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

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

joshuamnave

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The rain really puts a damper on my Spanish plans. Germany takes a combined, Italy takes a naval, Japan takes a land.

The subs go out. In Faeroe's Gap, 1 German and 1 Italian sub find some convoys, and spend surprise points hiding from the Nav bomber the Brits put in the 0 box. They spend some more to dodge depth chages.

The German sub is damaged, but 2 convoys sink and a 3rd goes home.

The allies pass for a 10% shot at ending the turn, but it fails. The weather clears, Germany and Italy declare on Spain and everyone takes land actions. This is a good spot to post a save for those who want to try running an invasion or attacking spain.

The US gained 4 chits for that - 2 chits for Germany, and 2 for Italy. Ouch. So much for the slumbering giant... I think the alarm clock just went off.

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< Message edited by Zartacla -- 1/12/2014 4:01:09 PM >

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RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 1:19:43 PM

joshuamnave

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The 3 divisions invade the hex to the west of Barcelona, which has a 0 str notional unit in a surprise impulse. The Spanish will either have to pull off the line to defend Barcelona, or watch the Italians walk in next turn. Alternatively, the could choose the blitz table on one or more of the medium odds attacks I'm making on their front line, and retreat.

The Spanish line can be tough to crack because it's all mountain terrain and a lot of alpine hex sides. But the line is only one thick, and once breached it becomes relatively easy to roll up. So I'm attacking several places along the line, just looking for one good hole. On the coast, I'm using the Italians with Naval gunfire in support, and the invasion outside of Barcelona to help force the issue.

After doing the invasion and winning the first attack (at a heavy price, a mech unit was destroyed a long with the Yugoslavian Mtn) the next attack becomes against out of supply units... and they're flipped from ground strike, so it's an easy kill. But on the coast, the Spanish hold their ground, killing 2 Italian units for 1 Spanish division. Still, they'll need to back up to protect Barcelona, and the line is badly breached, so things look good for the Germans. Until the Brits come in...

Oh and the Japanese advance on chungking from the north. That war is almost over.

Here's a shot of Spain after one turn

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Post #: 122

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 1:23:25 PM

joshuamnave

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And here's China

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Post #: 123

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 2:02:07 PM

joshuamnave

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China and Britain take a land action. British troops run up from Gibraltar. Indian infantry units head for the coast, ready to be brought into the war. China tries to get more troops to chungking.

British bombers, escorted by a pair of Hurricanes, strat bomb Lille. German fighters spring up to play. 2 German fighters at 6.5 v 2 british fighters at 5.5 and 2 British strat bombers. On round 1, 1 bomber clears and a german fighter aborts. Now it's 5 to 5.5, with a slight british advantage. Round 2, another bomber clears and the other German fighter is aborted. 11 Strat factors hit lille and roll a 1. No effect.

China knows the end is near and decides to go down swinging. Sure enough, in a +4 attack, china trades a cav division for a Japanese inf corps.

The turn does not end and the weather stays nice. Land actions all around!

The Spanish were paralyzed by ground strikes and couldn't take walk into Barcelona, so now the Italians do. This puts the eastern part of the line out of supply, and flipped. Germany attacks the flipped units on the east part of the Spanish line. Japan has a +5.8 attack against a single unit in Chungking. Even if it's bloody, it's worth it to end the war. Fingers crossed.

Japan rolls a 6 and loses a Cavalry, and Chungking holds.

In Spain, the Axis take 2 of the 3 mountain hexes in the east, losing 2 of the Italian invaders. Small price to pay for a decimated Spanish line and Barcelona.

The turn does not end. Now the allies need the turn to end before Japan takes another swing at Chungking (Umezu reorganized most of the attackers). China can't get a 2nd unit there this impulse, but they can get one close. The situation in Spain is static for the moment. China takes a land, everyone else passes and prays.

The turn does not end. The weather stays clear.

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< Message edited by Zartacla -- 1/17/2014 9:04:15 PM >

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Post #: 124

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 2:07:43 PM

joshuamnave

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Strong chance of Chungking falling this turn. Things don't look that much better in Spain, although there are a few miles to go to get to Madrid.

