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Tekopo posted:Played three war games in the long weekend that just passed: A Distant Plain, Maria and No Retreat 2 (the Crete scenario). ADP was alright but one of the players just lost interested about 3 quarters of the way through and kept both being annoyed when anyone took any time to do anything at all, while at the same time leaving the table to look at people play at other tables/chatting to people even when it was his turn. I asked him about 3-4 times if he wanted to call it quits and with him saying 'nah, let's just keep going' before he finally admitted that he wanted to end the game. The other newbie on the table had fun but felt the game took too long. Going to have to get Cuba Libre on the table I think. quote:
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Yeah, next time I think it'd be better to try out one of the North African scenarios. Looking back at No retreat, it definitel was interesting and something I'd probably try again. It think I might actually want to try the original first, just because it seems the easiest to understand.
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Apr 23, 2014 16:08
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Tekopo posted:Never thought you'd muster up the I had a couple of spare quid lying around. I think we'll have to do a small scenario (Sedan) to learn the rules then follow it up with the campaign soon afterwards so we don't forget the rules. I might event want to get Reluctant Enemies first, because that's suposed to be the best way to get into it.
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Apr 23, 2014 16:24
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What do people think about the OCS games? I already own Blitzkrieg Legend and Reluctant Enemies, and should be playing RE with Tekopo in the coming weekends. Have watched a couple of videos on them and they seem quite managable and surprisngly logical (unlike some of the newer wargames). I'm actualy really interested by Burma, and the rumours about an OCS Beyond the Rhine or OCS Italy.
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Jun 26, 2014 11:08
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I'm a big fan of traditional stuff; I love hex and counter wargames, and am now learning OCS. I'm triyng to presuade Tekopo to play more OCS with me :p
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Sep 10, 2014 14:38
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Tekopo posted:Well, my one experience with P500 has confirmed that it is not worth P500ing for me. That, and GMT generally lose a crapton of money on shipping. It genuninely is better or both you and GMT if you jus buy it from a British retailer.
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Sep 11, 2014 23:57
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wins32767 posted:If you're looking for someone else, hit me up at this username at gmail. I'm probably SA's greatest OCS proponent. Cool, I'll probly take up your offer at some point, though frs,t I'd acutally like to learn/play the system properly face-to-face without the added hassle of learnin how to use Vassal/cyberboard as well.
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Sep 15, 2014 00:55
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I was talking to Tekopo about how I dislike Strategic level games on the train home yesterday, but when I got home, I found out that there was a pending Empire of the Sun reprint. Anyone have any thughts? It looks really good, and I'd like to give it a go some time!
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Sep 24, 2014 12:14
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I just played a solo game of Reluctant Enemies. Won by the Brits on Turn 10 when the Australian 21st Brigade stormed Beirut. The Brits were pretty much at the end of their logistical capabilities - they burned their last bit of supply on the Haifa-Sidon-Beiru axis on their final attack The game started off quite interstingly - in the west, the 21st Brigade were able to get across the Litani in turn 1, through a bold Exploitation phase movement by my mobile Aussie units, but a massive French counterattack, including by the 6th Chaussers and some French Foreign Legion units, were able to drop the Brits back across the Litani. In the centre, the Australian 25th Brigade were able to surround Meradjoun, while British Yeomanry units blocked the road from the North. In the east, the 16th Tunisian and 17th Algerian REgiment were able to conduct a skillful fighting withdrawl towards Damascus and made almost no attempt to confront the 5th Indian Brigade and the Free French Division, bar a few rearguard actions by low TQ units - I didn't feel it was clever to waste supply and precious troops fighting the far numerically and qualitatively superior Brits in the open desert when I had a lovely river line I could pull back to that was far more defensible, and where my Armoured/Mechanized Reserve from the 7th Chaussers would be able to crush any attack that somehow got across the river line. The battle would quickly slow into a grind in the middle - The Brits had spent far, far too much supply in the first few turns, and were genuniely struggling with their supply lines (it didn't help that their supply rolls were genuinely awful a significant amount of the time - they must have gotten 1.5 supplies half the time). The Litani river, and the casualties the Australians