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Messages - norseman

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1
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: July 12, 2011, 06:25:09 AM »
I'll probably play another game sometime in august.

2
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: July 12, 2011, 06:19:35 AM »
In the west the allies mainly pushed them back by quickly wiping out the front line and forcing retreats, they didn't have many reserves. for battles that went several rounds germany won almost all of them. In this regard the allies plethora of artillery and planes, particularly typhoons was huge. On this note, I think that stukas and typhoons are easily the most important pieces to have, particularly with the limited front line where support units are so critical. Although the axis won I still feel that the allies have the advantage, by how much i'm not sure. They could have won the game several turns earlier if not for a failed attack on rome in which the allied front line was wiped out and the axis front line survived with a mere one troop, in general the entire allied italian campaign was mismanaged and, with the game, should have been over much sooner.
Yet again I had enormous difficulty doing anything with the Italians, I have yet to play a game where they do anything more advance a space into british territory before withdrawing hastily. the germans supported them with planes but a few lucky anti-aircraft rolls finished that. I think that for the italians to do anything german support has to be pretty substantial, both in planes and ground troops.
On the eastern front german had a pretty good time of things. I love how initiative works, even though poor rolls held the germans up at perekop for three turns. had it not been for that lack of luck I think that germany would have taken stalingrad and maikop for a couple turns and would have easily held budapest and bucharest.
In general I love the mechanics of the game. all the big changes including initiative, leaders, limited front lines, and air combat worked really well. One issue was sub attacks. Despite building a bunch of subs they never really got off the ground. hunter-killer attacks against them were wildly successful and few survived more than a turn or two, although perhaps this was due to britain's large shipbuilding program.
In general I think the allies have the advantage. In this game the allies played pretty risky tactically and few of their gambles paid off, particularly in italy. germany went heavy on the eastern front early and despite poor initiative and slightly substandard rolling were on the attack until mid 43ish.

3
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: July 02, 2011, 04:17:24 PM »
The Axis pull victory from the jaws of defeat in a hectic ending.
the russians failed to take bucharest on the regular combat phase but then incredibly took it on the mech phase with a mere one tank and one katyusha plus a sturmovick. However, the russians failed to take warsaw which was ably defended by kesselring. In the west on turn 23 the allies drove into austria with a large mech army and bavaria barely survived a vicious german counterattack designed to cut the mech army out of supply. the allies also managed to take holland., preparing for the attack on koln. their attack on hessen failed ending any chance of taking berlin. on turn 24 the allies drove into budapest but bounced off of koln and lost bavaria to a german counterattack leaving the axis with berlin, warsaw, koln, and bavaria. the axis also retained much of the balkans, western poland, and northern italy minus milano.

4
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 28, 2011, 06:18:43 AM »
finish*

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After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 28, 2011, 05:02:21 AM »
last few turns haven't been good for them.
the western allies have two turns to play, russia only one more and it will go down to the last turn.
The germans have engaged in a fighting withdrawal from the east and hold warsaw, budapest, and bucharest. they russians are one space away from each but in the south they only have the forces to attack romania or hungary and maybe neither. last turn they decided to attack both bucharest and transylvania and took heavy casualties in both. had they only attacked bucharest they almost certainly would have taken it, now i'm not so sure. russia took riga a few turns ago forcing the finishing surrender after a botched attempt to take helsinki. despite russia having 8 fighters to germanys 1, 4 stukas and 2 bombers have somehow survived despite being in near continuous combat.
in italy the allies have now bounced off of rome three times!!! however they took milano and florence, cutting rome out of supply and have reinforced casino with 15-20 infantry plus artillery and planes so montgomery should be able to pull out the victory there. britain also took greece in an amphib assault several turns ago.
france has been a dogfight. the allies, mostly american, have taken the ardennes, rheinland, and took the saar last turn, cutting alsace loraine out-of-supply. germany has strong defenses in bavaria and hessen and also holds holland and the ruhr moderately strongly and have several forts in berlin. germany actually has more troops than the allies but allied airpower makes a huge difference, especially combined with favorable initiative draws- germany is now outnumbered in fighters something like 14-3. Initiative will be huge for the next two turns as neither russia nor the western allies can afford to be pinned. there is a real possibility that germany could hold warsaw, budapest, and bucharest putting a lot of pressure on the western allies.