Here's the save:

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Post #: 125

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 2:33:31 PM

AxelNL

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Second time this has happened. Both instances came when there was a counter interception from the attacker. Not sure if that's relevant or not. The roll flashes up (in this case it was a 4, last time it was a low number also), then the error message. If you hit "continue application" the game hangs with a "waiting for dice roll" message.

I reloaded the game, and manually entered a 10 for the die roll, same crash.

I reloaded again, this time had the Japanese fighter escort the bombers instead of counter intercept. I manually entered a 4 again and this time it worked fine. The last time I had this crash (see earlier in this AAR) I was able to fix it by escorting instead of intercepting as well. Looks like the code doesn't like attackers counter intercepting during ground strikes.

I tried this out with an air ground strike myself above Moscow: One Stuka, intercepted by 2 Russians. Counterintercepted by 3 German fighters. Went fine (one dead fighter each). I play without the optional pilots, but that looks like a minor difference. We'll need more analysis.

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Post #: 126

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 2:43:11 PM

joshuamnave

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Another +5 attack on chungking, but this one succeeds in clearing the hex (at the cost of a mot division). At this point, China will go down to 0 production, and the benefits of tying up the Japanese army become fairly small. Japan can park some garrisons and get out, or pick off Chinese units a few at a time, or leave their army mostly intact in china while building up the navy and marines... But if china surrenders (and they only have another factory or two anyway) then the US gets the entry hit now and the Japanese are reduced to combined actions until they go to war.

And it's not like the US cared that we took Chungking...

The impulse, and the turn, ends. Japan has taken most of China, the Axis occupy NE spain, including Barcelona. But the US finally gears up!

Production:
Germany, 28 BPs - 2 pilots, 1 CVP (1), sub repair, Scharnhorst, 2 FTR (2), Lnd (3), mech, arm div, eng div
Italy, 11 BPs - sub repair, amph, trans, Lnd (3)
Japan, 18 BPs - pilot, trans, 2 CVP (1), Yamashita (inf HQ), BB, CV, CP
China, 0 BPs
CW, 24 BPs - 2 pilots, 4 cp's, Formidable, CV repair, BB repair, Wavell, Terr, cvp (1)
USA, 20 BPs - South Dakota, BB repair, CV repair, armor HQ, eng div, cvp
USSR, 16 BPs - 2 FTR (2), Arm div, Mot, 2 garrison

France was incompletely conquered, giving 2 chits to the US. China surrendered, and 2 more chits went to the US. This almost doubles the US entry.

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Post #: 127

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 2:45:05 PM

joshuamnave

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quote:

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

quote:

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Second time this has happened. Both instances came when there was a counter interception from the attacker. Not sure if that's relevant or not. The roll flashes up (in this case it was a 4, last time it was a low number also), then the error message. If you hit "continue application" the game hangs with a "waiting for dice roll" message.

I reloaded the game, and manually entered a 10 for the die roll, same crash.

I reloaded again, this time had the Japanese fighter escort the bombers instead of counter intercept. I manually entered a 4 again and this time it worked fine. The last time I had this crash (see earlier in this AAR) I was able to fix it by escorting instead of intercepting as well. Looks like the code doesn't like attackers counter intercepting during ground strikes.

I tried this out with an air ground strike myself above Moscow: One Stuka, intercepted by 2 Russians. Counterintercepted by 3 German fighters. Went fine (one dead fighter each). I play without the optional pilots, but that looks like a minor difference. We'll need more analysis.

It's happened twice to me, both times while doing this AAR (and both times after the latest patch). Try doing it from the first save I posted with it - it's 100% reproducible on my end with that save.

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Post #: 128

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 2:45:10 PM

AxelNL

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

After nothing but grey skies the first half of the year, summer extends itself into September. The first impulse is clear everywhere, and the Allies have the initiative.

