Friendly Fire

Hey Derek, there is of course another big factor. In the 39 game if Allies make some key mistakes early, like losing a carrier or two, or simply playing too passively then Axis can afford air superiority and the invasion doesn't stand a chance. Suggest you ask for higher bids if you feel your opponent is a strong Axis player... good luck! [ August 06, 2004, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: Friendly Fire ]

did you get my turn Derek?

Hey Avatar, I like the spirit of what you are trying to do. I agree that the game is very predictable, that's why most of my games are not the standard 39. I also find it a bit strange that everyone wants to play the same cookie cutter game all the time. Observation: The 42 game does have the flavor you describe, epic battle in the east, defendable Egypt, useful Malta, low tech, and significant Allied landing threat.

I'm the number 2 man! I'm the number 2 man, you losers stick it in a can! RACK attack carriers, own the high sea. Can't be stopped, only Terif can beat me!"

Wow, I seem to be at the top of the leaderboard, how in hell did this happen? Starting in September I will increase the number of active games I am playing in order to give top ten players a chance to take over the number one spot. I can likely take on another game or two now if you are willing to put up with delayed responses... Fire me an email challenge and I will add you to my queue. Also willing to take on tutorial games if Yoda's classes are full! glad to see the league is so active! friendlyfire@fastmail.fm

hey vetrans, regarding the Gambit - what are your opinions on who to give the plunder to: France or UK? I always let the UK take it but I know Sombra allows France to occupy Brussels... I can see pros and cons to each... comments?

hi Tony, against an inexperienced Axis player the LC gambit wins the game every time. Against expert Axis players it can sometimes backfire. Glad you are enjoying human play, welcome to the forum.

naah! Let the RN own the Atlantic. Just keep your units away from the coast and concentrate on pounding Russia till she caves in. If any troops dare land on your western front shift your veteran SS armored divisions back and throw them into the sea. If any naval ships dare come near your coast strafe them with your ME109s. Europe belongs to you my friend! Once Russia falls it will be your turn to own the waves!

naah! Let the RN own the Atlantic. Just keep your units away from the coast and concentrate on pounding Russia till she caves in. If any troops dare land on your western front shift your veteran SS armored divisions back and throw them into the sea. If any naval ships dare come near your coast strafe them with your ME109s. Europe belongs to you my friend! Once Russia falls it will be your turn to own the waves!

I think you are a good player Sombra!

I didn't see this mentioned, so I will point out for newer players confused about LC gamit: in most games you cannot LC gambit in turn 2 simply because in his turn 2 Axis player has already occupied Brussels.... You can try to LC gambit on turn 1 but this is usually foolish unless the Axis player is totally unprepared. (i.e moved EVERYTHING east) - you cannot properly defend the entire French front and also attack LC in the first turn... FF

ya, I went away for the past five days and didn't miss a thing...

Good point Blashy, but could backfire, given a enough time it is possible for the Allies to build a defense capable of stopping Germany at the Rhine...

Yes, thanks Sombra. In 06.1941 the Italians had taken Algeria and Egypt, heading for Iraq... RAF had lost an AF and the RN carriers were shot to hell. But still I would say the Gambit paid off for Sombra, the Royal Navy surface ships were in good shape, enough to stop sealion. And the German navy was toast. In our back to back game I almost held the line... I guess thats why it is called a.... gambit!

Congratulations, defeating Russia for the first time is worth celebrating, even if it is against the AI. Keep on playing and soon you can experience the same feeling against a live allied player! FF

Sombra my ICQ# is 301111935, I will look for you at 10:30 Pacific...

OK as Allies I will launch the gambit in turn 2 unless Poland falls in turn 1. But if the Gambit fails, will we continue, after all we really want to explore Gambit busting? btw, I played around in hotseat mode and I definitely understand that it is possible to bust the gambit, question is, can it be done fast enough to make the Gambit unproductive? It should be interesting!

