MWiF Global War Hot-Seat (AAR)

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Just thought of another reason to take Morocco this turn if at all possible . . . the CBV MIL unit can reinforce there at the start of next turn, adding yet another unit that Germany will have to destroy.

The German navy is useless against the USSR. You will only be taking Land Actions so the TRS and AMPHs will just sit in port forever.

Perhaps ture, assuming the situation calls for me to start the war on the first impulse, but if it looks like it could wait an impulse, I could use a Combined action to set the AMPH out to sea in the Baltic. Then, on the next impulsed, when the war begins, it is already set to invade somewhere possibly in the Baltics.

Just thinking of all possibilities. After all, I don't know for certain at this point exactly when I'll be able to start that war, so I can't rule anything out.

Regardless of how you have positioned the German army in advance of Barbarossa, when the time comes, you will feel compelled to tweak the front line a lot at the last minute. The extra unit or two provided by units in the Baltic will be irrelevant given the 50+ you will have along the border with the USSR. Taking a Combined will not be a worthwhile alternative to a land action for repositioning units.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

ORIGINAL: WIF_Killzone

For the CW think "leap-frogging", you load inf-armour on transports...and move as far as you can, safely, into the zero box, and then, next impulse, you move into a port, pick up an other transport, and repeat. Going around the horn of africa in this way can move quite fast. Even those slow transports are quite useful, keep your fast ones close to the island and the slow ones around the horn (if you still own it )

I dont mean in this impulse, I mean strategically? What are their medium and long terms strategic plans?

Saving the 1/3 of the fleet, holy crap, yes, that's important Can you hold the suez major port, if so, you probably don't have to worry, just work it backwards how you will get them out of there. Although, yes, the CW is in dire straights.

I do know the "leap-frogging" trick, but lack the tranksports at the moment do do it.

As for medium and long term strategic plans, I have to redesign them. The original intent was to make sure the Med stayed open. At best, Suez can be held until the end of the turn, but not likely any longer than that. So, I can't actually answer the question properly. Short term, though, is to force the Germans and Italians to work for their latest goals.

I don't like throwing good money after bad money, as they say, so I'm unlikely to reinforce Morocco any more and any Middle-East reinforcements will be heading to Aden and Kuwait (if I can get them there before Iraq is aligned). Other than that, it's time to build up the air forces. That will have to be the basis of my long-term strategy when I redesign it.

My building program has included additional transports since about two or three turns ago.

If the Commonwealth runs away from the Axis, the Axis will gleefully occupy all the free hexes (and countries) with zero effort and then move their units up against the Commonwealth forces again. This can be continued until the Commonwealth has all their units in Canada and New Zealand. Any place that you elect to hold that is not a home country for the Commonwealth can be put out of supply by the Axis navy and air force - unless of course the Commonwealth decides to stop and fight. Out of supply units can be invaded by sea and by air and easily taken out.

If you retreated as much from the Axis and I were playing the Axis, I would build a bunch of AMPHs and TRS (for Italy and Germany) and invade England. Barbarossa could wait 6 months. Once the Axis closes the Med, they have the interior lines and can choose to invade England or India, or even South Africa for that matter. The US will be hard pressed to get a foothold in Europe after the Med is closed.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

For those who really want to know, I used my 3rd land move to reinforce Rabat with the Canadian MIL that started in Casablanca. The image below shows the 24 CW factors in Morocco (plus a 3 factor disorganized French CAV that can't co-operate with the CW):

Air units should always be spread out when there is a danger of a ground strike on them. For the same reason, they should be placed in forest hexes.

EDIT: THey should not be stacked with HQ's either. A ground strike on Rabat has 5 targets, 4 of which are very juicy.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

ORIGINAL: Orm

It's a mystery to me - the game commences

For the usual fee - plus expenses

[;)]



Edit: I just had to do it. [:D]

See what you've done, Steve???? This is now the most lyrical AAR I've ever seen! [:D]

I didn't realize the Dire Straits was a music group.[:D] The songs I know are all before the early 1970's.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Here's the Communist position after the Japanese impulse. Beneath the LND southwest of Tianshui is a white print 6-3 INF, and the other LND is covering up a 16-factor stack:

Are all the Chinese afraid of the mountains?