Top Priority for the CW is rescue her overseas garrisons. Both in France and in Greece, those units are in real trouble. The units in France have left the coast line, so they'll need to move before they can be rescued. On the first impulse CW will take a naval and focus on getting the boys in blue out of Greece. France will take a Naval as well. There's precious little the French army can do about the arse kicking they're about to get. Lyons and Toulouse are garrisoned, and that's where they'll make their stand. But their navy can harass the axis a bit while it lasts.

The Brits send the Gibraltar fleet into the Italian Coast and suck the two units up out of Greece. For protection, they fly 2 sunderlands and a Fighter out of Malta into the sea zone as well. The Axis now has a lot of air power stationed in Greece, and it's there to contest the Med, so we could see some sparks fly soon.

Not much else happens on the allied half of the turn.

The Germans start off September by allying Yugoslavia. Months of planning and scheming and fighting went into this moment, not that it's worth all that much.

Germany and Japan take land actions. Italy wants to get her fleet into the game, send out subs, reestablish supply to north and east Africa, etc... so takes a naval.

Italy moves its fleet and subs, then finds a british sub sleeping in the eastern med. 2 German HE 115C's follow the periscope wake and drop torpedoes. That sub is now a pile of scrap metal at the bottom of the sea. It's a bad day for advocates of sub warfare everywhere... a French sub in the Italian coast was also picked off by eagle eyed Italian gunners.

In the north of France, a Stuka, escorted by Bf 109, attempts to groundstrike the 2 OOS CW units. The British send in a Spitfire, and eager for the chance to shoot down some British planes, a 6 factor He 100 joins the fray.

Here are the results -

I loaded your gamesave in 1.09.1 (debug version of 1.09, no functional changes) and replayed this air combat. It went fine.
This means that there is a problem recreating your problem = not an easy fix. Hopelfully Steve can find something in your error log which is sent via the Madexcept report.

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Post #: 129

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 3:00:27 PM

joshuamnave

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Saved game at the start of JA 1941. From here out I'm playing in new territory for me.

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Post #: 130

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 3:11:44 PM

joshuamnave

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quote:

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

I loaded your gamesave in 1.09.1 (debug version of 1.09, no functional changes) and replayed this air combat. It went fine.
This means that there is a problem recreating your problem = not an easy fix. Hopelfully Steve can find something in your error log which is sent via the Madexcept report.

I just tried loading from the same file and ran it this time without issue, so I don't know. But my computer doesn't email the bug reports because I don't have an email client set up for it.

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Post #: 131

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 3:18:03 PM

AxelNL

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

quote:

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

I loaded your gamesave in 1.09.1 (debug version of 1.09, no functional changes) and replayed this air combat. It went fine.
This means that there is a problem recreating your problem = not an easy fix. Hopelfully Steve can find something in your error log which is sent via the Madexcept report.

I just tried loading from the same file and ran it this time without issue, so I don't know. But my computer doesn't email the bug reports because I don't have an email client set up for it.

That is a pity. Your AAR can be used for bug hunting, and MadExcept logfiles will help. Next time you could zip the logs and attach them here?

< Message edited by AxelNL -- 1/12/2014 4:18:56 PM >

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Post #: 132

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 3:26:01 PM

joshuamnave

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I will try to remember.

Any idea on the surrender bug? Seems to only affect France (or at least, it doesn't affect China).

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Post #: 133

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 3:35:29 PM

AxelNL

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

I will try to remember.

Any idea on the surrender bug? Seems to only affect France (or at least, it doesn't affect China).

nope, have not encountered it myself, but I have not been on the hunt for that particular one. As you have a work-around it will not be high on the list. Working on unit placement problems is. I myself hope the overseas supply and Chines supply Bermuda triangle is done before the surrender bug - sorry.

PS: without MadExcept reports coming in from that French surrender bug, it might not even be on any list.

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Post #: 134

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 8:58:12 PM

Cad908

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

I will try to remember.

Any idea on the surrender bug? Seems to only affect France (or at least, it doesn't affect China).

