L24 BM4 Playoff Semi-Final Adam514 (Axis) vs Gamerman01 (Allies+22)

[gamerman01]

TripleA Turn Summary: UK_Pacific round 14

TripleA Turn Summary for game: World War II Global 1940 Balanced Mod3

Game History

Round: 14

    Purchase Units - Americans
        Americans buy 3 carriers, 3 infantry, 1 mech_infantry, 1 submarine and 2 transports; Remaining resources: 0 PUs; 

    Combat Move - Americans
        1 bomber and 1 fighter moved from Tsinghai to Shensi
        1 submarine moved from 26 Sea Zone to 17 Sea Zone
        1 fighter moved from Marianas to 17 Sea Zone
        1 infantry moved from Greece to Albania
        1 bomber moved from Gibraltar to Albania
        1 fighter and 1 infantry moved from Greece to Bulgaria
        1 fighter moved from Caroline Islands to 17 Sea Zone
        1 fighter moved from Caroline Islands to 17 Sea Zone

    Combat - Americans
        Battle in 17 Sea Zone
            Americans attack with 3 fighters and 1 submarine
            Japanese defend with 1 destroyer
                Americans roll dice for 1 submarine in 17 Sea Zone, round 2 : 0/1 hits, 0.33 expected hits
                Americans roll dice for 3 fighters in 17 Sea Zone, round 2 : 1/3 hits, 1.50 expected hits
                Japanese roll dice for 1 destroyer in 17 Sea Zone, round 2 : 1/1 hits, 0.33 expected hits
                1 submarine owned by the Americans lost in 17 Sea Zone
                1 destroyer owned by the Japanese lost in 17 Sea Zone
            Americans win with 3 fighters remaining. Battle score for attacker is 2
            Casualties for Americans: 1 submarine
            Casualties for Japanese: 1 destroyer
        Battle in Shensi
            Americans attack with 1 bomber and 1 fighter
            Japanese defend with 1 infantry
                Americans roll dice for 1 bomber and 1 fighter in Shensi, round 2 : 1/2 hits, 1.17 expected hits
                Japanese roll dice for 1 infantry in Shensi, round 2 : 0/1 hits, 0.33 expected hits
                1 infantry owned by the Japanese lost in Shensi
            Americans win with 1 bomber and 1 fighter remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
            Casualties for Japanese: 1 infantry
        Battle in Bulgaria
            Americans attack with 1 fighter and 1 infantry
            Italians defend with 1 infantry
                Americans roll dice for 1 fighter and 1 infantry in Bulgaria, round 2 : 0/2 hits, 0.67 expected hits
                Germans roll dice for 1 infantry in Bulgaria, round 2 : 1/1 hits, 0.33 expected hits
                1 infantry owned by the Americans lost in Bulgaria
            1 fighter owned by the Americans retreated
            Germans win with 1 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is -3
            Casualties for Americans: 1 infantry
        Battle in Albania
            Americans attack with 1 bomber and 1 infantry
            Italians defend with 1 infantry
                Americans roll dice for 1 bomber and 1 infantry in Albania, round 2 : 1/2 hits, 0.83 expected hits
                Italians roll dice for 1 infantry in Albania, round 2 : 0/1 hits, 0.33 expected hits
                1 infantry owned by the Italians lost in Albania
            Americans win, taking Albania from Italians with 1 bomber and 1 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
            Casualties for Italians: 1 infantry

    Non Combat Move - Americans
        1 bomber moved from Albania to Greece
        1 bomber moved from Shensi to Greece
        1 fighter moved from Shensi to Tsinghai
        3 fighters moved from 17 Sea Zone to 31 Sea Zone
        9 fighters moved from 26 Sea Zone to Caroline Islands
        3 fighters moved from Hawaiian Islands to Caroline Islands
        2 bombers moved from Western United States to Caroline Islands
        1 infantry moved from Hawaiian Islands to 26 Sea Zone
        1 infantry moved from Hawaiian Islands to 26 Sea Zone
        1 infantry moved from Hawaiian Islands to 26 Sea Zone
        1 artillery moved from Hawaiian Islands to 26 Sea Zone
        1 transport moved from 54 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
        1 marine moved from Western United States to 10 Sea Zone
        1 infantry moved from Western United States to 10 Sea Zone
        1 fighter moved from Bulgaria to Greece
        2 infantry moved from Tobruk to Libya
        1 infantry moved from Alexandria to Tobruk
        1 mech_infantry moved from Tobruk to Libya
        1 armour moved from Tobruk to Libya
        1 artillery moved from Gibraltar to 92 Sea Zone
        3 infantry moved from Gibraltar to 92 Sea Zone
        1 artillery, 1 infantry and 1 transport moved from 92 Sea Zone to 109 Sea Zone
        1 artillery and 1 infantry moved from 109 Sea Zone to United Kingdom
        2 infantry and 1 transport moved from 92 Sea Zone to 109 Sea Zone
        2 infantry moved from 109 Sea Zone to Eire
              Americans take Eire from Neutral_Allies
        1 fighter moved from 92 Sea Zone to Greece
        1 destroyer moved from 92 Sea Zone to 109 Sea Zone
        1 infantry moved from Algeria to Morocco
        1 mech_infantry moved from Libya to Tunisia
        1 fighter moved from 92 Sea Zone to United Kingdom
        1 carrier moved from 92 Sea Zone to 109 Sea Zone
        2 cruisers moved from 26 Sea Zone to 31 Sea Zone
        1 artillery, 3 infantry and 2 transports moved from 26 Sea Zone to 31 Sea Zone
        1 artillery and 3 infantry moved from 31 Sea Zone to Wake Island
        1 infantry, 1 marine and 1 transport moved from 10 Sea Zone to 31 Sea Zone
        1 infantry and 1 marine moved from 31 Sea Zone to Wake Island
        1 submarine moved from 26 Sea Zone to 33 Sea Zone
        1 submarine moved from 26 Sea Zone to 17 Sea Zone
        7 carriers, 6 destroyers and 9 submarines moved from 26 Sea Zone to 31 Sea Zone
        1 destroyer and 1 submarine moved from 10 Sea Zone to 26 Sea Zone
        2 submarines moved from 10 Sea Zone to 31 Sea Zone
        1 infantry moved from Central United States to Western United States
        1 submarine moved from 31 Sea Zone to 22 Sea Zone
        2 infantry moved from Queensland to South Australia

    Place Units - Americans
        1 transport placed in 101 Sea Zone
        3 carriers and 1 transport placed in 10 Sea Zone
        1 submarine placed in 97 Sea Zone
        1 infantry and 1 mech_infantry placed in Greece
        2 infantry placed in Eastern United States

    Turn Complete - Americans
        Americans collect 57 PUs; end with 57 PUs
        Trigger Americans 7 North Africa Beach Head: Americans met a national objective for an additional 5 PUs; end with 62 PUs
        Objective Americans 1 Homeland: Americans met a national objective for an additional 10 PUs; end with 72 PUs
        Objective Americans 3 Defense Obligations: Americans met a national objective for an additional 5 PUs; end with 77 PUs
        Objective Americans 2 Outer Territories: Americans met a national objective for an additional 5 PUs; end with 82 PUs

    Purchase Units - Chinese
        Trigger Chinese Loses Burma Road: Chinese has their production frontier changed to: productionChinese_Burma_Road_Closed
        Chinese buy 1 infantry; Remaining resources: 2 PUs; 

    Combat Move - Chinese
        Trigger Chinese Guerilla Shensi: Chinese has 1 infantry placed in Shensi

    Combat - Chinese
        Chinese creates battle in territory Shensi

    Non Combat Move - Chinese

    Place Units - Chinese
        1 infantry placed in Tsinghai

    Turn Complete - Chinese
        Chinese collect 4 PUs; end with 6 PUs

    Purchase Units - British
        British buy 1 armour, 1 fighter, 4 infantry and 1 transport; Remaining resources: 0 PUs; 

    Combat Move - British
        1 artillery, 1 fighter and 4 infantry moved from Belgian Congo to Kenya
        1 bomber moved from Union of South Africa to Kenya
        1 armour moved from Persia to Northwest Persia
              British take Iraq from Germans
        3 fighters moved from Greece to Bulgaria
        5 fighters moved from Greece to Yugoslavia

