RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> World in Flames >> After Action Report >> RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR

Page: << < prev 1 [2] 3 4 5 next > >>

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 12:49:13 AM

Majorball68

Posts: 490
Joined: 11/22/2013
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

The French do not need a convoy point for the Algerian resource: there is a land rail line through Spanish Morocco Gibraltar and Spain to France.

Also, to get a the build point from Japan to the US, have the Japanese save a build point, and do not have a convoy chain all the way to the Philippines. I have gotten the build point every turn but the first, following those two rules.

In my games I get the build point from the start. Seems odd!

(in reply to Courtenay)

Post #: 31

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 1:17:40 AM

FJeff

Posts: 108
Joined: 9/13/2003
Status: offline

Excellent. Just what is needed.

_____________________________

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fightin' for?

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 32

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 3:59:45 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

Right then, dinner is over and on we go.

Germany aligns Hungary, largely to open up the rail lines into Rumania. Any Rumanian defense now will rely heavily on German garrisons.

The Axis forces take land actions all around. Germany wants to shift Rumanians around and rail in an HQ to secure the border, while both Germany and Italy have some maneuvering to do in the south of France. Italy also wants to continue the march to Tunis. Japan plans to finally seize the southern resource and has a few other small moves to make. I may or may not move the Hiroshima militia into China this turn - with only one land unit in Japan to move, it may not be worth taking a combined. Time will tell how much moving I will want to do later in the turn.

Germany rails Von Beck into the Transylvanian hex SW of the Russian vanguard. Somewhere, an aspiring author is inspired to write a particularly bad horror novel. Rundstedt is railed west to take his place. Italy rails the 3-1 garrison into the Bessarabian port. Bad weather and rocky terrain continue to slow the axis advance in southern france, but the Italians do manage to secure the port of Toulon. The UK is increasingly uneasy about Wavell, the British fleet, and the African situation, but FDR urges Winston to keep the peace until the American population has grown more outraged by Axis atrocities. The Rumanians pull out of Chisinau in order to screen off the border, and Russia will be prevented from entering Rumania proper for at least one more turn. Veterans of the Polish campaign continue to trudge back toward the western front, a few hexes at a time.

In Japan, the marines seize the resource in the south and move adjacent to Nanning. The Manchurian militia occupies Kweilin, but the editorial board of the New York Times doesn't even notice.

There is something buggy about supply calculations for the Japanese in the Changsha region. In theory, you can force the game to recalc supply by saving and reloading the game, but it's not 100% reliable as a workaround. What's worse, sometimes you'll set up an attack and commit units, but then prior to the execution of the attack (but after you are able to cancel it) the game will decide that half the attackers are out of supply and you go from a high odds attack to a very poor odds attack. It's a known bug, so be careful with your units in the Changsha area until it's fixed.

The Japanese launch an attack on the clear hex SW of Nanchang. The attack will be at +7.6, prior to any air being flown. Japan adds 1 point of combat support from it's Nav, escorted by a 5 point fighter. China intercepts with its 3 point fighter, and we have the game's first air to air combat. It's a short dogfight as the Japanese bomber is cleared on the first round, and the Chinese fighter is blown out of the sky. Reports of parachute sightings in the area indicate that the pilot survived. With the air added in, it's now an exact +8. China can choose between an assault (bloodier for both sides, more likely to hold the hex) or a blitz attack, which will probably give up the hex but with a much higher chance of saving the units. After consulting the generals (P 173 RAC) China opts for protecting its units. A note here for new players - even if there is no armor involved, the blitz chart is always available. If the hex being attacked is clear, desert or forest, without a city, and the attacker has more armor/mech than the defender, then the attacker chooses the chart. In all other cases, the defender chooses. In this case, neither side has any armor so even though it's a clear terrain hex, it's China's choice, and Japan rolls an 18, or a modified 23+. It turns out the choice of chart was irrelevant - on either chart, the Chinese forces are wiped out.

Germany realizes the flaw in placing a Nav in Cagliari. Until the CW and Italy are at war, British ships in the med stop any supply from passing through Italian convoys to German units. The german plane is out of supply and will remain so for the foreseeable future, so Germany bites the bullet and returns it to the mainland, where it flips.

British pacifists, holdovers from Chamberlin's cabinet, continue to exert enough pressure to keep the UK out of war with Italy. Ideally the allies want the turn to end as quickly as possible. This will be true for the first half of the war, where every impulse is a chance for Germany to exploit its military superiority. However, the CW needs to land some units in France and take up positions in Lille. If everyone but the CW passes, there's a 20% chance of ending. Russia doesn't like that plan, however, and insists on pressing the ooze in Bessarabia. CW takes a land, as do France and China. Chance to end the turn is only 10%.