took from being beaten back across the first time round, were a huge deterrent. In the centre, the rough hilly terrain meant progress was slow - an assault on the new surrouneded Meradjyoun failed, andthis allowed the 6th Foreign Legion Regiment to succesfully relieve the beleagured garrison, and more importantly, the supplies. The French quickly realised that the position was untenable, and volutnarily withdrew from Meradjyoun to positions further up the valley. In the east, the precarious supply situation meant the 5th Indian Brigade and the Free French Division would take their time to reach the El Awad river, but they made few attempts to actually cross it - the Vichy troops that had escaped from the empty desert were now in prepared, dug in positions along the El Awad river that discouraged the British from attacking. The British Breakthrough ultimately would come in the left, where two lucky naval bombardment rolls managed to DG both stacks of French units on the North bank of the Litani. This, along with a flanking march through the hills west of Meradjyoun by the Staffordshire and Cheshire yeomanry, allowed the British to destroy 5 or so French units, including the damned 6th Chaussers and advance to the Aoaule river. The next turn, thanks to a double turn, I was able to blow away the lone French Regiment that had positioned itself on the north bank of thE Aoaule, and the road to Beirut looked clear. This was when the French were able to deliver their two major reverses against the British - firslty, the French rebuild pull for the turn gave them back none other than the 6th Chaussers, which they promptly dumped just south of Beirut and charged straight down the Beirut road to thorw the British back across the Aouale, nearly destroying the 21st Brigade in the process. Secondly, the British had withdrawn a lot of their forces in the central valley to support their push along the coast, leaving only the Australian 25th Brigade holding the line just north of Meradjyoun. A massive french coutnerattack by the 24th Regiment and 6th Foreign Legion regiment drat well near destroyed the 25th Brigade as well, and only the speedy redeployment of the British 16th Brigade, originally slated for the push on Beirut, to the Meradjyoun front stopped the French from recapturing Meradjyoun, capturing Wilson's HQ, and driving a wedge through the middle of the British lines. These actions left both sides exhausted - the British had burned most of their supplies crossing the Litani and Alouale, and French casualties trying to hold back these attacks were crippling - the pursuit tantalising breakthrough in the centre cost the French dear. The rest fo the game were defined by each side's repsective problem - the British had practically run out of supplies (I had around 1S of supply in the desert, 2S just south of Meradjyoun, and around 1S on the Coastal road), while the French were running out of units! What ultimately allowed the Australian 21st Brigade across the Aloualle were the ships of the Royal Navy DGing the French units on the North bank, and exploitation Cav/Motorised units (particularly the Staffordshire yeomanry), being able to rush along the coastal road to dislodge the token garrison in Damour. Thanks to a double turn, the Australians were able to rush forces up to beisege Beirut and block both the costal road from Tripoli (the one leading off-board), and the inland road leading to Rayak airbase.The French rushed mobile reserves from Damascus and the central valley to try to hold the British back, but by that time, it was too late - the British blocking force. entrenched in the hills, was too tough to dislodge, and even dropping all their rebuilds in Tripoli couldn't stop the Aussies from being able to strom Beirut before the relief force got through. I feel that, even if the French were able to push the British back from Beirut, they had diverted so many resources from other fronts that a breakthrough would have been highly likely, especially in the central valley, where 2 British brigades faced a lone poor-quality French Regiment. Further, with the withdrawal of the French Armoured reserves (the 7th Chaussers), and thier motorized resrves from Damascus to deal with a threat on the coast, I feel there was a good shot for the Free French and Indians to be able to storm across the El-awad and take Damascus. I've learnnd a couple of things - firstly, the Vichy really need to defend in depth. Armoured units, even if they have stupidly high STR, simply don't belong on the front lines in a static defence role, and the lack of a decent blocking reserve meant that once the British were able to crack my defensive line, my entire flank could become unstable and isolated very quickly.. - Artillery/Naval bombardment/airpower is insane. The ability to succesfully get an attack through rests on DGing the defending unit, and a good Artillery barrage is very very expensive in terms of supply! -Terrain helps, but it doesn't do much against pure force of numbers/firepower - The various rivers along the coast were nuisances, but the British were ultimately able to get past them just by throwing entire Brigades of Australians and several thousand tons of ammunition at them. In contrast, the British offensive was severely stalled betweeen turns 2-6 because French air superiority kept DG ing my attacking units. - TQ is really improtant. The difference between throwing a TQ 3 and a TQ 2 into the fight might not sound like much, but they decide battles. Having a TQ edge seriously icnreases the hcance of the surprise roll going your way, and the surprise can really make or break an offensive. - Even in a supply/manuever game, attrition is vital - I feel that the British won through sheer attrition - they would launch stupidly high odd attacks after spending tons and tons of supplies to make sure the French took losses while they didn't. This could have ended up biting them in the rear end. However, the French army was in a far worse state than the Brits were - and even though they had ample supply, the Vichy couldn't get enough units gathered for any serious counterattack on the far more numerous British. without taking unacceptable casualties in return.