The Great War exploded in the summer of 1914 as Germany marched into Belgium, sweeping aside Allied forces in pursuit of the crushing victory they expected with their finely tuned, but heavily modified, Schlieffen Plan. The German army then pushed on into France  and as its columns closed in on Paris, victory seemed a foregone conclusion. However, defying all odds, the weary French and British made an about face and counterattacked along the Marne, defeating the Schlieffen Plan and halting the German advance. 

The 1914 campaign in France would be the opening act of a gruesome war that would not end until 1918, a war which would end with the overthrow of many of the monarchs in Europe, and consume the lives of over eighteen million people. The First World War would mark the end of the Napoleonic old European order, and would be the catalyst for an even greater struggle known as World War II.

France '14 is the first title in a new series entitled First World War Campaigns. This series attempts something that has never been attempted before: to cover all the major campaigns of World War One, with units going down to battalion level. The history of the war itself is often plagued by inaccurate stereotypes and assumptions, and this series attempts to dispel them and bridge what is otherwise a relatively empty wargaming void in history. The First World War Campaigns series also seeks to demonstrate the evolution of warfare between the Napoleonic period and the Second World War by demonstrating the evolution of weapons and tactics: it will show the rise of tanks, poison gas, assault infantry, and airpower. If you like Panzer Campaigns or the Napoleonic Battles series, then First World War Campaigns will help complete your wargaming experience!

France '14

• 33 stand alone scenarios and 6 campaigns to choose from
• Battles include:
1. The Ardennes,
2. Mons,
3. Le Cateau,
4. Guise,
5. 1st Marne (the entire battle from Paris to Nancy, not just the BEF area),
6. 1st Aisne,
7. 1st Arras,
8. 1st Ypres
9.  Sorties out of Antwerp
10. Assaults on Liege and Namur, and more
• Campaign scenarios consist of:
1.  the early German invasion of France up to the reversal at the Marne (158 turns),
2. the exciting "Race to the Sea" where both sides attempted to outflank each other in a great meeting engagement from the Aisne to the English Channel (246 turns),
3. the entire Flanders campaign (190 turns),
4. the gut wrenching campaign covering the entire 1st Battle of Ypres in all three of its phases (190 turns), and more
• Utilizes an easy to use and intuitive interface similar to the Panzer Campaigns and Modern Campaigns game series
• Represents all major aspects of warfare during this period, including deadly machine guns, the evolution of cavalry, the birth of aviation, the awesome power of siege artillery, the devastating firepower of massed artillery and field guns, and more.

Some differences between First World War Campaigns and Panzer Campaigns:

·         Setting up prevents all firing including direct fire

·         Costs MG and Field Guns (non-IF artillery) full allowance to setup

·         A Towed Gun Limitation value limits the number of deployed towed guns in any one hex

·         Cavalry charge (man unit on horse)

-          4x assault

-          Assault cost 1/3

·         Mounted cavalry takes assault losses when defending at 1/12 normal value but must retreat if the defending hex consists entirely of mounted cavalry and the attackers do not consist entirely of mounted cavalry

·         Costs Cavalry 2/3 allowance to change to Travel Mode

·         Cavalry costs 2X Victory Points

·         Mounted cavalry cannot recover fatigue

·         New Fort hex (1.5x pillbox effects)

·         Detached units -1 morale

·         Attachments at Army level

·         MG units can retreat with no additional losses (goes to travel mode)

·         MG units must be in Travel Mode to move

·         Siege Guns - must be in travel or rail mode to move

-          Costs full movement allowance to go into travel mode

-          Requires setup

-          Cannot fire Op Fire or Defensive Fire or Fire Direct

-          Setting up probability is half normal

-          One fire per turn

-          Fire against Forts and Redoubts *= 50

·         All air strikes are subject to scatter up to 2 hexes away

·         Air recon scatters but provides the same information

·         All indirect fire is plotted on map and resolved at beginning of next turn

·         Field Guns (non-Indirect Fire artillery) can retreat from assault with 1/2 losses and do not exert a ZOC

·         Only engineers can damage rail

·         Units moving at night not by rail or road movement become Disrupted

·         All assaults at night result in Disrupted attackers

·         All HQ units in Travel or Rail Mode are Out of Command

·         and more!

New changes to both engines:

 

·         Added new Forced Bridge Crossing Rule which allows units to force a bridge crossing against enemy ZOC (see Users Manual under Movement)

·         Increased engineer digging in bonus from 2x to 3x

·         Changed hot key "R" to Toggle Rail Mode

 

The game also has a scenario and sub-map editor included with the game. Play modes include A/I, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN & Internet play.

France '14 is scheduled for release on June 4^th, 2010.

The list of scenarios included is:

 

France ’14 Scenario list

 

00_Started: Getting Started

1914_0804_01s_Liege: The Assault on Liège

1914_0812_01s_Haelen: The Battle of the Silver Helmets

1914_0815_01s_Dinant: A Crossing at Dinant

1914_0818_01s_Gette: Driving the Wedge

1914_0820_01s_Nancy: Von Moltke's Indecisiveness

1914_0822_01s_Campaign_Early: Home Before the Leaves Fall

1914_0822_02s_Charleroi: Lanrezac, the Defiant

1914_0822_03s_Ardennes: Offensive à Outrance!

1914_0823_01s_Mons: The Contemptibles Make Their Stand

1914_0823_02s_Mons: First Clash at Mons

1914_0824_01s_Elouges: Flank Guard at Elouges

1914_0825_01s_Antwerp: The Rage of Dreaming Sheep (1st Sortie)

1914_0826_01s_Le_Cateau: Taking One for the Team

1914_0826_02s_Cambrai: Unwritten Valor

1914_0829_01s_Guise: French Morale Restored

1914_0901_01s_Villers-Cotterets: A Desperate Rear Guard

1914_0905_01s_Iverny: Uncovering the Enemy's Hand

1914_0906_01s_Marne: Miracle at the Marne

1914_0906_02s_Ourcq-Morins: The Juggernaut Exposed

1914_0906_03s_St_Gond: Foch Stands Firm

1914_0906_04s_Vitry: Opportunity Lost

1914_0906_05s_Revigny: Flirting With Disaster

1914_0909_01s_Antwerp: The Belgian Diversion (2nd Sortie)

1914_0913_01s_Aisne: Everything at Stake!

1914_0917_01s_Campaign_Race: The Race to the Sea

1914_0919_01s_St_Mihiel: A Dagger to the Heart

1914_1001_01s_Antwerp: Never Give Up!

1914_1001_02s_Arras: Turning the Flank

1914_1018_01s_Campaign_Flanders: Where Valor Sleeps

1914_1018_02s_Campaign_Yser: The Belgian Bulwark

1914_1018_03s_Campaign_Ypres: The Graveyard of the Contemptibles

1914_1018_04s_Ypres: The Salient is Formed

1914_1020_01s_Campaign_La_Bassee: The Unglamorous Struggle

1914_1020_02s_La_Bassee: A Taste of Hell

1914_1025_01s_Ypres: The Salient Pushes Back

1914_1029_01s_Ypres: Enter the Conqueror

1914_1110_01s_Ypres: Last Chance for Glory

1914_1111_01s_Ypres: The Prussian Guard's Grand Finale

 

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

 

-1 GHz Pentium CPU

- 512 MB RAM

- 400 MB Hard Drive

-Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 operating system.

-Microsoft DirectX 9.0+