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I do hope I can express my feelings correctly on this post about MWIF and AAR's. I believe it was 2 years ago that Red Prince started an AAR called Barbarossa and it lit the posts up, it was new to him to do it, he never did it before and he probably felt he made mistakes or worrying about somebody saying I would have done this different or that different.

But it put a breath of life into this forum, it woke me up thats for sure. In no way did I think I could do as well as he did doing an AAR, but if you do not try then you will never know.

About a month ago I started an AAR and chickened out, and deleted it. Out side of beta testing I really do not know this game. [no board game experience] I did purchase CWIF from ADG, but I was lost trying to learn the game, there was no AI and if I remember right the supply routine did not work well.

Without Steves knowledge I attempted to do and AAR in the Guadalcanal scenario, a small naval battle in the Bay of Bengal using Japanes carriers against CW Battleships, out side of forcing an interception I did nothing to change any outcome of the battle in favor of one side or the other. Mistakes yes, bad decisions of course, I was no Isoroku Yamamota [Commander of the Japanese combined fleet] I tried to learn from my mistakes in the AAR, I went on to a bigger confrontation in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese carriers and US carriers, I was getting more comfortable with the AAR procedure.

I then attempted to do an AAR on Poland September 1939. To bring this AAR to your computer screen it took 55 screen uploads, not a complaint it is what it is. The sorry you see once in a while was an upload screw up, and I also learned that I get timed out every so often and have to relog in and start over.

The 55 screens were mostly, if not all of the German impulses, if I had tried to do the US, France, Russsia, Cw and Italy moves on a screen I would have had to purchase a new storage hard drive. Without racing all over the maps I tried to show what the outcomes of different decisions I made for both sides would look like. Did I do justice to the Polish forces probably not, I am sure more astute players would have done things differently, but IMO Poland was doomed from the first moment the Panzers and the Wehrmacht crossed the Polish borders.

My good friend and very good beta tester "centuur" did a post on the Polish headquarters unit at the end of the Poland AAR post about how the Polish HQ unit could have been saved for future use by the allies, I think he said the interment rule, not really sure how it works. Also Terje posted about an error I made in doing an air battle was I upset hell no [:@]

What happened was when the German player had the neccessary points to destroy one of the Polish planes I picked the bomber and showed my wonderful wisdom behind my selection, In reality it was the allied player who would make that selection not the German player, you can see that screen on the last page of the Poland AAR. Terje let me down easy by saying it must be tough playing both sides but in reality I never even looked at that screen where the decisons were to destroy which plane.

Now the good beta testers Orm and composser99 are doing AAR's, they are much more astute about the game and the rules than I am and you will learn a great amount of information from them. If I have any disappointment in the AAR it would be lack of questions not lack of interest. I asked Steve how do I know if the AAR is helping, there have not been a lot of questions asked or comments. His answer was check the hits. They do look good.

I am asking every one here what would you like to see, not sure I could deliver what you might want, but I could try, more air combat, more naval battles, if you have questions I can not answer I have a very good group of people backing me up and they will answer the questions a lot better than I could. One question I can answer ahead of time.

Will I like this game? Meaning new and experienced players? YES. It will never go up on that shelf above your computer of dumb old games that you have not played in years.

Bo

Actually, I'm really liking seeing how your reports show a new player working out how to play (both technically, as in "how to manipulate the units & markers in MWiF and use its UI to do what you want" and meta-game-ish, as in "how to play the game") and trying to show how it all works to others.

I'm also liking the limited scale (e.g. "this is a CV battle", "this is a small land campaign", and the like) - though that may be because I am positively gobsmacked at the amount of thinking and work that has to go in just to set up the 1944 scenario. Whew! [>:]

So, bottom line, keep up the good work!

ORIGINAL: composer99

Actually, I'm really liking seeing how your reports show a new player working out how to play (both technically, as in "how to manipulate the units & markers in MWiF and use its UI to do what you want" and meta-game-ish, as in "how to play the game") and trying to show how it all works to others.

