Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: composer99

I think it was a mistake for the Chinese Communists to move so many units. Just the Lanchow warlord moved to where you actually placed him would have sufficed. The ZoCs would have blocked the Japanese CAV from advancing rapidly, and if it moved forward it would be out of supply. HQ Terauchi can't move further forward without risking supply problems itself.

In particular, giving up Yennan like that is IMO very questionable. And correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that an anti-tank gun by itself (therefore 1 combat factor) in the mountains (therefore a total of 2 factors)?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Centuur

What I don't understand is the way Chiang is behaving. There is that nice Japanese ENG division all alone. Also, Chiang needs to get out of those mountains and move west to be useful... Why didn't you attack the ENG division (a 5-1 attack), eliminate it and then move into the hex it occupies? Together with movement of the Kunming Warlord or the 4-1 GAR towards Chiang, that would put the Japanese 6-3 INF out of supply. Of course there is a danger that Chiang will get disorganised, however, if he is going to get surrounded by the Japanese, he's going to sit for a very long time in the city he's in now, doing absolutely nothing but binding some Japanese units, while the rest is running around in the Nationalists heartland...
This could have given Chiang a possibility to get out of that area...

Marseilles is of course a terrible mistake from the Italian general staff. You're slowly understanding how this game works. Always look for opportunities, even in desperate situations. Never give up. You never know when the die will make things better for your side, and if a unit is going to die after all, use it on your terms. Vive la France, even if it is just for another couple of months...

By the way: it's time for a news broadcast on German Radio: "The Hochseeflotte did crush those English teadrinkers in the North Sea, even against superior enemy naval forces...". The German admiral now has his victory.

quote:

ORIGINAL: brian brian

If the attack on the PART in Singapore was automatic, then you have a bug in the odds resolution. PART units have +1 to their combat factors in woods or jungle hexes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: brian brian

"At this point, it's time to do anything even remotely possible to stop the conquest of France." That point passed on the very first turn when the cream of the British Army went to a completely unthreatened Gibraltar. Just think how nice it would be to have them on the line of the Gironde river right now....the Luftwaffe couldn't be setting up Paratrooper bases to threaten Madrid with. And unless the Fallschirmjaegers set up with enough bombers that can supply Ground Support AND Defensive Ground Support the next impulse, let them land, risking casualties (though far safer on the 1d10) and disorganization and then wipe them out.....with those rusty British infantry units in Gibraltar.

quote:

ORIGINAL: brian brian

oh, good. how did you get the other 5 factors after the 6-2 Sydney MIL? just curious.

quote:

Yugoslavia
An Axis major power that controls Athens can declare that Yugoslavia is aligning with it during any Axis declaration of war step if:
• Yugoslavia is neutral; and
• Italy, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania are all Axis controlled.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Centuur

Oops... I totally forgot to calculate the Chinese Attack Weakness... That shows how fast you can make a mistake in this game...
Now, I've got a question for you. The thing that always took a lot of time in our group was pre-calculating possible defense factors for a hex, before movement started.
Let's suggest that the Chinese would like to see how many defense factors the Japanese can get into the hex where the 6-3 INF is in (before ground strikes take place). As the Chinese I'm thinking about attacking it (hey, it's just an example, no way the Chinese is able to do this...). Can I than select this hex and get a calculation which than gives me the 12 defense factors from the land units and the 4 possible defensive ground support available for the hex (? Especially in crowded area's, this could be a big help in speeding things up a little).

