Courtenay's solitaire AAR

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay


I forgot to mention the Danish setup. MWiF does not enforce the rule that one half of a country's units must set up in its home country, so I enforced it. The two Danish SCSs and one convoy point (2.5 units) set up in Frederikshavn, while the other 5 CPs (also 2.5 units) set up in Reykjavik. When the Germans took Frederikshavn, the Peder Skram was destroyed. The other cruiser and the convoy point escaped.

MWIF does enforce this rule. Please check, since if it isn't anymore, than it is a bug. Try setting up all units into Reykjavik, and you will not be able to proceed...

By the way, I like your AAR...

[Courtenay]

OK, I went back to a saved game, and invaded Denmark. I could put one of the two cruisers in Reykjavik, and all the convoy points. The other cruiser had to go into Denmark. Clearly, the program is not counting convoy points. Shouldn't each convoy point count as 0.5 ships, and round up (Rule 2.3.1)? That is how I always read that rule. Of course, it may be that I am I wrong; it would certainly not be the first rule that I have read wrong.

(My signature is unusually appropriate for this post.)

[Courtenay]

Accidental duplicate post. I would delete this if I could.

[Courtenay]

Another accidental duplicate post. I would delete this if I could.

[Courtenay]

Production: (New build points + saved build points [+- bug build points])
Germany: 16+2, MECH, 2xINF, PI, LND-2. SUB; saved 2 BP
Italy: 3+3 Badoglio, 1 BP saved
Japan: 10+2-1, MECH, 2xMIL, TER The bug BP is saved.

Ge got 7-6 MECH, 7-4 (wp) & 5-4 INF, and the 5 pt Ju-87 that was the only LND 2 in the force pool.
Ja got 6-6 MECH, Hiroshima and Nagoya MIL, Korean Teritorial

Ch: 6+0, INF, GAR, 1 BP saved
Fr: 5+2, HQ-I (Pretelat), MIL, no BP saved
CW: 12+0, MOT, PI, CVP-0, start CV, 4 BP saved
US: 11+7+2 2xTRS, 14 BP saved. (Should be 16).
SU: 8+0, 2XINF 2 Saved

Ch got 5-3 Com INF, 4-1 GAR.
Fr got Pretelat, Metz MIL
CW got 7-4 MOT. The CV was HMS Indefatigable. (Which I certainly am not!)
US 4-3 and 4-4 TRS

To do that much production, both the CW and the French have to burn a saved build point.

[Courtenay]

The French meant to take the pilot off the Bearn (I stole the idea for this from a post.), but somehow bungled it. In the future, I will check this more carefully.

I wrote the production report using the information provided by looking at the information on the Resource - Production Summary & Details Form during the Russian production. The numbers I was reading did not make sense, until I realized that production points I produced by burning saved oil did not show up on the form. This is not a bug, because the form is telling me what would be produced with current resources, but people should be aware of this.

Trade for J/F 40:

1 Fr resource (Hanoi) to China
1 Br Oil (Burma) to China
1 US resource (Philippines) to China
2 US oil to CW
5 CW resources to France
3 Fr BP to CW

There are enough reserve convoys to send more resources to the allies, but that would use up almost all the reserve convoys. This does not strike the Allies as a good idea. They expect to get more convoys soon.

[Courtenay]

In the storm, the Allies move out most of their cruisers and a few battleships. Most of the battleships and all the aircraft carriers stay home. The British move the 7-3 white print INF to Gibraltar. Another TRS moves to Cape St. Vincent and picks up the 5-4 INF that had been in Gibraltar, while the Queens also move to Cape St Vincent.

In rail movement, the Russians move a 4-2 ART to Zhukov, southwest of Leningrad.

In land movement, the Russians do something they should have done some time ago, but I forgot: they occupied the Baltic states. To the Germans amazement, the Russians rolled a one for US entry, removing a 2 chit from the Ge/It entry pool.

The Chinese have no idea what to do; or rather, they have an idea, and don't like it one bit. If the Peking MIL stays where it is, it will get put out of supply, and repeatedly ground struck until it flips, at which point it will die. Since it it an irreplaceable unit, the Chinese really don't want that to happen. Unfortunately, the Chinese don't see retreating helping anything much either. After much cogitating, the Chinese figured out how to hold the line, but at the cost of weakening the central front. There will be a problem in the center, but that won't happen for another impulse.

