• So…earlier today, I proposed a strategy for helping get the Italians the “head start” they need to fight on equal footing with their German partners. Then I put that strategy into effect.

    It worked perfectly…right up until it didn’t.

    All Germany’s moves went down, more or less, exactly as planned. Rather than retreat to Holland from France I retreated to West Germany (as I had planes in Holland and had left an infantry or two as well). My opponent had no idea that my retreat was planned, and crowed mightily thinking he’d won a huge blow against the Germans by keeping Paris alive…he had no idea of my planned Italian invasion.

    The disaster started on UK’s first turn: he absolutely took the bait of trying to sink my German fleet (as I had intended) taking the bulk of his navy minus destroyers (which were sent to deal with my convoy blasting subs). However, he also took the entirety of the RAF (including the fighter from Scotland) leaving nothing behind. I scrambled my three ME109s out of West Germany but the dice went dead cold and I ended up losing everything, while he retained both his battleships (wounded) and ALL his fighters.

    Which he then landed in France.

    This completely crushed the Italian move. In order to have any chance against the fighters in Paris, I had to take all of Italy’s aircraft…and ended up losing every single unit. Meanwhile throwing the entirety of Italy’s navy at UK’s Mediterranean fleet resulted in the sinking of all Italian ships (including both transports trying to land in Trans-Jordan and Syria), with never a sniff of the shoreline. Just an absolute shellacking.

    It did not help that the dice refused to thaw at all during Italy’s turn, leaving the Allies with plenty of units.

    Once again Germany was forced to come to Italy’s rescue. After sinking UK’s two wounded battleships, Germany again “softened” France…this time to the point of capitulation…and used the fighters/tacs stashed in Southern Italy to sink the remainder of UK’s Mediterranean fleet.

    But it was too late. An extra wasted turn of wasting precious resources on the western front kept Germany from pushing hard enough in the east. The G2 Barbosa started well, but without air support to bomb Soviet ICs, the Red Army was able to mount sufficient counter-attack to wage their delay/attrition war…and Italy’s lack of IPCs, the loss of their navy/air force, and their inability to close the Suez all meant no help in the Middle East either, the Soviets eventually taking it all.

    I conceded after G7, having failed to take back Denmark (lost to the UK in their 6th turn). The Germans could have fought on a turn or two more, but the squeeze was already on from west, south, and east…losing the Baltic (and with a heavy fleet of American transports sitting in the Channel), the inevitable defeat was clearly visible. I was at the gates of Moscow and out of troops…and the USSR was pulling down nearly as many IPCs as Germany. They’d already taken Greece back from Italy.

    sigh

    Friggin’ Italians.

    On the bright side, we did manage to finish the game in a single day, and my son was definitely happy to get his first win in E40…just a day shy of his birthday, too.

    [can’t wait till he unwraps Pacific 1940]

    ; )

  • 2024 2023 '22

    @black

    That’s the most total defeat I’ve ever seen, except the one where Japan controlled an empire from Ottawa west to Egypt and Greece (I swear that’s true, I played it myself). I don’t want to sound mean here, but I told you that the UK could send fighters to France (again, that wasn’t meant to be rude, but I like how that “sounded”). Better luck next time!


  • @superbattleshipyamato

    Nothing rude about it. I was hoping MY fighters and battleships (all rolling 4s on defense) would manage to take a few of his Spitfires down, or that he’d save SOME for defense of his own island).

    No such luck. And very POOR luck with my dice rolling (neither of my bats managed a hit before being sent to a watery grave).

    I still wonder if the stratagem would have been effective with a little tweaking. Calc simulations show that ANY air support would have greatly increased the likelihood of the Italian navy surviving…likewise if I’d decreased Paris’s forces MORE before retreating.

    The magic number seems to be TWO…so long as Paris is left with no more than two pieces (a fighter and tank, presumably), Italy should have the upper hand (using ANY air support), even if the UK brings three fighters for reinforcement.

