Here is another alligator story that is a bit more uplifting…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzg631YniOw
Sometimes I feel bad that we have made this colossal tragic conflict into a game but at least it serves to remind us what really happened and stimulates learning about the millions of individual stories, sacrifices, causes, and effects on the world and to hopefully prevent anything like it to happen again.
good question- I think I’ll let you take the sub and keep the cruiser to potentially roll a second time. thanks for asking.
actually can you please put the fighter in libya if you haven’t changed it yet. Thx
Thanks for clearly explaining the rules and backing them up with your sources captain. I have played with the dardanelles straight being open to all units or closed to all units, but I have always treated it as 2 separate sea zones on each side of the straight. It’s a bit of a revelation to see this optional rule outlined as such in the FAQ. I was originally of the opinion to concede the game to you after coming to terms with this rule as you have played a great game so far. (I admit when you bought tanks and a fighter in russia followed by 2 factories for Britain our first game I thought you were gonna be a punter. Instead you have shown me some strategies that I have never seen with the allies that enriches my understanding of the game.) I will concede the game if you wish but after conferring with my teammate I have another proposal for you.
How do you feel about letting Germany redo its last turn and resuming the game.
All though not necessary I also request that you let me sub out the recently purchased italian destroyer for 2 infantry and and 2 ipc as that was all part of the naval strategy that hinged on controlling jordan for a turn. No worries if you aren’t inclined to agree to this.
Lastly I’ve never been accused of playing an immaculate game and I’m not sure how to take that as I feel I’ve already made a bunch of mistakes this time around. Thanks though :)
Yes the board does make it more clear. I pulled up my old spring 1942 board- that map is a bit more similar to the website and is the source of my familiarity with the house rule of dividing it into 2 sea zones. It does clearly show it as a single sea zone I will concede, i suppose I’m just used to playing the with southeast portion of that sea space as usable regardless of the straits. 
Bit of a shame to abandon the game at this point. If you don’t want to try to salvage it somehow I could be up for a rematch- not sure what else to offer…
ok so it sounds like the closest thing to a consensus is for me to just redo g4. I’ll just live with the italian destroyer as a bit of a penalty for this whole fiasco.
thanks for accommodating me here as it seems my not understanding this optional rule has caused this whole issue.
yes- 2 inf and 2 ipc for italy instead of the destroyer for italy- if its too hard to adjust ipcs id take 1 inf and tank instead. thx
Thanks to you both for a great game. That was one of the better learning experiences I’ve had in a long time between seeing your different strategies GoodCap and being able to discuss strategy and tactics with Napalm. Thx esp to you Ryan for your patience with my issues with a few of the rules and letting us team up on you! Napalm and I have played 3 times previously always as opponents and I have learned a lot from him as well- esp late game strategy. These games were the 1st time we had the opportunity to work on the same side and discuss realtime strategy which was a great experience.
Since you guys shared some great tips and strategies you learned I’ll chime in with my opinion as well. First of all it was awesome to see Goodcap effectively slide troops into India and effectively throw the might of the US into the eastern theater early game. Those are a few strategies I’m looking forward to incorporating into my next game as the allies.
Secondly I agree with GC that “pulling more money off the board” is a fundamental strategy in all these versions. I “mentored” a bit with an opponent via Ambition (an IOS based AnA game that unfortunately is no longer viable). This was one of his core strategies and this guy was a statistical board gaming major in college (I didn’t know there was such a thing) and said he actually used spread sheets to track the economics of each countrys buys and losses throughout the game. I will put in my own footnote here that although “pulling more money off the board” is clutch, I believe there are key territories and situations that one must go against this rule to effectively win, esp as the allies. One of the advantages of the axis is that they are more centrally located on the main continent so normally they have an advantage getting units into play over the allies- this means the allies usually need to maintain their economic output advantage to remain competitive- unless they can get more factories on the main continent.
Which brings me to my last point. I believe allied victory really depends on creating/holding onto continental factories and getting as many troops into the continent as possible. I think the allies can win without india but its a lot harder and I would counter that holding onto it is a good strategy. I also strongly believe that keeping troops coming into Norway (or better yet straight into northern russia) is critical to an allied victory as it keeps german troops out of the russian front (or adds to russian defenses). It also keeps the threat of invasion of western europe up which further draws germans from the russian front. I agree that getting a US factory in norway is a nasty and effective trick. I really do believe that you had us on the run for a bit there Ryan due to your early game strategy, a few bold and lucky moves, and just solid game play. I woefully said as much to Nathan but he really kept up the faith. I think if you would have kept the pressure on europe and started dumping brits into north russia you would have won. As you mentioned the long path for the US through the ME just wasn’t enough to reinforce russia. It was interesting as I worked through the battle calculator so many times when I pressed the main german wehrmacht against russia there were only a few units protecting a counter attack from 1-10 odds to 50-50 odds. Even with those large groups of forces just a few more units can make a bit difference on the odds. Not having the national objective where russia only gets a bonus if there are no other allied troops on russian soil really allows the US and brits to help russia- which I think you did very well with air power but could have done more with/earlier with ground forces.
Anyway as i said that’s just my opinion and this was a great opportunity for me. I’d love to play with one or both of you guys again. I will be spending almost the entire last half of august traveling for work- a lot of hotel rooms. I’m gonna try to get a hold of a laptop and set it up on AnA if you are interested.
I’m heading out tonight for 8 days of vacation with the wife. Hoping to see some new dice when I get back!
You’ve been a gracious opponent, good cap. Maybe more so than me. I’m fine with you switching out the tank for a fighter but the allies have had mostly a tough run of luck this game until france and now china. Please forgive me if I’m not into redoing the Changhai battle over with your tank.
well once again the program froze on me- during noncombat move calculations. sorry- it should be pretty believable hopefully that i spent all my money on ground units…
sorry- forgot to move the british unit in persia the 1st post