After Action Reports

@TG:

I disagree with this.  In our games Russia did a tremendous job holding off the Germans.  Realistically it’s VERY difficult for the Germans to capture Moscow baring some Russian play mistake or if UK/USA does nothing in Western Europe.  In our games, the Germans never moved in position to attack Moscow for fear of reprisal.  The extra territories really hurt the German supply lanes.

What I’ve seen is that either on it’s own in or conjunction with Italy, Germany threatens Moscow with a large stack of tanks (and some inf and planes) via holding Berlorussia or East Ukraine.  Italy might punch the whole by taking the land, allowing German ftrs to land there before Russias turn.

By holding, I mean can not be counter attacked by Russia.

Eastern Ukraine is the optimal since it now threatens Moscow AND Caucasus, so then it becomes likely that Russia will lost Stalingrad (they have to protect the capital Moscow).

Title:  Global Land Conflict
Date:  19th-20th Jan 2009
Special Rules:  NO 1941
Victor:  Axis Victory by concession

Bias: Two players… both with about ten games of AA50 experience

Description:
-Basically Russia was able to deny German assault into Russia
-UK quickly gained ascendecy in the channel and lauched regular raids on France which Germany and/or Italy regularly took back
-Italy was able to forge into Africa and aid defence of Germany
-Virtual stalemate in Europe with Italy commited to European defence
-Pacific- Japan makes a bold move taking Hawaii J2 (after cleaning out troops J1) and taking all of the islands
However sacrifices moves against UK not taking India, China Australia or Bornea and East Indies
-USA- at first building a KGF strategy, realizes the threat too late (First time we tried an assault against America)
      - Japan takes WUS and is able to hold it.
      - America commited to land war against Japan
      - Despite British aid- EUS lost and allies concede although Germany was vulnerable

Observations/Recommendations:
Okay both players were pretty novice type players, and we were really just trying stuff out, so don’t be too critical of the players or our strategies or anything. Basically I believe (having never played earlier AA edition and therefore not being biased by them) that a global war is possible depending on Japnese aggression against America.
While an assault on the mainland is difficult it can occupy America enough to give Germany time.
If america is not careful it can be taken
Attacking America outright is risky but rewarding. By not taking the IPC richs of the UK, Japan is not producing as much IPCs but if a foothold in AMerica is gained then this makes up for it.

:-o whoa! What a great game! Do you have some pics of final board?

Mmmm… I guess 5 starting trannies leads to this surprise moves. Interesting …

@TG:

Okay both players were pretty novice type players, and we were really just trying stuff out, so don’t be too critical of the players or our strategies or anything.

With ten games of experience, I wouldn’t consider you novices. ;)

I would of thought all you A&A experts would have hundreds of games of experience up their belt. Thats why I consider myself somewhat novice. We both made ocassional errors that were important to the course of the conflict.

that may be true for the older versions of A&A, but since AA50 has only been released late last year, i’d say 10 games is a fair amount of experience  :-D

Title:  take 10 paces, then draw (1942)
Date:  1/31/2009
Special Rules:  techs and NO’s
Victor:  none unfortunately
Game Length:  8 hours, 7 or 8 rounds maybe
Bias:  we’re pretty close in skill level
Description:  we may have set a record, the 1st 4 countries in rd 1 got tech with only 1 die!! japan got jet fighters, russia got rockets, germany got mech inf, uk got super subs (lol), no die for italy and US bought one but didn’t hit right away. tech was further pursued by ger, russia, uk and us with russia getting war bonds and US getting heavy bombers.
japan bought IC for manchuria, took out flying tiger J1, and built up pacific fleet. i threatened WUS and eventually took alaska, but lost the higher priced islands near the end of our game (philip taken back, and next turn would have got back other islands)
russia hung in there til the end, losing russia during our last round. it would have been retaken next turn. they went with a good mix of mostly inf and some tanks, and held the line quite well.they were making great money near the end (40ish with obj) but never were able to threaten germany.also took the man ic for a turn, i stupidly took off my fighters to land on carrier to threaten us.
germany took karelia right away and never lost it, kept their navy going a little bit and kept paying off damage to his IC’s. lost france on uk1 based on bad dice vs eastern canada fleet. they kept trading territories with russia and eventually took the capitol.
uk built IC in eastern canada uk1 and one in india uk2. they took france round 1 but lost it to italy right away. thay pumped out loaded transports from canada to africa and to keep gibralter, 3 tanks per turn in india and bombers for SBR.
italy had to take back france right away so they had to ignore africa 1st turn, also got attacked by uk in libya during uk1. italy could never get a good hold on africa and the multinational fleet just outside of mad was too much for her fleet to handle. during the last round she finally had a tank in africa and would have been able to take it unmolested (too little too late)
US split her monies between both theaters, and after getting heavy bmbrs spent alot of money on them. they kept sending troops to morocco and to gibralter whern necessary, eventually took some of japan’s southern islands near the end. they were primed to attack with their fleet and 4 Hbombrs from phillip but lost all of it during J’s last round.

Observations/Recommendations:  obviously tech played a huge role, heavy bombers maybe are still too strong? it was a well fought game, we need to start earlier or try to start up where we left off. we talked about playing some time w/o techs to make it more “pure”. we’ll see, i’m looking forward to our next marathon. IMO the axis were 2-3 turns from victory, i’m sure the allied player would disagree with me, but who cares what he thinks?