Zartacla,

The French surrender bug is a bit of a mystery. I can duplicate the problem with your saves, but I plan to advance another game tonight to this point and see if it repeats. By the way, one of your saves also crashed for me when Italy conquered Kenya, and I forwarded that to Steve. I also took your save and installed Vichy which worked fine.

As to the air-to-air problems, I tried 3 different games of mine with large air-to-air combats (5 to 7 rounds each) in Strat Bombing, Ground Support and Ground Strike and had no problems.

Try this, whenever there is a crash that you work around (a la French surrender) save the game when you clear the bug, close the game and then exit MWiF. Then restart MWiF, reload the save and continue. A crash could leave you with some corrupted game data (stacks, forms) which will cause an issue when the underlying code actually works fine.

-Rob

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Post #: 135

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 10:00:33 PM

joshuamnave

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Cad908

quote:

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

I will try to remember.

Any idea on the surrender bug? Seems to only affect France (or at least, it doesn't affect China).

Zartacla,

The French surrender bug is a bit of a mystery. I can duplicate the problem with your saves, but I plan to advance another game tonight to this point and see if it repeats. By the way, one of your saves also crashed for me when Italy conquered Kenya, and I forwarded that to Steve. I also took your save and installed Vichy which worked fine.

As to the air-to-air problems, I tried 3 different games of mine with large air-to-air combats (5 to 7 rounds each) in Strat Bombing, Ground Support and Ground Strike and had no problems.

Try this, whenever there is a crash that you work around (a la French surrender) save the game when you clear the bug, close the game and then exit MWiF. Then restart MWiF, reload the save and continue. A crash could leave you with some corrupted game data (stacks, forms) which will cause an issue when the underlying code actually works fine.

-Rob

That could be - I haven't tried that and would explain why the air to air bug was 100% reproducible at the time but not when I loaded that save fresh. As for the work around for the French surrender crash - I guess I wasn't specific enough. The game crashes when it's supposed to ask if France wants to surrender. The work around gets you past that point so you can keep playing, but you don't get the choice to surrender France. You do get the option to Vichy it, however, and that may be why it only seems to affect the surrender of France and not the surrender of China.

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Post #: 136

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/12/2014 10:15:48 PM

Cad908

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

That could be - I haven't tried that and would explain why the air to air bug was 100% reproducible at the time but not when I loaded that save fresh. As for the work around for the French surrender crash - I guess I wasn't specific enough. The game crashes when it's supposed to ask if France wants to surrender. The work around gets you past that point so you can keep playing, but you don't get the choice to surrender France. You do get the option to Vichy it, however, and that may be why it only seems to affect the surrender of France and not the surrender of China.

No, your explanation was fine. I have repeated your French surrender crash several times, and Steve should have the bug reports. Perhaps Vichy is creating an option, but it should fire first (Assuming a supplied Axis unit in Paris) before the check for surrender. I took your save, placed an Axis unit in Paris, then ended the turn. First time through I installed Vichy without a problem and the second I declined Vichy and had the French surrender crash. My hunch is Vichy works fine, but the surrender / conquest code might have an issue as something happened when Italy conquered Kenya.

-Rob

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RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 1:47:31 AM

Cad908

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Zartacla,

I ran 3 French surrender tests using 2 of my saved games and each worked without issue.

To me this is the frustrating part of being a Beta tester as I cannot confirm this problem in another game. Rather than write it off as a mystery, tomorrow I will start with your first posted save, "AAR Setup", and run it through to French surrender. If I can get it to fail, then we can be pretty certain its not related to your system. If it does not fail, I will post the file that works on my end for you to try on your system.

-Rob

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Post #: 138

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 3:27:22 AM

joshuamnave

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Ok. Just FYI - it happens in every game on my system, not just this game. At least every game started after switching to 1.8.3 I don't remember it happening in older versions, but I only had the game a short time before Christmas and may or may not have advanced a game far enough to know for sure. I just don't remember.

It also only happens after a Vichy is refused, and the axis occupy enough factories to get a surrender, and then usually the first time it's possible, the surrender is offered and refused. Following that, it crashes every turn when it's supposed to offer a surrender. If it makes a difference, in every such game, the Italians have broken the French line in the south and occupy at least one French factory in Vichy.

