Revised Tournament of Champions Season 13 (ToC 13)
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Valter (Axis +8) defeats Hammond (Allies) in 14 rounds. Highlight of the game has to be the Japan imperial navy which spend good part of the game in the Atlantic ocean disrupting USA -> Europe supply chain. Allies were two turns away from entering Berlin when Japan made a breakthrough and threatened Moscow a turn earlier which caused Allies to regroup. Great game by hammond, a heart stopper for sure.
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LouisXIVXIV (Axis,8) will progress as winner in a match against Barca, after 20 rounds. This game was a near-tie when it ended, perhaps with Barca in the lead, but he chose to resign to avoid playing a more hurried game over the next two weeks to meet the deadline. (If we get a surprise giant extension from Deltium, we may fight on.)
Barca's allied play style was economic and conservative. IPC advantage was his priority at all times. For land units he almost always bought infantry. He was frequently moving guys back and forth to squeeze a few extra territorial ipcs for a turn or so. There were no obvious short-term tactical mistakes. He played both powers simultaneously (no KG or KJ) and would sometimes feint an attack against one or the other. He opened with a pseudo KJF. He bought complexes in India and Egypt. He was holding Africa against Japan by purely naval means in sz 34. In round 20 the UK had 6 ACs there.
In round 20 Allies has abotu a 20+ipc/round advantage and a TUV adv of ~340 counting from the start of round 21.
I believe there were two important weak points in the allied position: REDACTED. Barca and I may finish the game later so I can't spill the beans.
I felt I made some errors very early esp regarding Africa, the German med navy, and Japanese moves thereabouts, though Barca's play there was excellent. Here is the game file: 0_1541377778778_LouisXIVXIV_Barca_1R_21.tsvg
vgg Barca. I'm sure you'll continue to do well in the tourney.
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Blacskull defeats Sneakingcoward (Axis +12) in 20 rounds by liberating Europe.
The Germans started the game by building a strong navy preparing for a sea Lion thereby forcing the Allied to build a strong defense in London. However, after having secured London the Allied could turn their attention to the navy and gradually got the upper hand in the Atlantic forcing the Germans to join forces with the Japanese navy in the Indian Ocean. The red army used the situation to take a firm hold on the Western Front which secured enough resources to hold on to both Persia, East Russia, and to trade India/Trans-Jordan with the Japanese.
In the end, the Japanese landed a massive invading forces being transported by around 25 transports (which was hiding in the Philippines throughout the game) in Alaska just as the combined Allied forces liberated Europe and secured an Allied victory.
Thanks for a great game Sneaking, all those ships was really annoying all game long !
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LouisXIVXIV (Axis,8) defeats Epinikion by resignation after 11 rounds of live play in I think 4 sessions.
I was sharp and practiced after the 32 days of trench warfare with Barca, and had heard Epi is very good. So I was prepared for a focused game. Then there was the ongoing hail of wonderful axis dice. In combination these things proved lethal to the very skilled play of the allied powers.
Epi played a great game, he's a great sport and very friendly. Good luck in the tourney Epi. Looking forward to our next game.
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Undine (allies) defeats Ingcameroni (axis,
after 14 rounds of pbem game. After 12 rounds balanced... 2 round of bad move and one mistake of Japan... the game was closed.
Thanks for a Undine.. very strong player....
0_1543325069130_TOC13_rev_ingcameroni_axis_vs_undine_14 jap.tsvg -
Nasty Nate (Axis +10) defeats Blasherke due to the fall of Russia in the 13th round.
UK countered in Egypt on UK1 but Japan came quickly and kept Germany alive in Africa til late rounds. The Americans went Atlantic and clashed with Japan over Africa for the entire game. Allies traded with Germany wherever possible including several attacks on Southern Europe from the US which cost a couple transports each time. A late effort to combine every allied unit in Western Europe fell short as Germany was able to counter and hold.
Japan took every island early and continued to funnel a couple guys per turn into Africa to keep the British income low. Japan was finally able to push on Russia from both the north and the south and took caucuses. After a turn of building in the Caucuses for Japan, Russia fell.
Game file is below.
Great Game Blash!
