Terif

Allies are defending with RAI - doesn´t work when Axis is prepared. Both ground units in LC do in average 4 damage, the AF 2 (=average result) - chances to get Brussel are above 99% even with 3 intercepts. No losses for Axis so far, cruiser damaged - german fleet retreats to ports. Hood down to 2, Resolution at 6, carrier damaged by hitting the cruiser and intercepting german air. LC plundered (250 mpps), Warsaw captured turn 2, but Poland continues fighting with 3 damaged units left. Allies captured Munich - city under siege now by several german corps. UK air in London forces intercepts by attacking Brussel port.

Yep - with your luck (too many losses in the mini-game series vs Zapp & Co) it is better not to play in the casino for money . In our game my navy was in deed toast, but so were yours (2 ships lost, several damaged) . More important: Germany only lost 3 corps until that point. UK still had the usual 2 AFs (vs 5 german ones), but Allies had not enough ground units left to defend the borders... I warned you to check the report for italian readiness before you took LC again and offered to replay the turn after you did - so RAI surely didn´t fail because of Italy . However, game is over and won by Axis against RAI - and this was only one of the first games of in the meantime a long series of Axis wins vs RAI against many different players.

@Rambo: Sorry dude, you know it isn´t true . Your Allies had only 7 defending units left when you did your mistake with LC and defence lines were broken anyway. Perhaps Allies would have not surrendered immediately like they did, but France was still in time and Allies out of cash - a lot worser situation than with a corps defence and a sure Allied defeat . And the next games showed anyway RAI is not really working vs me. BTW: yes, like many other players too, I don´t like the mini games and these "all or nothing" approaches where usually the player with better luck wins if both players trust in luck and play accordingly . SC is a strategy game and if you don´t like to play strategically but want to gamble, go to the casino instead .

@Rambo: Sorry dude, you know it isn´t true . Your Allies had only 7 defending units left when you did your mistake with LC and defence lines were broken anyway. Perhaps Allies would have not surrendered immediately like they did, but France was still in time and Allies out of cash - a lot worser situation than with a corps defence and a sure Allied defeat . @Zapp: OK, let´s do another series - best of 5 games (so it is over when you have lost the first 3 games and we don´t need to waste more time ). Probably Sunday should be fine to start them - if I can manage it earlier I will contact you via ICQ.

Short (and last) comment: Several players now tried RAI against me and all failed miserable...Allies usually surrendered already 1940 . This is including Rambo who had several tries and retired at the same saturday after he lost all of them... As I already said in the other thread: RAI does not work if the axis player is prepared, patient and knows what he does. Without a doubt it can kill new/unexperienced or impatient axis players but even here it is only a gamble where either Allies or Axis will surrender during the first turns. Perfect "strategy" for some of the bored players (who don´t want to play a "real" game) here - where strategy doesn´t matter - but an approach that only guarantees a very short game where a victory is worth nothing and usually makes not much fun. If you want to gamble, go to the casino and play roulette or throw a dice. Same result: you can have a dozen random vicories/defeats within an even shorter time than with RAI . Summary: - with RAI you can easily kill new players (very honourable behavior..), but with which strategy a veteran would loose against a newbie anyway... - against average players it is a pure gamble (go to the casino..) - vs a good axis player who knows how to react and is prepared, Allies will loose every game when using RAI

Simply go to the first page of the Battlefront forum and have a look at: "! FAQ/Strategy & Tips/Suggestions: NEW PLAYERS PLEASE READ " Even there it is mentioned and I remember several other threads where it is mentioned too - many players even use it to bring in Italy sooner by attacking Norway/Sweden first...So if new/intermediate players know this, then Veterans have no excuse not knowing it except the laziness to read threads for new players or their age... .

This is just basic stuff that is written in many help threads for new players and known since the beginning of SC - but with time some players obviously forget some things from the early days again . Every surrendered nation gives 5% readiness to Italy - this is no secret and nothing a veteran should surprise -, that´s why it raises from 65% to 80% after Poland, LC and Denmark have surrendered (3x5) .

...and I was prepared for Rambos RAI . Rambo surrendered as Allies with bid 250 in 1:5:30 already in April 1940 after his defence lines broke (only 7 defenders left...) and Italy joined . RAI leads to high losses for both sides, but Axis can replace them after France easily in contrary to Allies. This more than compensates for a potential later Paris and is longterm very bad for Allies even if they don´t sacrifice their carriers...