In China, the unit in the mountains west of Changsha is now almost completely surrounded. Rather than making a heroic (but almost certainly doomed) stand, it moves south west, creating an even larger mountain garrison for the Japanese to deal with. Here the Chinese have strengthened their position while falling back, something they need to do a lot of. In the north, the ChiComs are hamstrung by Russia's obsession with Bessarabia. The British march south into Lille and land a fresh infantry unit in Calais. They are now maxed out on the foreign troop commitment, and it's time to pull the HQ's back to safety (next impulse). France rearranges a few units on its line, the Russians ooze a bit more, but barring a long turn will probably be shut out of Rumania thanks to the units the axis railed in this impulse.

The turn does not end. The new weather roll is a 4, giving us fine weather everywhere but the north temperate (rain) and the arctic. Save game file below.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Zartacla -- 1/9/2014 5:47:21 AM >

(in reply to FJeff)

Post #: 33

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 4:03:37 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

Bessarabia. Note that the Axis screening force has effectively stopped Russia from getting past Bessarabia for at least another turn. Note also that poor planning on my part has grounded the Soviet Air Force until the weather clears up (or I move an HQ).

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 34

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 4:08:11 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

South/Central China.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 35

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 6:52:45 AM

Majorball68

Posts: 490
Joined: 11/22/2013
Status: offline

Axis units in Rumania..they can be there without Axis DOW on Russia? Not familiar of what happens when Bessarabia is refused.

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 36

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 7:31:06 AM

Majorball68

Posts: 490
Joined: 11/22/2013
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

quote:

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

The French do not need a convoy point for the Algerian resource: there is a land rail line through Spanish Morocco Gibraltar and Spain to France.

Also, to get a the build point from Japan to the US, have the Japanese save a build point, and do not have a convoy chain all the way to the Philippines. I have gotten the build point every turn but the first, following those two rules.

In my games I get the build point from the start. Seems odd!

This is quite baffling. I have studied your save and my save game at the same stage and right from the first impulse Japan sends the USA a build point. The only difference I see is I have 6 Convoy points in US West Coast. One of mine is unused obviously. Try moving an additional convoy point to the West coast sea box sea what happens.

(in reply to Majorball68)

Post #: 37

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 8:17:16 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

I have often said that I can resist anything but temptation, and Wavell by himself and the Royal Navy in the western med all under clear blue skies is more temptation than I can handle. Italy declares war on the Commonwealth. Japan and Germany take land actions, Italy takes a combined.

The Italian Nav flies out to the 4 box in the western med. Normally I wouldn't want him all alone in a sea box without some fighter backup, but in a surprise impulse, with no british air (not even a CV!) in sight, I want every possible chance to find the CW fleet. That's the only naval air mission I fly - I want the other two air missions to ground strike Wavell.

For its naval move, the Italians send their subs out to Cape St Vincent. Now that I know how to move multiple subs as a single naval move, they end up in the 2 and 3 box.

Prophetically, both searches in the western med were successful with only the Italian nav included. It's a surprise impulse, and every unit involved in the fight is from either Italy or CW (if there were German or French units included, there would be no surprise effects), the CW gets 0 surprise points, even though they rolled better than the Italians. Italy damages a CW battleship, and the UK aborts rather than risk their fleet against the Italians in a surprise impulse. When one side aborts a naval combat, then it must send all ships in that sea zone home, even the convoys. So after one round of combat, the Italians damaged a CW battleship and cleared the sea zone. It could have been much worse for the UK. Sadly for the Italians, their subs all failed to locate British merchant marines as well.

Italian bombers do their job, and Wavell is ground struck. Pinned down, Isolate, disorganized on the coast next to the Italian fleet, Wavell is in trouble. Germany rails an infantry into Cernauti and another to the French Alps.

Meanwhile, in China the marines occupy Nanning and the US is once again unconcerned. The Japanese surround the mtn hex east of Changsha. The central Chinese theater is in real danger of collapsing. But bad weather in the north keeps things stable there.

The Italians walk into Tunis and move another unit into France. An attack on Wavell would be at +4.4, counting air and naval support. The CW would declare a blitz, and most likely Wavell would retreat, with a decent chance of killing the Italian mech in the process. Italy has to wait. Even if the turn ends before Italy can bring more firepower to bear, Wavell only escapes if the allies grab the initiative in Jan/Feb.

In China, saving and restoring the game works to fix supply, but the Japanese aren't ready to attack east of Changsha just yet. Another bug popped up here - periodically, when you try to open a saved game from within the game, it will make you exit and restart MWIF in order to load a game. It doesn't happen every time, or follow any pattern that I can tell. Not game breaking by any means, but a minor annoyance.