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

For those who really want to know, I used my 3rd land move to reinforce Rabat with the Canadian MIL that started in Casablanca. The image below shows the 24 CW factors in Morocco (plus a 3 factor disorganized French CAV that can't co-operate with the CW):

Air units should always be spread out when there is a danger of a ground strike on them. For the same reason, they should be placed in forest hexes.

EDIT: THey should not be stacked with HQ's either. A ground strike on Rabat has 5 targets, 4 of which are very juicy.

In this particular case, there was no danger of Ground Strikes . . . no LND remained that could get to them, and they could evacuate before that became a problem.

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Here's the Communist position after the Japanese impulse. Beneath the LND southwest of Tianshui is a white print 6-3 INF, and the other LND is covering up a 16-factor stack:

Are all the Chinese afraid of the mountains?

No. They simply couldn't get to the mountains without being disorganized and/or without creating easy targets. If you continue reading on to the next Allied impulse, you'll see that I was finally able to get the MTN unit (not shown here, but under the CAV) into the mountain hex to the southeast. The CAV was able to move into the mountains to the west, and the 7-3 stack took its place, creating a bolcking action of 6, 11, and 15 factors to get past.

[Red Prince]

To start off Allied Impulse #8, I decided to use both of the Commonwealth Naval moves to try to get rid of those Italian SUBs in the Bay of Biscay. Before the turn ends, which now has a 20% chance of happening, I also need to "reinforce" that sea area with 2 more convoys. If I don't, I lose 2 resources and a Food in Flames Production Point that need to get to the UK. That equals the loss of 2 Build Points, and the CW needs all it can get right now.

There are some CW and French convoys that can be used next turn to try to restructure the pipelines, but I don't dare to make the attempt this far into J/A '40. Instead, I sent 4 BB and 3 Convoys to the Bay of Biscay 0 Box, and 4 CA and a CV (half-loaded) to the 4 Box.

My understanding of the Naval Rules is lacking, as you've seen, but as I understand it, all that Italy needs to do is decide not to commit its SUBs in order to avoid a combat in this sea area. But, and this is important, with the BBs now helping the NAV defend the 0 Box, and with a better search roll now available to the CW, those SUBs are going to think twice before trying to mess with the Bay of Biscay convoys anymore this turn.

If I'm mistaken about the rules, all the better. Maybe the Commonwealth can destroy or damage a few of those SUBs. Either way, here's what the CW fleet looks like, using the Naval Review Details (NRD) form. While the ships are separated by type, I've selected the radio button near the top to show sea box sections below each unit. The fleet, including Convoys, totals 22 ships, as you can see in the Unit Details panel. That was a little unplanned, but perfect as far as the the "Enemy Ships" rows work on the Naval Combat CRT:
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Edit: I just counted up, and I forgot that the NRD form shows the totals for all units for the sea area in the Unit Details Panel the way I set it up, regardless of which checkboxes are selected. So, all of the numbers you see include the Axis ships (4 SUBs) as well. That means there are only 18 CW ships in the sea area, making it not quite as "perfect" as I thought.

The important thing is that the NRD form can show just the numbers for one side, but you have to select the ships you want included in the calculations in order to do that, and I forgot about that. Unfortunately, I'm now beyond the point of being able to do that, but the primary purpose of posting this image was to show you the ships now in the Bay of Biscay. If you really want to do the calculations, feel free. I'm going to move on to other things, and soon I'll show you the results of this soon-to-happen Naval Combat. [:)]

[Red Prince]

This image shows the correct figures for the CW navy in the Bay of Biscay. Neither of the other sea areas is even remotely a safe attack, so No Combat will be the choice for them, but here' we get to try to nail some annoying submarines:

[Red Prince]

And, unless there is a bug here (and I don't think there is), this is the form that lets the Italians avoid the combat by choosing not to commit its SUBs:
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Edit: You'll notice that for safety's sake, I added a FTR to the 0 Box during Naval Air Interception, just in case the Germans decided to send in the one they have in Brest (which they didn't).