    In retrospect there was a lot I’d do differently, including (probably) leaving my fleet on the other side of Denmark…an enticement for the RAF (without UK naval support), and ja looming threat on the horizon.

    Definitely the most disastrous opening I’ve ever experienced in ANY version of A&A. I’ll try not to make the same mistake in the future!


  • @black

    Since you said you finished the game, you can try it again! I wonder how it will with Japan in the mix.


  • @superbattleshipyamato

    Hard to see how it could be much worse.
    ; )

    We just finished our first game of Pacific. Another train wreck (though for…many…different reasons). Global is up next!


  • @black

    I wonder how you think of Pacific in more details, who won in your first game, and generally more thoughts.


  • @superbattleshipyamato

    Not sure anyone can learn anything from my thoughts on Pacific (besides “what not to do”) but I’ll post those on the P40 forum.


  • @black

    Got it! Also, when I have the time, I will play test your strategy. It will be an Europe 1940 only game (the first one since the first one I ever played and started playing Global 1940)


  • @superbattleshipyamato

    Maybe you’re on to something about game imbalance-I don’t know exactly but it’s definitely been more than ten turns into my Europe 1940 only game, and the Allies seem to be winning.

  • 2024 2023 '22

    @superbattleshipyamato

    I finished the game today. The Axis lost. I played against myself and I played only Europe 1940, and it took at least 15 turns (I didn’t count percisely).

    It started off well at first. Whilst it took two attacks by Germany to allow Italy to capture Paris, Operation Sealion was successfully and quickly undertaken, whilst Italy destroyed the British armies in Africa and moved into the Middle East. However, the US was able to successfully liberate London, and the German response to a Soviet attack was less than hoped for, resulting in a stalemate of 10 turns over Eastern Poland and the Baltic States, with the furthest the Axis going were Kiev, Leningrad, and Minsk. The Italians made a mistake of not building industrial complexes in the Middle East, leaving limited forces for a southern front which eventually ran out after capturing Stalingrad, Baku, and Rostov. Despite an initial income advantage, the Axis could not break the Soviets. The Americans then landed in Spain and Portugal, and the extra troops from the neutrals only delayed the eventual break. The Italians did well keeping the Americans away from Paris, but without reinforcements, the Italians made bad moves and the newly revitalised British from Union Of South Africa moved quickly northward, just as the Soviets overran the Middle East. In crucial moments, the Americans captured Rome twice, taking at toll on the Italian economy even though it was liberated both times. The Americans then broke out, liberating France. These IPC losses allowed the Soviets to push into Romania and the Balkans, with Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, and Hungary falling soon after. The Soviets also entered Europe from the south through Turkey and Greece. Paris was recaptured twice after liberation, before both Rome and Paris fell out of the grip of the Axis. Amphibious Allied landings and a lack of reinforcements caused Norway, Denmark, Western Germany, and Holland Belgium to come under the control of the Western Allies, with Germany finally being squeezed to Berlin, which fell under a heavy American onslaught (13 tanks and 2 infantry).

    Overall, both sides has similar luck.

    The Cold War situation is interesting: Whilst the Western Allies control all of Germany, Africa, and South America as well as more than half of Poland (the part that Germany conquered in 1939), the Soviets still control Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Finlandization still happens, whilst Soviet reach stretches across Sweden (a problem for the Baltic Sea), the Middle East (hopefully Indonesia plays nice with gas prices), and Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, and Turkey (the Soviets gain a powerful connection to the Mediterranean and amphibious landings on the Crimea are no longer viable). This will pose a problem on Mediterranean shipping a Churchill feared, but at least there won’t be any problems with the Red Sea as the British control Yemen, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. The Soviets are quite close to the Suez Canal and dominate the Persian Gulf (controlling all of Iran, Kuwait, and Iraq), though. Soviet control of Afghanistan and Eastern Iran makes an invasion of India likely.

    With these two disasters, you might want to change your strategy.

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