XDAP Semifinal: JDOW+ME1945 vs Adam+AxisDominion Allies+35

[Adam514]

@JDOW:

To clarify one edit. 1 Fig and 1 Tac started the turn from WGR. TripleA did not let me fly them to 113 although I am certain the could, thus I edited it.
A total of 3 air craft was eligble to land in 113, the finland attacker and 2 from Normandy.

Haha no worries  :wink:.

[Adam514]

TripleA Manual Gamesave Post for game: World War II Global 1940 2nd Edition, version: 3.9

Game History

Round: 9

Purchase Units - Russians
            Russians buy 8 infantry; Remaining resources: 1 PUs;

Combat Move - Russians
            1 fighter and 1 tactical_bomber moved from Suiyuyan to 19 Sea Zone
            2 infantry moved from Samara to Kazakhstan
            1 fighter moved from Russia to Kazakhstan
            1 infantry moved from Smolensk to Bryansk
                  Russians take Bryansk from Germans
            1 fighter moved from Russia to Tsinghai
            1 infantry moved from Shensi to Tsinghai
            1 mech_infantry moved from Samara to Tsinghai

Combat - Russians
            Battle in Kazakhstan
                Russians attack with 1 fighter and 2 infantry
                Italians defend with 1 armour
                Russians win, taking Kazakhstan from Italians with 1 fighter and 1 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
                Casualties for Italians: 1 armour
                Casualties for Russians: 1 infantry
            Battle in Tsinghai
                Russians attack with 1 fighter, 1 infantry and 1 mech_infantry
                Germans defend with 1 mech_infantry
                Russians win, taking Tsinghai from Germans with 1 fighter and 1 mech_infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is 1
                Casualties for Germans: 1 mech_infantry
                Casualties for Russians: 1 infantry
            Battle in 19 Sea Zone
                Russians attack with 1 fighter and 1 tactical_bomber
                Japanese defend with 2 battleships, 1 carrier and 4 transports
                Japanese win with 2 battleships, 1 carrier and 4 transports remaining. Battle score for attacker is -21
                Casualties for Russians: 1 fighter and 1 tactical_bomber

Non Combat Move - Russians

triplea_38271_Rus9.tsvg

[JDOW]

SZ19 is cursed waters for the Allies. Those japanese ships certainly earn a medal!

[Adam514]

Alrighty we concede, good game!

Very well played. I felt like the Allies were played very well here too, but even with 35 bid we couldn’t get enough lead, although at times it looked like the Allies had the edge. In my opinion, you could have pretty much finished us off if you had sacrificed a bit on the Russian front to secure Egypt with mechs and tanks as Germany, and let Italy reinforce there until the end of the game.

It was a great game for my last vanilla game, thanks.

Cheers and good luck in the rest of the XDAP.

[Adam514]

@JDOW:

SZ19 is cursed waters for the Allies. Those japanese ships certainly earn a medal!

Certainly! The odds weren’t good enough to justify blaming dice though. Our odds of winning the game were probably inferior than our odds of winning that battle (which I estimate at about 60%).

[JDOW]

Wow, thanks! I agree that the Allies were played well, too. This game was on the edge.
Special thanks to ME1945 who widened my horizon with crazy and crafty ideas to play Japan in a way I would have never dared to play.
Dunno, according to my conservative play I never had to make concessions to the Russian front which I consider top1 priority and I would have taken a walk to Egypt in case I believed Japan might collapse. But crafty ME1945 always managed to put Japans head out of the sling.

Dicewise I believe the Allies were preferred in the early game. Although Germans had good early turns, Japan had a rough time early. The Malaya disaster mattered a lot and the UK Burma attack went clearly above average.
After that the Axis always got the dice they needed. 2-3 Japan turns were planned on the edge and they worked out, so did the German Normandy attack that had some risk, too. And then there was of course the sz19 triple attack.
I still believe that even with the Russians sinking the TTs the Axis had a very good position but in case Normandy would have gone worse this game would have been still open.

I would like to know: I stopped breathing when I saw ME1945 offered a 50% for the Chinese on the Japanese army before stacking Burma. I would have attacked with China without hesitating. What made you skip that attack? Were you confident having a winning position at this point avoiding any risks?