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

I don't think Morocco is a very safe place to be right now. I won't give it up easily, but I don't know if it's worth keeping the MECH in the mountains any longer. The RSA TERR is just waiting to be crushed, the French CAV can either run away to the south or try to ZOC in place of the MECH, while the MECH joins the Montreal MIL or the RSA TERR in defending Rabat. Probably better to have the TERR do it, swapping him with the MIL, since he gives a +1 to the die roll if he defends alone.

With the German threat very real, and with only 3 Land moves to work with, I'm reconsidering what to do here.

Plan B
After some more thought, I debated moving both the MECH and the MIL into the hex now occupied by the RSA Territorial, and moving that unit into the mountains where the MECH is. Even though that gives up a +1 to the die roll, at least it doubles the combat value to 8, and Germany can only attack it from a single hex, unless it also tries a Paradrop (which gives another +1 -- not making the same mistake twice by including the Notional unit here for a +2 . . . or a total of +3 against the TERR).

But that ATR stacked with the PARA is a serious problem. If I change to the above plan, Rabat is in danger. The Notional Unit would defend at 3 factors (its normal 1, +1 for the city, +1 for being in the ZOC of a friendly unit). The PARA is a 4-factor unit, with 2 factors of Ground Support that can be added. That's a 2:1 +2 attack (+1 for the paradrop, +1 for disorganized defender). That attack has a 50% chance of success, which in my opinion, is worth trying. The result would be 3 CW units OOS and potentially isolated . . . so, abandon plan B.

Unfortunately, the conquest of France (instead of Vichy Declaration) means the CAV can't stack with any CW units, which means it can't try to defend Rabat, because the RSA FTR is there after its failed attempt to support a Ground Strike on Gibraltar. I might still need it in a forward defensive position, but once it is dead, it will be gone for a very very long time. My plan for it is/was to send it to Mogador, instead. This idea was actually generated by composer99's comment about Germany not needing to take it, since unless an Allied unit was there, it would come under German control as soon as Morocco was conquered. But . . . if the French CAV holds on to it, Germany needs to spend another impulse or two getting rid of it. Otherwise, the USA will have a port to begin transferring troops to once it enters the war.

"An impulse gained is a victory." I'm adding that as one of my mottos, along with "Too many rules . . . too many rules . . . "

So, let's look at:

Plan C
Send the French CAV to Mogador, to buy those impulses.

Move the Montreal MIL into the hex where the MECH is, move the MECH into the hex with the RSA Territorial (creating stacks of 10 and 11, respectively), and the final move is . . . HQ-I Gort to the hex now occupied by the French CAV. It's a forest hex, so "safe" from any Ground Strike, but that isn't going to matter, because . . .

In order for both Rabat and Casablanca to have a chance against a German Paradrop, that FTR needs to be alive and kicking in Rabat. At the end of the impulse, if I use Gort to reorganize the FTR, Germany isn't likely to risk a paradrop on either of those cities at unvaforable Air-to-Air combat odds of +5/-5 for the CW.

Plan C has a smal drawback. There's no way to prevent the Italians from enforcing ZOC into Rabat next impulse -- even if Germany doesn't make an attack on one of the CW stacks. So, let's move on to . . .

Plan D
This is the Same thing as Plan C, but it has Gort moving into Rabat so that supply can be maintained regardless of the Italian actions. This leaves Casablanca a little more vulnerable to a Paradrop, but the active 5-factor RSA fighter should be enough to keep that from happening.

So, Plan D it is: final result will be a potential safe haven/pest in Mogador, stacks of 10 and 11 next to Tangier, and a unit in Rabat to maintain supply.

Perhaps Gort would be better off joining the MIL in the mountains, but I just don't like that idea. If Germany finds a way to knock him out, the MECH and TERR end up Isolated, Rabat and Casablanca no longer have any kind of defense, and the Axis can steamroll its way to Mogador. I'm trying to learn from what forum members attempted to teach me during the invasion of France: defend in depth

Also, if it looks promising, there's still a Canadian TERR on a transport in the E. Coast. It can potentially join the fight next impulse.