The Communists do not move, as the only moves they want to make would be into stormy mountains, causing them to flip. They don't mind so much, since the Japanese have the same problem.

The Queens reorganize the TRS in Gibraltar.

[Courtenay]

J/F 40 Axis 3:
Ge Land, Ja Naval, It Combined.

The Japanese have four units that need to be moved by four different TRS routes into China, thus the naval. The Germans thought very hard about doing a combined, and putting their fleet out. If they had gone first this impulse, they would have. As it is, though, they are not at all sure it is worth it. Their fleet will be worth far more based in Brest than it is now, where it is channeled through two known sea zones to get anywhere. By hand I rolled the results of a naval sortie six times, with the following results:

1st battle: Crushing German victory, sinking many Allied cruisers and forcing the Allies to abandon the Faroes Gap, for relatively light losses. The Allies have enough CPs in reserve to replace their convoys in Faroes gap.

2nd battle: Crushing CW victory, sinking 5 cruisers and damaging Gneisenau for light loss.

3rd battle: Attrition in the North Atlantic; moderate losses for both sides.

4th battle: Attrition in North Sea. Moderate losses for both sides.

5th battle: Nobody finds each other; British Carriers && BBs join in next impulse; everyone finds everyone; British say to heck with this naval air nonsense, and have a massive fleet engagement that does not not end well for the Germans. To add insult to injury, more KM ships are lost retreating through the North Sea.

6th "battle": Germans are stopped in North Sea; no one finds each other; No one finds each other when the Allies try to engage them; no one ever finds each other.

One great outcome for the Germans, one crushing disaster, one waste of oil, two Germans tactical victory, one German tactical defeat. However, the tactical "victories" were really defeats. The Allies suffered more damage than the Germans, but the Allies would happily trade two of their ships for an equivalent German ship. The Germans really don't think the risk of offering battle now is worth the probable gain, and they can still use all the land moves and rail that they can get.

On the other hand, the one great German result was the very first battle I rolled, so they obviously should have attacked for real. [:)]

[Courtenay]

The Italians move their MECH down to the Eastern Med.; it does no good in the Alps. The Japanese bring two corps into Haichow, one corps into Canton, and the Korean TER is at sea in the South China Sea; it will eventually get to Canton. The Japanese intend not to split their transports again, so they won't have to do any more naval impulses.

The Luftwaffe is grounded by the weather. The Japanese strat bomb Kweiyang with their NAV, and roll a 7, killing a production point.

The Italians move two units inland from Bardia, while the Germans struggle to get all their units where they want them. They don't think they will be able to.

The Italians can't debark their MECH, because they are out of land moves.

The Japanese fly their shiny new NAV up to the front -- three whole tactical factors!

[Courtenay]

J/F 40 Allied 5: Weather roll: 9+1, B, B, Sn, F, St, R +3 impulses, +2 weather roll
It turns out that the German navy didn't have to worry about carriers after all.

CW naval, Fr & Ch land, US & USSR combined.

The British suddenly realize that every port in the eastern Med is in range of the Italian air if it is based in Rhodes, and hurriedly evacuate Alexandria. This will cost a fair amount of oil, but it will save ships. The Danish convoy points are moved out of Reykjavik. The TRS in Gibraltar grabs the ENG off Malta and moves to the Red Sea. The ENG is motorized, so can not be carried by an SCS -- a rule I might have gotten wrong in over-the-board play.

The French move units around, trying to get ready for the onslaught. The Chinese keep moving the Chungking MIL forward, and other than that, don't move.

Over the last two Allied impulses, the British do some air rebasing so that every British carrier finally has an air unit.

[Courtenay]

J/F 40 Axis 8.
Ge & Ja Land, It combined

The Italians sail their 4-5 MOT into Bardia.

The Japanese rail the 3-2 ART and the newly arrived 5-4 INF into Wuhan. The Japanese occupy Nanyang, and are on their best behavoir, rolling a 10 for US entry. They advance up to the Yangtze, threatening to put Chiang out of supply. They really hope the turn ends. In the South, the ooze to the west continues, with Fakhoi, the last Chinese port, being taken unopposed.

