ww2wargame.com
WWII: Struggle for Europe____WWII: Struggle for Asia => First Edition Game => After action reports from first edition => Topic started by: Yoper on October 21, 2006, 04:30:00 AM
-
We started a new game with this country distribution:
Axis-
Germany- Dan
Japan- Steve
Italy- Craig
Allies-
US/UK- Eric
France/USSR/China- Martin
We got through two full turns. Hopefully we can actually stretch a game out to a more complete play out.
Craig
-
Axis Fall '39
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Fall '39
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Fall '39
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Fall '39
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Winter '39/'40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Winter '39/'40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Winter '39/'40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Winter '39/'40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Tuesday and no word from the Detroit front. . . maybe their command post has been overrun :o
-
Axis 1/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 1/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 2/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 2/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 2/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 2/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 2/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 2/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 3/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 3/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 3/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 3/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 3/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 3/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 4/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 4/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 4/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 4/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 4/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 4/40
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 1/41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 1/41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 1/41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Halloween revelry got in the way of making a timely report to HQ.
Do you like my Italian strategy?
Keep the UK busy while not actually entering the war.
I came close a couple of times, but he reinforced Gibraltar. That made my first thought at entering go by the wayside. Oh well, I will just have to wait until the right time (Soon!).
I will not be there this week but they are going to continue on without me.
Eric will take some shots to keep things up to date.
Craig
-
Hey Yoper,
Did the French capitulate at the end of the Spring 40 turn? It looks that way. Did the French/Brits attack the large German force on the Spring turn? It looks that way also
Looks like this will be a very good/close game!
John
-
Wow - looks like this has the makings of a great game for you guys!
Interesting approach with the Italians - we'll see if it pays off! Looks like you are tying some Brits down - but it must hurt to only be getting 7PP a turn. Don't forget to get into the war before the U.S. does - or you can't!
Wow- a British raid on the Belgian coast - it will be interesting to see how the Germans react. . .a daring British venture or a premature waste of men and material - stay tuned to this week's game!
Did Germany declare war on Russia in the Spring of 1941 and not invade? The earliest Russia can declare war is Summer 1941 - the "declare war" phase comes before the "place units (factories) on the board phase - so the Russians can't declare war until the turn following their last factory placement (which at the earliest is Spring 1941). just checking to make sure you guys did not jump the gun on the Russian front - that is shaping up to be a nasty confrontation - I'm assuming all that German stuff in the Holland blow-up box is actually in Poland!
cheers,
Mark
-
Did the French capitulate at the end of the Spring 40 turn? It looks that way. Did the French/Brits attack the large German force on the Spring turn? It looks that way also.
Yes, they did surrender at the end of Spring '40. Only the French units attacked the German stack. The same reasoning as the Italian situation that we were talking about in the other thread. The UK units bugged out.
Did Germany declare war on Russia in the Spring of 1941 and not invade?
No. He didn't want the USSR to be able to use his regular build numbers.
The earliest Russia can declare war is Summer 1941 - the "declare war" phase comes before the "place units (factories) on the board phase - so the Russians can't declare war until the turn following their last factory placement (which at the earliest is Spring 1941).
Our count comes up with the USSR being able to place the second set of factories at the end of the Winter '40/'41 turn. Which would allow the USSR to declare war on the beginning of the Spring '41 turn.
USSR starts with 2 factories in the "2" Build Box on the Production Chart. That means if it is paid for that turn it moves to the "1" box and then to the "0" box in the Winter '39/'40 turn. The next two factories then come into the "3" box in Spring '40 and are placed at the end of the Winter '40/'41 turn.
Now, if you are trying to say that the USSR factories (and any other units that are preplaced on a production chart- example: Yamato) are not moved forward that first turn, then I see what you are trying to say. It is not spelled out as such.
Again, it may be that you just assumed people would understand that your placement of the factories on the "2" box was you moving them forward instead of them having to be paid for.
We wondered why you would have it set up for the USSR to be able to declare war in the Spring of '41.
