lhughes41 Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Hi, I wrote this for the designer of this intriguing scenario: Robert Carver. But thought others might be interested. ***WARNING**** Do not read if you don't want script spoilers!!! Personally I recommend you play "blind" like we did and not know what the other side is like or what will happen. But if you are on the fence about whether this scenario might interest you then perhaps read on (or if you have played before): -------- So we both decided to play blind. That is no prior experience with scenario, and no examination of scripts or the other side. Very fun to get surprises by contrast to the WWII Global scenario which we each know pretty well these days. So Alastair (playtester for WWII scenarios and WWI I think too) opened a bit cautiously with Soviets in Europe thank heavens as this gave me time to start rushing in reinforcements. By 2nd turn he had decided to go for it and rush me in France -- having felt out my forces -- but that one turn had given me time to form a defense on the Rhine (albeit at the cost of American armor). Some learning moments were realizing that air was both ftr and TB at the same time. Also, the armor icons -- which like level 5 from WWII (logical!) -- threw us off and we both reacted to their advanced look as if they were armor 5 when in fact they were armor 1 :-) The first script surprises were Israel, and Arabs joining each side. I also did the Kuwait event (create oil wells for UK) and then stupidly didn't garrison and Soviet Iraq got benefit of my investment :-( In the West, I managed to form a defense on the Rhine... Soviet paratroopers dropped in Japan.. Nationalist China started evacuating the continent seeing how hopeless it was against Mao :-) . Then Soviets got into Italy which triggered our first real major script surprise which was Spanish entry. I started feeling much better :-) The western front stabilized for quite a while on the Rhine frontier but the square with 3 sides exposed to Soviet troopsstarted turning into a grind/experience mill for the Soviets so I had to evacuate. During the winter this turned into a hole for the Soviets to effectively cross the Rhine. Meanwhile in the Middle East I had brought a fair bit of air and took Syria. Soviets then made a major assault and conquered Turkey and came into Middle East. Nonetheless, with the help of the Isrealis (they start as an experience corps!) and NATO airpower I managed to get the upper hand there and now in summer 1950 I have reconquered much of the Middle East including Iraq and Turkey. Unfortunately, I am stalling as I try to enter the Caucusus. Alastair focused his efforts in France and he is making a major armored assault as we speak and France is in some peril. Other interesting script surprises: I invested very heavily to bring India in on my side and had them at about 88% percent or so when your India joins the commies script fired :-( That was very frustrating. Cost me about 1000 mpps to no gain. If I had gotten India I would feel the game was definitely moving my way with France relatively stabilized at that time. Then Alastair surprised me with a tank from Persia (which he had taken away from me as he retreated from Iraq) and Pakistanis started being in trouble. Then the Mujadeen intervened.. very cool! So it is a struggle there though he has a bit of the upper hand. On the naval front I pretty much trashed the Soviet fleets and am now using massed carrier in Middle East (in the Black Sea now!). Red Chinese have gotten to a frightening scale and showed up with tanks and airplanes in Thailand where marines and yanks are holding the line. The whole partisan aspect has been fun too. All in all very well designed with many turns of the table where each of us thought we had the game and then events shifted things. Also the long term build up of China versus the strong air/naval advantage of NATO is intriguing. The Soviets and Chinese being the only ones with artillery though helps compensate plus the untenable Nationalist China side. I as a rule don't like alternative history scenarios so it is high praise for me to say how much I've enjoyed this scenario. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverrt Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Thanks LHouges. I did not expect India to be an issue. What you experienced did not come up in beta testing. At one point we considered making India and Pakistan Majors. That would have been fun, but we just ran out of time. The Soviet Navy is a weakling, not much to do there… did you notice the difference between American, UK and French carriers? I have looked at a number of Historical Cold War battles fought with WW2 equipment for mini-campaigns. I did Korea for the SC Pacific, and I started on a the First Arab Israeli war but kept getting side tracked. I appreciate all the compliments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhughes41 Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 O as the allies I noticed the carrier differences ;-) :-( BTW TacAir seems weaker in general than in WWII. Is that correct? As the allies I put an over emphasis on TBs based on my WWII experience and it has not paid off in a cost effective sense. Were I playing again I would emphasize infantry and armor more for the allies. This even with Tech 4 air. So am I right to think they are weaker than WWII? Or is this all in my head? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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