# On the whole, I realy like OCS - it's fiddly, it's complicated, but I think it makes things interesting - you can't just keep pushing on and on and on and on until your enemy army is dead like you can in other wargames. If pure force/TQ was the only thing that mattered in OCS, this would be a bet-the-house-and-pension on a British victory, but the supply problems the Brits face make this outcome far from a certainty. No photos - I'm a klutz, and I'm too much of a cheap bastard to buy platinum.
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Mar 1, 2015 23:29
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wins32767 posted:Great write up. Was this one of your first plays of OCS? From the sounds of it, you were a bit too passive with the French. As you saw, attackers can cause massive attrition on defenders by constantly doing attacks, but a good defender is going to counterattack hard to keep them honest. If the Brits were running that low on supply, forcing them to burn it on defense means they aren't able to keep pushing. If you can make your opponent go low, it takes a ton of supply to replenish. Also, the Brits also don't have nearly enough men to cover their open flanks in the middle of the map. With some advanced planning, it's very easy for the French to punish a British player who keeps too many troops forward by cutting them all off, especially if they have plenty of supply and are aggressive with their trucks. Yup, this was my first full playthrough of OCS (I had a learning game with Tekopo a couple of months ago). I'm pretty sure I missed a lot of rules as well. Where in the middle of the map is it possible to cut the British off? Are you talking about the open desert between Damascus and the Syrian-Palestine border, or are you talking about the Hasbani river valley, which threatens the British advance up the centre? I think neither came into play in my game because I decided very early on to withdraw to the El Awaj line, figuring it wouldn't be worth defending against a numerically and qualitatively superior enemy (The 5th Indian Birgade, and its numerous AR 4 units are quite potent) 0 I might try holdign the line in the desert next time and force the Brits to burn even more supplies on the eastern push. I'm also not really sure about what you're saying about the AR differential in favour of the French - apart from the Senegalese, the big Brit Battallions (the ones they want to get involvedi n combat) are universally 3s, with a few 4s sprinkled in (going up to 4s as the game goes along as the British 6th Division trickles in + the Australians upgrade). I've found the sam thing with the French - obvisouly as the game goes along, the AR balance will tip in favour of the British, but I'm not sure I'd ever say the AR seemed to ever favour the French. The Brits also seem to have a limted ability to overrun anyway - the only units that can do it are the lovely Australian Divisional Cavalry units (weak and easily picked off on the defensive), The mounted Yeomanry (potent, especially with their AR4, but relatively slow), and their big battalions in move mode (expensive in terms of fuel, and still relatively low strength). I'll try mucking around with reserves a bit more - I'll agree that they're very powerful ( a lot of the huge British exploitations of their succesful attacks came from unleashing highly mobile reserves, like the horse cavalry, after causing a breach), and I should have been more proactive with French reserves, especially on the Beirut road (that might have also been related to not assigning enough troops to the Beirut road in the first place) - dropping in a fresh unit after a british DG would probably have bought the French several more turns, though what I've found as the Brits is, especially on the Beirut road, you start by bombing the Front line units, and, if you get a DG, you use your ships to bombard the Frenc units in reserve mode behind the line instead, as you don't suffer from spotting penalties. You also mentioned something about counterattacking with reserves - I'm not really sure how you can manage that with this game - as far as I know, the only way you seem to be able to coutnerattack with reserves during an opponent's turn is with an overrrun, and the 2 French tank battallions - and maybe, maybe the French FFLs in move mode,
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Mar 3, 2015 01:35
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Going to be an expensive couple of months - just ordered Deluxe Alexander, and am already budgeting for Beyond the Rhine and Empire of the Sun when they hit these shores. Really looking forward to BTR - I found mighty endeavour very dissapointing and random, and hope BTR will scratch my itch slightly better.
