WWII - Mano-a'-Mano - HTH

[wie201]

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[wie201]

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[wie201]

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[wie201]

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[wie201]

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[Kursk1943]

Thanks for your effort to create this AAR, really enjoyed watching it, looking forward to your next one! [8D]

[n0kn0k]

Good read.

[GenSlack]

No AAR for the replay?

[wie201]

Its coming Drew - we are waiting for the patches to settle down a bit (and for the wives to settle down as well as we spent some serious time on the first one). We don't want to be in a situation where a new patch obviates a saved game.

And thanks to everyone for all the comments and e-mail.

[vonik]

I for my part am very curious to see what the revenge will look like .

[wie201]

Ha! Yes Vonik, he wasn't too happy about round 1. And if he pushes too hard, he may make mistakes. But, as you said, Germany has its work cut out for it, and neither one of us know whether the patches help or hurt either side. Do you have an opinion?

I would love to pin 2 victories on Mark, avenging my record in board games. But this match may be even more unusual than the first as I am more comfortable at defense/counter-attacking and he at full-out offense. I am not comfortable at all as Germany, and I assume he is equally uneasy.

And per our agreement, neither of us is playing the game until we play each other (torture!).

We should be back at it this week.

[Kursk1943]

Good news![:)]

[vonik]

No I don't think the patch 1.3 changes much the strategy .
There is however one thing that seems to be different compared to your first game but I can't say more in order to not spoil your fun .
You are right - playing the German behemoth feels very different than playing the Allied because you have initiative (at least the first 2.5 years) so that you cannot just react at what your opponents is doing what is the Allied play in the beginning .
Anyway I will watch with pleasure how it unfolds

[battlevonwar]

Looks like a lot of fun on both sides. Keep it going guys!

[wie201]

Thanks battlevonwar! We started but under patch 1.03 the darn thing keeps locking up on us. I have run multiple virus programs. I have a Digital Storm computer with stripped settings, but we can't get even 1 turn done after many hours of trying. We will try a different computer and give it another go.

[OxfordGuy3]

What patch version was this game played with? Don't think you can use your navy to block movement quite like you did (especially in the early game) with the later patches, as units can simply sail through (albeit at with a 50% risk of losing a strength point, and obviously loss of most action points if surprised). How would you change your naval strategy?

[wie201]

Hi Oxford_Guy! Pretty sure we used one of the first patches out there prior to 1.03. I haven't played past Patch 1.03 because Mark and I need to finish our current game under it.

Not sure what I'll do on the later patches yet regarding the naval war. I have only played the game a few times because Mark and I like the novel experience of a more or less "first run" against each other before we have our favorite strategies set in stone. Because the latest patches change the game so dramatically, Mark and I will probably go for a "rubber" match, despite the fact that I might (should) be 2 and zero after this one.

[EDIT] Ack! I kinda switched from this older game into my current one. The following is about my current HTH with Mark. But the concept of U-Boats having two roles remains - at some point they can heavily impact Western supply and/or go for strategic dominance over an area. If the West decides to invade the French/whatever coast, they will be met with a flood of U-Boats and two-strike (6 hits) Maritime Bombers. They simply cannot support a force large enough to conquer Western Europe because wave after wave of highly experienced Axis troops should both hold them off at first, then push them off the Continent after the shock of invasion has subsided.

[REMAINDER OF ORIGINAL POST]

What I do know is that Mark and me will have to decide on building and researching U-Boats. They can be both a convoy killer and naval superiority fleet. Because we like to "be in the moment" when we play, and U-Boats are so deadly at higher tech levels, we have already agreed on a house rule that my U-Boats cannot attack MTs or DDs. It is just too much. In time, my current U-Boat fleet could wreck the Royal Navy with little concern for retaliation. So, in the interest of history, I am trimming them back a bit.

Thanks for watching - I need to post more turns, but I must say that the all-Summer long battle for Kuybyshev turned into a real bloodbath.