Combined World in Flames/Days of Decision III Campaign Playthrough #20: Sep/Oct 1939

As I mention at the end of this episode, due to an ongoing home improvement project my opportunities for filming have been dramatically reduced over the past two months, and unfortunately look like they won't get any better for several more weeks. I have partially filmed the Nov/Dec turn and with luck will be able to get it finished in January and uploaded before the end of the month.

[@stefanocarretta3295]

Excellent video. Please continue this series

[@JohnBall-wx3nb]

Thank you for making this video. Very interesting. Great work.

[@jetgeek8241]

Our fledgling group of noob WiF+DOD III players in Texas are very intrigued by this channel. Your play through has been the basis for our noobs to get a good handle on these two awesome games are played. My friend and I have played many versions of DOD and WiF and are both trying to get as much info for our newbies as possible. Your videos are invaluable training resource for our 3 new-guys! Hope you can continue these videos--we will look at Ardwulf's Lair links and hopefully see winterfest videos? When and where is winterfest? Can people drop in and watch? I might be in that area in February 2024... THANKS for all the great playthroughs!

[@thetabletopsedge]

There has been an unfortunate change in plans for Winterfest due to one of our 4 WiF players having to drop out due to family issues. So we will not be playing WiF this year. However, WiF is still a strong candidate for Winterfest 2025, when we will hopefully be able to get a 5 player game (which I think is the optimal number of players for a WiF Campaign scenario).

[@ardwulfslair]

It's like Christmas all over again

[@flavsant8924]

Damn! You convinced me to jump from fe edition to ce deluxe edition + DoD lll!! Just ordered them!!!!

[@thetabletopsedge]

My apologies! 😁 The CE is a very nice edition. The mounted maps are excellent, and there are a few very minor changes (that may have some larger strategic impact). The force pools have been changed a bit as well. You'll want to take the time to read completely through the rule book, as several changes have been made. None of them are huge changes, for example some things that used to be optional rules have been incorporated as standard rules, and other old standard rules have been made optional. It carries a hefty price tag, but I don't think you'll regret making the switch.

[@friedrichgrunert9156]

Great, thanks for the new episode. As always, extremely helpful. When you start the new round, could you imagine giving an update from time to time on what happened in the last few rounds? Not showing every move in such detail but just briefly showing the most important things that happened? That would be really interesting to see how the game progresses when different people play against each other.

[@thetabletopsedge]

I presume you mean at the start of each video? Reviewing what has happened over the previous few turns? Or do you mean at the start of each impulse?

[@friedrichgrunert9156]

@@thetabletopsedge No, I mean when you finish this round and start the new round with your friends, which is probably why the current DoD round has to end

[@thetabletopsedge]

@@friedrichgrunert9156 Ah, I think I understand now! I am hoping to be able to do just what you suggest while I am at Winterfest. I won't be able to show the turns as they happen, blow by blow. But I hope to provide some turn summaries, describing the action in more general terms so that viewers can follow along and get a sense of how the game is unfolding. Gary from Ardwulf's Lair is one of the players, and he will certainly do some coverage of the game on his channel. So between the two of us, you will hopefully get some good insight into the upcoming game. I am also exploring possibilities to continue this current game after returning from Winterfest. There is so much more I want to show folks in this game that I hate to have to stop it prematurely. Stay tuned!

[@McCainenl]

As a Dutchman, I appreciate WWII breaking out over NL ;) Very sad to hear about the imminent demise of this series though, I've enjoyed it a great deal - more than most stuff I regularly watch on KZbin. Would it be possible for you to perhaps take pictures and/or write down your 'board state', such that after Winterfest you can simply set it up again and continue? Perhaps this is naive but that could preserve the series for longer, no?

[@thetabletopsedge]

I'm exploring a couple of options that would allow the series to continue after I return from Winterfest. If there's enough interest in seeing the series continue, I'll look into it more fully. Like the old baseball player Yogi Berra famously said, "It ain't over, 'til it's over."

[@adults_talking]

I would definitely like to see the series continue

[@henrikrothen]

Copy set up into Vassal maybe? Me too would enjoy watching a long term well managed campaign of WiF go on for a longer duration...