6
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 21, 2011, 04:14:43 PM »
winter 43/44
east:
russians force a german retreat from stalino with heavy casualties to both sides. the germans voluntarily retreat from rostov and kursk on the non-com phase and move almost the entire orel army to the weakened southern front. zhukov attacks velikiye luki and fails to take it with heavy russian casualties. the german front is like a house of cards, one good battle in the south would leave that front with scarcely more than its garrisons. germany.
italy:
briitsh disaster, they are nearly wiped out trying to take rome and the germans retake the territory north of it putting rome back in supply. america shipped some infantry down and the allies will try next turn. both sides deploy some fighters to rome.
france:
patton takes antwerp and leese advances towards alsace-loraine and the saar where germany has set up her main defenses. the allies also invaded bergen and will probably take oslo next turn. a lack of p-51's and a heavy german aa presence has led the allies to neglect strategic bombing. I figure that if germany is too have a chance to win, they must hold the western allies up for at least 3 or 4 turns along the german border. it is looking like we could hang on to berlin, warsaw, budapest, and bucharest.

7
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 21, 2011, 06:29:31 AM »
autumn 1943
west:
the allies took some more french territories including marseille, but fail to inflict any casualties as the germans pull back to set up their main defense along the rhine. roughly 15 ipc of strategic bombing is inflicted. germany attacks the allied bridgehead in denmark and wins handily. In italy the allies bypass rome but manage to cut it out of supply setting up a dangerous winter as the allies may be able to push the axis below the minimum vp threshold.
east: germany continues to hold the initiative and takes rostov with heavy casualties to both sides, with winter coming up they may be able to hold it for a turn. germany also repulses a heavy soviet assault on stalino. the ostheer is rapidly being ground down, nearly all their tanks have been destroyed and much of their artillery has been destroyed by sturmovicks.. the soviets have been maxing fighters and sturmovicks and as of the place builds phase they finally gained air superiority, this is a big blow to germany as their stukas are pretty much the only thing keeping them in the fight. what germany does have in russia is time. russia has only a few tanks and without using the mechanized phase will be hard-pressed to take poland and romania by the time the game ends.

8
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 17, 2011, 07:14:20 PM »
spring 1942-summer 1943
camera isn't working so my storytelling skills will have to do.
the east:
Germany has driven deep into russia and established a line in vyborg, pskov, Velikiye Luki, smolensk, orel, kursk, stalino, mariupol, and the crimea. things have been changing pretty rapidly on the eastern front. after hoepner bounced off smolensk, manstein came in and saved the day breaking through on the next turn. by winter 42 the germans had pushed into lagoda, kalinin, and rhzev. the successes in the north were tempered by failure in the south. In summer 42 germany crossed the dnieper at perekop and transferred their best offensive units there on the noncombat phase. unfortunately due to poor initiative draws, they have been bottled up there until the summer of 43 when they took mariupol. again success was due to manstein who brought an army from the center, crushed kharkov and stalino in the spring and inflicted some heavy casualties on rostov in the summer before retreating in strength to stalino. thanks to some efficient use of airbase attacks with fock-wulfs, germany still retains fighter superiority (barely) allowing the stukas to inflict much pain. germany has also been bombing russia to the tune of 10-15 ipcs for the last 4 turns or so. the russian line is thin but the balance of forces is shifting rapidly as the western allies apply pressure and kick lend lease up a notch. for the last two turns the only reinforcements the ostheer have received have been in the form of finns, rumanians, and hungarians.

the med:
britain, america, and the commonwealth landed a small force in italy in august 42, choosing the soft defenses of taranto over the hardened defenses of sicily and naples. they reinforced heavily in winter and then defeated both sicily and naples in spring to force the italian surrender. unfortunately for the allies, paulus and list head a formidable defense in the north, centered on rome, that may prove too much for montgomery. the allies are heavy in artillery and a little light in infantry.

the west:
all the subs have been eliminated thanks to a strong hunter-killer effort by britain. america and britain have been bombing germany for a few turns but because of the heavy aa presence in germany proper have been content to nibble around the edges. they suffered a major setback when a major fighter+bomber force attacked the kriegsmarine in port. aa fire took down two heavies + one regular bomber and another three fighters out of eight aircraft total!!! This setback however did not prevent the western allies from landing in brittany in spring. the low countries were well fortified but germany simply didn't have the manpower to do an adequate job along the whole coast. they then got a good initiative roll in the summer and pushed rundstedt out of paris, killing two jagdpanthers, and at-gun and several infantry. the allies also aggressively landed in denmark  but the remnants of the german fleet have cut them out of supply and they look to be in for a rough autumn.

the axis have 23 vp right now and don't stand to lose more than one or two a turn for the next few turns and they may take rostov so things appear somewhat stable for the next few turns. the axis may have to go down to the end to win. as the german player i am feeling the manpower crunch but so far i love everything about this game, best 300 bucks i ever spent :)

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After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 08, 2011, 09:04:43 PM »
lack of foresight*