Germany rebases some air to the French Alps. The weather in Jan/Feb will almost certainly preclude any action in Belgium and northern France, but there may be room for some play in the part of France in the Med zone. Plus we're hoping for a shot at Wavell still. With that in mind, Graziani reorgs the infantry Germany railed in this impulse. Better to reorg it and have the turn end, then to not reorg it and have the turn continue.

However, the turn ends on a roll of 1.

The US adds a chit to the Euro pool which now stands at 1,1,1,2,2 and the Japanese pool is at 1,4. That's an entry level of 13 and 11, respectively, with nothing in either tension pool yet. There's still too much downside to removing a chit from the Japanese pool, especially when we're so close to an embargo. The Chinese are just going to have to tough it out without John Wayne and the rest of the Flying Tigers. I'm also in no hurry to pick any of the available euro options.

Germany is down several resources, and I was having trouble figuring out where they went until I remembered the strat bombing of Ploesti. That'll stop now that we're enforcing a peace. Japan once again manually orders the dutch oil resources sent home for production. The US continues to send out its mandated resources while receiving nothing in return. Not even a thank you card!

The bulk of the worlds navy returns to base. A handful of units, scattered here and there, stay at sea. Soon the UK will start having to set up rotating convoy guards to protect themselves on the first impulse, but they really don't have the fleet or air strength for that just yet.

Germany breaks two of its weaker infantry corps down into divisions in preparation for the attack on France. It's a lot easier if every stack his a division to soak up losses or to disorganize on 1/2 disorg results. Italy does the same with a 4-3 infantry near the French border.

Production:
Germany, 14 BPs - Pilot, Nav (3), Lnd (2), armor, sub
Italy, 5 BPs - Pilot, Nav (3)
Japan, 12 BPs - Pilot, CV Zuikaku, inf, inf, mil
China, 5 BPs - Inf, Cav
CW 11 BPs - Pilot, Pilot, 2 CPs, BB Prince of Wales, 2 CA repairs
France 6 BPs - Inf, Lnd (3)
US 10 BPs - BB Wyoming, BB, BB, CVP (1), CVP (1), CP
USSR 8 BPs - Pilot, Lnd (4), Mot Div

Germany enforces peace between USSR and Rumania. Rumania reverts to neutral status and Axis must move all units out to closest friendly hex. Rumania will reenter as a German ally in January, and the axis units that were in Rumania will remain in the Balkans, along with a few others, for an upcoming attack on Greece.

Save file:

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 38

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 8:21:01 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

Axis units in Rumania..they can be there without Axis DOW on Russia? Not familiar of what happens when Bessarabia is refused.

When Bessarabia is refused, Russia must declare war on Rumania. At this point, it allies with Germany or Italy, just like any other minor that has been DOW'd, and all other cooperation rules apply. So yes, Germany can garrison Rumania, but not fight the Russians there. The main reason this doesn't happen more often is because Russia has nice strat bombers from the start, and will pound the Ploesti oil. When playing with oil rules, this is quite painful for Germany. But without the oil rules, it was a few resources for one turn, in return for which I can now align all 3 Balkans and set up for an aligned Yugoslavia.

(in reply to Majorball68)

Post #: 39

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 8:25:05 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

Reinforcements arriving this turn. Note that the Rumanian reinforcements won't be arriving after all, now that it has reverted to neutral status.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 40

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 8:27:13 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

Most notable among the reinforcements are the Japanese Nav bombers. I build early Japanese Nav's more for their tac factors than their air to sea factors. The Japanese Navs are better bombers than their Lnds.

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 41

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 10:27:52 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

Soldiers around the world paused for a moment to ring in the new year. What will 1940 hold for us? I'm eager to find out.

I'm fairly liberal in scrapping units at year start, particularly obsolete air units.

At the start of the turn, the initiative marker has once again moved toward the allies, and is now dead center with neither side getting a bonus on rolls, and both sides being able to demand a reroll. The allies win the initiative roll, and the axis have a decision to make. By demanding a reroll, the axis has a little under 50/50 chance of getting the initiative, and using it to pound Wavell (less than 50/50 because allies currently win tie rolls). This will push the initiative marker further in the wrong direction, and only gives them a chance at initiative, in a winter turn. Best to let this one go, the axis decides reluctantly. The allies take the initiative, and the weather roll is a 6. Snow in N Temp, Rain in the med, fine in N Typhoon.

CW takes a naval action to protect convoys and suck the HQ's out of France. France takes a combined - only needing limited land moves to plug the southern line and wanting to bring out the French navy to support the UK in the med.

The UK takes to the sea, grabbing the two HQ's in france, as well as the south African infantry. The French fleet sails into the western med. If Italy wants to come out and play with the UK fleet carrying Wavell, they'll have to fight through the French who will be assigned to take the first (and second!) wave of damage.