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May 13, 2015 00:42
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Picked up Julius Caesar (The Block Wargame) and Great Battles of Alexander from UK Games Expo. So excited to play these. Stupid goddamn medical exams. Then, there's Empire of the Sun.... and Beyondd the Rhine... bring on the summer of wargaming ! :p
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Jun 4, 2015 15:21
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Tekopo posted:Just hurry up and kill someone so that you can get kicked out and we can play together. I need an income or the government would kick me out for being a feelthy eeemeegrunt.
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Jun 4, 2015 15:34
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COOL CORN posted:Please make a reverent 45 minute video about your ex who you enjoyed playing MTG with and cry during it, then it will be peak Calandale. wait - what? WHen did he do this?
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Jun 7, 2015 02:33
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COOL CORN posted:There's an upcoming C&C WW1 game coming out!? Holy poo poo. Yeah, there was a kickstarter for it several months ago. I backed it + got a copy at the UK Games Expo... You get a lot of minis in the box! (160 ish) It's most like Memoir 44 (in that there are very few unit types - lots and lots of infantry!), but the combat cards make it different and unique.
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Jun 15, 2015 00:21
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COOL CORN posted:Looks like it has "been at retailers" for the last week or so, but I can't find it anywhere. Bummer. Doubt it - it's only just shipped to Kickstarter backers. The only place people could actually but it was the UK Games Expo.
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Jun 15, 2015 12:15
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Taran_Wanderer posted:The new War of the Ring expansion has been announced, Warriors of Middle-earth! Take your Ameritrash somewhere else. This is for REAL WARGAMES. For REAL MEN (AND WOMEN - Let's no be mysoginist pigs like Tim Hunt here) On a more serious note - it looks good. War of the Ring is my favourite Trash game, and looking forward to having more of it! On an unrelated, and very sad note, I missed out on a really really sweet-looking World in Flames deal on eBay  Unpunched Final deluxe Edition went for £42!
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Jun 17, 2015 23:11
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Oldstench posted:Anyone here play GBoAlexander? I'm really interested in learning and was wondering if anyone would be willing to Skype/Vassal it with me sometime? I've played other games in GBoH - mostly Caesar Conquest of Gaul and SPQR, but not Alex, though I do own it. Currently very busy, but will leaf through the rules in July and might be able to teach you then. I nkow the rules, but I wouldn't describe myself as a particularly competent player of the system!
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Jun 24, 2015 03:48
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Just picked up a copy of The Burming Blue. Going to indulge in my fantasies of a massvie urban regeneration of much of London's Narrow streets.
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Jun 27, 2015 02:22
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Tekopo posted:Why is my wargame historically accurate?! THE PURE CHEEK! Been watching EOTS gameplay videos. It looks awesome. Can't wait.
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Jun 28, 2015 04:49
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COOL CORN posted:I have no room on my shelf, yet I just bought D-Day at Tarawa and Combat Commander: Europe. I've already cleared some out for Beyond the Rhine and Empire of the Sun, for when they finally hit European shores (drat Americans, always late!). I then found a great deal for C&C Napoleonics Expansions, and am now trying to rearrange my room to find even more space.....
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Jun 30, 2015 01:05
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Fat Turkey posted:Is there a Hex and Counter game that takes 30-60 minutes, doesn't cost the earth and is suitable for beginners to the genre. A Victory Lost is considered a modern classic and takes 90-120 mins, if you're intereted in that.
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Jul 1, 2015 13:35
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COOL CORN posted:I've only played A Victory Denied, but I thought it was pretty great! I have WED. Would love to try it at some point, but it feels like it was deisnged for someone living in a massive house in the middle of nowhere who can fit a 15mx2m long board in their house......
