Minty

whenever I try they just end up as tiny thumbnails. how do I post 'em big? Anyway some action from the allies in april 42.USA move forward in atlantic and pacific as they take Dakar and (with the Japanese busy everywhere else) start to island hop taking some random island back from the japanese in the solomons. Fairly predictable pattern in Russia. Soviets launch assault , wipes out a german unit but are smashed by air power next turn. Soviets have killed around 4 or 5 germans units over winter at reasonable loss. This time though I wipe out his top army in a trap by sevastapol. His supply 9 , exp 4 str11 super morale 3rd army is sent to retake sevastapol. they are certainly the boys for the job as the rest of axis southern forces are all albanians and hungarians. However it gets shelled by my cruiser, attacked by more amphib troops, kamikazed by my special forces and finally charged full on by a JS1 which kills it but goes down to a str 1 itself! I lose two to three heavy but green units in exchange for his most experienced. worth it though to kill the cream of the wehrmacht. In India he is slowing as supply and aircover needs to catch up. China is a turkey shoot for the mighty japanese airforce.

April 42 and the horror continues. US air smashed to pieces on the ground and in the air by the japanese as they cross into India from Burma and land troops on the coast. Indian Tanks arrive but they wont last long. India wil fall this year. China is also just a matter of time. Engineers fully entrenched in fortresses are swiped aside by his super soldiers. One bright spot is Russia. His Tac air is picking off my tanks one by one but my JS1s charge forward and kill a full german army outside minsk. Sevastapol is also retaken by the soviets in a clever amphib behind enemy lines move . I doubt I will hold it but Massive soviet forces move forwards to try to get to them before Germany wipes them out in Spring. Africa is grim too. he's heading south and if he takes south africa I will have no way of getting troops to India from the US. We will make a stand there. Turks are just plain stupid. Axis have taken all of middle east, are massing on his borders and still they are axis 4%. Idiots.

I've played this game a lot but Dragon is taking it to a new level. some would complain of some Gameyness in Dragon's game but this is about proving who the best game player is so full credit to my opponent eg he took manchester before London in the uK? why I thought? until london fell and I found out the hard way the game doesn't give you the option to relocate to Canada just surrender so total loss of tech tree and RN. Same with Vichy, why send a japanese engineer all the way round the world and risk him hitting an allied ship? he used german troops to smash Marseille but waited for the engineer to take the capitol. Result - this is now Japanese territory so he can operate in all the Japanese fighters and tac air if and when I retake UK or France. If Dragon was my accountant I would be paying no tax, he'd find every loophole. Going to have to work hard to turn this game around

Feb 42. Soviets launch a counter towards Riga and Minsk in winter cover from his tac air. Killed a german corp or two and smashed one of his Elite Armies down to a 5. German retreat and no Russian losses so far but spring will bring pain. German forces are building in Middle east. Turkey will be stuffed and roasted soon opening up soft underbelly of Russia. In the East the Japanese infantry are unstoppable superhumans. despite US airpower in india his elite special forces press on through burma. Even fortress entrenched inf level 2 chinese armies are cut apart like butter againt his exp 3+ Str 12 + armies as they shoot down AT2 us tac air with their rifles while taking no damage. Japanese also invade Kenya. Only thing slowing them down is they keep stopping to take so many pictures of all the elephants.

All good points , I said at the start of this tournament last year that it was biased to Axis when others felt it had an allied preference. All fair points too regarding Dragon, It only really dawned on me how good he is in about spring 40 and by the I had been a little cavalier. He's easily the best player I've played against. he's still not going to win this game though Autumn 41 and barbarossa coming to a close in Russia, the lines are being drawn for Winnter. His japanese forces are pushing up into China and Burma and are scary with exp 2 or 3 each. Still early days though.

blah blah blah german efficiencies etc blah blah blah 1000 year reich blah blah . We don't care about the casualties you can bleed Russia white. Stalin doesn't even know the names of these cities you are capturing let alone care. Uncle Sam is coming...you dont know where or when but he is coming.....and he is going to $%^& you up.

Dragon has been focusing his best troops on continued Axis expansion and canadians only faced Italians. Anywaynow the bloodbath continues. Stalin's expensive Manchurian adventure is blasted from the skies by a huge Japanese air armada. However in the West we remember why Barbarossa is normally launched in May / June and not April. Mud and rain delay the Axis giving the soviets time to send even more reinforcements to the front. We brace for the inevitable air assault. Chinese enjoying the breathing room that Japanese action elsewhere has bought and have double deep lines around lanchow. Pacific and Atlantic quiet for now......

