Officer's Club

[joegrundman]

World at War General Discussion Thread

[Task Force]

Hmm, now to figure out what country I want to play as... hmm...

[joegrundman]

no need to think too hard!

factions are:

European Axis

Starts game with initiative and preponderance of power and it is the axis that determines how the game will play out in Europe.

Germany has very strong ground/air forces, optimised for war of movement on the open steppe in France, or hell, may as well be Russia. Weak navy, but ability to grow substantial U-boat forces.
Options for late game high tech projects in jets, rockets and advanced u-boats

Italy has strong, but fragile Navy and interesting options for naval combat in the med.

Euro Axis have 3 fronts: East, West, Med -and games generally follow one of two main approaches. "Barbarossa" and "Sealion". In Barbarossa games, there are three turns between the expected fall of France (Summer 1940) and the start of Barbarossa (Summer 1941) when Germany has the opportunity to land telling blows e.g. heavy bombing of Britain (with the possiblity of researching heavy bombers to help), invading Spain, taking over Yugoslavia and Greece, attacking Turkey, or pushing hard in the Med.

Many Barbarossa's have a down time of Winter and Spring 1941 when slight retreats in russia can be accepted for the option of renewed offensives in the med or west

Sealion games can start in Summer/Fall 40 immediately after france falls, or wait until spring/summer 1941 when Bismarck and more destroyers have been launched

Then the grind starts in the mid game.

Japan

Japan starts the game at war in China. Since 4/5 of the resource centers of China are already under Japanese control, Japan has the option of just defending in China, but it is also possible to launch attacks aimed at destroying the chinese position. Personally i only ever hold in china.

Japan almost always aims for the US and Britain, only rarely hitting russia, since japan's forces are simply not optimised for armored land warfare in the way that russia's and germany's are. But it can be done and it can be enough to tip russia over the edge in a strong barbarossa game

Japan gets a huge surprise attack some time in 1941 (usually winter), can choose to hit pearl, must take the Southern Resource Area and secure the Outer Perimeter, of which the key is the Bismarck Barrier.

If Japan wins a reverse midway (as unfortunately just happened to me in my most recent game) the offensive phase can extend into 1943, but typically by end of 1942 Japan starts the tenacious defense and slow contraction phase, which ends when japan is defeated. Japan cannot win this war, but this is a game and victory is determined by turn of surrender and it is possible by good play for japan to get a win by delaying defeat into winter 1945 or later.

Additional Japanese offensive options include attempting to knock India or Australia out of the war or controlling the Southern Island groups and limiting the communications between the US and Australia. The very hardy can even try to capture Hawaii and Dutch Harbor

European Allies
The big characteristic of the European Allies is starting with too much to defend and not enough forces, and then when France falls the problem only increases. In addition, the European Allies do not enjoy the central position, so while the axis can move strong forces around rapidly, the allies have to ship units between Egypt and Britain via South Africa. At key moments important forces can be nowhere!

if spain or algeria goes to axis control, gibraltar becomes threatened and the italian navy can link up with the km

Things only lighten up with US entry into the war. Then the defenses start to hold, peripheral counter attacks start to bite, and eventually a return to the continent via france, spain or scandinavia.

A grand finale of massive ground/air forces and heavy bombing with russian advances on the other side push Germany into the "black donut" defense, and finally collapse!

Pacific Allies

typically starts with Pearl Harbor and a crushing initial offensive, the pacific allies have to try and throw up road blocks in the path of the Japanese that slow down and eventually halt the advance.

Magic interception is a special interception capability that can strike at japanese offensive naval operations and inflict some damage on Japanese naval forces, mainly in 1942.

Then there comes the tough job of breaking the Bismarck Barrier. Once broken things move more quickly.

Also the British forces in India and Burma can take advantage of confusion and start an effective early campaign, but if the Japanese efficiently secure the mountain chain on the Burma/India border, then they can terminate any hope of allied advance in that area until 1944 at the earliest.

Most games are pretty much dominated by US Naval operations in the Pacific front.

Finally come 1945, submarines, heavy bombing and atom bombs force a surrender. But an earlier surrender can only come about by an invasion of the home islands. For this sort of thing, a lot of marines are needed!

