Nikademus
Posts: 25684
Joined: 5/27/2000 From: Alien spacecraft Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel All of this depends on too many factors to come up with a single hard-and-fast rule. I do not think the Allies should always pull units out of Singapore. There are times when defending there can be very effective, buying the Allies important time and space in the Bay of Bengal. On the other hand, there are times when it's best for the Allies to evacuate Singers and use those troops elsewhere. I do not see how "telephone stacks" in remote Java terrain would worry an experienced IJ player. Japan can effectively isolate Java and then attend to those stacks mainly with bombers, finally mopping up with a few mixed brigades or so, just as the IJ player does at Bataan/Clark Field. I can't imagine an experienced player devoting IJA divisions to mop up operations. Unless the Allied player can get supply to Java, his troops are going to whither away under a well-thought-out Japanese bombing campaign. And an IJ player would make a shambles of any Allied efforts to ram home supply. Allied telephone poles in remote terrain means the IJ player can take and build the important bases in and near Java. The Allies won't be able to accomplish anything meaningful. As an Allied player, I can't imagine trying the telephone pole tactic against a good, experienced IJ player. Hi, Well not suggesting a hard fast rule, because frankly...it was a legit and brilliantly done tactic. "I" admittedly was suprised when after careful(somewhat...this is ME after all) preperation, i found not only my landing completely uncontested but that all the major bases and cities were empty. Same for Joe when he landed near Batavia. He, however was not suprised when we found the island empty except for two very large TP's at both Mountain hex dot/level 1 bases.....because he had done something similar to a player one opponent himself. What bothered me about it was that it just felt gamey. Historically the dutch were concerned about defending their territory...not simply being a sacrificial cog to delay the enemy so that future defenses/offensives in the pacific (considered by most players to be "the main event") could develop. So abandoning every base, resource and city just to score 4x defensive bonus in two hexes by a stack of LCU's just made me feel like i was playing "a game" vs. a simulation of the real life conflict. It's just not the style of game i want to experience or inflict on my opponents. Hence why i'm always an advocate of discussion and flexability when choosing a PBEM opponent. Not saying i will be a pushover when i play Allied and Japan comes knocking, but i do try to play with a frame of mind that says....what would this particular group/nation do.....what's the goal? For Java.....i would at least make a stab at building a defense that includes some of the "prizes" that are valuable to them. To simply stack everything in one or two hexes for the game bonus of defensive terrain as part of a greater "plan" that benefits another is not really valid to me. Thats just me. Hence, i'm not suggesting a "rule" more a style of play and yes....it promotes alot of grey areas....hence discussion is vital. In no case am i criticising our opponents. It was legit...and it was effective and very well done. Which leads to a more down to earth question. It's said there are counters.....another problem i have with any wargame is when a Pro or set of Pro's is not balanced by a Con or a set of Con's. Thus far, i see no real game mechanics "Con" to this tactic of TP'ing at a highly defensive hex. Yes....airpower will reduce supplies as will bombardments but these will still take time and Player one has a tight timetable that AE (IMO) makes alot harder to keep **if*** facing smart Player two's who know their craft. I may not be much of a player but i know Joe is.....yet ultimately grading our performance based on the historical timeline, we did extremely poorly.....our two biggest successes would not have occured if not for bad luck and one error on the part of our opponents. open to suggestions of course I think....IIRC...this tactic delayed us by at least 6-8 weeks in Java.
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