Here is the full slate of Round 3 tournament games - all game results are now final and confirmed. (All results are listed in terms of the final POC total after the bid has been taken into account - this means the modified total may be greater than +10 POC if the player who lost the bid wins the game.)
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Tim (Tuesday, 18 August 2020 02:50)
Game #5
Jonathan (Allies) Tim (Axis)
Jonathan 2.5 POC for the Allies
Tim Axis
Turn 5
+5 Axis (-2.5 bid) = Final 2.5 Axis
Yes, we have played a previous AREA Game of War at Sea
Tim (Tuesday, 18 August 2020 04:08)
Correction, final score would have been +7.5 Axis
The tale of the dead pool explains this game.
T1: None
T2: 1-0-* U-boat
T2: 1-0-* U-boat
T2: 3-3-6 Repulse
T3: 1-2-4 (1) Eagle
T3: 2+2-5 Graf Spee
T3: 1+2-7 Blucher
T3: 4-4-7 Hood -4
T3: 1-1-7 Exeter
T3: 1-1-7 Suffolk
T3: 1-1-7 Cumberland
T3: 1-1-7 Sussex,
T3: 1-1-7 Dorsetshire -1
T4: 1-0-* U-boat
T4: 1-3-3 Convoy 1A
T4: 3-3-3 Okt Revolutia
T5: Renown
T5: Anson
T5: Victorious
T5: 1-0-* U-boat
T5: 1-1-7 Pola
T5: 4-5-6 POW –4
T5: 4-5-6 DOY
T5: 1-1-7 Norfolk
T5: 1-1-7Devonshire
James Kramer Jr. (Tuesday, 18 August 2020 18:46)
Mircea's bid of 2.0 POC for the allies was accepted.
T1: Mircea made the Barents in 1 allied deployment. As the axis I went to the SA with German and Italian fleet forces and subs to the NA. The subs successfully broke control in the NA (4 ASW) and the SA battle was won with light losses to both sides. POC was 6 to 2 axis, game score +4 axis.
T2: Allies patrol the 4 key areas, NA, SA, NS, Barents. Axis move is German fleet to NS, Italians back to the MED, 3 subs again to the NA (7 ASW). The subs are unsuccessful this turn. The NS battle is again won by the axis with damage to both sides but few actual losses. POC was 6 to 3 axis, game score +7 axis.
T3: Allied 4 area patrol again with no USSR available. Axis send German fleet to Barents (7 ships) to face 2 BB, 7 CA and 2 CV. With only 2 active subs they go to the Baltic with the damaged Gneisenau. Italians stay home.
The German fleet wins again in the Barents. POC was 5 to 3 axis, game score +9 axis. Losses at this point. allies 3 BB, 1 BC, 2 CA, axis 1 BB (It), 1 BC, 2 PB, 1 CA 3 subs.
T4: Allies get Marat, 2 US BB and convoy 1A moved to the Barents, patrolling 5 areas. Axis counter in Baltic with a BB, 2 CA and the CV. There are 3 German ships in port. The 4 subs available go to the SA (9 ASW). Italians stay home. The Subs do break SA control. Baltic combat has Marat sunk without any German loss. Convoy 1A is hit by the LBA but survives with 3 damage. POC was 6 to 3 allies, game score down to +6 axis.
T5: No Soviet with another US BB on. Convoy 2B to Barents. Allied patrol 4 areas. German units patrol the Baltic and repair damaged ships. The 5 subs available go to the SA (7 ASW). The Italian fleet again stays home. Convoy 2B gets in unscathed. The subs do break control so the POC is 6 to 3 allies again. Game score now +3 axis.
T6: No US/USSR help this turn. Allied 4 area patrol again. Italians again stay home and the German fleet (2 BB, 1 BC, 1 PB, 2 CA, CV) stays in the Baltic. Convoy 3C in the NA is attacked by 5 subs (12 ASW). The 2 subs that survived ASW attacked the convoy with a hit for 3 damage. An Italian CA was sunk in the MED by air. POC for the turn is a 3 to 3 push.
T7: No Soviet but 2 US CA come on. The 4 area patrol has convoy 3C to Barents defended by 6 heavies and 5 CA. Axis keep the fleets safe in the Baltic and the MED. The 5 subs available go to the SA (9 ASW). The convoy is missed by LBA and the subs break control in the SA. Allied LBA sink another Italian CA. POC is 6 to 3 allies, game score now 0.
T8: Still no USSR BB this turn. Allies ignore the MED and deploy in the 4 areas looking to avoid a full loss.
