1x1 Total War, SchuryVSJanSorensen

[schury]

what's more this time, USA DOW on Axis![:@][:@][:@]

head: we'd DOW on Axis!
secretary: eh, ok. but what's the pretext?
head: what about their attacking peral harbor?
secretary: that'll be a good one if they would have done that
head: then they must have sunk our transports!
secretary: but they don't even build SUBs?
head:.................
secretary:................
head: do you still remember the long jumping thing?
secretary:...............
secretary: ok, i'll do it.

FYI, that may be how USA DOW on us[:D][:D][:D][:D]
opposite to the history, this Axis is trying his best to be friendly to USA, but JAN's not hoping it[:D], wonder when would he reach *3 of his USA factories[;)]
take the advantage of DOW, the US navy destroyed 4 transports and several ships, in return, we send several ships and two carriers into the bottom......

[rjh1971]

Congrats Schury you got to play with one of the very best.
I can see you did not want Italy on your side, that's interesting I tried it once.
Nice AAR looking forward to the final result.

Rafael.

[schury]

final result is very likely to be a desisive allies victory. i don't think i made many mistakes except doen't hold paris long enough, but still in bad order[&:][:(]

[kondor]

There is only one wrong thing with this AAR... On the beginning you chose the wrong opponent[:-] (that is if you are trying to win/draw or lose with dignity[:D]). I remember how Jan beat my ass in tournament...[&o].
Aside from that IMO it is best to wait with the attack on Yugo. When Italy and Rumania are onboard it is much easier to lunch Barbarossa... But ofcourse is a kind of a tradeoff cause SU is a bit stronger by then...
But that is how you learn the most! Fighting with the best!
Good luck in your next endeavor´s.
Good AAR!

[schury]

keep it low......
as a matter of fact, i always believe that the Axis victory condition is demanding!!! far to difficult than allis. and it's too easy to open a second front, from this AAR, you may see they can open one whenever they want, after the civil war, even Hitler would think it twice before invade Spain, but the british did it in a season.
until now, i didn't see a decent axis victory vs hardcores like JAN,AVART,MRQ,etc[&:] i am trying to do it. hope it works

[Uncle_Joe]

until now, i didn't see a decent axis victory vs hardcores like JAN,AVART,MRQ,etc

 
The question is whether those same players can win with the Axis. If they can, then its likely not a problem with the game...
 
I do agree that it appears too easy for the WAllies to get back on the continent but I dont know what can really be done about it. Amphib ops were already made a lot more difficult in AWD (from WaW).

[schury]

generally there are 6 ways to get back for the allies. Portugal, Spain direction; Norway, Sweden, Finland direction if Germany take leiningrad. Turkey direction; Yog or Greece direction, Italy drection, and of course amphibian landing on france; the first two are totally out of Germany's control, espacially Protugal. that's what Jan's done[:(]

[Forwarn45]

The Allies do have a few options. As for Portugal - Spain, it is possible to shut down: (1) if you get Spain as an Ally; (2) by invading these countries yourself; (3) possibly by making it infeasible with air and/or naval action; or (4) by going all-out to kick the Allies off the continent once they pursue this route. The last option is possible until the US is in, at least - although it undermines the Eastern Front. On the other hand - you would then have the factories in Spain.

I'm not sure it's too unbalanced as it is. The Allies do pay a price for invading these neutrals in diplomacy (and a small supply cost). But I've felt for a while that the Western Allies should perhaps pay a greater price by reducing their war readiness when they invade neutrals. This may cause the British to think twice (backlash in the US) - and even once the US gets involved - could affect their ability to get to favorable production modifiers. Another option would be to have Spain immediately join or increase its military if the Allies go for Portgual - at least if the US is not yet in the war.

[BenTaylor]

Do we think Spain should turn on an allied invasion of Portugal whatever the bias leaning? Would Franco have become belligerent or would he have thought fighting the West (Depends on maybe whether that is just Britain or also USA) was hopeless and stayed neutral or even have gone in with the Allies?

I am not a historical expert but I suspect it would depend on how Germany's war was going. Pre USA DOW I think he would have fought, after the USA DOW or as Germany loses a war with Russia he would be more likely to favour the allies. After all this is something like what really happened a bit where the Spanish recruitment of troops was allowed by Franco on the condition that they were deployed against Russia, by 1943 they were withdrawn under Allied pressure and probably as Franco saw the writing on the wall.

