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Well, it was one of the best AARs read from both sides. I just hated to see it stop.

However, I think this reinforces my long time argument against auto-victory. This was simply a great game and should have gone on a lot longer. However, QBall simply lost heart and gave up when he realized that AV was out of his grasp. I have seen and heard this happen too many times in my many years on this forum. It is for this reason that I hate auto-victory. Too many Japanese players gamble all on attaining it and when they fall short, the game is over. Ruining what could have been exciting and fun campaign.

Just get rid of Auto victory. It does not make sense from any historical standpoint and it just ruins the game. I am aware that many Japanese players feel that it is the only way that they will ever win a game and I can'f find fault with this. However, this can and should be balanced in other ways. I have said it before, I don't give a rat's ass who come out on top with the most points. I am not playing for money here, so why care. The Allies will most likely win and it won't be pretty when they do. Still, I will know in the end who played the better game-no matter the point score.

Naw, I love auto victory!  It makes the game infinately more interesting!

That is exactly what happened, though I didn't think Brad would get so deep into India and so close to auto victory. So, the Allied grand strategic plan had flaws, but it ended up working out.

Have to agree. As the saying goes (with my modification), "Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and hydrogen bombs."

Sad to see this AAR come to an end. I started reading Q-Balls first and only really came over here when the posts started to get few and far between. I've got both open in my AAR browser tabs to check every morning when I sip my coffee. (Along with a few others, sadly many of which are slowing down). I owe you guys a lot for all the entertainment.

I was hoping that this would revive and we'd get to see how the Sumatra plan went. But I do appreciate your ability to make a firm decision and execute - by reading Q-Ball's AAR it leaves me with no false hope that he will come back and this will start up again.

As for auto-victory, I've seen this same discussion before here. I think both sides have a lot of merit. It leads me to think their could be a middle ground. An ability to play the game to the end THEN declare who over-all achieved what kind of "victory against history". A curve of some kind so that victories by Japan later give more points when the going is harder. That kind of scheme. But I digress.

Thanks again for the well written very entertaining AAR. Now to find another one to fill this browser tab and morning coffee reading slot!

PS. I can't believe he didn't take Socotra!

The entire game would have changed had he moved on Socotra.  He would have gotten the carrier battle he so longed for.
 
The Allied carriers were parked at Capetown and at Mombassa, and I had firmly resolved to use them if needed to escort critical reinforcement convoys from Aden to Karachi.  At one point, a big IJ armada of unknown composition showed up on the map in a position that suggested he was going to invade Socatra.  The Allied carriers sortied and were just one day from entering the map when it became clear no invasion was imminent.  At that point, I recalled the fleet to Mombassa.
 
Brad came very close to learning the location of the Allied carriers at that point, and he would have forced a carrier battle had he parked the KB near Karachi.  But I didn't want to use them, so I was glad he decided against that tactic.

Damn... one of the great match-ups has finished

Sorry to hear the news there Canoerebel, but I can now read your side of the AAR, as I had only read Q-Ball's AAR for reasons of security.

It dose seem that we have lost a lot of the old-hands lately, and that a sort of a changing of the guard is happening.

So good luck with your next game, and please lets see another AAR soon there Canoerebel Sir (which I will read, and bugger security).

I have been carefully watching the numbers of forumites present in both the AE section and the WitE section since the latter game debued and snatched Q-Ball away.  For awhile, WitE drew more..then after three or four months they ran basically even...and now AE almost always has more; sometimes twice as many. 
 
Also, while a number of old timers have gradually faded away (VSWG, Grotius, Q-Ball, Mogami, Admiral Dadman, Knavey, Yubari, and others), there seems to have been a big influx of newcomers of late.  Perhaps these folks were drawn by AE's reduced price during the Matrix sale event sometime back.
 
In any event, the AE forum seems alive and well and lively, which is great news for all of us who love the game.

Alive, lively. Yes.

Well. Debatable.


P.s. Kudos on your victory. It is deserved. You were significantly superior at the strategic level.

Edited: To move this essay to my "Tokyo Rose is a Hussy" AAR, where I had meant to post it in the first place.

Very sorry to hear this game ended. Dan you handeled this with an incredible amount of class, if my opinion means anything.

I posted in the other forum a thought that Auto-victory depends on teh premise that the Allies would still assume that Hitler is teh main threat. Once Japan starts being a threat greater than the historical premise, than the historical withdrawals for example become unrealistic. "Yes Yes I know the Japs are just 10 miles from Karachi but we need those planes to mount an air campaign on Germany ..."

I had suggested a variable PP system based on Japanese gains that is Japan is more agressive than histoircal they face more units and resistance. This initself is historical as Japan understood that they must use force wisely within the context of contesting colonies under imperialsim, a debatible subject rather than use force unwisely. Thus the plan to conquer the DEI but not the land of Oz ..

So rather than remove the auto-victory I still suggest the developers make it more difficult as the conquest goes on .. but what do I know

An interesting suggestion. IIRC part of Shattered Sword or Fire in the Sky talked about how Japanese success in early 42 did lead to at least some units and production lines intended for the ETO being switched to PTO. Not a full re-ordering of "Germany First" of course, but a slight weakening of it.