The allies initiate a naval combat in the western med, hunting the Italian CP. Both Ger and It fly in nav bombers, and Italy send a fighter into the 0 box as well. There's no british air included, because the carriers are all back home for their annual retrofit. Because both sides rolled low, a combat is initiated between the 2 nav bombers and both the british and French fleets. The convoy isn't involved. The axis would rather not fight at all, using their air just to screen the convoy, and they choose not to make it a naval air combat. The allies would love to force the combat to occur, but with no air of their own they can't force the issue. The rule governing what type of naval combat happens is 11.5.7 (RAC pp 55-6). If you're following along as a new player, I suggest looking it over at this time. Round 2 finds both sides once again successful in their searches, with the same result. On the third round, the search rolls fail so combat is avoided. Note that had I not sent the air into the Med, the allies would have been the only ones to succeed on the first search roll and could have picked which sea box(es) to attack. The CP would have certainly been sunk. The lesson here is that naval air fills two functions - First, it can be used to sink enemy ships, but secondly it can be used to screen convoys either by rolling well on search rolls or, if in the 0 box, by forcing the enemy to spend surprise points to shift it away from a naval air combat.

As an example, the british subs in the Italian Coast found the Italian CP there. The Italians had reacted by flying a fighter into the 0 box. Since naval air takes priority over other types of naval combat, Italy can now force a naval air combat. But because the UK has 6 surprise points (I rolled poorly with Italy), they can spend 4 of them to force a sub combat instead. And that's what they do, spending the other 2 points to bump up their naval combat strength. The result is a sunk convoy.

Russia moves Zhukov and the cavalry up the rail line toward the finnish border NE of Leningrad. Flush with their glorious success in seizing Bessarabia, the Russians want to continue the land grab in Finland.

France moves to fill the gap left by Wavell's escape, and the Chinese consolidate their line in the center. Changsha is key to the Chinese defense, and they are not prepared to abandon it at this time. It may come to that this summer, but every turn counts.

The Chinese briefly contemplate attacking the Japanese infantry SE of Changsha. It's +6.5 on the die roll, and would be a massive coup for the Chinese if they pull it off. But then common sense is restored - the cost of failure could be extreme, with as many as 3 Chinese units killed and half the army flipped.

Russian long range bombers head north, ready to support on attack on petsamo should the Finns prove as obstinate as the Rumanians.

The British rearrange the CVP's on carriers in port. This takes no air missions, so long as all carriers and planes are in the same port. However, the interface for doing it is terrible. I dread the Jan turn of each year for just this reason, and I'm often tempted to just let my CV's keep sailing with outdated air until they're shot down, just to avoid this. The Spitfire in northern France flies south to Bourdeaux. It's taking a series of hops to Malta, where it will be used to provide air cover for the 4 point nav bombers that are about to show up on the map.

Germany starts off the Axis half of the impulse by aligning Rumania. The US doesn't care. The slow pace of US entry is starting to become worrisome for the allies.

Germany and Italy both take combined actions, planning on sending out their subs. Japan needs to move some units from Japan to China, but first they need to get to ports so Japan starts off with a land action.

Japan takes Ankang, a city with no strategic significance other than as a potential reinforcement entry point for China. The US is once again uninterested. There is some minor oozing around the French in the south. In central China, Yamamoto moves up covering the empty space vacated by the Chinese who pulled back to consolidate their lines. Terauchi readies an attack against the double stacked mountain hex, but a failed groundstrike and low odds makes him reconsider for the moment. Yamamoto is less hesitant, launching a +13 attack on the unit SE of Hengyang. The Chinese call for a blitz, hoping to save the unit, and aren't disappointed when Yamamoto rolls a 6, for a modified 19. This is good enough to take the hex, but the unit is only shattered and will go onto the reinforcement spiral to arrive next turn. The Japanese suffer one loss, which must be the engineer who foolishly used his combat factors thinking he was safe in a +13 attack. Such is life in the Japanese army. The other marine unit in the attack is disorganized, effectively ending any offensive actions in the south for this turn.

The impulse ends, and the weather for the following impulse is exactly the same.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 42

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 10:30:46 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

China, as seen from outerspace

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 43

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 7:12:13 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

It's only the second allied impulse of 1940, but the allies are more or less done for the turn. Although there are a few small things they can do, they're essentially in a holding pattern and would benefit more by a fast turn than by any minor moves they can make. If all allies pass, there's a 10% chance of ending the turn, so that's what they do. To the great annoyance of the Axis, the end of turn roll is a 1. But hey, at least winter is over!

