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To the Victor the spoils. I will let Rob do the honours.

Yeah, was a fun game with both of us in unchartered waters in the back half, to some extent or another. Some context around losses is warranted.

While my Germans have an inherently high tolerance for pain (you witnessed that firsthand in France ), the 'at all costs' mentality didn't fully kick in until '43 with a final effort that finished off Russia and culminated on the English bloodlands (and surrounding waters) in '45/46 leading to UK's ultimate NM surrender.

Given Pete's expert use of: air/naval power, supply degradation, space for time; cost efficiency just didn't make it high up the list of priorities.

But it wasn't always pretty and calculated. I'm sure Pete said to himself once or twice 'WT actual F is he doing??'. I know it crossed my mind occasionally.

And of course, it's a much easier credo to adopt (and sustain) when you have Russian resources (and later ME/India) at your disposal.

Elsewhere saw the surrender of Italy/India and the eventual linking of German forces with their radioactive allies near Kweilin after a slow and bloody advance thru Tibet. Japan managed to (barely) hold on to the end, winning the honorable 'take one for the team' award for its painful role as US punching bag.

[New ELO Started]

Thunderlizard11 (axis) v. grant1 (allies)

LoneRunner wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 2:07 pm New ELO game begins:

phenix_slith (Allies) vs LoneRunner (Axis)

Hi firsteds.
Please remove the above game between phenix_slith and I from the ELO list. It's been over two weeks since phenix submitted a move and he hasn't responded to my PMs. Hopefully he is okay. He seemed concerned that I took Warsaw on the first turn with minimal units so that might be the issue. I don't want to earn points from a cancelled game so don't worry about that.

I guess the only way to delete the game from my online list is to concede. Although, that feels weird.
Bill

ELO game (started 20th April) ends:
Feinder (Axis) [LOSS] vs. Pekkavilamoura (Allies) [WIN]

Axis surrender in February 1945.

Axis advance in Russia reached its peak mid '42 roughly on the line Tallinn - Smolensk - Voronetzh - Rostov when the Red Army started their counteroffensive.
Allies had kept a foothold in Greece so the Supreme Command decided to bring reinforcements and create a southern flank for the Russian offensive instead of landing in France or Italy.

Pacific was a bit of a mess: a very optimistic US forward strategy went completely wrong, losing 2 carriers (3rd escaping with just 1 SP), the whole Pearl fleet and a number of other surface ships. I think Japan lost just 1 battleship in that first encounter.
But the Japanese landings didn't go too well, Singapore and HK were not attacked, Manila was taken with some delay but Lt. General Wainwright stayed in the Philippines with some troops, putting up his HQ in Legaspi and waiting for the Marines to get trained and return.
Batavia also fell after some delay but the Commonwealth troops quickly took it back leaving the remaining Japanese troops without supply and soon destroyed.
China never got in trouble, holding the line and soon starting some attacks but the Japanese defended well, so it was pretty static until late war when US landed in Korea and Russia invaded Manchuria.

Great game. Feinder is new to ELO but an experienced player with a clear strategy and good tactical execution. Great naval play!
Nice interaction during the game made it very enjoyable.
Rematch switching sides starting soon.

New ELO game begins:

ThunderLizard11 (Axis) vs petedalby (Allies)

New ELO rules.

I think that completes my set of playing everyone above me in the rankings albeit with mixed fortunes...

Pekkavilamoura wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2026 6:57 pm ELO game (started 20th April) ends:
Feinder (Axis) [LOSS] vs. Pekkavilamoura (Allies) [WIN]

Axis surrender in February 1945.

[Lots of stuff here...]

Great game. Feinder is new to ELO but an experienced player with a clear strategy and good tactical execution. Great naval play!
Nice interaction during the game made it very enjoyable.
Rematch switching sides starting soon.

Wow. That was an amazing game! By turn-3, I knew I my best laid plans were going to struggle (was shocked by initial Chinese responses). That being said, I really enjoyed this. I learned a lot. Very much looking forward to our re-match with me as Allied. I"m quite sure that I'm in for even more lessons, but I'm a fast learner!

Thanks for the game Pekka, and looking forward to our re-match!

New ELO started:
Feinder (Allies) vs. Pekkavilamoura (Axis)

ELO result:

firsteds (Axis) defeats Harris45 (allies)

Interesting game. Axis reached Perm at the end of 43 or maybe the beginning of 44. Game began with Sealion (again!) but did not produce the normal results. Spain stayed neutral and Turkey leaned towards the Allies. Britain stayed strong in ME and held Tobruk for the whole game. China was solid and US retook DEI. Indians kicked a strong Japanese force out of India and retook Burma and Singapore. However the IJN was still largely intact and German research was v advanced. Those Level 4 panzers have some serious teeth.

