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How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:09:58 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		I have never played one of these games before so am a total noob. But I am going to give this a go by diving in all the same and we'll see what happens....

I await the hardback manual so I don't expect the game to really take-off until this arrives (depending upon how intuitive it is I guess) but will push on as much as real life, work etc allow.

I plan to be the Allies and I want the most complete game possible - which looks like that means The Road To Warsaw.

If anyone has any tips, hints, or anything to throw at me along the way that would be good

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805


Post #: 1
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:17:48 PM   
loki100


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From: Utlima Thule
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: warspite1

...
If anyone has any tips, hints, or anything to throw at me along the way that would be good


other than to express my gratitude you'll do this and thus make it easier for me to learn

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RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:20:35 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		First things first then, and First Impressions.

By way of background my first love is World In Flames (finest game ever ). This game therefore has a lot to live up to aesthetically! Although I trust will prove stronger on the stability and bugs front....

First off I select the Campaign to be played. I am only interested in the whole war in Europe.

Darkness descends over Europe as the continent is plunge into conflict. Can the Allies muster enough strength and courage to stop the Axis? - with this bozo in charge, I suspect not.....



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< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 6:23:43 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 3
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:27:49 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		Always handy to know what one is supposed to be doing....

So basically as the Allied player I need to hang on to Washington DC. Well that should be easy. Oh damn, I also have to hold onto London, Moscow, Paris, Warsaw and take Berlin and Rome.....




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_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 4
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:38:06 PM   
warspite1


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Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		I am asked to choose a side. As said I want to play the Allies.

According to 3.2.1 Choose Side - I can play some of them only and have the AI control others. I think for now I will play all Allies as I want to see what is what. I may then change that for the USA and/or USSR later on until they join the war.

So I have control of the UK, France, USA, USSR and Poland

I will keep the Difficulty and Computer Bonuses to the pre-set levels. These look to be neutral in effect.




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_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
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RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:45:38 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		Options next.

I have the choice of 3-D or NATO-style. No choice for me, it has to be NATO. I must say though that I like World In Flames treatment better. There, land units are NATO and air and ships are silhouettes. That said, the ships are nice looking (with BB, CV etc) to denote the ship type.

National Colours. I will keep this on - I think the map looks a little bland otherwise.

Fog of War. Maybe not wise for a first game, but I will keep FOW on as this is something I will need to get used to if I am to play this game again.

All other options and preferences I will keep as per the default setting. This includes playing with weather effects, being able to undo moves and displaying in-game messages.




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_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 6
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:53:21 PM   
warspite1


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From: England
Status: offline 		There are a load of Advanced Options and Scripts.

The Advanced Options are mostly ticked on. I do not think there are any overriding reasons to change these at this stage. One of the more intriguing advanced options is soft build limits. This allows more ahistorical builds apparently. I will keep this ticked off in order to try and keep this relatively vanilla.

There are a trillion scripts. It makes no sense in this sort of AAR to go piling into those and choosing some and discarding others. I will leave these as is.

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



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Post #: 7
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:54:15 PM   
Orm


Posts: 22154
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From: Sweden
Status: offline 		The long, dark, Autumn evenings are saved.



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Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often students, for heaven's sake. - Terry Pratchett

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RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 6:59:25 PM   
warspite1


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That's a bit annoying. As soon as I clicked to move away from options the game started!

No chance to set up Poles (must be set starting positions) no chance to review my units - I am instead greeted with a vision of my Poles being smacked up by the beastly hun.....

The sound effects are quite good

When that is over I get assaulted with a load of messages on all sorts of topics. I don't know if I can freeze these or call them up again. A quick check of the manual does not reveal anything. I will move on for now - hopefully this will become clear [EDIT - See Post 13]

I caught some of the messages. Poland have taken a morale hit, the British and French have declared war on Germany and there was also some reports on Polish losses (although as said I never had a chance to see what I started with).[EDIT - See Post 13]

In trying to get up the reports that have come and gone I seem to have lost two more messages. Hopefully I can get these back too. In the meantime the British have a decision to make.[EDIT - See Post 13]

I am asked if I want to deploy a British Expeditionary Force to assist the French. Looks like a no brainer as per below:




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< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 7:38:12 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 9
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 7:11:52 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		The Soviets also have a decision. Does Stalin want to invoke the secret protocols of the Nazi-Soviet Pact and invade Eastern Poland?

Apparently if we say yes the Germans may not honour their side of the NS Pact.

Well I think I will risk that. If Adolf wants a war on two fronts good luck to him....

