Thanks man. This game was some kind of a roller coaster for me.
First turn was really Axis friendly. Very good G1/J1 dice followed by the UK disaster in 96 that quickly snowballed.
After 3 turns you forced me to make a stretch, either defend Egypt or India. I decided for Egypt and left you 75ish?% on India.
Here, MARTI was fair in a way that she took many Japanese planes off so that Japan was left with a crippled airforce after the India rush.
Although USA could take unusual advantage of that (I guess one does not see a US fleet at Kwangtung often in turn 4) Allies weren’t able to get Japan down.
So Axis stayed in the game and the Germans grew very strong.
Then there was this wipe of the ITA/German fleet in 92.
Can I assume you overlooked that the WUS bombers could reach 92? I did not expect you to allow me to take down the fleet and the German planes like that on purpose, right?
From there, the Allies had a nice position but the pressure on Moscow became unbearable. Although I saw it coming, I could not avoid that you had 60+ish% odds on that battle.
The battle had 3 possible outcomes:
Germans don’t win = Allies should win
Germans win closely = battle goes on
Germans win big = Axis should win
After my great defense dice turn 1 I guess the game was over. Japan has made too big sacrifices to allow that attack. You sacced a loaded TT, carrier+2 planes just to take out the one bomber at midway that could have reached Moscow. After the attack failed, Germany was crippled and Japan did not have the power to try to go for a VC win. Because of this potential risk I played very carefully in the Pacific.
I think after the failed Moscow attempt the game was already over for a couple of turns. But you are a fierce fighter and tricky player. So I was always alerted you might find a crafty play to sneak for a Japanese VC victory. This option was off the table after the Chinese reached the coast again and it was clear Japan could not hold the VCs on the Chinese mainland.