Poland Sept 1st 1939-Blitzkrieg-AAR

[bo]

THis is the the action screen again it comes up each new phase and you need to make a decison on an action. Now the weather is very bad not only in the North sea but all of the North temperate zone including Belgium, Germany etc. The German player makes a decision to do a combined move. The reason behind this decision was the weather. I know I need to get my Panzers and my Infantry units moving towards the west, the Belgian border.

In a storm or rain my units hex ranges for movement are reduced, a 6-4 unit can only move 2 hexes instead of 4 hexes. It can go one more hex than it is allowed but then the unit will become disorganized and there is no point in doing that. Now in selecting a combined move if you look at this screen you will see the German player has 6 air missions which cannot fly in a storm except in the rebase phase. He has only one naval move which I am going to take advantage of that move shortly, 1 rail move, 6 land moves and 3 land attacks.

Normally had the weather been fine [good] I would have selected a land move to be able to move the maxium amount of troops towards the west that I could. But I will get those troops there sooner than later and with the early collapse Of Poland I have time to spare.

Bo

[bo]

The reason for my combined decision is I get a naval move and there is a storm in the North sea. I have the Graf Spee in the North Atlantic but I need more commerce raiders like the CA Admiral Hipper in the port of Kiel, notice the bad weather all around the ship, lightning flashes, rain, probably rough seas also. Bad sailing weather, well not really, ok the seas are rough, visibility is terrible the lookouts cant see very far, BUT NEITHER CAN THE CW FLEETS LOOKOUTS SEE VERY FAR.

[bo]

I wanted to show this screen to the posters because I think it is important. This is the same picture in the same storm, supposing, of course I doubt it, you forgot to check the lit button left of the little white flag on the interface. This button can show you what the weather is at any time during the game. Click it and it shows there is a storm raging, but if the lightining strikes and the rain lines are annoying then click that button and the picture is clear click it again and you have the storm scene again

Just wanted to show what that button does.

The devil is in the detail

[bo]

another sorry

[bo]

Interception screen.

Now this is why I had the Admiral Hipper sail into the North sea in a storm.

In the North sea are 6 CW warships on patrol looking for this kind of a sortie by a German raider. I put the BB Warspite in the North sea to honor one of our beta testers [;)] Okay Bo get serious.

Next I will hit the intercept button to see how the program calculates the search and possible interception.

Top of the screen says you need to roll a 2 or less to be succesful hmmm that is only a 20% chance of the CW fleet finding the Admiral Hipper, the Geman player has to like that percentage. Now if the Raider had sailed in clear weather the percentage might be 40% intercept, or in rain 30% interception. I find these possibilities absolutley awesome and I am playing solitaire and I cant even control what can happen next.

The German seaplane you see had flown out to sea earlier when the weather was just cloudy.

Bo

[bo]

This is the actual caculation by the program a [4] which means the Admiral made it through and headed towards its station in the Denmark Straits. I did not fudge anything here to allow the raider to escape if I had, the 4 that you see in the box would be in the color red. I will always tell you when I fudge. [:(]

Bo

[bo]

The Admiral Hipper has reached her station in the Denmark Straits. She will start looking for convoys when the weather clears. With the Admiral Hipper in the Denmark Straits and the Graf Spee in the North Atlantic the CW Admirality is going to have to allocate a lot of their fleet assests to finding them. The allied player may see the raiders on the map but finding them game wise is another kettle of fish----------------and chips [:(]

Bo

[bo]

This large map picture is at zoom 1, it shows where the 2 raiders are located. In the North Atlantic sea boxes you see 2 ships, in the lower middle box is the Graf Spee in the upper left box is a CW convoy unit which in the first search by the Graf Spee the convoy was not found but more searches are coming if the Graf Spee can remain at sea.

A very important rule here. A naval ship cannot go from one sea area to another sea area and resume a patrol in the new sea area, it can go through all the sea areas it has to, to be able to return to it's base or go to any other base that is contolled by it's own country or it's countries allies.

Convoys might have to find a more southern route if they want to bring raw materials to CW factories, hopefully I can get some German U-boats into the coming sea battles.

Bo

[brian brian]

great stuff Bo, thanks. I didn't even recall that you became one of the testers. While I am very happy to be inside this evening, when it comes to free wi-fi, well, you get what you pay for sometimes, and all the pretty pictures are mostly eluding me. Maybe next week.

[Easo79]

ORIGINAL: bo

... the bad weather all around the ship, lightning flashes, rain, probably rough seas also. Bad sailing weather ...

...I almost got seasick reading that part...[:)]

[bo]

ORIGINAL: Easo79

ORIGINAL: bo

... the bad weather all around the ship, lightning flashes, rain, probably rough seas also. Bad sailing weather ...

...I almost got seasick reading that part...[:)]

Good just doing God's work here, sent you an e-mail..

Bo

[bo]

We have come to the end of the Sept/Oct turn. It is now the Nov/Dec turn 1939. I skipped some resources to production phases for the sake of time and I am not a pro with them still learning.

