Defense Lines in Hundred

Charlie Eldred

Ed. Note: Charlie is an old-school player and sometimes refers to provinces by the test version names. Antwerp=Flanders, Amsterdam=Holland, Plymouth=Devon, Aquitaine=Guyenne and Swabia=Lorraine. Any other changes should be obvious. --Andy

Why Defense Lines Form

In several Hundred games, a power has won in 2 or 3 game years by simply sweeping over the competition, which never united against the eventual winner. The danger of this "blitzkrieg" strategy is that the other two powers will have more units than you, collectively, and, if they can get their act together, can almost surely stop the "blitzkrieging" power.

This is very different than in Standard Diplomacy. If a power in Standard Diplomacy starts rolling towards 18 SC's, even if the remaining powers unite against the power advancing towards victory, the large size of the Standard board often prevents the smaller powers from getting their forces together into a defense line, in contrast to the very compact and crowded Hundred board. Also, there is the difficulty of getting several countries to band together in a Standard game, rather than just two as in a Hundred game.

These factors combine into a lesson for Hundred players. If you want to make a run for 9 SC's, make sure that either (a) you can guarantee that you will get 9 SC's; (b) you can convince your opponents that you have 9 SC's guaranteed, even if you don't, so that they won't bother to look for a defense line (as in Andy Schwarz's victory in Formigny); or (c) your opponents hate each other so much that they simply will not band together against you (as in my victory in Arras). You can see how Andy won Formigny and how I won Arras.

(Actually, there is a fourth successful way to make a grab for nine SC's -- simply go for broke and attack everywhere on all fronts. You might get lucky. Jeff Carnegie used this strategy to win in Fulton in Fall 1416, which is the quickest win so far in a Hundred game).

The Lancast Defense Line

The Winter adjustments processed, and Burgundy built a second fleet, which indicated that Burgundy would continue to come after me, since when can Burgundy ever use a fleet against France? I was just about ready to throw in the towel when I realized that France had built 3 armies and no fleets in Winter 1415. This made me wonder if it were possible to stop France, if I could get Burgundy to listen to me.

Here was the position in Spring 1417:

Status of the Movement phase for Spring of 1417. (lancast.009)

Burgundy: Army Calais.
Burgundy: Army Dijon.
Burgundy: Army Flanders.
Burgundy: Fleet Scotland.
Burgundy: Army Luxembourg.
Burgundy: Fleet Holland.

England: Army Normandy.
England: Fleet Strait of Dover.
England: Fleet English Channel.

France: Army Lorraine.
France: Army Orleanais.
France: Army Dauphine.
France: Army Poitou.
France: Army Guyenne.
France: Army Paris.
France: Army Brittany.
France: Army Cantons.

Ownership of supply centers:

Burgundy: Calais, Dijon, Flanders, Holland, Luxembourg, Scotland.
England: Devon, London, Normandy.
France: Aquitaine, Brittany, Cantons, Dauphine, Orleans, Paris, Provence, Toulouse.

Burgundy: 6 Supply centers, 6 Units: Builds 0 units.
England: 3 Supply centers, 3 Units: Builds 0 units.
France: 8 Supply centers, 8 Units: Builds 0 units.

As I examined the board, I slowly realized that a defense line was already in place. Burgundy and I could jointly hold our provinces forever, by the following orders:

England
a nmd hold
f ech s a nmd
f dov s a nmd

Burgundy
a dij hold
a cal s a dij
a ant s a dij
a lux s a dij

France could attack only NMD, CAL, DIJ, and LUX. France could not make a supported attack on CAL or LUX, and so could not take those provinces. France could attack NMD with a maximum force of 3 (from BRI, ORL, and PAR) and could not cut either of the 2 English supports from the English fleets. France could attack DIJ with a maximum force of 4 (from PAR, DAU, CAN, and SWA), but Burgundy had 3 supports on DIJ (from CAL, ANT, and LUX). France could not cut a support of DIJ without taking away one support of an attack on DIJ, so Burgundy could hold this indefinitely.

I convinced Burgundy that holding this line was better than attacking France. I demonstrated that any attack against France would probably lead to either a French victory or an exchange of Dijon for Paris, which would wreck the defense line and would therefore also lead to a French victory. I suggested instead that we hold the defense line and send his two fleets all the way around Britain towards the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Sea, where they could be used to attack French cities behind the line. To my surprise, Burgundy agreed to the plan, and sent his fleets on the long journey around Britain. This epic voyage lasted from Spring 1417 to Spring 1419, by which time the second Burgundy fleet had reached the Bristol Channel. During that time, Burgundy and I held our defense line.

France saw the writing on the wall and began pulling his forces back from the defense line, trying to get us to get greedy and make grabs for French SC's. This finally happened in Spring 1419, when I moved into an empty Paris. This was the end of the England-Burgundy defense line.

If the defense line had held indefinitely, something would have eventually happened. Basically, France needed its armies in BRI, ORL, PAR, DAU, CAN, and SWA to hold back Burgundy and England. This left two armies to guard against the Burgundian fleets, one of which would have had to guarded Guyenne. France could have put its 8th army in Castile and done a self-bounce in Aragon, which could have prevented Burgundy from getting into the Mediterranean and would have kept Toulouse and Provence safe. However, by doing this, France could only have kept three units guarding Brittany, while Burgundy and England could out four units on Brittany. But if they had attacked Brittany, Normandy would have been insufficiently guarded. It would have come down to a coin toss or else a draw.

