AAR Terif (Allies) vs Rambo (Axis) - summary

[Terif]

Rambo got Axis with a bid of 245 in 1:5:30. Standard rules: no DoW+landing in majors, no AA research.

This was our third game this weekend and a really excellent one with fightings in all theaters, where the advantage changed several times and with many turn arounds.

Here a short AAR:

- the french campaign was extremely bloody despite originally not intended to be...Allies planed a simple corps defence...but Germany moved so aggressively forward without caring about losses, that in the end many german soldiers had to leave their lives for the fatherland.

It started quite normal: Rambo gambled and operated his forces west pretty early, so Poland survived until turn 4 (still in time). Allies occupied Munich for some turns. In December 1940 Germany put a damaged german army at the frontline to force an early breakthrough... and lost its first heavy land unit. In the following turns Germany took many risks and seldomly repaired its damaged units...the number one was one of their favourite numbers (tank survived at 1, army at 1...etc.). Allies bought no HQ and also used no AF in the battles.

Nevertheless when Paris fell in July 1940, Germany had lost 3 corps, 2 armies and a tank. The surviving armies were all at str 2-3...

-naval battle:

since Rambo bought carriers and/or subs in each of our games since he developed RACK, the first thing England is doing now in every game is investing in GLR – this was the first time he did not buy any ship...

Fortunately England developed GLR lv 1 in time to support the french fleet by its attack at the german navy near Denmark. Ireland was still neutral, so both carrier also took part in the battle: german sub and cruiser (killed in Kiel port) sunk, the last one hided in Königsberg port. German air damaged both carriers to str 2 and 4.

England also wanted to keep its bomber this time as anti-carrier weapon. But with the aggressive german advance in France it was used twice to attack str 1 german units to finish them off - both times it failed, in the last attempt the bomber even got destroyed. So there was no bomber any more...

- July 7, 1940 France surrendered, Allies rescued 9 ground units and also kept Bordeaux and Brest for some turns. One turn after France, Germany already developed jets lv 1 – the first sign of superior german scientists .

- Usual minor collecting: Norway+Sweden, conquering Egypt with several AFs and a german tank. Vichy stayed neutral until the start of Barbarossa since Axis tried to catch some english AFs in Egypt, but they operated home in time. Romania joined December 1940, Hungary+Bulgaria in March 1941. Yugoslavia couped in April 1941. Spain conquered by amphibious landings and via the narrow gap at Bordeaux – but took several turns since the invaders got cut off by the heroic spanish defenders. In the meantime England developed Jet 1, Germany advanced to lv 2.

- USA joined in September 1941, Irland got conquered immediately.

- Low russian readiness increase, so Barabarossa started late in February 1942:

9 german AFs, 2 tanks + 8 armies invaded and killed or cut off 7 russian armies, 1 tank and one AF. 2 russian armies and a tank escaped the initial slaughter. Vichy and Greece conquered simultaneously.

- Some turns earlier when Allies tested the France defence, Germany already revealed Jets 4 and LR 1 ! UK still at lv 2 jets, LR 0 – so D-day got postponed. During Barbarossa Germany also showed AT 1. Since now all german AFs were busy in Russia, US transports appeared along the french coast from Bordeaux to Brussel, shore bombardements of Brest started. One turn later Germany operated 2 HQs and 6 AFs to Paris/Bordeaux together with a dozen corps/armies to prevent the invasion.

Since Allies were still 2 jet levels behind, D-day got postponed again and the invasion forces retreated...on the way to a new target...

- April 1942: Axis conquers Iraq, most of the german air (increased to 11 AFs) moved to Brest, Allied air (3xUK, 2x USA) retreated into mountains/cities in England. Bergen in allied hands.

- May 3, 1942: Russia built a defence line at Riga-Minsk-central mine-Sevastopol. Invasions prepared of Finland and Turkey – only minor german air presence, so no threat of the defence lines.

- May 31, 1942: Massive german airraid against british airfields from Brest: one UK AF killed in the mountains – but german losses in strength points must have been higher (UK developed Jets 3, USA jets 2 in the meantime)...after this bloody battle they retreated . Finland attacked by Russia, Helsinki conquered, country surrendered one turn later after all defenders had been destroyed. Portugal Dowed by Allies.

- Until July only minor battles, russian defence line holding. German attackers take some damage by trying to kill the russian tank in Minsk with 2 armies, 1 tank and 2-3 AFs – no chance but heavy losses each turn .