    Combat - British
        Battle in Bulgaria
            British attack with 3 fighters
            Italians defend with 1 infantry
                British roll dice for 3 fighters in Bulgaria, round 2 : 2/3 hits, 1.50 expected hits
                Germans roll dice for 1 infantry in Bulgaria, round 2 : 0/1 hits, 0.33 expected hits
                1 infantry owned by the Italians lost in Bulgaria
            British win with 3 fighters remaining. Battle score for attacker is 3
            Casualties for Italians: 1 infantry
        Battle in Yugoslavia
            British attack with 5 fighters
            Germans defend with 1 mech_infantry; Italians defend with 1 infantry
                British roll dice for 5 fighters in Yugoslavia, round 2 : 3/5 hits, 2.50 expected hits
                Germans roll dice for 1 infantry and 1 mech_infantry in Yugoslavia, round 2 : 2/2 hits, 0.67 expected hits
                2 fighters owned by the British lost in Yugoslavia
                1 mech_infantry owned by the Germans and 1 infantry owned by the Italians lost in Yugoslavia
            British win with 3 fighters remaining. Battle score for attacker is -13
            Casualties for British: 2 fighters
            Casualties for Italians: 1 infantry
            Casualties for Germans: 1 mech_infantry
        Battle in Kenya
            British attack with 1 artillery, 1 bomber, 1 fighter and 4 infantry
            Japanese defend with 1 armour, 1 artillery and 6 infantry
                British roll dice for 1 artillery, 1 bomber, 1 fighter and 4 infantry in Kenya, round 2 : 2/7 hits, 2.33 expected hits
                Japanese roll dice for 1 armour, 1 artillery and 6 infantry in Kenya, round 2 : 5/8 hits, 2.83 expected hits
                1 artillery owned by the British and 4 infantry owned by the British lost in Kenya
                2 infantry owned by the Japanese lost in Kenya
                British roll dice for 1 bomber and 1 fighter in Kenya, round 3 : 1/2 hits, 1.17 expected hits
                Japanese roll dice for 1 armour, 1 artillery and 4 infantry in Kenya, round 3 : 2/6 hits, 2.17 expected hits
                1 bomber owned by the British and 1 fighter owned by the British lost in Kenya
                1 infantry owned by the Japanese lost in Kenya
            Japanese win with 1 armour, 1 artillery and 3 infantry remaining. Battle score for attacker is -31
            Casualties for British: 1 artillery, 1 bomber, 1 fighter and 4 infantry
            Casualties for Japanese: 3 infantry

    Non Combat Move - British
        1 artillery and 1 infantry moved from Rhodesia to Union of South Africa
        1 transport moved from 83 Sea Zone to 88 Sea Zone
        1 submarine moved from 97 Sea Zone to 93 Sea Zone
        1 submarine moved from 110 Sea Zone to 91 Sea Zone
        3 fighters moved from Yugoslavia to Greece
        3 fighters moved from Bulgaria to Greece
        1 aaGun, 1 artillery, 3 infantry and 1 mech_infantry moved from Tobruk to Libya
        1 mech_infantry moved from Libya to Tunisia
        2 aaGuns, 2 artilleries and 16 infantry moved from Persia to Northwest Persia
        1 transport moved from 92 Sea Zone to 95 Sea Zone
        1 armour and 1 infantry moved from Sicily to 95 Sea Zone
        1 armour, 1 infantry and 1 transport moved from 95 Sea Zone to 97 Sea Zone
        1 armour and 1 infantry moved from 97 Sea Zone to Greece
        1 aaGun moved from Gibraltar to 92 Sea Zone
        1 aaGun and 1 transport moved from 92 Sea Zone to 99 Sea Zone
        1 infantry moved from Cyprus to 99 Sea Zone
        1 aaGun and 1 infantry moved from 99 Sea Zone to Greece
        3 carriers and 2 destroyers moved from 92 Sea Zone to 109 Sea Zone

    Place Units - British
        1 transport placed in 109 Sea Zone
        1 armour, 1 fighter and 1 infantry placed in Union of South Africa
        3 infantry placed in United Kingdom

