AAR Timskorn (Allies) vs. Rambo (Axis)

[SeaMonkey]

evac. the Island if you need to save Paris, xcept for Manny and London,

maybe he'll take the bait.

[Timskorn]

Nah, he probably won't need much help saving Paris. With my 6 or so airpower they seem to only manage a point or two of damage to his Army in the southwestern part of France, and even with the morale hit they still defend with a nasty bite against my land troops. I'll take his troops down eventually but at a very slow pace at this rate.

[SeaMonkey]

Excellent observation Tigerskorn.

This supports my thesis of Axis victory by concentrating on Moscow acquisition and Paris investment, followed by a strategic defensive posture.

SC2 supports the defense to exact unequal losses on the attacker if the attacker doesn't possess overwhelming force.

Overwhelming force usually comes in the guise of airpower and artillery(rockets) for neutralizing the defensive fortified positions.

Of course the ground forces follow up for the coup de grace. The ground forces should always occupy the surrendered tile with the greatest strength unit(most experienced) in the vicinity so it can absorb the inevitable counterattacks and still survive as it usually in a most exposed position.

Now the defender is in the most exposed deployment for the next offensively minded attackers if the counter doctrine is pursued.

Most players make that error of assuming that exposed stature just to get a kill, BDM when on the strategic defense.

WaW will add to this battle scenario by injecting defensive artillery to the mix.

Should be a redefinement of the battle mechanisms of SC not to mention the maneuvering aspects due to roads and rails.

It remains interesting to hypothesize,

looking forward to the application.

[jon_j_rambo]

July 1945 ---

-Last Russian possesion in Souther Russia will fall next turn.

-3 Rocket shots on Moscow can't feel good for the enemy.

-France is an entire fortress, we hunker down as the Allied planes fly missions on Buerduex.

[Timskorn]

September ’45: Caucusus are lost. Moscow still holds, but is zeroed in by Nazi rockets. A wayfaring German Army gets capped outside its gates. Russians still hold everything north and east of Voronezh and are re-forming defensive lines. Germans are starting to move some of their forces back west to confront the advancing Allies, including two rockets in Italy.

Allied bombers are flattening cities left and right. In Norway, UK air is dominating. Port there is disabled, cutting off the convoys. Land forces have snuck through the sub picket that is hitting the US to USSR convoys and reinforced Montgomery’s position.

In France Allied troops capture Bordeaux. JJR is performing a great defense of France with his intricate patchwork of fortifications. He is able to hit an adjacent unit, pull back and shuffle in another unit to the fortification and hit my unit again, all while remaining relatively protected (gets entrench 3 automatically when entering the fort).

Far-reaching allied air support continues sorties against the rockets in Italy, doing minor damage. More importantly, it’s keeping my air off his ground troops, further slowing my advance. Until I can neutralize the rockets, sending any of my units into the open turns them into zapper-fodder.

[Timskorn]

May '46: Axis forces have apparently taken a doctrine of defense to try and secure their victory, and Allied forces up to this point have been stagnant in their advances. The recent winter has hampered air operations, therefore shutting down our offensives.

The Russians, however, love the winter and launch another set of offensives against the Germans. One is directed at Moscow, the other at Stalingrad. Moscow was a weak diversion while the core of the forces were directed at Stalingrad. A lone Corp. defended Stalingrad and the reds took the iconic city back, while the forces around Moscow were turned back by combination rocket/air/ground forces.

The US in southern France have been stalled. Air units have sortied out, bombing cities within reach and harrassing troops. Rockets have picked off a few units.

UK/US continues to harass at Norway and await clear weather to go on the offensive again. A US sub sinks Norwegian convoys.

The UK regrouped in North Africa, slowly pulling their troops away from supporting the US in France and with US air and naval support, make a strong landing outside Rome. It is very lightly defended and will certainly attract the attention of German rockets next turn.

[arado234]

This one is going down to the wire.

[SeaMonkey]

Good one Tiger, get Rome and you win, he'll have to operate, most likely from USSR.

Now retake Moscow.

[Timskorn]

June '46: Mussolini is hung. Italy surrenders.

[Blashy]

Still have a whole year left and all that cash from Italy.

Did he leave German troops in the two northern cities? If not and the Allies put units there they are within striking range of Germany.

Germany can now only achieve a minor victory.

Very intense battle.

[Timskorn]

Wow, another year? I'm toast! Hah.

I thought it ended in '46. Ah well, my bad.

The Germans re-took Rome. It was fairly easy for them. 4 Level 5 rockets with air and land support destroyed 6 or so units within 2 turns. Basically he just put his rockets in some mountains and they are pretty much untouchable by my air now. It would take probably 4+ turns to actually begin doing significant damage to just one of them. Meanwhile, each turn they can zap at least 1 to 2 units.

The good news is the UK got 500 MPP's back from their losses by taking Rome, and it removed a bunch of Italian units from the board. US bombers are leveling German cities pretty regularly now and the Russians have taken the Caucusus back.

Even so, the German military is a formidable force. Their HQ's pretty much all have 4 experience bars. The airforce is the Allies' main advantage at this point, in numbers and tech.

