Help for the board game

[Reivaj]

Firstable I am goin to introduce my self, I am fan of WIF, my firends and me are playing the board game.

I write here for some help, I am playing with te French team and I would like to know, if I am doing a correct strategy

Here are some pictures of the french front and te italian front:

First te french-greman front:


The italian front:


What do you think about my strategy? is it the best way? how could I improve it?, do you have any advice for me?
Whe don´t play with the artilery option.
Only one more question: when is the PC game going to be at shops?
Thanks for your help,

[Shannon V. OKeets]

When defending, he air units should not be in the front line. That permits them to be ground struck at the same time the land units are. It also leaves them vulnerable to being overrun and either killed outright (if face down) or forced to rebase - and then flipped - if face up. Best to put them in forest hexes to the rear, but close enough to fly interception all along the defending front line.

Alpine hexsides can only be crossed by mountain units, so the Lyon militia is doing nothing where it is. If the Italians reposition their mountain unit to cross into that hex, the Ialian mountain unit will be out of supply, since supply can not be traced across Alpine hexsides. However, it would put your unit to the NE out of supply. Still, I would at least move the Lyon unit one hex closer to Lyon so it might be able to migrate to the north if things get bad up there.

---

See the When thread for details on the release date.

[Lothrim]

Hi Reivaj

I will start to say that a 100 factors will influence your strategy. Mostly optional rules and how many sets you are playing with (PIF,ASA etc..) Thus there is no right answer to your question, just general advice.

1. The belgian units are going to disappear soon. Brussles has been conquered, so at the end of the turn the units will surender and disapear.

2. Your most vulnerable hex is the hex se of Lille. 2 german stacks can attack it and blitz an additional hex. Thus your defense should be very strong there. Also a 2. line of backup would be nice. The 5-2 mil would be nice to have as a 2. line defense in the hex ne of paris.

3. Your defense of italy is too strong compared to the defense of germany. You do not need the fighter down there. As Shannon mentioned the lyon mil is also not needed. The hex nw of grazziani does not need to be defended by 2 corps.

4. Paris needs a unit. Otherwise germany will be able to paradrop a unit into paris.

5. Relax, you are doomed anyway, so enjoy the game and dont feel too bad when germany wins

regards
Jesper Lyster

[composer99]

Looks like you're playing Classic, yes? I'm not seeing any division-scale units or enough aircraft for those kits.
 
Anyway, I agree with Lothrim - your defence against Italy is too strong, and your defence against Germany is not srong enough.
 
The FTR needs to go up to the north to fight the Luftwaffe. Pare away as many land units as you can spare, probably 1 or 2 corps. You don't need more than 1 corps per hex along the Italian border.
 
As Lothrim said, you will need a unit in Paris and some units in the rear of the front line. When the Belgians disappear (either because the Germans smoke them, which they should be able to do quite easily, or because they surrender), the Germans will be able to blitz through the French lines. If they get a breakthrough in the corridor between Lille & the Ardennes, they will be next to an undefended Paris.
 
Finally, your goal as the French is to last as long as you can to keep Germany from having good weather turns in 1940 to do extra things (like sack Gibraltar early). You can't expect France to survive past the summer of 1940 unless the Germans get both terrible dice rolls in the summer and terrible weather in the fall.

[Reivaj]

Thanks for Shannon, Lothrim and Composer99, for your advices.
France is no doomed, it will survive. I am quite crazy, believing in it, I know.

I am playing with the russian team too. What do you think about Russia declares the war against Germany? before Germany do it.
For clear the french front and to win more time.
What do you think? I am crazy, will it work?

Thanks for your answers. Your forum is very good and the only one about World in Flames.
Oh! and sorry for my English. I am not very good in it.

[composer99]

You're quite welcome.
 
If the Russians can break the pact against Germany, then it's probably not such a bad idea if it saves France. Make sure your American player okays it though, as if you can manage to do it it will kill US Entry.
 
In fact, make absolutely certain ONLY to do it if the US has 4 or more chits in the Germany/Italy entry pool, as you run the risk of the US never being able to declare war on Germany otherwise.

[coregames]

ORIGINAL: Lothrim
I will start to say that a 100 factors will influence your strategy.

Do the French even have 100 factors between all their land units? I jest [:)]

[paulderynck]

ORIGINAL: Reivaj

Thanks for Shannon, Lothrim and Composer99, for your advices.
France is no doomed, it will survive. I am quite crazy, believing in it, I know.

I am playing with the russian team too. What do you think about Russia declares the war against Germany? before Germany do it.
For clear the french front and to win more time.
What do you think? I am crazy, will it work?

Thanks for your answers. Your forum is very good and the only one about World in Flames.
Oh! and sorry for my English. I am not very good in it.

Of course you will survive with France forever! Not.

I noticed all but one of your convoys are in Toulon. You must not be getting much production. Your convoys should be out in the Pacific helping move CW resources and Oil while they help moving your Algerian and African resources to either your homeland or theirs.

Also in the Pacific they are more likely to end up as Free French when (and if - ah, let's face it - when[:(]) Vichy is declared.

[Neilster]

Te french-greman front is tricky to play. Those Gremans are very powerful early in the game.

