2010 Advanced Game Playtest

[John D.]

Opps - yeah - took the pics very late last night and thought I got them in - here they are in all of their glory!

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[Mark]

So - Wednesday is the big day when we will find out who wins and who loses?  You guys are playing this one down to the wire. . .

[John D.]

I have a feeling this one is going to the end....

[John D.]

OK - It didn't quite go to the end but is was really close - only 2 turns away! We ended
Winter 1944.

Well - the axis won - what a great game. It was very close until Brian, with exceptional use of transport planes and jets (and pretty much everything) was able to stem the allied tide (which was right next to Berlin) just enough to clinch victory. He had 20 VP (only needing 18)- Patton was in France on the Winter turns but the Germans heavily reinforced Paris so he was going to mech south to scoop Marseilles but the Axis held off Joes Russian mech assault, took back Milan and then held off Patton's unexpectedly needed Mech winter assault of Paris.
 
It was an amazing game. Jets - V rockets and US heavies all saw action!

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[John D.]

 

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[John D.]

 

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[John D.]

 

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[John D.]

 

Last pic show allied casualties on the last turn!!!!

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[Yoper]

WOW!

The German Eastern Front really collapsed in the South and Central areas.  Did the fall the Italy really affect the continuing pressure in the south?  I remember seeing a combined Romanian/Italy force at one time in the Crimea.

I guess I didn't catch the redeployment of Patton from Italy to France.  I would take it that the spread out approach to attacking in the Med by the WA wasn't the way to go? 

Was there a certain early game timeframe that either/both sides can point to that helped delay the Allies such that the Axis were able to hold to this point?

I await your comments.

Good job guys!

[Mark]

Looks like it was a great game guys!  Nice job defeating John - always good to see. .. 

So - the championship crown now passes to Brian?  We will have to see if someone can take the title from him at the end of the month. . .

[John D.]

Well - the game was alot closer than it looks. Patton was set to attack Paris on this turn but didn't on the regular phase because both Joe and I figured we could hold off. We were getting VPs from other areas but the suprise came when Brian held off Joe in Warsaw and took back another VP (Milan) unexpectedly. Then I was forced to attack a heavily reinforced Paris on the Mech phase (without artillery support). I was setting up to knock out Berlin on the next turn but too late...

[Mark]

The German Eastern Front really collapsed in the South and Central areas.  Did the fall the Italy really affect the continuing pressure in the south?  I remember seeing a combined Romanian/Italy force at one time in the Crimea.

I guess I didn't catch the redeployment of Patton from Italy to France.  I would take it that the spread out approach to attacking in the Med by the WA wasn't the way to go? 

Was there a certain early game timeframe that either/both sides can point to that helped delay the Allies such that the Axis were able to hold to this point?

I'm interested in the answers to these questions too. . .

[John D.]

OK - there were a couple of things I can think of.

The Germans kept Murmansk and Archangel out of supply for the whole game - so no lend lease to Russia.

There was a great amount of pressure in the Northern forests with the help of the Finns - eventually leading to the fall of Leningrad. In this game Leningrad was traded for Stalingrad and Leningrad is much harder to take back when it falls.

Most of the builds were being placed in Moscow - which was very close to being surrounded every turn and the Germans would just smash the armor units as they appeared or worse (for the Russians),  they would smash all of their units trying to break out.

Patton got smashed in Northern Italy and lost an amazing amount of product because there was no place to retreat when his defensive line broke.

We made  a few mistakes but the game could have been even closer if Patton attacked Paris on the regular phase. After that - he would have been relocated next to Berlin for the Spring 1945 attack.

Brian had an incredible defensive rail (4 Jagpanzers) that was going to be placed in Berlin - not to mention all his builds - it would have been a great battle (fun).

Also - Brian is now very fluent in the game and will not repeat some of his early mistakes - towards the end - he really did not make any mistakes.

Subs were used very well in this game - they tied up an incredible amount of my resources - it really worked out great!

Looking forward to the next one!

[Mark]

So - if you had to pinpoint a "turning point" was it when Leningrad fell or when Patton's army in Northern Italy got wiped out? 

[Yoper]

It seemed to me that the early turning point was actually the delay in getting forces into the Med/attacking Italy.

That goes back to the whole discussion of the use of the subs by the Axis.