It is complicated because Franco was a Spanish nationalist/patriot perhaps even more than a fascist, so anybody threatening Spain could be fair game. It's all a bit complicated because I think Franco wanted the Germans to give him all kinds of things such as Gibraltar, aid etc. or according to some this was a deliberate attempt to make demands too high and thus stay out of it.

How would we model this and keep game balance, or is it well enough reflected now?

[Avatar47]

Based on the above, I would either suggest A) WAllies get a -2 WReadiness penalty per neutral they invade (either pre-USA, or post), not just Vichy/Italy. B) Spain joins the Axis immediately if Portugal is invaded pre-USA. Or maybe as Forwarn said, Spain gets bonus units? 
 
I prefer B. Invading Portugal, early, will still distract Germany from Russia, but will not require half the Wehrmacht to be transferred over to deal with the threat. Besides, Spain as a full Axis partner is somewhat less useful than a Pro-Axis Spain in the long run (well... you gain manpower points at the expense of resources).

[BenTaylor]

Interesting summary Avatar.

I have just read that at the start of the war Franco kept most of the forces in the south of Spain fearing Allied invasion, as war went on they were shuffled slowly north to fend off Germans. Kind of fits with B well.

Anyway Schury hope you keep up a good war, interesting AAR.

[schury]

i'll try[:D] but it seems a little bitter, it is said he's never lost?![:'(]
to Forwarn45: maybe there're ways to stop or intervene the british from Portugal, let's presume that it is doable. then what kind of cost would you pay? they'd do it only if you are fully deployed in the eastern front.then you are in the delemma, you can't give Russia up right? as far as i know, if you don't hurt Russia hard, you die for sure.[:(]
as to hitting a axis leaning Spain? you are kidding me right?[:D]

[Forwarn45]

I guess my top choice would be to give (-1) war readiness for WA invasion of neutrals. Additionally, I'd have Spain join after a WA invasion of Portugal - unless the US is in the war. If the US is already in, I'd give Spain a few more troops instead.

ORIGINAL: schury
Forwarn45[/color][/b][/link]: as to hitting a axis leaning Spain? you are kidding me right?[:D]

It's true I was just throwing it out there as a possibility, and I haven't seen anyone do it in the AWD games I have played so far. But it was a common strategy in WAW, and the benefits are still there: (1) help close off the Med. to the Brits and take Gibraltar; thereby (2) opening up the Atlantic to the Italians; and (3) securing possible landing sites.

The only difference with AWD versus WAW is there are now more detriments: (1) diplomatic penalties; (2) war readiness; and (3) Franco had a chance of joining anyway.

But honestly - I think depending on your strategy, it may not be so crazy for the Axis to just take Spain, particularly if you have Rumania locked up and in no danger of swinging neutral or toward the Allies.

[schury]

there maybe some benefits to take spain, but those benefits make me farther away from victory[:'(]
i don't have that much time to do this and secure them is not that easy too

[Petiloup]

Something we forget also is the human factor. Yugoslavia and Greece didn't react well to invasion and muster some nice partisan actions while Norway and France were quieter at the beginning.

How would the Spanish people react to an invasion considering that supplies will need to run from Southern Spain north to France? How would Vichy react to Spain being invaded? join the Allies and kick Petain out at least for Marocco, Algeria and Tunisia or accept German pressure and side with them? after all the British did strike at Vichy French fleet even being not at war.

At last what would the American people say? Roosevelt didn't have a field day going to war, there was a lot of pressure in the home front to stay out of the war. What would they do seeing the American army doesn't go to Europe to liberate but to invade?

Putting down the War Readiness of the US would be logical in case of neutral invasions by the US but maybe not by the British.

Here instead of giving one result to one action I would favor multiple possibilities of results for an action that would be choosen randomly. This will prevent to hope for one sure result and calculate everything based on this.

We could do this for: London Falls, attack by the Japanese on Russia, taking Moscow, etc etc etc

Think this would give some flavor to the game and if someone doesn't like it then make the events related to the scenario not to the game.

[schury]

glad it's monday, JAN's back. so we'd continue.
finally i made it. it's winter1943. i am still alive[:D]
nothing much to be done, cause winter... maybe JAN would initiate another attack in this winter, his last was fabulous, let's looking forward to it.
casulties so far. the AXIS running hard to catch up with allies[:(][:(][:(][:(]

[schury]

what a colorful world[;)]

[schury]

very tough guy, very bloody spot!!!!!![:@]
i think what i lose there worth around 30PPs[:(]

[schury]

but Germany got archangel, which destroyed allies' resources there for a land lease[:D]
just 5 PPs, earned.

[schury]

since we get a combination bonus, we initiated another assult to let Russia know Japs are still there!