Shannon versus Z

[Courtenay]

ORIGINAL: Jagdtiger14

Hmm, this Polish setup has flaws.

With the commitment the Germans have to taking out Poland, there is no set up the Pols could come up with to save themselves in any way...other than maybe the worst S/O weather ever and a quick turn end. The "flaw" in the set up is to not get out the HQ and INF div (useful because not playing with unlimited breakdown) for CW later use.

I disagree. What the Poles can gain is time. It is possible for the Poles to set up so there is no decent attack on Lodz or Warsaw the first impulse. Thus it will take at least three Axis impulses to take Poland. I expect Poland to fall, but I can hope for bad weather, and at the least have gained one impulse where Axis troops aren't heading west.

The key commodity in this game is time. The side that is defending wants to use up as much of it as possible.

[Jagdtiger14]

The key commodity in this game is time. The side that is defending wants to use up as much of it as possible.

I completely agree with this, but is one extra impulse worth an HQ and an INF div (more valuable because not playing with unlimited breakdown) for the CW's future use?

With this kind of German commitment vs Poland, Germany wont be doing much vs the west this turn anyway, then if N/D and J/F are normal not much then either. Germany will be busy railing and moving units (taking land impulses when Germany would rather take combined or naval in the bad weather turns) for some time after the Pols fall, and spending oil unnecessarily as well.

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: Jagdtiger14

The key commodity in this game is time. The side that is defending wants to use up as much of it as possible.

I completely agree with this, but is one extra impulse worth an HQ and an INF div (more valuable because not playing with unlimited breakdown) for the CW's future use?

With this kind of German commitment vs Poland, Germany wont be doing much vs the west this turn anyway, then if N/D and J/F are normal not much then either. Germany will be busy railing and moving units (taking land impulses when Germany would rather take combined or naval in the bad weather turns) for some time after the Pols fall, and spending oil unnecessarily as well.

I agree with Jagdtiger14. Now, if the Germans did put a lot of units on the Westfront, than it would be a total different ballgame.
The HQ and the INF division are valuable units for the CW to get and it's no use to have them killed in Poland if the chance of survival of the first turn with Poland is so low as with this setup...

[Shannon V. OKeets]

I am learning that I shouldn't post screenshots until the action has moved on - lest the commentary from readers influences the game. In that sense, this should be a true After Action Report.


So for this installment, I am omitting the British and the French, since there are still decisions to be made and outcomes to see.

I am also playing in a second Global War game (as the Allies) so I am running into personal time constraints playing the two games and fixing NetPlay bugs. I have fixed one so far but have 4 more that need my attention.[:(]

----

This attack on Warsaw succeeded with Germany losing the 6-4 and disorganizing half of the remaining units. The engineer is still organized - his job is to go to Lodz and repair the factory.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

The second land combat in the 3rd impulse. This also succeeded with the Japanese taking no losses and both Chinese units destroyed.

Lest you start to feel sorry for the Allied player about the die rolls, the weather roll for the 5th impulse was a 10 so there is Storm everywhere on the planet.

[Zorachus99]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

I am learning that I shouldn't post screenshots until the action has moved on - lest the commentary from readers influences the game. In that sense, this should be a true After Action Report.

I approve of this sentiment. I'm certain there will be many 'mistakes' to review, but with this game, there are many different operational and strategic philosophies that differentiate opponents.

I hope you all enjoy the show.

[Grotius]

I'm certainly enjoying the show. And learning. I've beta-tested MWIF off and on for a decade, but I'm still a newb, having never played the boardgame.

Which leads to my question: how exactly would Poland get the INF and HQ out to the CW? And why are only these two Polish units eligible to leave?

[AllenK]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

I'm certainly enjoying the show. And learning. I've beta-tested MWIF off and on for a decade, but I'm still a newb, having never played the boardgame.

Which leads to my question: how exactly would Poland get the INF and HQ out to the CW? And why are only these two Polish units eligible to leave?

