HansBolter
Posts: 7704
Joined: 7/6/2006 From: United States Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: obvert quote:
ORIGINAL: HansBolter I understand and appreciate your position, but the opposite extreme of Japan falling flat on its face from the outset should be just as possible as the already well documented extreme of them steamrolling for 4+ years. Alas, we AFBs seem to have been deprived of that extreme except in games against the AI. It's apparently extremely easy to play ineptly with the Allies and extremely easy not to with the Japanese. So far, I have only ever seen one Allied player create an AAR of an early Japanese drubbing, that was administered by Castor Troy, whom I have the utmost respect for as a supremely skilled Allied player. Having lost 3 of the KB on turn two, I can say that bad beginnings are entirely possible playing Japan! I've seen a good few games where the Allies got a great start. Japan is necessarily (and historically) stronger in 42,and many Allied players recognize this, choosing not to play aggressively to minimize losses and to be more prepared for a 43-44 offensive. What is difficult is when a game goes heavily for the Japanese in 42 and then at the first sign of setbacks, ends in 43. This seems prevalent as well. I understand your concern, and believe me on the Allied side I've found it hard to play with the extremely inexperienced, weak and poorly led Allied units early. Having been on nth sides though, I'd say as Japan you never rely feel you're in control, and even great successes tactically in 42 may be poor strategic decisions over the course of the war. I have all kinds of respect for Docup and his persistence in this one, and I think he'll end up feeling good about the game in the end if he can use the forces now available to good effect. If you talked to Jocke in our game in 43, he would have sounded pretty unhappy, but by 45 he seemed to be enjoying the game and really understanding how to batter down the Japanese for a more or less historical end date. We'd see this a lot more often if more games went to 45 I think. Excellent reply Obvert. I still think Jocke should have had the opportunity to be enjoying the game in 43 without having to wait for 45 for that to happen. Yes, I appreciate that a lot of the outcomes we see here are more player dependent than game dependent. That's what I meant by the comment about it being easier to play ineptly with the Allies than it is with the Japanese. Yes, the Japanese side is more complex, but in any wargame the protagonist that starts the game with overwhelming superiority always has a greater margin for error than the side that barely has enough force to get the job done. This means there is way more risk of the game going south quickly for an inexperienced Allied player than for an inexperienced Japanese player. Technically, no matter how more complex the Japanese side is to play, it is the EASIER side to play and do well with. Perhaps this is the root cause of so many Japanese blow outs depicted in this forum. Well, it looks like I owe Koniu another apology for hijacking his AAR. Perhaps we should stop beating this horse.
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Hans
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