Thanks for a great game. A rematch is on the cards but I have a couple of other games under way first.

Old_Shane wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2026 5:31 pm New ELO game. Rematch from the very public defeat at the hands of Clive and the Allies.
wevilc (Allies) vs Old_Shane (Axis)
regular house rules.

It was not a defeat. Result was stalemate.

wevilc wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2026 7:23 pm New ELO game: wevilc allies v Old_Shane axis

This game resulted in a stalemate, all fully covered in my AAR. For those who are unaware, there is a conflict between the victory conditions in the strategy guide & the game scripts. By gentleman's agreement the result is as stated.

wevilc wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2026 10:12 pm

wevilc wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2026 7:23 pm New ELO game: wevilc allies v Old_Shane axis

This game resulted in a stalemate, all fully covered in my AAR. For those who are unaware, there is a conflict between the victory conditions in the strategy guide & the game scripts. By gentleman's agreement the result is as stated.

OK I have read the (fantastic) AAR thread and this thread and I am happy to score this game as a draw. Note that the losing player normally gets a small bonus for lasting until 1946/1947 but this won't apply for this game because there is no losing player. Draws are extremely rare and I encourage players to declare a winner in most cases, but I can see that there were some technical issues with the VC conditions in this specific game.

petedalby wrote: Tue May 12, 2026 10:49 am Increasingly players are using these:

1. No diplo on Majors
2. No Barbarossa before 1941
3. No diplo on Bulgaria
4. No Allied DoW on Japan before PH
5. No Italian navy outside Med before DoW
6. No using garrison transports as scouts
7. No using neutral ships / transports as scouts
8. No XP farming
9. No German navy blocking of the Russian navy spawn points

Amphibious research cap of 4

Hello,

I need a précision on point 5. Does this also apply to troop transports or only to warships and submarines?

Tx guys.

gronivaure wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2026 1:55 pm

petedalby wrote: Tue May 12, 2026 10:49 am Increasingly players are using these:

1. No diplo on Majors
2. No Barbarossa before 1941
3. No diplo on Bulgaria
4. No Allied DoW on Japan before PH
5. No Italian navy outside Med before DoW
6. No using garrison transports as scouts
7. No using neutral ships / transports as scouts
8. No XP farming
9. No German navy blocking of the Russian navy spawn points

Amphibious research cap of 4

Hello,

I need a précision on point 5. Does this also apply to troop transports or only to warships and submarines?

Tx guys.

Typically warships only. So you can get your Italians to East Africa!

Old_Shane wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2026 2:06 pm

gronivaure wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2026 1:55 pm

petedalby wrote: Tue May 12, 2026 10:49 am Increasingly players are using these:

1. No diplo on Majors
2. No Barbarossa before 1941
3. No diplo on Bulgaria
4. No Allied DoW on Japan before PH
5. No Italian navy outside Med before DoW
6. No using garrison transports as scouts
7. No using neutral ships / transports as scouts
8. No XP farming
9. No German navy blocking of the Russian navy spawn points

Amphibious research cap of 4

Hello,

I need a précision on point 5. Does this also apply to troop transports or only to warships and submarines?

Tx guys.

Typically warships only. So you can get your Italians to East Africa!

I see that Her Majesty's secret services are already in action. Tx Old_Shane.

New ELO started:
Old_Shane (Allies) vs. gronivaure (Axis)

firsteds wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2026 9:55 am

wevilc wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2026 10:12 pm

wevilc wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2026 7:23 pm New ELO game: wevilc allies v Old_Shane axis

This game resulted in a stalemate, all fully covered in my AAR. For those who are unaware, there is a conflict between the victory conditions in the strategy guide & the game scripts. By gentleman's agreement the result is as stated.

OK I have read the (fantastic) AAR thread and this thread and I am happy to score this game as a draw. Note that the losing player normally gets a small bonus for lasting until 1946/1947 but this won't apply for this game because there is no losing player. Draws are extremely rare and I encourage players to declare a winner in most cases, but I can see that there were some technical issues with the VC conditions in this specific game.

draws are rare because most players usually give up when they can no longer win. But many games I see lost by either side would very likely result in a draw if the player that can no longer win wants to slog it out, like Shane did. When Germany could not break Russia, it was clear Axis could not win. Many players surrender around that point. But as he has shown, with crafty play, securing a statelemate (or even a cheeky and sneaky tactical victory in case of rogue scripts) is very possible.