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Jul 1, 2015 15:14
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Tekopo posted:Do you have this, we could play it on Friday? And, no, I don't have it. I pissed my money up the wall on Burning Blue and CC Napoleonics expansions. + My remainign wargaming budget for this year is going on Beyond the Rhine and EOTS 2nd Ed.
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Jul 1, 2015 15:14
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He is the government now. #REMOVECIGARFROMPREMISES!
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Jul 1, 2015 22:33
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I wasn't a huge fan of Caesar. I liked CCN. I don't know why I dislike the randomness in Combat Commander but seem to be fine with the randomness in CCN. Fading Glory... was interesting, but I wouldn't say it's my favourite Napoleon's Triumph was indeed very tense, and I'd be happy to play it again.
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Jul 5, 2015 23:46
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Fat Samurai posted:There are 840 counters in Unconditional Surrender, I think that amount of cardboard has its own gravitational field. How many more do you need in order to call it a monster game? UCS is not a monster. 840 is peanuts (mostly markers) + it's a 1 mapper., particularly when the unit density is as low as it is in UCS. When we're talking monsters, we're talking more about World in Flames (With expansions), Dan Holte's Battle for normandy, OCS Case Blue (Even Blitzkrieg Legend or Beyond the Rhine are only mini-monsters) etc. tomdidiot fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Jul 6, 2015 |
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Jul 6, 2015 11:36
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StashAugustine posted:Hey does anyone know if its possible to get a carboard backing for the Empire of the Sun map? Paper maps make me nervous. I thought the new map was going to be hard mounted?
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Jul 9, 2015 06:11
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EMPIRE OF THE SUN HYPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe Also, played Jena-Auerstadt in CC Napoleonics. Won Jena as Prussians. Lost Aueerstadt. Both quite close, and very hard for rpussians.
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Jul 20, 2015 16:07
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Tekopo posted:Have you actually played it yet? Also, this sunday are you free? Or anytime in the weekdays next week after 2:30 pm? No, No, Maybe on Wednesday/Friday.
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Jul 21, 2015 09:35
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Counter clipping is like Male Circumcision. Brutal, medically unnecessary, and a aweird American tradition we don't want over here.
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Jul 21, 2015 14:07
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GRRRRR... The online retailer hosed up my order and it's being sent to a neighbour. I don't want to have to... INTERACT with a neighbour. Shudder.
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Jul 23, 2015 02:28
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Trollhawke posted:Don't worry, it'll be fine. I mean, how hard can it be just introducing yourself and making the arrangements? I'm a Londoner. We're an anti-social lot. I've managed to rearrange for delivery to my local post office so hopefully this should be resolved come Monday.
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Jul 23, 2015 20:29
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Finally got my cop of Eots. Yup, I've got peely corners as well. Fixed it with suplerglue, but it looks fugly. Nothing I can't live with though. Looking forward to playing it.
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Jul 28, 2015 14:28
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Churchill is a loving Euro, and an insult to the great man's name.
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Aug 6, 2015 13:56
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Welcome to the joy of Twilight Struggle. Still high on its lofty perch of Idiot's Favourite games.