It's pretty much a stalemate right now. Russians are advancing in the east, but the Allies are stuck in the west. The Germans are probably still getting a good chunk of MPP's, despite most of France and London being bombed to oblivion and Norwegian convoys getting sunk. They have a solid defensive position and experience troops.

Simply put, the rockets make it impossible to advance by land. Even in mud/snow they can fire long distances and rip everything apart. The only time I can advance, like with the Russians right now, are when rockets aren't in the vicinity.

[Iron Ranger]

I dont think the MPPs of Axis are that high right now. In time you should be able to grind them down since he will have at least one perhaps two fronts where thier are no rockets.

[jon_j_rambo]

The rockets have been working in Northern Italy mountains. They waxed their entire British Anzio landing force in 3 turns.

The rockets also blast Americans coming into my French Trench Wonderland.

[Timskorn]

November 1946:

The game has turned pretty stagnant, probably due to Rambo's almost pure defensive stance at this point. The Allies are in Spain, having been beaten back by repeated rocket barrages. From there they operate air and bombing missions against German targets while re-building their ground forces.

In Norway the Allies finally gain ground, destroying multiple units and capturing the capital. In Russia the Reds hold Stalingrad, Rostov and up to Moscow but German rocket and air fleets have moved back there from the west and will be doing Hitler's dirty work soon enough.

Turkey has joined the war for the Allies and Sweden is on its way. Not much longer before this game is over.

[Timskorn]

April 1947:

This long war is almost over. The Germans have been defensive for quite awhile now, shuffling the heavy-hitting rockets around to areas they are needed most. France is completely locked down. There are probably 20 full fortresses surrounding Paris itself.

In Russia brutal fighting continues as the struggle for control of Moscow continues. It is a crucial and symbolic city for any peace negotiations. The bloodiest fighting that has occurred in a while on this front happened this month. All German rockets are focused on the city, blasting Russian units around Moscow. The Russian armor defending the city was destroyed last turn and German armies advanced in full force and re-took the city. But the Reds counter-attacked with heavy armor, destroying about five German armies in and around the city and clearing the way for the Reds to continue their control of it.

Norway is Allied and the UK operates bombers and fighters from there against targets in Denmark and England. US bombers and air continue sorties out of Spain, leveling every city they can. The UK and US hold onto southern Italy, triggering massive German reinforcements to Rome to protect it.

Turkey joined the war and their armies advance into Romania. One more month to go before both sides are exhausted and peace negotiations commence.

[Liam]

Rambo loves rockets. They are hard to beat with the range and experience they find the target all too often. I had a game where he put a good dozen of those in Forts in the Rear beyond Moscow all the way painted through Stalingrad. The Russians were fighterless but the Rockets kept my land forces from advancing at all. I had to use Turkey to end the game because he couldn't post rocket defense on all the fronts. They're a little overpowered if you ask me, but I suppose 5 bar fighters are too

[arado234]

Im just getting the hang of the german rockets.They sure are nasty.My last game i used them i had three at strength of 15 range of 4 one at 13,all fully mobilised. Utterly Devastating.I found out why rambo likes them.

[jon_j_rambo]

AXIS MAJOR VICTORY! (timeout: Stalemate).

Yes, we have a nasty, nasty counter-attack via rockets at Moscow. We dust away 4 Russia power pieces after their counter!

At May 1947 turn, I held:

1) Berlin

2) Rome

3) Warsaw

4) Paris

5) London

6) Moscow

The rest is details.

[Timskorn]

Whew, what a game. I was going to do a amphib/para/bombing run on London but kept getting mud, was hoping to take it right before the game ended. I think he only had one minor Corp. protecting it.

Good game! Long, but was fun all the way.

[SeaMonkey]

You've got to be especially satisfied with your play after losing the Island.

A round of applause for Tigerskorn!

[Jeff Sutro]

Timskorn and Rambo:

Thank you both for the excellent AAR. As a new player (I got the Bundle Pack for Christmas) I found it interesting and helpful. I got the impression though that long range rockets are overpowered both from the point of view both of gameplay and of history. This brings up two questions.

1) Is this perception correct, or was it just the way that particular game played out?

2) Has this been altered in the Weapons & Warfare expansion, in conjunction with the addition of artillery and / or other changes?

I'd be grateful for any information you can give me.

[Timskorn]

1. It's a little of both. Rockets became superweapons in the game, but it's also up to me to either make him pay for his decision to invest in rockets or find a way to cripple them.

2. Yes, rockets have been "altered" so they reflect their historical use more accurately. They are now mostly effective against resources and not units.

WaW, compared to SC2, seems to have "balanced" some of the units such as rockets and fighters. Axis air power always comes up in discussions about being too powerful, even in WaW. But WaW split the duty of the SC2 fighter into two roles now, that of fighter and tac bomber which in turn increases the investment cost of relying on heavy airpower. You can't just buy one unit and upgrade one tech to dominate air and ground, now you need fighters and tac.

Personally I prefer WaW's style so far. SC2, as Terif argues, might be the preference of high-level competitive multiplayer gaming, but for the rest of us WaW is the superior choice.

I'm glad you enjoyed the AAR!