- July 5, 1942: Since the german air was disappeared during the last turns and a german HQ had been spotted in Egypt during the Iraq campaign, Allies already estimated enemy air presence in the middle east area – despite this threat they decided to take the risk and to go for Iraq... Dow at Turkey:

3 russian corps blocked the Bosporus and already spotted the italian fleet and several transports near Istanbul...from the east 2 corps, 3 tanks, 7 armies and 3 AFs supported by 3 HQs invaded and killed all turks in the area...only the defender – the most important target - in the eastern turkish city survived luckily at str 1 before the tank that should have occupied the city finally killed him. But this sealed the fate of the turkey invasion: with the eastern city in axis hands, they were able to operate str 12 german units (Germany developed AT 2 some turns ago) into the mountains and were able to stop the russian offensive.

Additionally 8 german AFs had been placed in Iraq and Romania, together with the italian fleet and the waiting transports they cleared the Bosporus within one turn and reinforcements poured into the area. The russian air had to retreat, no way to fight with their primitive lv 1 jets vs the modern age jet 4 german fighters – in the meantime at LR 2.

At this point it looked very dark for Allies and the war seemed lost...

In the following turns a straight frontline formed in the mountains from middle Turkey to the iraqi border. With the failed invasion Germany got 50 additional mpps/turn, but they lost the same amount and more in the battles each turn (since the russian units entrenched in the mountains and therefore took nearly no losses while the german/italian ones had to fight in the open desert). So in the end it was not too bad – a small mpp drain for axis each turn, a dozen axis strong pieces bounded in the area and high operating costs for all the german AFs and units.

- July 19, 1942:

Since nearly all german AFs had been spotted near Turkey, russian forces start a counterattack in the Riga-Minsk area. A german army survives at str 1, but a big surprise: fast forward moving corps find the german city Königsberg empty with the last cruiser in port !. So a russian tank takes the opportunity and occupies the city. Strong russian forces (armies + HQ) operate to Königsberg deep into german territory. The russian cruisers block the german one in its port so it can´t escape.

- August 2, 1942:

Russian forces built a huge pocket and try to cut off the axis invaders (around 20 units + HQs !) in Russia. Axis units flee in panic and all together operate back to Germany. Russian forces only 3 hexes away from Berlin . German cruiser in Königsberg port destroyed by ground attacks. Russian forces in the south move forward and liberate Kiev. Western Allies go into D-day positions: transports along the whole french coast, an italian battleship in Brest port killed by superior allied naval forces. UK transport damaged by italian subs.

- August 16, 1942:

A lot of german AFs operated to Spain and battled with the low tech allied air in England. So D-day got postponed again...only the empty Essen got occupied by US forces and UK corps invaded Denmark to cut off Skandinavia and to help the russian soldiers in the „battle of Berlin“. Odessa liberated...no axis soldiers on russian territory any more.

- August 30, 1942:

A dark hour for Allies: All german AFs except the spanish ones positioned at Berlin and Prague together with a dozen str 12 german armies and lots of corps and tanks go in the offensive. In a huge battle they destroy the western allied invaders in Denmark and Essen, all russian units in Germany including Königsberg lost too. Russians retreat and form a defence line behind Niemen river (east of Königsberg) to the swamps and from Kiev to Odessa. Heavy airfights, one carrier lost, the remaining carriers at str 4 and 6. Again it seems as if all would be lost...

- September/October 1942:

Slowly allies recover from the huge losses near Berlin. D-day is not possible against the german tech, ground and air superiority (Germany: LR 3, Jets 4, AT 2 vs UK LR 2, Jets 3, USA LR 1 Jets 3, Russia Jets 2 no other techs).

So Allies invade Skandinavia instead – here they don´t need air : Russia liberates Finland from the east while US armies + HQ land in Norway and kill the defenders (5 corps) one after one from the west. The german air armada seems to be out of order too after the extremely bloody battles the turns before and same as the allied air has also to reinforce first.

- When the german air was reinforced and ready for battle again, it was too late to save Skandinavia, they were only able to damage some units by flying bombing missions from Denmark and to kill a UK AF in Edinburgh....Oslo port had been bombed out of order by british battleships before, so no axis reinforcements arrived except some landings in southern Sweden. Norway finally liberated in December 1942, the last axis reinforcements in Sweden got destroyed not much later.

- in the meantime Axis started a new offensive in Russia: Strong forces approach Odessa and Kiev, 2 italian ships bombarding the russian coast near Odessa. Russian forces retreat after some losses behind the river and reactivate the old defence line: central mine-Sevastopol. Near Königsberg russian forces have a good defence line behind the river and can stop any axis advance...the invaders are lacking air support (busy in Skandinavia). Each turn one russian corps lost, but an axis one killed in return too and gap closed.

