TR 42-45 1.5.2 - ALLIED vs Mark - END & FINAL REPORT

And that's it, folks. Mark has released his latest version, making this game/playtest pretty moot. We were going to finish up this game, but there are quite a few reasons, other than the new version, for us to stop now. I'll list as many as I can think of in my final report below.

• Replacements - The German replacement rates seemed too high, though I never really got a good look at them until after we ended the game. Part of this was due to me not putting enough pressure on the Axis throughout the entire run of the scenario, but then it becomes compounded by the next replacement issue. The Russians were extremely short on replacements, to the point where I had absolutely ZERO Russian Rifle Squads in the inventory for the last turn played... and that includes a ton of extra units I had to disband just to suck up their rifle squads.
• Strategy - The Allied play absolutely MUST NOT sit back and wait for the Axis to wear themselves out attacking you. It will never happen, and wastes valuable time. Once you see the Axis player slowing down following the initial tornado of advances, start planning ways to put pressure on as many sectors of the front lines as possible. 
• USE ARTILLERY, and use it often. The only way to get any sort of chance to push back the Axis is to knock them out of the "F" fortified status.
• Don't waste the theater option disbands unless you're positive it's worth it. The ground shock disbands are most useful, obviously. There is really no reason to disband them before the calendar turns to 1943. Once the Allied player sees the war shifting from the Germans on offense, to the Allies on offense, that is when the shock disbands are most lethal. Don't use them to start an offensive. Rather use them to level a kill shot after you've already made good progress and put a scare into the Axis player. 
• Be careful with naval units. They don't have many replacements. Once you lose a battleship, it's probably not coming back. And that's useful for nearly every sector in the west. 

For now that's all. The next version already looks fantastic, and that's saying something since this one was already really great. I'm excited to get started on our next game/playtest for version 1.8. Stay tuned...