    Turn Complete - British
        Total Cost from Convoy Blockades: 3
            Rolling for Convoy Blockade Damage in 80 Sea Zone. Rolls: 4,6,2
            Rolling for Convoy Blockade Damage in 72 Sea Zone. Rolls: 2,1,5,6,5,5,4,5,6,2,3,4
        British collect 25 PUs (3 lost to blockades); end with 25 PUs
        Trigger British 3 No Enemy Submarines: British met a national objective for an additional 3 PUs; end with 28 PUs
        Objective British 4 Control Convoy Lanes: British met a national objective for an additional 3 PUs; end with 31 PUs
        Objective British 2 Southern Europe Beach Head: British met a national objective for an additional 3 PUs; end with 34 PUs

    Turn Complete - UK_Pacific

Combat Hit Differential Summary :

Americans regular : -1.50
Italians regular : -0.33
Japanese regular : 2.33
Germans regular : 1.67
British regular : 0.50

Savegame

[gamerman01]

Good game!
Sorry I must have tried your patience.

Again, you were really great to play against.
Lightning fast play, not a lot of edits, and great sportsmanship.

I won’t make all my excuses, and keep the speech short.

First game between us, many years of buildup suspense.

A really good game, a little too short.

I had good plans to hold South Africa for a couple turns and maybe even make it expensive or make you go away from the porcupine, but that last critical battle sealed the game.

It’s a little disappointing because I had some good things going but have to turn around the income or it’s just the long slow full nelson. That’s 3/3 times I’ve faced that in 2 years against the best players, and it’s not too fun. But the Allies get all their shots first and only get slowly suffocated if the first several rounds aren’t good enough.

[gamerman01]

Maybe one of these days crockett is up to interviewing us, if you’re still up for it when the time comes.
It would be the first time we’d have both players in the interview along with @crockett36 is quite good at reviewing.

There were several highlights in the game as there always are in a competitive game of A&A

Off the top of my head, from my side they included,

1. Bottom 4% chance on Paris G1, 6 tanks survive. Any worse than that and the dice would have maybe even decided the game on G1. That would have been unfortunate.
2. German (mostly or all) air attacks on the Allies went fantastic the whole game. In my opinion that was really a killer.
3. J1 took a few extra hits that might have been critical. Every infantry counted in the India crush, which had to be called off, and probably not by much. Several things had to happen in the first couple rounds for me to even have a chance. One was Japan taking a few hits, especially J3 attacking Java. Those ground units threatened India and Australia at the same time.
   This is one of the points in the game where I think I would have lost quickly if it went a little differently.

[gamerman01]

4. I had the chance to wipe all Italian can openers and even shut down the North Italy factory at the same time. The US bomber failed in the 80% shot on an Italian tank.
5. German airstrike of 95, as partly listed in #2, was devastating. 3 planes less than average lost.
6. In one of the few, what I would respectfully call, weaknesses in the Axis game was Italy’s attempts in Africa, BUT would have ended the game I7 if a bomber/tank could have succeeded against 2 2’s. But they didn’t, and I had to play 7 more rounds.

[gamerman01]

7. ANZAC7, the 3 Italian ground can openers were all killed with only the loss of 1 ANZAC plane. Again, breathed new life into my doomed game and helped me survive 7 more rounds

I pretty much stopped keeping track of dice by this time because the first several rounds matter so much, what happens after that is really only important because of all that had happened before that. That’s how I look at it.

One other highlight is how Egypt had to be evacuated before the Germans even got there, I think because I went for 112 and the US planes were needed in Egypt. But. I wouldn’t have held Egypt long anyway.

MAYBE if before playing G15 you got drunk, fell, and suffered a significant head wound I could have taken Berlin for a turn, but I’m not going to make it play out until then after the disaster in Kenya that would have kept me alive a bit longer.

So… good game, I apologize for delays but I need time and energy to play big moves. You do have 4X as many BM games completed as I do (THERE’S an excuse) but now, more than your rating and record,
I am above all impressed by your speed.

[gamerman01]

It was really fun to play you, just a lot of work like all games against good/great players are.

Either you or farmboy will win your respective 2nd championship, so that is cool.

Farmboy is going for back to back!