[Red Prince]

Another "before and after" shot of Communist Chinese options. Only one stack of 2 units moved (circled in blue).

I could have left things as they were, but that would let the Japanese mount a 4:1 attack on this stack, with a chance at 5:1 either by Fractional Odds or through HQ Support. Moving this stack into the mountains pulls it away from the "Sian defensive line", but keeps the Japanese ZOCed to a single hex advance (unless they also want to take Tianshui, which would be pointless). This move also means the best attack the Japanese can mount is a 3:1 against the MTN unit, with a shot at 4:1 only by using HQ Support.
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Been reviewing it some more, and I've changed my mind again. The 7-3 INF still goes to that mountain hex, but the Lanchow MIL should move into the hex with the MTN unit. That makes stacks of 14 and 23, respectively. For this impulse, the best the Japanese could do is mount a 2:1 attack with a 50/50 shot at 3:! against the 7-3 INF, and that would require taking Tianshui. As the Japanese player, I haven't decided yet if this would be worthwhile or not. It's probably better to spend another impulse or two slipping through the gap to force the Chinese to come out of the mountains to defend in front of Sian.

[Red Prince]

After reorganizing the S. African FTR with Gort, the Allies almost got lucky with a roll of '3' to end the turn. But, alas, they needed a '2' to do that. And now, not that it makes a huge impact on things, the weather roll for impulse #9 (extreme once more) shows Fine weather everywhere:

[Red Prince]

Incedentally, I think this AAR is probably a very good example of why the ADG crew decided to introduce the 2D10 charts in the first place. Too much luck on one side can really mess things up. It's actually why I'm enjoying it . . . you can't always select an attack and be fairly certain that half your units will remain organized . . . it's an all or nothing thing. I only ran a few games for about a year each using the 2D10 tables, but I felt like there wasn't enough chance for "admirable conduct" among my Generals. True, it is closer to the real world, and this game is supposed to be a simulation, but I like the opportunity in a game to pass out those Outstanding Conduct Medals. [:)]

[Red Prince]

Too many rules . . . too many rules . . .

And I thought I was doing so well. Turns out I made a rather nasty mistake with the Communists. By allowing the Japanese to "slip through" instead of "outflank", I didn't realize that move would put the MTN unit stack into an Isolated position. It's not a terrible mistake, and can be solved without too much damage done, but it was an error I probably should have foreseen.

Mark it as another spot where I was either trying to do too much, or where overwhelming force just makes you act stupid. In the end, it did buy the extra impulse or two it was supposed to buy, but when the units are finally attacked, one of them is going to be disorganized. (Unless I figure something out that is very clever, indeed).

[Red Prince]

Having finally managed to get troops across from Gibraltar to Tangier, the Axis made one attack this turn.
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You'll notice that in the panel that shows the Odds Column: 3:1, the Armor modifier shows both modifiers. The first (-1.00) is for an Assault, and the second is for a Blitz attack. With the Blitz Bonus optional rules, the defending MECH always gets the die roll modifier if defending in a non-city clear or desert hex, regardless of the Assault/Blitz decision; attackers only get the bonus if conducting a Blitz attack. Since Germany will have the option to choose the attack type, the "net" modifier is shown based on that assumption: -1 for combat friction, nothing for Armor (Blitz Bonus).
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This particular attack, with a 91% chance of moving up to the 4:1 column, has a 60% chance of gaining the hex:



And the results:

Attack on Spanish Morocco [75, 17]: Blitz, Fractional Odds .653 (Yes), Roll = 9-1 = 8 = */1B (Not Converted to Retreat, TERR destroyed)

I suppose you could see this as another lucky roll, but there was a 40% chance of a Breakthrough, so while the roll was a high one, it was not a "must have" kind of roll producing the victory.

So, the CW is down to 2 units in Morocco, and the French have just 1 there. The Blitzing German Corps charged right on into the hex where the Italians started the attack, waving as they crossed paths and grinning the whole time. The 2 Italian Corps and the German ART took over control of the attacked hex, and the CW MECH will find itself mysteriously in the UK come S/O '40.

