MOROCCO. By Dennis Jones.
If you are thinking of playing your first game of Austerlitz, look no further than the Moroccan position.
Some benefits of playing Morocco.
( a ) It borders no other country.
( b ) It is one of the few countries that has a European gold mine.
( c ) It has a foothold in India.
( d ) It starts the game with a sizable navy.
( e ) It can capture the European trade city Tunis.
( f ) It can capture a second European ore mine.
( g ) It is next to an abundance of neutral territory.
All players have different ways and methods of tackling their turn sheet; also with the way they play a certain country. I would like to give you a quick outline of the way I play Morocco.
Filling out the turn sheet.
On the maps I draw circles where my armies are, and an X where the commanders are.
I then start preparing these armies for capturing the neutral coordinates. With the armies at 21/50, I see that there are two commanders available; to be able to capture neutral coordinates in Europe, it takes a commander plus at least one brigade federated. With a federation, it is possible to capture three neutral coordinates per turn.
My first task is to capture Tunis at 30/49, for this I form a federation using brigade 4071, I send this federation to 28/49, ready for the capture of Tunis next month.
My second task is to capture the ore mine at 25/60, this mine could be captured by Naples within three turns from his shipyard at 38/59, so I set about forming a fast moving federation using brigade 4069. I must first exchange the slower moving Dragoon battalion from this brigade, with the faster moving Camel troop battalion in brigade 4070. I then send this federation to 24/55, ready for capturing the ore mine next month.
My third task is to capture the neutral territory near Rabat at 5/55. For this I federate brigade 4066, with the lower ranking commander Dschelalsade.
My forth task I set my sites on the territory in India, especially the valuable neutral mines everywhere. For this I form a fleet at my Indian shipyard at 54/87, so that I can load brigade 4162 this turn, ready for transporting and unloading next turn. An infantry battalion weighs 160 tonne, so my fleet needs to be large enough to carry 800 tonne. Brigades can only be loaded onto fleets, not single ships. It is possible to capture neutral, or player controlled territory in the colonies with this brigade, even without the presence of a commander, because it has colonial troops with it. There must be at least two battalions of colonial troops present in a brigade for it to be able to capture in the colonies. It is possible to capture a neutral plus an owner controlled coordinate at the same time, but you must be at war or neutral with that country to do this.
For my first production sites I build a factory, two mills, an ore mine, a gold mine, and five sheep farms. The following month I build a quarry, three lumber camps, and another six sheep farms. The third month I build the newly captured ore mine, a quarry, and eight food estates.
I always contact the other players within a few days of receiving my turn sheet. This is important, after all it’s only polite, even if it’s just to say hello. All players like to hear from other players, if they didn’t they would not have had their address, or phone number on the trade sheet.
Countries I perceive as being the most important to Morocco are, Italy, and Britain. Italy because it can help in neutralizing Naples, Britain because it’s the main major colonial power, and can help in keeping the other colonial powers from attacking your colonies. Yet another Moroccan advantage, if you find yourself too busy to keep up with your diplomacy, it is not critical, unlike the central powers that are all being stalked from turn one.
I like to build a barracks at 25/59 early in the game. This serves to defend the ore mine and surrounding area. It is also a good place for troop building if I decide on removing Naples from this part of Africa.
During the first month I also federate the remaining army that is in Rabat, which is at 5/55, with commander Mechmedbey. I then force-march this army towards 21/50; from here it can be moved to where ever it’s needed.
Later in the game I also build a shipyard at 9/48, this makes trading and defence a little easier.
The Moroccan army is not up to much, so it needs to be large and fully trained, with plenty of heavy artillery and pioneers; no one likes taking on entrenched heavy artillery, I certainly don’t.
As the game progresses, I like to add to the navy, mostly types 3’s, and 9’s. By the end of the first game year, there are usually some poor struggling countries, just waiting to be relieved of their already producing production sites, this is when the navy comes in handy.