Yep, the next 2 games (both bid 240 in 1:5:30) were again pretty short with Avatar´s Allies surrendering BTW: in the second game he used a perfect and pure Rambo-All-In strategy - here game was already over for Allies in April 1940 when german forces broke through and the carriers were toast .

Yes, congratulations for Avatar - his defence of England was excellent and won the game now for him . The UK forces at Brest got cut off from retreat (port bombed out of order) and later destroyed. So UK had no ground forces in England when german transports appeared at the coast from Scotland to London. The last UK battleship with str 1 got encircled in Edinbourgh harbor and destroyed by landing axis forces. Allies took the right decision and disbanded Montgomery HQ and the Gibraltar garrison - so England was able to build the necessary corps to defend London against the first wave. This bought Russia the necessary time to attack in the east. Without disbanding these units, UK would have surrendered within a very short time. So Axis only managed to conquer Scapa Flow, Edinbourgh and London in time. A few corps were left defending Manchester area when the war ended vs german HQ + 3 armies and several corps in England, 5 AFs bombarding from France. England would have fallen but too late to save the day. In the meantime Russia slowly advanced between Hungary and Warsaw. 17 russian AFs in service, but not much ground units. 2 russian armies destroyed, tank survived at str 2 together with several corps. Most russian ground forces at low strength.. The end came when Yugoslavia couped exactly in the moment Axis removed its Budapest garrison in June 1942. Hungary immeditately surrendered and the whole eastern front in Rumania got cut off - russian forces operating to Budapest and Belgrade. Without this perfectly timed Yugo coup the eastern front could have held quite some time. Königsberg and Warsaw still german. They would have been evacuated now and a new defence line established at Berlin/Prag behind the river and in the mountains. But since England would have needed now too much time to conquer, the war was lost and Axis surrendered when USA joined the war and Canada surrendered to Axis as a last act . At the start of Barbarossa report showed both sides had the same amount of units (russian units with better quality) and with a faster fall of England, Axis could still have won the war despite the really late fall of France (October 19, 1941). Only 3-4 turns made here the difference and Avatar got them with a very good defence of England, so he really deserves this win .

@Rambo: Yep, when two players with the same attitude (i.e. who love the short games) meet in France, no doubt this strategy works 50/50 - the one with more luck wins - but where is here the fun and what counts such a victory only by luck ? Simply throw a quarter 7 times in a row...will need less time and has the same result . Also I am sure it is possible to kill many players with such a ´strategy´ pretty easily since there are only a few out there who really know how to counter such an aggressive defence AND have the will to be patient and reach Paris safely instead of going for the fast kill - which can easily backfire. But if the axis player knows how to play his side against such a defence and plays for the long game, this defence ´strategy´ will usually not work. Just try it in our next game, but I can already tell you it is no really different strategy, only one of the old ones in new clothes. The other guys who try to perfect the France defence already tried it very often hundreds of times in all variants to kill me in France - until now no chance to do that and I don´t think it will work in the future .

@Hellraiser: Yep, it is a matter of taste if you prefer short or long games . No need to fear any aggressive/all-out France defence if Axis knows how to counter. And it is no real problem to counter them - no need to develope new counters cause they already exist and work since a long time - many players tried to kill me in France and never succeded, there´s nothing new with the current France strategy . BTW: only because loosing some time and/or heavy pieces in France doesn´t mean the game is lost - only if you surrender too early .

@Avatar: I know you prefer the short games - with this one we played exactly 18 (mini) games so far - and knew what was awaiting me . As you mentioned some time ago you developed and perfectionated these all-out France defences in order to beat me someday in France. So yes, you played an excellent defence and really earned that win, you worked hard for it - in case you really win . But be sure this will be your only win as long as you don´t train your post France play. Don´t forget this only worked cause I allowed the LC gambit by free will and made some stupid mistakes in Italy (something that will not happen again vs you ), so this success is not because of your normal all-out France defence. As long as Axis uses the counter to the all-out strategies, you will always loose the game very fast like most of the 17 games before .

