game! I look forward to the LP ;)

[@joekidd1992]

Excellent move on the transports.

[@joqqeman]

In this game you get why the battles raged on for months for basically no gain. In my current game I am trying to take back Lemberg from the Russians and it has taken two or three weeks and the front has moved one hex several hexes to the west from Lemberg. My units are exhausted and I've ran out of ammunition, so I'll have to try again in 1916. Awesome game! :D

[@joqqeman]

Also similar experience can be had in War Plan Orange, which is basically war in the Pacific but fought in the 1920s and early 1930s. Everything takes and ridiculous amount of time and preparation.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

joqqeman I own that game but haven't had the time to give it a spin.

[@joqqeman]

Takes a lot of time to get into it, you need to prepare for that!

[@Rex1987]

control+left mouse when you have the arrows pointing at opposite directions, you can change places with units in adjacent hexes!

[@Scteam2000]

I was watching one of your old LP's and when I came over here to watch this, I was like "Oh snap! Nice microphone!"

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Thanks! Yea I think it's a huge improvement, didn't notice how bad the sound quality use to be until I had this mic!

[@Scteam2000]

***** Haha yeah. I personally wish I had a nice mic too.

[@Arjen900]

Just watched it today and i love it dude im a history geek and i like this keep up the good work

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Thanks for the compliment! Hope you keep enjoying!

[@Arjen900]

***** i just watched 3 episodes like an addict but i think you screwed up the serbia front you should have hold it and waited for the ottoderps to join an squash them instead you could have used your reinforcements against russia / what about ck2 i saw you did like 4 eps in ck2 maybe a new serie / also gmod maybe with people watching ? ill be in for gmod with you any game really i would like to do a co-op

[@imperialbriton3160]

I wonder if you'll try re-doing this campaign in the future, to try and beat your record... I too plan on getting this game, I loved playing Commander Europe at War - my only problem being the lack of pop regain...

[@OverlordJake]

This is so much fun to watch. :)

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@greenmushroom23]

Thank u for existing.. Hands down best channel on KZbin. U ever play any unity of command? IDE like to see u play that..

[@thehistoricalgamer]

I have not but I've got a friend who wants me to cover it so I mick pick it up and play some later this year.

[@generalamsel4743]

Looking back on when this video first came out and after I played it myself he should have really been more aggressive against the French and have put more units into production early in the war and then proceed to put them on the Russian front, also he should have used his navy to destroy the British troop transports early in the war since the British doesn't really have its navy fully united until like about around the 4th or 5th turn.

[@jsa7x1999]

@thehistoricalgamer. Question, how is multiplayer for this game? How is it played and how many persons could partake?

[@samuelrodick6326]

Just 2

[@thehistoricalgamer]

+Johann ZosoZosoA7X It's a PBEM type game. So you send your turn to your opponent he sees your moves he makes his and then you see his. I've a few friends who have played this game in mp and have enjoyed it a lot.

[@alexpushkin85]

Nice video. Thanks for exhibiting this new game!!

[@bravobud1]

This looks alot like a old board game i used to play called axis and allies. i loved that so would you recommend this?

[@thehistoricalgamer]

It's certainly got more depth to it than Axis and Allies did but its a very good game and if you enjoy those types of games you might enjoy this. I definitely recommend this game to anyone interested in WWI, its approachable and easy to learn yet hard to master.

[@bravobud1]

alright ill buy it next paycheck thanks

[@CraftBeer4Life]

I'm currently watching your strategic command series and I dont think I could play this after watching that.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Obviously this game is older and in a lot of respects it’s age shows, but some of the core mechanics are simply better imho.

[@CraftBeer4Life]

@@thehistoricalgamer good to know. Thanks for responding.

[@kingtwongaming2237]

I am trying to get ahold of this game. Your videos are very interesting.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

+Dave Nelson I'm glad you enjoy them! And the game if you're looking for it is on steam.

[@Historyfan476AD]

+thehistoricalgamer you know as playing with the Allies I always lose Serbia by the early 1915. any ideas how to stop that.

[@vlademanuelpatrasescu9721]

Chavo are you playing European war 4-Napoleon

[@dzoni3370]

whats is the password to unrar commander the great war

[@rhallanger]

So is this more of a Grand Strategy game like Strategic Command whereas Panzer Corps is more of a operational level/battle focused?

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Basically.

[@joekidd1992]

I was thinking this was going to be the Matrix title "Guns of August" which is another title.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

I haven't played their guns of august title, is it any good?

[@joekidd1992]

***** I don't know. I was hoping you playing it would give me an idea. :)

[@PeoplePartyG1mao]

Admiral von Tirpitz assumed that even a weaker German fleet (he thought 2/3 of the Royal Navy would be sufficient) could cause so much damage that the United Kingdom would not engage in a war against the German Empire bc as u already said it regarded their fleet as essential for their huge empire. This is reflected in their Two-Power-Standard-Policy. Von Tirpitz as well as Kaiser Willhelm though ignored the fact that the UK would easily win the arms race because of their superior industrial capacity. The navy budget of the Brits was twice as big as ours. The two Flottengesetze of 1898 and 1900 were a total loss-making deal, especially after dreadnoughts were developed, which made the line ships worthless in combat. Von Hindenburg btw was not the military genius behind the battle of tannenberg. Indeed it was Erich Ludendorff

[@thehistoricalgamer]

+PeoplePartyG1mao They also ignored the possibility of the British turning to France as an ally to counter Germany. Germany never thought the UK could concentrate 100% of its military against Germany because they would leave their empire open. What they ignored was the possibility of Frances military helping the British protect their empire while the British fleet faced off against the Germans.