I'm assuming all that German stuff in the Holland blow-up box is actually in Poland!
We need some of those marshalling cards that you had at Origins. ;D
-
Wow- a British raid on the Belgian coast - it will be interesting to see how the Germans react. . .a daring British venture or a premature waste of men and material.
This is where the defensive air response question came from. The German player didn't want to use the fighter to defend against the amphib, he would have liked to hit the transports.
I don't see why not. Yes, the attacker would have to allocate air units to cover both, but so what? It would make it more realistic and it might make the UK player pull those CVs out of the North Atlantic if he wants to have air cover for his operations along the coast.
Interesting approach with the Italians - we'll see if it pays off! Looks like you are tying some Brits down - but it must hurt to only be getting 7PP a turn. Don't forget to get into the war before the U.S. does - or you can't!
That is why I said "soon" in my original post. The threat factor of my attack "bluff" is losing its power. I won't be there this Friday night so I believe the decision will not be mine as to when the Italians come in.
-
Yikes! You guys may have a back-level Russian production card. . . I'll check with John and let you know for sure. . .
-
Eric- How did things go? ???
Craig
-
Aha - now Yoper gets a taste of the suspense. . . :D
Looking forward to the report from the front tho ;)
-
I got in two games of A&A Revised on Saturday down at the Border Battle in Toledo.
The first was a tight one in which I had a tough opening R1 turn and I was battling the rest of the game. A late bad decision finished it even though I got lucky and took Western Europe to keep the score close under the Smorey Origins/Gen Con Indy system.
The second was against a couple young guys that still have a few things to learn. The German player kept buying fighters without any infantry and the Japanese player kept buying battleships and leaving them hanging out for US airpower to crush.
I passed out those promo postcards you sent to me to everyone who was there.
Craig
-
We reset the Russian Spring 41 turn and made adjustments to compensate for the printing error. The Russian card we had indicated that Russia starts the 39 game with 2 factories in the 2 box when it should be 2 factories in the 3 box.
We were able to got in 3 very involved turns (a lot going on worldwide) from the Summer of 41 to the Winter of 41/42. Italy joined the war at the same time Japan was hitting Pearl Harbor. Of course there was some rule controversy as well that I will get into on another post. I have a vacation day this Monday, so I am going to attempt to post the pictures tommorrow.
Eric
-
Axis Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Summer 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Fall 41
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Winter 41/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Winter 41/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Winter 41/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis Winter 41/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Winter 41/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Winter 41/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Winter 41/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies Winter 41/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Rule Issue that arose last Friday.
The Germans were attacking the Russians in Poland. The German player sent 3 fighters into the attack while the Russians had one bomber that was adjacent and could respond to defend against the attack. The Russian player chose not to send the bomber into the battle.
Since only one side had aircraft units present, there was no need to resolve air-to-air combat. The issue arose at the beginning of land combat resolution. The Russians had an anti-air unit defending in the territory and the German player did not want his fighters subjected to anti-air fire. The German player reasoned that if there has been an air-to-air battle the 3 fighters would have served in a fighter role and would not have been fired upon by the anti-air unit. He argued that his fighters should not have to pursue the attack to the ground and thus risk getting shot down by the anti-air fire.
After a some discussion, we decided to allow the attacker to immediately withdraw those planes from the combat and thus avoid anti-air fire. The reasoning is that the fighters had achieved their objective of air superiority and deterred the Russians from making a defensive air response.
We could not find this issue specifically spelled out in the rules.
-
I agree with the ruling.
I would say that there is no need to resolve air-to-air combat, but there is a need to go through the motions of the attacker declaring he has air units going into the battle and then seeing if the defender is going to respond.
Then there is the need to place the air units upon the air combat chart (in the proper sequence) so that each side's intentions are clear. This should happen even if one side does not come into battle.
Craig
-
Eric,
You guys made the right call. Sorry, I did not think this was a confusing area.
