ww2wargame.com
WWII: Struggle for Europe____WWII: Struggle for Asia => After Action Reports / Playtesting => Topic started by: Mark on July 03, 2010, 03:09:43 AM
-
JohnCon 2010 II - The Rematch -
We are having another go at the game on July 5th and 6th - this time John leads the Axis and I am leading the Allies in what I hope to get me back to 1:1 against John! Joe and Dillon are joining us to fight it out. . .
Double or nothing, Yoper? ;)
-
Mark,
you're betting double or nothing that the Allies can win? Bad bet, man!
I wish you luck though. My feel - reinforced by the last game - is that the Allied player must ruthlessly stick to their build plan, no matter what the Axis are doing. Only then can the amphib sets roll off the production lines at the right time to begin their journey to their assembly points by the right dates. For me, the most critical assets are:
- ASW sets = destroyers, bombers
- Africa set = Australian inf/forts and arty, British tanks, maxed from the outset until the end of 1940.
- Amphib sets = transports (at least 12 by end 1942), landing craft built throughout war, DD tanks, and a Mulberry on the shelf from 1942 onwards.
- Airborne sets = must have 1-2 in position by Torch; 3-4 by Husky; 5-6 by Overlord
Air superiority is trickier. I think that a baseline RAF home defence fighter force of 3 Hurricanes and 3 Spits may worthwhile, but it is not essential. Heavy AA and a stronger UK land force would vouchsafe against invasion of Great Britain. As long as there are enough Spits to fill three carriers, I would still argue that strong fighter builds do not need to commence until the latter parts of 1942. American power, mixed with consistent strong Soviet air builds, can easily create the fighter force needed for cross-Channel air supremacy by the end of 1943.
Heavy bombers are so versatile that they are a must from Winter 41/42 onwards, surged early in both the US and UK to have the baseline force available for use at the earliest moment.
Really wish I could be there right now for the rematch ... especially as I am in Baghdad. Heading to arse-end of Anbar tomorrow for a recce. Sleeping bags, bug spray, the lot ...
Cheers
Mike
PS. An idea I heard mentioned was partial secrecy for naval forces. How about being allowed to use a number of fleet markers instead of models, and keeping the models themselves on the fleet cards behind a screen. Maybe two German, two Italian, and four Allied? Worth trying.
-
Hi Mike! Hope things are going OK -
I am going to largely stick to your advice as well as what you sent me last week after the game. I think I am going to try and go a little heavier on British fighter builds - to at least get enough so I can't be bombed indiscriminately in England.
-
Yup - It was great having the builds on track for the last game - (thanks to Mike). I am pretty much a believer after the last game. I must say though - Brian's Axis builds were a bit tougher to deal with than our last game...
-
Well what happened? I am starting to think that everyone died in battle. No victor to speak of, nobody left to tell the story.
-
I lost - can you believe it? ? ? ::)
. . .and I had him on the ropes up until Spring 1942 too. . . got overconfident, started making mistakes, which were of course quickly seized upon and blew it on the Russian front.
At this rate I will be buying Yoper's plane ticket out to the East Coast. . .
-
I am sorry to say Mark, but you are "easy money". ;)
You keep going this way and my children will end up with all their college tuition paid for. ;D
Actually, your gameplay is a lot like mine. That is why it pains me so much to hear you trials and tribulation.
And it is why I bet against you. Because I would bet against myself! :o
-
Wow... :)
-
Where are the pictures?
-
John has confiscated them all! ;D
-
John has confiscated them all! ;D
And apparently went into hiding.
-
No Actually - Mark has them all! Marcus - can you post them? :)
-
OK OK, despite my desire to forget about this game. . .By the way, John, when I am back for the Holidays, we are going to have a rematch. . .so plan on that again as well as a big game with everyone.
Anyway. . .back to the game - here are some nice picks at the dawn of the war. . .
[attachment deleted by admin]
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
John comes out of the gates swinging - declaring war with the Italians in Autumn 1939, wiping out Poland and invading Norway all in turn 1!
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
In Winter 1939, the German march into Belgium and redeploy a significant army to Northern Italy. It looks like the Axis are going to hit France from both Italy as well as Belgium in the Spring - which is going to make things tough. . .
In the Med, the Brits don't waste anytime taking the war to the Italians, with Wavell advancing and taking Tobruk from the fleeing Graziani ;D
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Thank God you are still alive, when you hadn't posted in a while, I was worried that you might not have taken your last defeat well.
-
Spring 1940 - France has fallen due to the double blows by the German reinforced Italians and a strong attack through the Ardennes.
In North Africa, Wavell continues to advance and builds up forces in Tobruk.
The British are reinforcing Egypt from the UK as well as from Australia and India. German U-boats attmept to intercept the convoys as they make there way around Africa. . .
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Summer and Autumn turns - struggle in the Western Desert between Wavell and Rommel. The Germans occupy France and sweep through the Balkans
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Everything up until this point looks favorable for the Axis. Where did it all go wrong?
-
Still looks good to me?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!! ???
Other than the forward move in NA by the WA, the Axis seem to be in a good position.
There had to be a very large gaffe to screw this up!!!!!!!! ::)
-
Is the game already buyable ?:P
-
Darkman - we are pretty much at the buyable stage I think.