@Hellraiser: Yes, Avatar was surprised I didn´t surrender and even asked during the game if I would . But I already won games with France surrendering in June 1941 (ok, bids were lower at that time..). And as mentioned above: 3-4 turns earlier in France and most probably Allies would have already lost here too . Many players think if they are delayed some turns in France they would have lost and surrender. This is simply wrong. Longterm it makes usually not much difference since Allies pay a huge prize for delaying Axis and this more or less compensates for the late France. In general I would say surrendering when conquering France before March 1941 is a unnecessary present for the opponent - nothing is lost at this point, only if the player looses his morale and surrenders he has lost - and wasted a good chance to fight and win. Since Avatar only very seldomly played past France, it will be interesting to see what he will do with the Allies now . BTW: Yep, should have expected Avatar´s luck - he always had. On the other side his chances in total to have such a luck series were certainly below 1% (I can only second your advice for him to play poker or Lotto for money ). But it gets kind of boring after a while to do only these mini games against the all-out defence when I go via LC. Perhaps I should have choosen the save way again, but then I would miss the fun this game provides . Better to loose a game from time to time than to do the same thing again and again or to use the same strategy every time. [ May 23, 2005, 05:09 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

Concerning the recent aggro/all out France defences: They are perfect to kill new/unexperienced players and also good against uncautious or imptatient ones. But against a prepared axis player who knows what he does, these strategies don´t and didn´t work. As long as Germany moves forward cautiously hex by hex, avoiding the coast and protecting their units, they will always reach Paris (some turns later doesn´t matter in the long run) and then Allies are doomed with this strategy - especially if they even disband their fleet to stop Axis. However, this playing style is highly luck dependend and leads to very short games one way or the other (see current AARs..) where one side usually surrenders during the first turns and then the game is restarted. Sorry, not my cup of tea - I prefer the long and good games where strategy matters, not luck. If I want to play roulette I go to the casino . However, when playing Axis these strategies never worked against me and a lot of players tried it many times in all variants - perhaps this shows that if you counter them correctly, Allies have no realistic chance to succeed.

Yep, Avatar has now really perfected the luck game . The last dozen games as Allies he surrendered within the first 10 turns when Axis got the breakthrough... Like in our games before he tried to kill Axis in France – something that is not possible unless Axis makes mistakes and/or is extremely unlucky. Here both applied . Since some minutes ago he just surrendered his allied game when I broke through the Ardennes, this time I choose to let him do the LC gambit and to go via Italy to spice up the game. Had been a long time since I fought this way so I did too much mistakes and also underestimated his luck in the end: - in northern Germany he was able to kill the AF with some pretty lucky rolls (carriers have only an attack value of 1 when attacking an AF directly..). So this AF was missing in Italy and Axis needed some turns to rebuild its air to full strength (6 AFs). - near Marseilles the first french corps survived 4 turns against expected losses of 10-12 each time...statistically it should have been dead in turn 1-2. - this gave Allies the time to strengthen their line and UK even built 2 armies. - After conquering the mountains, axis made the mistake to advance with their 2 tanks and several italian corps in the open terrain before killing the french tank or conquering Marseilles – but Axis commander couldn´t believe Allies would have so much luck like they had. Allies were able to kill each turn the unit that entered the open terrain with an unbelievable series of lucky rolls. 3 times in a row his 2 half-dead (2-3 airbattles..) AFs even did 5 damage to the tanks/corps and finally killed them each time. - so Axis finally decided to go for Marseilles first and conquered it. But not without loosing 2 AFs to another ´Avatar luck series´ , all battles maximum damage for the AFs (str 7 AFs don´t survive an airbattle + groundstrike...) – chances were below 4% for this to happen... Finally France surrendered October 19, 1941 – a new record for me . Avatar threw really everything into the battle of France, so if it would have surrendered 3-4 turns earlier, Axis still could have conquered the usual minors or sealioned England and I would say good chances for Axis to win. Now it will be very difficult with the bid of 250 in 1:5:30 – that means Russia will start with over 8500 mpps...but you have only lost if you give up the game and here it is far from over . At least UK is pretty much out of the war. During France they lost 5 ships and 2 carriers. The third carrier survived at probably str 1-2. UK also disbanded 2 ships according to the report screen to finance the french battles. So UK now only owns a str 1 ships, a str 1-2 carrier, a damaged canadian army, a highly damaged AF + HQ and a corps (+ corps in Gibraltar). Another corps+army are trapped (or will be trapped next turn ) near Brest. Summary: Very good allied defence from Avatar´s side combined with perfect rolls and several axis mistakes created a very interesting game – will be very exciting to see how it will continue now with such a late France .

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You can e.g. play via - the PBEMLeague or - Panzerliga (now international - a short introduction is here or - use the opponent finder section here at Battlefront (very low chances ). For online games it is useful to use ICQ instant messenger (there are some lists with ICQ numbers or have a look at the profiles of the posters here).