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Post #: 139

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 6:55:03 AM

joshuamnave

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It's the summer of '41 and the Allies have the initiative. China has fallen, France has fallen, and the Axis have cracked the mountain line in Spain. Meanwhile, the Russians are putting increasing pressure on the border, and if Germany isn't careful it may be the Russian that do the invading. The US, slumbering for so long, have suddenly gotten very interested very fast.

The CW takes a naval. This isn't an easy choice this time, because for the first time in the game the CW is in control of a significant number of ground troops involved in combat - Spain. And her convoys start out the turn better escorted than in any turn prior to now. But her convoys are also stretched to the breaking point and one good turn from the axis could cripple the UK's production for a long time.

The allies sink the Italian cp in the eastern med, despite the presence of the super german nav bomber.

In the western med, the allies get the jump on the axis fighters and nav bombers. One Itallian fighter is aborted by british CVP's on their way to sinking the CP there. On round 2, the rolls are reversed and it's the British convoys that take torpedoes to the hull. On the 3rd round, carrier based air shoots down a Condor, and the german navs abort. There is no further combat.

Russia starts sending a few units back to Kamchatka, just in case. British air moves into Spain, and the turn passes to the Axis.

Germany takes a land. Italy takes a combined. Japan is once again a neutral major power and is limited to combined actions, which the Japanese will use to bring troops back from the center of China and prepare the fleet for invasions and other naval combat. Russia might or might not be on the agenda, but Japan will certainly bare its fangs that direction to distract the Soviets from the Polish front.

Japan also aligns Siam, to help with taking Singapore later. Attacking the French and going after Indo China is also under consideration.

German Stukas flip Gort and the unit stacked with him. Italians finally flip the out of supply south Africans.

In Spain, the Germans attack Franco. The CW flies ground support, escorted by carrier air off the Indomitable in the Bay of Biscay, and Italian fighters intercept.

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RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 7:35:21 AM

joshuamnave

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One British bomber gets shot down, the other clears through along with the German bomber. The combat odds drop to +9, and the British take a blitz, trying to keep Franco alive. A modified 19 means Franco is shattered, but he'll be back next turn. The Axis lose a mot div, and half their units flip. Not a bad result for the allies, really. Unfortunately, it leaves a flipped Gort in a pickle, as German infantry advance into the hex next to him. He could be surrounded on 3 sides by large German corps next turn.

In north Africa, the Italians roll an 8 on a +16 combat, and kill the South African garrison, taking Algiers. Rundstedt flips some air back up, and it's the allied turn again. The weather is clear, as it will be the entire turn, and the CW takes a land action. They are the only unconquered major power still fighting on the allied side, although France is still technically at war and able to take any action it chooses as well. Russia and the US take their court ordered combineds.

The CW is getting pretty tired of sending units into continental fights and losing them, over and over again. Next run through, I'll have to seriously consider being less engaged with the British army prior to American entry into the European war.

In Spain, the British and Spanish move some troops around, closing the line as best they can while abandoning as little of the mountain hexes as possible, but it's going to be a lost cause. Delay, delay, delay and let Russia put more and more pressure on the Germans, that's about the best they can do.

British bombers find holes in the axis fighter net and strat bomb Metz and Lyons, costing the Germans 1 BP. Alexander flips them back up for another round, if Germany decides to ignore them. The impulse ends as quietly as it began and the axis set up for a hammer drop on Spain. Germany and Italy take land actions, Japan combined.

Here's the situation on the ground:

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Post #: 141

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 7:39:27 AM

joshuamnave

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And on the still to be declared eastern front, the situation on the Rumanian border

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RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 7:58:06 AM

joshuamnave

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The Germans advance into eastern Spain, flanking the flipped Gort and putting him out of supply. It's more clear to me than ever that over committing the British army without a real extraction plan (or proper air cover) is a recurring blunder for me this game. In past games, I've held the British army back on the theory that I didn't want to put it in harms way when the German army is much larger, and I wanted to see what happens when the Brits take a firmer stand. I think there's probably a good middle ground somewhere, but this isn't it.

