Our next BoB date is 17 June, to be held in Derbyshire, UK.
We currently have 6 confirmed attendees (and another 3 possibles). So there will be two games - being any two of Anniversary, 1942.2 or 1914.
That means that at the moment we can accommodate another 4 players - on a first come, first served basis. If anyone new wants to join us please do reply to this thread or send me a PM.
The one after that will be on 16 September.
Two games were played , as we had 7 players .
A game of 1942.2 was won by Credulous, as the Allies, against two non forum members . A Sealion was narrowly avoided , so enabling Russia to rampage through Europe , capturing Berlin. Japan took longer to fall, but was inevitable after Germany was captured .
The second game was 1914.
Witt amd Holy Monk defeated a cheeky and lucky CP team headed by PP and another new forum player . A bad start fir the CPs, saw the British Home Fleet see off a foolish German sortie into British waters . All five German ships were sunk fir no British loss. Three of the German ships were hit by mines.
The Ottoman player did fantastically well to pressure both Russia and the U.K. and help get the CPs get to the gates of Moscow. Only to see them fail, in part to a Russian Air defence five Fts strong. Six CP Fts were lost for the loss of three Russian ones . Despite a German-Austrian one two , Moscow held through to T7.
The Americans were poised to capture Ottoman possessions. Africa was British and the Western Front amd Italy were holding fine.
Time ran out , before the CPs unconditional surrender could be properly accepted .
Better luck next time boys!
Thanks for the write up Leo. Shame it failed to mention the AGREED CP win in 1914!!! :-P
Before I correct witt’s unethical attempt to re-write history, let me say that Credulous has promised to post his write up of the the 1942.2 game.
Turning to the glorious CP victory in 1914:
After the lucky sinking of the German fleet at Jutland for no British losses, virtually nothing else went right for witt and h0lym0nk’s inept allies. witt’s Russia threw away multiple units in unnecessary adventures, allowing AH and G to advance to Ukraine. AH held off Italy’s cheeky incursions while sending most of its forces east. G also sent everything it could east, but much to its own surprise conquered Belgium and stacked Lorraine. F, unable to defend both Burgundy and Picardy, risked an attack on Lorraine which went very badly.
T, aided by an agreed house rule allowing UK maximum builds of 4 per turn in India, gradually gained the upper hand in the middle east. (The CPs were also helped by a second agreed house rule allowing ground units to move 2 territories when both are friendly.)
In turn 5 G made its sacrificial attack on Moscow, with the aim of giving AH odds in turn 6. Despite the loss of the aerial dogfight, G survived with considerable artillery and still some infantry, with more arriving in Ukraine to join the battle the following turn.
The only bright star in the storm clouds hanging over the allies’ heads were the Americans loitering in Morocco, awaiting transport to Greece or somewhere.
witt, depressed and despondent, declared his wish to end the game. The CPs graciously agreed to allow the game to be decided by AH’s turn 6 attack on Moscow. If this went badly the game would be declared a draw. If it gave the CPs the advantage in Moscow the game would be declared a CP victory.
By the end of the combat round it was clear that G might take Moscow turn 6. Failing that AH certainly would in turn 7.
The game was declared a CP victory. Aftertaste (AH & T) and PP (G) were clearly masters of the battlefield littered with allied dead.
The winners write history and I got in first
Thanks to wittmann’s inability to accept defeat graciously, I feel that another perspective may be required. I’d like to open, if I may, with a quote;
“You have to be retarded to lose as the Allies!” Winston Churchill.
Before I get into the nuts and bolts, I’ll briefly cover a few peripheries.
Africa: I think it is a given that the CP can never expect victory in Africa, but can hope to frustrate the Allies, and I think that PP did just that. A few decent moves, mixed with a poorly coordinated Allied effort, kept the British, French and Italians chasing a few German infantry around all of Africa until finally destroying the last division near the end of the game. The British even had to pull a couple of units out of the middle east in order to close the trap.
The War at Sea: As previously mentioned, the German fleet might as well have scuttled themselves, however, the two subs in the Atlantic accounted for two cruisers and a transport. Whilst not having a great impact on the war as a whole, it was a mentionable effort. The Ottoman cruisers were sunk for only one Russian lost, and the AH fleet was skilfully kept bottled in the Adriatic for the whole war, only taking part in an unopposed landing in Italy, then being sunk for one battleship and cruiser, this did have the amusing effect of forcing the British to send two cruisers after one transport, to account for mine loss, as the Russian Baltic battleship was sunk by a wonderful snake eyes rolled by PP. But as is usually the case, the Allies had naval supremacy.
America: The game ended before the Doughboys had time to show up. By the games conclusion, a force of 12 inf and 2 art were poised to strike anywhere in the Med. There was talk of where they could have landed, but had they landed anywhere other than Italy, AH would have rolled into Rome before the American transports could have made it all the way to America and then back across the Atlantic again. The Ottomans, having performed well up to this point, would likely have held Constantinople, long enough for an uncontested CP victory.
Now for the Continent…
The CP agreed early on to drive for Moscow and to keep the western powers at arms length, this meant that Germany had to fight on two fronts for the majority of the war, and AH constituted the main thrust. An early feint into Romania by AH saw an uncommitted Russian army swallowed up in a pincer movement and Germany had by turn 3 a major army threatening an advance through Poland and around the massive Russian stack in the Ukraine.
Russia was always on the defensive, and well coordinated movements by Germany and AH meant that a counterattack by Russia would have left the remaining forces vulnerable. By turn 4, Russia had withdrawn to Moscow, to avoid a flanking move by Germany, allowing the CP to stage their joint army in the Ukraine.
Germany was lucky on the western front, but a sneaky, illegal invasion of Switzerland by Italy almost broke through the lines, it was only a timely intervention by AH and vicious counterattack by Germany that kept the western front from collapsing for the CP. Italy did well throughout the war, but failed to seriously impact the AH forces.
Throughout the game, Italy and Britain took advantage of their naval dominance to land troops in AH’s rear and in some territories of the Ottoman Empire, frustrating both AH and the Ottomans, who had to divert troops from other fronts.
France were focused, as might well be expected, in France, there was never any real risk of Paris falling, but there were some serious exchanges in and around Belgium. Germany’s aforementioned luck in battle and a lack of serious British forces prevented France from threatening Germany by themselves.
By the time the game came to a close, the CP were poised to take Moscow, probably by AH turn 7. Britain had provided a good number of troops for the defence of Moscow, but the supply lines for AH were much shorter. IMHO, had we not played with the two house rules things would have been much different, but it was undeniably grim for the Allies by the French/British turn 5, where the game was called.
Will h0lym0nk leap to witt’s defence like the staunch ally he is?
Will Credulous post a battle report for his game?
Will anyone other than us be interested in these furious exchanges? Blood on keypads everywhere!
As always I enjoyed our day’s play tremendously. Aftertaste was a great partner. And the (ongoing) banter kept me laughing all day. :-D
Homo.
Sounds like it was a blast!
More so for me, as I had not been able to attend for 18 months, on account of my eye problems. PP is a great host.
I understand that we could expect 8/10 players in Sept, so a village hall has been arranged for the next gathering. PP’s dream is to have three games (or more) on the go at once.
@Colt45:
Sounds like it was a blast!
We always have fun Colt …… even when witt joins us! :wink:
