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AirGriff -> RE: ***NEW*** VIDEO - 1941 - 1944 (BOTH FIRST & SECOND YEAR) (6/7/2009 3:57:16 PM)
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All joking aside, we have a great game going, as the film depicts. This is the furthest I've gotten in a PBEM, but I think I'm holding up moderately well thanks to the volumes of help from the forum. I'll throw in some thoughts from the Allied perspective.
My greatest debacle is India. Japan outplayed me there from the very start. I was soundly beaten in Burma, which is usually the case with an experienced Japanese player, but he got me better than most I think. I lost so many troops in Burma and Malaya I couldn't mount a good defense against his steamroller in India later in '42. I retreated back into Karachi and held onto Malir (2 hexes out of Karachi, Big B extended map). So, I couldn't even contemplate a counter offensive there until late '43. I assumed he was concentrating on the Pacific, and maybe he was by the sounds of it, but when I started my offensive in hopes of pushing at least through middle India I quickly discovered things were going to get very ugly. I toyed with the idea of a US landing in Burma or Malaya to open another front, but it was clear he had the jump on me in moving substantial forces to the area and it would take me a minimum of a month just to get a strong force together and start heading that way from North OZ. By that time, he would have had my Indian forces pushed back into Karachi and could then turn to deal with the amphib force.
So, I've been soundly trounced in SEA at almost every turn. Japan and his team offered a theory that the British government would have likely had a big change with all the defeats they were enduring in the Pacific and that would possibly cause them to look for a way out of hostilities with Japan. I know this is surely a highly controversial subject, but considering the magnitude of the disaster I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Britain would have requested a ceasefire--probably not, but possibly so. I figured, well, why not? Japan played a superb game in that theatre and it COULD have happened that way, and it WOULD make an interesting twist to the game. I did have some counter points, however. If the Brits were going to throw in the towel in the Pacific, then Admiral King and his followers of the Pacific first strategy were going to get their way. That meant I was going to need a big boost in my OOB. We decided Japan would land forces on the West Coast and accelerate my reinforcement schedule 90 days after India went quiet (still have about a month and a half to go). Poof, I will get all my reinforcements for the next 180 days in one day. Before everyone ooohs and ahhhs, consider that I barely have the transport to keep up with the reinforcements arriving as it is, but I'm making plans to help with that and it should be ok. I can post the agreement regarding this if it's ok with Japan and folks care to see it. It is a fairly detailed paper.
Anyway, that's what I get for focusing too much on the US side of the map, though I'd say I'm well ahead of historical there as the film depicts. It's the end of Jan '44 and I have all the Solomon's, New Guinea and am pushing north into the DEI and PI areas.
I know that the India thing has really put the game into an incredibly different path than history, but it is going to be quite interesting.
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