Good game from Hellraiser so far. Especially his french defence was very good...and I advanced too uncautiously . The loss of the 3 german units (2 armies+tank) was not necessary. Not moving the tank directly to Paris would have saved 2 of them and the last one attacked with str 4 near the Ardennes but the french corps survived at str 1 and together with 2 other units did a kamikaze attack and killed it. But after the fast advance Germany took some risks and so Hellraiser took his chance . France fell June 16, 1941, 3(?)UK corps escaped and the 2 french med units. After France standard minor collecting (Skandinavia, Vichy, Spain), Egypt conquered without the use of AFs (HQ was there but after UK operated home Germany didn´t send air). At Norway a UK battleship took an AF hit and a carrier intercepted. No other battles so far except a little battle this turn outside Brest - transport attacked by AF+airbattle. Both sides no tech it seems, low tech game...but now Germany is approaching 10 research chits so sooner or later...

International Panzerliga officially started ! All main parts have been translated now, all league functions implemented. Scenario/download section mostly in german, but will be translated step by step. Help always welcome – as well as constructive criticism (e.g. if you find errors or some weird ´english´ expressions , just e-mail me or post it in the PL forum). Panzerliga (short: PL) has been founded in 1996 and contains presently over 250 players. Online and PBEM League where you can play the games of the Panzer General series as well as Strategic Command. At the moment we have 63 active SC players and around 50 new registered ones – so your chances to find a game there are pretty good . Short introduction: - Forum and league are seperate with independent registering procedures - it is recommended to read the rules section as well as the SC course before starting to play ! - in the player overview as well as in the different leagues you can see who speaks english, the mode they prefer (PBEM/online) and which games they play (here: if they play SC) - To find a game you can use the „find opponents“ section under „leagues“ (mainly for PBEM/longterm searches) or the opponent finder forum where you can also meet for the game. Alternatively you can send e-mails/ICQ messages to the registered SC players. - In PL you can either play in mirror mode (i.e. 2 games – usually with swiched sides and similar bids) or a single game (i.e. usually a bid game). All scenarios can be valuated since the points depend on how long a game needed (the more time you spent, the more points you can get). - The winner reports the game according to the SC point valuation system (PVS), there is also a tool to calculate the points automatically, you only need to note start and end date of the game(s). - Rules: only obligatory rule is Rome gambit forbidden, everything else is up to the players. But take care to talk to your opponent before the game and arrange the rules you want to use (or simply say everything is allowed...). Cause if you don´t agree to house rules before the game, then to protect new/unexperienced players a set of pretty strict rules will be activated (see SC course in PL) ! - The court martial enables you to send fishy PBEM files in for an investigation on cheating. You may also appeal to the court martial if your opponent delays or disconnects (online) the game or if you have a "disciplinary complaint" concerning other offences. For PBEM you need at least the last set of turns to send them in, better is the last 3 sets – so save them until the game is finished. - In PL new players usually can get a Godparent for the first 1-2 games. The Godparents explain to the Newbies how to do the first matches, the points system (PVS) - in brief: everything players have to know for a succesful start at the PL. But since most current Godparents only speak german , we need more english speaking veterans first who are willing to do the job . If you have any questions or suggestions, you can post in the PL forum. The forum is also for other discussions, to share strategies, AAR´s etc... Have fun with Panzerliga !

Readiness for all units is refreshed at the start of each players turn. So if you buy a HQ, then it will support your units in your enemies turn.

