It Takes A Village to Raze a Village

[rkr1958]

Well, why not!

I've had this game for 5-days, played almost two whole turns against the AI, skimmed through the player's manual and mostly read the tutorial and the strategy guide. Well, at least the first 9 pages of the strategy guide.

Why not post an AAR on my first play, which is against a vastly more experience and skilled player than me. One that is/has been an alpha and beta testers and also a moderator on this forum. Makes prefect sense. What could possibly go wrong?

Serious though:

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

Just wanted to let you know that I've worked my way as the axis through the conquest of Poland, some action in the Atlantic and some action in China. I've gotten through the first two turns.

If it's ok with you I'd like to take the axis initially. I think that way I will learn some valuable lesson and play strategies as I have no doubt that you will bloody me and seize the initiative far sooner than the allies should. As if you'd be so kind please point out my errors and mistakes, which no doubt will be plentiful.

I'm very impressed with SC. For my play of the first two turns I can easily see how it will become very addictive.

ORIGINAL: Happycat

I am glad to hear you like SC this much. My long-time friends Hubert Cater in Toronto and Bill Runacre in London worked very long and hard on this series. Did you ever see the very first SC, from around 2000 or so? Very rudimentary but so well thought out, and such good AI for the time.

My own participation in the series extends over the past 15 years, as a manual and text file editor, alpha and beta tester and most importantly, just as another fan of really good WW2 games.

Of course you can be the Axis. It is indeed the best way to learn the system.

Looking forward to the kickoff! 😊

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

I have this hair brain idea to potentially help me both learn SCWW faster and stay competitive against you longer.


I hope it isn't too presumptuous or naive of me, but I'm going to start an AAR on our game and solicit community advice.

I definitely wanted to run this by you first. What do you think?

ORIGINAL: Happycat

Why not? People have done that. I know the system inside out so it seems only fair that you get input from players on the forum.

My first question is what is the abbreviation folks use for "Strategic Command WWII: World at War"?

[rkr1958]

BEWARE OF DOGS!

You've been warned. It there are any allied cats about in this thread you need to leave now before my dogs get you. [8D]

This thread is for the axis and is created in the hopes that you, the SC community, will be so kind as to provide feedback, criticism and advice. Though, my general experience will these forums leads me to the believe that getting criticism won't be a problem. [:D]

The dogs of war in Asia and Europe have been released.

My goal is to remain competitive for as long as possible. Hopefully past 1939, but kidding aside, I may be white who loses a chess game in two moves.

I tend to play my strategic ww2 games along the historical outline and for this game that seems as good a strategy as any.

For Germany that means the conquest of Poland as soon as possible, then pivot to the west for Holland, Belgium and France. I will agree to the DE that "gives" me Denmark and Norway (i.e., Scripted Operation Wesenbung). I also plan to put a lot of effort into attacking/raiding allied convoys (i.e., Battle of the Atlantic).

For Japan, I plan to leave Mao's CCP alone and focus on capturing Nanning form the Nationalist in the south. Otherwise, I don't plan to be to aggressive.

For Italy, truthfully doesn't matter with strategy ww2 game I'm playing I always have trouble figuring out what to do with Italy. Again, a conservative approach. I do plan to accept the DE that "gives" me the DAK. And also plan to send Guzzonio HQ and tank unit to North Africa (Tobruk).

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. China.

1. Made no air or land attacks.
2. Transported the II inf corps in Tokyo to Hanan.
3. Move the Korean corps transport from Formosa to a newly capture port 2-hexes south of Nanning. Wasn't able to unload. I assume either I didn't have enough action points remaining or one can unload from a port that they controlled at the start of the turn?
4. Moved air to bases near Canton in order to support attacks on the Nanning.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Nanning Region.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Manchuria.

1. Moved Terauchi's HQ next to Mukden and adjacent resource to prevent partisan mischief.
2. Would like to replace Terauchi with a garrison and move Terauchi's HQ to China where he could do some good.
3. What about replacing other Japanese HQ's and inf armies garrisoning the Manchuria cities? Do folks build garrisons to replace them and then move them out?

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Japan. Research.

1. 100 MMPs to research Amphibious Warfare.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Germany. End of Turn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Germany. Invasion of Poland.