The CW has a few choices now:

1. Take an Air Impulse, so the Liner in Cape St. Vincent can reorganize the LND in Casablanca so that it can rebase safely out of harm's way (along with the FTR in Rabat)
2. Take another Combined impulse, so that the CV Glorious is certain to escape, a 10-stack can be built in Rabat, and the FTR can rebase, although the LND is likely to be lost.
3. Panic.

Of these options, I consider #2 to be the best. Gort is a'gonna die, but he should force the Axis to mount a solid attack by including the Canadian MIL. Losing the LND would be sad, but risking the loss of the CV would be worse, I think.
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Okay, I just looked up the rules and as long as the CV is not disorganized (and it isn't), it doesn't risk being lost, so maybe option #1 is the best. Yes, Rabat will be easier to take, but as long as the Canadian MIL can stay organized, the Axis needs to beat it with an attack that can take on 10 defense factors. And if it doesn't get that done this turn, there might be some shore bombardment to deal with, too. Germany can't very well begin toasting its victory if there are still anemy troops in the neighborhood, even if it has "conquered" the nation, can it?
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Edit: For those of you wondering why I don't suggest a Land or Naval impulse, the CW has only 7 SCS in port and organized, and 5 of them are in Aden. The other two are Greek ships trapped in Cyprus. Taking a Combined Action would let me bring the Canadian TERR over to Morocco, but that only adds 3 Factors . . . and if it defends alone, which it would have to do in Casablanca (Rabat is not a port), it gives the enemy +1 on the die roll. To me that seems like a waste of 2 BP.

As for a Land Action, what can I really do with it that I can't do with a Combined Action? There are only 3 units worth moving anyway, and 2 of them probably shouldn't (the 2 in Suez). The CW has to hope the turn ends quickly (now, preferably), so that it can get its navy back into the game.

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Just want to answer a question someone asked ealier in the thread. I'll paraphrase it and expand it . . . the original was something like: "How can the Allies manage to lose both Gibraltar and Suez in the same turn?" . . . and I'll add Morocco to it, too.

Well, one answer is poor play by the CW player (me). Another answer is unconventional thinking. I don't mean this to sound too rude, but I think when MWiF is released to the public, many "old-school" players are going to have to get away from their conservative ideas about how this game is supposed to be played. There are going to be a lot more people like me out there, who are willing to try anything once.

For example, raise your hand if you would have thought to rail all of your HQs to Gibraltar at the time that I did it . . . well, maybe that wasn't too surprising . . . but how about using the O-chit anyway, even though I didn't need it for Gibraltar, to reorganize the units needed to finish off the Allies in Morocco, thus securing that front in one summer? Personally, I think people rely way too much on the "intimidation" factor of an O-chit. Yes, it's a nice thing to have around, but if you need to get a job done, then by all means use the O-chit! It's kind of like keeping a bunch of pilots in your reserve pool with a bunch of fighters they could be flying, but not the fighters you really want them in. You paid for them in BP, but neither the Pilots nor the fighters do you any good if they don't get used.

You can probably tell that I don't play conservatively with my O-chits. If I see an opportunity to make it work for me, I don't bother to count BP and calculate the "actual" value of using it. I jump right in and do it. Sometimes that's going to get me into trouble, but a lot of the time it's going to take the enemy by surprise . . . which is what the "intimidation factor" is all about, isn't it? If your enemy knows you like to hold onto an O-chit just to scare him, he's not going to be scared.

But I digress. That's just an example of the kind of thinking that can cause all of these horrid things to happen to the Allies all at once. Another example is that overkill is sometimes useful. I know you're only supposed to commit "what you need to get the job done", but this early in the game, there isn't a threat in sight from anywhere else. With Amphibious rules, even if I had all 6 CW transports that I was "supposed" to have, what can they do behind the lines? Nothing, really -- no Marine units to invade with. So I went into Spain with all the forces I could spare that weren't required for Garrisson duty. That's overkill, but it certainly did the job.