The allies add another chit to the Japan pool - another "1". The Japan pool is now 1,1,4. Combined with the European pool, there is just enough for the US to declare an embargo. Amazingly, this is the first US entry action of the game - that's how bad the US entry draws and rolls have been. A "1" chit is moved from entry to tension.

Japan once again manually ships the oil from NEI. But now that the embargo is in effect, you won't have to listen to me grip about the missing US build point anymore.

Production:
Germany 15 BPs - Pilot, Lnd (3), Ftr (2), Rommel
Italy 6 BPs - Badoglio, 1 CP
Japan 15 BPs - Pilot, CV, CVP (1), BB, Inf, Eng, Mil
China 6 BPs - Stilwell, Cav div
CW 17 BPs - Pilot, Pilot, 2 CPs, Nav (4), Alexander, Ca, CA repair
France 8 BPs - Pretalat, Inf
US 10 BPs - Amph, BB, BB, 3 CVP(1)
USSR 15 BPs - Pilot, Ftr (2), Yeremenko, Inf, Mech div

The second French Mtn arrives and goes into Lyons. There are now 9 factors of MTN units in lyons, tripled in Mtns for 27 points. Lyons is a factory city, surrounded on all but one side by rivers, and one side butts up against Switzerland. To take Lyons, the Axis can line up 5 stacks, 4 of which will be at half value, against the 27 point stack. Although this doesn't crush any dreams of incomplete conquest, it certainly has to give Germany a bit of pause. Is Spain really worth all that?

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 44

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 7:54:08 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

March begins with more bad weather, but the Axis seize the initiative again.

Germany aligns Bulgaria, and the US finally seems concerned, although... not very. A "2" is added to the euro pool. Germany had hoped to align Bulgaria in Jan/Feb so the Axis could rail some units to southern Bulgaria last turn, in prep for an attack on Greece in March. But you can only align one minor per impulse, and in their only impulse in Jan/Feb, Germany aligned Rumania. This will probably push back the war on Greece until July.

With crappy weather all around, Germany and Japan take combined actions, and Italy takes a naval.

The German and Italian subs scatter, and search for vulnerable CW convoys. Across 5 different sea zones, the Axis fail to locate a single ship.

A fairly uneventful turn. Germany shifts a few more units around on its line, ready to attack Belgium the moment the sun comes out. The Japanese ferry some fresh troops into China. And the turn passes to the allies.

CW takes a naval, France takes a land, USSR takes a combined and demands the Finnish border hexes.

Functionally, this works much like Bessarabia. If Germany denies it, then Russia and Finland go to war. Germany can enforce a peace if Russia controls no Finnish hexes other than the border hexes. However, there are none of the political ramifications. Germany would like to deny it just to force the Soviet declaration of war on Finland, given how bad the US entry is anyway. But the units in Murmansk and the 2 long range soviet bombers that can hit defenders in Petsamo give Germany a bit of pause. Any Finnish units that set up in Petsamo will be out of supply. 2 land bombers will, sooner or later, disorganize those out of supply units, and the Russian divisions will destroy them. Russia is primed to occupy other parts of the border hexes, and make Finland's life miserable. Germany grudgingly gives in.

Britain rolls better on naval searches, and splashes the Italian CP in the eastern med. The turn ends as uneventfully as it began. Russia brings her long range bombers back south a bit, France moves some reinforcements up, and we're done. Weather for the next impulse is another 1, so winter continues. This is not good news for the Germans.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 45

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 8:13:47 PM

Majorball68

Posts: 490
Joined: 11/22/2013
Status: offline

The early CW 4 strength naval bombers have poor range.
Is there a reason you build the 1939 models? Would it be better to wait until the Sunderlands in 1940?

Same applies for the German HS123 Dive Bomber, is there any great need to build this prior to being able to scrap it so you get some Stukas instead? I am assuming you would have some in your starting force pool so a couple of pilots built at the start would be better to fill a couple of older planes while you await newer models.

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 46

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 9:01:13 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

The turn starts out with Germany aligning Finland. Another "1" goes into the US entry pool. German control of Finland gives it access to the resource in Petsamo, and the CP's are already in place to bring it home.

Land actions all around. Bad weather means its unlikely we'll see any combat, but there are some units to maneuver.

It's a short turn, but that's the nature of winter. To make matters worse for the Axis, the Allies decide to all pass giving them a 60% chance of ending the turn. If that happens, then Germany will have had 3 impulses in the first 4 months of 1940, and all in terrible weather. That's bad news for the boys in grey.

Fortunately, the roll is a 7, so the turn goes on. And while it's not good weather, it does clear up a bit. Rain in the north temperate, fine in the med and north monsoon. There will be some action this impulse.

Land actions all around.