[@amitdhadda3157]

PeoplePartyG1mao dfgjii

[@PatrickEngSU]

I have this on my iPad. I've played a few games on hard and every time my lines collapse in 1915. its fun and interesting though. privilaged ai is tough

[@chavocanalla3227]

You started so well , I don´t no who your offensive not capture Paris realy you move well but if you take more risk in the north of Belguim you see no french tropps and the way of Paris is free. Is very easy play whit Germany

[@ulfjonsson1472]

Dont forget the German and Austria Subs in the med. I ended up sinking most of the allied shipping down there. edit I wrote this comment after 20 minut in. you just saw them in the first French nav move hehe. Ok. :)

[@thehistoricalgamer]

I kept forgetting about it each turn till around turn 12... woops.

[@timcui388]

How much for this?

[@teh_sid]

$20.09 USD on Steam (store.steampowered.com/app/312350/) $19.99 USD on Slitherines own site (www.slitherine.com/games/ctgw_pc)

[@thehistoricalgamer]

$20 thru august 11th I believe. After the sale it will be $29.99

[@lilestfozzy]

So this game is pretty much a game of axis and allies. with added elements.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Its very different, Axis and Allies is scenerio based, this game is a grand campaign that Axis and Allies never had, and a lot more elements. I can see why you might think that based on the visuals but they are totally different games.

[@MrSteezboy]

23:08 .. that happens way too often haha

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Is there a back button at all? I can't find one.

[@MrSteezboy]

***** i don't know man ! i'm new to this game ...

[@PeoplePartyG1mao]

The Schlieffen-Plan was NOt about invading Belgium! Von Schlieffen intended to march peacefully through Belgium. Later the German government even offered not to invade it in exchange for UK not entering the war. But His Majesty's governement never gave answer to the Germans, who eventually saw themselves forced to attack Belgium in order to not give up their decisive advantage.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

+PeoplePartyG1mao Right, the point was to get at France... of course the Germans were a bit naive in assuming Belgium a sovereign nation would just let the Germans march on through which would be defacto giving up their sovereignty and independence in the hope the Germans would let them to continue to exist. The fact is in the circumstances the Belgians had little option but to defend their nation from an uninvited, unwanted invasion on their own soil. End goal or not, Germany committed an act of war and invaded Belgium without provocation and the hopes Belgium would go about it peaceably were horribly naive. In this way the Schliefen plan was critically flawed.

[@PeoplePartyG1mao]

***** The Schlieffen Plan was very different from how the imperial staff used to make their plans. While Helmut von Moltke der Ältere considered strategy a set of supportive measures you use during a campaign, von Schlieffen was of the opinion that a plan has to be made years before and that every little aspect should be prepared from the railways on which the regiments would get to their deployment zones to an equal distribution of ammunition depots. And why would Belgium loose its souvereignty? In fact the German government requested the right to cross Belgian territory, but since the Belgians already teamed up with France in order to repel a German attack in case of a German-French war the Belgian government never replied. The German officials were aware of the Allied supremacy regarding overall Industrial capacity, ressources and human material, that's why they thought the only way to prevent Germany's downfall was to quickly defeat France before the Russian "Steamroller" overrolled the Empire's east. The Schlieffen Plan itself wasn't flawed but it heavily limited the diplomatical opportunities of the German government and politics had lost its primate over the military a long time ago. Hence they either trusted the military's assessment that the only chance of winning was to be found in the Schlieffen Plan or they eventually gave in - like Bethmann Hollweg. Furthermore Bethman-Hollweg's stance on a convegence with the UK that worked quite well since 1911 lost momentum when the Brits secretely signed a naval agreement with Russia (when Germany asked for such an agreement HRM government denied the request). When the German Empire asked it what this treaty was for the British officials kept on denying the existence of the agreement. This lowered the trustworthiness of the UK significantly and intensified the fears of an encirclement.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

PeoplePartyG1mao Wow... GREAT POST!

[@PeoplePartyG1mao]

***** well, don't get me wrong here; I enjoy this let's play a lot as well as your commentary style. I find it great that you share historical knowledge, but I'm from Germany and generally very much interested when I think there is an inaccuracy I try to bring in another perspective. I hope that's ok for you ^^

[@thehistoricalgamer]

That's perfectly ok with me. I generally view my stuff as a survey level of the history, bare bones maybe enough to inform and get someone interested but hardly the final word and definitely given I'm not able to be an expert in everything I'll make mistakes sometimes so I always appreciate the help.

[@bstirpitz]

Why always the comparison to "Panzer Corps"? "Panzer General" or "Battle Isle" are much older and still better than "Panzer Corps"! PS: This game in WWII is "Commander Europe at War" and "Historyline 1914-1918" is a great old WWI game

[@thehistoricalgamer]

That's fair, I think mainly because the most common hex based turn based game anyone knows is Panzer General.

[@donc815]

Just to let you both know Panzer Corps was made by the same devs

[@neilevans6331]

Let's Play Civil War Generals 2

[@GoodGames.]

10:50

[@salt_factory7566]

22:10 dear god, it's the worst general of all time.