- until March 1943 Allies secure Skandinavia and clear it from the last axis remnants. German AFs try to kill a US HQ in the norwegian mountains during 2 turns, but abandon the try after it took only in every 2nd or 3rd attack 1 point damage (HQs in mountains are as good as undestructable by enemy air – especially with unexperienced ones like here – no chance to collect experience with all those bloody airbattles). Nevertheless Russia can hold its defence lines Königsberg-swamp-central mine-Sevastopol without problems with most of the german air in Denmark and even discovered Jets 3 and AT 1 – USA also gets AT 1.

- In April 1943 Allies start the next attempt for D-day:

Transports at Brest, again an italian battleship in port – gets destroyed by the high tech UK battlefleet...together with the last sub that sunk an UK corps transport as his last action. Only 1 italian cruiser + battleship near Sevastopol left of the axis naval forces.

- May 1943: Allies land with canadian army + corps to capture Brest – but it survives at str 1...both allied units get killed in return, first landing failed...one italian transport sunk in the attempt to reach Brest port. German offensive in southern Russia: Sevastopol under siege, russian mine near Rostov lost.

- June 1943: Second mine near Rostov and fortress of Sevastopol lost. German forces approaching Rostov and Stavropol in the Caucasus. In the West again airbattles with german AFs in Spain, 3 allied ships killed by airstrikes...Allies have to retreat. Another high time of Axis, in the offensive at all fronts...13 german high-tech AFs built...

- The next and last turning point in the war began with the biggest battle in history in July 1943:

In the meantime all 3 allied nations catched up in tech and developed Jets 4, UK also LR 3, Russia LR 1. Time for the largest battle of this war – determined to seal the fate of the world:

Strong russian ground forces start an offensive near Rostov, 7 AFs move into position near Smolensk (all 5 jet chits sold to buy air for the big battle). On the other side western Allies send a huge armada to France – transports from Bordeaux to Brussel. 3 UK, 3 US AFs and 3 carriers ready to strike (UK: LR chits sold, USA: Jet chits sold..).

Rambo told after the war he also sold all chits at this moment to reinforce his air armada (13 AFs)...so 9 full strength german AFs were standing in Poland/Russia against the 7 russian ones, 4 more positioned in Spain....

In the first wave both Germany and Russia lost 3 AFs each, german fighters attacking russian ones directly... so Russia had to retreat its 4 + 1 new built AF out of enemy range. In the west Allies liberate Brest after heavy battles. Until September 1943 Allies liberated France including Bordeaux + mine under heavy air and ground battles. Germany looses 3 AFs in these battles, no allied losses .

In October 1943 Axis starts the last counteroffensive in LC/France: all air operated to Spain or Germany together with a lot of ground units – russian corps destroyed in the french mines, mine lost to Axis...all 4 nations: France, Russia, USA and UK are fighing side by side in France a last heroic battle to safe the world.

Russia uses the opportunity to start a new offensive towards Kiev and the mines near Rostov to support western Allies in their fight: German army + HQ killed, mine liberated.

In the west US armies kill Brussels defender and liberate LC.

In the last huge airbattle Allies loose 3 AFs and a carrier...but Germany looses more: 5 out of its remaining 7 AFs destroyed in this bloody battle... so it has only 2 of them left.

With Russia on the way to Berlin and the counteroffensive in the West stopped, Axis surrenders unconditionally at November 28, 1943.

Total losses:

On the ground Allies lost 80 units, Axis 39.

In the air and sea, both sides lost exactly the same:11 AFs and 8 ships each.

Known techs:

Germany: Jets 4, LR 3, AT 2

UK: Jets 4, LR 3, GLR 1

USA: Jets 4, LR 1, AT 1

Russia: Jets 4, LR 1, AT 1

All in all one of the best games since a long time with many turning points and possibilities for both sides. Until 3 turns before the end it was open which side would win the war. During the course of it, the advantage shifted several times, the frontline moved back and forth and there were fightings in every edge of Europe.

Thanks Rambo for a very good and interesting game .

[ April 25, 2005, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

[hellraiser]

wow!!!

nice game and nice game summary!!!

Bravo to both of you!

[Liam]

that was an intense amount of action!

Rambo is good for this, very aggressive.. Seems Scandanavia decided this game ? Am I wrong to assume

[hellraiser]

shifting AFs/HQs around the map was a drain, at least this is how I understand it - Terif avoided decisive battles until he was able to put up a serious fight.

Don't forget, Terif is the master of timing things properly

Meanwhile, shifting forces several times from east to west and back had quite an impact on axis treasury I think.