Hmm, Dalmatia asked me to write an AAR...so here it is : Another game against the kamikaze pilot Dalmatia Partisan (Allies) Standard campaign so far: LC turn 2, Poland turn 3, Denmark turn 4. Glorious carrier damaged during the sub hunt to str 7. French HQ + UK army/UK HQ + AF defence in France (Ireland fell turn 2 due to spotting mission for subs). Aggressive french defence, but only one german corps lost. France surrenders June 30, 1940. In the turn Paris fell, Allies went berserk, started kamikaze mode and attacked with their UK units...while Germany had 2 spots near the capital, 6 AFs in striking range and the UK army in Paris unentrenched. No chance to survive, but no thoughts of Allies to evacuate France... . So 2 UK corps in Vichy surrender together with France and others were used as training objects after the fall. Obviously the other allied corps didn´t learn from the deterrent example. So 1 turn after France fell, an allied transport moved to Sicily and got sunk, another one survived at str 1...since Germany expected that Allies wouldn´t learn from their experiences, they placed several AFs + Manstein at Sicily and waited...some turns later Allies attacked with an AF from Gibraltar, carrier and their fleet...heavy allied losses during the airfights, many damaged and several sunk ships were the unescapable consequence. Same procedure in Egypt: UK cruiser had been left, together with UK air – cruiser got sunk immediately, UK air escaped the slaughter unfortunately. September 1941, all usual countries conquered, preparing for Barbarossa. Another UK transport sunk in front of Brest...UK (3 AFs) now reveals jets 3 while Germany is still at lv 1...Germany researching with 10 chits, UK with max 2-3 chits (no mpps to invest in research with all the costly battles...and UK even reinforced all its damaged ships to full strength !) October 19, 1941 - Barbarossa starts with 6 german AFs (+3 in France) and lots of ground units in action: All russian border armies cut off or destroyed, together with both tanks and 2 AFs. Portugal, Greece and Iraq conquered. With the ~8500 starting mpps Russia bought a lot of corps at the front and 9 ! AFs near Iraq. During the following turns Russian tanks/corps attack via the mountains in Iraq, supported by the 9 AFs...until April 1942 they conquered 3 hexes so far...still 3 rows of entrenched axis units (corps now AT 2) between them and Baghdad...in the meantime Axis AFs in the west (now jets 2) play „sink the transports“ near Brussel...russian transports wanted to take part and moved towards Sweden...with 2 german cruisers just bombarding near Riga and the sub watching wales there...no transport any more...Riga, Odessa and Kiev conquered. Stand at the moment: Allies have lots of AFs, UK 3 AFs, 3 carriers, USA 3 AFs, Russia 9 AFs vs Germany 8 AFs (2 lost, 1 replaced). I.e. 18 allied air units vs 8 axis ones – but since a war can´t be won with air alone, this is positive for Axis . This way Allies are extremely weak on the ground and therefore loosing unit after unit while Germany advances with 12 armies and 6 tanks without having to fear counterattacks...Western Allies unable to land in France, Russia defending with mainly corps...all their AFs near Iraq. Axis increased the unit ratio from slightly in favour of Allies after turn 1 Barbarossa to now nearly 2:1 towards Axis...game saved by Allies, at the end of the turn Germany catched up to Jets 3. [ April 30, 2005, 03:03 PM: Message edited by: Terif ]

@ Liam: Skandinavia evened out the mpp balance, but didn´t decide the war so after it both sides had again the same mpps/turn. Nevertheless without Skandinavia Allies would longterm have probably lost - very important was that it provided enough mpps for UK to afford the airbattles. But Königsberg was the first point that forced Axis to retreat from Russia and gave the necessary relieve to liberate Skandinavia. Nevertheless even after Skandinavia Axis was superior in Tech and had more power pieces on the board - so the decission came with the battle in July 1943 where Axis split its AFs between east and west, so Allies were able to use all firepower from east and west simultaneously to knock them out. But that´s why Allies attacked at that moment: the 4 AFs in Spain had to repair and where not able to operate east even if they had wanted to, so Allies catched Axis with the pants down. In total Axis lost during the first waves 6 AFs vs only 3 allied ones, i.e. nearly half of their fleet and this shifted balance towards Allies. Since Axis didn´t retreat to reinforce, they lost the other half (5 AFs) of their fleet too + they lost the ground war and it was over . @hellraiser: Yes, operating all his AFs every second turn over the whole map was surely very expensive - most of his income was used to operate units (not only air, but also corps and armies..) from one side to the other - but that was the purpose of the different allied attacks . Concerning knocking out UK: Axis in deed tried to do this (it is even usually Rambo´s prefered strategy to knock out England before Russia). But the allied air entrenched in the 3 cities and the mountains. The ports were occupied by carriers and later battleships. So it was not possible for Germany to force intercepts - they had no choice than attacking an AF directly. And Germany once tried this, but obviously had horrendous losses during this - ruined most of his AFs to kill only one single allied AF - and didn´t try it again... . A sealion would have had no chance anyway since Allies had total naval superiority - 10 GLR lv 1 battleships/cruisers were protecting the island, no chance for transports to survive the journey.