The HQ and INF Div need to be set up in east Poland in such a way they can't be easily attacked without a significant diversion from the main attacks on Warsaw and Lodz. When USSR rolls into east Poland, the HQ and INF Div are interned until USSR is at war with Germany. At this point, they become available to the CW force pool.

[Grotius]

Cool. Thanks!

Why just those two units? Could the whole Polish army run into the USSR?

[Courtenay]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

Cool. Thanks!

Why just those two units? Could the whole Polish army run into the USSR?

Yes it could, but the rest of the Polish army is worse than what the CW already has in its force pool, but the CW (and everyone else) is short of both HQs and INF divisions.

[Grotius]

Ah OK, that explains it. Thanks!

[Shannon V. OKeets]

As a point of reference we have spent a total of 10 hours 50 minutes and are now on 1st Turn Production. Note that there was a lot of time spent fumbling around while I used some software development tools to fix bugs we encountered. Those bugs are all fixed now - I will upload version 02.03.06.00 as a Hot Patch tomorrow (Friday).

I would estimate that for most players, finishing the first turn will take between 6 to 10 hours, mostly depending on how many impulses there are. Of course that includes setting up all the major powers prior to actually starting the turn.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

The first turn ended after the 6th impulse, so the Initiative stays at +2 for the Axis (the Axis went first and the Allies ended the turn).

Here are the losses for the turn and the situation in northern China heading into the Production phase. China might get some reinforcements. Note that the weather become friendlier to land operations, which will influence what it might be at the start of the second turn (Nov/Dec). Southern China doesn't have much happening.





EDIT: 3 tries - no joy.

[Courtenay]

I tried to download the attachments in the previous three posts, and Firefox would not do so; instead I got a strange browser window that I have never seen before.

I have no idea where the error is coming from, (Slitherine? Firefox? the attached file?), but wanted to mention the problem.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

I tried to download the attachments in the previous three posts, and Firefox would not do so; instead I got a strange browser window that I have never seen before.

I have no idea where the error is coming from, (Slitherine? Firefox? the attached file?), but wanted to mention the problem.

There is some sort of problem with the Slitherine/Matrix server. All attachments are coming up empty.

[AllenK]

If you delete them, then reload them, it seems to work okay.

Alternatively, post without the attachment and then edit the post to add it.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

The first turn ended after the 6th impulse, so the Initiative stays at +2 for the Axis (the Axis went first and the Allies ended the turn).

Here are the losses for the turn and the situation in northern China heading into the Production phase. China might get some reinforcements. Note that the weather become friendlier to land operations, which will influence what it might be at the start of the second turn (Nov/Dec). Southern China doesn't have much happening.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: AllenK

If you delete them, then reload them, it seems to work okay.

Alternatively, post without the attachment and then edit the post to add it.

Yes, that works - although I do not know why.[:@]

Thank you for the work around.[&o][&o][&o]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Here are the build points for Sep Oct 1939.

Most of these are pretty standard. Germany lost 2 production points to strategic bombing in the second impulse when both the Commonwealth and France were successful in their bombing raids while they had surprise (+! on the die roll).

I also messed up hex control that cost Germany 3 production points. Failing to convert the resource hexes in Poland and the rail line in the Netherlands meant that 3 non-oil resources were simply wasted [see the screenshot in the next post]. Not playing for 22 years is showing up as sloppiness. I vaguely thought that conquest would take care of hex control, but conquest comes after production - sigh. It would have been trivial to have had German units move through those hexes. In playing over the board, Germany would probably 'claim' those resources, since human opponents are unlikely to notice that the hexes are still controlled by the Commonwealth. But that #&%# computer keeps track of all those details.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Another instance of rust after 22 years was failing to prevent partisans in China. You can see the results of that in an earlier post where Japan lost a transport. There were 3 naval units alone in Shanghai. I only had 16 garrison points in China when I needed at least 20. Given a 30% chance of them arriving, they arrived and rolled well enough to destroy one of the 2 transports.[:@]