Poland Sept 1st 1939-Blitzkrieg-AAR

[Klydon]

ORIGINAL: richholling

When playing the board game we used to start again if Germany had a poor first turn invading Poland. Took us a few tries to get it right. A good clean conquest with no lost units is essential.

In the Facist tide scenario all US production goes to Europe, haven't checked the RAW but seem to remember that some US resources/production was deemed to go the Pacific.

I believe "Eastern US" goes to European theater and "Western US" goes to the Pacific, but that is probably old skool and I think there was an adjustment made if oil is used in the game.

[paulderynck]

ORIGINAL: richholling

When playing the board game we used to start again if Germany had a poor first turn invading Poland. Took us a few tries to get it right. A good clean conquest with no lost units is essential.

Wow... Why not just start the game in ND39 with Poland already conquered and save time...

[Grotius]

Thanks for doing this, Bo. People should know that while most MWIF beta-testers have experience with the boardgame, some of us don't -- and I think that's a good thing. We newbs have managed to contribute because we approach the game as newbs: we try dumb things that an expert might not think of trying, we ask the dumb questions that newbs to the system might ask, we spend a lot of time with the tutorials, and we try dumb things that an expert might never try -- and thereby catch bugs! Matrix surely hopes to sell the game to WIF newbs, and I certainly recommend it to the new player.

(FYI, I've been beta-testing MWIF since 2009, and while I've never played WIF, I have played countless other board wargames, including OCS, TCS, Third Reich, etc.)

Anyway, I've debated doing my own AAR on the scenario I've focused on throughout my years of testing, "Guadalcanal." But my strategy would probably be dumb, as I spend most of my time trying to break stuff, and not much time thinking about how to win. So I've hesitated to post an AAR here. Bo's example might encourage me to go for it.

[bo]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

Thanks for doing this, Bo. People should know that while most MWIF beta-testers have experience with the boardgame, some of us don't -- and I think that's a good thing. We newbs have managed to contribute because we approach the game as newbs: we try dumb things that an expert might not think of trying, we ask the dumb questions that newbs to the system might ask, we spend a lot of time with the tutorials, and we try dumb things that an expert might never try -- and thereby catch bugs! Matrix surely hopes to sell the game to WIF newbs, and I certainly recommend it to the new player.

(FYI, I've been beta-testing MWIF since 2009, and while I've never played WIF, I have played countless other board wargames, including OCS, TCS, Third Reich, etc.)

Anyway, I've debated doing my own AAR on the scenario I've focused on throughout my years of testing, "Guadalcanal." But my strategy would probably be dumb, as I spend most of my time trying to break stuff, and not much time thinking about how to win. So I've hesitated to post an AAR here. Bo's example might encourage me to go for it.

Grotius thank you very much, and thank you for your effort since 2009 beta testing it has not been an easy road for you and all the other beta testers. I was very nervous about starting an AAR because I knew nothing of the workings of this game until I joined the beta testers several months ago. Orm knows the rules and he can relate to experienced players better than I can.

But I know the interface and the way Steve programed this game it did not take me long to understand the game, not all of it but most of it. So I took it on and there were many positive posts and a few negative ones but these are posters opinons and I have to respect them.

I have stopped doing AAR's I think, and I am doing demo's now [;)] I have no other goal then to help my fellow posters and myself learn this fantastic game.

Bo

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Erik,

Here is another thread to move to the AAR sub-forum.

[vicberg]

ORIGINAL: bo

This screen shows the bomber air fleet returned to it's base at Bremen. The circle at the top of the bomber's counter is orange meaning it is disorganized and cannot be used again until either a HQ unit reorganizes the bomber or the turn ends. If not reorganized it will be available for combat in the Jan/Feb turn.

Why so long game time, or moreover why this rule of waiting so long, I believe that the people [ADG] who made this game up are very very astute at war games. I believe what they are saying is that this bomber wing which did avoid destruction still took a possible beating from the AA fire and now all the bombers in the air fleet have to be repaired, bombers lost in the attack have to be replaced and pilots trained.

EG: This is not one bomber, this could be a 100 bombers, 200 bombers, I dont know how many but it is not one bomber. Bombers in this group were lost, many were damaged and the people who made up this game try to reflect that with this delay that could be up to 2 months. I am assuming all of this and if anybody has a better suggestion please help me.

Bo

Why so long game time, or moreover why this rule of waiting so long, I believe that the people [ADG] who made this game up are very very astute at war games. I believe what they are saying is that this bomber wing which did avoid destruction still took a possible beating from the AA fire and now all the bombers in the air fleet have to be repaired, bombers lost in the attack have to be replaced and pilots trained.

EG: This is not one bomber, this could be a 100 bombers, 200 bombers, I dont know how many but it is not one bomber. Bombers in this group were lost, many were damaged and the people who made up this game try to reflect that with this delay that could be up to 2 months. I am assuming all of this and if anybody has a better suggestion please help me.

An aircraft unit represents 250 aircraft in 1939 up to 500 aircraft in 1945. Naval units are a CA, CV or BB with 4-6 destroyers.

As far as a plane being able to do 1 air mission in a 2 month turn, it's a game mechanic. In spite of the fact that the board game requires a garage to play it, if every unit were allowed to attack every impulse without limitation even the massive map would end up being very very small.

WIF is game of choices, from production, to actions (land, naval, air, combined) to the tactics of an attack. It requires an integration build/strategy/tactical approach from turn 1. No matter what side you're faced with a constant choice on how much and where to use your forces in the most efficient manner to accomplish your goals. When to use HQ support? When to use HQ reorganization? When to ground strike? When to ground support? How much to commit to a theater of operation. It takes time to get stuff to where you want it, so it requires planning. That's what makes this one of best strategic games out there.

[vicberg]

Seaboxes are a simulation of the amount of time a ship spends in the sea zone on patrolling it. The higher the Seabox the ship are in, the more movement points are used to patrol the area. Search numbers are based on the Sea Box number. If a ship is in sea box 4, it finds the enemy on a die roll of 4 or less on 1D10 if combat is announced. If it is in a Sea box 1, you have to roll a 1 (Weather conditions and air units have also there effect on the search numbers, but to make things easy, I've not included those in here).

To add to this, if you have ships in different sea boxes within the same zone, your die roll determines which ships are included. So if ships are in the 1 and 4 box and you roll a 3, the 4 box is included and the 1 box isn't. If you roll a 1, both 1 and 4 box are included. Why would this happen? I'm escorting convoy points in the zero box. If I put escorts only on the zero box, an enemy could easily surprise the that force. Surprise is huge in naval combats. The higher the sea box your in, the less you are surprised. So you might put a picket in the 4 box and escorts in the zero box to prevent surprise.

[Zecke]

Esta muy bien ..Bo..ya sabemos un monton (we all Know more about it); really impresive

Driking ona cane of beer and learning; what else¡