Of course, luck doesn't hurt either, if you want to take Gibraltar and Suez in the same turn. I like to think I planned it well, but luck was probably more in control of things than I was, when it comes right down to it.

Euhm... Do you really want me to comment on this? Personally I would have sacked Chamberlain by now, if you get my drift.
This is a lot of so called bullshit. I've stated previously that the longer the CW is continuing to run away from a good fight, the worse they are going to end up in the game. Sure, luck has something to do with it (and the CW is extremely unlucky). however: don't think you are doing so well with the Axis because of what you are writing here.
Unconventional thinking by the Axis? Sorry, but I don't buy this at all. It is all about not knowing how to defend. That in itself is to be expected from newbie players. "Old school" players? What are you thinking here? I would have kicked the Italian ass from the start, if I had been playing the Allies. No way I would have been conquered with the French.
"Old school" play, as you call it, is to get the Axis into the position where they are forced to create Vichy France, since Toulouse is a real French fortress, with a British presence in the Bordeaux-Bayonne area. "Old school" play is to throw cheap CW units in front of German and Italian troops. "Old school" play is to build the units the CW needs to survive. "Old school" play is to preserve the oh so precious CW sealift and kill the Italian sealift. Did we see "Old school" play by the Allies: Not at all.
So please, don't start saying that Axis play is "unconventional".
This "old school" player really wants to show you how to defend with the CW and France. At this point of the game, the Axis should have conquered Paris this turn and not Gibraltar/Suez. France should become Vichy end of this turn. Italians in Egypt? Perhaps some poor TERR, not the forces you've got now in Africa...
So please: refrain from writing these kind of things. You've never played against an "old school" player, so don't start these kind of nonsense...
I don't want to go back into all the mistakes you've made, since that's not the way I play any wargame. Mistakes happen and one should go and look how to exploit or to counter the mistakes that are made. However: I don't like people saying they are doing so good, when they really aren't.
By the way: keep up the work. I really like this AAR...

[Red Prince]

Unfortunately, due to FTC rules, I can't use the Liner in Cape St. Vincent to bring the Spanish INF that was saved earlier into Casablanca (in case you were thinking about that, as I just was).

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Just want to answer a question someone asked ealier in the thread. I'll paraphrase it and expand it . . . the original was something like: "How can the Allies manage to lose both Gibraltar and Suez in the same turn?" . . . and I'll add Morocco to it, too.

Well, one answer is poor play by the CW player (me). Another answer is unconventional thinking. I don't mean this to sound too rude, but I think when MWiF is released to the public, many "old-school" players are going to have to get away from their conservative ideas about how this game is supposed to be played. There are going to be a lot more people like me out there, who are willing to try anything once.

For example, raise your hand if you would have thought to rail all of your HQs to Gibraltar at the time that I did it . . . well, maybe that wasn't too surprising . . . but how about using the O-chit anyway, even though I didn't need it for Gibraltar, to reorganize the units needed to finish off the Allies in Morocco, thus securing that front in one summer? Personally, I think people rely way too much on the "intimidation" factor of an O-chit. Yes, it's a nice thing to have around, but if you need to get a job done, then by all means use the O-chit! It's kind of like keeping a bunch of pilots in your reserve pool with a bunch of fighters they could be flying, but not the fighters you really want them in. You paid for them in BP, but neither the Pilots nor the fighters do you any good if they don't get used.

You can probably tell that I don't play conservatively with my O-chits. If I see an opportunity to make it work for me, I don't bother to count BP and calculate the "actual" value of using it. I jump right in and do it. Sometimes that's going to get me into trouble, but a lot of the time it's going to take the enemy by surprise . . . which is what the "intimidation factor" is all about, isn't it? If your enemy knows you like to hold onto an O-chit just to scare him, he's not going to be scared.

But I digress. That's just an example of the kind of thinking that can cause all of these horrid things to happen to the Allies all at once. Another example is that overkill is sometimes useful. I know you're only supposed to commit "what you need to get the job done", but this early in the game, there isn't a threat in sight from anywhere else. With Amphibious rules, even if I had all 6 CW transports that I was "supposed" to have, what can they do behind the lines? Nothing, really -- no Marine units to invade with. So I went into Spain with all the forces I could spare that weren't required for Garrisson duty. That's overkill, but it certainly did the job.