I found the Russian play quite passive, sometimes I was happy about Russia not being more pushy. Also it imo did not pay off to let units die at Iraq and put the 2 tanks out of the game for 3 African IPC.
Also I was a bit worried about what happened if US would have gone for a risky move now, stacking Finland, air striking the Vyborg guys or putting 10 more air to Norway creating unbearable threats. However with 87 IPC there would have probably been ways to defend it while Japan would in fact create VC victory threats soon.

Again, I am glad for this new Japan experience I only had by having such a creative partner. Kudos to ME1945 who not only played Japan excellently but also gave valuable input in order to gain German dominance in Europe.

Also thanks a again Adam for the great sportsmanship, as usual!

[JDOW]

Oh, thanks of course to Axis Dominion for great sportsmanship and the great game, too!

[axis-dominion]

@JDOW:

Oh, thanks of course to Axis Dominion for great sportsmanship and the great game, too!

gg guys and well played

i don’t remember it being 50%, was something more like 45% and a negative tuv, but yah i hear ya, prob would’ve been worth a shot to cut down that jap stack and help india out

my last vanilla as well….BM is just way too good to ever wanna go back  :wink:

good luck in the championship

[JDOW]

Well remembered. It was 47% and -9 for China, but 60% and -1,5 in case the US bomber would have hit in a suicide mission before.

[Adam514]

I strongly believe that the side that won sz19 would win the game. Without those tps and capital ships there’s no way Japan would get back the DEI, and even Philippines would have to be traded at best.

The best I found was 43% on turn 3, those aren’t good enough odds really, in that position.

Not sure what you expect from Russia in vanilla  :lol:, but we also had to choose between denying Germany from getting Caucasus and Volgograd for a few turns or countering the Japanese push on India, since they were in sync. After that Russia can’t be pushy.

Likewise!

[JDOW]

Yeah, without the 4 TTs Japan would have had a hard time to become a real threat. We would have not conceded in case the Russians would have finished off but very likely been behind after that.

Re Russia: I tend to keep the tanks in Europe and buy more fast and powerful units in order to challenge the German position next to a Russian stack more. Even willing to sack some inf+aa to block Italian can opener off if important. The downside is of course Moscow being less of a fortress then.

In the end your strategy was to get Japan down and holding Moscow in order to let rich US do the Job against the Germans. And it almost worked, MARTI made a decision though^^

[JDOW]

Yeah, without the 4 TTs Japan would have had a hard time to become a real threat. We would have not conceded in case the Russians would have finished off but very likely been behind after that.

Actually I stated the opposite on top^^ I guess the game would have been winnable for both sides after Russians clear sz19, still believing Axis had a potent position, but so had the Allies too.

[Me1945]

Thanks for the game guys. Overall the luck was in our side. Don’t go to casinos. :-)

[Me1945]

@Adam514:

It was a great game for my last vanilla game, thanks.

How about 2016 league play off?

[Adam514]

@Me1945:

@Adam514:

It was a great game for my last vanilla game, thanks.

How about 2016 league play off?

After releasing BM to the public I had the firm intention of not starting another vanilla (league) game, and that would also apply to the playoffs. I doubt I would participate in them if they are vanilla, and they should be vanilla since that’s how the league year started (unless everyone wants BM). That’s why I won’t mind sitting out the playoffs this year.

[Me1945]

You believe the game is still unbalances even with the extra 100 PU for Allies?

[Adam514]

You mean with a 100 bid? Allies would probably win, just because they have enough bid to skew all battles in their favor for the first few rounds, as if they were dicing Axis.

However, BM is not only about balance. It’s about improving gameplay and making use of the map a lot better than vanilla does. Both sides have a lot more options at their disposal, and it definitely breathes new life into G40 if ever that was needed.

[Me1945]

I am not blaming BM rules. Honestly, I did not even read it. You might be right.
The point is, instead of blaming the original rules and skipping the league final you may want to think about higher bid.

[Adam514]

Bids can pretty much fix any balance problem, but there comes a certain point when the bid significantly reduces the gameplay and fun factor. Why would I go back to a version of the game I appreciate less? You can think of it as if you had the choice between Revised and G40 (if you came from Revised).

[Me1945]

OK.

I strongly believe that the side that won sz19 would win the game.

Another thing I feel I am not following you. Let’s assume the luck finally kissed you and Rus won sz19 with, say, a plane remaining.
Adam, I offer you to continue this game out of the XDAP with this assumption. We can count it as the league game, if you want.