Slitherine

I'm still quite new to the game, and thought it would be fun to explore the limitations of the AI through this AAR.

I'm guessing lots of people make up little solo challenges, such as trying to stop France from falling while playing the Allies. So this is also a chance to visit

a daydream alternative reality where WWII ends early and (relatively) painlessly. In this scenario, my self-imposed mission is to defeat the Axis while

preventing the defeat of Poland!

First, here are my House Rules for the SAVING POLAND scenario (n.b. this is a vanilla game, as I have a Mac):

1. Neutrality
Canada: Neutral
USA: Neutral
USSR: Neutral

2. Tech.
No Allied Investment permitted

3. Leaders
None available for Allies

4. “Meatball Commanding”
No over-analysis
turn-by-turn saves discouraged
Human alcohol consumption – On
Standard: min. 2 fingers of decent whiskey & water/ hour (or equiv.)
Gen. Grant: take an extra slug whenever you destroy an Axis corps.
5. Settings
A.I. – standard
Fog of War – Off
Oil – Off

6. Victory Conditions
Stalemate: Axis defeated, but was unconquered at time of USSR DOW
Marginal: Axis defeated prior to USSR DOW, but Germany unconquered at time of
Italian DOW
Decisive: Germany defeated prior to Italian DOW

n.b. no decisive victory possible if any Allied Nation is conquered (including Poland, of course!).

Preliminary Remarks (just skip to the maps if you are impatient):

On paper, things don't look so bad for the Allies:

Allied O.B.

Fighter Groups x3
Bomber x 1
Inf. Corps x 11
Mech x 1
Tanks x 1
GAR x 13 (mainland only)

German O.B.

Fighters x 2
TAC x 1
Inf. x 12
GAR x 6
Mech. x2
Panzer x3

Obviously, the initial Allied forces are scattered, and ineffective, against a minimally competent human player. But the AI has a some big weaknesses which will serve the Allies well, especially (1) the rigidity of garrisons, and (2) opportunities for encirclement. Poland is the key to an early German defeat – the Polish offer a huge army, and there should be many opportunities to buffalo the German A.I.

Full disclosure: I played the first 4-5 turns a few times from Sept.1/39 while still figuring out how to edit screen shots. My results have been mixed -- I can't say I can reliably pull this off, but then that's part of the fun. This AAR begins with the first 3 turns of my latest attempt. More to follow.

hmmm. Don't see how to post screenshots, as drag-and-drop isn't the way to go. Any help would be appreciated, and apologies for my incompetence!

peterjfrigate wrote:hmmm. Don't see how to post screenshots, as drag-and-drop isn't the way to go. Any help would be appreciated, and apologies for my incompetence!

You have to upload them to a free image hosting site and then post the forum code here. I use imageshack.

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/473/alliedplan.gif

This should be the first map.

PJF

Must be on the right track, but I'm not getting how to have the image just appear without the need for clicking.

That should work. It's the Img Tag!

Hey, just wanna say good luck to you!
I tried your strategy, and it worked.. almost. Poland fell just two turns before Berlin was captured (Jan 1940).

http://yfrog.com/msceawjan1940j

Anyway, crush them

[img]http://image_img175.imageshack.us/i/alliedplan.gif[/img]

Thanks for helping me sort out how to post.

Here we go!

British PPs used to send BEF and repair Polish casualties.

First turn in the West.

TURN 2 (Sept.21)

These first two images are pre-movement:





And this is the result:



Note the Bomber Group near Warsaw -- the thought was that this would somehow slow any German interference with the supply of that Corps in South Poland.

TURN 3: Oct.11

Planning stage:





After movement:

Wow, the AI is truly retarded.

Turn 4 (Oct.31)



Halloween '39

Polish planning

Western planning:

After movement...I think I am in the endgame now.

TURN 5 (Nov.20)

planning...