1. Luftwaffe bombers hit Modlin, Pomorze and Lodz armies.
2. Wehrmacht makes initial attacks and races to (hopefully) take the prize next turn which is Warsaw.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Germany. Luftwaffe Fighter Upgraded.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Germany. U-boat Hunter and KM Raider.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Germany. U-boats Sail Out.

More u-boats set sail headed for British convoy lanes.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Germany. KM Raider.

Graf Spee off the coast of West Africa looking for CW convoys coming around the horn of Africa and headed to Great Britain.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Italian. Research.

Italy spends 100 MPPs for Naval Warfare. Mussolini's dream of making the Med an Italian lake is strong.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. Northern Italy.

1. Guzzonio and an Italian tank unit are positioned for transport to Tripoli.
2. Also, as stated earlier the axis will agree to the DAK DE.
3. By the way, the cap was before the move of the Italian army in Venice. This army was moved west to take up position along with the corps in Turin on the Italian-Franco border to discourage any through of mischief by the French. Is this enough?

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep 1, 1939. End of Turn. MPPs.

Research, unit build advice?

Other advice?

P.S. I forgot to mention that the Italians did agree to the DE to send the II corps to Abyssinia.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: Happycat

Hi Ronnie

A heads up...the system will email you to let you know when your opponent has posted his turn, which I have. So if you haven’t turned that on, it’s a good idea to do so. I think it might be on by default, haven’t checked in a long time.

Your opening turn in Poland was outstanding. As good as any SC veteran, and better than many. Warsaw can fall in two turns, but three is typical, and sometimes better for the experience gained by your units.

Japan/China is a slog, and while I have seen many try for early aggressive moves by Japan, it isn’t necessarily a good plan because when the Japanese move in to take over vacated hexes, they are very vulnerable to counter-attack (entrenchment is a valuable asset in this game). Bombing with your CV air units is good for experience, and hopefully the Chinese will cooperate by sending up their crappy fighters too.

Jim

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

Jim,

Thanks! I did get the notification that my turn was ready. I'm a bit tired tonight so it'll be tomorrow. I've started my AAR on this. Attached are my dogs of war keeping vigil over any allied cats that might show up.

This picture is also in the second post of my AAR.

By the way, I'll post all the feedback I get from you in the thread. Actually, I'm not too concerned if you want to read it. I'll leave it to you whether that's giving away too much from my side.

Ronnie

[rkr1958]

[Allied/Jim/HappyCat] Don’t worry about speedy turnarounds. I usually only manage a turn or two a day, and really honestly have no expectations of the other person...once a day, once a week, whatever...no problem at all! I’m checking out too...had my last remaining wisdom tooth extracted today, and my pain killer is making me sleepy.

[Allied/Jim/HappyCat] I won’t read the AAR until this is over. It does give away too much in most AAR’s.

[Axis/Ronnie/rkr1958] Wow. Definitely get some rest and take care.

[Axis/Ronnie/rkr1958] By the way isn't great being retired!

[Platoonist]

Wow, You have definitely jumped into this game with both feet my friend. [8D]

[LoneRunner]

Welcome to World at War rkr. Good idea to take on a human opponent. The WaW AI is great, better than most war games I've played, but still doesn't compare to a person.

Since you asked, here's some advice on China. HQs are critical on offense and defense. They affect supply and morale. And as a result readiness. Pulling your HQ to Mukden made the corps west of Peking vulnerable to attack.

I move the HQ to Peking, force march the corps in Seoul to cover Mukden and force march the Jehol garrison to Hsinking. That way you can bring a corps and army immediately into the battle. You'll need them. Start producing more garrisons so that you can replace most or all of the units in Manchuria.

Right now, Tsingyuam is easy pickings with a lonely garrison on open ground. Probably preparing white flags. If China is able to cut the two north/south rails, you will have supply problems in the south that will take a long time to fix. Besides that, you will have two HQs trapped in the north and you need one of them in the south.

Good luck, this game will be a great learning experience.
Lone

[amandkm]

Lone's given you good advice. I'll chime in with one for next game, since you've already taken this choice. Italian research should really be focused on Infantry weapons and doctrine before anything else. It takes several months to gain a level, and the Italian economy is very weak. Naval research in a theater where they usually have near parity or better with the forces thrown against them from 1939-1941 is not nearly as important as enabling your land forces to put up a good fight in Africa, France, and the Balkans.