Lebensraum Mark II - an After Action Report

World in Flames is the computer version of Australian Design Group classic board game. World In Flames is a highly detailed game covering the both Europe and Pacific Theaters of Operations during World War II. If you want grand strategy this game is for you.

Moderator: Shannon V. OKeets

Post Reply
User avatar
Greyshaft
Posts: 1979
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2003 1:59 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Lebensraum Mark II - an After Action Report

Post by Greyshaft »

I'm trying different things with the setup of the Lebensraum scenario to see if I can break it.

Here is the Italian scrapping form. When a scenario starts each player has the opportunity to scrap certain aircraft ie remove them from play and permanently shut down the production line for that model but scrapping units is a two edged sword. On one hand it allows you to remove obsolete aircraft from your inventory with the confidence that they will never darken your airfields again, but if you scrap too many units and you don't lose any units in combat then there may be too few units sitting in your Force Pool and you run the risk of being unable to maintain your gearing limit.

Gearing Limit restricts this turns builds to a maximum of units produced last turn plus one. So, for example, if you have no fighters available to build this turn then next turn's production limit for fighters drops to one. Therefore its a good idea to keep the aircraft factories (and shipyards and training camps etc) turning out a steady flow of units rather than concentrating on navy this turn and army the next turn.

Unfortunately Italy has such a pathetic production base that gearing limits are rarely a problem. I'm going to trash the following units:
  • CR32 Fighters - getting rid of these '3' factor units with their two nose-mounted .303 inch (7.7mm) machineguns will raise the average combat rating for my fighters
  • RE2001 Carrier Fighters - I scrap only half of the carrier fighters which keep the threat of an Italian carrier on the table. I don't think a Mare Nostrum for Italy is achievable in this lifetime but there's no need to hand the game to the Royal Navy yet.
  • CA133 Tactical Bombers - read the factors and weep. Did you know that in the pre-Dunkirk days of the war Britiain considered buying CA133 bombers from Italy - as if they didn't have enough problems of their own!
I like to hang on to the flying boats - if your desert campaign has even moderate success you can use the longer range boats to annoy the British in the Red Sea


Image
Attachments
AAR201..nplanes.jpg
AAR201..nplanes.jpg (176.79 KiB) Viewed 89 times
/Greyshaft
User avatar
Froonp
Posts: 7998
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2003 8:23 pm
Location: Marseilles, France
Contact:

RE: Lebensraum Mark II - an After Action Report

Post by Froonp »

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft
[*] CA133 Tactical Bombers - read the factors and weep. Did you know that in the pre-Dunkirk days of the war Britiain considered buying CA133 bombers from Italy - as if they didn't have enough problems of their own!
The factors are lame, but the white circled range makes me keep one of these generaly, if not both, because ATRs (which white circled range bombers are indeed) are invaluable in WiF FE.
brian brian
Posts: 3191
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:39 pm

RE: Lebensraum Mark II - an After Action Report

Post by brian brian »

with Italy I think I always scrap just about everything possible, with the same exception that Patrice mentioned. I do like the "Italian Stuka" (BA 65 LND-2) though, for a few random possibilities and definitely for rather absurd ASW work, but that is how the game works. And if Germany is really rolling the Piaggio (LND-4) is a great buy for things like bombing Baku.
User avatar
Greyshaft
Posts: 1979
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2003 1:59 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

RE: Lebensraum Mark II - an After Action Report

Post by Greyshaft »

ORIGINAL: Froonp
ORIGINAL: Greyshaft
[*] CA133 Tactical Bombers - read the factors and weep. Did you know that in the pre-Dunkirk days of the war Britiain considered buying CA133 bombers from Italy - as if they didn't have enough problems of their own!
The factors are lame, but the white circled range makes me keep one of these generaly, if not both, because ATRs (which white circled range bombers are indeed) are invaluable in WiF FE.

The SM81 Pipistrella ATR (which I keep) has another point of range over the CA133 and marginally better combat factors. The question then arises as to how many ATRs are needed by Italy and that's what makes WiF so interesting - everyone has a different strategy.
ORIGINAL: brian brian
... the Piaggio (LND-4) is a great buy for things like bombing Baku.

... and Gibraltar (July 1940 IIRC)
/Greyshaft
User avatar
meisterchow
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:31 pm
Contact:

RE: Lebensraum Mark II - an After Action Report

Post by meisterchow »

ORIGINAL: Froonp
ORIGINAL: Greyshaft
[*] CA133 Tactical Bombers - read the factors and weep. Did you know that in the pre-Dunkirk days of the war Britiain considered buying CA133 bombers from Italy - as if they didn't have enough problems of their own!
The factors are lame, but the white circled range makes me keep one of these generaly, if not both, because ATRs (which white circled range bombers are indeed) are invaluable in WiF FE.
Me, too...pretty worthless as bombers, but you can never have enough resupply capability in North Africa. [:)]
'Fear God and dread nought'
Coat of Arms Motto of Baron Fisher, of Kilverstone
User avatar
borner
Posts: 1485
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:15 pm
Location: Houston TX

RE: Lebensraum Mark II - an After Action Report

Post by borner »

The Piaggio is always useful. The axis can always use another long range bomber. As Germany I almost always send everything I can to Italy, even at the cost of some german builds at times.
Post Reply

Return to “World in Flames”