The German fighters are allocated to the battle - but the first step in combat is aligning your air units on the air battle board. The German player would have allocated his fighters for air-to-air combat. Only planes designated as bombers are moved to the ground battleboard and get AA rolled against them. Just because the defender did not come up to play does not force the German air units to become bombers.
I guess it needs to be made more clear that regardless of whether enemy planes are in the battle or not, you still have to proceed through the combat sequence of play which includes the air-to-air step of designating your planes as either air to air fighters or as bombers.
Hope you had fun last Friday - looks like a good game!
I think one of the side effects of keeping the Italians out of the game for so long is a relatively unmollested UK - they have a lot of troops in the Pacific that they usually can't afford to build and place there - we'll have to see how the Japanese fare with a little bit tougher Australia and India. . .
Did Nagumo completely wipe out the US fleet at Pearl Harbor - or did I miss something?
cheers,
Mark
-
It looks like the Japanese moved out to strike Pearl like we had discussed last week, but then did not.
The US Pearl fleet went south in the turn after war started and then can be seen near New Guinea in one of the last pics.
As for Italy, I was setting them up for an attack on Gibraltar by buying that third transport. Since that didn't transpire, it now is 5 PPs that could have gone to something else. Then again, it did force the UK to shift forces to cover that at the time.
I think that the UK is set up well in the Eastern Med and the Pacific because the sub warfare in the Atlantic never really materialized. Dan (German player) is a really good ground-pounder, but doesn't have as much experience with the sea action.
Craig
-
On closer analysis ( ;D ) it looks like maybe the Japs got both US battleships at Pearl - I don't see the Arizona down in the Bismarck Sea. . .
Yeah - the sub war can be tricky, but it is important to keep the Brits down - On the other hand, without investing in Subs (or in the Med) maybe the Germans will be able to overwhelm the Russians on the Eastern Front in 1942 - that theater is shaping up to being quite a slugfest!
-
Upon studying the last set of pics, I can say this, " the next few turns could be lots of fun on the Russian front ::) " But, I will keep my lips sealed :-X
-
My 2 cents from the UK/US point of view on this game.
The neutral Italians did tie up a significant number of British units, but I was able to strategically move units through the Med. and onwards to the Indian and Pacific. I'll admit, and my German adversary would probably agree, that I seemed to roll more than the average amount of 1's against the U-Boats.
The Japanese did indeed strike Pearl Harbor and sank both battleships, but nothing else. The remaining American and British fleets, along with some infantry, moved to the sea area between New Guinea and the Carolines where they are threatening to invade several Japanese victory point islands. The American fleet on the East Coast was sent through Panama to protect the West Coast and the convoys.
The Italians must have been talking to the Japanese since they declared war at the same time. The British replied by attacking across North Africa towards Tobruk and attacking the Italian fleet. The land attacks went well, but the naval battle was a near disaster. The much smaller Italian fleet managed to do more damage than it received and the British were forced to withdraw at sea.
On the other hand, the Germans took an all out gamble to capture Lenningrad in the Winter 41/42. The dice (or the harsh weather) went Russia's way and they held it with one fort while all the attacking front line German units were destroyed. The Germans also declined to advance into the undefended Minsk area north of the Pripets, perhaps due to the fear of a Russian counter attack in the Winter. Russia then refortified its positions.
When looking at the forces on the map and how the game has played out to this point, it seems to be a fairly balanced game. Looking at the victory points tells a different story.
If I remember correctly, the Axis currently holds about 29 victory points and there seems to be limited opportunities for them to gain much more than that. The Allies are positioned to capture some of those victory points back over the next couple of turns. At the same time the Axis must hold onto at least 28 victory points into the Spring or Summer of 43 just to prevent an Allied victory.
Does this seem right? Or is this an example of how important the victory points are versus other factors such as military and economic strength?
-
Wow - I missed the Leningrad attack from the pics - that must have been fairly dramatic - defended it with only a fort left, huh? Well, the Order of Lenin for those guys I guess. . .
Victory points are pretty important (they are how you win the game after all ;D )
In the games I have witnessed, the Axis have actually won more than they have lost. but the consensus is that the Allies have a slight advantage - but that they are tougher to play because they are more challenging to coordinate and have to react with appropriate force and timing.
Maybe the combination of good strategy and luck have provided the Allies an advantage in your current game - but don't write the Axis off yet - lots can happen in the next 6 turns. THe Axis may be able to swing things around in Russia and the Pacific and Fortress Europe can be a hard nut to crack.
The European Axis can usually get 19 Victory points by this stage of the game (Norway (1), Berlin (3), Munch (1), Paris (3), Rome (3), Tripoli (1), Tobruk (1), Greece (1), Romania (1), Hungary (1), Warsaw (1), Kiev (1) and Kharkov (1)). The Axis in your game are off of this total by a few.
In the Pacific, the Japanese can usually get to about 17 VP's pretty quickly. They start with 10 and they can usually add the Philippines (2), Singapore (1), Burma (1) and a few of the islands (either New Guinea, Rabaul, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Midway or Dutch Harbor).
That leaves the Axis with about 36 - roughly in between the 42 to win the game and the 28 to lose it before the victory level start dropping in 1943. The six additional points to win the game can sometimes be picked up in Russia (taking a couple of the big VP spaces like Leningrad, Moscow or Stalingrad), Cario or in the Pacific with a concerted Japanese effort on either India, Australia or Hawaii.
And that's to win the game early. I have seen the Axis win in Summer 1945 by hanging onto a handful of VPs in Central Europe too - the game gets really interesting of the Axis can keep it close until the VP level starts to drop and the pressure is on the Allies to advance fast. See also some of DerDiktator's posts on this subject in the Strategy section of the Forum.
Looks like a great game - hopefully you guys are enjoying yourselves!
Mark
-
The Japanese did indeed strike Pearl Harbor and sank both battleships, but nothing else.
I am sure Steve whined about this like only he can. ::)
It seems that the paratrooper strategy I suggested worked out well for taking the DEI. Now he just has to replace the paratroopers with regular infantry when he takes the paratroopers back to the mainland.
Did the Italian fighters in Tobruk help in defending the Italian fleet from the ravages of the Royal Navy? I only see one remaining fighter.
Craig
-
The European Axis can usually get 19 Victory points by this stage of the game (Norway (1), Berlin (3), Munich (1), Paris (3), Rome (3), Tripoli (1), Tobruk (1), Greece (1), Romania (1), Hungary (1), Warsaw (1), Kiev (1) and Kharkov (1)). The Axis in your game are off of this total by a few.
Well Tobruk is already gone and we never went after Athens (Greece) because we didn't want to give him (UK) an opening to come into in the Balkans. The Germans are trying to get to Kharkov, but it seems a bit of a stretch to say they should have it.
In the Pacific, the Japanese can usually get to about 17 VP's pretty quickly. They start with 10 and they can usually add the Philippines (2), Singapore (1), Burma (1) and a few of the islands (either New Guinea, Rabaul, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Midway or Dutch Harbor).
Our Japanese play has been very Asian mainland centered. The defense of the islands held by Japan and the threatening of WA island hasn't been there. Then again we haven't gotten very far in any of our games. That would talk to the fact that we haven't had to deal with the VPs in the Pacific islands too much up to this time.
Craig
-
I have some great pics (depending on your point of view >:( ) of our action last night.
There will be some intense commentary to follow once I get them posted.
I will also be posting some rules questions and a few game design thoughts too.
Craig
-
Looking forward to the pics! - and if your game is still on-going - or it came to an early conclusion in 1942. . .from the looks of your smiley it must not have gone well for the Axis
-
Axis 1/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 1/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Axis 1/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Allies 1/42
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
[Rant Mode On] >:( :o >:( :o >:( :o >:(
We, the Axis powers, are very perturbed by the cessation of hostilities based upon the unrealisticly high minimum number of Victory Points needed to continue the game.
The ability of the Allies to take three fringe VPs and one back door VP to drop the Axis to a total of 27 VPs in no way is indicative of the overall game situation.
The initial minimum number of 28 VPs is too high. A more reasonable level of 24 (or less) should be instituted. This would allow for more freedom to pursue alternate paths to victory.
As it stands now, it seems that there few paths to be followed simply because you are forced to have a certain number of VPs by a certain time.
We may only have a few quality games under our belts, but I think we are seeing a few of the limiting factors of some of the design choices.
[Rant Mode Off]
Listen guys, we are enjoy ourselves, don't get me wrong. We wouldn't be putting in the time and effort if we weren't.
We may eventually get to a higher level of competency that makes such concerns moot. I am not sure that is the problem here though.
I still feel that it has more to do with the choices that you the designers have made based on your personal preferences. That you would like to see the war play out in certain patterns.
That is fine, if that is what you like. I just feel that there needs to be more leeway built into the game.
Craig
-
Is it me, or does Germany look really tough...
John
-
That's my point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
Yoper - I am sorry this hapenned to you guys :'( . It looks like it was shaping up to be a really good game too.
Certainly the victory conditions could be scaled wider to force a game to last longer. But to start things at 28 and 42 has worked fairly well so far. (At one point there was serious discussion that the low end should be raised to 30 - glad we did not do that!). I think if the Axis don't have a VP level in the 30's at this stage of the game that they are going to lose it eventually - so a victory level of 28 limits prolonging the agony - but there are always exceptions, and given what happened on the Russian front you guys may have proved the exception to the rule.
I still believe the game allows a lot of flexibility - I have seen the Germans win by taking out Russia, taking the Middle East, taking Spain and Gibraltar or taking out the UK - or even hanging on until the end. I have seen the Japanese win a number of different ways too.
I think, where the game is fairly unforgiving though is when your strategy gets you no additional victory points in one theater while losing more in one or two others.
In your game - things had really turned around in Russia ( Congratulations to the German player by the way - an amazing offensive - the guy deserves the MVP Iron Cross for that move!), but it did not make up for the lack of victory points in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific.
To be honest, I think the loss could have been easily avoided. The Japs could have prevented the Allies from taking any of their islands by strategically moving the fleet back to the Carolinas and strategically movng a couple transport loads of infantry from the Philippines or Southern China out to Truk or the Marianas.
Likewise, Norway and Romania could have both been defended a bit better to prevent those sneaky Allied amphibs. When the game is near to Victory or Defeat points - both sides need to be aware of what VPs are vulnerable. The Allied players in your game certainly had their eyes fixed on 3 VPs to win the game. This gets more and more critical as the game goes on when the game is close - the Allies are constantly trying to get 1,2,3 VPs every turn to either prevent the Axis from winning or to win the game themselves - so VPs are very important.
That all being said, I am very flexible and if a majority of people who have played the game chime in and suggest the VP levels need to be looked at again - I am certainly willing to adjust the victory conditions - keeping the Allied victory at 24 until Spring 1944 for example.
I'm sure the players who were the Axis in your last game will have their eyes on their VPs next time around when things get tight. I am really hoping your current game is a good long one
-
I might suggest, before your next game, perhaps if all of the players agree to the 24 point Allied victory limit (until it starts dropping in 1944) - so that you guys will be able to play a game out regardless of what happens in order to experience what takes place later in the game.
-
The only reason the Allies went for the fourth VP (Romania) was because it was the one they needed to win the game.
It was not a move that made sense if the game were to continue on, but it was a gambit that was worth taking if it meant ending the game now.
After the attack that the Germans put on the Soviets, the Allies knew they were in a tight position. If the game played out, it would have been interesting to see what the Axis could finally get to points wise. The Allies were in a good position in the Pacific and the Med, but the Germans were really looking good in Russia.
Craig
-
The German Spring 1942 offensive was a beautiful thing. . . there were a few juicy opportunities in Russia from the pictures from last week and I was really looking forward to this weekends posts to see if your German player took advantage of anything. What he ended up doing far exceeded what I thought was going to happen - he really did a good job with it.