Needless to say, Gort dies in a +21 attacks.

The impulse closes out with the Spanish line about to collapse. Here's the saved file:

Attachment (1)

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RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 8:48:14 AM

joshuamnave

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The allies continue to probe for weaknesses in the fighter net, hitting Turin (or missing Turin, in this case).

In Spain, the CW comes to conclusion that the war is over, and all that remains is to defend Gibraltar. They pull off the line and head south, leaving the Spanish to fend for themselves.

On the Axis half of the impulse, Germany presses her land attack, but the Italians are ready to take a naval action and bring the subs into play.

The Italians go to sea, and in the western Med, the British shoot down another Condor. German Nav bombers have taken a beating this summer.

Actually, the whole Luftwaffe has had better turns. In Spain, the Spanish fighter picks off a German bomber on a groundstrike mission. Bombers attempting to pin the retreating British to the ground fail. Germans cross the northern border and move into Bilbao. Groundstrikes put the retreating Spanish unit face down, and German armor cut his supply, then attacks. The disheartened Spanish are obviously no match for the Germans.

Meanwhile, in China, Japan is slowly moving her troops toward the coast. Most of the air is home or in the air over the home seas, and will land at the end of the turn.

Impulse 7, and the allies all pass but Britain. The UK needs to continue the orderly retreat toward Gibraltar. With the rest of the allies passing, the turn will end on a two.

British strat bombers finally hit Lyons, taking a second build point from Germany. The UK needs some longer range fighters or some American air units!

The turn does not end. Germany and Italy take land actions. With a little luck, Madrid will fall this impulse. Germany already holds the other factory cities, so the fall of Madrid means the fall of Spain, and the battle for Gibraltar can begin.

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RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 9:16:31 AM

joshuamnave

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The Spanish units are crushed, and the British begin to fear for the worst.

The turn continues and the British take a combined.

The UK sends out transports and some naval escorts. In the Western Med, a major dustup develops with the Italian navy. With so many bombers in the air, Britain is eager to protect her remaining transports and uses surprise point to make it a surface fleet. The French fleet will be absorbing some of the losses. Round 2 is a repeat of round 1, with the allies burning surprise points to keep the planes out of it. They're tearing up the Italian navy now, although losses are high on both sides. I didn't make a note of the total damage. The British did more damage, but the Italians rolled better on defense. At least 3 Italian cruisers sank, with 5-6 Italian ships damaged. The French had most of the remainders of their navy sink or damaged, and a few British ships were damaged as well.

Engineers arrive in Gibraltar and quickly go to work shoring up the defenses. Sadly for the allies, the turn does not end. With almost nothing between German units and Gibraltar, Germany and Italy both take land actions.

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Post #: 145

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 10:20:09 AM

joshuamnave

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German units start to outrun their supply in France, but they close in on Gibraltar, and bring some air into range. Japan gets a few units on the Russian border, ready to attack Vladivostok if there's some clear weather next impulse. The Russians will have to place some reinforcements in the east or risk losing Siberia to a bored Japanese army. The turn does not end, and the CW is glad for one more chance to move units this turn. Everyone else passes and the UK takes a combined.

Another unit sails into Gibraltar and the allies breathe easier. Now to get some air down there. The turn finally comes to an end. Russia adds a chit to its offensive garrison.

The US embargos the Japanese oil and starts patrolling the north atlantic along with the east coast.

Production:
Germany 28 - 2 Pilots, 2 Nav (4), 3 Ftr (2), Gneisenau, mech, inf, inf
Italy 11 - Nav (3), Ftr (2), amph, 3 CPs
Japan 15 - Pilot, Hiyo, Ftr (2), BB, CA, Inf, 2 CVP (1), CA repair
CW 21 - 2 pilots, 2 cps, Gort, Arm, Ftr (2), CVP (1), Iron Duke
US 20 - Clark, Massachusetts, 2 CVP (1), Marine, arm div
USSR 16 - pilot, 2 ftr (2), arm div, eng div, lnd (3)

Some nice units coming on the board. The Italian 4 pt bomber, a class 4 Japanese CVP, several good naval units...

