Congratz to the new league champion, Farmboy. Well played!
I follow the final closely, and it was an atypical game on the Eastern front.
The Germans were slightly behind schedule on the Eastern front and after turn 6 or so the German stack moved to Bryansk, allowing the Reds to launch an attack. The odds were clearly below 50% but in case of a success, the game may have been over in favor of the Allies.
The attack did not go the way the Allies wanted and left both armies crippled, including the Russian airforce which suffered from a 2/3 AA success by the German F.L.A.K.
I think one could argue that, from here, it was an uphill battle for the Allies.
The Axis headquarter remained calm and kept a cool head. Germans were not forcing any matters on the Eastern front but focused on stability, while establishing the Atlantic wall, including a massive German fleet protecting WGR and Germany. A fleet arms race developed in 112 and 110 while the Germans continued to stabilize on the Eastern front.
Japan was mostly uncontested in the Pacific. She let India grow to a massive size and never made a serious attempt to take India while focusing on dominating China and slowly eating up Eastern Russian territories, facilitated by Stalin’s order to send the entire Siberian army home. The Siberian army secured the survival of Moscow after the battle at Bryansk, but left Japan uncontested on the main land.
This way, the Axis achieved income parity, which, in many cases, leads to a slow death of the Allies, especially as Gamerman concluded the fall of Moscow was inevitable.
Thanks to both participants for the great show, what a pleasure this game was to watch!