Poland 39 observations

[jonnymacbrown]

I'm on turn 45 of a 3 player team game (2 Germans versus 1 Polish) and we're standing on a Draw about half way between Draw and Minor Axis Victory.  We're playing the shorter campaign that ends at the time the Russians intervened.  We started the game the day it was released and before the first patch and as a result the entire German OOB started at only 80% strength (it was corrected in the first patch).  Despite that handicap we have made good progress and believe we will win in the end barring any shocking developments.  Now granted the 2 Axis players believe the Polish player has made some mistakes that could have been avoided and improved his performance, but we do believe there are balance issues in the Campaign Games (just as there are in F40 also) that make the game unwinnable from the Allied side.  I lay the blame for that squarely at the lack of Campaign testing (not a secret, CGs don't get tested due to length, and when even attempted are restarted constantly as changes to the game are released to the play testers).  It will fall to us the player community to tweak victory levels if we want more competitive CGs.

The Polish player in the game has noted the scattered nature of the mobilization and expressed the same frustrations you have.  If you've ever played the F40 CG as the Allies you've some experience with this as some (but not the majority) of French reinforcements come on board the same way.  Now I have not contended with it yet, but my personal preference would be to leave the mobilization limitations in place as they are an historical reality resulting from the delayed mobilization orders.  They add to the Operational nature of the game I enjoy so much.  On that note, from the German perspective I will say that the distances are so vast that unlike most CGs I play, the necessity is to keep everyone in T mode unless in direct contact which makes surprises by the Poles much more painful, this too adds to the operational flavor I've found in no other PzC game yet.  

Anyway, I do believe that building bunkers in constricted territory can pay huge dividends but for obvious reasons can not be relied upon.  A Bridge destruction plan (you're welcome Alex    ) - is very important for the Poles especially along the full hex portion of the Vistula.   Many bridges in the NW are pre-WIRED and should be blown as soon as practical, and engineers should be dispatched to begin wiring the ones further east and south.  I think the most important thing for the Poles to stand a chance is jealously guard their Cavalry units and the few Motorized Brigades they have.  The Polish Army is designed to fight a war in 1920 not 1940 and can not cope with the speed of the Panzer and Motorized divisions, therefore those few mobile units can not be squandered in stand up fights against the Germans.  They must screen and delay effectively.  To the extent possible the Poles must keep the Germans in front of them, which means fighting unhistorical and pulling back as soon as possible, abandoning objectives if needs be. The victory lies in destruction of the Polish Army and the capture of Warsaw, almost everything else is secondary.

I think game designers sometimes forget that the game is not an historical document. Playability is important. Tom Quinn and I have played F 14 campaign (all 153 turns) about 6 times in the past 20 years. I'm fascinated with P 39 right now but I know I can't win; shooting for a minor loss. I may want to play the Poles again in a few years but right now it's one and done. Basically I like to wargame and I must say I'm not really enthusiastic about organzing a national mobilization across the width and breath of the largest map map yet seen on this level. I appreciate the depth of research that went into this. I signed up for this so I need to figure it out but there's got to be a better way.