I'm also liking the limited scale (e.g. "this is a CV battle", "this is a small land campaign", and the like) - though that may be because I am positively gobsmacked at the amount of thinking and work that has to go in just to set up the 1944 scenario. Whew! [>:]

So, bottom line, keep up the good work!

1944 scenario? Good luck, above my pay grade [&:]

Bo

I've been lurking here for years following the development of MWiF. Steve has been very open about the effort and curiosity kept me coming back. I intended to pass on the game because RL makes it difficult for me to schedule online play. Reading the various AARs makes me think solitare play would be enjoyable enough for me to reconsider. Please continue.

ORIGINAL: BeastieDog

I've been lurking here for years following the development of MWiF. Steve has been very open about the effort and curiosity kept me coming back. I intended to pass on the game because RL makes it difficult for me to schedule online play. Reading the various AARs makes me think solitare play would be enjoyable enough for me to reconsider. Please continue.

Welcome BeastieDog.

I am just a beta tester, I have no monetary interest in this game one way or the other.

But I would never say something if I did not believe in it, I would not promote this game for one second if I did not think the game was oustanding. I am not taking time out of my life doing beta testing to talk anybody into buying this game.

The possible outcomes that can come out of combat at reasonable odds 1/1, 2/ 1, 3/1, 4/1, if 2 units are attacking one or two units, there could be many outcomes.
As a beta tester I have been playing strictly solitaire working on Guadalcanal mainly.
I have also played over and over in the game to attack Poland, Belgium, Netherlands and France.
Each round I get more knowlegable on how to attack, what odds are acceptable, what am I trying to accomplish with this attack and that attack.

One game one of my Panzer units and two of my Infantry corp were attacking across a river in Belgium, I had pretty good odds going for me and it looked like an easy destruction of the Belgian corp on the other side of the river. I had been getting better and better at my attack methods, and this one was a piece of cake. I got careless, normally when I assign my units to attack another unit I look at the gray box you might have seen in some of the AAR's to check the odds 3/1 4/1 etc. This time I did not and got hit with a rule that I know well, when units are crossing a river to attack another unit on the other side the attackers attack factors are halved. OUCH![:@]

The outcome was not nice for the Germans and pretty much messed up that whole impulse. Why did I mention this, because it is solitaire and I did not have some human general sitting across the table from me giggling at my stupidity, and I had that one great option of a solitaire game I simply shut the computer off. And the next day I used game save to go back to the river crossing, and got across very nicely thank you and destroyed that other unit. Moral of the story Solitaire can be great if used properly. [;)]

Bo

I too am a long time lurker. Having never played the board game, the AAR's are a godsend of information. I'm reading each and every one. Do please keep up the good work. As a side note AI or no AI matters not; the decision to buy was made from the first time I saw the game coming to the computer.

ORIGINAL: BeastieDog

I've been lurking here for years following the development of MWiF. Steve has been very open about the effort and curiosity kept me coming back. I intended to pass on the game because RL makes it difficult for me to schedule online play. Reading the various AARs makes me think solitare play would be enjoyable enough for me to reconsider. Please continue.

I am planning to play solitaire WiF also, due to real life constraints (and...well, let's face it...ehem ehem....because I have no idea about how to play the game [8|]). Now I am toying with the idea of opening a new AAR so that I can receive some "collective wisdom" input, but limited to just one side...a "Me against the world" game.

My first ever solo game is probably going to be Barbarossa: probably my real "I" will be Germany, and my passive "I" (+help) will be the USSR.

Then Guadalcanal, casting me as the Americans (and allies)... and the forum will make some Japan decisions.

