Combined WiFCE/DoD III Campaign Playthrough #21 - Nov/Dec 1939

The series continues (finally!). I had a serious technical issue which was preventing me from being able to edit my filmed sequences. I believe I have now found a sustainable work around, and should not see another big delay due to the problem. As you will be able to tell at the end of the video, I finished filming this episode in mid-January, but have not been able to put together the final product until now.
The construction project that was supposed to last 4 weeks is now dragging on into its SIXTH month. Furthermore, an unrelated neighborhood project (finishing the road along the side of our house) will now also likely impact my ability to film new segments over the next few months.
Fear not, though, the series will continue to plod onward as, and when, able. I thank you for your patience, and I hope by the end of Spring to be finally done with all the construction.
There are a number of interesting developments in this episode, so I hope you all find it worth the wait. Thanks for watching!

[@Dell999950]

The gold standard of WIF channels! Fantastic analysis and playthrough!

[@ThymeKeeper]

Always a good day when a new WiFCE/DoD III video drops :)

[@thetabletopsedge]

You are too kind. Glad to know you're enjoying it!

[@juanmanuelanzaldotrejo9312]

Great to see the series going on. It’s a great game and a great way to understand some of the fine print of the system. Many thanks for all the efforts.

[@thetabletopsedge]

Thanks for watching!

[@JasonHenke]

A well done video sir. I appreciated your thoughts and strategies. I've never played this game, but I'm very aware of it. Thank you very much for taking the time in putting the thought together in this. I look forward to more and really appreciate how much work went into this.

[@thetabletopsedge]

Glad to hear you are enjoying it. The goal is to try to give the viewer some idea of the thought process for each of the Major Powers as we go through the game. Hopefully giving them an idea of the various options and why certain ones are chosen over others. Of course, there will be some errors made (trying to manage the war efforts of 8 Major Powers across filming sessions that sometimes are separated by a lot of time, and also trying to narrate as I play makes things tricky sometimes), but again, that reflects a real multi-player game environment where mistakes are bound to occur. One of the things I enjoy most in gaming is the narrative that develops from each game, and so I try to impart that sense of narrative with the play throughs. Providing not just a look at how the rules work, but (hopefully) breathing some life into the game for viewers. Thanks for watching!

[@emrd1]

Incredible as usual! Really stoked that the game will continue!!!

[@kentnilsson465]

Great to have you back. I have only played the PC version and the Chinese front is very different there compared to the tabletop game since China is about twice the size resulting in other challenges for Japan but mainly China

[@thetabletopsedge]

Yes, Euro-scale hexes in China really changes the nature of that front in WiF. China is much, much bigger. Which can cause some supply issues for the Japanese as they try to move inland, but it makes it impossible (given their force pool) for the Chinese to form any kind of coherent line.

[@McCainenl]

Yess! I was missing this. So glad it's back! And it's a very exciting situation too, the world war is properly developing on all fronts :) Please give us more soon!

[@thetabletopsedge]

Things are definitely heating up everywhere as we get into 1940. I don't know frequently I'll be able to upload new episodes, but the game will definitely continue. I intend to leave it up and press on for as long as possible, and right now there is no end date in sight. I'm hoping to get some more filming done this month. Now that there is more action occurring each turn, I'm considering breaking up each turn into multiple, shorter episodes (which will hoefully allow me to upload them more often).

[@adults_talking]

awesopme glad to see that the series came back! watching now! heh

[@bjarneandreassen9118]

Hurray! Great to see the serie continue!

[@thetabletopsedge]

Yes! I don't know how fast it will proceed, but I intend to press on with it for as long as possible (with no end date currently in sight).

[@harrygoatleaf4032]

Great news about continuation. Your camera work and clear enunciation is the gold standard of war-game videos.

[@thetabletopsedge]

Thank you for the kind words, and I'm glad to hear you are enjoying it!

[@ezzler]

Thanks for this. Such a great play through.

[@davidkujala3603]

Really love your work🎉

[@clarkcommando1983]

Glad to see your back we missed you

[@Galenthias]

In the German Second impulse, couldn't you have reorganized an aircraft unit with the recently flipped v.Bock?

[@thetabletopsedge]

Yes. Aircraft reorganization would have cost double because it was not an Air Impulse, but it would have been legal to do so.

[@Laosiamus1]

I know that you have had some construction constraints as of late, is this game going to continue? I hope so because it is very interesting.

[@thetabletopsedge]

Thank you for asking. Yes, it is still an ongoing series. I have the rest of the J/F'40 turn filmed. Unfortunately, when I went to edit the episode, the editing software I have been using for the past 3 years is garbling the video. I was worried the original files had been corrupted, but fortunately that is not the case. For some strange reason the editor just doesn't like them. So I have tried another editing software and am happy to report that the files are importing just fine. The only problem is, I have to learn a new software from the ground up. It is taking a lot longer to edit this episode than with the old software. It may also look slightly different (mostly in the titles). As I get more familiar with the new software, i expect the editing process to speed up. I am hopeful of getting the next episode uploaded by the end of this coming week, and certainly no later than the end of August. Thanks for your patience. The J/F'40 was more eventful than I thought it would be, so hopefully it will be worth the wait. As soon as I am done editing the current episode I will begin filming M/A'40. With the construction issues receding I anticipate plenty of opportunities to film moving forward, and hope to be back to a more normal release schedule in the next month or so.

[@TheBunker-hj5rp]

Check the modifiers for ending the political phase. Should have a +1 to the die for 4-6 MP's at war. Unless you are not using that.

[@thetabletopsedge]

Good catch! I did that for the M/A'40 Political Phase (not that it helped much... 😁)

[@docholiday1476]

Always appreciate the videos and enjoy WiF but this turn is my biggest frustration with WiF. In attempting to recreate the war it’s bogged down in headlong attacks, lacks mobility (the entire reason tanks, motorized and mechanized units were created), is seriously unrealistic with French unit strengths and ignores doctrine differences. French units are overwhelmingly overrated. It drives me up the wall when games are leveled this way. Add in the constant add ons like artillery (which should be halved) and you get World War I. WiF is great but it needs some fixes. Still I like your play through.

[@thetabletopsedge]

The France'40 campaign is my least favorite part of WiF. It usually bogs down in positional, WWI-style fighting, which is the exact opposite of what happened historically. It's usually worse when adding DoD II or DoD III to WiF, but at least then I know I'm going far afield from the historical realities. The WiFCE maps are an improvement over the WiFFE maps, which were a big improvement over the WiF5 maps. The attack that took Metz at the end of the turn was a desperation move. The French made a huge error in only leaving one unit there. Given the Snow weather and the Maginot hexsides, I overlooked the possibility of a go-for-broke attack. It wasn't until the following German impulse that I looked at the situation closely enough to realize there may just be a chance. I did not expect the attack to succeed, but now that it has, it opens up some more possibilities for the Germans. The Allies will have J/F'40 to prepare (unless the Germans continue to tempt fate and make low odds attacks), but come M/A'40 and decent weather, the Germans may just be able to punch through yet. We'll see. Complicating matters for the Germans is the addition of DoD. Not only does it allow for things like an aligned Belgium and cooperating CW & France, but it also saps (a lot) of BP's from production that would otherwise be used to build German aircraft and land units. I'm genuinely curious to see how the German attack on France plays out. I can see it going either way at this point, and even if Germany does prevail (which I think it slightly more possible at this point) then there's the question of whether the victory will be more costly than she can afford.