May 41. Big old turn that one for the Voldemort and the deatheaters. The forces of darkness put together the traditional pacific island hop but the 41 Barbarossa was counter attacked hard and Germans lose 2 full str10 armies and have a corp cut off as Stalin pours reinforcements to the front. And that was with all AXis forces having a massive morale boost from all the Japansese conquests. They should be more vulnerable as summer goes on . Soviets will take huge damage all summer from his mighty luftwaffe and millions will die but they can hold thier own for now on the ground. Stalin can replace troops more cheaply and get them back to the front more quickly that Adolf can. Uncle Joe is so cocky he sends even more troops into Manchuria where 2 tanks, a HQ , Artillery, 2 corps and a SF descend on the Manchurian capital waiting for the mud to clear. Japanese are melting away in fear. China about to lose chungking but rest of country a strong blue line. Where is rest of Wehrmacht? No panzers apart from those in Sudan. He is making a lot of MPP so his army must be bigger. I think he's planning to hit Turkey and / or Iran. But the Atlantic wall will take some garrisoning. Canadians in England have held for a full year but are about to finally be overrun by Italians. The good people people of Bristol will build an ice hockey stadium in their honour. Axis navies are going to to be tough to overcome though.

Soviets move into China, Japanese retreat quickly from Heavy tanks lv3 and lose 2 cities. Spring comes in Poland - not sure if Germany is going to invade Russia or if Russia will invade Germany. Either way it will be messy. Panzers are carpetted bombed by B17s as they approach Khartoum. Gordon's last stand. USA invades ....bermuda! Starved Canadians are attacked by 2 italain armies and a tank and still don't lose a point. Ha! They will starve them out soon though

Feb 41. huge forces building on both side at German / Soviet border, neither side ready to launch full offensive yet. Bristol still holds over Winter but Axis have full control of seas with huge armada of Spanish , German, Italian and Vichy French ships. China slowly pushed back but Sian sure to fall soon.

Nov 40. Axis secure Suez and blast Bristol but Canadians hold for now. will the yanks arrive before the last foothold in Europe falls? Tunisa swept aside , Romania and Hungary join. Japan declares war on USSR and take some random city in siberia and beseiges Vladivostock. Soviets seem unconcerned. USA and Japan still not at war but Dragon tempting me with Amphibs around phillipines coast. Why no US oil embargo ? one for 1.05 Mr Cater.

Quick summary sports fan at we take a break at the end ofthe first quarter. It's Sept 40 so one year into the war and what a year it has been. USSR and USA fully in. UK out. . Iraq and Spain in and Axis hold Norway but not Hungary , Romania etc yet. USSR has kicked the first germans out of Riga and now a huge number of Russian Ivans along river border eyeballing Germans. It's WW1 trench warfare with both sides inf weapons 1, only one soviet tank been seen sofar at HT level 0. still no German panzers anywhere. USA is at 100% along with phillipines but not at war with anyone quite yet. Axis Navy rules the Atlantic for now but Canadians still hold Bristol. Rest of UK seems full of Italians. The Germans are doing the heavy lifting as usual against the still very useful empire troops in East Africa. Suez holds for now but will fall to German panzers soon. Japan has inf 2 vs chinese chopsticks but huge numbers of chinese slow their advance. Chungking and Sian secure for a few more turns. What to do? Will japan secure manchuria? Amphib Asia? or try to finish off china? USA really lacking troops and a Navy for now and won't be able to make a big impact until next summer. Will Germany still push into Russia? It has the airpower advantage but Soviet forces are already outnumbering them and entrenched. Commonwealth making good MPP and will be a real nuisance to Axis forces in Africa and Asia with some decent land units and their ragtag navy although they wont be able to launch any major assaults with no capitol ships or access to advance tech.

We shall never surrender. Except when we do. UK surrenders. No Royal Navy. Very bad. However all is very far from lost, in fact it's pretty peachy thanks to Uncle Joseph. August 1940 and Russians destroy thier first German Army despite high axis morale after UK fall. Russians also cut off occupied Riga. Commonwealth troops dig into El Alamein and retake Suez, they will struggle up against big german boys but seems like they are needed elsewhere. hopefully he'll just send the Italians and may hold. China is fairly quiet, entrenched positions all round. Oh and the yanks are about to join in Autumn 40

USSR annexes baltics at end of turn so Germany walk right in but get hit hard next turn. Russians outnumber Germans and both have Inf 1. not sign of any tanks yet on either side but soviets look strong and even sneak a cheeky corp into Germany. This is not your grandfather's barbarossa! British looking secure for now in Alex and Cairo but London in trouble under constant air assault. RN lashing out but fighting a losing battle against combined axis navies and air. He'll be able to land more troops soon enough. Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude! monsoon in asia and China are looking a little steadier now, dug in for the time being.