Discussing whether to sell everything on a disk for like $20 (to help cover all the development) or to sell it with counters, battleboards, country charts and everything printed - except the map - for more. Printing the map is the largest cost - so we were thinking of just distributing it on a disk. Debating which route to go - your thoughts?
Mark
-
Oh - and I was the ALLIES and I lost the game - so it looks like everyone's comments on this game are about right. . .
-
A disk would be a fine option for me, but i would have to think about who in the world prints me such a large map in very good material like you provided for the normal gameÂ
;D
Another thing , we have now seen so many pictures about Europe.
Is the pacific map also completed?
At the moment my favor goes for naval battles ^^
-
John has printed the Europe map a couple times for the folks doing the playtesting. I think he had Kinkos print it out in two 3' x 4' sheets (the map is 6'x4'). I'm sure Kinko's is not the cheapest option, but a 3' wide large format color printer is pretty common. So, maybe on the disk, we'll put the map in two files (a West half and a East half in order to make it easier to hand over to a printer and have it printed).
A cheaper (but more labor intensive) option that John used on the first playtest map was to print it out on a bunch of 8.5x11" sheets and glue them to posterboard. It does not look as nice, but it was cheaper and we went that route initially because we did not know how many changes we were going to have to make.
Mark
-
You can see a few pics of the Pacific map at this link:
http://www.ww2wargame.com/forum/index.php?topic=274.0
But it has not been playtested as much as Europe, so it is a bit behind in development.
While we have played the two theaters together in a Worldwide game a couple times - the reality ends up being that they are played independently in reality - the only nations that have any real cross over from one theater to another in a global game is the Commonwealth (India/Australia) and to a lesser extend Britain.
-
I'm up to everything on disc now :-)
-
Darkman - we are pretty much at the buyable stage I think.
Discussing whether to sell everything on a disk for like $20 (to help cover all the development) or to sell it with counters, battleboards, country charts and everything printed - except the map - for more. Printing the map is the largest cost - so we were thinking of just distributing it on a disk. Debating which route to go - your thoughts?
Mark
I would buy one on disk.
-
OK, guys - I will start a different thread on buying the advanced game once I connect with John. The counter-sheets, country charts and battleboards will need to get cleaned up little bit - but we will shoot to start making things available in the next few months. Even if some of the rules may need a bit of tweaking - the map, counters, battleboards are all in good shape - so it would be great to get it in the hands of a few more folks and incorporate any other good ideas.
-
Back to the play by play though of the July game - here are the next couple turns. I built up my British Army in Egypt very nicely - and John launched an early Spring Barbarossa against Russia.
[attachment deleted by admin]
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
So, in Summer 1941 - things looked pretty bad for the Russians in the South . . . I guess I can see how I lost the game. Neverthless, things started to look up for the Russians in the North by the end of Autumn 1941 and for the British in Egypt - which had stopped Rommel's advance.
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Yeah - I was pretty much about to give up on NA. No real lend lease went to the Russians so I think that is problematic with an early Barbarossa. I ended up staying in NA against my better judgement and went on the defensive. Made them fight for everything rather than give up and abandon the territories. The delaying tactic ended up being the better way to go. Certainly would have bought me more time when it comes to the gun to the temple...
-
Winter 1941-42: The 8th Army advances against Rommel and drive the Axis out of Egypt. The British land in Morocco and are quickly reionforced with the U.S. which have joined the war. The Soviets counter-attack in Winter and encircle a German army outside of Moscow!
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
The winter encirclement was a great/scary move...
-
The suspense is killing me. Does Moscow fall?
-
Sorry! Here are the last depressing pics!
Despite the Soviet Winter counter-offensive which stopped the Germans before Leningrad and Moscow, the successful offensive in Egypt to drive the Germans back into Libya and my early Torch which liberated Morocco and Algeria - The Axis won by taking Stalingrad and driving decisively into the Caucusus and taking Baku. The later triggered the Turks to join the war and gave them another VP in Istanbul.
The result was Axis tallying up 40VPs - forcing the Allies to come to terms and establish a settlement with the Axis. . . Victory goes to John. . .but I am already planning my revenge later this year - I have to be the allies against John again in at least one of our games!
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
That was the southern drive that I expected to see in the last game and it totally evaporated from the pics leaving a great vacuum of action in the south.
Then again, if the Soviets use enough resources to save Moscow, then the southern areas will probably open to the Axis scourge.
-
Sure - looking back - the big advantage is that I entered Russia a bit earlier and was able to take a fair amount of space quickly. Then in the Winter/Spring - the Russians took alot of losses reducing the surrounded out of supply German army...
Lesson: Early Barbarossa = immediate max lend lease to Russia 8)
-
Yeah - a few lesson learned: 1) Should have maxed out more on lend lease to Russia, 2) Should have been more conservative with the Russians and remained on the Defensive in the North, rather than investing in a counter-offensive, 3) Should have built up the defenses in the South instead and in defending VPs, 4) Put more pressure on the Axis in the West with an early invasion of France to take the heat of the Russians (I squandered my British income in launching an offensive in Egypt rather than sitting tight for a few more turns), 4) Keep a much closer eye on victory points in 1942 and defend them so as to not get myself in a desperate situation so early in the game. . .
Ready for my rematch! Will we get two games in again over the holidays? :)
-
Hell yeah! 8)
-
c'mon guys don't tease us to death ;D