Russia

Infantry. Tanks. Planes. Resilience. A barbarossa attack - if there is one - will destroy the Red Army, but Russia does not surrender easily! In 1942, a successful campaign can knock Russia out, but this is rare and requires either bad defending on Russia's part, inactivity on the part of the Western Allies, or Germany's willingness to abandon all other fronts to focus exclusively on Russia. And even then it's not a foregone conclusion. There is a lot of Russia to retreat into, and even the loss of Moscow and Leningrad will not mean the end of the war, especially if the allies can keep the grants flowing.

Then round about Spring 1943 the counter attacks start, and never stop. But even so, without a second front it is unlikely that Russia can create a substantial momentum on its own.

[Oberon]

I'm looking at Japan, personally. Euro Axis is tempting now that I know some of the mistakes I made last time, however I want to let someone else have a bash at that one and playing as Japan will give me more insight into the Pacific war. Either that or perhaps the UK but only if no-one else goes for it.

[Raptor1]

I'll take the Pacific Allies if no one else wants them (That's who I was supposed to be last game, before I got drafted by the Red Army), otherwise I'll be the Soviets again.

[LobsterBoy]

I was looking at Euro Allies. I think I want to be in the other theater and have a little more to do with ground action.

[Crécy]

Guess I'll take the European Axis unless somebody wants them. Pacific would be my second choice.

[joegrundman]

In the meantime here's a case study. It's my current game and we've just finished Spring 43. I'm the allies.

The Western Allies have taken all of North Africa and have just invaded Sicily.



The Pacific map shows that Japan failed to secure Burma and the Japanese have retreated to the Burma-Thailand line. But in Winter 1942, the Japanese damaged three of the five American carriers and so have regained naval superiority which they have (under)exploited to contest the Solomons.



feel free to comment on how you think the different sides are doing

[joegrundman]

Then it seems these are the assignments.

Russia = Task Force
European Axis = Crecy
Japan = Oberon
European Western Allies = LobsterBoy
Pacific Western Allies = Raptor1

While in most games Japan and Euro Axis cannot directly cooperate, it is still worth discussing your plans together in detail. To some degree the realism of the game means that discussions about plans, so long as tempered with some degree of historicity, can be useful even without going into tactical detail.

Germany in particular should have a clear idea of how it would like to allocate resources. This is better than asking the Hitler question of what is to be achieved, since the answer is always "everything", and also at an early stage, should (secretly) settle on whether it will be primarily a Sealion or Barbarossa.

European and Pacific Allies share all the resource points, research points, forcepool, shipbuilding, and therefore there requires diplomacy between the two players to ensure the right resources go to who needs them. Which can be tricky since no one ever feels they have enough.

Russia is destined to fight alone, but will require some tact and diplomacy to ensure grants keep coming. Sending grants can be expensive, and in the case of the Murmansk Route, will expose the allied forces to attack by germany's small but very mean fleet. But grants will be needed to ensure good defense, and just as importantly, good offensives in the later game. Without them losses build up and offensives stall.

For every player I will be delighted to hear your ideas and make suggestions and give advice if requested

Next up on the agenda - a name for the game, max 12 chars please!

[Oberon]

Fall of Empires?

So...Japan...I have better start reading up some strategies.

Oh kami...I'm up against Raptor again...

Joe, how many BRPs for this?

[joegrundman]

ooh,at least 30!

but i can give you a deal for this guy for 20!

[joegrundman]

So...Japan...I have better start reading up some strategies.

the 3 ULTRA articles on Japan are possibly the three best that were ever written on any subject.

The first reviews 4 mobilisation and production strategies called:
The Standard Plan

and the three deviations from it:

Maximum Growth
Extreme Shipbuilding
Ultimate Surprise (to maximise your Pearl harbor)

This first article is simply a masterpiece from beginning to end.

The second article discusses developing your navy - most applicable should you follow the extreme shipbuilding plan, since other plans don't necessarily lay new keels before war starts

The third article describes taking advantage of the surprise turns, in which Japan has a lot to do before the allies can start causing problems.

[Task Force]

This should prove intresting. So IIRC I need a program to do this?

[Raptor1]

Originally Posted by Task Force

This should prove intresting. So IIRC I need a program to do this?

Warplanner, there's a link to the site in the 'Getting the Game' thread.

[Crécy]

What I need to know before starting the game? What are the essential things to know before playing?