The Axis ground strike 2 hexes in southern france and 1 in china. In France, the French and Italian fight an air to air combat but nobody hits anything, and the Italian bomber is cleared through. Both French units are hit, the Japanese miss their target. In fact, I think the Japanese bombers came closer to hitting the French than they did the Chinese.

In southern France, both groundstruck units are attacked. In the mountains NW of Nice, the axis launch an attack at +6.3. The French choose an assault, and on a modified 19 the French unit is dead, along with 2 Italian divisions. The axis occupy the hex and brace themselves for the attack on Marseilles, at +8.4. The axis miss the fractional odds roll, but a natural 17 gives them a modified 23+, and the Italians march into Marseilles.

The turn ends. With no clear weather turns in March/April, we go into May with Belgium still not attacked, the ChiComs still in control of Sian and getting stronger, and the nationalists still holding Lanchow. On the plus side for the Axis, the US entry levels are still low, the Italians are marching unimpeded across north west Africa, and taking over East Africa, Marseilles has fallen, and the Germans have taken virtually no losses the entire game. The Axis is prepared to DOW Greece and Belgium, and the southern front in France will put a lot of pressure on the allies, so a May/Jun conquest of Paris isn't out of the question, assuming decent weather and turn length.

The US finally gets around to activating the Flying Tigers in China, and seizing the Bearn, turning it into a transport. American apathy runs deep, and they are about as interested in American actions as they are Axis. A single "1" chit is moved from the euro pool to tension.

Japan once again manually ships the NEI resources home. I should just macro that...

During the RTB phase, the CW lands the South African infantry in Algiers, right in front of the Italians.

Production:
Germany 15 BPs - Pilot, Nav (4), Ftr (2), arm, sub
Italy, 6 BPs - Pilot, Ftr (2), BB repair
Japan, 15 BPs - Pilot, Shokaku, Ftr (2), Marine div, BB, Mtn
China, 5 BPs - Ftr, Inf
CW,17 BPs - Pilot, Pilot, 2 CPs, Duke of York, Nigeria, ftr (2), cvp (1), amph
France, 8 BPs - Pilot, Lnd (4), Terr
US 10 BPs, Pilot, Trans, 2 CVP (1), BB, CP
USSR, 16 BPs - Pilot, Ftr (2), arm, inf, inf

Reinforcements for May/Jun. Noteable - the first long range nav for the UK, Guderian for Germany

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 47

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 9:07:05 PM

Majorball68

Posts: 490
Joined: 11/22/2013
Status: offline

Don't worry about my post regarding the sunderland!

< Message edited by Majorball68 -- 1/9/2014 10:07:31 PM >

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 48

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 9:08:21 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

The early CW 4 strength naval bombers have poor range.
Is there a reason you build the 1939 models? Would it be better to wait until the Sunderlands in 1940?

Same applies for the German HS123 Dive Bomber, is there any great need to build this prior to being able to scrap it so you get some Stukas instead? I am assuming you would have some in your starting force pool so a couple of pilots built at the start would be better to fill a couple of older planes while you await newer models.

I'm a little confused - the CW nav(4) I built on turn 1 was a Sunderland and is arriving on the board this turn. It has a range of 20. That's poor range?

I wouldn't usually build the early German Nav, but I was concerned about Italy after the massive losses they took cracking the French border. I wanted some German air power in the Med to free up a few Italian BPs for rebuilding ground forces.

(in reply to Majorball68)

Post #: 49

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 9:09:29 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

Don't worry about my post regarding the sunderland!

It happens. There's a LOT to keep track of this game. I had to go back through my posts and the forcepools to double check.

(in reply to Majorball68)

Post #: 50

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 9:13:10 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

The save file for those wanting to play along. This would be another good place for a new player to pick up the game and try a turn or two - the attack on France is about to begin in earnest.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Zartacla -- 1/9/2014 11:37:48 PM >

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 51

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 9:16:17 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

The situation in southern France. There's nothing much to see in northern France - just a pile of Germans sitting on the Belgian border.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 52

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 9:19:17 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

The gathering storm... I need to bring in a little air and secure the sea lanes to prevent UK reins.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 53

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 10:22:46 PM

Shannon V. OKeets

Posts: 22095
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

quote:

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

quote:

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

The French do not need a convoy point for the Algerian resource: there is a land rail line through Spanish Morocco Gibraltar and Spain to France.

Also, to get a the build point from Japan to the US, have the Japanese save a build point, and do not have a convoy chain all the way to the Philippines. I have gotten the build point every turn but the first, following those two rules.

In my games I get the build point from the start. Seems odd!

