Fatal Alliances III (2010)

Fatal Alliances III (FA3), based on the popular World in Flames - Final Edition system, is a complete, stand-alone wargame that will allow players to fight the Great War over the entire world.

FA3 is a global scale grand strategic game covering World War One, playable by two to five. FA3 will include 1400 counters representing land, air, and naval units of the main combatants - France, Germany, Britain, Russia, Austria-Hungary, the United States, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Serbia, and many other potential belligerents. Turns are two months long, subdivided into impulses with the two sides - Allies and Central Powers - alternating actions.

Land units are army- and corps-sized (army group headquarters), with some division-sized and smaller specialty units such as artillery, tanks, and stosstruppen. Major powers can build colonial units to defend their far-flung possessions. Ground combat as in WIF is based primarily on relative combat strength; as was the case historically, attackers will find it difficult to overcome the defenders' entrenched positions, particularly before innovations such as tanks and stosstruppen.

Every dreadnought and major warship will be included. Players will struggle to control the seas to deny key resources to the enemy, while keeping their own sea lines of communication open. Germany can decide whether to send the powerful High Seas Fleet out to force a decisive battle against the Royal Navy, or to attempt to break out to raid British merchant shipping, or to keep it in Kiel as a fleet in being, and rely instead on submarines to starve Britain. Zeppelins and aircraft, only a dozen years after the Wright Brothers' first flight, begin to have an impact on the land and naval war as observers, fighters, and bombers.

As in WIF, production is a crucial element of FA3. Players will oversee their powers' military production, deciding what units to build based on their plans and needs. Players can change the mix of production to follow different strategies. Capturing enemy resources will be crucial.

Diplomacy will be important. The Allies and Central Powers must try to sway neutrals to their side. Germany balances the advantages of unrestricted submarine warfare against the risk of angering America, while Britain must decide whether to risk American dissatisfaction to tighten its blockade on Germany.

National morale rules will be included; heavy combat casualties, loss of key cities, and other factors can force a power to offer surrender. Eventually, Russia may find itself descending into civil war and dropping out of the war.

Contents

• 4 large maps (1168mm x 820mm)
• 1 America mini-map (410mm x 287mm)
• 1400 full colour counters
• Rule book
• 2 Combat Charts
• Production Circle
• 2 x 10-sided dice