Rambo got Axis with a bid of 245 in 1:5:30. Standard rules: no DoW+landing in majors, no AA research. This was our third game this weekend and a really excellent one with fightings in all theaters, where the advantage changed several times and with many turn arounds. Here a short AAR: - the french campaign was extremely bloody despite originally not intended to be...Allies planed a simple corps defence...but Germany moved so aggressively forward without caring about losses, that in the end many german soldiers had to leave their lives for the fatherland. It started quite normal: Rambo gambled and operated his forces west pretty early, so Poland survived until turn 4 (still in time). Allies occupied Munich for some turns. In December 1940 Germany put a damaged german army at the frontline to force an early breakthrough... and lost its first heavy land unit. In the following turns Germany took many risks and seldomly repaired its damaged units...the number one was one of their favourite numbers (tank survived at 1, army at 1...etc.). Allies bought no HQ and also used no AF in the battles. Nevertheless when Paris fell in July 1940, Germany had lost 3 corps, 2 armies and a tank. The surviving armies were all at str 2-3... -naval battle: since Rambo bought carriers and/or subs in each of our games since he developed RACK, the first thing England is doing now in every game is investing in GLR – this was the first time he did not buy any ship... Fortunately England developed GLR lv 1 in time to support the french fleet by its attack at the german navy near Denmark. Ireland was still neutral, so both carrier also took part in the battle: german sub and cruiser (killed in Kiel port) sunk, the last one hided in Königsberg port. German air damaged both carriers to str 2 and 4. England also wanted to keep its bomber this time as anti-carrier weapon. But with the aggressive german advance in France it was used twice to attack str 1 german units to finish them off - both times it failed, in the last attempt the bomber even got destroyed. So there was no bomber any more... - July 7, 1940 France surrendered, Allies rescued 9 ground units and also kept Bordeaux and Brest for some turns. One turn after France, Germany already developed jets lv 1 – the first sign of superior german scientists . - Usual minor collecting: Norway+Sweden, conquering Egypt with several AFs and a german tank. Vichy stayed neutral until the start of Barbarossa since Axis tried to catch some english AFs in Egypt, but they operated home in time. Romania joined December 1940, Hungary+Bulgaria in March 1941. Yugoslavia couped in April 1941. Spain conquered by amphibious landings and via the narrow gap at Bordeaux – but took several turns since the invaders got cut off by the heroic spanish defenders. In the meantime England developed Jet 1, Germany advanced to lv 2. - USA joined in September 1941, Irland got conquered immediately. - Low russian readiness increase, so Barabarossa started late in February 1942: 9 german AFs, 2 tanks + 8 armies invaded and killed or cut off 7 russian armies, 1 tank and one AF. 2 russian armies and a tank escaped the initial slaughter. Vichy and Greece conquered simultaneously. - Some turns earlier when Allies tested the France defence, Germany already revealed Jets 4 and LR 1 ! UK still at lv 2 jets, LR 0 – so D-day got postponed. During Barbarossa Germany also showed AT 1. Since now all german AFs were busy in Russia, US transports appeared along the french coast from Bordeaux to Brussel, shore bombardements of Brest started. One turn later Germany operated 2 HQs and 6 AFs to Paris/Bordeaux together with a dozen corps/armies to prevent the invasion. Since Allies were still 2 jet levels behind, D-day got postponed again and the invasion forces retreated...on the way to a new target... - April 1942: Axis conquers Iraq, most of the german air (increased to 11 AFs) moved to Brest, Allied air (3xUK, 2x USA) retreated into mountains/cities in England. Bergen in allied hands. - May 3, 1942: Russia built a defence line at Riga-Minsk-central mine-Sevastopol. Invasions prepared of Finland and Turkey – only minor german air presence, so no threat of the defence lines. - May 31, 1942: Massive german airraid against british airfields from Brest: one UK AF killed in the mountains – but german losses in strength points must have been higher (UK developed Jets 3, USA jets 2 in the meantime)...after this bloody battle they retreated . Finland attacked by Russia, Helsinki conquered, country surrendered one turn later after all defenders had been destroyed. Portugal Dowed by Allies. - Until July only minor battles, russian defence line holding. German attackers take some damage by trying to kill the russian tank in Minsk with 2 armies, 1 tank and 2-3 AFs – no chance but heavy losses each turn . - July 5, 1942: Since the german air was disappeared during the last turns and a german HQ had been spotted in Egypt during the Iraq campaign, Allies already estimated enemy air presence in the middle east area – despite this threat they decided