Is going to be Adam Axis vs farmboy Allies? Probably!

[Adam514]

Good game!

If your targeting of the Italian can openers had worked, that combined with the low amount of remaining German land units would have made it quite hard to get through Russia.

German air got good results on attack, but on its few instances of defense they got caught lacking.

My money is on Axis for the championship game!

[Adam514]

I’m up for the game discussion.

[gamerman01]

Thanks Adam, as usual your few words go a long way. I wish you two a fun and long championship game

I’m glad I can let you know when Randy talks to me or both of us about the review

@crockett36

[farmboy]

this was an interesting game to follow. And I don’t think I’ve often seen a game like this. The stats are worrisome for the allies. But Germany is denied Caucasus and volgograd and the soviets are pretty strong. Japan is dominating but there is no real danger of a pacific victory any time soon. Congrats to both of you and looking forward to the final!

[gamerman01]

Well said, and I’m thrilled you paid close enough attention to the game to comment,

I couldn’t deal with losing Africa that quickly (good dice in Kenya would have slowed it down a couple turns though I anticipated a reload at West India and a naval base, or just a German overwhelm)
Or Europe getting to the point of being easy to defend.

Where I had hope:
I thought the Japanese fleet was going to dominate and a few rounds ago I told my self that I can’t win the game unless the USA is able to get the upper hand AT SOME POINT

I was surprised that I found the USA actually could compete earlier than I thought, but I couldn’t keep up with the race for income worldwide.

Russians might have possibly cut the fast Germans from the slow for a very long time, and the Indian stack moving to help block off the bottleneck. I’m sure Adam had great plans to take care of all these things, but this is what it looked like from my side of the table.

I don’t have much experience with games 12+ rounds. So I discovered the power of Greece out of necessity with all other landing places walled off. For me it was mainly as an airbase in the middle of the theater where planes were going to be able to reinforce Moscow, Normandy, and even Norway in a single turn. It’s not just about a beachhead and a factory and trying to push an army where Germany can’t easily get to.
Now I know.

I’ll leave most of my thoughts for the hopefully to come game review with Adam online, especially so I don’t say too many foolish things about my great plans that he could demonstrate how he was going to easily stop.

But finally I’ll just say that what happens after the first few rounds are largely depending on those few rounds, that is, they decide the course of the game.
In my view, I was playing catch up the entire rest of the game after the very successful G4 air raid on Z95. That was a very deciding battle in my opinion.

Against 95% of other players I would keep going and waiting for the crack. I just set up a pretty good attack on Berlin that would have been easily countered with a wave of 10 ground on Berlin, but there is a chance lesser players would miss that or some other things. Also, hard hitting attack possibilities on the West coast thanks to the airbase on Greece. German/Italy income increasingly hampered by subs newly added, but after 14 rounds with Adam I knew it would just be a really long exercise in futility because like I suffered with @Pejon_88 and @farmboy , the Axis reached the point where they could easily be defensive and not lose the game (with experienced and expert play that all 3 have).

The Allies have to prevent the Axis from getting to that point. I’m kind of late to the party after only returning moderately the past 2 years, but demonstrated 3 times it is crystal clear. My Axis game should be strong again after experiencing 3 thorough demonstrations.

And I have to acknowledge again that I7 the game would have been over immediately with average dice on Italy taking Egypt but I got lucky.

I’m really happy to have so many fantastic and experienced G40 players here all in one place.

[gamerman01]

I also want to acknowledge that as I recall, after a perfect India crush set up (that was hampered a little by J1 dice)
India was doomed even with ANZ 3 fighters that were sent immediately (and I think I managed to get the Singapore army to help out)
It was just a matter of how many Jap planes would be lost.
I could argue that the attack should have been made, I’m sure Adam went back and forth (right?)
But Adam knew he didn’t need to take the chance there because he is a greater player than me, not a lesser. A lesser would have taken the shot and with a little dice assist I would have been in real trouble (if the lesser player were actually to set up a perfect India crush like that)

In other words, I nearly lost in round 2 or 3, and I nearly lost in round 7.
And there might have been another near death like these, in fact, I think Russia was in very real danger although I stumbled on a way to slow the advance by maybe even 2 turns.