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Post #: 146

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 10:26:33 AM

joshuamnave

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Here's the save going into S/O 1941. Spain has fallen, Gibraltar is threatened, the Japanese are trickling over to the Russian border, the US is still a few turns minimum from war, and Barbarossa has not happened. If that sounds like an interesting starting position to you, then download and play from here!

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Post #: 147

RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 11:58:50 AM

joshuamnave

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September starts out bright and sunny, and the Axis have the initiative. Japan is tired of moving 2 ships and 3 units at a time, and declares war on Russia. This displeases the US, who draw another chit.

Japan sails its fleet en masse to the sea of Japan, ready to hit Vladivostok with everything it has. The Italian fleet also comes out to provide shore bombardment on Gibraltar. In a stunning bit of roll reversal, Japanese bombers ground strike both land and both air units in Vladivostok, while 3 German stukas can't hit a thing in spain and north Africa.

The Japanese kill the unit outside Vlad and advance. In Spain, the poor showing for the Stukas slows things down as Germany moves to surround the out of supply but still face up British infantry in between Madrid and Gibraltar. Italy and German move their air up, and the impulse passes to the allies.

Russia takes its first land action of the game. CW takes a combined, eager to pull their infantry back into Gibraltar, and move the fleet out.

Britain bombs Lyons and Metz again, but this time to no effect.

Summer turns to autumn and rain falls across the Med and N Temperate. Germany and Italy both take naval actions. Japan takes a land.

Germany takes advantage of the CW's combined, and brings the full fleet out. German subs, supported by the fleet, clear out the Faeroe's Gap. Unless the CW can move a bundle of CP's safely here this turn, this will take a real bite out of British shipping.

In Cape St Vincent, Italian subs surface right in the middle of the British fleet. 6 CVP's swarm the sub, and it quickly resembles a piece of swiss cheese. But wetter, and heavier, and full of dead sailors.

Nothing much else happens in the rain. Turn passes to the allies, and the CW takes a naval action. Russia takes a land.

The brits sail their home fleet into Faeroe's Gap, hoping to catch the german fleet. And they bring some convoy escorts and fresh convoys. But the germans turn the tables on them and sink the escorts. The British retaliate with another round of strat bombing, taking out a BP this time.

The Axis catch a break and the third impulse is clear skies everywhere. This looks like another good spot for a save file.

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RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 12:00:44 PM

joshuamnave

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This is going to be a tough one...

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RE: Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR - 1/13/2014 12:39:59 PM

joshuamnave

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Land actions all around. Goal for this turn is to take Vladivostok and possibly to kill one or two units in Gibraltar.

A nice air to air battle develops over Gibraltar, as 3 CVP's fly up to intercept a stuka escorted by and Italian fighter. On the first round of combat, the CW sends the Stuka home. One CVP is also aborted, but it's too late for that to help the axis.

Axis bombers once again fail to groundstrike either the OOS brit in Spain, or the OOS French inf in Algeria. That's going to slow things down.

Vladivostok falls on a +11.87 attack. Really all Japan wanted was the freedom to take full actions again, but now that we're at war, might as well get stuff for it. The Soviets are going to have to redirect some reins to Siberia for a few turns.

The allies take the pass and pray plan this turn. Germany is one or two chits, or a few units, shy of war with Russia if they want. Obviously not likely to happen in the winter. The Soviets have to decide now whether to stand and fight (they have their armor and infantry built out, along with most of their air) or trade land for time to build their '42 units.

And the bad news for the allies is the turn doesn't end. It's raining in the N Temp, but fine in the med, so Gibraltar can expect to see some action this impulse. Land actions all around.

German bombers manage to flip one unit in Gibraltar. For the 3rd straight turn, the OOS Frenchman in Oran manages to stay organized amidst a rain of axis bombs.

It's a long shot, but even killing a unit or two will make it easier next time.