Of course, luck doesn't hurt either, if you want to take Gibraltar and Suez in the same turn. I like to think I planned it well, but luck was probably more in control of things than I was, when it comes right down to it.

Euhm... Do you really want me to comment on this? Personally I would have sacked Chamberlain by now, if you get my drift.
This is a lot of so called bullshit. I've stated previously that the longer the CW is continuing to run away from a good fight, the worse they are going to end up in the game. Sure, luck has something to do with it (and the CW is extremely unlucky). however: don't think you are doing so well with the Axis because of what you are writing here.
Unconventional thinking by the Axis? Sorry, but I don't buy this at all. It is all about not knowing how to defend. That in itself is to be expected from newbie players. "Old school" players? What are you thinking here? I would have kicked the Italian ass from the start, if I had been playing the Allies. No way I would have been conquered with the French.
"Old school" play, as you call it, is to get the Axis into the position where they are forced to create Vichy France, since Toulouse is a real French fortress, with a British presence in the Bordeaux-Bayonne area. "Old school" play is to throw cheap CW units in front of German and Italian troops. "Old school" play is to build the units the CW needs to survive. "Old school" play is to preserve the oh so precious CW sealift and kill the Italian sealift. Did we see "Old school" play by the Allies: Not at all.
So please, don't start saying that Axis play is "unconventional".
This "old school" player really wants to show you how to defend with the CW and France. At this point of the game, the Axis should have conquered Paris this turn and not Gibraltar/Suez. France should become Vichy end of this turn. Italians in Egypt? Perhaps some poor TERR, not the forces you've got now in Africa...
So please: refrain from writing these kind of things. You've never played against an "old school" player, so don't start these kind of nonsense...
I don't want to go back into all the mistakes you've made, since that's not the way I play any wargame. Mistakes happen and one should go and look how to exploit or to counter the mistakes that are made. However: I don't like people saying they are doing so good, when they really aren't.
By the way: keep up the work. I really like this AAR...

I'm sorry I irritated you with this post. I don't mean to say that "old school" play is obsolete. I just mean that there are going to be a lot of players out there who, like me, don't know how to play one side or the other.

I will come to my own defense on one count: I took the defense of France directly from the suggestions of the forum members. I planned very little of it for myself.

Two counts, actually: If you played with the initial setup I made, I doubt you could have done as well as you state above, though you would no doubt have done better than I did. [:)]

I do have one question, though. And I'm very serious about this, and not the least bit sarcastic. If you had to "take over" the CW from another player . . . let's say after the first 2 turns . . . and got similarly bad rolls on whatever attacks you decided to make after that, how would you have created the defense for the Allies? That means, starting with the mistakes I made in all areas before the J/F '40 turn began, what would you have done that would have changed things so completely?

I ask this because there is always a snowball effect in these games. The earlier you screw things up (as I did), the more damage is going to be done. This leads me back to the point I was initially trying to make: when MWiF is released, there are going to be just as many greenhorns playing the Allied side as there are playing the Axis side. That's going to create a lot of opportunities for "unconventional" activity.

Just because one side is playing poorly, that doesn't negate the fact that the other side is playing well. And, please take note, that I didn't claim to be "doing so good". What I said was that I came up with a few ideas that are unconventional, and I was lucky to have them work out.

Maybe you will throttle me when we first take each other on. Only time will tell. And if it happens, I'll have to adapt.

[Centuur]

If Gort is disorganised, he dies. Otherwise, you might embark him (since he is on a coastal hex) on the liner, therefore preserving him.
I really have trouble with those status indicators. I don't seem to get the hang of those small squares, indicating what's what. Now, when you are probably used to it, that might disappear.
Therefore, I have a question. If I sea a status indicator on top of the unit, can I then click on that indicator or on the unit and get the necessary information at that point? Could be helpful, IMHO.