How to PLAY a noOb ( tutorial AAR for vets )

[Hermann]

Having succesfully clawed my way up the noOb ladder I've picked up a few valuable lessons along the way. Now that I'm a "Veteran" player I've a few rights and wrongs about how to react when faced with a new player. Going to write the rules as I go along and hope for some feedback. Random server games tend to attract players from slitherine that don't use these forums. Theyre very hard to contact - mostly because the bobbleheads at Slitherine don't know how to employ email notifications properly. First you look up their username on the slitherine forum member list - then shoot em a pm and pray. In the event you cant contact them and get a feel for their skill level and willingness to take advice ( maybe even a few restarts if necessary ) You're forced to play the poor devils. My intentention is to establish a set of rules to govern these one sided encounters. Were a community that has grown around a game and our only hope is the survival of the game, we need a constant flow of new blood and silled players tp provide us with real challenges. You hit a new player hard enuff he is going to walk away in disgust. On that note heres what I was confronted with when I opened my turn:

[Hermann]

My response is not to use rail movement unless absolutely necessary and to maintain a solid front. no movement of reserves or manning of critical block areas

[Hermann]

in agc the situation was slightly better for the new guy:

[Hermann]

after my moves :

[Hermann]

In the south his attack was a fiasco i resisted the urge to really trash him and moved by land despite open rail lines out of lvov:

[Hermann]

After my turns - couldnt resist cutting the spearhead off to let him get a taste of what can happen.

[Hermann]

he did ok in casualties for turn 1 - about 200k :

[Hermann]

In the air he had issues :

[Hermann]

Not sure what the rest of you feel, but im tired of crushing new players in their first game never to see em again. Some self imposed restrictions on our own game play can keep the game running smooth and fun for everyone.

[Hermann]

Agn he seems to be learning - his tanks pushed to the river and got the crossings he doesnt understand ports yet though im afraid and he didnt manage to take the pocketed units out of supply. in the center he really took a leap and crossed the river west of vitebsk - ballsy move there. strong armored units have regrouped west of mogilev. Axis troops are advancing slowly and in force through the swamps. in ags he rescued his tanks but didnt move think he did buildups. i am slowly oozing out of the lvov pocket. agn called up limited rteinforcement agc called up heavy and ags hasnt touched its reserves. he is slowly picking up the how to's interested in seeing his next move. if he outruns his inf again ill have to thump him back into line. im a little worried about agc - if he had driven that hard t1 things would be different.

[Hermann]

agc

[Hermann]

ags

[Hermann]

my casualties are slowly climbing

[Hermann]

i dont think he knows how to do deliberate attacks i need to check next turn.

[Hermann]

Turn 3 has dawned - enemy is getting a bit more aggressive with a strong attack north of Vitebsk having trouble getting him to push on pskov - he is attempting to encircle the pripyat and has stalled again in the south. ive pulled back on all fronts to get him moving and reinforced against his attack at vitebsk. hes starting to encircle more groups - hes still very cautious and im not breaking out of his very weak pockets although its pretty easy to do so. he has a tendency to clse up to pocketed units instead of deep drives. casualty wise he is still way behind. hop[efully his infantry will arrive before his tanks get into trouble. hes getting close to my stop and fight line.

[Hermann]

agc

[Hermann]

ags

[Hermann]

losses:

[Hermann]

Turn 4 - he's starting to relax a little now - he grabbed the Lvov forces in a very soliud pocket - think next time out he'll be a little more aware of it, In the center he bit another pocket off but in the north still crawling. His penetration at vitebsk is getting boxed in pretty tightly couldnt retreat him but i killed about 40 tanks in his spearhead unit. hes pulling up to the river but im not letting him across till his infantry comes up. in the south im slowly breaking contact to avoid further losses. hes still very new but hes learning fast waiting to see what he does at vitebsk and how long it takes him to move up in the north. rear lines are being built and command sorted out for now.

[Hermann]

agc