to take the risk and to go for Iraq... Dow at Turkey: 3 russian corps blocked the Bosporus and already spotted the italian fleet and several transports near Istanbul...from the east 2 corps, 3 tanks, 7 armies and 3 AFs supported by 3 HQs invaded and killed all turks in the area...only the defender – the most important target - in the eastern turkish city survived luckily at str 1 before the tank that should have occupied the city finally killed him. But this sealed the fate of the turkey invasion: with the eastern city in axis hands, they were able to operate str 12 german units (Germany developed AT 2 some turns ago) into the mountains and were able to stop the russian offensive. Additionally 8 german AFs had been placed in Iraq and Romania, together with the italian fleet and the waiting transports they cleared the Bosporus within one turn and reinforcements poured into the area. The russian air had to retreat, no way to fight with their primitive lv 1 jets vs the modern age jet 4 german fighters – in the meantime at LR 2. At this point it looked very dark for Allies and the war seemed lost... In the following turns a straight frontline formed in the mountains from middle Turkey to the iraqi border. With the failed invasion Germany got 50 additional mpps/turn, but they lost the same amount and more in the battles each turn (since the russian units entrenched in the mountains and therefore took nearly no losses while the german/italian ones had to fight in the open desert). So in the end it was not too bad – a small mpp drain for axis each turn, a dozen axis strong pieces bounded in the area and high operating costs for all the german AFs and units. - July 19, 1942: Since nearly all german AFs had been spotted near Turkey, russian forces start a counterattack in the Riga-Minsk area. A german army survives at str 1, but a big surprise: fast forward moving corps find the german city Königsberg empty with the last cruiser in port !. So a russian tank takes the opportunity and occupies the city. Strong russian forces (armies + HQ) operate to Königsberg deep into german territory. The russian cruisers block the german one in its port so it can´t escape. - August 2, 1942: Russian forces built a huge pocket and try to cut off the axis invaders (around 20 units + HQs !) in Russia. Axis units flee in panic and all together operate back to Germany. Russian forces only 3 hexes away from Berlin . German cruiser in Königsberg port destroyed by ground attacks. Russian forces in the south move forward and liberate Kiev. Western Allies go into D-day positions: transports along the whole french coast, an italian battleship in Brest port killed by superior allied naval forces. UK transport damaged by italian subs. - August 16, 1942: A lot of german AFs operated to Spain and battled with the low tech allied air in England. So D-day got postponed again...only the empty Essen got occupied by US forces and UK corps invaded Denmark to cut off Skandinavia and to help the russian soldiers in the „battle of Berlin“. Odessa liberated...no axis soldiers on russian territory any more. - August 30, 1942: A dark hour for Allies: All german AFs except the spanish ones positioned at Berlin and Prague together with a dozen str 12 german armies and lots of corps and tanks go in the offensive. In a huge battle they destroy the western allied invaders in Denmark and Essen, all russian units in Germany including Königsberg lost too. Russians retreat and form a defence line behind Niemen river (east of Königsberg) to the swamps and from Kiev to Odessa. Heavy airfights, one carrier lost, the remaining carriers at str 4 and 6. Again it seems as if all would be lost... - September/October 1942: Slowly allies recover from the huge losses near Berlin. D-day is not possible against the german tech, ground and air superiority (Germany: LR 3, Jets 4, AT 2 vs UK LR 2, Jets 3, USA LR 1 Jets 3, Russia Jets 2 no other techs). So Allies invade Skandinavia instead – here they don´t need air : Russia liberates Finland from the east while US armies + HQ land in Norway and kill the defenders (5 corps) one after one from the west. The german air armada seems to be out of order too after the extremely bloody battles the turns before and same as the allied air has also to reinforce first. - When the german air was reinforced and ready for battle again, it was too late to save Skandinavia, they were only able to damage some units by flying bombing missions from Denmark and to kill a UK AF in Edinburgh....Oslo port had been bombed out of order by british battleships before, so no axis reinforcements arrived except some landings in southern Sweden. Norway finally liberated in December 1942, the last axis reinforcements in Sweden got destroyed not much later. - in the meantime Axis started a new offensive in Russia: Strong forces approach Odessa and Kiev, 2 italian ships bombarding the russian coast near Odessa. Russian forces retreat after some losses behind the river and reactivate the old defence line: central mine-Sevastopol. Near Königsberg russian forces