GD1938 Game 17 (Ver. 2.20b)

[cpdeyoung]

See you at the front Gen. Marshall!

If your OSS boys can get that 254th KV-1 crew out of Moscow I would do so.

Heinz G.

[cpdeyoung]

The surrender of the hard fighting Red Army leaves a lot of shuffling to be done.

In west Africa the Germans made an air attack, then pulled back to First Armee's original lines. The Fortress Island of Malta was reduced and captured.

The Italians tried a quick strike near Ethiopia, but got hurt by alert British.

In India Calcutta fell, as did Madras and Bangalore. The Panzer Gruppe rolls on.

[cpdeyoung]

London was raided by the Germans again. Once the troops from the East get to the French and Low Country ports the Germans may decide to stay in London?

Japan declared war on the West, and bombarded Hong Kong. They also attacked Guam, but all in all things in the Far East are quiet.

Dacca fell and the Panzer Gruppe is pressing east. There is a very real chance that German and Japanese troops will greet each other soon.

[cpdeyoung]

October 1941

Sweden has joined the Axis.

India and Burma have been taken by the Panzer Gruppe.

The garrison in London was stronger this turn and we lost 114 strength points. We destroyed 656 strength points.

The Americans defended their outpost when we bombed it. We destroyed 22 various types of fighters at a cost of 3 Fw-190A.

Japan took Guam. She bombed Manila. She attacked Hong Kong, which is much weakened. We had successful ASW operations, but with some losses.

[cpdeyoung]

November 1941

Two strikes on London 114-466, no daytime fighters, but there are lots of night fighters. The British are very nighttime oriented in their air war.

The Americans in west North Africa are rebuilding we speculate. We hit them with air power.

The U-boats and IJN sank multiple RN and USN sub concentrations.

Hong Kong has fallen to the Japanese Army, with IJN help. Manila was again bombed.

[Twotribes]

Ok I admit defeat you have to many cities for me to out produce you and you built a huge navy and airforce.

[cpdeyoung]

Thank you for giving me a chance to exercise my carriers. It was great fun building a proper Navy for Germany.

It was a pleasure playing you! It is rough when you have to bring the United States into a war just as the Soviets are breathing their last.

Again thank you for a very interesting game. Do you remember if we ever played "Road to Victory", "Time of Fury" or "Time of Wrath" against each other. I know we were both active in Wasteland games back then.

Perhaps you could give all your territory and forces to Great Britain in case he wants to continue.

Thanks!

[ironduke1955]

Well done to Chucks Axis superb play as one would expect, not much China can do, we are currently clinging on to the sides of Himalayan mountains, and we are not coming down until those nasty Axis have gone away.

[cpdeyoung]

Game 17 started January 11, 2015 and ended May 17, 2015. The players were in the 52nd turn when the game was completed.

Code: Select all

 GR/IT : cpdeyoung
 Japan : ernieschwitz, cpdeyoung
 USSR  : timms
 GB/FR : larry
 USA   : twotribes
 China : ironduke1955

Looking at the finish I wondered why the Germans had not achieved their "Historical Path" victory condition? I think it must be the Italians holding Yugoslavia. Perhaps Ernie could confirm that this would be enough. As I controlled both Germany and Italy this would have been easily remedied, but might have been tricky if another player, anxious to win had played Italy. I guess this is another reason for the use of "allied territory donation" as otherwise both Italy and Germany would have had to go to war with each other to decide the victor.

In any case I want to thank you all for a very good game. Timms was aggressive throughout, and Larry held on like a British bulldog, and those RAF night fighters were tough! The Chinese were not finding allies to their liking, and Japanese airpower made them decide for a peaceful observer's view. Twotribe's Americans came on strong, but the game had allowed the Axis to become too powerful before they could make their play.

It is interesting that Timms' Soviets did not build factories, while the Axis carpeted the countryside with them. In the newer versions factories are much sparser on the ground.

Thanks again to all, a long haul, four months, but a fine game.

Chuck

[ernieschwitz]

Looking at the finish I wondered why the Germans had not achieved their "Historical Path" victory condition? I think it must be the Italians holding Yugoslavia. Perhaps Ernie could confirm that this would be enough.

Yup, Italy holding Yugoslavia would have been enough for it not to trigger.

[ironduke1955]

"The Chinese were not finding allies to their liking"

What a thing to say.

Thanks to the Soviets for their assistance. No thanks given to the British who ignored the request that would have been to their benefit though ultimately would not have changed the outcome of the game.

There should be a rule about players dropping out during games, it should automatically void a game, as the strategies adopted by the Allies are suddenly made redundant as a new player takes over, and handing over all the Axis powers to one player while the Allies have 4 players with different objectives and goals is ridiculous. In future perhaps a rule can be made that if a player wishes to relinquish control and hand it over to another player they have to find a replacement other than a player in the game, and on the same side.