The Germans almost get into their desired positions -- one 8-6 ARM unit is one hex further back than it wants to be, and one 6-4 MOT is in the middle of Germany.

The Italians debark their MECH into Bardia. The Commonwealth is suddenly very uneasy about the balance of forces in the western desert. Some games Wavell goes to France. He is not going to France any time soon in this game.

The Japanese move to make air attacks in the center, hoping the weather improves there. The Germans abandon their fighter coverage of the interior; they can live with a random strat raid or two.

End of turn roll 7, turn continues.

[Courtenay]

The Japanese have a new strategy in China: conquer the country without every fighting a battle. This is literally impossible, of course -- hero cities have to be dealt with -- but it describes their general approach. Flank the Chinese, try and threaten their supply lines, and do not hit strong positions head on. Sagely quote Sun Tzu at appropriate moments.

This approach is working well. Looking at the above map, the Chinese are holding in the south, and the Communists are doing fine, but the middle of China is wide open. It looks like supply would stop the Japanese if nothing else, but only one HQ is needed to attack Chungking from a base in Ichang. This strategy takes lots of units, but they don't have to be good ones; thus the Japanese have been building their MILs and TERs.

The Chinese have to respond to this strategy, and I don't have any good responses. The center is more important than the south, though, so I don't see any alternative than to pull back in the south.

People suggest that partisans might help the Chinese. Yes, but the nature of the fighting, with forces maneuvering against each other, but not adjacent, and aircraft threatening but not flying, keeps the Japanese garrison high, without effort on the part of Japanese.

If anyone has any suggestions about how the Chinese should attempt to hold on, feel free to make them. (Or about anything else, of course.)

[Centuur]

The trick for the Chinese is to try to get behind the Japanese lines and block supply. If you get the Chinese CAV behind enemy lines, the Japanese must react before any cities are taken back by the Chinese. This is a war of maneuvering on both sides. If the Japanese ooze through your lines, threathen to do the same to them and force them to try to kill you (which isn't easy for the Japanese at all...

So fall back with the Chinese in the center a little bit (leave the Tchang area and move into the mountains there) and give the Japanese a choice: either he has to expose his flanks to the bulk of the Nationalist and Communist armies or he has to split up to attack you at your current positions. The Japanese can't be everywhere at that moment. Also, it's wise to extend the front farther north with the commies. Strech those Japanese forces as far north as possible. And build all Chinese CAV.

[Courtenay]

I just ran into a major problem: All the Allied saved build points disappeared. Since the CW had 4, the Chinese 1, and the US 13, this is bad. The build points were their when I finalized production, but when it got to actual production, they were gone. Since the US build strategy is saving up all its build points until it produces eight carriers J/F 41, this is going to stop my game until it is fixed. Sorry. With luck, version 1.05 will fix this.

[Courtenay]

Out of pure frustration I tried doing production from an autosave, and to my astonishment, it worked.

The war is on.

[Courtenay]

J/F 40 Allied 11, weather 7+2, B, Sn, Sn, F, St, R.
The weather turns to snow now that the Germans are in position!

CW Combined, Fr Naval, Ch Land, US & USSR combined.

The CW puts a carrier into the North Sea, and discovers that it forgot to move the naval transport in Gibraltar. It does so now. It had meant to put a carrier in the North Atlantic.

The French finally remember to move their TRS; it goes down toward Senegal. They also put out all their non-BBs from France; I am starting to get them on the way to the Pacific or Equatorial Africa. I have just realized what a great base Martinique makes for moving French naval units around. I may have known that at one point, but if so, I had forgotten. One problem with WiF is the Allies ability to anticipate the fall of France. But those are the rules. There is one historical house rule that use, but I haven't come to it yet.

The CW bombs Berlin! One production point is hit.

The CW rails the Sydney Militia to Perth/Fremantle. The Russians rail Timoshenko to Karelia. I wonder what he is doing there?

The Chinese cope as best they can. The CW straightens out a stacking problem in Plymouth.
Russians move around a bit.

Turn end roll 6, turn continues.

[Courtenay]

J/F 40 Axis 14.

German and It combined, Ja Land

No, the German fleet is not coming out to play; the AMPH and the TRS move from Konigsberg to Kiel.

