Oak

Sept. 29 The bomber in Alexandria moves out upon spotting German air getting ready to attack. The corp to the west of Alexandria moves in. Otherwise, everything is quiet.

In the north ... the Axis attacks Sweden by, again, taking Stockholm from the sea. The remaining Swedish forces scatter and head for the hills. In the south ... Alexandria is attacked from the east and from the west. The bomber reinforces; the UK corps on either side of Alexandria (now at 7 & 8) brace for the onslaught.

The Axis is putting a lot into their attack on Egypt. German tank with Rundstedt HQ moving towards Alexandria from the west; transports with Guzzani HQ and another Italian army arrive off the coast in the east. The bomber in Alexandria attacks the Guzzani HQ causing unknown damage. Everything around France continues to be quiet and calm.

August 4 Bergen attacked by 2 German corps then reinforced. Bomber in Alexandria hits Andrea Doria battleship but fails to sink it (I've got to teach the Allies to kill rather than leave a unit at 1!). German tank in Sicily loads on a transport and appears to head east. All quiet on the western front ... for now.

July 21 The Allies abandon Brest and move the air fleet out of Egypt. The bomber stays and knocks the Andrea Doria battleship down to 5. A German tank is spotted in Palermo and the Bock HQ moves 2 hexes from Bergen to support the 2 attacking German corps now next to Bergen.

July 7 All sorts of interesting things happening. In the north ... a transport appears off Bergen, apparently enticing the Allied fleet to attack it. They decline the offer. In the west ... a German sub is found near Brest by a Free French cruiser. The sub was obviously hoping to surprise and kill the retreating Canadian army. Instead, attacks by 2 carriers (with 1 attack intercepted by German air) kills the sub. A Free French army replaces the Canadians in Brest. Their attack, combined with an air attack, takes the German army next to Brest down to 1 (why do the Allied attacks always leave the Axis units at 1??) In the south ... Italian transports reach the coast of Egypt (2 armies + 1 corps). The UK air reinforces while the bomber knocks the Caio Duilio battleship down to 3. The Italian navy is taking a beating: 1 BB down to 1, 1 BB down to 3 and 1 cruiser down to 8. Neither of the 2 UK corps protecting Alexandria and the UK air have had any casualties despite repeated bombardments. Unfortunately, that will soon change.

Allied air strikes back at the Axis this turn. UK air in England attacks the German army next to Brest, knocking it down to 8. The French air in Malta attacks the Italian corps in Sicily (both take a hit) and the bomber & air fleet in Alexandria attack the Vittorio Venetu battleship, knocking it down to 1 (why can't I ever finish off these Italian battleships?) Italian transports spotted swarming into the eastern Med. And, I shouldn't forget to mention that a UK corps unloaded into Bergen.

A general observation: This game is going very differently from the previous one between Shaka of Carthage and myself. Shaka has gone to great lengths to avoid the long delays in taking France and Poland that he encountered in the last game. Also, he has avoided the extensive battle over and around Brest that was a key feature of the previous game, and seems to be moving on Egypt early rather than late. Shaka seems to have learned from his mistakes, although I'm hoping that he will make some new ones At the same time, I have decided to keep the French air (putting it in Malta) and to have the Allied air harass the Axis far less early in the game. This will allow the UK to spend more in the early stages on building and researching, as compared to reinforcing.

Other than the sinking of the UK cruiser in the eastern Med, the Allies saw nothing. All quiet on the western front, but the expectation is that things will soon be heating up across the board.

Things are quiet ... too quiet. The Axis are leaving Brest alone. Nothing happening in the Med, at least that I can see.

April 14 France falls early, and things are quiet after the Fall. Italian corps in Sicily moves south to spot the Free French air in Malta. The air in Malta then tries to attack the Italian sub, which dives.

March 17 A German corps moves next to Brest (occupied by the Canadian army). The corps is then vaporized by the Allies, attacking with 2 carriers, a bomber and 2 Allied ships (1 British battleship and 1 French cruiser). The 3 French corps defending Paris, in a fit of passion, abandon their posts to attack the Rommel HQ (knocking it down to 8) and a nearby German corps (no damage caused). Italy joins the Axis.

Feb. 4 Germany surrounds Paris, with a German tank and corp moving to the west to cut off further retreats. They also kill another French army. A newly built Rommel HQ is spotted. The UK kills the Dublin corps and takes Ireland. The Allied air continues to stay far from the action in France. The French attack the Rundstedt HQ (with minimal damage inflicted) and build a corp to strengthen the Paris defense. I debated whether to build the new corp in Brest (to be evacuated to England and become Free French) or next to Paris (to strengthen its defense). I chose the latter.

The 2nd Atlantic sub is sunk. Dublin corp is knocked down to 3 (by carriers, BB and air) after being reinforced to 8. Defense around Paris is tightened. Germany knocked an army down to 1. It was pulled back and replaced by an army at strength 8. Things are looking bad for the French. As Shaka will have, no doubt, noticed from the Report, one reason for the weaker defense of France is that I decided not to disband the French air fleet and use the MPP to buy corps.

