Friendly Fire

Lou, if you want to play a game let me know. You will NOT be able to purchase 25 airfleets if I am Allied with any reasonable bid. FF

another update on the game mentioned above... (1939 modified scenario, US and USSR both have IT5 and lots of tech) there is now a wall of Italian units lined up across France ready to hold back the expected invasion. A few German air fleets in France sink an American BB, intercepted by carriers. Stalin is losing sleep in Russia. German units are adjacent to Moscow. Lenningrad is not threatened but in the South combat is heavy. but the seasons German troops are facing green recruits, and those units that manage to survive the frontal assualt are devoured by the Luftwaffe. Unless the western Allies can open up a second theater Russia will not be saved. Stay tuned!

not missing Rambo at all actually.

clarification: RIGHT click on the unit when it is next to a port.

Well, I can post updates on the game... Italy just knocked over a bunch of Swiss banks, and Smolensk is threatened. No sign of the western allies yet.

Consider also which units are HQ supported. Attack the entrenched position with units NOT supported by HQ, this avoids experience loss of the HQ, also saves more effective units with HQ support for attacks later in the turn when the defender is less entrenched. Terif, do you agree with this?

Hey Curry, this is indeed the scenario. I had to seek some advice from Terif in order to defeat my own defense. He was very helpful and I realize now some fundamental mistakes I make in the French campaign, so I think I improved my play as a result. My record in the scenario is something like 6-0 as allies, each time France held. I am winning one Axis, but only because I was able to make a late Sealion, otherwise I was doomed against the Russians with their L2 tanks and IT5! And in my only other game going using this scenario it is very interesting and close. I am Axis and have taken all the minors, in the East i have secured the RMKO line. But the Allies struck back and took Finland and Scandanavia with well executed strikes and support from American carriers (!). The defense around Central Russia is expected to stiffen and sometime soon there will be a landing on the continent, so it will go down to the wire! . So what I am really saying, is that in my opinion Axis better know what the hell they are doing or they are going to get smashed. It is a great scenario, try it out! FF

Hi Curry, I've been quiet for a while, but still active in the PBEM league. I have stopped playing the out of the box 39 scenario in favor of the 39 mod 2 which I believe is popular with the German SC crowd. Most of the people I play this one with like it a lot, but if the Axis player is unskilled then Allies will kill them in France every time. Good job with the interview! FF

what the hell? I sent the turn months ago but you never replied! I sent you a bunch of messages after that but I never got an answer. I let Kurt know, and he send some messages and he didn't get an answer either. Did you think of pinging me ever to ask me about the turn? Now I will have to start over, I am sure I don't have the turn anymore. [ December 17, 2004, 04:37 PM: Message edited by: Friendly Fire ]

Hi Liam, the file is question is a campaign file, not a save gave file. I sent it to Adam but he says he can't load it in the editor. But other people I sent it to at the same time had no problem. Adam, you can load other files into the campaign editor with no trouble??

Aha, Terif said something interesting, catch up rule only considers highest enemy tech level. So Terif, can you confirm that in this situation USSR at L3 jets Germany at L2 UK at L1. You are saying each chit invested for UK in jets is generating 5+2 (Germany Tech Level) -1 = 6% odds and not 5+3-1 = 7%?? This is news to me. I am not sure this is a good design decision - especially in the case where UK and US are trying to catch one another!

no problem! By the way, are you sure about tanks not doing well against ships in ports? I was surprised about this, but maybe I have never used an armor unit to go after a ship in port...

yes, we will post an AAR, no problem

I'd like to contribute Curry. Feel free to pull some of my past posts, like the analysis of the payback of IT tech, which new players may find useful. You can include in your update the news that FriendlyFire (Axis) is defending his number one spot against Terif, the war in Russia is just underway.

oh, my bad. I got swamped in other games and never got this one going. To be honest I got a bit burned out of the 42 game, but I of course that is a lousy excuse. I believe I am Axis, I will send turn 1 no later than Oct 21. Sorry guys. FF

Hi Willebra, at the risk of sounding picky, I beg to differ with your statement "tanks ignore ZOC (zone of control)". Nope. SC has no ZOC rule! There is the rule that units suffer an "additional action point penalty if attempting to move through two or more adjacent enemy units" (exact words of the user manual). This is a lot different than a ZOC rule (just leave the North coast of France undefended if you want a brutal demonstration). Tanks suffer this penalty just like any other unit. But since they have 5AP when fully supplied it means that they can move through up to two hexes that are adjacent to two enemy units, and this kind of ability makes them key for breakouts in France or Russia, as noted by Dragonheart. I really like to use Armor units to take and hold ground even when the enemy has good AT tech. cheers FF

League news... FriendlyFire (Axis) against Marti. The bid is unusual, with France and the UK getting a hefty bonus, but USR and USSR have only 1000 each. So clearly the game would be decided in France. Axis knocks off Poland in turn 2 but does not manage to take Brussels in turn 2. Eventually Brussels is taken and Germany makes a slow and steady advance towards Paris using 4 air units and an extra HQ. France falls in June despite interference from RN carriers. Norway and Sweden are taken shortly after. Axis high command observes that a great number of Royal Navy ships are in the Med or South Atlantic. Sealion is launched in late spring 41, with no less than 10 units landing in England, supported by 4 subs and 6 air units. London is taken in 3 turns, Manchester in 4. UK falls. The USA enters as the UK falls preventing quick victory for Axis. Several turns later USSR enters and attacks the Polish frontier. After another few turns of buildup Axis punches through the Russian front line and cuts of a number of units. By late 41 Axis is making a strong push into the Motherland. Subs in the Atlantic prevent any chance rescue from the USA. Allies surrender in November 41.

email addresses are available on gthe league site, just click on the player. but it is friendlyfire@fastmail.fm I have a bunch of games on the go and in a few I am lagging with my turns as I have been quite busy, but I will be happy to play you when some of these conclude. Also, to be honest, I am getting pretty bored of the 39 cookie cutter game.

Note that many players including myself have reported unusually good luck with Italian AT tech, any comment Terif?

Hey Arngrim, Reiver was asking about you... Have you dropped out of the SC league?

Les, steps required to send turn >>1 : 0) play turn 1) specify new turn name 2) open email program 3) reply to opponents email to create new email 4) find correct turn in directory full of turns 5) zip turn (can be done right from email software I know) 6) find zip file in same directory attach zip file and send + periodically: clean PBEM save game folder okay, okay I know, it isn't rocket science. It takes me all of sixty seconds max to do all that. But about 5% of the turns I get are the wrong ones, so obviously I am not the only one who occasionaly screws up somewhere along the line. Since integration to email is dead simple, why not?

thanks for the AAR guys. You are right Bill, the best games are when you can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!

I assume USA is in very soon if not already? FF

what a thunderous response! that idea flew like a lead ballon.

BigDog and I had fun. I manage to hack into a local wireless connection & played a few PBEM turns live from the pub. It was interesting to talk SC (and other games) live with somebody instead of via the forum. Avatar, ahem, we live in Vancouver, this is not Alberta you know, half the damn city is ESL!