After playing the game a number of times and getting the Black Sea Soviet transport landing in Romania a few times against me (but never in a game winning move I must admit) - after a while you pick up a few things like: always leave 2-3 infantry in Romania, always build 2-3 forts in Norway, defend Athens from a British invasion, etc. to try to inhibit the sneaky allied amphibs to get a couple VPs to either prevent an Axis victory or to seize one of their own. . .
Actually, I lost a game going the other direction once. . .It was a sure thing the Axis were going to lose and were getting pushed back everywhere - and just then the Germans paradropped into undefended Moscow in the winter of 43 and the Russian player had nothing next to Moscow and nothing could Mech attack it because it was Winter and the game was over becasue it put the Germans above their VP level. . . the Allies were ticked - because it was a "cheap" victory (so I feel your pain).
-
The Greece thing was something that also came up in conversation.
We could have used the VP but it would have created an opening for the UK in the Med.
The Romanian thing by itself would be acceptable. As a part of this situation, it was ridiculous.
The Western Allied player (Eric. Have you noticed that it is always Eric who is getting things done?) was going to take Norway, Tripoli, and the Japanese island VP anyway. The fact that he could take these along with Romania and end the game was tough.
He knew that they were going to lose unless he prematurely ended it by getting to the VP limit.
It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You are winning and the fight gets stopped on a technicality.
-
The German player made a brilliant move to encircle almost the entire Red Army in this game. At first look, it seems to be a hopeless situation for the Soviets and I concurred. :o We took a look at the current victory point status which revealed that if we could somehow take 4 points from the Axis, we could snatch victory from the apparent jaws of defeat.
Three of the four victory points were in the Western Allied grasp and fit within the current strategy. Tripoli was the target of the British in North Africa. An amphib group at Scapa flow was poised to strike at Norway. The Allied task force with 8 infantry units had 4 Japanese victory points within reach, but Japan's last move narrowed the opportunites down to one, the Carolines. These three victory point targets were natural Allied targets. However the fourth was not.
Due to the game situation, I convinced the Soviet Allied player to make the amphib into Rumania to capture the fourth victory point to seal an Allied victory. As Yoper pointed out, this is not an attack that makes sense in the long term.
I also have to give some credit to the Soviet Allied player who analyzed the situation on the map as well as the rules and devised a clever plan to break out of the encirclement. The two groups would attack in conjunction with units that were outside of the encirclement and then withdraw all the remaining units after the first round outside of the pocket. The Soviets took significant casualties in these break out attacks, but the bulk of the Red Army was saved. However, the Germans were still poised to run all over the Soviet Union.
In summary, it was an bummer :P ending to the game. I guess one good thing that came from this game is that we all learned quite a bit on how to play the game and hopefully cleared up some rule issues.
-
You guys certainly have the rules and the strategies down. . .The German players spring 42 offensive was fantastic - and the Russian players breakout strategy was excellent as well. The British and Americans have it all down - being able to launch a naval offensive against Japan in spring 42 is amazing. . . And the Japanese player too - bringing back the fleet and blocking with his detroyer and cruiser (supported by the adjacent carrier planes) was a good move to try and recover.
I think, even with the German Spring offensive, the Allies probably still had th advantage - you would be surprised at how quickly the Russians can recover from disaster.
I am really looking forward to playing you guys at Origins next Summer (if not sooner!) ! By then, you will be teaching us a few things :o ! I hope you can all make it.
-
Why don't you fly in for a long weekend and join us at the gaming table? Maybe over the holidays?
I will pick you up at the airport! Just let me know when. ;) ;D
Craig
-
So - I have finally had a chance to check the results of the last game.
Everything that your group is experiencing echoes what we went through when play testing and playing.
After this game, it looks like your group has a very good feel of the macro-strategy of the game - which is argueably the most important aspect of the game. This can ONLY be learned through experience.
By the way - I would love to fly out for a long weekend - what about you, Mark!
John
-
Hey - if John is willing - then so am I - I'll come out for a long weekend over the holidays if you can get your crew together for a couple days - let me know ;D