[@thetabletopsedge]

@@henrikrothen Thanks for the support! The good news, which I announce at the end of the next episode (hopefully appearing sometime in early February) is that the series will definitely continue as I do not have to tear down my game for the upcoming Winterfest game. We are using someone else's copy. The N/D'39 episode has finished filming. I'm having some issues getting all the footage transferred onto my computer so I can begin editing, but my goal is to have the next episode uploaded before I go to Winterfest in the middle of February.

[@emrd1]

Great holiday gift. Sad to hear that it will end within 2 months.

[@thetabletopsedge]

I'm rethinking ending the series in February. It has proven to be more popular than I expected it to be, and folks have been very patient as they await each new episode. I'm considering options that would allow me to preserve the game state when I have to pack it in to go to Winterfest and then resume it when I get back home. If there's enough interest in seeing the series continue, I'll look into this possibility in more detail.

[@kentnilsson465]

@@thetabletopsedge There is enough interest!!

[@emrd1]

@@thetabletopsedge👍👍❤️❤️

[@ezzler]

Thanks for this

[@adults_talking]

alright! been waiting for this!

[@bjarneandreassen9118]

Great to see a new episode! Thanks for that. I believe the Netherland convoys could have rebased to Dutch Guiana in south america? I guess UK will align the Netherlands later on, and those 6 convoy points will be useful!

[@thetabletopsedge]

Good point. I'll check that out, and if doable, then I'll relocate the Dutch CP/TP's to Dutch Guiana.

[@starfyregaming5074]

I was super glad to see the new episode. Your videos are always a highlight to watch. Is there any chance you can record the game at Winterfest? I think it would awesome to watch. Thank you again for running these WIF videos.

[@thetabletopsedge]

Gary from Ardwulf's Lair will be playing in our game at Winterfest, and like last year's Wacht am Rhein game, he did a summary video at the end of the week. I may be able to do some short updates on the progress of the game, and may do a longer video once I'm back home summarizing the game. Between Ardwulf and I, there should be some decent coverage of the game.

[@starfyregaming5074]

Glad to hear it. Thanks again.@@thetabletopsedge

[@Dell999950]

Great to see this - excellent work sir! Are you using City based volunteers? Would have declared war on Belgium - you certainly could have cleared a few hexes in the surprise turn.

[@thetabletopsedge]

Yes, CBV are standard fare in my WiF games. I believe you are correct and that Germany did err when they failed to DoW Belgium, even with the poor weather.

[@denisdelarive7753]

@@thetabletopsedge If so then you can add the Vienna SS MIL, (and the Japanese Nanking MIL?). Also think of building a MEC division for Japan to get some better attack options in China.

[@kentnilsson465]

YES!! Why put the Belgian units in Liege, it puts them with Germans on 4 sides and also makes the front longer, 5 hexes instead of 4 I thought Germany produced 12?

[@FurryCruz]

What about Curacao? the CPs coudln't reach that?

[@Galenthias]

1:41:00 - Germany needs to win fast in the west, so let's not attack Belgium when they are in a state of 'we would actually let France come in and pre-emptively set up on the Dyle-Maas lines' (something they significantly did not in our time line) - I reckon this will end up being this worlds "Oh, if not for the rains delaying the attacks, then Germany would surely have managed a decapitating strike" (except it's about France, not the USSR). But yea, as said elsewhere, boardstates are easily saved. Somewhat less so when you want to mix up all the force pools to be able to play another game in the interim, but good cameras (like the one you are using to record with) does save a lot of writing. Just record yourself putting everything away and you can play it in reverse after (if you find it worth the effort - maybe you'd prefer a fresh start)

[@Galenthias]

I mean, since UK and France went ahistorically gently with each others and ended up with a full alliance, maybe Germany and Italy should have spent less of their road to war by interfering with each others. :D (Previously I seem to recall some shenanigans around some other minor, and this time with Hungary)

[@thetabletopsedge]

I do think the failure of Germany to DoW Belgium when it had the opportunity will turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes in the game. The Luftwaffe is not really prepared to deal with both the French and CW air forces. The decision facing the Germans now is whether or not to press ahead in Nov/Dec, with likely poor weather, or wait for the spring to build up the LW (but also allow the Allies to build up strength as well). Good news on continuing the series, though. It's been confirmed that we will NOT be using my copy at Winterfest, which means there is no need to take it down in the next few weeks. So the series will continue, which I am glad for, as I think this will end up playing out very differently than many WiF-only games.