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 10
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 7:26:46 PM   
warspite1


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Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		I need some answers to a couple of questions so in the meantime, a look at First Impressions of the map, interface, units etc.

UNITS

The map has only three zoom levels, although for the information displayed this seems perfectly good. The information displayed is not too small (see below) although is perhaps borderline for many of us oldies in our frail dotage. As can be seen, I have highlighted the Western Desert Force. The numbers are all readable and the information is nicely displayed.




Attachment (1)

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 7:29:55 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 11
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 7:34:11 PM   
kirk23


Posts: 2885
Joined: 10/15/2010
From: Fife Scotland
Status: offline 		Hi Robert Imagine seeing you here! Advice the standard game naval combat is brutal,keep HMS Warspite well away from enemy forces,not just other ships,bombers will do serious damage to your fav ship.

_____________________________

Make it so!

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Post #: 12
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 7:36:47 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		Right, thanks to the assistance of one of the forumites I have the answer to the missing reports. I should have thought of Hotkeys....

By calling up 'L' I can bring up the summaries for last turn.

Firstly we have the combat losses. I shall come back to this later, but I suspect Smigly-Rydz is after a new job....



Attachment (1)

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 7:44:00 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 13
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 7:44:47 PM   
warspite1


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Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		I also get the other missing reports. The detail seems to be missing but the message gets across

There was one about the Mediterranean but that I cannot seem to locate. On the basis that Mussolini is quiet at the moment perhaps it wasn't important.



Attachment (1)

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 7:47:22 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 14
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 7:45:56 PM   
n0kn0k

 

Posts: 564
Joined: 6/23/2007
Status: offline 		Play defensive with Poland and France, you won't be able to do much on the attack.
Keep a good eye on the garrison popup. If you don't you might end up with diplomatic consequences.
Have fun with the Royal Navy.

(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 15
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 7:48:06 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		UNITS (Continued).

Right, before I look anymore at the boring land stuff, what does this game provide in terms of proper fighting units? Yes, the Royal Navy. Let's have a look....

I've counted 5 BB (Nelson, Rodney, Warspite, Valiant, Malaya, Valiant(?))
1 CC (Hood)
3 CV (Ark Royal, Glorious, Courageous)

So there must be some reduction in the number of units. I'll be interested to see if that reduction is relatively equal for Germany and Italy.

Scapa Flow appears to be in Scotland? What is that about?

Anyway, that aside, like the land units the information seems readily accessible and readable. The aircraft carriers have an extra factor for their air component.




Attachment (1)

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 8:57:07 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to n0kn0k)
Post #: 16
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:09:11 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Orm

The long, dark, Autumn evenings are saved.


warspite1

Long? It could be a very quick game

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to Orm)
Post #: 17
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:10:56 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: kirk23

Hi Robert Imagine seeing you here! Advice the standard game naval combat is brutal,keep HMS Warspite well away from enemy forces,not just other ships,bombers will do serious damage to your fav ship.
warspite1

kirk23! Good to see you again. They've pared back the RN and put Scapa in Scotland!


_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to kirk23)
Post #: 18
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:11:31 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: n0kn0k

Play defensive with Poland and France, you won't be able to do much on the attack.
Keep a good eye on the garrison popup. If you don't you might end up with diplomatic consequences.
Have fun with the Royal Navy.
warspite1

Merci beacoup - will do


_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to n0kn0k)
Post #: 19
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:25:17 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		So here is Poland after the first German turn. As said, I don't really know what I had to start with but have lost three armies and the cavalry group. From the remaining armies, this looks like a realistic set up was used.

The Polish corridor no longer exists - its sort of become a spacious hallway leading from Germany Central to East Prussia, complete with chandeliers and ornate pictures lining each wall. The Poznan Army is not quite cut off in the extreme west - hurrah! I've got the Modlin Army (quite strong) guarding the northern approaches to Warsaw, Karpaty army are still in the south and the Prusy Army Group guards the southwestern approaches to the capital. Two weak Corps are in the west guarding against a flanking attack from eastern East Prussia.

The Polish airforce still has a few aircraft....


The map is functional - it is not garish to look and and is not messy. The units are easily distinguishable on the map. But I get the feeling they could have done more with this. A solid 7/10.



Attachment (1)

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 8:50:48 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 20
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:33:11 PM   
n0kn0k

 

Posts: 564
Joined: 6/23/2007
Status: offline 		You could try using 3d units (forgive me all you grogs) and disable national colors. It brightens up the map a bit.
When playing the AI as Axis, some players take the country in 2 turns, most in 3. So playing as the Polish is to win as much time a possible. Try moving an army into Warchau and block the germans with a layers of corps to win time. It's a bit gamey, but i usually sell the aircraft to pay for reinforcements.