The axis send a CA to the Baltic, 4 subs and 2 Italian CA to the SA (11 ASW), and the remaining 6 German ships to the Barents facing 6 heavies and 6 CA. If the subs survive the ASW the axis will earn a full victory. They did not. Surface combat went quickly in the allies favor so the POC for the turn, 4 to 3 allies moved the game score to +1 allies. Adjusting for the 2.0 POC allied bid the final game score was +1 axis. Mircea had thus earned the 2 tournament points he was striving for after a devastating first three turns.
Mircea and I have played before and I recall our games were close and competitive like this one. As the axis I aggressively look to get as large a lead as possible early. I hope for a knockout but can than play to hold out to the end.
Mircea Pauca (Tuesday, 18 August 2020 22:50)
I thank James Kramer Jr. for the accurate report and fair play throughout!
Worth mentioning that Germans scored their victories in Turns 1,2,3 with one ship kept back in the Baltic for one more PoC so their luck is even more impressive!
My usual appraisal of SATL as a positional trap did not work as well as intended. Even if in T1 both battlecruisers took serious damage (3 and 5) but 3:0 sinkings, also Lutzow oiled!
I knew NATL got less attractive for T2 due to SR failing risk so I guarded it less and it was still not chosen, I knew NSEA was the strategic choice to reunite one fleet and guarded it more (within the stretched overall ship budget), James as Germans chose it and got off lightly with only two ships sunk (and the British even lighter with heavy damages mostly).
In T3 it was my choice to run the fast remnants (4CA,1CV) before the heavier German survivors even as attrition favored the British (Hood,1CA vs 1BC,1PB) so more Axis POC, but I knew the German surface threat was mostly over. Only in T8 a desperation sortie proved this.
Else the Axis lead after T3 was so great that even 3 successful convoy deliveries were not enough. ASW was not enough to stop the U-boats from unpatrolling one area every turn (except T2 and 3).
Mike Kaye (Sunday, 23 August 2020 05:13)
Game 3/Round 3
Bob Jamelli/Allies; Mike Kaye/Axis
Bob bid 1.5 to play the Allies
Mike won in the 8th turn with raw score of Axis +2 -- final score Axis +3.5
We have played before
T1: Axis went to SATL, winning the area with the loss of only one Uboat and oiling all but the Hipper (Scharnhorst took 5 damage, Brits lost Eagle, 1 BB, 1CA)
T2: Oiled ships + arrivals to Barents; Hipper & It CA to Med, where over the next few turns Allied air would kill two CAs. Axis got kicked out of the Barents by great Brit air and surface shooting; losing Bismarck, Gneisenau, Scheer and Eugen in exchange for four Brit CAs (Germans tried to file grievance for unfair trade, but The Hague court had been bombed-out); big factor--Ark Royal air hit Bismarck for 4 and sank Gneisenau
T3: Germans licked wounds & repaired while grandly and proudly controlling Baltic! (and Med)
T4: Germans again grandly control Baltic while subs fail to put torpedic greetings into convoy 2B in NATL; 1A lands
T5: Luftwaffe continues grand Mikean tradition in countless WAS games by failing to stop any convoys -- 2B lands while 2 surviving subs of 7 (2 sunk, 3 disabled) not only open new vistas to German fleet by opening path through North Sea, but give new name to CV "UN-Victorious" as they renovate her hull with sufficient aeration to sink her
T6: German fleet (Tirp, Scharn, Lut, Spee, Bluch, Zepp) takes advantage of freedom and superb work of engine crews (3 for 3 in passing SR) to tour NATL against Convoy 3C, 3 x Ami CA, 3 x Brit BB and CA. Subs again contributed greatly, sinking Glorious, while Zepp disabled a BB. Result: all three US CA and convoy sunk, 2 BBs sent packing with the only adverse result being shell splashes from Brit guns putting too much salt in Zepp crew eyes, forcing them home for eye swabs unavailable to German crews in New York City. Germans reduce raw POC score to 1 Allies, giving .5 lead after bid
T7: 7 subs again open up the North Sea while only losing one, assuring 7 for turn 8
T8 German fleet joins 2 surviving IT CA and Hipper in SATL vs CV + 5 BB while leaving Spee to control Baltic. Again Germans pass all speed rolls. Heroic Uboat crews disable Courageous despite 3 ASW kills while Zepp air sinks a BB. Axis fire in round 1 sinks two BB and disables the other two, driving POC to final score
Recap: German SRs and subs were key to victory. Bob put up good positions but after his superb shooting in turn 2, dice turned miserable for him (poor markings distinguishing AP from smoke shells?). German firing until turn 8 was effective in disables but not kills -- Brits & Amis lost one BB through the first 7 turns from all sources - air, sub, surface