Bob Flemin's MWIF AARse IV - Nice AArse

[Centuur]

You might consider using the oil rule for the AAR after the one you've started now. It's working quite good at the moment...

[warspite1]

That's good to hear Centuur, although I will see how some of the other stuff is going too - not least Vichy and Conquest which I am nervous about.....

[Centuur]

Vichy declaring goes smooth. Collapsing Vichy has bugs in it, as has conquest. I really would like the two major ones in those (regarding the changes in control of hexes) to be fixed...

[Omnius]

warspite1,
I forgot to mention that the time you used an O-Chit and didn't get any units to double was because you most likely forgot to choose an HQ to use for doubling. You probably clicked through before choosing your HQ.

I bet you've got far more experience with WiF than I do. I did start out with one of the first versions of the board game, long before they started adding so many units and rules making it too tough to play solitaire. I'm still learning the ropes too. I started the 1942 Brute Force scenario and that starting point was fun as it allowed me to start the Axis at their high point and to really have fun from that point.

Actually the only unit you should have dropped in Sardinia was a cheap Italian infantry, just something to force a little tougher fight but not something too valuable to lose. You only want a speed bump in Sardinia as the Allies don't need it to conquer Italy although the resource is good to have.

The mistake in Poland I mentioned wasn't with the German set up, it was with the Polish set up. The one mistake you made as the Germans was to overrun the Polish fleet on the first impulse thus handing Britain those ships. I used to do that too until I realized it's smarter to not take Danzig on the first impulse, force Britain to then have to choose between a naval or a land impulse, or perhaps a wimpy combined. I don't waste any Polish units in the hex north of Lodz/Warsaw, that's a hex I want the Germans to try to stack in and attack from as it's across the river. It is pretty tough to protect Warsaw long if the German attacks in earnest.

As for gearing limits I messed up royally on US pilots. One turn I had maybe a dozen extra and I decided to not build pilots and then I ran out of pilots right quick and lamented my mistake the rest of my game.

I used to ignore Ethiopia too, but as Italy it's silly to waste that good infantry and supply down there. When I started the 1942 Brute Force scenario I saw that Ethiopia has the Haille Selassie HQ unit so now I see why I want to take back Ethiopia from Italy. Before I would just ignore Ethiopia as the Brits thinking it's just a self-sustaining POW camp. Now knowing there's a valuable HQ unit that can be had I'll make sure to take Ethiopia early on as the Brits. Takes it away from being an easy landing point for Japanese units. Even though the HQ unit itself is wimpy it's still an HQ unit capable of extending supply. I've got it in India right now extending the supply into Burma where I have a lot of units engaged on both sides in their own Sitzkrieg.

It is tough playing solo. I too tend to sit on my duff too much with some countries. In my current game I've been so interested in seeing the builds for future years that I tended to do too many passes to expedite the end of turns. I also didn't become aggressive enough as each country because I wanted to make progress in game turns instead of what I could do as each country each impulse. Now that I've gotten into 1946 I'm seeing what the future holds build wise and in future games will concentrate more on playing each country as good as possible even if it takes longer to finish.

One of the things about oil is how it influences strategy and tactics. Think of that big French fleet that can scare Italy into staying peaceful until France is done for. One big drawback to trying to go for Spain is worrying about what that huge French fleet will do. If you're not playing with oil rules and reorganization then it can do too much. If you play with the oil rules then that big French fleet becomes an 800 pound oil gorilla on Britain's back as France doesn't have the oil to keep reorganizing it. Yes using oil hampers the Axis use of naval assets but it can go both ways. I sure hope that the new update will have improved production planning and convoying of oil. I want to go back to using the oil rules to really make oil as important as it should be.

Do you always start with the 1939 scenario? I've found that the 1942 Brute Force scenario is a lot of fun as it starts with the action hot and heavy and the Axis at their zenith, before they made some really bad strategic mistakes. I'm also looking at the 1944 start just to do a short scenario to concentrate on doing a big D-Day invasion of Europe. Plus the 1940 Missed the Bus scenario looks interesting, a great start for Germany although Japan dithers around doing nothing in China. That way you get Norway for Germany and have France Vichied early. That allows for an earlier move into the Balkans and is better than the 1941 start with Rommel wasted in Libya.

Now that I can play the computer version it's so much fun to play WiF. Now making progress in the game is doable. Granted we're pretty, much limited to solitaire play but that's what I'm accustomed to anyway. I'm glad to be able to play the game now while waiting for the rest of the game to come out in the second installment.