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Oct 6, 2015 22:57
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This was my second play of Empire of the Sun. The first time, Tekopo won a Political Will victory on turn 8 or so after he wiped my carriers when I did a foolhardy raid on Rabaul, and stopped me making progress of war because I had no carriers to support any offensive actions. I wanted to have another go at the allies and see if I could do better this time than the last. Turn 2: The Japanese got a very good start; they had lots of high Activation cards. He opened with I-Go to wipe out every allied Air Unit in Malaya and the Phillipines, followed it up with West Force, that allowed them to quickly take over much of Sumatra, land troops in force on Java, and take Borneo. I played Acadia conference early at Kendari, just to try to give me the opportunity to react in the East Indies, but he responded by using his next OC card to wipe ABDA off the map, and then taking Biak and Guadalcanal. To top it all off, he knocked my War in Europe status down into the Amber range as well! By the end of turn 2, the Japanese had all the Allied troops in Southeast Asia on lockdown, and established a good blocking position in the Solomons. My hand was weird – I had a lot of high op/offensive cards but could do little more than withdraw Macarthur, build the Jarhat road and ping his carriers with submarines. Turn 3: My turn 3 hand was perhaps incredible - I had 3 of the 6 surprise cards in the Allied Deck; Galvanic, watchtower and Brewer! These would have been excellent on Turn 4, but was quite annoying turn 3, as I had very few units to exploit them with. Tekopo started turn 3 by grabbing Wewak and Vogelkop, then proceeding to continue clearing the British and Dutch out of Malaya and the East Indies. Fortunately for me, he had to spend so many of his activations clearing out the remnants of the Dutch, British and Filipinos that I could actually use my hand. I shoved Watchtower into the Future Offensives queue, used Galvanic to take Kwajalein with a marine brigade and the US Pacific Fleet, then had to send the fleet back to Funfafuti as the Kido Butai came roaring back east. In retrospect, I should have pulled the fleet back even further, as he then sent the entire might of the Kido Butai at the US Fleet in Funafuti! Luckily for me, we both round one quarter results, which saved the US Pacific Fleet from serious damage. As he had played first, I also actually managed to sneak the Marines from Kwajalein plus a small Task Force to surprise the Japanese Fleet at Rabaul with Operation Brewer. Turn 4 was dicey. With my new naval base at Rabaul, I was in a great position to threaten the Japanese South Seas HQ in Truk. I decided to start by striking at the Kido Butai directly; I pulled Galvanic out of my Future Offensives queue and sent the entirety of the US Pacific Fleet at the Kido Butai, hoping there would be no reaction card, as I had already seen 2 code change cards on Turns 2 and 3, The fleets were at relatively parity, and I had an emergency repairs in hand to back it up, so I decided the risk was worth it. It paid off handsomely. He had no surprise cards in hand, and I was able to inflict 7 step losses, including 4 on the Fleet Carriers of the Kido Butai, for the loss of 2 step losses of my own. I then managed to waste half of my advantage by seperatating my 2 fleet carriers and sending them to a rear area port on their own. However, Tekopo then retaliated by attacking my damaged fleet carriers in Port Moresby. He pinned my main fleet at Rabaul with Fighters, and then sent the remnants of the Kido Butai, plus several air wings at my damaged carriers. Unfortunately for him, I had Commander Rochefort in hand, and was able to reinforce the fleet enough to deal serious damage to his attack air wings and even more damage to the escorts of the Carrier Fleet. With much of the Kido Butai defanged, I then retrieved Galvanic with an ISR-ending card, struck again at the remnants, pretty much destroying them. I am then able to spend the rest of the turn pushing around New Guinea. Unfortunately, my attack on Wewak with 3 US Corps against 2 full strength Japanese Armies ended with him rolling a 9 and wiping out my entire attacking force, losing me a political will point, and forcing me to spend important Amphibious shipping points shipping the Australians in afterwards to prevent further Japanese reinforcements. Meanwhile, in the China-Burma-India Theatre, the first serious Japanese attempt to invade India is rebuffed at Rangoon, with him suffering casualties similar to the ones I suffered at Wewak. With his last card, however, he manages to push my War in Europe down to the Red Zone! Progress of War: Admiralty Islands, Kaiveng, Wewak. 