This is quite baffling. I have studied your save and my save game at the same stage and right from the first impulse Japan sends the USA a build point. The only difference I see is I have 6 Convoy points in US West Coast. One of mine is unused obviously. Try moving an additional convoy point to the West coast sea box sea what happens.

I could have sworn I fixed this with 1.0.8.0, but when I tested it yesterday with 1.0.8.6 the build point was not being sent. There was one unused convoy in all 5 of the sea areas. I worked on fixing this last night but couldn't figure out what was wrong. I'll get it fixed for the next patch - which I expect to make available next week.

_____________________________

Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.

(in reply to Majorball68)

Post #: 54

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 10:34:12 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

The allies win the initiative roll. This is one of those rare times where the Axis doesn't care that much about initiative. Chances are the weather will be clear and we'll be taking land actions, so getting a naval move in before the CW can send out escorts isn't really an issue. Because most of the thrust of the turn will be fighting Belgian units that aren't even deployed yet, there's no real advantage to taking the initiative there. The situation in southern France and China is relatively static (although the ChiComs are going to be able to reinforce their mountain hex, ugh). All in all, not worth burning a reroll for a chance at taking initiative.

The allies feel the same way and almost want to let the Axis go first, just for the chance of pushing the initiative track further their way. However, if the weather is bad, that would be an open invitation for german and Italian naval move to rampage through their convoys, so the Allies go ahead and move first.

Sure enough, bad weather continues with rain in the north temp and storms in the north monsoon. Only the med has fine weather.

Britain takes a naval, the French take a combined. The British want to close up the Med. If they can shut the Italians down this turn, then the CW can respond to an attack on Greece by landing some units. If the CW can get 4 land units into Greece before the Germans conquer it, then the CW can align Yugoslavia and that would make all of our planning and scheming for naught.

Of course, this presents Britain with another dilemma - if all her transports head to the Med, the BEF is on its own. Should things go bad in France (and really, what could go wrong there?) they risk being pinned down and destroyed. If the transports pick the BEF up and bring them to the med in preparation for landing in Greece, then the French line will collapse in a strong breeze (instead of a light wind). For now, her transports are poised to help Greece, but if Germany knocks Greece out in one turn, then the UK will be too slow.

The British subs sink the Italian convoy in the Italian Coast. In Cape St Vincent, the Italian subs sneak past the British CVs and Cruisers to smack around some freighters. 2 CPs sink, 3 more are aborted. The UK will have to replace them this turn or start suffering some BP hits.

Germany and Japan take combined actions, Italy takes a naval and brings out its fleet to challenge the allies in the eastern med. Italy is far outgunned here and will need some good search rolls. Japan brings more units into Japan, and Italy and Germany send out their subs.

The Italians find the allies in the eastern med, and elect to take out the CP's. Now any british units landing in Greece will be going in unsupplied, vulnerable to being groundstruck and destroyed. Britain will have to reestablish a convoy route here first. In the West Med, it's the other way around and Italy loses one cruiser and aborts her CP here. This will stall the north African campaign until supply can be reestablished. In Faeroes Gap, Germany sinks 2 CP's and aborts 1 more, but both German subs are sent home by the allied cruisers.

Germany attempts to groundstrike the French infantry in the mountains north of Marseilles and the French intercept. One bomber and the French fighter are shot down. The remaining bomber fails to find its target.

Germany and Italy move some air toward Greece, and the impulse ends. Going into the next impulse the weather will be clear on a 2 or higher. So of course the roll is a 1. Bad weather continues in the north temperate. The last time Germany saw clear skies in her primary zone of operation was October.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 55

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 11:09:18 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

Trudging on, Germany grows frustrated. The failure of the Italians to push past their initial breach of the French line now looms large. The French have had several turns of extra production as a result and while that won't prevent Germany from wiping them off the face of Europe, each turn of weather induced delay just raises the eventual cost in men and material.

Once again, the allies have a 10% chance of ending the turn by passing, and once again they have no critical moves to make. Everyone is in a bit of a holding pattern, but the allies benefit more from short turns and so they pass. This time the turn does not end, and the Axis get a second impulse. However it's still crappy weather in the north, and there's a strong chance they will not get a 3rd impulse, even if the weather clears up.

Land actions all around.

The British appear to have made a mistake by leaving a transport in Malta. It's there to move Wavell into Greece should the Axis attack, but now it's just bait for the German dive bomber in Sicily. But if Germany takes the bait, the carrier air in the Eastern Med will pounce, and the Henkel 115c will find itself badly outnumbered. Instead it joins its Italian counterparts in patrolling the sea zone. The CW tries to lure in the axis bombers, but nobody sees nothing and there is no combat there this impulse.

The Italian bombers are no more effective than the Germans at hitting the French unit in the mtns. Italians march into Khartoum and Berbera, and advance on Nairobi. CW needs to start building territorials or risk being wiped out of Africa.

