Round 12, Match 9 Status Report

John Pack (Allies; Bid 1) vs. Rusty Pywtorak (Axis)

The Allies win by 9 POC after Turn 8.

======================================================================== Turn:             1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Axis POC:        +6     +5                                   +2 Allied POC:      -3     -2                                   -4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Net POC:         +3     +3                                  -2 Cumulative POC:  +3     +6                             -7     -9 ========================================================================

Turn 1

Allies openedwith a Med. strategy. Germans deployed all but Scheer, Spee to S Atl.

[GERMANY] Scheer, Spee, 3 Uboats

[Neutral Port] Scharnhorst, Zara, Pola, Gorizia, Fiume

[OILERS] Hipper, Blucher, Lutzow

[ITALY] Vittorio Veneto, Littorio, Andrea Doria, Conte Di Cavour, Giulio Cesare

[GRAVEYARD] Gneisenau, Caio Dulio

Turn 2

Axis pre-deployment commentary:

Ya, with the Axis mobility I knew that this would be a tough one. Still I think you did a pretty good job. Lacking experience, I don't know about the long-range implications of my decision this turn. I should be able to win in any area I choose, but the question will be at what price?

The Ark Royal is a tempting target in the S Atl. The ships in Germany then could make a grab for the free POC.

In the N Atl, however, I can concentrate more firepower and reunite the German fleet. This choice is probably the most conservative, but I think it would mean leaving the Italians on their own in the Med (and so far they've done fairly well I must admit).

The N Sea doesn't have a lot of Allied firepower, but with so many ships and all the extra airpower that seems a bit dicy. This would definitely be the riskiest proposition.

Lastly I suppose a few (or all) Germans could sail to the Med. I really can't see any merit to splitting the German fleet more than it already is.

My first choice is to continue to try to 'blockade' the Med by controlling the S Atl with hopes of giving the Italians a chance to keep a good portion of the British navy occupied.

Allied deployment

Wow -- it's only Turn 2 and I'm already feeling streched beyond the limit! Well, here's the best deployment I could come up with. I withdrew the two CAs and the CV from the Med (based in England). Everything else in the Med based at Malta (with everything else at England, of course).

Axis deployment:

I took a looooooooooong look at the South Atlantic. I really wanted to go there-the Ark Royal is a very tempting target! Having lost the Gneisenau last turn, however, made me think twice. Given that the Axis can only muster 11 dice (7 bonus) vs 12 for the Allies (and that's assuming no disables from the air attack), I could easily see this turning into an Axis debacle with a well-placed combination of Allied hits/disables and Axis misses.

Admittedly the chances of the Allies winning the S Atlantic don't seem to be too high (maybe a 25% chance at best??), but given other choices I couldn't justify the risk. So instead I decided to send *subs* to the S Atl and the Axis Navy to the N Atlantic.

Speed rolls for ships coming from Germany (Bismarck, Adm Scheer) will follow.

[BALTIC] None

[BARENTS] Graf Spee 225

[N ATL] Bismarck (SR) 496, Scheer (SR) 225, Scharnhorst 357, Lutzow 225, Hipper 127, Blucher 127, Eugen 127, Zara 117, Pola 117, Fiume 117, Gorizia 117

[S ATL] 4 Subs

[MED] Vittorio Veneto 466, Littorio 466, Andrea Doria 435, Gulio Cesare 435, Conte Di Cavour 435

Axis basing:

Can't recall that I've ever had to agonize over where to base the Germans before. I gave it some long, hard thought-after awhile the number of possibilities begin to boggle the mind. Returning to France had the advantage of keeping up the pressure on the Allies. This had to be weighed against the disadvantage of keeping the German fleet split. On the other hand, returning to Germany would keep the fleet together, but it might relax the pressure off the Allies enough that they could recover and regroup. Each option seemed to have equal merit and I had difficulty making up my mind! Oh well, nothing to do but see how it plays out. Here's the Axis basing:

[ITALY] Littorio (-5), Vittorio Veneto, Conte Di Cavour (-2)

[GERMANY] Scharnhorst (-3), Bismarck, Graf Spee, Adm Scheer, Hipper, Eugen, 3 U-boats

[FRANCE] Gorizia, Fiume, Zara, Pola

[GRAVEYARD] Lutzow, Blucher, Gneisenau, Giulio Cesare, Andrea Doria, Caio Dulio

Turn 3

> P.S. I keep thinking to myself, "I bid one for this?" ;-)

You'll have to forgive me, but I got a good laugh out of that. I really do appreciate you hanging in there. Through no particular fault of your own since turn one the Allies' backs have been against the wall, and it hasn't become any easier.

This game has been an education for me, watching how you deployed your forces, and getting experience with the choices that the Axis player has to make when facing a Med game.

I may even try a Med strategy in my next game on the ladder. In general I think it makes for a more exciting game, though perhaps the Allied player may have to work a little harder??

I am a little surprised to see the N Atlantic (nearly) unguarded--not that you had much choice. Given that I can see why convoy 2B stayed home.

The Germans should be able to win in the Barents, but stranger things have been known to happen. What if the Germans went to the N Atlantic and based in France? The Allied ships in the Barents would then be out of position and unable to reach the S Atlantic next turn. To reach anywhere beyond the Barents they would have to speed roll again. Of course the Americans could help out ... maybe.

Well, I've have to think about that.

Turn 4

Details not provided.

Turn 5

Details not provided.

Turn 6

Details not provided.

Turn 7

Details not provided.

Turn 8

Hi Rusty!

To save time, I'll conceed all of my ships in the Baltic and Barents Seas. That will leave the Allies with 4 PoC for the turn and the Axis with 2 PoC. That will move the final score to 9 PoC for the Allies (8 after adjusting for the bid).

I apologize for not finishing the final battles, but as my time constraints are such that I've actually considered dropping out of the WAS competitions, I can't really justify the time needed to fight a battle that can't affect the outcome.

Bruce and Nick -- I bid 1 for the Allies. The final raw score was 9 PoC for the Allies after all 8 turns.

This was a game of extremes with lady luck favoring the Axis for the first 3 turns (Rusty had a 9 PoC lead himself after 3 moves). I even considered surrendering at that point. However, the next three turns were all Allied as the PoC swung by as many as 7 in a single turn. Finally, on turn 7 the Axis got a break (winning a buge battle in the Barents without loss and sinking 2 CVs and a convoy along the way). However, the U-Boat fleet was lost in the same effort while the Italians all scuttled themselves on Turn 8 to set up a final turn where the Axis could not even deploy in a fashion that could yeild victory.

The extremes will make for memories, but not a very close game unfortunately. Thanks for a memorable game, Rusty!

John

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