An Attempt to use MWiF to Simulated WW2 Reasonably Historically

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. Mar/Apr 1942. End of Turn*. Egypt. Syria. East Med.
* actually, start of turn 17, May/June 1942.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. Mar/Apr 1942. End of Turn*. Greece. The Italian Coast.
* actually, start of turn 17, May/June 1942.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. Mar/Apr 1942. End of Turn*. Great Britain.
* actually, start of turn 17, May/June 1942.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. Mar/Apr 1942. End of Turn*. US East Coast.
* actually, start of turn 17, May/June 1942.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. Mar/Apr 1942. End of Turn. Conquests.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. Mar/Apr 1942. End of Turn. Japan. Use Oil.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. Mar/Apr 1942. End of Turn. NEI. Destroys Oil.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. Mar/Apr 1942. End of Turn. Economic Reports.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. May/June 1942. Trade.

[rkr1958]

Turn 16. May/June 1942. Initiative.

[brian brian]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

Add to that forcing the Soviets to "conquer" Eastern Poland, forcing them to claim the Finnish Borderlands and having the Germans deny the claim. And then, forcing the stalemate between the USSR and Japan after Nomonhan through early 1942 (and tying up significant forces on both sides) and then ending that with a non-aggression pact. On top of that, not allowing the USSR to invade Persia and / or Iraq.

Those are all good decisions for the USSR, and also historical. Just because they can go on non-historical adventures in WiF, doesn't mean those are always good ideas. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't, but usually the decision is made to do other things by the Russian player because they are bored waiting for the real war to start. US Entry can frequently win the game for the Allies; the USSR can frequently delay US Entry.

Demanding the Finnish Borderlands was done in history to improve the defenses of Leningrad (and likely as just an opening move in an attempt to destabilize Finland and recover a former Imperial province eventually). In World in Flames, requesting the Borderlands is a good move to help protect the rail link to Murmansk - an important idea that was not foreseen, historically.

But also on the geo-political realism track, the historical Finns never really attempted to cut the rail link to Murmansk, either, and refused to advance all that much from historical Finnish speaking areas, despite German requests that they do so.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: brian brian
But also on the geo-political realism track, the historical Finns never really attempted to cut the rail link to Murmansk, either, and refused to advance all that much from historical Finnish speaking areas, despite German requests that they do so.

Too late for this game, but that sounds like a good addition to my Geo-Political rule set. That is, some rule that limits the Finns to liberating the Finnish Borderlands and helping the Germans take Leningrad.

[Courtenay]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

ORIGINAL: brian brian
But also on the geo-political realism track, the historical Finns never really attempted to cut the rail link to Murmansk, either, and refused to advance all that much from historical Finnish speaking areas, despite German requests that they do so.

Too late for this game, but that sounds like a good addition to my Geo-Political rule set. That is, some rule that limits the Finns to liberating the Finnish Borderlands and helping the Germans take Leningrad.

Actually, the Finns did not try doing anything to take Leningrad, but there was a significant (mainly German) attempt to take Murmansk. The Finns did cut the Murmansk-Leningrad railroad between Lakes Ladoga and Onega, but the Russians built the Belomorsk-Archangel railroad to compensate. (One thing the game does not reflect is the significant railroad building that took place during the war. The eastern rail line into Baku, the Burmese railroad, and the Matruh-Siwa railroads were other significant railroads that were built during the war.)

[rkr1958]

I can't believe it's been 11 days since I last posted in this AAR. It's not like I haven't been playing, I have. It's just the last turn was a doozey and it's just taken me 3-days shy of two weeks to play through it, record and capture details on it. At this stage of the game I don't know who's on the ropes ... the allies or the axis. Or maybe both as you shall see after I post details of my last turn (turn 17, May/June 1942).

I must say that I'm really enjoying this game but I do think I have some more details to work out to make it more "historical" especially in Scandinavia. I think in my next go around I'll require Germany to invade Norway and limited the extent of the Finnish cooperation with the Germans. Also, I'll think I'll require the Germans to maintain a high enough garrison value to never ever allow the Soviets to break the pact. If they fail to do this and the Soviets can break the pact then I think I'll call that an instant allied victory, game over, amen.

Before I get to posting details on my latest turn, I'd like to post my initial through on limiting Finland's enthusiasm on total war.

[rkr1958]

Turn 17. May/June 1942. Summary. Weather & Actions.

[rkr1958]

Turn 17. May/June 1942. Summary. Naval Combat Log.

[rkr1958]

Turn 17. May/June 1942. Summary. Air Combat Log.

[rkr1958]

Turn 17. May/June 1942. Summary. Land Combat Log.

[rkr1958]

Turn 17. May/June 1942. Allied #1. US Aligns Brazil.

[rkr1958]

Turn 17. May/June 1942. Allied #1. Euro-Axis Naval Threat Matrix.