This screen is the selection of what units you want to start building for the future. I will make some selections that are not my usual but just to show how this screen works. This screen shows the build points that my factories produced from all the raw materials brought into the factories by, land rail, and sea. I will explain line one the infantry blue line, I might make a mistake in some of the explanation but I am sure my beta friends will help me if I flounder a little.

I do not and have not read a rule in the book yet. That is not good but I have done all right so far, maybe. I might make a mistake, when I am hazy on something I will let you know. I could have avoided this map but I chose not to. I never worried about it before because I would just build units put them on the maps when they were completed and use them, never cared about the who, why or what.


Infantry ------type of unit. [ok]

Cost-----------3 points to produce. [ok]

Turns ---------2 -number of game moves to become a usable asset. [ok]

Gearing type--Infantry, Calvary etc [ok]

Available------4 They are shown in the box lower right a 5/3 a 6/3 a 7/3 and another 7/3 [ok]

Built-----------0 none have been built this turn yet [ ok]

On map-------13 infantry units are on the map and are available for combat [ok]

Off map-------1 [not ok]

When I click on "Build Selected Unit Type" one of those units will be selected by the computer program, not by you. If you have a problem with that talk to the programmer [;)]

[bo]

Personally I find these screens more difficult to explain than the combat part, at least for me, bear with me please.

When I clicked on the select unit button the program selected the 5/3 unit which was one of the four available. You can see in this the next screen it has been removed and put into production I will be able to show you later.

Please notice that the unit cost 3 points and it is reflected in the total at the top of the page.

13 points left to allocate, if you wanted to you could stop here and save the 13 points for the next turn, but me being a newbie I will plod on. The next screen I will show you that 5/3 unit in the production cycle.

[bo]

This screen shows the 5/3 infantry unit in the production cycle, We just finished the Sept/Oct turn of the game and we are entering the Nov/ Dec turn. Lets calculate what we are seeing, the 5/3 unit will be ready to come into the game during the Jan/Feb turn 1940.

Sept/Oct move finished--0- cycle

Nov/Dec move just begining. And it is production cycle 1 the 5/3 is not ready yet

Jan/Feb -- the unit is ready to come into the game because the second cycle is completed and that was the length of game time required for that unit to be built.

You will also notice the 7/3 infantry unit, also coming into the game in the Jan/Feb turn this was the second unit selected from those 4 units in the box. Also taking two turns to build

I understand most of this form but for the first time I am having difficulty explaing it so that others may understand it, after playing a few times this will be like water rolling off of a ducks back.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: bo

v

Actually most units are selected randomly - repaired naval units being the most notable exception. The program removes a unit from the displayed units in the Production form, just to let you know that there is one less available. But after you end the production phase for a major power, the program puts all the selected units back in the force pool and randomly selects 'new' units as those being built. What Bo has done here is build two of the German infantry units: the LXXIV and XVII corps. It might just as easily have turned out to be the VI and XLV corps, which were also in the German infantry force pool.

[Klydon]

Steve, does the game allow a player to know what the remaining units are stat wise in the force pool? I know a player could keep track of it manually and know if he has some studs or some duds left in a given force pool.

[bo]

The problem with doing an AAR.

Many times when I am in the middle of an AAR the bride might want me to do something, clean, go to the store etc. So I stop the AAR and try to come back to it when I have a chance, in the meantime posters post on what they see which may not be the completed masterpiece I am trying for [:(] I do not have a problem with people reading an uncompleted post or commenting on an uncompleted post, but sometimes the posts are not finished yet.

The other problem I am having is I get timed out and I lose my login and the post. So sometimes I add a little here and a little there save it and come back later.

Bo

[bo]

This screen depicts the other 7/3 unit gone, it went into production, there are 2 units left in that lower right side box.

I have enough production points left [10] to purchase the 2 remaining infantry units, but for the sake of the AAR I will purchase a different unit.

Bo

[bo]

I deselected the infantry line and clicked on the Armor HQ line. One name appeared "Guderian"

6[4]5 unit.

XXXXX's on top of his counter = Commander of a Army group, armored or infantry, Guderian happens to be armored.

oblong oval inside a oblong box =Armored unit

[6 ]= Attack and defence strength

[4] = Number of points avaiable to reorganize units near the HQ. A unit needing 2 points reorganization can receive this from the HQ unit and be totally organized [ready for battle] The HQ can use 1, 2 ,3, 4 or none of it's points if it so chooses.

[5] = movement range

To put this unit into production it costs 8 build points and it will take 4 turns to come into the game.

4 turns might not seem very long but 4 turns is 8 months game time and the unit wont be available until the May/June turn 1940. This very important unit can help the Panzers for the possible invasion of France and the Low countries.

[bo]

This screen shows Guderian in the production form in the May/June 1940 production line, that means Guderian will enter the game in the May/June deployment stage for the Germans.

There is a button down on the right side " Undo a Build" If you feel you made a mistake you can cancel that selection. Not on this screen but on the previous screen.