Insanity. Total madness. Full sealion is being launched into england, RN is getting ripped to pieces by subs but Kamikazes a German Army leaving brest in amphibs. They don't like it up'em! Still England looks doomed with paras and huge luftwaffe firepower pounding London.Rommel's arrived in north Arica too and makes gains towards Alexandria with army, tanks etc Italian fleet blasts out of med through the rock to join kriegsmarine (avec strasbourg) in their RN duck hunt. Ghurkas wipe out Blackshirts. China is carnage, Sian is being attacked from the North but changsa and chungking safe for now and hurting if not killing Jap armies. Franco loves it and seems impressed by gifts of Sushi too , one more bottle of Sake and he'll be in. However all this action has upset the yanks and commies. Sir Winston is jubilant despite spending his evenings under the table in the war office dodging shrapnel as he reads the latest telegram from Moscow. He opens a crate of his finest Brandy and starts singing the Internationale with Comrades Brooke and Dowding to celebrate USSR joining the Allies in July 1940! that's right the the russians are coming! Eat that hitler - "Arise, ye workers from your slumber, Arise, ye prisoners of want" This game is ON FIRE!

the legend at work. we salute you

Germans arrive in North Africa, could this be a reprieve for the British isles? Still only May 40. RAF bombards Manchester as his German corp is under siege. So far his troops in Manchester are holding out but as soon as they are forced to eat the local food then I know German morale will drop. Royal Navy patrolling channel and UK ports. Japanese northern flank swings down to encircle japanese. Nanking has fallen and his southern group push up. Chinese vets give some good damage out to the Japanese but not halting his advance. Blackshirts not being reinforced and will fall to Slim's Ghurkas soon

battle of britain is looking very one sided as my bombers and carriers are forced to move to scotland to escape and thus I lose my eyes on the sea. he's broken through in the north and south in China and will be out flanking me soon. He pulls back a bit to deal with my charge in the middle but only bought me a turn or two. Wormington on Sea's finest prepare for a tough summer, extra sausage rations from the butcher's shop before Gerry arrives. We're all DOOMED.

great AAR,best I've seen on the forum for years, explaining your thinking to us all and agreeing not to read the AAR of each other was fantastic. Can't wait to finish the SC GC tournament and have the time to play this game. hopefully not for a while

Don't Panic Captain Mannering! Private Jones leaps into action as the homeguard secure the rest of the British isles. It's a pretty motley crue though of US volunteers, Boer War veterans and understrength canadians straight off the boat. We can tie down a German Corp but if his big boys turn up then we could be in trouble. I may have been a little too bold in France losing 3 British units Italian Destroyer sunk off Somalia and Ghurkas leapt into action against Black shirts before he has time to upgrade them with state of the art Hugo Boss German uniforms and guns. Japanese pushing to the North and South so chinese storm through the middle and attack his unguarded airfields and Nanking. still only April 1940. It may all be over by Christmas, I'm not optimistic at this point.

U boat sunk off the coast of Belgium. French forces retreat from maginot line to surround Paris rather than get cut off. Won't hold for long but Dragon had to send his one remaining Panzer 2 squares north east to deal with the BEF so just a straight infantry fight in France for now. British fighters west of Paris covering the French defenders but no clear weather for Goerring to attack yet anyway. Nothing in China of note.

Brits have sent BEF and a corp to thier doom in Belgium to slow the Axis assault. Corp dead and BEF getting smashed by Panzers, both UK units out of supply so expensive move on my part but I cant resist fighting the brits hard. RN stay in port to shell bruxelles in the hope of picking up survivors but Dragon cuts BEF off. Sorry Grandad, no dunkirk for you just the next 6 years in a POW camp. Heroic / Stupid British move delays the Nazi horde by a turn, maybe two. Feb now, Paris will fall in early spring I think. China/Japan lines are being drawn as front couple of cities fall to Dragon. Too early to see any tech. a few axis raiders and one sub was found hiding by US naval zone but vanished again beneath the seas

commander europe at war had this feature. worked well with convoys too. it had smooth common sense logistics that SC series lacks a bit

Crikey this Dragon dude is hard core. He's German that is for sure and I mean that as a compliment. Poland take down was clean and efficient, he used limited resources but clearly aimed for 2 turns and took warsaw with the last attack of his last unit on turn 2. Then on turn 3 in October he hit benelux and Denmark. Skipped Brussels to knock out maginot line and French air behind it So if he's German then I must too revert to national sterotype and be a never say surrender , fight em on the beaches dogmatic type. so Brits landed in Belgium and French rushed forth. Result - it's Nov 39 and dead gerry panzer in Belgium. Hurrah, take that Rommel. British hold bruxelles port and this is NOT a phoney war. Winter coming though. I need to build some iceberg aircraft carriers I think. Just as intense in China. Chinese rush forth to bundle his super unit , the str 12 exp army. I hate /love that unit dependinng on which side I am on. It can quickly build into a Str15 monster. anyway I knock it down to a 5 which is great and sneak into wuhan. He takes it back, kills a couple chinese armies and takes foochow. he's pushing south enmasse but all looking steady for winter. This is going to be messy. Stay tuned for more carnage. It's quite possible everyone might be dead by mid 1940.

Colin, you are I have been hanging around here for at 5 years now. I think we're at least C list celebrities if a long way from iconic legend status. Like Danny Glover to Ranbo's Mel Gibson or Clyde the Orangutan to JG's Clint eastwood. we should play again once this tournament is over, it's been ages.