Gary Grigsby’s War in the West: Operation Torch Tournament

[Joel Billings]

I'd suggest you start early if you're opponent is able to if you are going to be gone on the 14th and 15th. I'd expect as long as you're going quickly with your other moves, that if you're gone for a few days your opponent will give you some slack. We just need to have the 48 hour rule to make sure we have a way to move the games along and we know how to declare a winner if the game gets delayed. Since you're going to be gone the first two days, it would be good to start early if possible.

[Cenubi]

Good luck to all

[jhdeerslayer]

john47 and jhdeerslayer off and running!

[smokindave34]

Joel,

I'd like to sign up as an alternate if it's not already too late. Thanks.

Dave (Smokindave34)

[Joel Billings]

Sure, thanks for doing that. I'll add you to the list.

[Joel Billings]

Erik says that the 1.01.12 WitE should become official in the next day or two, so keep an eye out for it. I see 6 of the 16 first round games have been set up on the server, with 2 of the games having been accepted so far.

[Joel Billings]

Ok, now that the 1.01.12 version has been made official, all tournament players should be sure to use this version. All first round games must be set up before the end of the day on Monday, December 14. If you can start early, that's even better. Right now I see 7 of the 16 games set up, and 3 accepted. If anyone has had something come up and won't be able to make it into the tournament, please let me know so we can fill your spot. Thanks.

[whoofe]

I was waiting for the update - will be setting up my match tonight

[Seminole]

[Chuske]

Cato v jonboym is up and running [:D]

[whoofe]

whoofe v ultradave in progress

[ultradave]

Yup. I seem to be doing a bit better as the Allies than as the Germans. A bit of a gamble as the Germans, but hey, it's Rommel, right? We'll see how it goes. Turn 2 going.

[scout1]

ORIGINAL: ultradave

Yup. I seem to be doing a bit better as the Allies than as the Germans. A bit of a gamble as the Germans, but hey, it's Rommel, right? We'll see how it goes. Turn 2 going.

What, no AAR's ??????

[ultradave]

I'll post something after the fact. This is for competition so I don't want to give anything away that can't be seen

[Seminole]

Will definitely be posting After Action Reports.

I will say after two turns as the Allies their pilots are quite terrible at this stage. A2A losses are running about 100-3 right now, or at least that's how it feels...

[ultradave]

Well, congratulations to whoofe for winning both of our matches. I went down in flames as the Germans. I reorganized my units to different HQ and tried to make an end run around the west side of Kasserine Pass in an attempt to grab Tbess but in the end lost Sidi Rezegh instead netting the Allies 450 points.

As the Allies I lost a large number of aircraft while the victory point towns remained as they were the whole game. Too many casualties and whoofe ended up with a narrow victory. In the end it wouldn't matter due to the spanking I received playing the Germans.

Live and learn.

One thing I have to say about this scenario is that if you make a mistake, you are done for. There is not enough time to recover from any kind of setback. If you haven't started yet, make sure you know what you are doing and don't screw up. Just call me Captain Obvious

[whoofe]

I agree - one mistake is huge in this scenario. its only 5 turns so very difficult to recover. neither of us did all that great on the first turn as axis. I never managed to take kasserine as axis, while you did for a short time on turn 4 (?) I believe

I dunno how my axis air force thoroughly dominated yours. I ran some superiority missions, and also kept a few squadrons un-missioned for intercepts, but nothing tricky or exciting to speak of

JG27 ended with 2 aces after this 5 day battle

also not sure if you noticed my axis troops snuck through a gap in your lines the final turn and took Siliana. probly the difference between a minor victory and a draw.

[Seminole]

As the Allies I lost a large number of aircraft

I lost over 120 aircraft on turn 2 just providing ground support to my army. It was almost exclusively fighters wiped from the sky for basically no return. Most of my other losses were intercepts by my fighters. My losses on my own missions were basically nil because the Axis air force must have been rested.
I just finished turn 2 as the Allies (the return match with me as Axis hasn't been accepted yet) and I can say in future matches I'll be grounding the Allied air force during the opposing player's turn. Even intercepts get mauled. The experience/morale difference doesn't seem that great (Germans low 80s, Americans mostly right around 70, Brits spread between), but they're in different leagues.
I've played the scenario three times, first against myself, then against the AI from either side, and the Allied fighters just get worked.

It is a fun scenario, the number of map counters and layout of the map keep things on a knife's edge.

[Helpless]

The experience/morale difference doesn't seem that great (Germans low 80s, Americans mostly right around 70, Brits spread between), but they're in different leagues.

Another disadvantage of Allied air force is that they have to operate from much more distant air bases. Size 1 air fields are dominating and these are getting heavy penalties during mud turns.

I was able to out win Axis in the air in our 4-player game, but only when concentrating in some particular place and time (execution phase).

[Seminole]

Another disadvantage of Allied air force is that they have to operate from much more distant air bases. Size 1 air fields are dominating and these are getting heavy penalties during mud turns.

They were showing up, they just wiped from the sky.
One time I remember 12 P-38s intercepted one of my missions as the Axis. My escorts only claimed 1 kill, but the rest were damaged and racked up as ops losses. Would that be because of trying to land on a small field with damage and totaling the plane? Distance back to base?

These are from the ground support missions conducted by the Allies during the Axis attacks on turn 2:



That's why I just shut off the ground support directives after getting this turn back.
I can understand if he sends up 24 fighters and I send up 12 and I lose 2 to none.

It's when he comes to the fight with 88 fighters, 41 bombers, and I meet him with 56 fighters, only to score a single fighter kill while 34 of my fighters go down in flames.
Or he has 55 escorts, 36 bombers, which I meet with 46 fighters, only to get NO kills, and see 21 of my fighters splashed.
This is kind of a Tunisian Turkey Shoot, which surprises me because I didn't think the disparity in morale/exp was that great...

Losses before conducting my turn 2 air phase:



While only on the second turn, the disparity in aircraft losses almost completely makes up the point differential so far.
I'm endeavoring to make up for it on the ground...