5 – This is an uneventful turn. Progress of War for the next few turns is trivial; I have around 8 or so Islands in the Solomons left to milk for PoW, so I spend the rest of this turn setting up my continued offensive. I set the Australians up for an advance on Hollandia, use woodlark islands invasion to grab Green, and hence the other 3, unoccupied locations surrounding it, put a good card into the Future Offensive Queue, and keep harassing Japanese ships and planes while I can with my airforces. Tekopo takes another punt at Burma, but that is again rebuffed in Rangoon. Progress of the War: Green/Bougianville/Bajka/Woodlark 6 - Now that my position has stabilised, I begin planning for my big push to blockade the Home Islands. I move up to Hollandia on the New Guinea coast, strike at a weakly defended Palau, and then I use a 1 Op card to bomb the Remanats of the Kido Butai at Saipan and Tinian without giving the nasty-looking Japanese fleet that had recently arrived at Leyte the time to react. I get my first taste of Kamikaze cards (one of four that would be played against me this game!), but still manage to clear Saipan and Tinian, and land Marines to secure my B29 base. In the meantime, I keep milking the Solomons for Progress by taking New Georgia, and throwing an air unit into it to knock the Japanese Army there out of supply. Tekopo is slowly consolidating his forces, and building up for another big push into the CBI. Progress of the War: Hollandia, Palau, Saipan/Tinian, New Georgia 7 - My initial plans for this turn were incredibly ambitious; to strike at Davao and Leyte in order to clear out the Kongo and the remaining pre-war Japanese units. Unfortunately, this was not to be. He plays Halsey’s Typhoon on me, and I have no other multi-activation card that would allow me to deploy safely. I therefore have to content myself with grabbing otherwise useless one hex islands for progress of war. In the CBI, Tekopo continues pushing at Rangoon, but is again rebuffed by the British. Finally, I finish the turn by milking the rest of Solomons for Progress of War after Tekopo pulls a Corps back to defend the home islands with Tokyo Express. Progress of the War: Ponape, Guadalcanal, Gasmata 8 – Sensing blood, I try again to land on Leyte and Mindanao in one go with S-Day, but this is rebuffed by yet another Typhoon card. I play Halsey to move SOPAC HQ to Palau, but the 7 activations means I can only deploy safely on Leyte, and have to waste another card to activate other units for the invasion of Davao. I am able to keep pounding at his ships and planes in the meantime to pave my way for the invasion of Formosa. The Japanese Burma Offensive finally succeeds in driving the British out of Rangoon, with heavy casualties on both sides, and this is followed up by a Ghandi card to prevent British reinforcements. However, this happens quite late in the turn, and the British are able to stabilise in Mandalay to prevent a political will loss. Progress of the War: Samar/Leyte, Davao, Ulithi, 9 - Because of Japanese success in the CBI, and because the Japanese are off the New Guinea Mainland, the are Allies forced to divert Aussie IV corps to Dhaka to stem further Japanese advances. I finally see my 2nd war in Europe card. And my 3rd. And my 4th, which is not ideal; I wanted one to break my Red lock, but I also wanted some offensive cards to keep the pressure on Tekopo. I try an ambitious amphibious invasion, with landings on Formosa and Okinawa at the same time. While the Okinawa invasion goes through, the remaining Japanese Air and Naval Forces are able to present enough of a threat to force the lightly escorted invasion fleet to retreat, though, luckily, the escorts were unharmed. With only an amphibious shipping point wasted, to make progress of war, I have to land on Luzon itself, something I was trying to avoid, as it would involve fighting a Japanese 18/12. However, smothering attacks, as well as supply problems first knock it down to a 9/12, then prevent it from reacting when I land in North Luzon. With Okinawa, North Luzon and Clark under my control, I now have a complete ZOI lock on Japan. Unfortunately, Tek drops the Tinian air unit into Shanghai, I am unable to kill it, and with his last activation manages to pull no less than 5 ground and air units out of the CBI to send to defend the Home Islands to the last. Perhaps most tellingly, none of them were despatched to Pusan, leaving only the Korean army on the peninsula. Progress of War: Okinawa, Clark airfield, North Luzon 10 – My first 7 card hand since Turn 4! By this point Tekopo has almost no air or naval assets on the board. I am able to smother his air units with US carrier aircraft and liberate Manila. I follow this up by invading the Korean Peninsula at Pusan, and pinning/bombarding the Korean Army in Seoul. With Pusan, Okinawa, Luzon, Leyte, Mindanao and Port Moresby under my control, the Japanese Empire is now cut completely in half, and with no air units or naval units left (bar two small and very vulnerable units still holding out in Truk), the rest of the war is academic – japan will inevitably surrender to a Blockade on Turn 12 (having previously been strategically bombed), even without the Atomic Bomb. Tekopo graciously concedes. Progress of war: Manila, Pusan, Prospectively Seoul, Jolo Here are some lovely pics of the game at the Japanese concession, with the US in South Korea and the home Islands under blockade   THis game went a lot better than my previous game - I was able to keep my fleet concentrated, and out of the battle until the ideal