Re: Does this animal exist?

From: gbenage@aol.com (G Benage)

Date: Sun, 10 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000

(continued)

I'd be interested in hearing what you, Mike, believe the major contributor
to your early demise was.  I expect it was diplomacy:  Texas made a deal
with Mexico (though it didn't last long) and an alliance of two veterans
turned around and hit you after I had told you we were going south.  As a
result, you just weren't prepared for a coordinated attack from our
direction.  Not your fault...in fact, I felt a little sleazy about the
whole thing, but I couldn't quite justify giving you a call and letting
you know we were coming. <g>

Other than the diplomatic aspects, I would expect that your lack of
experience with the possibilities of strategy and maneuver in the game was
a major contributor.  As I recall, we used just about everything against
you except amphibious invasions:  We put Combat Air Patrols over your ABSE
and neutralized your large airforce; we dropped a lot of airborne into
undefended hexes; we used the initiative and phasing rules against you to
pin units in your factor complexes; and we contested your income so that,
finally, a lot of your surviving units simply disbanded due to shortfalls
in maintenance.  Again (Bob!), the idea is to fight as few actual combats
as possible, while conquering the opponent's territory.

I would be surprised if you saw one combat that made you think:  "Damn, if
I had known what the combat percentages were for this battle, I'd still be
in this thing!"  I don't recall any major combats in that campaign, but
maybe I'm forgetting something.

Anyway, I'm pleased that you are at least considering giving the game
another try.  It's hard to have fun in ANY game when you get wiped-out in
a few turns, but I'm pretty sure things would go differently for you in a
new game.  Live an learn.  And, I'm very interested to hear a more
detailed "newcomers perspective" on the game

Regards,
Greg

References

Re: Does this animal exist?
mikec@asylum.net (Mike Childress)
Fri, 08 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000