All the best Reivaj and welcome to the forum. As regards to the release date of MWiF, and to paraphrase Churchill...

Steve has never promised anything but blood, tears, toil, and sweat. Now, however, the bright gleam has caught the screens of our monitors, and warmed and cheered all our hearts. Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

[:D]

Cheers, Neilster

[Reivaj]

Thanks for everything!!

Paulderynck, we don't play with the Pacific scenario, we are playing in Europe and the minimap of America.

ORIGINAL: paulderynck
I noticed all but one of your convoys are in Toulon. You must not be getting much production. Your convoys should be out in the Pacific helping move CW resources and Oil while they help

We are playing with the last edition rules and with tjem, I can't help the english team with their resources.
One question, the ports are considered as a city?, for example "La spezia"?

Thanks for all.

[Droop21]

I agree with what was said earlier, your Italian front is too heavily defended compared to your needs against Germany (I'd move 1 or 2 units plus that D.520). You should also consider reshuffling some units next to the Belgium frontier, putting quicker and cheaper units in the death hexes (1232 seems like a good candidate). Protect Paris as in the current setup there is good chance that Germany will be adjacent in 2 impulses [8|]
You can transport CW resources with your convoys.
Ports hexes are only city hexes if there is a city dot in it. La Spezia is not a city, like Plymouth, Gibraltar...
Have fun defending France [:D]
 

[Frederyck]

From RaW7m:

18.2 Not Cooperating

Units that don’t co-operate are not otherwise limited. In particular, they can:

3. take part in the same convoy chain (unless neutral);
4. lend resources to each other;

So even though France and CW do not co-operate, they can still ship each other's resources. (Since France and CW aren't neutral more than one impulse.)

[composer99]

Incidentally, when playing with RAW Vichy, if you want to ensure your French convoys go Free when the time comes, they should be nearest to French Equatorial Africa (the most likely administrative group to go Free French).

[Reivaj]

Hello again, we played another session of WiF, and this is the situation of the french front, we are in the sep/oct of 1940.

I think France will survive, a pair of turns.

Now my question is about, Rusia, I am playing with the Russian team too. I didn't reclame my part of Polonia, I know I made a big mistake.



Where do you think, I should put my defense line?, Finland still is neutral.

Thanks for all, have a good day.

[oscar72se]

Regarding the russian defence, I think you should move your armor and HQs backwards so that the GE player can't ground strike your key units during the surprise impulse. It is super important, if they become disrupted they quickly become dead. A suitable place for Zhukov could be in the forest hex behind Kiev. Everything near the front during a Barbarossa will die during the first turn, so the key element is to try to slow the german down. You do this by leaving "road-block units" in places where the german have to assault you, this way you make sure that he can't perform overruns. I always leave units in the mountains in southern Poland, Lvov and Brest-Litovsk. Since all of Poland is german (*gulp*) you might want to consider leaving a unit or two in the swamp. Don't try to stop the german, try to make him commit a lot of units for killing lone russians, hence slowing him down. Also, you don't want to be caught in the Baltic states with to many units. They quickly will become victims of the german Luftwaffe. Try to leave just as many units to make sure that the Wehrmacht has to stop to kill you. And get those HQs outta there!!!
 
Lastly, remember that the german offensive is as fast as their fastest HQ. Good luck!

[Frederyck]

That is sound tactical advice from oscar when you are preparing for an inevitable attack.

I would add on a strategic level that you have to consider the likelihood of you as the Russian player being able to deny Germany the opportunity to attack in 41. As it stands right now, the German troops are deeply entrenched in France and the winter months are just around the corner. Can France hold off long enough to make it impossible for Germany to attack in 41 because of the pact, given that Russia stuffs the common borders with enough units? The idea is that if France takes too long to fall, Germany won't have time to redeploy all his troops back east for an attack in 41.

[oscar72se]

I totally agree. You should however always assume that France falls in the summer of 1940. Watch carefully Germanys next move, is he going for an early Barbarossa or is he up to something else. Either way, you must protect your own interests. To do so the russian must focus her production on garrison efficient units:
1. GAR
2. Pilots for reserve aircraft
3. MTN
4. MECH
5. Everything else

If Russia focus her production on these units it can be very difficult for the german player to declare war in 1941. You must at all times be aware of the german players ability to rush units to the border, in particular aircraft. I have on more than one occasion seen russian players been caught off guard when Germany takes an air action to rebase all aircraft to the border... So keep an eye on the garrison ratio at all times.

[Frederyck]

ORIGINAL: oscar72se
You should however always assume that France falls in the summer of 1940.

Normally, yes. But in this case the Germans are several hexes away from Paris and it's Sept/Oct.

[oscar72se]

Oh, missed that one. In that case Germany is in a world of hurt...

[Frederyck]

Germany does have the (*huge*) advantage of controlling Eastern Poland, though, so I wouldn't count them out entirely. Especially since Bessarabia is under Axis control too...

To answer the OPs question regarding setting up in Russia. I would try and stuff the border to avoid a 41 Barbarossa. I would beg the rest of the allies for as much lend lease as their CONVs can carry, and probably a bit more. As the summer of 42 approaches I would withdraw deep into the Russian territory, leaving behind as little as possible while still being able to delay the onslaught. And don't forget to rail those factories away from the German forces!!