A friendly game, early skirmish leads to standoff when Commando's show up.
Additional Comments:
France vs UK, WWI. A couple of decent players in this game. Both players have good starts and develop solid economies and deploy units quickly - France < 3 mins. for first Poilu, UK about 3 mins for first Tommy. Good use of UK forage early to keep unit production constant. UK towers.
France attacks first with a scouting party of Poilus. They are met by Tommys and regroup for another attack. By the time the second (larger) attack takes place, Poilu have attack upgrade and significant numerical advantage. This battle should have been an easy win for the France player even without Granadiers/smoke, but he pulls his entire force back after losing 3 Poilu while taking out an equal number of Tommys and a medic. This was a crucial mistake (15 upgraded Poilu vs 10 Tommys - with good micro = France win). A minute later UK has a Commando which will send the France player back to base during the next attack since he had no Observation Posts and couldn't see the Commando.
Both players build up for the decisive battle. France goes 5 barracks, Armory, and builds Observation Posts all over the map. He adds 2 Siege Factories and a late airport which isn't used. UK player goes 2nd rax, TF, Siege Factory and Airport, adds 5 tanks, a howitzer and a couple of Bombers, then attacks France's base.
France uses Poilu's, Flamethrowers (20), 2 AT guns and a 3 Rifled Grenadiers vs Tommys, Tanks, Howitzers and Bombers. For some reason France player never builds Artillerie or AA, only a couple of AT guns. Tommys and Tanks kill Flamethrowers without smoke and then Poilu easily = GG. Looked as if the Poilu were attacking the tanks along with Flamethrowers instead of firing on the Tommys which is a big mistake (Gun inf. are very weak vs tanks and very good vs inf). Massed Flamethrowers took extra splash damage from the UK Howitzer, speeding their demise despite the Calisthenics upgrade). This large France force killed only 3 tanks and a few Tommys which means they weren't managed well.
Bottom line: Good mix of units by UK player, especially the early Commando and the howitzer. No Artillerie for France + very late use of Grenadiers/smoke loses the game (best field artillery in the game! Why not use them?) Early Granadiers w/smoke could have made the 2nd engagement decisive for France. Too many Flamethrowers late in the game. They are weak without smoke and can't be clumped togehter vs area damage units like Howitzers.