About your health issues, I've got one advice: stop smoking. Two times pneumonia is enough. Yes, it's hard to do so. I did about 20 years ago, at a point where I did smoke one case of cigarillo's in two days (that's about 200 of those nice and tasty small cigars a week...) and got some health problems of this (lung problems...).
They say around here that if you stay with doing only two of the four dangerous things in your life, you're going to survive. Those are: smoking, drinking, eating and woman. The first I don't do any more, the second with very small amounts, except when I'm at the Oktoberfest in Munich, the third I do to much and the fourth, well: I'm married
So I should be all right. However: why is my doctor always saying that I should lose weight...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Centuur

Oops... I totally forgot to calculate the Chinese Attack Weakness... That shows how fast you can make a mistake in this game...
Now, I've got a question for you. The thing that always took a lot of time in our group was pre-calculating possible defense factors for a hex, before movement started.
Let's suggest that the Chinese would like to see how many defense factors the Japanese can get into the hex where the 6-3 INF is in (before ground strikes take place). As the Chinese I'm thinking about attacking it (hey, it's just an example, no way the Chinese is able to do this...). Can I than select this hex and get a calculation which than gives me the 12 defense factors from the land units and the 4 possible defensive ground support available for the hex (? Especially in crowded area's, this could be a big help in speeding things up a little).

quote:

About your health issues, I've got one advice: stop smoking. Two times pneumonia is enough. Yes, it's hard to do so.

quote:

ORIGINAL: brian brian

ahh I'm sorry man, I'm not trying to beat you up. sorry that I was repetitive on my point. I just want to move the needle on what you consider 'good' for the CW. to wit:

the BEF lost a unit on the flank of Paris. perhaps you consider that 'bad'. but that probably gained the French an extra impulse....which they just used to re-take Marseilles. a development that might result in the Germans taking an extra turn to finish off France. which might result in the Germans clearing the approaches to Gibraltar an extra turn later....just as perhaps the weather rolls become a factor ... so the BEF accomplished something.

similarly, you were disappointed a major Royal Navy task force only damaged a couple Italian cruisers in the West Med. but you did clear the zone of Italian naval units ... how would that attack on Marseilles have looked with a couple of points of Defensive Shore Bombardment? that option can be very good for the Italians too.

anyhow, the CW is the hardest country to play and to learn to play well (hint: use re-org points to keep the TRS moving more than once per turn and the Empire's troops reaching the front lines, which will be tough for the AI I think). it is best to play them thinking in terms of time, not in terms of units & losses. if you cost the Axis time, you did good. It is not completely intuitive. The real Allies sent in units thinking they could stop the Axis in places like France and Greece. With our perfect historical hindsight, and just looking at the numbers on the counters, we know that in some parts and places of the game, you can't stop the Axis. but you can slow them down, and even the defense of Russia against the terrifying 1941 Barbarossa begins in the Low Countries. but unlike the real Allies, commanders in WiF don't have to worry about losses, the pieces are just cardboard or pixels now. so they need to operate like those old Jay Leno commercials about Doritos "Don't worry, we'll make more..." as long as you have replacements on the production spiral ...

but yeah, if you were commenting on the job from hell I have running right now (blown estimate), I would respond like my favorite blues singer (Pigpen) does on one of my favorite records ("Bear's Choice") "let me make my mistakes on my own, I don't need your help"

quote:

ORIGINAL: Patton_71

As we are potentially coming to the same point in the game here as I am doing, I have a question about french production spiral after vichy is declared.

France was able to scratch enough BP together to place a factory in production. While France is doing reasonably well, I do not expect them to survive until the factory is built.

Looking into the Vichy rules (we are using RAW, not LOC vichy), I cannot definitely determine if the factory becomes vichy or free french.

I would love to hear the opinion of the forum, and I apologize if I am off-topic.

Thanks

PS...Really enjoying the AAR here...like playing MWIF vicariously IMHO, definitely go after Spain if France falles early next impulse, and a Barb 41 is still possible with good med winter weather if Spain can fall by end of 1940.

quote:

Move all French controlled non-naval units and markers on the
production circle to Metropolitan Vichy France. If you are playing
with option 28 (pilots), you can only move an aircraft for each French
pilot on the production circle or the pilot track (Vichy player’s
choice). Any unpiloted aircraft on the production circle and reserve
pool, or unused pilots on the circle or track, are lost.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

quote:

ORIGINAL: brian brian

ahh I'm sorry man, I'm not trying to beat you up. sorry that I was repetitive on my point. I just want to move the needle on what you consider 'good' for the CW. to wit:

the BEF lost a unit on the flank of Paris. perhaps you consider that 'bad'. but that probably gained the French an extra impulse....which they just used to re-take Marseilles. a development that might result in the Germans taking an extra turn to finish off France. which might result in the Germans clearing the approaches to Gibraltar an extra turn later....just as perhaps the weather rolls become a factor ... so the BEF accomplished something.

similarly, you were disappointed a major Royal Navy task force only damaged a couple Italian cruisers in the West Med. but you did clear the zone of Italian naval units ... how would that attack on Marseilles have looked with a couple of points of Defensive Shore Bombardment? that option can be very good for the Italians too.

anyhow, the CW is the hardest country to play and to learn to play well (hint: use re-org points to keep the TRS moving more than once per turn and the Empire's troops reaching the front lines, which will be tough for the AI I think). it is best to play them thinking in terms of time, not in terms of units & losses. if you cost the Axis time, you did good. It is not completely intuitive. The real Allies sent in units thinking they could stop the Axis in places like France and Greece. With our perfect historical hindsight, and just looking at the numbers on the counters, we know that in some parts and places of the game, you can't stop the Axis. but you can slow them down, and even the defense of Russia against the terrifying 1941 Barbarossa begins in the Low Countries. but unlike the real Allies, commanders in WiF don't have to worry about losses, the pieces are just cardboard or pixels now. so they need to operate like those old Jay Leno commercials about Doritos "Don't worry, we'll make more..." as long as you have replacements on the production spiral ...

but yeah, if you were commenting on the job from hell I have running right now (blown estimate), I would respond like my favorite blues singer (Pigpen) does on one of my favorite records ("Bear's Choice") "let me make my mistakes on my own, I don't need your help"

Two comments:

1. The Marseilles thing actually won't slow Germany down going after Gibraltar. There's no reason it can't do both at the same time. It does act as a pain in the butt, but not a major obstruction. In fact, it might be "good" for Germany in the long run, if the USA fails to make the Gear Up Production choice a second turn in a row.

2. Italian shore bombardment wasn't actually an option. Those units were in very low sea boxes, so they didn't have anything to contribute.

Actually, there's a third comment, too:

3. Sometimes, playing both sides of this game, it's strange how often I can actually "surprise" myself. All it takes is looking at things from a different angle . . . say offensively vs. defensively, or what can be done vs. what is likely to be done. I'd go nuts if I tried to plan all of it at the same time, so I generally only think about one side at a time. This gets strange results, like the French attack on Marseilles.

quote:

When playing war games over the board, I learned rather early on that simply sitting in a different chair and viewing the board from another angle could make a vast difference in me identifying possibilities. Not quite the same when playing on the computer, but there is a tendency to not explore "your opponent's" unit stacks, especially those in the rear areas, as much as you do your 'own'.

quote:

ORIGINAL: composer99

The closest rule on factories in production I can see is from the Vichy France section (section 17), in 17.3 Units (subsection French Units):

quote:

Move all French controlled non-naval units and markers on the
production circle to Metropolitan Vichy France. If you are playing
with option 28 (pilots), you can only move an aircraft for each French
pilot on the production circle or the pilot track (Vichy player’s
choice). Any unpiloted aircraft on the production circle and reserve
pool, or unused pilots on the circle or track, are lost.

Emphasis in the quoted section is mine.

So it seems to me the extra factory would go to Metropolitan Vichy France and in essence become an extra Vichy factory.

The most recent FAQ/clarification document available for download on ADG's website offers no further clarification.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Orm

If Germany or Italy declare war on Spain then that is a strong indication that there will be no German - Soviet war during the summer of 1941. And it looks likely that the war with Spain will soon arrive. And if Axis go after Gibraltar it is likely they move against Egypt as well. Maybe even try to align Iraq.

As USSR I would seriously consider declaring war on Iraq before Axis can align it. It might be a good time to declare war on Iraq around the same timne that France falls. If I played the Soviet Union I would at once send a couple of 4 move units and a HQ to the Iraqi border. Then I would begin to pester the western Allies with requests that they allow me to DOW Iraq.