ORIGINAL: shaddock

I too am a long time lurker. Having never played the board game, the AAR's are a godsend of information. I'm reading each and every one. Do please keep up the good work. As a side note AI or no AI matters not; the decision to buy was made from the first time I saw the game coming to the computer.

shaddock welcome to our forums great to have you, read the posts follow some of the AAR's when you have a moment, never be leery to ask a question, no question is dumb, it is only dumb if you dont ask something you are not sure of.

Bo

I have a challenge for you Bo ... Try an Operation Sea Lion (Germany invades Great Britain) [:D]

Should provide you with a great test, one that I have not even tried yet in over 10 full games over the years.

OK Bo, I've got questions for you (or anyone else). What is the point of "scrapping"? It seems you are getting rid of perfectly good units. Is this similar to upgrading a units capabilities with new equipment and training?
Also, I have an understanding that units are drawn for you randomly. If this is correct, how is the 'random' done, by unit type or by mixing all types together then drawing them? (are you going to pull infantry from a pool of infantry or is it possible to get all ships and no armor if all units are mixed together?)

ORIGINAL: shaddock

OK Bo, I've got questions for you (or anyone else).

Excellent.

What is the point of "scrapping"? It seems you are getting rid of perfectly good units. Is this similar to upgrading a units capabilities with new equipment and training?

There are two answers:

First, you do not have unlimited production. As such, when you are building units it is better to be able to draw more reliably from your better units. Of course, quantity is its own quality, so most people aren't aggressive about scrapping, say, land units.

Second, lower-quality units can be a liability in certain combat situations, particularly air units.

For an in-game example, sending out a light carrier with, say, a carrier plane with an air combat rating of 0 is practically a death sentence for the carrier and its planes (and the aircrews), when one is likely to fight planes with air combat ratings of 4 or 5 (or more).

Put another way, you'd much rather be opposing US P-51s with Me-262s than with, say, He-51s.

Also, I have an understanding that units are drawn for you randomly. If this is correct, how is the 'random' done, by unit type or by mixing all types together then drawing them? (are you going to pull infantry from a pool of infantry or is it possible to get all ships and no armor if all units are mixed together?)

As you have guessed, units are sorted into force pools by unit type.

Thanks for the quick reply, composer99. The answers are what I was thinking.

ORIGINAL: shaddock

OK Bo, I've got questions for you (or anyone else). What is the point of "scrapping"? It seems you are getting rid of perfectly good units. Is this similar to upgrading a units capabilities with new equipment and training?
Also, I have an understanding that units are drawn for you randomly. If this is correct, how is the 'random' done, by unit type or by mixing all types together then drawing them? (are you going to pull infantry from a pool of infantry or is it possible to get all ships and no armor if all units are mixed together?)

Great shaddock you left me off the hook on those questions [or anyone else[&o]] Steve will help you.[;)]

OOOOPs I meant composer.

Bo

ORIGINAL: Snydly

I have a challenge for you Bo ... Try an Operation Sea Lion (Germany invades Great Britain) [:D]

Should provide you with a great test, one that I have not even tried yet in over 10 full games over the years.

Ok Snide--ly [:D]

Hell the other day I had trouble taking Denmark [:(]

Seriously a couple of weeks ago I invaded Guadalcanal for the 100th time.

I invaded with a 6th strength SNLF unit [Japanese marines] my opposition was a notional unit, I rolled a [1] there is nothing like a [1] in invading to destroy your Ego. Turned off the computer and said "I will return" I heard that somewhere I think [&:]

Bo

Got to show you this, my grandson age 12 asked me to join him in the World of Tanks on line game. And I said but my dear grandson I dont have a tank.

Thats alright pop pop I will lend you one of mine, and I said thank you very nice of you.

Yeah right [:@]

This is his tank in the game.

Bo

This is the loaner, it never returned to this garage, Nice grandson huh! The size differences are very accurate.

Leichttraktor is the tank that is most fun to play out of them all. [:)]

ORIGINAL: Orm

Leichttraktor is the tank that is most fun to play out of them all. [:)]

Orm I cut my teeth on that little monster. Love that little guy.

Bo