Reporting from the Front. A Narrative AAR.

[brian brian]

Big die rolls break for the Allies again. One more big roll coming up. Maybe a +0 attack - rare.

[jesperpehrson]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

Big die rolls break for the Allies again. One more big roll coming up. Maybe a +0 attack - rare.

My rolls in regards to the French gambit have been ridiculous. It was still a misstake though I think, the productionbump was massive and this is a war of production more than anything.

[rkr1958]

Turn 2. Nov/Dec 1939. Axis #4. The Western Front.

[ax] Turn 2. Nov/Dec 1939. Axis #4.
Germany allows Bulgaria's and Hungary's claims.
No DOW's. No special actions. No alignments.
Actions. Japan - land, Germany - land, Italy - land.

[ax] Port attack. none.

[ax] Naval air. Germany. He 112 FTR2 to 2-box, North Sea.

[ax] Strategic bombing. none.

[ax] Ground strike. none.

[ax] Rail. Italy x 1.
(1) Graziani HQ-I. Italy 63,33 to Germany 57,36.

[ax] Rail. Germany x 3.
(1) 88 mm AA div. Poland 50,44 to Germany 57,36.
(2) Berlin MIL. Berlin to Germany 57,36.
(3) XLIII Inf. Warsaw to Aachen, Germany.

[al] Clever!
Multiple states of war is hard to get your head around

[ax] That was my plan last turn or even the first impulse of this turn but I lost all three rolls! That is, end of turn and two rolls for initiative this turn. Even the greatest plan can't survive back luck. [:@]

[al] Yeah, it was really a lot of rolls that had to go badly for this to end up in this mess.

[ax] Those are the breaks. You can't control the dice. Just do your best, have a backup plan if things go south and adjust. And, more importantly, no "tilting" if you get a poor run of luck.

[al] Right, I find that part hard sometimes, especially when we are playing "live" my friends and I. Just yesterday we played a turn and he managed to find me like 7 consecetive times with Italy at sea while I was rolling nothing but 7+

[ax] Also, losing both initiate rolls allowed the partisan in Korea to capture the RP. So the chance that I would have lost both rolls starting with +2 but losing ties was 0.36 x 0.45 = 0.162, or about 1 in 6. Same as rolling a 5 on a 1 to 1 attack in Avalon Hill's 3rd Reich. Lord knows that happened to me enough times for critical rolls. [:(]

[ax] Land movement. Highlights.
(1) Germany and Italy move to contain the French spearhead in southern Germany.
(2) Germany army groups in Poland begin their redeployment to the west.

[ax] Land Combat. none.

[al] Did you consider making the +0ish blitz on the French?

[ax] No. That's just desperation. That is tilting.

[al] Right

[ax] Nothing I can do about the luck. All I can control is my reaction to your moves and to the die rolls.

[al] Good on you, that is the levelheaded approach!

[ax] Yeah … after I finished cussing the gods of luck. [:)]

[al] [:)]

[ax] Air rebase. Germany x 3.
(1) Bf 110c F/B. Poland 49,43 to Stuttgart, Germany.
(2) Do 17Z LND3. Germany 49,41 to Aachen, Germany.
(3) Bf 109 E-2 FTR2. Germany 49,37 to Germany 56,35.

[ax] Air rebase. Italy x 1.
(1) Sparviero. SM.79. Bardia, Libya to Taranto, Italy.

[al] Another thought I have had is that in all games I have played since coming back Italy is at war in S/O 39 and in each war Italy gets a hard time against the CW fleet.
Should Italy avoid going to war until Germany can wage the battle of the Atlantic?

[ax] I'd say probably.

[ax] But all those loaded transports and CP's in Cape St. Vincent was just too tempting of a target for me.

[ax] With modest luck I could have really hurt the CW.

[ax] But again, luck was not with me. [:(]

[rkr1958]

Turn 2. Nov/Dec 1939. Axis #4. The Eastern Front & Balkans.

[rkr1958]

Turn 2. Nov/Dec 1939. Axis #4. The Eastern Med.

[rkr1958]

Turn 2. Nov/Dec 1939. Axis #4. Korea.

[ax] Also, losing both initiate rolls allowed the partisan in Korea to capture the RP. So the chance that I would have lost both rolls starting with +2 but losing ties was 0.36 x 0.45 = 0.162, or about 1 in 6. Same as rolling a 5 on a 1 to 1 attack in Avalon Hill's 3rd Reich. Lord knows that happened to me enough times for critical rolls. [:@]

[rkr1958]

Turn 2. Nov/Dec 1939. Axis #4. China.

[ax] Rail. Japan x 2.
(1) Harbin MIL. Tsitsihar, Manchuria to Nanking, China.
(2) Manchuria Terr. Harbin, Manchuria to Haichow, China.

[ax] Land movement. Highlights.
(3) Japan reestablishes supply to Umezu's Central Chinese Army Group.

