As you know Glenn (Balto of fame and German haplessness) and I are playing a 1939 campaign, mostly to investigate the effect of the "Uxbridge Variation." I am playing the Allies, and Balto, who maintains that he has no knowledge or interest in the current naval rules is quite correctly hiding the Axis navies (which I always do until the French Navy has gone into the dumper.)
Sometime in the Spring of 1940, as the above mentioned cheese eating surrender monkeys were going the way of all flesh, and since the BEF had been totally wiped out in a 3:1 attempt to pinch off a pnzgrn division on the first turn of Fall Gelb, and since the US and the USSR were completely paralized, I was REALLY bored. Thinking of some way to get Glenn off-balance, I loaded up two British infantry division in amphibs, and an infantry corps onto transports, and headed East to invade Denmark. (Being an unexperienced victim of playing the Allies, I didn't realize that the stupid, anal retentive house rules prevented the Allies from invading a neutral country. Apparently, only the evil Nazis can violate the laws of neutrality, despite the English/French attempt to violate Norway's in 1940.
)So, when I was unable to invade Denmark, and mostly just to reassure myself that I was, in fact, doing the invasion spell correctly, I told the game to invade a hex adjacent to Kiel. The next thing I knew, the entire Kreigsmarine (and I do mean every last thing that would float) had sortied and offered battle to my invasion force. I stress that Glenn never gave them a single order, save for his initial orders to hide in Wilhelmshaven!
Unfortunately for Glenn, I am a great believer in that old German adage of "not driblets, masses!," and had gathered evry Allied ship that I could get into the North Sea. The total was somewher around 55+, with only 6 or 7 being subs. The result was spectacular, if unfortunate for the Germans, and the only thing now remaining of the scnitzel-eaters is a large oil slick and a bad smell.
After the naval "battle" the game reverted to the main map, with no indication that I had ordered an invasion. Not being a suicidal idiot (unlike the AI) I decided not to invade Germany with a 1-4 infantry division, and my fleet immediately set sail for the Med, to try this new method of naval intervention against the Wops. (BTW, it worked perfectly. There is now a large ecological problem in the Bay of Naples -- GREAT scuba diving, however!)Being an honorable and considerate opponent, I of course wanted to comiserate with Glenn (ha!) so I dropped him a note when I uploaded my turn to him. It's a good thing that I did, because he had no idea that ANYTHING had happened. Nothing in the reports, no indication to the German player that the AI had taken control of his entire navy and then lost it (kind of like your teenager "borrowing" the family car and leaving it wrapped around a large tree somewhere,) and best of all, NO NAVY.
Glenn and I don't know if these events qualify as a bug (that is an unintended consequence of poorly written code,) but if they don't, the naval problem is finally, utterly and completely solved, for once and forever! Because it is now possible to completely wipe the Axis navy off the map in as little time as it takes to launch a feint invasion in all the sea zones that they can hide in.
Ain't it GRAND!