With the weather not utterly horrible, and in retaliation for the raid on Berlin, the Axis unleashes its bombers, with raids on Coventry, Metz, Lyons, Sian and Changsha. Coventry and Sian were hit, and Lyons was hit for two (rolled a 10.) The hit on Sian did not actually cost the Chinese any build points, as that factory wasn't producing any build points becuase of rounding.

The Japanese hope for a double move, and move to try and take advantage of it. Unfortunately, one of the places they moved was Ichang, and they did so all too enthusiastically, rolling a one for US entry. A 2 chit was added to the US entry pool.

The turn, unsurprisingly, ends.

[Courtenay]

No partisans.

All four entry chits drawn this end-of-turn were ones. The Germans again put one offensive and one defensive, the Russians stay firmly committed to the defense. The US puts its chit in the Japan entry pool.

The US picks "Intern French CV" as an entry option, and rolls a 6. Tension increases, and the US player picks the Ge/It pool. One of the two fours moves. Ge/It tenision is 13, and Ja is 11. The US will not take any more entry options until after gear up. Unfortunately, this seems to have destroyed the plane and pilot, as well, which I did not think would happen.

Ge/It Entry 14, Ja Entry 13.

Stay at Sea/Return to Base:

Ordinarily I would not even report this step. However, I will comment on the Stay at Sea step. The Stay at Sea step is by far the my least favorite step of the game. It is the one part of the game where I have real trouble getting the computer to do what I want to. First I go through the sea areas and move obvious ships. Then I go through all the units using the "next unit" buttons and move everything else. Then I go through the "next unit" buttons again, and make sure my convoys are staying at sea, except for a few returning to base. Then I go through the "Next Unit" buttons and just look for mistakes. Then I save the game. Then I do the Axis Return to Base step. Then I do the Allies, and I see what mistakes I made. Then I go back to the save game, and try and fix the mistakes. Then I do the Axis Return to Base step again, and then see what mistakes are left. Then I go back to saved game for the third time, fix the mistakes that are left, and after three tries, things are pretty much where I want them.

The problems mainly arise when I have some units in a sea box that want to stay at sea, and others that want to return to base. I have tried working directly in the sea area and in the Naval Display form, and neither has worked well for me. The Selectable units form does work precisely, but takes a long time to use. After the current crop of bugs are dealt with, but before any new optional rules or AI, I would hope to see this interface improved.

[Courtenay]

Production, J/F 40:

Ge, 15+2: HQ-Arm (Rommel), FI-2, LND-2, 2xPi, Compelete 5-3 Sub. 0 BP saved.
It, 4+1: INF, Complete 5-2 SUB. 1 BP Saved
Ja. 13+0: INF, GAR, MIL, TER, PI. CV. 0 BP saved. (Not counting bug BP)

Germans are getting He 100 (6 pt range 4 FTR) and Ju87D (6 pt LND-2).
Italians only had one 5-3 INF in force pool.
Ja got a 6-3 INF, and had only Kyoto MIL and Manchurian TER and 6-1 GAR in force pool.

Started the Hiyo.

Ch: 5+1; HQ-I (Stilwell), Cav XX
CW: 16+4 HQ-I (Alexander), MOT, FI-2, FI-3, 2xPi, Finish CV (Victorious) 0 Saved
Fr: 6+0, INF, GAR, 1 BP Saved
US: 11+13+3; BB, AMPH, SUB; 16+3 saved
SU: 14+2 HQ-I. 2xINF, FI-2, Pi 1 BP saved

The Chinese CAV XX turned out to be Communist.
The French got a 6-1 GAR and a 6-3 white print INF, the only ones in the Force pool.
The British got the 5-4 Ind MOT. They got a Spit II and a Beuufighter. The Beaufighters job is to guard all the British factories that aren't in range of German fighters.
The US laid down the first Iowa class BBs, USS Iowa, BB-61, and a 4-2 AMPH and a 6-3 sub
Soviet Union got 5-4 white print (Siberian) and 4-4 INF, and an I-17 (4 pt range 4 FTR)

See belov for M/A reinforcements.

[Zorachus99]

Really enjoying your AAR.

Sounds like you are going to wait for weather to clear on the Western Front?

It would be nice to see some screens showing the impulse progression during the push through the low countries and into France.