Reading this summary I have one question though: while having 2 jets tech ahead, some LR and some ships still alive, why axis did not try to knock out UK?

Terif's lvl 2 jets/carriers were a joke compared to the Me262s JJR had at some point

[Terif]

@ Liam:

Skandinavia evened out the mpp balance, but didn´t decide the war so after it both sides had again the same mpps/turn. Nevertheless without Skandinavia Allies would longterm have probably lost - very important was that it provided enough mpps for UK to afford the airbattles.

But Königsberg was the first point that forced Axis to retreat from Russia and gave the necessary relieve to liberate Skandinavia. Nevertheless even after Skandinavia Axis was superior in Tech and had more power pieces on the board - so the decission came with the battle in July 1943 where Axis split its AFs between east and west, so Allies were able to use all firepower from east and west simultaneously to knock them out. But that´s why Allies attacked at that moment: the 4 AFs in Spain had to repair and where not able to operate east even if they had wanted to, so Allies catched Axis with the pants down. In total Axis lost during the first waves 6 AFs vs only 3 allied ones, i.e. nearly half of their fleet and this shifted balance towards Allies. Since Axis didn´t retreat to reinforce, they lost the other half (5 AFs) of their fleet too + they lost the ground war and it was over .

@hellraiser:

Yes, operating all his AFs every second turn over the whole map was surely very expensive - most of his income was used to operate units (not only air, but also corps and armies..) from one side to the other - but that was the purpose of the different allied attacks .

Concerning knocking out UK:

Axis in deed tried to do this (it is even usually Rambo´s prefered strategy to knock out England before Russia). But the allied air entrenched in the 3 cities and the mountains. The ports were occupied by carriers and later battleships.

So it was not possible for Germany to force intercepts - they had no choice than attacking an AF directly. And Germany once tried this, but obviously had horrendous losses during this - ruined most of his AFs to kill only one single allied AF - and didn´t try it again... . A sealion would have had no chance anyway since Allies had total naval superiority - 10 GLR lv 1 battleships/cruisers were protecting the island, no chance for transports to survive the journey.

[jon_j_rambo]

Hello SC-Players,

What can be said about this game? Legendary, arguable the best game (from an enjoyment standpoint) of SC I've played. YT (YodaTerif) has done an excellent job explaining what had happened, funny, his English is better than mine, but I will try to add my prespective.

Opening rounds (Poland, Denmark, LC, France) --- I started out with a x3 hard ground attack on the LC. I operanded Panzer, x2 Armies for the assault on LC & hopefull start hitting the French quickly. This severely hurts the Polish punch, but I like to mix it up. Poland went a little slow. There were no problems with LC & I was able to get an extra hit on France turn #2. YT (YodaTerif) began the CoreDump (CorpDump) strategy with UK & the RAF was staying out of it. I thought about slow playing the Germans, but, nah, I allowed on purpose damaged frontline ground troops to bait YT into a counter, maybe get some luck? Against YT, you have to take some chances & hope for some luck. YT couldn't refuse the temptation, he bang the heck out of alot of my units. I kidd you not, the majority of the German ground units were strength 3-5, several times he tried to finish off these feisty HQ supported ground units. One Panzer thought it had escaped, but YT sacrifice a corp to cross the Rhine & get a kill he had gotten bad luck on. YT had a bomber of all things (anti-RACK type stuff) conducting missions for kills! YT didn't DOW Ireland either. The carriers did not subhunt, I think? Instead, the French Navy sniffed its way around Denmark, hunting Gerry's Navy. It was a shootout they, well, a wipe out. Germany Navy got trashed (killed), but I was able to get some intercepts on the carriers, so I wasn't that disappointed. Bottom line in France: It was a bloodbath, German Army was superweak, everybody beat up! UK had lost (well, not really lost), but just spent its MMPs in carrier damage, etc. YT had won the French Campaign & had the advantage due to my heavy damage. Also let it be noted, I bought 1-chit Jets in March 1940, just to spice up the luck factor

The Quiet period was just that. UK rebuilding & planning after the bloodbath, and Gerry trying to get some minors with its weakened state. I knew I was behind the 8-ball (behind), so I gambled with tech. Put all my MMPs into tech, with Jets first. (5-chits Jets, 2-Chits LR, 2-Chits AT, 1-Chit IT) I think that was it.