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The judges decide that sol (axis +9) proceeds as winner against Deltium after 18 rounds pbem in a game with much action in various parts of the map. Summary:
- Axis get lucky R1 when Rus fails to take Ukr; Ger stacks it and holds until about R5, when the stack advances to WR.
- R1-R5 Allied efforts go mostly to Africa where G and J manage to hold Egypt but little else.
- Jap takes the islands and transports units to Egypt.
- When Ger takes WR, Allies refocus efforts on landing in Nor. Ger could take Cauc, but decides to stack Kar instead; Allies relocate from Nor to Arch and keep landing there. Japs take most of Africa in the meanwhile due to the sharply reduced presence of Allied units (relocated to the North).
- At this stage Axis felt quite comfortable; they earned more than Allies for a couple of turns, Japs built a 3rd IC, and it felt like a matter of waiting and pumping out sufficient numbers of units to take Mos.
- But Axis get greedy. Seeing low British income, they decide to make Brit even poorer by denying it France for one turn. Specifically, Ger tanks move from EE to WE and hold it. That however opens the possibility of Arch stack to move to WR (absent the threat of EE tanks), and later to even Ukr. The U.S. gets back to landing in Afr.
- The whole Ger front gets suddenly completely messed up. To help the Ger, and feeling not being able to hold Afr against the increased Amer efforts Jap fleet moves to the Med and transports all Jap units from Egypt to SE.
- And here the game changes direction completely, to Axis total surprise. Amer relocate a big part of their fleet to the Pacific and build new ships. Japs realize they can't compete; and they can't bring their Med fleet back (cut out by Amer holding Egypt, and Allies keeping enough fleet at Gib). So Axis realize the Pacific is lost and put all eggs into a Mos push: Ukr -> WR ->Cauc. The presence of Jap units in Europe certainly helps to deadzone WE, and provides extra protection when advancing forward.
- By R18 Axis had two big stacks (G in Cauc and J in Kaz) preparing to attack Mos.
- The U.S. just built 3 ICs on Pac islands and was preparing to start landing.
- That's when the deadline arrived.0_1543559008923_triplea_Ame18.tsvg
Thanks, Deltium for a great game!
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Nasty Nate (Allies) defeats Epinikion (Axis+10) by projection of power after the 7th turn.
On J1, Japan kills 6 Russian and a British fighter in Buryatia but left the American fleet outside of Hawaii alive. The Allies decide to go for a balanced strategy with America fully focused on Japan while the British and Russians work on Germany. The dice were favorable for the allies early helping them hold Africa and slow down the push towards Russia. By turn 4-5 the allies had a decent TUV advantage.. The Germans then made their push and were able to confine the British troops to Norway. Turn 7 Germany stacked West Russia and was going to take the Caucasus. Japan was incoming well around 42 each turn, buying planes and keeping the Americans at bay fairly easily.
UK7 offered little opportunity so the Brits took Paris but that victory city opened the door for the US to end the game. Japan didn't see it coming and the US took Calcutta, Manila, and Shanghai all at once putting the Allies to 9 Victory Cities and ending the game.
Game file below.
Great Game Epinikion!
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Valter (Axis) defats sol (Allies) in 11 round PBEM game. Allies cleared Africa of germans early on and Russia proceeded to build a giant tank stack that pretty much shutdown axis operations in the middle of the board. Germans on the other hand built a massive air force that prevented Allies from supplying Europe. When a Japanese navy traveled around the world to land an IC in Brazil allies threw in the towel and called it a game. GG sol, this was probably one of the mentally hardest games I played
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Gonz (Allies) defeats ingcameroni (Axis). Bid was 8G for Africa. The game was played PBEM and online. The Germans purchased fleet round 1 for the Baltic Sea. Japan purchase factories and goes for many armors right from the start. Strong Axis play (and an additional German fleet purchase round 7) result in combined Axis fleet holding the Med. Allies was purchasing a lot of fighters both for UK and US. Caucasus became Axis round 7. And Western Europe became Allied round 8. This resulted in a very balanced game with a very small TUV advantage for the Allies. By this time Axis was taking over Africa and the TUV gap was closing. Allies counter this by going all out Pacific with US. The not so successful US Med fleet was redirected to join forces with the new Pacific fleet. The US was able to put pressure on Tokyo, take the big Islands and by the end of round 16 Axis didn’t own any ships no more. At the same time Moscow was taken by Japan.. Axis decided to concede the game in the middle of Japan 18.
