Shearing the Sheep! - JocMeister(WA) vs. Meklore61(Ax)

[JocMeister]

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[font="Verdana"]Air Losses.[/font]
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Its been bloody for both sides in the air during the first 10 weeks. And for once its not only the sacrificial Regia Aeronautica taking all the damage.

I´m thinking the pilot losses must be felt. In fact he kept bombing my bases on both Sardinia and Sicily this turn but this time CAP was present and he took some losses.

[JocMeister]

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[font="Verdana"]Victory points[/font]
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A new record for me in bombing VPs. And a boon from Meklore which gives me a positive overall VP of +2...[X(]

Admittedly I´m not having any fun with the air war this time around but I´ll keep on pounding that HI because I´m absolutely starved for VPs. Even more so in this game where Meklore has inflicted heavy negative VPs on me on the ground already. No finesse, no tactics, no choices. Keep pounding that HI...

Garrison VPs continue to irk me the same way the horrendous "no beachhead" penalty does. While I´m happy for the VPs its a clumsy, flat design that shows the lack of finesse and touch which sadly is present throughout most aspects of this game.

But enough about that. +2 VPs. Woohoo?

[LiquidSky]

That may be the first time I have ever heard the strategic bombing campaign and the word finesse in the same sentence.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky
That may be the first time I have ever heard the strategic bombing campaign and the word finesse in the same sentence.

Touché! [:D]

[JocMeister]

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[font="Verdana"]Turn 10.[/font]
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Not much to report. The 8th hit Berlin for the first time in the war. Losses in heavy bombers have been very light in this game compared to my game against Pelton. Not sure if its a consequence of doing lots of smaller strikes or the fact that Meklore has sent fighters down to the Med. Only Halifax pools are in bad shape but those can always be changed to Lancs.

In the Med we slog along advancing 2-4 hexes on both Sardinia and Sicily. We now have a SS unit on Sicily. Unknown which one.

No screens today.

[JocMeister]

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[font="Verdana"]Turn 11.[/font]
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Axis withdrawal...

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Northern Europe
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Most of the 8th rest after hitting Berlin last week. Raining and low morale. BC continue to pound the Ruhr while the 9th provide the escort. +18 bombing VPs this turn! [&o]

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The Med
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Meklore finally abandons Sicily. Some Italians is all that is left. The Panzer Corps retreats back across Messina. On Sardinia the resistance continues but its only Italian forces that are quickly swept aside using the 2 armor IDs.

The stage is now set for the next OP. Need to think this through carefully. I have a very bold plan but Meklore proved far more skilled then I thought. So it might be a bit too risky. I might have to rethink my current plan and settle for a more conservative one...

Then again...who dares wins. Right?

[JocMeister]

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[font="Verdana"]Turn 12 + 13.[/font]
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Sorry for lack of updates. Not much to report which makes writing the AAR pretty dull. [:)]

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Northern Europe
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Continued bombing. Peaked VPs last turn with +18 bombing VPs. Dropped down to 17 this turn as I had to hit U-boats last turn. Bomber pools are in good shape while Fighter pools are approaching catastrophic. Not sure what the devs changed in the recent patch but I´m pretty much out of everything including Cobras and Warhawks. [X(]

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The Med
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With supply floating to Sardinia we can finally make some progress here. Its slow though due to terrain. No hurry here though. I´ve started prepping for the next set of targets. Invasions shortly.

On Sicily Meklore abandoned the island last turn. We secured Messina this turn. Troops are getting some RR before its time to go again. Again, sorry for the lack of updates. I´m sure it will get better once the action starts again.

[JocMeister]

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[font="Verdana"]VPs[/font]
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[Smirfy]

Would it be possible for you to post the aircraft pools to demonstrate Joc?

[Peltonx]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister


No finesse, no tactics, no choices. Keep pounding that HI...

