Polish Strategy in Third Reich in 1939

The Polish army is unlikely to survive beyond one turn, so strategy involves exacting the highest price possible for defeat. There are two possible strategies.

1) Defend Warsaw

Why do anything else? This is the most basic strategy. Put the strongest troops in Warsaw and then surround the one hex adjacent to Warsaw that is not blocked from Warsaw by a river, forcing the Nazis to attack across the river. They'll still win, but you get to roll more dice against them.

Use one or more French attrition impulses to attack panzers with your weakest infantry. If this succeeds in paralyzing a sufficient quantity of German armor, you might live to turn 2.

2) Ship Goods to France

Again, place the best troops in Warsaw but draw a line of weak units to your Baltic port (want Danzig? come and get it!). Put the air unit in Danzig too. Then put the air unit in the Baltic. If the Germans counter by placing a full strength air unit in the Baltic, your little Polish air force and theirs get to fight 3 rounds instead of one. Odds are that they eliminate you in 2 or 3 rounds, but that you eliminate 0 or 1 points of German air. If, for whatever reason, the Germans don't control the Baltic, you ship half your BRPs to France on turn 1 _and_ the British can raid in the Baltic.

Then the Germans take Warsaw.

3) If the Germans ignore Poland

The Poles might be able to take 2 German cities with a French attrition impulse. Then there's a 1/36 chance of Germany surrendering in 1939!

A German player trying an unorthodox strategy might do this. The reason is that if they can get France to fall before Poland, Poland turns neutral as it is a minor ally of France.

Two AARs for John Prados' Third Reich

There's an elementary level AAR (first time player) at boardgamegeek, and a quite sophisticated one in a blog called Just Roll Sixes.

I enjoyed this game when it was given to me in the 80s and I enjoy the re-release more. The bucket of dice combat system is far superior to CRTs, and the impulse system creates a superb level of tension.

My only quibble is that the naval system makes it easier to control sea zones with tactical air than with ships, but that's a minor quibble. I will follow with some notes for solitaire play and strategy in the 1939 scenario.