10
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 08, 2011, 06:09:08 PM »
turn 10
mixed turn in the east. Germany stays aggressive even in winter: Hoepner attacks a major russian army in smolensk but his front line units are wiped out including several tanks. the winter penalty created big problems. leeb advanced in the north but was driven back by the russian winter counter offensive. in the south things went better. guderian spent his last months on the job crushing the russian line at kiev: 8 casualties inflicted round 1 with only 2 against germany. airpower has been huge for germany. the stukas in particular are wreaking havoc :)  russia has hardly any artillery left creating a bit of a disadvantage as germany has at least two or three artillery in every frontline territory. German also finished off the out of supply russian army at bialystock. In the med britain is paying for its of foresight. despite having the troops, planes, and navy to invade italy it has no landing craft! there are 3 in gibraltar but that probably wont be enough. meanwhile italy is content to fortify and set its defenses. they will probably manage to survive another 3 or 4 turns. In the atlantic britain's massive navy manages to hunt down 2 subs but the remainder deal 11 damage to convoys.

11
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 05, 2011, 05:02:34 PM »
turn 9
terrible things happening to the allies. barbarossa is an utter disaster for the russians. the axis advance on all fronts dealing extremely heavy casualties and taking few themselves. the only russian front line units to survive are surrounded in bialystock. 4 russian fighters are downed and the german stukas deal a heavy toll on the russian artillery and tanks. in the south the main russian army is threatened with encirclement and leningrad is also at risk after the collapse of the vyborg front. the british and commonwealth crush the main axis army in africa, rommel will be evacuated next turn. iraq and syria are conquered by britain ending germanys hope of middle eastern oil. much of the british med fleet is sent back to the atlantic where the uboats deal 15 damage to britain, one sub is sunk by hunter-killer attacks.

12
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 04, 2011, 11:37:26 AM »
turn 8
still no russian attack but lot of other things going on. the main italian fleet under lachino gets a bad initiative draw (the italian way) and is pinned on the african coast by the combined forces of sommerville and cunningham. the littorio, a cruiser, and 3 destroyers are sunk. Even worse, a puny gladiator shot down both me110's!!! The prince of wales and a destroyer were sunk in return and the algerie cruiser damaged. the remnants of the italian fleet have retreated to a sicilian port. two transports managed to get through depositing 5 infantry in africa but I fear that the italian army is not long for this world. next turn should see decisive battles at tobruk and benghazi. germany has finished preparing for barbarossa and the russians, in awe of the german might, are keeping the bulk of their forces a ways back of the front line. the german fleet retreated back to the baltic and placed the bismarck! additionally 5 u-boats have been deployed in the atlantic. next turn will be rough for britain.

13
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 03, 2011, 09:47:51 PM »
iraq and syria also joined the axis. given the overwhelming odds in the med i don't think that they will be much help.

14
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 03, 2011, 08:09:35 PM »
turn 7
a ton of stuff going on this turn. germany finished off greece taking 0 casualties and is almost finished setting up for barbarossa. russia has withdrawn all units except the border requirements from the front. it has major defenses in the south centered on Kiev and a large army in minsk. all of the axis minor production has gone into romania and hungary which have decent sized armies in the south. The italians and germans are retreating in africa where they are outnumbered roughly 4 to 1 in ground units and britain redeployed nearly all available ships to the med in an effort to decisively destroy the italian fleet. this left the home fleet vulnerable and raeder launched a daring attack supported by 8 me109's and 2 bombers. the british airforce was game but overmatched. they lost 2 hurricanes, a spit, a mosquito, the rodney and a destroyer in exchange for damaging the scharnhorst and killing 2 me109's. the only good news for the home fleet is germanys need to send their airforce east. italy counterattacked the british med fleet and damaged the queen elizabeth while shooting down a gladiator and swordfish. they lost a bomber and fiatt but germany has sent them 2 me110's and a bomber so the axis maintains air superiority in the med. the british airforce is nonexistent but they have several fighters coming out next turn. coming soon, a showdown between the italian and british fleet in the med and germanys finishing touches preparing for barbarossa.

15
After Action Reports / Playtesting / Re: 39 game
« on: June 03, 2011, 07:24:02 AM »
not too much pain so far although russia is looking very intimidating.
turn 6
Yugoslavia is easily conquered by germany and her balkan allies and greece is prepared to fall next turn. it looks like russia might happen a turn late so germany still has time to conquer greece and then redeploy against russia. The first naval battles in the med occurs but almost everything misses and the italians retreat with a damaged cruised. Italy is well positioned to counterattack next turn with superior airpower. Britain continues to reinforce africa but no major battles have taken place yet as british units are still moving towards their starting lines. In the west the blitz is on and britain takes 13 points of economic damage. so far britains fighter force is minimal with one spit, hurricane, and mosquito apiece.

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