Garrison VPs continue to irk me the same way the horrendous "no beachhead" penalty does. While I´m happy for
the VPs its a clumsy, flat design that shows the lack of finesse and touch which sadly is present throughout most aspects of this game.

Looking at things historically The WA's and Russia never did anything more then grind grind and grind some more or historically speaking

No finesse, no tactics, no choices. Keep pounding/grinding

The allies were not very creative at all.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Smirfy
Would it be possible for you to post the aircraft pools to demonstrate Joc?

When I get the turn back I´ll get a screen up!

ORIGINAL: Pelton
Looking at things historically The WA's and Russia never did anything more then grind grind and grind some more or historically speaking

The allies were not very creative at all.

Poor wording on my part. What I was trying to get at was the lack of depth or choices in the bombing campaign. I feel the factories and everything else is just there to satisfy the VP system. And now that NOSB figured it out there is absolutely no reason to do it in any other way because most things you do have no impact outside the VP system.

[NotOneStepBack]

You don't have to be creative when you outnumber and outproduce your enemy.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: NotOneStepBack

You don't have to be creative when you outnumber and outproduce your enemy.

Indeed. But it does make for a pretty uninteresting game which is my point.

[NotOneStepBack]

I agree which is why the VP issue is so important.

[Seminole]

ORIGINAL: NotOneStepBack

You don't have to be creative when you outnumber and outproduce your enemy.

I think you do if you want to achieve better than historical results, particularly against an opponent with hindsight and the ability to not repeat historical errors.

One doesn't measure the Kobiyashi Maru by 'winning', but by how they handle the situation...

[JocMeister]

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[font="Verdana"]Turn 14.[/font]
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Pretty much nothing to report. Bombing continues as usual over the Reich while the Med is quiet. Troops are prepping for the next landing. Meklore is covering all possible landing sites with troops. Not seen that before. Mostly Italians backed up by German Pz/PzG.

I should have stuck with my original more bold plan...ah well.

Here is a screen of the US fighter pools. As you can see the situation is bad. I have a small excess number of Cobras but they are needed for the depleted A-36 groups. So that is -150 planes. Not really sure what the devs did but whatever they did they overdid it.

Surprisingly the P38 pools are stable for now. Losses over the Reich has been around 50% of those I suffered against Pelton. Not sure if its something I´m doing or something Meklore is doing. But I´m happy!

[JocMeister]

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[font="Verdana"]Turn 15.[/font]
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I´m out for the entire day and only 3 new posts on the WitW forum. That is pretty depressing...

Nothing to report. Heavy rain over Europe so I let BC and the 8th rest and upgrade.

Med is quiet and will be for some time.

[Smirfy]

The problem is the way the system operates small and medium production runs cant cover losses you then have to replace those with your bigger pool aircraft and then they in turn become stressed. Luftwaffe production figures seem to be in the correct ball park 7600 Me 109's and 190's for 43. Im not sure the US was suppling 70 fighters to the luftwaffes 135 109 G-6's alone in September/October 43. If you get time stick up the RAF pools dont think the RAF regressed to Hurricanes IRL. A classic example is the Spit XII which had a production run of 100 and equiped two squadrons in frontline service for over two years before being replaced, in game they would be out of spits in a few turns and draining the next pool.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

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[font="Verdana"]Turn 15.[/font]
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I´m out for the entire day and only 3 new posts on the WitW forum. That is pretty depressing...

I always look at AARs to judge the potential for wargames, and I am saddened to see so very little activity here.[:(] I think I made the right decision to hold off on buying the game...I haven't rule it out, but I am quite content to wait until next Thanksgiving for a sale hopefully.

Meanwhile, I will live vicariously thru Joc. Thanks![&o]

[Seminole]

I always look at AARs to judge the potential for wargames, and I am saddened to see so very little activity here

I have 5 open games, but I'm waiting on turns. I want things to get farther along so I can detail my strategy without providing my opponent my strategy in advance.