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Post #: 21
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:36:25 PM   
Orm


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quote:

ORIGINAL: warspite1


quote:

ORIGINAL: Orm

The long, dark, Autumn evenings are saved.


warspite1

Long? It could be a very quick game

It could. But since your new to the game I think it will be a few rounds before the Allies win.

_____________________________

Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often students, for heaven's sake. - Terry Pratchett

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RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:37:46 PM   
warspite1


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Orm


quote:

ORIGINAL: warspite1


quote:

ORIGINAL: Orm

The long, dark, Autumn evenings are saved.


warspite1

Long? It could be a very quick game

It could. But since your new to the game I think it will be a few rounds before the Allies win.
warspite1




_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to Orm)
Post #: 23
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:40:38 PM   
warspite1


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Status: offline 		Okay so I guess I need to give the Poles some love and attention here. First of all I need to understand what I must do to stop them surrendering.

4.10 states that the loss of the capital will mean surrender, although 4.11 also says that if National Morale falls to zero then surrender will happen then also.

This is where not having the manual yet is a bit of a downer. I could be reading up on the next moves on the train into and out of work. Never mind, I shall try and save some time by looking at any videos that are out there to see if I can pick up some tips.

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 8:50:09 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



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RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:57:03 PM   
Aurelian

 

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Status: offline 		Stick the Polish army around Warsaw. Poland lasted until the some time in October in my game.

_____________________________

If the Earth was flat, cats would of knocked everything off of it long ago.

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Post #: 25
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 8:59:16 PM   
operating


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Joined: 1/19/2013
Status: offline 		Warspite,

Are you using a photoshop program for screenshots? or, Are your screenshots being kept in a in-game file/folder that can be reproduced into jpg, ect. form??

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Post #: 26
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 9:03:24 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

Stick the Polish army around Warsaw. Poland lasted until the some time in October in my game.
warspite1

Yes, I've been exploring that. The central plank of that plan went out the window when I found the Poznan Army can only move two hexes...


Kutno - so far and yet so far....



Attachment (1)

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to Aurelian)
Post #: 27
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 9:05:41 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: operating

Warspite,

Are you using a photoshop program for screenshots? or, Are your screenshots being kept in a in-game file/folder that can be reproduced into jpg, ect. form??
warspite1

I take a Print Screen. Then put that into Paint and crop to suit. Because the pictures are coming out large for some reason, I then use Irfanview to reduce the size. Hope that helps and I've answered the question.


_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to operating)
Post #: 28
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 9:20:19 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		The Wielkopolska Cavalry Brigade, attached to the Poznan Army, was ordered to Kutno. Sadly it came across the two divisions of the German XXI Infantry Corps (3rd Army) northwest of the city and was overwhelmed. The brigade practically ceased to exist as a result and the only troops entering Kutno will be those stragglers lucky enough to have survived the mauling.

The Poznan Army, following the cavalry, set out on their march east but ran out of steam in the valley between the Warta and Notec rivers.


The Killing Fields of Western Poland....



Attachment (1)

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 10:09:42 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 29
RE: How the Axis could have won. Allied AAR RTW - 11/17/2016 9:45:31 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline 		The Poles give up the border areas and head for Warsaw for the final battle. Polish bombers and fighters alike are sent against the German VIII Infantry Corps and their supporting armour (I don't like that the armour units do not seem to have a corps designation ). The bombers inflict slight losses on the infantry in return for a further thinning of their number.

The Karpaty Army is ordered to retreat to the north bank of the Vistula south of Radom, which is itself occupied by the retreating 10th Mechanised Brigade. The Krakowska Cavalry Brigade in turn holds the forest area to the southwest of that city.

All reinforcements available are used to bring the, still forming, Prusy Army up to near full strength but this army is some distance from Warsaw. As a result, the Warsaw Garrison is ordered to take up positions southwest of the capital - directly in the path of VIII Corps.

The Modlin Garrison is charged with a similar blocking move northwest of Modlin. The Modlin Army enters the city, while the weak Wyskow Corps is all that is left to defend Warsaw, flanked by the Narew Corps.

The KOP border guards enter Grodno - there is nothing in the east should Stalin decide to get aggressive....


The last stand of the Plucky Poles



Attachment (1)

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/17/2016 10:11:52 PM >

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805



(in reply to warspite1)
Post #: 30
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