A quick AAR of a test game

[Joel Billings]

I thought I'd post a few screenshots with a short discussion of a test game I recently played. I played a 1939 campaign as Germany at the Challenging level (supply help for the AI).

The game started off with the usual attack on Poland in 1939, followed by attacks on Denmark, the Netherlands and France in early 1940. Italy did not join in on the attack on France in Spring 1940 (this is a possibility), but joined Germany at war at the beginning of the Summer 1940 turn. This meant that the British had a large fleet in the Central Med, with some fighter support from Malta. Notice in the screenshot that Vichy France is a neutral country that is Pro-Axis. Thanks to a Rumanian border war with Russia, Rumania, Hungary and Bulgaria are all Pro-Axis, and Spain is currently Leaning Axis.

[Joel Billings]

During the next year, I sent a large portion of the Luftwaffe to the Med to blast the Royal Navy. Although I weakened it, I could not dislodge them from the Central Med. Several Italian and British fleets were damaged in surface battles. My maximum effort submarine campaign bore fruit by cutting off England from the US in mid 1941. There was a cost, however, as US War Readiness rose and US production doubled in Summer 41. Worried about the potential for a Yugoslav coup that would put Yugoslavia in the Allied camp, I attacked Yugoslavia in the Winter of 1941. Although Bulgaria cheered the news and joined Germany, Rumania and Hungary stayed Pro-Axis but refused to join the war effort. This was very unfortunate news for my attack on Russia which started in Summer 41.

Notice that the screenshot shows the new "zoomed out" view.

[Joel Billings]

My attack on Russia started well, and Hungary decided to join Germany. Unfortunately, Rumania continued to stay out of the war. The British and Russians attacked Persia to free up a lend lease route to Russia, however this attack on a neutral country caused Spain to move to Pro-Axis. This will give me additional supplies from Spanish factories. The downside is that the US is very near to entering the war. Japan had been concentrating on attacks on China and was not planning to attack the US for several more turns. The increase in US War Readiness will probably lead Japan to attack the US sooner than it wanted to.

A note about fog of war. I usually test without fog of war so I can see what the AI is doing. This allows me to give comments to Gary when I see the AI doing something wrong. If I had fog of war on, I would not necessarily know how close the US was to declaring war. Depending on how effective my intelligence assets were (something the players can influence by purchasing additional spies or security forces) I might know if the US was on the verge of war or I might only have a vague idea of what their situation was.

In the Med, I finally forced the British fleet to retreat, but large British land forces in Egypt will prevent me from making any move to the Middle East.

[Joel Billings]

The beginning of the Winter 1942 turn brought a nice surprise. Spain decided to join Germany. This cemented Axis domination of the Med, although the large Allied forces in Egypt continue to block any further expansion there. The British finally got the upper hand in the sub wars and damaged much of the German U-boat fleet and opened the shipping lanes from England to the US and Africa.

The German offensive in Russia was stymied in the fall of 41 as without Rumania I was forced to consolidate my gains and build up for my next attacks. In the winter, I was able to capture Kharkov and force the Russians to evacuate from Leningrad or face a major spring offensive. Japan decided it was time to attack the US before the US attacked first and launched an attack on Pearl Harbor and sent troops into Southeast Asia.

[Joel Billings]

Once all of the Soviet areas next to Rumania were captured, Rumania decided to enter the war in the Spring of 1942. Better late than never. The Russians concentrated forces in Stalingrad and Moscow. By the beginning of the fall of 1942, I was approaching Moscow and had captured Rostov. Murmansk was captured and Finland joined Germany. My Japanese Allies had captured most of Southeast Asia, but were being pressed by the US in the South Pacific. The key was to defeat Russia before the US could begin to weaken the Japanese position or begin to change the dynamic in Western Europe.

With Gibraltar captured, the Axis U-boats surged back into the Atlantic and made a push to once again cut off England. Can the U-boats keep the US away long enough for Russia to be destroyed? Can the Japanese make the US efforts so costly that the Allies will give up and accept Axis domination of Europe and Southeast Asia? Hopefully we'll have more AAR's in the future if we can get a few of our testers to take a break from testing long enough to post about their games.

[Szilard]

Just a quick comment about Spain. These WWII strategic games always seem to assume that getting Spain to come in would give a net economic benefit to the Axis. But is that realistic? As far as I can recall, one of Franco's conditions for joining in 1940 was ongoing economic support, especially oil, in part to replace the imports he's lose once subject to British blockade.

[Joel Billings]

Actually in the game you get the most economic benefit (but no troops) when Spain is just Pro-Axis (even more than when they join Germany at war), because it is assumed they can still trade with both sides when not in the war.

[Forwarn45]

I'm just curious - does the dotted green line between Gibraltar and Spain mean you can't move between them anymore, as if it were a strait? Also - what would happen if the Allies tried to take out Italy in 1939 before it joined the Axis?

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: Forwarn45

I'm just curious - does the dotted green line between Gibraltar and Spain mean you can't move between them anymore, as if it were a strait? Also - what would happen if the Allies tried to take out Italy in 1939 before it joined the Axis?

It means that you can normal move from Spain to Gibraltar, but may only ferry move from Gibraltar to Spain (you must hold both areas to move that way). If Allies attack Italy while Italy is neutral, the US war readiness will take a big negative hit (they won't want to come in the war to help the Allies). Also, you risk pushing many neutrals further toward the Axis (even balanced neutrals). Also, some units will mobilize to counter the attack as it is assumed Germany would help Italy. It's probably not a good thing to do.

[Szilard]

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

Actually in the game you get the most economic benefit (but no troops) when Spain is just Pro-Axis (even more than when they join Germany at war), because it is assumed they can still trade with both sides when not in the war.

Fair enough. But I still think it'd be more accurate to make it work something like this: Spain leans towards whoever offers it the most oil, when neutral; and even when it's not neutral, the controlling side has to expend more oil than the other side is offering, to be sure of keeping it in the alliance.

I don't think any of the smaller countries should supply economic benefits unless they really were sources of strategic materials - Sweden/iron, Rumania/oil etc. And whoever controls them should have to fill in their economic "gaps" to be sure of keeping them onside - to an extent which will vary from country to country.

[Grotius]

Looks fun, Joel! I loved the original game, so this one is a must-buy for me. One question: does the WW2 portion still feature the same five powers -- WA, USSR, China, Germany/Italy, Japan? Or is there now a separate UK player, separate Italian player, etc?

[pzgndr]

A note about fog of war. I usually test without fog of war so I can see what the AI is doing. This allows me to give comments to Gary when I see the AI doing something wrong.

 
Speaking of AI, are there any significant enhancements we can look forward to??
 
Considering the effort made to include leaders in the upcoming Civil War game, and chance of seeing leaders added to this game eventually? [8D]

[Joel Billings]

The UK is still part of the Western Allies. There are no plans to add leaders. We do have them in large quantities in our Civil War game. We've never felt a need to add them into WWII. It would be interesting to think about what they would do in game terms if we had them, and how many would be the right amount to add.

The AI has had another several months of work done on it, so I think it plays better. However, don't expect miracles. We do have two new 1939 campaigns that are stacked for play against the computer. They make it more interesting and allow you to avoid having to add combat help in order to get a more challenging game.

[Becket]

Neato! 

Very psyched to see this.