1st German sub is sunk; 2nd is attacked but dives to avoid destruction. French troops abandon the Maginot line to form a defensive circle around Paris. And, the Axis reinforce the Dublin corp. This game is starting off very different from the previous one. The Axis are making a strong push on France, as well as Poland. Both attacks are going well and France will fall much faster than the previous game. So far, no DOW on Denmark. Also, the Allied air fleets are no where to be seen and have not been intercepting German air attacks on France.

This game, Shaka seems to be focused on taking France quickly. He continues to move more forces west while making good gains against the Polish forces. Poland is down to 3 corps and an air fleet (that attacks Bock again). One German sub is found and attacked (down to 3 strength). Dublin is attacked. French move armies up to the LC border to face 2 tanks, an army and a bunch of corps.

Sept. 17, '39 Italy: 71%; USA -7%; USSR 30% Axis does not DOW Denmark; Allies DOW Ireland. Interestingly, Axis moves 2 tanks + Rundstedt west while keeping 1 air in the east to attack Poland. Allied fleet goes sub hunting and attacks Dublin. Polish troops surround Warsaw while Polish air attacks Bock.

Instead of USA vs Europe it should be EU vs Rest of the World. That way, the Croats, Serbs, Russians, and Asians can join with the North Americans (can't forget the Canadians!) to battle those from the EU.

It seems that most of the threads that have been started over the last week or so having ended up being locked up. Let's get some threads going that will help both inexperienced and experienced players improve their game. In particular, I would like to encourage others to start posting blow-by-blow AARs on the Forum of games they are playing. I know that there are a lot of PBEM games going on, and a fair number of Z-league games as well.

Shaka, You may be right. All I know is that the experience of the bomber grew very quickly after it began attack the ports. Oak

Bill, My basic strategy was to force the Axis to spend as much MPPs as possible on reinforcements and replacements so as to limit his resources going into Barbarossa. My impression is that the Axis strategy was to invest heavily in the Axis navy, take out the UK fleet and then control the seas. His decision to invest heavily in subs was, I think, a mistake given the strength of the UK bomber and carriers. In turn, I was prepared to sacrifice the UK fleet (except for the carriers) because I knew that I'd get 2 more battleships and 2 more cruisers once the USA and USSR joined. If I lost the UK battleships but also took out the German fleet I was happy. Overall, my goal was not to eliminate the Axis fleet but to force the Axis to spend lots of MPP reinforcing it. For example, at one point Italy had a battleship at 6 and one at 7 that I could attack. I attacked the one at 7 and knocked it down to 1. At the time I was happy with the fact that I did not kill the battleship because it meant that Italy would have to spend lots of MPP reinforcing it. Later, I began to wish that I had gone for the other and destroyed it.

Shaka, First, I was surprised at the lack of experience gained from Dublin and the poor performance of the UK navy against it. Not sure why. Second, experience is definitely based on results. For example, if your attack kills an opposing unit then you get half a bar of experience. If there are no results then you get something like 0.1 of a bar in experience (meaning that it takes 10 moves to get one bar). The bomber was making a heavy impact on the ports, and gaining a lot of experience as a result.

One comment on a point made by Shaka: I was rather disappointed with the meager levels of experience gained by the Allied units attacking Dublin. After a few turns I was hoping that Shaka would stop reinforcing Dublin so I could take it. The bomber gained its high levels of experience by attacking the Brent port and Antwerp; the carriers gained their experience from the attacks on Brest. All of them gained very little experience from those many turns of attacking Dublin. I think the most any one unit had was one bar. Pretty dismal given the many turns they attacked it.

The Allies were in a great position, and even with the mistake in England probably could have won. I was just so upset at the turn of events that I could not continue. If I had built a corp in Edinburgh then: - the UK air and bomber would have wiped out the Germany fleet - the German subs would not have been able to do much because the UK had reached level 1 in long-range, allowing the carriers to stay under the protection of the bomber - the German corps landing in the north would have been dispensed with because the UK corps would have HQ support, supply and air support. The UK corps would have then been able to invade Norway - the German invasion in the north would have brought the USA/USSR into the war quickly, with Germany unprepared for a decent attack and the USA/USSR providing ships to replace those lost in the German suicide attacks Shaka invested very heavily in naval forces, especially subs, which was a mistake given the UK strength in carriers. I only had 3 carriers. I toyed with the idea of building a 4th, but decided to put those resources into maintaining the attack on France instead. With 3 experienced carriers, an experienced bomber and long-range tech, the Axis subs would have been of little or no use against the UK. I continue to disagree with Kuniworth. Luck had almost nothing to do with the outcome of this game. Right at the point when the Allies were in a great position to roll over the Axis, I made a stupid mistake that turned the Allied position around. I'll need to play Shaka again ... I know I can beat him

While the Allies still very much have a fighting chance, I'm upset with the their turn of fortune and the mistake that allow that change to take place. I want to learn from the mistake and quickly put the game behind me. Hence, my resignation from the game. Oak