| Date/Time: |
TBA
|
| Location: |
the miraculous Internet
|
| Score: |
|
| Winner: |
ErnieBommel |
The Finals were played on NWO 1.7 (*).
Odesa got the Axis
ErnieBommel got the allies with a bid of 4 PU.
The bid resulted in a Russian inf in Belomorsk and a French inf in Reims.
The match quickly developed into a non-standard situation and the key elements of this are described below.
The match ended in round 8 with the Axis conceding. It was a real gentleman's game even under difficult circumstances. No dropping, hiding, bad language or cheesiness. Given the high ambitions involved, this means quite something.
ErnieBommel congratulates the vice Champion of this marathon NWO tournament (almost a year...), and the Champion of fair-play: Odessa.
Furthermore, I am quite happy with my title ;o)
Rounds 1-3
Germany:
delayed (!) heavy transports purchase (10 baltic trn in round 3). Strong support of the northern eastfront with a minimalistic souther eastfront. Successful France with complete annihilation of the retreating French.
German subs were pooled in sz9 (round 1).
Russia:
Strong go for Finland with some air purchases. Inf for the south.
Italy:
Italy tried a minimalistic Greece in favor of a fast Spain grab. Aggressive UK naval purchases prevented Greece 2 and forced a land-only Greece 3 take. Greece was lost in the same round 3 to the UK though.
France/Colonials:
French forces were destroyed. Colonials added some transports to the western allied fleet.
Finland:
Trying to survive
UK:
The UK used a bomber and a ftr only to take a shot at the German subs in sz9, defended by the Finnish cruiser only. UK got a lucky series, killing 5 subs before losing the ftr and calling off the attack.
The weak Italian approach on Greece triggered the UK (together with the US) to try out some half-baked but potentially powerful "Overload-Italy" approach. The Home fleet sailed completely for Gibraltar, bringing the RAF via France and the French Carriers, while heavy investments were done in the eastern Med.
The UK (weakly) took Greece from Italy in round 3, disabling Italian production there. Required a sneak move of the Colonials (S.Greece for extra UK ftrs).
In Round 3, UK entered sz38 and leaving Italy unable to defend sz37 too.
Romania:
Took the Ukraine and further supported the eastfront.
US:
Brought massively transports, shipping towards Gibraltar. Western allies had a good shot at Morocco/Barcelona/Marseille at the end of round 3.
Rounds 4-8(end)
Germany:
Excellently supported Finland, while holding the south and helping pressed Italy. Recaptured Finland after the Russian take and was about to take Len in round 8, with Archangelsk to follow within 3 rounds thereof. Germany was at around 145 PU income in round 8.
Russia:
Attacked Finland in round 5, after having even bought another bomber in round 4, tipping the balance. The battle should have left Russia barely taking N.Finland with 1-3 units and most of its sizeable airforce intact, killing 14 axis planes, but losing expensive units like BigArmor itself. Net result taking captured money into account should have had the battle be almost cost neutral for both sides. Dice decided against Russia though, making it lose a turns income extra.
Italy:
While the western allies tried to find a weak spot, using their tremendous threat potential from-out their position in the Med, Italy masterly managed to safe Rome and keep the US from establishing a base. It was permanently on the brink though, being reduced to 50PU income in round 8.
Italy decided on an expensive multi-combat-round strafe on the joined allied fleet in sz43, in an approach to take out the allied transports, crippling the allied efforts in the western Med. Horrible dice though, this time on the side of the Axis, rendered this operation a disaster.
French/Colonials:
In round 8, Tunis was freed. For the rest, the French turn mainly saw the UK turn fully planned prior to movement (the French ships required that). The Colonial turn was mainly cursing of not having them integrated better in the overall strategy earlier on.
Finland:
Round 6 saw Finland revived, with new units purchased in round 7. Finns did not see any action anymore though, due to the match ending in round 8.
UK:
The UK had 4 very useful Lancasters during the last rounds.
The UK took Venice in round 5 and fortified there with the US (which also weakly took Genoa). Strategically an awesome position. However, the allies missed on a German bomber. Some unlucky AA's enabled Germany to expel the allied presence from Venice at high costs, saving Rome for the Axis.
The UK kept trading Greece with the Axis (Romanians) at increasingly favorable terms, shifting balance there more and more towards the UK.
Romania:
Romania frantically tried to stop the UK in Greece, which, together with the German support there and for Italy lead to the Axis being forced to abandon the Ukraine.
US:
US switched to B29 Bombers in round 4, to maximize the amphibious threat and give the vast transport fleet some punch alike. 5 in total.
In round 8, the US finally established Portugal and Tripolis to be potential positions for factories - much, much later than initially anticipated.
Concluding, Russia was pressed by a powerful Germany in an unusual fashion via the North, while the Med and the Balkans turned hell for the Axis and Russia had an advanced southern position. Allies lead with 2460 to 1803 TUV at the start of round 8, and widened that gap by about 50 TUV a turn via income, and some additionally 10-15 in non-AA SBR's and Bombards.
*Since NWO 1.6 had no strict ruleset, some things had to be agreed on prior to the game - just like in all the other tournament games too. For convenience, and since we were both already familiar with it, it was mutually agreed on to play the finals on NWO 1.7, since that version incorporated the rules missing in NWO 1.6. |
|
|
