WWII - Mano-a'-Mano - HTH

[wie201]

*

[Seminole]

You're right to keep pressure on the Axis minors. He doesn't get to replace them with the discounts the Germans earn via tech and Italian income won't do well maintaining/replacing from steady combat in the East. Final added bonus of stretching his lines and once you can force gaps and start pocketing...

[vonik]

It looks like Germany doesn't care about the war anymore and hasn't been caring for a few turns already .
Letting partisans running all over the place (even in Kiev !!) when it is so easy to prevent them from spawning is more than negligence .
It's time you called this war over and won by the Allied because the German just don't seem to want to fight anymore .

[wie201]

Thanks Vonik - I offered, and he has a standing offer to resign and we can switch sides and go again. I even offered a re-start on this one some time ago. But he may want to see the Western Allies in a major invasion first. If not for any other reason but to try to learn as he will be playing that side soon enough.

I did ask him about the partisans prior to your post (I was curious as well) and he said first, he did not have enough to cover but (as I saw last night) he has sent several German armies to dispatch them. Secondly, they didn't seem to have much effect on his operations, so he didn't bother to draw down from his front line, and just waited for reinforcements to take care of it in due course.

But he does care (he must - he sits in my home office for an hour smoking his TOBACCO pipe - that's how long a turn takes now). I emphasize tobacco in case people thought by his actions he must be smoking something else

He's admitted that he went very heavy on tech too soon, but he was always preparing for a long, drawn out war. That may have been his biggest mistake in that he seems really not to have been building an army for a swift victory, but building one to survive. The problem with that, as he admits, is that there is a cap on technology, and eventually the Allies will be able to match him tech-wise. Although he knew that, he didn't think it could happen so quickly (the Allies are nipping at his tech heels).

He won't be gamey and all of a sudden pullback to Festung Germany and just survive for years. That would be of no interest to him, me, or anyone (and I wouldn't even bother posting same as posting, although I have gotten much more efficient at it, still takes time.) But, because he has built an army to survive, he may want to see if it can. When I post this latest turn the casualties caused by the attacks and counter-attacks on both sides is amazing. I haven't done all the math yet, but in one turn alone I think the casualties suffered by the Axis and Allies may equal (or is close to) the entire Pre-war Polish Army. That may not surprise anyone, but I thought it was a bit profound since we're still in 1942.

But this is what you get when two veteran boardgame opponents play a sophisticated game for the first time against one another. And that is the fun of these first plays. He won't play the West until this game is over, and it will be my first shot playing Germany. We'll play whatever the current patch is. And I'll think of some way to post same that is fun for me and hopefully fun for anyone reading it.

For me, I am playing probably far too conservatively, but I don't want to lose a lead that has been building every turn since the 1940's. But I'll take a big risk and break this up. My heavy recon operation is coming (in the guise of a bombardment campaign, if that tricks anyone) for Western Europe. I will be ready to invade and will choose my target soon after. If France, I will try to end this quickly and get onto the next game.

Mark's a good guy. He knows, obviously, that I post these but he never reads them. In fact, he just has gotten into the habit of reading the Matrix Games forum at all because of this game. So let him plan his "Stalemate" and I promise to do whatever I can to end this quickly and move on to be Von Wie201!

But thanks again Vonik for your comments. I am grateful to anyone who responds.

[BillRunacre]

I like Mark's fighting spirit, it's one I share, and a defeat is often the best means to prepare for the next game, live and learn! [:)]

[wie201]

Thanks Bill - I will forward your regards to Mark. But Vonik has a point if someone is, in modern parlance, "phoning it in." I think we probably have all faced, at some point, an opponent who has realized early on that they have lost the game and therefore have lost interest in playing, thereby just moving his units along to end the agony more quickly.

Mark is not doing that, but Germany apparently has little room for error early on. And, as Vonik and others have pointed out, Mark really "blew it" in France and, instead of recovering, he doubled down on disaster by sacrificing the German High Seas Fleet in an abortive effort and tried to "trick" his opponent (me) by keeping his full troop strength off of the Russian front lines.

So here we are, and I will endeavor to end this quickly and then try as the Axis Powers next time.

As always, I appreciate any and all feedback.

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[vonik]

ORIGINAL: wie201

... but Germany apparently has little room for error early on. ... Mark really "blew it" in France ...

Indeed Germany is much harder to play than the Allied because there is so little room for mistakes and even small mistakes can have far reaching consequences .
There is another dramatic consequence to the too late Victory in France - you loose the Regia Marina .
Indeed if you manage to beat France not long after Italy declares war on France, the French Navy has not enough time to Attack the Italians and the UK Navy is not enough to do it alone .


As for the partisans - it can't be a matter of not having "enough" forces . A garrison costs 50 MP and with just a few of them you can stop any partisan spawning .
You can also use Italian garrisons what doesn't even remove those 50 MP from the German pool .

As for your strategy you have now a total freedom of movement everywhere .
You can invade Albania what would show how dramatic it was to have let those partisans loose in Yougoslavia .
You can invade Italy because after the loss of Africa, Italy can't sustain both the Russian and Italian losses .
You can invade classically France because any removal of German units from the Eastern front would create a fatal weakness that the Soviets would immediately exploit .
You can invade Denmark what puts an almost unsustainable immediate pressure on Germany .
You can even do any combination of the above at your leisure .

It is because Germany cannot do anything about that that it has lost but perhaps doesn't know it yet .
It is too late even for a "Festung Deutschland" strategy

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*

[wie201]

*