Straha (allies) defeats Tulkas (axis) bid 9 by surrender in round 11. The bid was used for 3 inf in Europe (WR, Ukr, & Bel).
R had less tahn average dice turn 1, which set the stage for the first big event of the game. To maintain a WR stack, allies needed both UK fighters from London, but G moved the Baltic fleet to SZ7, except the transport. G landed 4 fighters in WE. Uk fleet landed in Norway and built an AC. To prevent G from merging the Baltic & Med fleets in SZ13, US landed in Alg anyway leaving a trans & DD in SZ12 for easy axis pickings, but did kill a G fighter. On turn 2, G merged in SZ13 anyway, but US had enough to kill all G ships, and got some luck in that battle. Without any ships left, G quickly lost most of their potential income from Afr, although they held SA until the end.
G maintained a stack in WE on turn 3, which allowed UK to land strong in Kar, and stack it with help from R, and allies managed to maintain that stack all game.
J had a decent start, except that the UK trans in NG defeated a fighter, and was able to help retake India turn 2, which set J back a little, delaying the India factory purchase. But with the allied Kar stack, R was able to focus a lot against J, causing many little delays which quickly added up. Also, with almost no G presense in Afr, US was able to advance quickly and keep J from getting a real foothold in Afr. J did put forth considerable effort to protect the remaining G territories in Afr, boosting G's income a little, but the cost of doing so quickly added up. This allowed R to continue strong against J, and maintain big enough stacks in Cauc & Kaz to keep J from stacking Per.
J was pushing R back for a while in all of Asia, but had a split force, having built a factory in Manch. The split force meant they could never focus everything in once place against R. Once US was able to establish a fleet presence in the Med and trade Balk & Ukr most turns against G, R was able to focus 100% against J, stacking Kaz, and eventually also stacking Nov, mostly with tanks, so as to maintain the potential hit on Per. All the little allied advantages led to a slow, but steady growth in TUV advantage which axis could not overcome.
The death blow was when G tried to leave a slight understack in EE, to entice UK into a bad attack, but a miscalculation left UK too strong, while G was reduced to stacks in Germany and Italy, at which point Tulkas surrendered.
Thanks to Tulkas for a great game!
Straha |