[@marcos5598]

Great series. I really hope you continue it. Need some help with a clarification of a rule in a wif game without DoD. When you liberate a country it says you return half of its units not in the game to its force pools. Does that count also for polish force claimed by the British if they are still in their force pool or on the production circle?

[@thetabletopsedge]

Rule 19.5.1 says at the end that the Polish units added to the CW force pools are "treated as British for all purposes". Therefore, they would not be counted when determining how many of the Polish units to return to the force pools after Poland is liberated. Thanks for watching! I recently found out that we will not be using my copy for our upcoming game at Winterfest, and so I am able to leave the current game up. This means the series will continue.

[@marcos5598]

Thank you very much for the help. And I'm very happy to hear that you will continue the series.

[@marcos5598]

Got another question. Is it possible to liberate Hungary when the Axis aligned them or can they just be conquered? Same with Czechoslovakia?

[@thetabletopsedge]

@@marcos5598 I believe you may only liberate countries that have been "conquered", not "aligned". So the answer to your question with regard to Hungary would be no. Czechoslovakia and Austria are special cases in WiF. Since they were absorbed into Greater Germany prior to the start of the game in S/O'39, they are considered part of the German home country for all purposes, and therefore cannot be conquered or liberated separately from Germany. Hope this helps!

[@denisdelarive7753]

Just a few comments, first thanks for some great content. The commonwealth and Belgium should not co-operate, so that limits how many of their units can go into that country, and 1 CP can be placed in the Congo. The naval battle shows well the major flaw with removing convoy raiding from the normal game sequence, Germany lost, (well not really because of the weather), a very small chance to sink some CPs. I use CXs so this kind of limitation makes them far less useful than with the standard rules, not that CE rules are that great, reducing a 950 ship navy to the same potential number of escorts as Germany is not very acceptable. I like the FE version more, with a few changes to how SCSs patrol. An other factor to consider is that France and the Commonwealth have the possibility to gear up to the next level since they are now at war with Germany. DoD III section 10.1.1 has a mechanic that can add to your income, and the credit card is also interesting. Being in debt is part of the war, no major power had trouble financing its military. Well happy New Year, and thanks again for such an interesting story.

[@thetabletopsedge]

When the CX's first appeared (in Convoys in Flames, I believe), they had a search roll DRM that made them harder to find. I'll be using that in this playthrough, which will give them a better chance to remain at sea until the convoy attack phase. I understand some of the reasoning for making the changes that were made when Ships in Flames was introduced, but I disagree with how they were implemented. While surface raiders may have been helped with the rule changes, in many ways the SUB's have been neutered. The results generated by the current rules with regards to the commerce war at sea don't jibe with the historical course of the campaign. Could the old (WiF 5th) system have been improved? Sure. But unfortunately Harry and company missed an opportunity. I'll have a video in the future going into this subject in painful detail and laying out my case against the current rules and presenting an alternative.

[@christineguibert3969]

Hi, I'm a big fan of your WiF videos, even more so with DoD 3. I'd like some advice for my videos. How can I contact you by private message?

[@adults_talking]

yes real time strategy, people thought it was a dead genra

[@elfstone83]

to be fair the axis have gotten screwed so hard via weather, especially the japanese early, that i dont see this campaign going very far. its been one horrid weather roll after another

[@thetabletopsedge]

Yes, the weather has been less than cooperative with Axis plans. Unfortunately, that's one of the dangers with WiF. I've seen more than one WiF game derailed due to horrific weather rolls.

[@McCainenl]

@@thetabletopsedge to be fair, things are happening in the late autumn of 1939 that historically happened in the late spring of 1940 - it stands to reason the weather isn't as good (seen from an RP POV, at least)