The impulse ends without any attacks. Finally clear weather!

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 56

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 11:18:32 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
I could have sworn I fixed this with 1.0.8.0, but when I tested it yesterday with 1.0.8.6 the build point was not being sent. There was one unused convoy in all 5 of the sea areas. I worked on fixing this last night but couldn't figure out what was wrong. I'll get it fixed for the next patch - which I expect to make available next week.

That's good news and I hope it does get fixed, although another week seems like a long time to wait. I've had the game for over a month, and at this price point this is one of those things I just expect to work right. How long before partisans are working correctly? How long before French surrender doesn't crash the game? The recombine pool crash? For a $100+ game that's been out for 2+ months, there are still far too many game ending bugs.

Not your fault, I know you're still smashing bugs as fast as you can. The game just should not have been released at this price point with this many issues.

Moving on to things more interesting...

Here's the Med going into the 3rd allied Impulse of MJ 40

Attachment (1)

(in reply to Shannon V. OKeets)

Post #: 57

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/9/2014 11:19:47 PM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

And East Africa.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 58

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/10/2014 12:27:05 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

Clear weather, now the allies really want the turn to end. If the first German turn of clear weather since Oct comes in July, the Axis will have a lot of ground to make up. Everyone passes, making it a 50% chance. Remarkably, the turn does NOT end, and the German generals suddenly wake up. Germany declares war on Belgium and Greece. Belgium aligns itself to France, Greece to the UK.

Italy doesn't need to declare war on Greece since it's already at war with the CW. In past games, I didn't realize this and I declared with both Axis countries, and took two US entry hits (which I'm pretty sure isn't supposed to happen). This time I won't declare with Italy, and see if it all works properly.

The US cares about Belgium, adding a "3" to the entry pool. But preemptive anger about future debt problems and danger to the Eurozone has made American capitalists ambivalent about the Greeks. No entry chit pulled.

The Greeks set up their mountain corps in the mountain resource hex, and their other infantry in Athens.

Belgian set up is always a bit of a mystery to me. The CP's go in the Congo, safely out of reach of the Germans. But what to do with the land units... Anyway you stack them, they're dead. It's just a matter of inflicting German casualties and keeping them further from France. The one thing I'm sure about is not putting anything into the resource hex SE of Brussels. A breakthrough result on a blitz attack there will allow German armor to move into the forest hex before the French have the chance to reinforce it.

3 land actions.

Italy ground strikes the Greek Mtn unit. Now I see why there's a separate US entry pull if both axis powers declare war... since Italy didn't actually declare war, the Greeks are not surprised by Italy, only by Germany. British CVPs in the med intercept the groundstriking bomber, which they couldn't have done in a surprise impulse. Even if the bomber gets through, it won't get two rolls on ground strike either. The silly thing is that only Italy was going to be getting any benefit from surprise, so if I had realized this, I would have declared war with Italy, and let Germany get the auto war dec. The result on US entry would be the same, the political situation would be the same, but this bomber would be unimpeded and twice as lethal. Live and learn.
Sure enough, the Brits shoot down the Italian bomber. Urgh. German Stukas manage to hit 2 out of 3 Belgian units and the Belgian fighter and the Japanese disorg one of the 3 chicoms stacked in the mountains. Even though it's a low odds attack, it's never going to get much better and the Japanese may have to clear that hex 1 unit at a time.

In the Balkans, the Axis pour into Greece. On the west coast, Italy marches through the port of Corfu, while German units secure the north east coastal rail line. One advantage of a late turn DOW like this is that there's a decent chance the turn will end before the UK can try to bring in reinforcements. With any lucky, the axis will retake initiative, and take Greece out before the allies ever get a chance to react at all.

In Belgium, german units ooze around the front line defenders. If at all possible, they want to knock Brussels out this impulse, before the allies can get the us entry roll for supporting a minor. To do that, they'll need to take Brussels and Liege. Here's the situation after German moves:

Attachment (1)

(in reply to joshuamnave)

Post #: 59

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/10/2014 12:36:40 AM

joshuamnave

Posts: 967
Joined: 1/8/2014
Status: offline

Germans attack all three Belgian units. In the south, a combined German/Italian attack is launched on the mtn hex, and the Japanese make a poor odds attack on the mountains east of Sian.

The French and Japanese fly ground support missions, and it's time to roll our fate.

Often in China, the Chinese want to chooze blitz attacks and save their units by retreating. But with this many units involved and the chance to do some real damage to the IJA, the chicoms decide to dig in and call an assault. It's not a pretty picture. The Chinese lose a division and the attack is halted for now. Japan will have to grind away at the Chinese until we're through Sian.