situation (Surprise attack with around 100 attack factors against the Kido Butai, and with a low chance of an intercept card in Tek's hand) materialised. I think playing the Allies is all about managing Turns 4 and 5 - these are probably the most difficult turns, as you are expected to mount an offensive, while you still do not have overwhelming numerical superiority, and more importantly, are still short on ASPs. Running offensives while short on ASPs is an *incredibly* dicey proposition, as you are both 1. Risking PW loss from losing Marine units and 2. Risking PW loss from not actually making Progress of War! This was OK while I still had hexes in New Guinea to take, but was becoming quite problematic after clearing the Japanese off the Mainland. I would love the chance to be able to play EOTS with an American player with 8 or 9 ASP points to muscle around at some point! Other Key points I learnt as the Allies: - You can't win the war in the CBI, so don't even try. Hold the line and let the Japanese attack you; the only place probably worth taking the offensive for is Rangoon. Rangoon is a natural defensive position because Japanese army air fights at half strength from Bangkok - Use air for everything. Use air for naval battles. Use air for land battles. Use air to pin. I never used all 5 of my air replacement steps during any of my turns. - Australians dying don't cause Congress to panic. Use Aussies for your battles in New Guinea if you can. or you'll end up losing 72 steps of Yankees like me! - Strat Redeploying Air and having them come back next turn - Essex-class carriers are not invincible. - Bypassing strong points is a good thing. Bypassing strong points then leaving the units behind trapped under Air ZOi is even better. tomdidiot fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Oct 18, 2015 |
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Oct 17, 2015 23:33
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MikeCrotch posted:timg those images, bro Done. Soz :p
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Oct 18, 2015 00:06
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I've just set up the Nordwind Scenario for Beyond the Rhine, and my first thought is Jesus Christ, What the gently caress was that Hitler guy thinking? The main attack is being done against a continuous line of resistance (none of this 28th Infantry Division spread across the entire southern Ardennes bullshit), against allied forces entrenched in the remnants of the Maginot line (Not impregnable, but still not nice), with only average quality troops, many under strength, and only three and a half mechanized Divisions to exploit with (10th SS Panzer, 17th SS Panzergrenadier, 21st Panzer, and a regiment of the 25th Panzergrenadier). To win Nordwind, the Germans have to either capture Strasbourg (Auto-win, and very unlikely), or capture and hold two of Saverne, Sarrebourg, Hagenau and Colmar (Which they start with in the south) until the end of the 12th February turn (Turn 9). To top this all off, the best German (10th SS and 25th PzGrenadier) get withdrawn on you at the end of January. The allied conditions - hold three of those and a West Wall hex, or hold all four and crush the Colmar pocket, seems much more achievable. Honestly, though, it seems like a really interesting scenario - both forces are using only average quality units - the Allies are mostly relying on French Colonial troops, and fresh reinforcements from the US who have been fed into the 7th Army line while the veteran units are off clearing the Bulge; the Allies only have 10 AR4 units (BTR is generally chock-full of big, scary Allied 24-4-3 US and 22-4-3 Commonwealth divisions - definitely not the case here!), while the Germans are throwing the Volksgrenadier units considered too poo poo to be used for the Bulge. The situation is particularly interesting because there are really two battles going on - Nordwind in the North, and the French 1st Army's reduction of the Colmar pocket in the south. It's the second smallest of the BTR scenarios, and it's still pretty big (The shortest/smallest is the Hurtgen Scenario) Some day, I hope to get the entirety of BTR onto the table. Probably have to do a huge team game with each side split into multiple commands (Probably 3-4: based on the various army groups), and even then I'm pretty sure we'll never finish it in a sensible timeframe.
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Oct 25, 2015 03:55
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MikeCrotch posted:The greatest trick the Wehrmacht ever pulled was convincing the world it was all Hitler's fault Herbstnebel/Wacht-am-Rhein and Nordwind were most definitely Hitler's fault. tomdidiot fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Oct 27, 2015 |
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Oct 27, 2015 11:17
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Aw man, I'd be tempted by Normandy '44. I'll even be in the US for a week (between Nov4th-8th) in the Twin Cities area for Netrunner worlds.
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Oct 29, 2015 04:34
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