World War II Never happened!!!
Are those really French tanks in Berlin?
Today I had to apologize to my guests Mark and Jose. After planning for a game of Europe Engulfed for a few weeks I let them down as the German by allowing myself to be destroyed by the French very early in the game…Yes the French.
This is from the same guy who managed allow the free peoples in War of the Ring to defeat his orcs militarily.
How did it happen you may ask? We talked about this at length after the game (the slaughter). Actually if you play Europe Engulfed and are the Germans in 1939, know that you can defeat the French and even that you have some margin for error…but not too much margin for error. Don’t relax until France is conquered. The French army is almost as tough as the German army at the start of the game, but without all the armor. What gives the German the advantage is that the Germans have lots more special actions. I managed these poorly and paid the price!
I spent lots of money on u-boats and fighters too early in anticipation of fighting the British and neglected the war with France. Don’t let this happen to you. Yes I was knocked down but not knocked out. I like this game and am looking forward to playing again. I just need some time to lick my wounds, play some more games and I will be ready to go.
Jose is an excellent strategist and I applaud him. Mark is good too, but he just did not have an opportunity to show it.
We did play Rail Road Tycoon with the extra time we had left and Mark took this game. No surprise there. I have played RRT with Mark several times and he knows this game backwards and forwards. Thanks for coming by, guys. Now I have to mow the lawn before the rain gets here.
posted by Carlos @ 2:42 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
You can't say I didn't warn you before the game started. Jose is cutthroat and if you give him an opportunity, he will exploit it.
It seems fighters and bombers are an expensive way to gain a slight edge. U-Boats are more cost effective, but not much use against France ;) .
The key to this game appears to be managing your special actions. They confer the ability to blitz and gain extra moves or encircle your opponent. We've played twice now and twice Germany has lost because he didn't make good use of his special actions.
I've now played once as Russia and once as Western Allies. I much prefer the W. Allies as their job seems more interesting than duking it out on the E. Front.
Next time we play, I will have to try my hand as Germany and hope I don't get beat up as much.
From my 1.5 games, it seemed like Germany rolled over France, spending 3-4 special actions, and then used the lull to rebuild the command structure (special actions) while moving troops to the East (or rarely, preparing for Operation Sea Lion).
My only game of World in Flames was conceded in January of 1941 (I believe) when the United States declared war on Germany (!!) and reinforced what was left of France with several armies.
That was the problem. Germany spent all his werps building a fleet of 35 U-boats, 17 strategic fighters and 8 bombers. As the UK, this had me soiling my pants but left him zero special actions to use in France. To top it off, France had time to build fortifications while Germany was busy building up his defenses in Norway.
For those of you that have never played EE before, the special actions are a somewhat unique mechanic that model the astounding german initial success in the war. They allow you to do things like reinforce, counterattack and exploit an opening using breakthrough moves/combats.
I think the lack of german special actions was the only reason I was able to accomplish the miraculous French victory we saw today.
As Mark pointed out, Carlos was investing heavily in strategic war assets, and those were going to be bad news for Britain in the next two years until the US came into the war. Unfortunately for Carlos, spirited resistance in Poland and Norway made Carlos use the first 2 german special actions. Also, in a effort to impress the Soviets, the german elite panzers had been built to full strength and were deployed on Warsaw where some rather impressive parades were going on.
Unfortunately, during the slow summer of 1940, the French army slowly grew unchecked. When the germans advanced into the low countries with their main armored spearhead in July, only a small german force was still screening the Maginot line. DeGaulle prevailed on the cautious general staff and the french army poured into the Rhineland following plan XVII.
It was glorious! [cue the 1812 overture]
After vicious fighting, german resistance collapsed and the french armor was able to occupy the undefended Ruhr and Berlin regions using a special action.
A big thanks to Carlos for being a genial host and a good sport. In our first game some month ago as the Germans my Barbarossa was a pretty anemic affair. Will Mark be the military genius that will relive Germany's glories?
Only time will tell ...
So I guess that I have been demoted as the Germans for the next game...
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