Pekkavilamoura wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2026 2:36 pm New ELO starting:

Kashtronomical (Axis) vs. Pekkavilamoura (Allies)
- Rematch

ELO game result:

Kashtronomical (Axis) defeats Pekkavilamoura (Allies)

Allies resign Nov '43 with Perm captured by level 3 and 4 panzers. An action-packed campaign featuring an all-of-France strategy and USA entering the war Jul '41 with Japan failing to capture any islands nor attack Pearl Harbor. Japan was forced to thread a very thin line to defend against immense Allied pressure and hold out long enough before Germany delivered the knock-out blow. Allies repelled the assault on Cairo after an invasion of Italy forced them to surrender. However, German power and tech made it difficult to sustain a beachhead, and Italy was at risk of being re-conquered when Allies surrendered.

Great comms and pace. Learned a lot. Thank you Pekkavilamoura and good game!

Kashtronomical wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2026 10:28 pm

Pekkavilamoura wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2026 2:36 pm New ELO starting:

Kashtronomical (Axis) vs. Pekkavilamoura (Allies)
- Rematch

ELO game result:

Kashtronomical (Axis) defeats Pekkavilamoura (Allies)

Allies resign Nov '43 with Perm captured by level 3 and 4 panzers. An action-packed campaign featuring an all-of-France strategy and USA entering the war Jul '41 with Japan failing to capture any islands nor attack Pearl Harbor. Japan was forced to thread a very thin line to defend against immense Allied pressure and hold out long enough before Germany delivered the knock-out blow. Allies repelled the assault on Cairo after an invasion of Italy forced them to surrender. However, German power and tech made it difficult to sustain a beachhead, and Italy was at risk of being re-conquered when Allies surrendered.

Great comms and pace. Learned a lot. Thank you Pekkavilamoura and good game!

Thank you Kashtronomical, that was a real rock 'n roll fun and action-packed game all the way!
Some very interesting and (at least for me) unusual strategies like the all-in France thing and especially a northern pincer move in China.
Firstly, I thought after capturing France there would be Sealion or at least Spain taken or flipping to Axis, but none of that happened.
Secondly China, thought that will not go well because of supply issues, but in the end Japan took practically all of China leaving just the rest of Chinese troops defending around Chunking.
And then the level 3 and 4 panzers showing up everywhere...well played!

PS: sent PM re. rematch

Pekkavilamoura wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2026 10:57 pm
Thank you Kashtronomical, that was a real rock 'n roll fun and action-packed game all the way!
Some very interesting and (at least for me) unusual strategies like the all-in France thing and especially a northern pincer move in China.
Firstly, I thought after capturing France there would be Sealion or at least Spain taken or flipping to Axis, but none of that happened.
Secondly China, thought that will not go well because of supply issues, but in the end Japan took practically all of China leaving just the rest of Chinese troops defending around Chunking.
And then the level 3 and 4 panzers showing up everywhere...well played!

My idea with all-in-France was to attempt it with minimal disruption to Barbarossa. That meant sending all possible Tank units and many Corps to the East to make rapid advances before the Russian winter. I could then use Luftwaffe and a few slower Army/Para/Artillery units to advance on Algiers and Oran. I probed with Italy initially to assess viability of the strategy. Spain and Gibraltar were definitely important considerations, but secondary to knocking out Russia, especially with a fragile Japan. In hindsight, I probably should have invested in Spain diplo earlier once France surrendered and German industry was 1k+ MPP. Easy way to invest in some long-term insurance without losing military power in Russia. Sealion I have no experience lol, but feels like it also takes a lot away from the Russian offensive.

The North China offensive required 2 HQs, and at times 3, to maintain supply. I relied heavily on HQ boosting. I purchased the Mech unit and 2 extra Corps to support a rapid advance. Since every other front incurs US mobilization, I figured a North offensive makes a lot of sense. Ironically, I still made some misplays to increase US mobilization, and at one point I just pulled the trigger on an all-out attack on China, especially with the initial success leading to an early capture of Urumchi. I was still surprised how quickly allied pressure mounted up in threatening Japan's shores!

BTW, I got your private message about the rematch, but I cannot compose/reply (I sent an email to Support to resolve). I was hoping to play Axis again, as I have no experience with Allies and don't feel comfortable providing a proper ELO-level challenge I'm also OK picking up our tie-breaker rematch later if you are itching to play Axis against another player. Feel free to message me as I can still see them (I just can't respond).