PBEM Global War: Narrative AAR.

[rkr1958]

Turn 19. Sep/Oct 1942. Axis #5. (Continued).

[Allied]: No ground support

[rkr1958]

Turn 19. Sep/Oct 1942. Axis #5. (Continued).

[rkr1958]

Turn 19. Sep/Oct 1942. Axis #5. (Continued).

[rkr1958]

Turn 19. Sep/Oct 1942. Axis #5. (Concluded).

3/11/21, 6:32 AM - [Axis]: back to u

[rkr1958]

Turn 19. Sep/Oct 1942. Allied #7. GAME OVER. ALLIES CONCEDE.

3/11/21, 9:20 AM - [Allied]: Morning.
3/11/21, 9:21 AM - [Axis]: Morning [Allied]
3/11/21, 9:21 AM - [Allied]: After taking a long look at my situation, which I feel is dire and will only get worse, I'm going to concede.
3/11/21, 9:21 AM - [Allied]: Excellent play on your part.
3/11/21, 9:21 AM - [Allied]: My only regret is I wished I could have given you a more competitive game.
3/11/21, 9:21 AM - [Axis]: I understand. It's too much for the Allies to come back from
3/11/21, 9:22 AM - [Allied]: You are definitely in my opinion one of the top tier (M)WiF players.
3/11/21, 9:23 AM - [Axis]: Thanks, that means a lot coming from you. I did have several things go my way. I had great dice in China
3/11/21, 9:23 AM - [Axis]: No lousy rolls which can stall a campaign
3/11/21, 9:23 AM - [Axis]: And the air battles in the Med went my way as well
3/11/21, 9:24 AM - [Allied]: Luck always plays a roll but I believe skill is the determining factor.
3/11/21, 9:24 AM - [Allied]: Skilled players make their own luck.
3/11/21, 9:25 AM - [Allied]: Over the course of the game we both had rolls go our way or not go our way.
3/11/21, 9:25 AM - [Axis]: I also think deciding to fight for Rumania threw your game off a bit
3/11/21, 9:25 AM - [Axis]: You put a lot of Russian troops into it and they couldn't escape once the Germans attacked
3/11/21, 9:25 AM - [Axis]: You lost a ton of Russian unit in 1941 which cost you in 1942
3/11/21, 9:26 AM - [Allied]: I'm trying to learn but I don't play Russia well.
3/11/21, 9:27 AM - [Allied]: And obviously I don't play China very well either.
3/11/21, 9:27 AM - [Axis]: Don't beat yourself up, you are very close in both of those. I think in China you made some early ill-advised attacks which haunted you
3/11/21, 9:28 AM - [Axis]: In USSR, one must defend the Dneiper to the death...almost.
3/11/21, 9:28 AM - [Axis]: I thought you retreated too easily there
3/11/21, 9:29 AM - [Axis]: But again, you might have had to because of your losses in 1941
3/11/21, 9:29 AM - [Axis]: Difficult to judge for sure, I just know as the German player I was happy you retreated from the Dneiper
3/11/21, 9:33 AM - [Axis]: Would like to flip the sides and play another, what do you think?
3/11/21, 9:40 AM - [Allied]: Sure. I would like to (try) the latest version if you don't mind, without isolated reorg. We can always move back if we encounter a slowdown.
3/11/21, 9:40 AM - [Axis]: Ok
3/11/21, 9:41 AM - [Axis]: Same rules I assume
3/11/21, 9:41 AM - [Allied]: Sounds good.
3/11/21, 9:42 AM - [Axis]: ok, let me get the latest version and I will start one up and send it to you after USA and Russian Setup
3/11/21, 9:42 AM - [Allied]: Sounds good.
3/11/21, 9:49 AM - [Axis]: So version 4.02.02.00 is latest I think

[Orm]

Well played by both sides. [&o] [:)]

Thank you for sharing. [:)]

[Angeldust2]

Congratulations to both of you! Great game, great AAR. Lots of tension, very entertaining to follow! Also very educating, as this game was deviating from the "usual" plot in several ways.
Jason, you choose /4 only in first battle of Solomons, did you consider to choose only /3 and /0 instead? This would have given you more surprise and you could have totally wiped out all Allied forces in these lower boxes, before getting another chance at /4? Your Pearl Harbour strike was not very devastating, would you do it again under similar circumstances?
Ronnie, your (early) concession came as a surprise to me. Did you give yourself enough time with USA to make an impact? USA entered late and did not have the time yet to fully unleash its far superior economy? Even SU is not beaten or even threatened. But of course I do not have such a good overview on your game as you have.
I think, the both of you are quite evenly matched. I think, not many other players are patient and skillful enough to manage the Allied convoys as you do, Ronnie. Your surprising concession just makes you more human, showing you a more than a merciless efficient MWIF bot machine, driven by probabilities. Very emotional play by both sides, increasing my own motivation to play Global War soon ...