France could have avoided the situation by building a fleet in 1415. France's army in Poitou was useless. If France could have got a fleet into the Bristol Channel, he could have cut the support of Normandy, which would have led to a guessing game, where France would guess whether the Burgundy army in Calais would support the Normandy army or the Dijon army. Eventually, France would have guessed right and got its 9th SC.

There are other possibilities. If England had been stronger and had a third fleet, maybe a true stalemate line could have been achieved, because this third fleet could have been put in the Bristol Channel. Time will tell whether there is a true stalemate line based on the Lancast situation.

The Troyes Defense Line

I was getting a little sick of the war by this time. Somebody (not me, unfortunately!) gray broadcasted that this game was turning into a true hundred years war! So, I proposed to Burgundy that one of us help the other one win the game, with the winner chosen by random event. Burgundy didn't even respond, and when I asked again, he derided my suggestion and argued that a 3-way draw was the only honorable end to the game.

Of course, I had no intention of actually throwing the game in favor of Burgundy, if Burgundy was to be the country who would win, under my plan, so I have no standing to complain about Burgundy's response to my idea! Even so, I stabbed Burgundy again in 1425, vaguely hoping to catch up with France. Instead, at the end of 1425, France had 8 SC's, I had 6, and Burgundy had 3. It was looking like a France win, thanks to my actions.

Ian was fed up with me at this point and announced that if I thought I could stop France, that I should do it on my own. Ian then proceeded to proxy control of his units to me. So I had to look at the board and see if I could find a defense line.

The situation in Spring 1426 was:
Status of the Movement phase for Spring of 1426. (troyes.044)

Burgundy: Army Savoy.
Burgundy: Army Dijon.
Burgundy: Army Cantons.

England: Fleet English Channel.
England: Fleet Flanders.
England: Army Calais.
England: Fleet London.
England: Army Holland.
England: Army Devon.

France: Army Normandy.
France: Army Paris.
France: Army Orleanais.
France: Army Provence.
France: Army Dauphine.
France: Fleet Brittany.
France: Army Limousin.
France: Fleet Guyenne.

Ownership of supply centers:

Burgundy: Cantons, Dijon, Luxembourg.
England: Calais, Devon, Flanders, Holland, London, Scotland.
France: Brittany, Dauphine, Guyenne, Normandy, Orleanais, Paris, Provence, Toulouse.

Burgundy: 3 Supply centers, 3 Units: Builds 0 units.
England: 6 Supply centers, 6 Units: Builds 0 units.
France: 8 Supply centers, 8 Units: Builds 0 units.

With this configuration, France has a 50% chance of getting a 9th SC. Basically, France can put three units on Dijon or two units on Savoy, while Burgundy and England can put either three defensive units on Dijon or two defensive units on Savoy, but not both. A French conquest of Savoy, inevitably leads to the French conquest of Cantons.

I saw a defense line if I could get my army in Holland to Lorraine. This would take two turns, and France would have to guess wring both turns. If I did manage to get my army to Lorraine, then I could defend both Dijon and Cantons with enough force every time to block a French attack. I did manage to get my army to Lorraine, although I guessed wrong on one of the turns, but France didn't hit us hard enough to break our line. The line was set up, and a 3-way draw was declared.

The defense line, therefore, was A CAL, A DIJ, A SWA, A CAN, and A SAV, and enough power to prevent France from grabbing PLY, LON, or SCO. This keeps France at 8 SC's indefinitely. Or does it? I think I fooled Wes Makin into thinking that the line was unbreakable, when in fact I think Wes could have sent a fleet into the Med, which would have given him the power to get Savoy, which would have given France a 50% per turn of getting Cantons or Dijon, once I had the army in Swabia. However, if he had sent a fleet into the Med, I probably would have sent my fleets after Brittany and Guyenne, which may have necessitated him pulling back from the Med.

I think a defense line that would have been easier to set up would have been F DOV, A CAL, A ANT, A DIJ, A CAN, and A SAV. If F DOV S A CAL, A CAL S A DIJ, A ANT S A DIJ, A DIJ HOLD, A CAN S A SAV, A SAV HOLD. This is unbreakable unless there is a French fleet in the Med or a French fleet to cut support from F DOV.

Conclusion

France needs to build at least one and probably two fleets once it has 8 SC's. Otherwise, it is too susceptible to defense lines.

France, being primarily a land-based power, is probably more at risk to have a defense line set up against it. However, I know of no attempted defense lines against England or Burgundy. Time will tell if defense lines can be set up against them.

Powers who achieve 8 SC's need to either get the other two powers to give up, get the other two powers to hate each other, or make sure in advance that no defense line is possible. Powers facing an 8 SC power need to set aside their differences immediately and examine the board very very carefully to find a defense line.

An 8 SC power facing a defense line needs to either expose its SC's to attack to break the line or else propose a 3-way draw. It is very unlikely that either power in the defense line will want to bargain with the 8 SC power, since any joint action is likely to lead to the smaller power losing rather than participating in a guaranteed 3-way draw.

Charlie Eldred

Let me know your comments, questions, criticism, etc., at [email protected].