Ingcamaroni, this was a very balanced, complex and funny game. Very friendly game – thanks!!
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valter (allies) defeats comorv (axis) in a blitzkrieg 4 turn game. axis stormed russia building 24 tanks in three turns. russia barely keeps key position in west russia with the help of uk and usa aviation. these kind of positions are very intense as slightlest miscalulaction can mean enitre position collapsing. one such thing allows uk to enter berlin in turn 4. great to see blitzkrieg in action and great game, thanks comorv!
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via ADJUDICATION: Wasp (Allies) defeats Blackskull (Axis). Thank you both for playing this game together. We encourage you to continue playing the game to completion.
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LouisXIVXIV (Axis,8) defeats Panpal by resignation after 13 rounds of live play with breaks.
Panpal is a very good player and this was a fun and very good game. It's attached below. We had taken about a two week break so I don't have the full scope of the game in my mind, but it was interesting all the way to the end. My feeling was that Panpal had an opening somewhere in the early rounds maybe 3,4,or 5 to seize upon the game, but played more cautiously in those rounds, and it gave him a pretty stiff situation for the game's remainder. Not sure exactly, but I remember thinking something like that - I didn't take any chances either way though!
Gl in the tourney Panpal, looking forward to the next game.
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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NastyNate Allies defeats Valter(axis +10) by surrender in the 8th round.
My Marti Dice weren't working at the start and I was a slow on taking a few turns. I think Valter was justifiably annoyed with me and so with the deadline coming up and being a bit behind, he decided to surrender.
The Axis won the battle in Africa early via some Japanese support. Germany bought a plane each turn and the US went full Atlantic.
By the 4th round the British and Russians had Karalia stacked while Japan had taken all of the Islands.
In the 6th round the US navy landed and closed down the Suez Canal in what we be for good, finally establishing themselves in Africa but not without cost. The German planes destroyed the US fleet at the suez canal but lost most of their Luftwaffe in the process. The Japanese were incoming over 50 IPC's by now and, with the american fleet compromised, looked to move their fleet into the Atlantic. The US bought a couple planes each turn and were able to take out the first big fleet as it came around Africa ending that effort.
In the 8th round Germany moved their stack from Eastern Europe to Ukraine. In a collaborative effort the Allies were able to hold the Caucasus despite stacks of infantry stuck north in Karalia. This signified the allied lead and the uphill battle to take Moscow and thus Valter surrendered.
Good game Valter!
[0_1548681583271_TOC v J8.tsvg]
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Jmpsmsh (Axis +10) defeats Wasp after 10 rounds of play.
After a quiet start of the Allies the Germans seized the initiative early on, taking and holding Africa and Ukraine while Japan gathered the islands under its flag. Together with favourable trades this led to a slight IPC advantage for the Axis which was however negated by Allied bombs on the German industry. After all the Axis gained enough time to move big piles toward Russia, overthrowing them in a two-hit punch.
Thanks Wasp for a well played game! -
LouisXIVXIV (Axis,8) defeats Bayder. Resignation at USA round 14. Mainly Pbem with some live play.
This game was a good one. There was very detailed play I would say, with few tactical mistakes by anyone, but there were some. I found Bayder to be a tactical player overall, with lots of precision-tactics traps laid about, which means I had to play my moves to the last detail and be careful, or the mistake would be seized upon.
The game opened with UK throwing the works at Japan as best they could, with a general KGF format. Bayder was bitterly disappointed with his opening dice Russia1, which were the worst possible for the move he made. Things progressed in somewhat typical fashion for a med-focused USA allied KGF, with Japan lagging a bit behind the clock from UKs successful R1 blitz, and Germany ahead. Early Japanese play included an IC in EI, lots of fighters and a focus on Africa, with light Asian ground forces. Early German play was economic. I'd say UK play was marked by a focus on air power and USSR by tactical pressure on Japan. Things started to move away from both sides stacking near Egypt when USA attacked Southern Europe in round 4, and changed dramatically by round 6. There were also some interesting Eastern European dynamics around this period, but you wouldn't know it at first sight from the moves that ended up being played.