Omnius

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

Vichy declaring goes smooth. Collapsing Vichy has bugs in it, as has conquest. I really would like the two major ones in those (regarding the changes in control of hexes) to be fixed...

Warspite1

100% agree. What is the point of net play working if this doesn't? Ho hum.....

[Orm]

warspite1,
I forgot to mention that the time you used an O-Chit and didn't get any units to double was because you most likely forgot to choose an HQ to use for doubling. You probably clicked through before choosing your HQ.

Or maybe the units he wanted to double was out of range of the designated HQ?

[EUBanana]

Good AAR, must take ages being so painstaking with the many screenshots. Hope it continues!

ORIGINAL: brian brian
The Axis end up with a lot of units in a no oil game, that's for sure. But I think you should keep going to see The Awesome Power of the Allies in 1944, if you've never seen it.

Got a game going atm where I'm up to mid 42, not sure which side is winning really. I'm tempted to put up an AAR of it as some late war shenanigans might be of interest to some people, certainly I'm kinda done reading AARs of Fall Gelb again and again. That said, I lack Warspite's patience...

I can concur re. submarines btw, I've had Germany investing continuously in submarines, 1-3 points a turn, and they have been absolutely devastating, even though the only naval turns Germany took were generally over winter when the land war goes quiet, or near the fag end of a turn when everything is disorganised bar the U-Boats. In fact the CW economy almost collapsed completely, they were down to 8 points a turn at one point, and with every prospect of it getting much worse. The Royal Navy is SUPER stretched as a result too, which has knock on effects in the Mediterranean war. Huge numbers of CW build points have gone into convoys and cruisers, Sunderlands are busy roaming the Atlantic while there are no naval bombers to spare for the Med. The Battle of the Atlantic is important.

[composer99]

The mistake in Poland I mentioned wasn't with the German set up, it was with the Polish set up. The one mistake you made as the Germans was to overrun the Polish fleet on the first impulse thus handing Britain those ships. I used to do that too until I realized it's smarter to not take Danzig on the first impulse, force Britain to then have to choose between a naval or a land impulse, or perhaps a wimpy combined. I don't waste any Polish units in the hex north of Lodz/Warsaw, that's a hex I want the Germans to try to stack in and attack from as it's across the river. It is pretty tough to protect Warsaw long if the German attacks in earnest.

Putting on my CW hat, I would say that the Polish ships are a write-off, and I won't bother including them in deciding whether to start with a naval or combined impulse (I can't see the CW calling a land action on its first impulse of S/O 1939). (Then again, I usually set up the Polish Army on the assumption that it's not going to move, whether because I don't have the action limits in time, or because it all gets pinned or destroyed during the surprise impulse). If the Germans do a land action on impulse #1 and don't port attack or overrun the Polish ships, then unless I call a combined, I get them anyway.

[Omnius]

warspite1,
I remember you mentioned muffing your naval gearing limit for one country. Did you know there's a simple trick to jacking up your naval gearing limit quicker than normal. Since convoy points are considered a 1/2 ship build you can build naval units to one less than your gearing limit. Then you build a convoy point and finally you can build one more naval unit that you want. That allows you to exceed your current ship gearing limit by 1, thus allowing you to run up your ship gearing limit by 2 per turn.

Omnius

[composer99]

ORIGINAL: Omnius

warspite1,
I remember you mentioned muffing your naval gearing limit for one country. Did you know there's a simple trick to jacking up your naval gearing limit quicker than normal. Since convoy points are considered a 1/2 ship build you can build naval units to one less than your gearing limit. Then you build a convoy point and finally you can build one more naval unit that you want. That allows you to exceed your current ship gearing limit by 1, thus allowing you to run up your ship gearing limit by 2 per turn.

Omnius

Is it wrong that I read this and the thought that flashed across my mind was "One Weird Trick To Boost Your Naval Production"?

[Omnius]

composer99,
My sentiments exactly as regards the mighty Polish navy. It also shows how we'll start out not understanding the nuances of the game. As a German it's just so tempting to overrun those naval units in Danzig to capture Danzig. However after some thinking and playing I think players learn that that is not the best tactic.

As a British player concerned about protecting those ever important convoy points it is hard not to run a naval impulse. However if playing against a German player intent upon ground action then a British player could do a land move to move Polish ground units into better defensive positions. That means being able to spread them out a little more to keep from getting hammered with the surprise impulse ground strikes.