[ax] Land Combat. none.

[ax] Air Rebase. Japan x 2.
(1) Ki-27 F/B. China 84,143 to Wuhan.
(2) Ki-27 FTR2. China 83,142 to 81,144.

[al] If it was rain rather than snow in Japan I would have tried to keep your army in the center in lockdown but with that extra 1 hex of supply I think it would have been difficult

[ax] Yes. Snow makes a big difference. [:)]

[ax] That ends my impulse at the HQ reorg phase.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Introduction.

[al] End of turn is a bit of a mess. We should probably rethink that so that it is more accesible perhaps?

[al] Or maybe I am just being to critical

[ax] Sorry about your frustration with end of turn postings to our AAR. I have stand set of end of turn reports and templates that I generally produce in my solo AARs that cover all major powers.

[ax] After I finish my impulse, which won't require any reactions, and post that to our AAR I'll generate and post these reports/templates for last turn. I don't think it matters it'll be a bit out of sequence with the time flow in the AAR. I'll explain to the followers when I post.

[ax] If you like we can make these reports/templates standard and alternate who generates them.

[ax] I propose I'll do this past turn and next turn so you can get a feel for them. Of course, only if you agree.

[al] That sounds good. I mainly meant that the talkative part of the end of turn just made it very long

[al] I most certainly agree, even though I still think I should do the end of turn, the allied part is too lengthy to write I think

[ax] These reports/templates eliminate, I think, the need for "all the end of turn talking/business".

[al] Wonderful, I am all in favour!

[ax] Ok. Will get to my 2PG impulse shortly.

So, Jesper and I are working on an end of turn summary, this being the first and subject to format changes as we proceed through the turns. Obviously, this end of turn report set is after the fact (i.e., out of time sequence).

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Destroyed/Repair Pools.

[brian brian]

The Allies might now regret not aligning the foreign policies of France & the USSR.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Parisians.

[ax] Partisans.
(1) Korea=10, Gar=1, pick=1, 5
(2) China=49
(3) Malaya=79
(4) Burma=15
(5) Manchuria=97
(6) India=69
(7) FIC=74

[ax] Korea gets 1 partisan. A 1-2. Where?

[al] Mountain NE of resource.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Nazi-Soviet Pact.

[al] Neutrality chits. 2 offensive for Germany and 1 defensive for USSR.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. US Entry.

[al] US-entry, chit against Japan.

[al] No US-entry options taken.

The only flaw as I see it with PBEM is that is very difficult, if not impossible, to keep pact and entry chits that should be secret, secret. But, I think that's a small price to pay to play and enjoy this game by PBEM.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Production, Germany.

[ax] Germany. save 4 oil to Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Prague. 22 of 24 producing x 1.25 = 28 BP's. -2 Trade. 26 BP's for production.

[ax] Use Oil.
Germany. 2.65 needed, don't reorg 2 CP's & Hs 123 Land bomber. Reorg all the rest, 2.45 for 2 oil. Use saved oil in Prague and Berlin.

[ax] Germany. 26 BP's. HQ-A(8), PIL(2), LND(2), Para Div(3), Sub 2nd(1), Sub 1st(1), Mech(5), MIL(2)x2.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Production, Italy.

[ax] Italy. Save 1 oil to Rome. 4 of 11 factories producing x 0.5 = 2 BP's.

[ax] Italy 2 oil needed. Reorg oil. Click use oil from cooperating major powers. Use 0.6 oil in Cologne, 1 oil in Rome, 0.4 anywhere else.

[ax] Italy. 2 BP's. Sub 2nd(1), BP Save (Rome).

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Production, Japan.

[ax] Japan. 1 oil saved to Tokyo. 14 of 19 factories producing x 0.75 = 11 BP's. -1 Trade, 10 BP's for production.

[ax] Japan. Use 1 saved oil in Tokyo to reorg 0.7 that can be reorg. [:(]

[ax] Dang Chinese cavalry! [:@]

[ax] Japan. 10 BP's. Terr(2), MIL(2)x2, PIL(2), CVP(0), CV Shokaku 2nd(2)

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Reserve Pools, Axis.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Production, China.

[al] China. 7 out of 8 factories produce x 0,75 = 5 BPs. 0 Oil saved.

[al] China requires no oil.

[al] China builds a MIL and an INF

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Production, CW.

[al] CW used 5 oil.

[al] CW scraps a lot of Poles and Danes.

[al] CW builds 3 CVP0, 1 PIL, 2 convoys, 1 amph 1st and 1 TERR.

[al] CW. 16 out of 22 factories are producing + 2food in flames x 0,5 = 9BPs and 5 oil saved.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. Sep/Oct 1939. End of Turn Reports. Production, France.

[al] France 8 out of 14 factories x 0,5 = 5 BPs and 1 oil saved.

[al] France uses 1 oil to reorg.

[al] France builds 2 MIL.