[ernieschwitz]

If I ever need to drop out of a game again, then I will find someone from the outside then

[ironduke1955]

Thanks Claus.

[falco148]

Also agree with Irondude. Anybody dropping out should terminate the game.

[cpdeyoung]

Tom, and all,

As for the occasion of Ernie leaving, when he expressed an interest in leaving I offered to take the Japanese. I am
sure either of us would have agreed to someone else taking over, but no one raised the point at the time. I have no
problem with a new player coming in, but I would hope every effort would be made to keep an active game going if
someone must drop out. I would bet neither of us realized it was an issue, but clearly it was.

The Japanese kept powerful forces (by Japanese early war standards) on the Chinese border throughout the game. I
tried to not take advantage of Chinese passivity.

What a thing to say.

I am so sorry if I misinterpreted your message to me. I include a clip below from your note to me. In another note
you mentioned the issue with airpower. I tried to paraphrase your comment on allies, but may have been off the mark.

[ironduke1955]

I struggle to think why the decision by the Chinese to make peace, and the valid reasons for doing so should be the sum total of Chinese contribution. Up until that point the Chinese had done a fairly good job of putting a spoke in the Japanese war wagon. With a few modern fighters we could have continued to do so, though as I said the ridiculous change in command did not help. That would not have turned the War in the Allies favor, the fate of the allies was sealed earlier than that not helped by a beefing up of Axis unified command. Allied players will have to learn that the battle between China and Japan are heavily weighted in Japan's favor, and it requires either The Soviet Union the British or the Americans if they are able to help them out, Vic pointed this out in game 14 the Chinese cannot match tanks they can throw conscripts by the hundred at them but the tanks just keep coming smiling...

The message is accurate I begged for fighters from all the major powers and got non, and could not continue without them. And again thanks to the Soviets they did give the Chinese a large number of their older fighters, unfortunately they were delivered the wrong side of the Himalayas and did not have the range to reach China proper.

[cpdeyoung]

I did not recognize your feeling about the change of command at the time. I am sorry I did not see it from your point of view. I am sure I would have been upset if it happened to me.

Ernie was having problems getting turns together and I offered to take over. We had many games with G-I-J under a single player so it felt Ok to me, but I was wrong. It should have been opened to a new player, but even that can have real negative consequences to an ongoing game. If a player with style A is replaced with a player with style B it can be disruptive too. Perhaps the answer is to make it clear that GD1938 requires a four month plus commitment, and any abandonment, even surrender should be subject to a possible player swap.

We need new players, a larger community, but we are "selling" a multiplayer game of depth and length. If a "experienced player" e.g. me, can make a mistake like approving that swap in my mind, maybe we need a GD1938 Bill of Responsibilities defining how various items are handled. Any play issues would be spelled out, house rules explained, and so on.

All this is on me, I offered to take the turns from Ernie, and I should not have.

Chuck

[ironduke1955]

Not really a protocol for players dropping out, there should be, I favor ending the game. You are a man with few if any chinks in his armor, Ernie has one or two. The war was not won or lost in China but a victory any kind of victory bolsters the cause, and the allies cause was sorely in need of bolstering.

[ernieschwitz]

Perhaps the answer is to make it clear that GD1938 requires a four month plus commitment, and any abandonment, even surrender should be subject to a possible player swap.

Just to make sure everyone understands my position. Due to problems, mostly out of my control, I cannot guarantee that I finish a game once I begin it. My intention is always to finish it, but circumstances mostly make that unrealistic. I however need to first hand experience gameplay to be able to program it and balance it to my liking. It is after all, my mod, and I take my responsibility to it very seriously.

I will be the first to admit that I am not a player of the caliber of neither Chuck nor Tom, I am inferior. I accept that, and I understand that getting Chuck to take over for me, would cause balance to be affected. For that I am sorry.

Now I think it too is important to remember that whatever the outcome of these games, that we all need each other to be able to play them. So even the person(s) losing have an important role. I think it is very important not to carry grudges of what has happened in recent games, onto the next. Sure, it is wise to be wary of the Soviet Union if they backstabbed you in an earlier game, but if that person is now playing France and you are playing Great Britain, you should not hold that grudge to that person.

We should be a group of players that are friendly towards each other in general, and realize that we all have one ultimate goal in these games, and that is to win. Entering a game one has to accept that you won´t always win. So it is important to behave both good as a loser, as well as a winner. What is more important than the game, is your general behavior towards others in the group of players, and to realize at the end of the day, that you had fun. Be that fun just to have avoided defeat another turn, or to revel in victoriousness.