Pictures for Baelfiin!

[carlkay58]

As an original WitW playtester I will say that the product has evolved a lot during that time. The VPs are the hardest thing to balance and until there are more finished games, especially human vs human ones, there is little hope to really balance them. We did have a lot of games that went the entire distance and finished in the playtesting but any change can drastically change the balance too.

[marion61]

And I could still be wrong. I'm finally seeing some results, but it's mid March '45, and I probably won't see another snow turn. The current score is -530 something and it's 6 turns till May. My closest unit to Berlin is 40 hexes, so would have to average 6.33 hexes each turn to reach Berlin. I did breach the westwall in a couple places last turn, and across the Rhine in another (but couldn't cross). The Russians just took Warsaw, and the chances of me getting another good movement turn are slim, and not to mention getting gas.

I still haven't seen any positive vps since turn 41. We will play this to the bitter end, even tho after May it's just for results.

[marion61]

This is at the start of the air phase, march 17, '45. I was 40 hexes away, and now I'M 39! I took a lot of ground, but not in the right direction. If I could get into Germany further I might change the vp bleed. I was down to -9 last turn, down from being -27 and higher.

[marion61]

Italy fell apart almost in a turn.

[NotOneStepBack]

Italy didn't actually fall apart, I just had to pull back because you had units coming from the West. The italian front actually has the most CV at the moment, I may use them to defend Germany.

I am on full retreat now, and down to <2000 planes and <600 AFV. The mud and distance will save my win now!

[marion61]

You will have earned it!

[NotOneStepBack]

War ended in June of '45. Axis Major Victory. -1,059 VPs. Maybe some pics to follow later.

[marion61]

The VP system may not be as bad as first thought. It does need a little tweak, and even though the score is huge, I believe most of that score came from EF box being on. I like the idea behind the box, and would like for it to work, but for now it makes the going way more difficult for the allies (like it's not tough enough!). I'd also like to congratulate NOSB. He played well, and when I say something contributed to my loss, I am in no way down playing his skills.

After finishing an entire server game now, I'll pose my thoughts, and opinions. Please take them in the spirit their intended (that means a constructive spirit).

1. The thing I like the most about the game from the allied side is, the air war. It's full of useful options, it's rich in detail (without being anal), and I'm constantly challenged to get better results by learning. This game taught me ALOT about the air war, and I'm still learning from other aar's. Overall, you can't beat a human player with skill, if you don't manually do air directives and don't understand the air war some. Allied air is the big stick, and it's important to use it correctly.

2. I like the allied invasion system. If you don't plan well, get your air power in place, or rush it, you will probably be thrown back into the sea. Naval interdiction is the key, but you still need to set up an invasion properly. The allies can't afford to fail if they want to win.

3. The vp system needs a little tweak for the allies. I won't elaborate since this has been hashed out for now in another thread.

4. The main item that could use a look at is the EF box. If you turn it off your limiting axis creativity, and with it on, it becomes a constant flow of additional units. Fighting two extra armies worth of units (my guesstimation) makes axis decisions easy. From what I saw, my opponent pulled when he wanted, with no detrimental effect. I reached Berlin in June 45, and even though he stopped pulling I believe 6months ago or so, they delayed me long enough to get a major victory. The soviets were still 5 hexes away. It should cost more, and not just admin. points. The soviets I don't believe were ever on schedule, and with some of the high cv armor divisions I faced, I don't see why they didn't. I told the Russians his major armored divisions were in the west.

Overall it was a good game. I got Rome early, and was way ahead of schedule, then screwed myself by not paying better attention to how many troop ships I'd lost. When I invaded France in the middle of May, I was going to have the boys home for christmas. That quickly evaporated when I saw I had only 110 troop ships left, and I had done a double invasion, one in France near St. Buriec, and another in southern France (two turns later). I could transport only two infantry division or one armored division (without su's), and I started flying infantry over from England. My southern invasion wasn't getting any fresh units and he had more than enough (ef box) units to contain both sites until I stockpiled enough supply and units to break out in the north. It took me over two months, and since I hadn't screwed up enough (and I was ignorant to the peril), I had set up a diversionary invasion in Calais with two Tf's. The problem was that although they pulled more units away from my main invasion (which did help me break out), it was sucking up even more troop ships so I'd compounded my mistake. This hurt me cause I was a month and a half late, and those two months cost me a lot.

This is a screen shot at the end of turn 102. The next turn was 103, when I took Berlin. One important note: If you think you know which hex to take to capture Berlin, LOOK FIRST! I was maneuvering to take the hex with the axis symbol in it, and it cost me another turn for my mistake. RTFM! Congrats to a well played game NOSB.

[Q-Ball]

WA VPs are probably off, but I would like to see two things played out before other major changes:

1. Reduce Troopship losses, or at least increase Troopship replacements.

2. PLay with EF Box off, as much as that takes some chrome from the German side. It's too easy to pull from; playing Germany; against you, I've stopped pulls just to keep some balance, and sent 5 divisions back East. It's just too large a pot; reducing the East 2-3% isn't a big deal there, but can mean alot out West. I don't see how it can be fixed short-term, given the scale involved.

It's more fun with the EF Box, but German player right now does not need it to win

[loki100]

well done for finishing, ignoring the VP issue, at least it shows the allies can reach Berlin.

[decourcy2]

NotOneStepBack, would you be willing to post your oil/fuel levels at end game, and your feelings on the levels you had in those pools at various points in the game? This has been one of my concerns is seeing how fuel works out.

Thanks,
Mike

[NotOneStepBack]

I can post them later tonight or tomorrow, but for the most part I didn't care about fuel or oil levels. I never had an issue with my armored or mech divisions running low on fuel as they were not used for offensive actions. What I did care about was manpower.

[marion61]

To be honest, I never really targeted fuel/oil targets. German's have a few vulnerable industries, but most of them aren't vp worthy so you have to find targets with vp targets in the same hexes as the ones you want to target. There's a couple industries that I think very vulnerable as a lot of them are in the same hex as vp industry.

[Baelfiin]

Playing the AI I went all in on wrecking fuel industry and just watched the fuel stocks climb every turn. I would guess that total fuel would never be a problem, just getting the freight to the units to convert it would be.