It is a creative idea, but there are some flaws I think. I haven't seen any games where the USSR comes in before the USA, unless Axis attacks Turkey... The typical (tried and proven) strategy is to knock off many minor countries and collect lots of MPPs until the last minute, then go after USSR with a massive invasion at the last possible moment... All those minor country DOWs bring the USA into the war first. So the Allied DOW will cost them in terms of delayed US entry I'm sure. - operating the air fleet in and out cost you 100MPPs, 50 of which come early and can be used to help the defense of France. - Axis will probably be able to retake the oil fields in Fall/Winter of 1941 fairly easily, unless Allies knock out Bagdad. In this case the Axis player can choose to delay the invasion of Spain and get the about the same MPPs. Both the USSR and USA will delay entry into the war in this case (I'm not sure exactly how long but at least 2 turns I think) effectively granting the Axis as much as 1000 MPPs (Axis production >500 with Norway, Sweden, Romania and Iraq). my 2c FF [ June 25, 2004, 03:10 AM: Message edited by: Friendly Fire ]

Hello Sombra, sure lets try for 7:30 AM your time Sunday morning, I can play for probably 2.5 hours. I haven't used ICQ so I need to figure out all that... what is a typical bid nowadays for the 1939 game? I was playing 200 at 1:8 but I think more players are using 1:5:20 now, is it correct? FF

Sombra, I am west coast Canada, GMT -8 I think. I might be able to squeeze online late Saturday night = Sunday morning for you. Reiver, just sent a turn. The French have a heavy tank division sitting on the Rhine backed up by 4 RAF fleets based near Paris... No help from the USA needed here I don't think.

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To support what Sombra is saying, I played a back to back series with Panzer39, low bid (100 at 1:0:8) but severe air limits. Our theory was that the air limits would slow axis down so the low bid would be appropriate. Wrong! Axis was still very strong, money spend on aircraft and air tech was used for ground units, ground tech, and HQs. Axis won both games relatively easily. Rashak, to see how it is done play a game against a more experienced player, you will find many players willing to provide no pressure tutorial games type game (including me)

Hi Sombra, what you say makes sense to me. Although I feel that by the time the Italians are making progress in the Med the situation in France will be decided... By the way, if Poland falls in turn 1 I believe I would cancel the Gambit - any opinions on this guys? Sombra, sure I would like to play a game, I haven't had a chance to defend the gambit against an experienced player so that would be fun. What bid if any would be fair for this experiment? And what time zone are you in, perhaps we can make it a quick TCP/IP game? [ June 23, 2004, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: Friendly Fire ]

I believe I am the evil Allies who initiated this post! Sombra, I would agree with Rambo here, the Gambit is quite strong and unless Axis can break through reasonably quickly the game is lost. Probably if you find it easy to break the gambit the Allied player is making some fundamental mistake. consider: - Allies hold the MPP advantage even after Italy enters, so the clock is working against Axis. - A good allied player will defend in depth so you won't gain more than one hex on the other side of the Rhine. Usually the Allied player will have sold assets in order to finance a French HQ so the counter attack will be strong, often strong enough to regain the hex. Expecially if you stuck a corps in the gap. corps => corpse With plunder from Holland and with a bit of luck Ireland a few turns later, the UK can buy an extra air and HQ and make things much harder. With some extra Allied MPPs from the bid it the situation could be grim indeed! regarding the last point, I disagree that Italy gets to clean up the med, without air support Alexandria will not fall easily, and you can't afford to take air out of Europe. The airfleet at Malta will probably get rebased but the UK won't miss the 5 MPP (besides this is lost to sub raids). And fending the Italian land forces off takes only a couple of entrenched corps! I have personally never been in a game where the Gambit lost, for sure it is possible to beat the gambit. But don't count on it! FF [ June 23, 2004, 03:24 AM: Message edited by: Friendly Fire ]

Was the interceptor based in a city? could be the so called "AA bug"...