The game is a lot of fun because there are so many nuances to the game to learn and perfect.

Omnius

[Omnius]

EUBanana,
If Scotland decides to vote for secession will you change your location description to Littler England? [:'(]

Omnius

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: Omnius

EUBanana,
If Scotland decides to vote for secession will you change your location description to Littler England? [:'(]

Omnius

It'll be littler UK, but not littler England, unless Yorkshire secedes as well. [:'(]

[composer99]

ORIGINAL: Omnius

composer99,
My sentiments exactly as regards the mighty Polish navy. It also shows how we'll start out not understanding the nuances of the game. As a German it's just so tempting to overrun those naval units in Danzig to capture Danzig. However after some thinking and playing I think players learn that that is not the best tactic.

As a British player concerned about protecting those ever important convoy points it is hard not to run a naval impulse. However if playing against a German player intent upon ground action then a British player could do a land move to move Polish ground units into better defensive positions. That means being able to spread them out a little more to keep from getting hammered with the surprise impulse ground strikes.

The game is a lot of fun because there are so many nuances to the game to learn and perfect.

Omnius

I must not have been very clear, because I was basically defending German overrunning of the Polish fleet during the surprise impulse. Unless the CW calls a combined (*) for the very first Allied impulse there usually isn't a better time.

(*) I can't see why the CW would call a land impulse on the first Allied impulse of the game; barring, perhaps, a France-First set up by Germany which is very weakly set up against the Poles.

[brian brian]

An aggressive CW player would probably order unmolested Polish destroyers in Danzig out into the Baltic for a 50% chance of finding the German merchant shipping, as they can easily open the game with a naval impulse. If anything they might select a Combined to get more air missions to intern the Polish pilots while simultaneously bombing whatever bits of the Kriegsmarine aren't in East Prussia. A French cruiser on a suicide mission might already be on the way, giving the Allies another chance at finding the ore convoys on a subsequent impulse.

There is only a 60% chance the British get either Polish ship counter…and a 10% chance the Germans get them.

The Germans do have to set up carefully to cover the possibility of the Poles deploying a unit or two in the extreme south or north of Poland, especially if they are attempting any other objective aside from Denmark on the first turn.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

An aggressive CW player would probably order unmolested Polish destroyers in Danzig out into the Baltic for a 50% chance of finding the German merchant shipping, as they can easily open the game with a naval impulse. If anything they might select a Combined to get more air missions to intern the Polish pilots while simultaneously bombing whatever bits of the Kriegsmarine aren't in East Prussia. A French cruiser on a suicide mission might already be on the way, giving the Allies another chance at finding the ore convoys on a subsequent impulse.

There is only a 60% chance the British get either Polish ship counter…and a 10% chance the Germans get them.

The Germans do have to set up carefully to cover the possibility of the Poles deploying a unit or two in the extreme south or north of Poland, especially if they are attempting any other objective aside from Denmark on the first turn.

warspite1

Some good points there.

It is likely the CW do a naval first impulse so a free Polish destroyer could be used to try and intercept the Baltic convoy.

Sooooo many things to think of!

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

An aggressive CW player would probably order unmolested Polish destroyers in Danzig out into the Baltic for a 50% chance of finding the German merchant shipping, as they can easily open the game with a naval impulse. If anything they might select a Combined to get more air missions to intern the Polish pilots while simultaneously bombing whatever bits of the Kriegsmarine aren't in East Prussia. A French cruiser on a suicide mission might already be on the way, giving the Allies another chance at finding the ore convoys on a subsequent impulse.

There is only a 60% chance the British get either Polish ship counter…and a 10% chance the Germans get them.

The Germans do have to set up carefully to cover the possibility of the Poles deploying a unit or two in the extreme south or north of Poland, especially if they are attempting any other objective aside from Denmark on the first turn.

+1! I love a German player who doesn't overrun the Polish fleet in the first land impulse. They will sail into the 4 box to try to get the German convoys. It's the fun part of the first allied impulse...

[warspite1]

Right then that settles it, AARse V will feature a first turn overrun of Danzig

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Right then that settles it, AARse V will feature a first turn overrun of Danzig

So you don't feel to experiment? To bad...[:D]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Right then that settles it, AARse V will feature a first turn overrun of Danzig

So you don't feel to experiment? To bad...[:D]

warspite1

To be honest I don't mind experimenting, its just that given the arguments I've heard, I don't think not overrunning the Polish navy is very sensible and so not something that future opponents are likely to adopt.