@TG:

Sounds like an incredible match.  You have to love games likes these.

uk built IC in eastern canada uk1 and one in india uk2. they took france round 1 but lost it to italy right away. thay pumped out loaded transports from canada to africa and to keep gibralter, 3 tanks per turn in india and bombers for SBR.

What was the rationale for a Eastern Canada IC?

i’m not too sure what he was thinking. it’s still one turn to morroco from england, right? or because it’s safe from SBR perhaps, i’ll have to ask him and let you know…

Title:  1941 first KGF
Date:  mid january
Special Rules:  NOs yes tech no, faq-rules no
Victor:  agreed draw
Game Length: 8 hours 10+ rounds
Bias: 3 ppl 10+ games AA50 41
Description:  usa went africa while uk was bleeding of german troops. russian never real danger. japan dice  first 2 turns real bad… lost 6 planes, couldnt take phillipines  :x. this lost him 2 turns to get to africa basically. but allied player was very worried about his fleet and axis gained 2 turns  in exchange for 2 unsinkable uk/us fleets by air…

by the time jap fleet reached med ( just in time to stop us taking italy) uk/us troops landed nwe, creating a stalemate in westeurope. if russia could have pushed west, allied victory would have been sure, but  a combined  ger/jap tank force in and around caucasus held a stalemate there too.

since allied were not strong enough to take out germany a long fight for africa  was ahead.

Observations/Recommendations:  in the long run japan probably would have got too strong.
axis got a bit lucky with allied logistics. definatly gained  time here. considering the aweful dice j1/j2 it evens out.

at 3 in the morning we ended it.

word. and thx to india /fic IC  5 tanks more  each turn.

Title:  infantry stack
Date:  3rd of February
Special Rules:  NO’s and Tech were both used. 1941 scenario
Victor:  axis victory, by 15 VC’s
Game Length:  around 6 hours
Bias:  i was on axis

Description: Germany pushed into Russia, but held off after an initial push into Moscow and losing. Settled for surround moscow. Built transports and invaded UK 3 times, succeeded on the 3rd. Then purchased additional units with the extra dosh and took Moscow

Russia went straight onto the defensive, building up a ridiculous amount of infantry in Moscow. They repelled the German advance once, but didn’t counter-attack. ended up being surrounded by Japan and Germany

Japan pushed into China and took the islands, then took Australia and India. Out-built USA fleet-wise and started invading Alaska and the East Coast of America

UK lost its fleet a few times, but did some very heavy SBR’s on German factories. Unfortunately Germany had already pumped out enough tanks to scare Russia into staying at home. Eventually got invaded by Germany

Italy took Africa (with some German help at the start), then invaded Brazil and started moving up towards Washington

USA tried to take back some islands but eventually lost out, then went on the defensive and built some ridiculously large infantry stacks of its own. China didn’t do much but die

Observations/Recommendations: i would have done things differently had i been an Ally, but the game was fun. As Germany the SBR’s could have taken me out of the game if they had’ve started a round or two earlier

yeah, but we wanted the face-off between Germany and Russia (i wanted to devestate the infantry stack!)

1941

Title: Back and Forth
Date: 5 February
Special Rules: No NO’s. No Heavy Bombers.
Victor: Allies by concession.
Bias: All players about equal except for Japan who had very little.
Game Length 7-8 rounds
Description: Germany took Russia turn 3. Started to advance into china and towards India IC. Japan played very conservatively (big mistake). Even let UK retake all british islands. Didn’t take china. Italy took Egypt, but was pushed back by UK counter-attack using Indian troops and transport. UK built large anti-Germany fleet. Germany player left Berlin too empty (Four inf. three Armor) and British landing took Germany. Went back and forth a couple of times with Italy softening up before Germany attacked, but Germany ran out of units to take it back. Once British could produce in Germany Axis called the game.
Observations/Recommendations: Neither Axis power should ever play a defensive game. Japan was of very little help and let the British stomp on Germany after getting its money back. Italy is a joke as a playable faction.

Title:  Failed Landings - 1941
Date:  Jan 30, 2009
Special Rules:  Tech yes.  N.O. yes.
Victor:  Axis
Game Length:  6 rounds
Bias:  Probably the Allied Side Had Better Players
Description:  USA and UK attempted to Sack Italy and failed.  UK built Indian IC but failed to defend adequately.  USA was focused on Europe and not on Japan.  Japan turned into a monster. 
Observations/Recommendations:  Unless USA and UK are totally coordinated, landings in France and/or Italy are doomed to fail.

Title:  Focus on Japan – 1941
Date:  Mid- Jan 2009
Special Rules:  Tech + N.O.
Victor:  Axis
Game Length:  8 rounds
Bias:  Allied had better players.
Description:  Allies decided to kill Japan first.  It didn’t work.   Germany and Italy were tag teaming Africa, which drew down the UK fleet to try to stop it, which was sunk by a 1-2 punch from Italian fleet and German air force in I2/G3.  Russia was too aggressive in the south, and lost Karelia up north.  While trying to rebuild its navy, UK could not help Russia.  Before USA could build enough to seriously threaten Japan, Germany and Japan were closing in on Russia and it was over.

Observations/Recommendations:  In my opinion a USA balanced strategy is best.  Japan is a monster if the USA ignores it.  UK loses Africa if USA doesn’t help.  US needs to be in both places at once.