have a good defence line behind the river and can stop any axis advance...the invaders are lacking air support (busy in Skandinavia). Each turn one russian corps lost, but an axis one killed in return too and gap closed. - until March 1943 Allies secure Skandinavia and clear it from the last axis remnants. German AFs try to kill a US HQ in the norwegian mountains during 2 turns, but abandon the try after it took only in every 2nd or 3rd attack 1 point damage (HQs in mountains are as good as undestructable by enemy air – especially with unexperienced ones like here – no chance to collect experience with all those bloody airbattles). Nevertheless Russia can hold its defence lines Königsberg-swamp-central mine-Sevastopol without problems with most of the german air in Denmark and even discovered Jets 3 and AT 1 – USA also gets AT 1. - In April 1943 Allies start the next attempt for D-day: Transports at Brest, again an italian battleship in port – gets destroyed by the high tech UK battlefleet...together with the last sub that sunk an UK corps transport as his last action. Only 1 italian cruiser + battleship near Sevastopol left of the axis naval forces. - May 1943: Allies land with canadian army + corps to capture Brest – but it survives at str 1...both allied units get killed in return, first landing failed...one italian transport sunk in the attempt to reach Brest port. German offensive in southern Russia: Sevastopol under siege, russian mine near Rostov lost. - June 1943: Second mine near Rostov and fortress of Sevastopol lost. German forces approaching Rostov and Stavropol in the Caucasus. In the West again airbattles with german AFs in Spain, 3 allied ships killed by airstrikes...Allies have to retreat. Another high time of Axis, in the offensive at all fronts...13 german high-tech AFs built... - The next and last turning point in the war began with the biggest battle in history in July 1943: In the meantime all 3 allied nations catched up in tech and developed Jets 4, UK also LR 3, Russia LR 1. Time for the largest battle of this war – determined to seal the fate of the world: Strong russian ground forces start an offensive near Rostov, 7 AFs move into position near Smolensk (all 5 jet chits sold to buy air for the big battle). On the other side western Allies send a huge armada to France – transports from Bordeaux to Brussel. 3 UK, 3 US AFs and 3 carriers ready to strike (UK: LR chits sold, USA: Jet chits sold..). Rambo told after the war he also sold all chits at this moment to reinforce his air armada (13 AFs)...so 9 full strength german AFs were standing in Poland/Russia against the 7 russian ones, 4 more positioned in Spain.... In the first wave both Germany and Russia lost 3 AFs each, german fighters attacking russian ones directly... so Russia had to retreat its 4 + 1 new built AF out of enemy range. In the west Allies liberate Brest after heavy battles. Until September 1943 Allies liberated France including Bordeaux + mine under heavy air and ground battles. Germany looses 3 AFs in these battles, no allied losses . In October 1943 Axis starts the last counteroffensive in LC/France: all air operated to Spain or Germany together with a lot of ground units – russian corps destroyed in the french mines, mine lost to Axis...all 4 nations: France, Russia, USA and UK are fighing side by side in France a last heroic battle to safe the world. Russia uses the opportunity to start a new offensive towards Kiev and the mines near Rostov to support western Allies in their fight: German army + HQ killed, mine liberated. In the west US armies kill Brussels defender and liberate LC. In the last huge airbattle Allies loose 3 AFs and a carrier...but Germany looses more: 5 out of its remaining 7 AFs destroyed in this bloody battle... so it has only 2 of them left. With Russia on the way to Berlin and the counteroffensive in the West stopped, Axis surrenders unconditionally at November 28, 1943. Total losses: On the ground Allies lost 80 units, Axis 39. In the air and sea, both sides lost exactly the same:11 AFs and 8 ships each. Known techs: Germany: Jets 4, LR 3, AT 2 UK: Jets 4, LR 3, GLR 1 USA: Jets 4, LR 1, AT 1 Russia: Jets 4, LR 1, AT 1 All in all one of the best games since a long time with many turning points and possibilities for both sides. Until 3 turns before the end it was open which side would win the war. During the course of it, the advantage shifted several times, the frontline moved back and forth and there were fightings in every edge of Europe. Thanks Rambo for a very good and interesting game . [ April 25, 2005, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

Yep, RACK only works once when the enemy is surprised - but there are a lot of strategies that only work ones and if the enemy doesn´t know what´s coming...so if you mix and change them every game, chances are you can surprise the enemy from time to time BTW: Just writing an AAR for our very good last (third) game from this weekend Edit: AAR can be found here [ April 25, 2005, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]