In round 6 the main of the axis navy moved into the Mediterranean, which gummed up the allied naval strategy of that moment. The allied response was even more dramatic than those naval moves, as USA chose to sail all the way around the map to East Indies and initiate a species of KJF. Bayder claimed he planned a KJF from the outset anyway. However, this was quite a surprise to me. In the end it proved to be a surprisingly strong course of action. Of course it did leave the Atlantic at the mercy of the Axis and I very nearly switched into Sea Lion mode (using Japanese transports to boost a German assault). Without thinking too hard though, my intuition was that I was winning and it wasn't necessary to get fancy - I decided to focus on Russia for offense and use the navy for defense and began moving the axis navy to meet the USA in the Pacific to slow things down. Bayder said he calculated UK could have been captured, so there might have been a missed opportunity there, I'm not sure. Even so, factoring in what might have transpired in Japan the better move is undecided for me at the moment.
The final part of the game was a race for Germany to take Russia while Axis were fending off the dynamic tactical assault of the US navy near ei, be it on africa or in the pacific. Allies steadily gained overall strategic ground in this period as Japanese relevance shrank, Africa broke free, and TUV went from equal to ~150+ Allies, but it couldn't save Russia, and Bayder chose to resign the game once Moscow's fate was sealed and there were no VC snipe opportunities on the board. GG bayder.
Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?
Ay, that I had not done a thousand more. -
I have two results. First Gonz defeats jmpsmsh. And then Gonz defeats PannPall. Gonz played allies in both games. Both games were really good games - great fun! Both games also had great speed with many emails per day - and that's needed when playing the only turny game running;) I want to thank jmpsmsh and PannPall for the friendly entertainment. The games were very different and the first one ended after US taking Tokyo. In the second game US was taking Berlin. So many details in both games - and you can look for yourself if you like. Best Gonz
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bayder (Allies) defeats Gonz (Axis +9) by surrender in round 11 of a pbem game. As always, playing Gonz was a fun challenge. I had some early luck, especially with air, which tipped the balance my way. Thanks Gonz for another great game.
Cheers,
bayder
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LouisXIVXIV defeats Bayder (Axis,9). Resignation at USA round 3. All PBEM.
This was only a few turns but I put considerable time into it. The highlight of the action is in Egypt, where I invested heavily to leverage Bayder's light Africa bid placement. The fatal attack depended on luck to be fatal, but the downside was low, and I probably would have been happy to plow all my forces into Egypt or India fleet in any case.
There was a rules conflict and substantial debate in round 1 regarding UKs attack in 7. The issue was, could Bayder submerge his subs and deny my ability to retreat, or did I have the ability to retreat before the subs acted. I thought the latter, he the former. Prastle ruled in his favor and that's how the game was played, which slowed my planes' Africa action down and forced an awkward dd move. In theory, it could have sunk my fleet. A day later, Prastle had dove deeper and realized my position was correct, but too late. In future, the engine will be modified to better reflect the rules, by switching the action order of attacker and defending subs. I'll post the arguments related to that in the appropriate forum spot later and link it here.
The game was short, but the gist was that Russia spent the whole game in full retreat except in persia, Germany had total domination of Eastern Europe and was playing catch up in Africa, UK played air heavily, Japan played fairly traditionally but was hampered I think unexpectedly by UK Indian ocean action, and USA was pure transports and land units. The game didn't feel over at all before the Anglo attack scenario developed; but with the die I threw on that attack, I could stay and triple hit egypt. IPC exchange would have actually been minimal, but with no J air, stilted J movement with UK air coverage, and Germ fleet gone Axis would be behind the clock with little tactical maneuverability, and I don't think a Hail Mary Russia blitz was in the cards.
Good games Bayder. I'm sure our battle will continue into future tourneys!
Having won the tourney, I want to give an honorable mention to Barca, who might well have beaten me (maybe!) in the game he resigned for time. I never got back to him to finish it though we both were interested - just too much axis time already committed. Maybe it will still be finsihed... But it also sticks out to me because I was rusty going into that game and it was a grindstone, which set me up for the rest of the tourney.
The Mayfly lives one day. Sometimes it rains.
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Congratulations LouisXIVXIV as the ToC 13 Champion.
