Canoerebel -> RE: Through a Glass Darkly (9/25/2010 2:41:34 PM)
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Thanks for the comments and suggestions, guys. I would caution that anybody reading both AARs had better refrain from commenting in either. Sometimes it's possible to pick up intel by reading between the lines. Nothing of that sort has happened yet, mainly because I'm still trying to figure out what's going on. I always try to keep in mind that any suspicions I develop could be dead wrong. To address some of the comments and suggestions made: 1) Scenario Two gives Japan more to play with, but by no means does it turn Japan into an insta-auto-victory threat. I think most expereinced Allied players would have no problem avoiding auto-victiory even in Scenario Two. 2) I am pushng the envelop a bit, here, by not counterattacking. I'm not sure yet this is the best way to fight, or even a good way of fighting, but it's the route I've chosen. I'll certainly learn alot about how much the Allies can bend and can use that in future games. 3) I've been through this before. In my WitP game vs. John III, he conquered all of Oz except Sydney and Melbourne. It was really ugly and things were looking very bleak. But the Allies came back and did quite well in that game. AE Scenario Two isn't WitP, so that doesn't mean the same thing will happen in this game. I'm just sayin' I've been pushed to the edge before, so waging a war under these circumstances isn't a new experience. 4) I enjoy writing AARs as much as I do playing the game, but I also know that very few people have the time to follow carefully and actually keep tabs on much of the information conveyed. So I'd be amazed if anybody would remember things I wrote back near the start of this AAR. If, somehow, you do, you'll recall that the Allied plan from day one has been to allow Japan to invade Oz or India and to push quite far. I do NOT want to lose either the continent or the sub-continent, but I can use any penetration short of total defeat to my advantage later in the game. 5) I think Brad's highest priority from the outset was to do something to force me to commit my carriers to a naval battle. Brad knows that his chances of victory in a '42 carrier battle are pretty high, and that a decisive carrier battle defeat for the Allies is a big step towards Japanese auto-victory. It would also free up Japan to advance all over the map. I'm not giving him the carrier battle. The total invisibility (force-in-being) of the Allied carrier has had a great and largely unexpected dividend - it seems to have completely frozen Japan in the Pacific. Instead of fighting a defensive war with my troops in retreat, the Allies have moved forward to occupy or strengthen bases that I would have expected to fall long before now: Fiji, Canton Island, Midway, and the western Aleutians. I still exepct a fight for Midway, or quite possibly Fiji, when the KB returns to the Pacific, but no longer are they auto-conquests for Japan. 6) The one thing I cannot measure with any certainty is Brad's state of mind. I would think the absence of the Allied carriers plus the steady ticking of the clock as days and weeks pass has got to be messing with his mind somewhat. In addition to protecting his forces in India, he has to look to Oz, the DEI, New Caledonia, CenPac, and NoPac. What decisions might he make that unltimately hurt his cause? I have no idea, but the possibility that he will do something "wrong" increases as time passes. Also, I think by the time he turns his attention back to the Pacific, he will be thinking that the Allies have had time to seriously strengthen key bases. For instance, I don't think he'll consider attacking New Zealand, which is still completely vulnerable. 7) As for John III's comment, I think the most effective way of "raising hell" with Japan in the Pacific is to not show my carriers, so that Brad is looking for them everywhere instead of knowing precisely where they are. [Somebody mentioned CVEs - I don't have any yet, and, even if I did, showing them wouldn't accomplish anything strategic anyhow.] 8) Brad still has a good six or so IJA divisions uncommitted in theater. He can still land at Goa or Surat and give me fits. He won't isolate the Calcutta troops, as the bases to the rear are already garrisoned (with more troops on the way) to guard against para-assault. I don't think anything short of total conquest of India would give Brad enought points for an auto victory and possibly not even then. However, if I suffered a carrier defeat on top of trouble in India, I would be sweating things. At the moment, I'm worried, but I'm not perspiring.
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