During the quiet period, I did not attack VF (Vichey France) because I didn't want to give Beruit to YT. He has been a real pain in the ass lately by putting RAF there. Since, the RAF was involved in France, I knew the 2-RAF starting units were alive & healthy, I figured he'd have them in Egypt/Beruit to cause me trouble. So I decided to invade Egypt the classic way, I sent Rommel, 1-Panzer, & 2/3-LF units. I was trying to catch the RAF by surprise, but nobody was home except a couple of the usual corps. I was able to get some tech luck (Jets+4) so I was looking for a fight with UK, but they were nowhere to be found, save Bergen briefly, but no combat against LF.

Then Barbarossa, the usual beat up the frontlines & move forward. YT put Tanks in the key spots (cities & blocking openground behind rivers. I struggled getting a kill & took bad damage several times. My luck sucked! Wasn't scoring hits on 2-1, 1-1 attacks(I sent alot of air on the target)! This bought Western Allies time to prepare an invasion! I saw Overlord around Brest, so I (operanded) 5-LF at first, then more, to stop those Brits/Yanks from landing. RAF/USAF had to leave the area & smartly they did, because I nearly all my air right in Brest. Since I had JetTech advantage I rammed (attacked directly) a ship in a port (London) & an RAF unit in the mountains. I did kill the RAF unit, but took some nasty damage.

Meaning, the Russians were rather quiet & I was stalled, I had a LF in Iraq to spy around. There was a build-up by the Russians threatening Turkey. This is when Hitler, Goering, & the rest of the Nazi highcommand decided a new startegy.

"RATT" = Rambo Axis Turkey Trap.

I readied units to counter the Russian invasion of Turkey, I had to gamble, because I was going to lose if not, didn't have enough ground units to fight all over the planet. I sent 4-LF, 1-Army, 1-Panzer, Manstein himself to Romania, to plast thru Istabul. I also sent 2-Italian Gunships & some landing craft awaited. I also put 3-LF in Iraq for intercepts against the underteched Russians. YT went for Eastern Turkey city, he barely failed, a combination of luck & risk w/ LF in Iraq! I blasted thru Istabul perfectly, & then sent Manstein (4-star) with crack AT+2 Armies to defend Eastern Turkey! I was now ahead in the game! I was very excited at this point, but still, short on ground troops. I had to tighten my line in Russia, so I actually retreated some, I was taking hits on the ground, because all my MMPs went to Air & Overands.

*** When I retreated, I forgot to garrison Konigberg of all things! Stupid! YT snuck in a tank from Riga after advancing Corps spotted it! Stupid me! This swung the game back to balance in 2-turns! I had to retreat back, I was being overun by inferior units because I was outnumbered 2 to 1, plus YT mixed in 3-4 Heavy Tanks & 2-3 Russia Armies to do his dirty work.

The rest YT has explained well, massive Air Battles. I used Spain as a base & made one very bad counterattack instead of running away for just a turn. In Russia, I saw the Red Bear get serious about my advances. I had crossed the Dneiper & gotten the mines & Sevastapol, thanks to Italian Navy pinging the shores, very nice indeed. YT had saved his Air for 1.5 years, I was ready to assist his tanks against my low number of units. So I sent every LF on the board to Russia, sold all my tech for the battle. It was a bloodbath for both sides. Russia sniped 2-HQs! That was ugly! German HQ's killed, ground troops were not happy. the Western Allies then arrived to France. YT played an excellent American commander. He waited for the right moments to deliver superior ground attacks & pushed to LC, Paris, & Breadeux. I did attempt a "Battle of the Bulge", throwing Nazi Youth & Old Men (corps) at the Yankee Army along with the remants of LF in Berlin, Frankfurt. It was ugly, I did kill two carriers, 3-4 RAF, but I got headcracked, the LF was dead! I did lose, but had 2-moments of truth were I was leading. Before the loss of Konigsberg, I had taken the lead. Before the loss of my Spanish LF, I had a slight lead due to MMPs & tech.

Seriously, if I hadn't forgetten to garrison Konigsburg, or YT didn't see it, I had a 75% chance of winning the game I just didn't think Terif would advance Ouch! Even with that lose & retreat back, I still had a slight edge 55%, because of MMP & tech. I pressed the issue too much against RAF who had caught up in tech.

This game goes into the Rambo Scrapbook of Memories, too back there isn't replay mode to save this puppy.

Great game Terif!

The game was a blast.

[waltero]

Most enjoyable read.

[santabear]

This thread is very interested considering some of the discussions about the "limitations" of SC. It seems that in the hands of great players, it's *still* a great game.

Hopefully the next generation will eliminate the need for bids and special rules.

Thanks, guys, for posting this--it's fun to read.

[Iriemon]

Great AAR! Couldn't put it down!

[jon_j_rambo]

Yeah, this game was Legendary, too bad we don't have replay.