[Centuur]

Are things really so very bad for the Allies? It's the start of the winter of 1942-1943. Sure, it doesn't look good, but the loss of China and Egypt is not devastating.

I've seen the Soviets coming back out of the Urals and Caucasian mountains with a conquered China and still win the game. There's a second front in Europe in play in this game too. That in itself is pretty devastating for the Euroaxis. With the right builds, the Wallies will be able to stay on the map in France. To me, it looks like Germany is in trouble in France...

I've seen this happen often. Allied players who lose faith and don't realise how strong the war production becomes in 1943-1944. It's not unusual to see Germany retreating 40 to 50 hexes in one summer of 1944 in the USSR. The onslaught the Soviet army with the Sturmoviks can unleash upon the German tanks is so surprisingly strong. And the same goes for the Wallies with the long range FTR's in play during 1944. They can intercept their low range German counterparts at will, while the Germans simply can't build enough FTR's to cover all possible targets.

It's the end of 1942 in this game. The darkest time for the Allies historically. And that's what one always sees in this game too. It looks like it's hopeless. Remember: historically, the first big battle the Soviets won was in 1943 (Stalingrad)...

[NatRapsEno]

Regarding AngelDust's comments:

I don't recall the first battle of the Solomons and what was in the various boxes. However, if I chose the 4 box it's probably because that's where the Allied valuable units were. In the Pacific when fighting the Americans as the Japanese I consider the American carriers and cruisers as the most valuable units. I don't give a rat's ass about those slow battleships ( nor my own for that matter ). There are times when a transport or amphib of the American's may trump that but it's situational.

And yes, the strike on Pearl Harbor was weak. However, I felt it was better to strike with a weaker blow than allow the Americans a chance to declare war and wipe out some of my units at sea. I think they had a 30% chance of declaring war when I struck...

I do agree with Centuur's comments about the resourcefulness of the Allies. However, the early Allied invasion was doomed. The Axis just split the Allied forces in two with their last impulse. The Germans have something like 9 Corps of Mountain and Motorized along with the 12-5 SS Armor coming in next turn. The terrible Fall weather is helping the invasion stay alive but it will be crushed as soon as the weather clears. I'm sure Ronnie saw this and realized that without an early invasion as compensation, all hope was lost.

[Angeldust2]

Thanks for your quick response! Yes, you a right, Solomons /4 contained more valuable targets, not only CV and CA, but also a TRS with loaded MAR and MARDIV, thereas /3 and /0 had a TRS + MIL and CONV, almost unprotected. So you could have wiped out /3 and /0 without any own losses first, before facing a second round of naval searches, maybe giving you another chance to go at /4. Ronnie would not have aborted, but of course there is no guarantee, you would surprise him again.

Congratulations to your impressive win, you risked some bold maneuvers and succeeded. Very inspiring! [&o] [&o]

[Courtenay]

One thing I did notice was that Ronnie missed a huge opportunity turn one. After the war in Rumania had started, the Allies aligned Yugoslavia. They could have taken the Yugoslav MTN and rushed into Rumania. They could have gotten ZoCs on all the railroads into Rumania, thereby prevent rapid reinforcement of Rumania by Germany. I think if this had been done, Rumania would have been conquered easily.

While this would not have affected the outcome of the war, it would have helped the Allies.

[brian brian]

Well thanks as always for the posts to follow along with.

Would have liked to see this one continue. The Axis position has its strengths but it also has its weaknesses. A winter in World in Flames Europe can have many outcomes based on the weather rolls.

It is a pity that MWiF doesn’t have the Guards Banner Armies for this Russia to build up the pressure on that front.

[rkr1958]

I've attached the game turn where I concede (so42, allied 8) for any of those who might be interested in taking a look at the situation(s)

[Orm]

Thank you. I will take a look later on. [&o] [:)]