My tutorial game. It went on for 57 days. The war really started on day 25. The only players left at this time were Yugoslavia(181 VPs), Russian Empire(93 VPs), Morocco(224 VPs), and Greater Finland (me, 298 VPs).I had taken France and the UK from Morocco without a fight after he attacked some of my men in England. I was allied with Yugoslavia and the Russian Empire at the time.
Morocco then suddenly slammed my men with tactical bombers (which I wasn't prepared for considering it was my first game). After the tactical bombers struck, his armored brigades (mostly mediums) came over the border from Spain as my men started a full retreat. Yugoslavia then betrayed me and struck my weak underbelly, and my army of 100 (also mostly mediums) fell back to an easy defense line.
As they started their assault, I realized they had more men than I did, so I sent my armored brigades to blitzkrieg their undefended territories after they slipped through the enemies defenses. I almost got to Paris with one (that was Morocco's cap at the time). Another went all the way to Greece and launched off into Africa. I then promptly blitzed that until my light tanks were finally stopped right at Morocco's homeland. A third got to Yugoslavia's cap (still Belgrade). The fourth group was destroyed before it took out anything that major.
As these guys died off, I had a smaller force ready to try and counter made up of SP artillery, SP anti-air, tank destroyers, and medium tanks. They were made in nearby factories and brought into one province to counter an attack. I used this one to delay the enemy while I built up another one further back. That one was used in the same fashion. The last few were pulled back as Morocco and Yugoslavia drew close. They eventually had to stop because if they kept pulling back, my homeland would be assaulted. They held back one or two assault from the enemy, but they eventually succumbed.
While that happened, I was spamming Anti-Tank guns along with Anti-Air (and where possible, artillery) in my urban areas. This kept the war going for much longer. When their first men entered my homeland, my UK provinces were still mysteriously untouched, and Morocco had invaded my Swedish and Norwegian territories, making his new capital Oslo.
As the assaults started on my cities, Leningrad proved to be the toughest. The forces in Leningrad weren't the largest of my forces, but they held back two or three assaults by Yugoslavia before falling. My African cities also turned out to be resilient due to lack of large enemy forces in the area, and high level factories generously provided by Morocco. (through all of this the Russian Empire was being thoroughly beaten by Yugoslavia). It was day 40 at this point.
Eventually, my homeland fell and only my UK provinces plus a few outcast territories (gained by the last of my motorized divisions) remained. I only had two destroyers, 3 interceptors, and the assorted anti-tank, anti-air, and artillery regiments I had just started making (I never expected the UK to be my last stand).
Eventually, I built up my air force to 5 interceptors, 3 tactical bombers, and 3 strategic bombers (that were always bombarding city's buildings into nothing). My land force in the UK had 24 anti-tank guns and 4 anti-air guns (Morocco's air force had disappeared so I had grown a bit lazy there). My navy was 9 destroyers strong and had set up a loose screen around England. I had actually launched a counter-offensive in Africa with anti-tank guns, anti-air, and artillery atm.
Then everything went to hell again. Rocket attacks and Tactical bombers destroyed my entire air force due to it being stationed in one place and my interceptors not providing air cover. Morocco then promptly slipped 70-80 of his divisions into England. I had all of my units pulled out and relocated to my capital which was Dublin. Everyone made it out alive, and my destroyers set up a screen so tight, that there was only 1 or 2 entry points available. All the other landing points for Ireland were covered by 2 destroyer squadrons. My forces in Africa had been obliterated by an attack by Yugoslavia.
Then, before any more invasions, the game ended. I'm still not sure whether Yugoslavia collected enough VPs (Morocco didn't take nearly as much land as Yugoslavia), or everyone voted to retire (there were already 2 out of 3 votes cast to retire). For all of my trouble, I only got 55 gold pieces.
The final casualty counts were:
Morocco: 235,106 Yugoslavia: 154,787 Yugoslavia: 87,609
Greater Finland: 190,416 Greater Finland: 154,221 Russian Empire: 114,657
Total Casualties:
Morocco+Yugoslavia: 477,502
Greater Finland+Russian Empire: 459,294
Apparently, that's what holding out to the end does. (note: there may have been more casualties due to un-updated casualty reports in the newspaper).
Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
-Winston Churchill
Attack rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, without rest, however tired and hungry you may be, the enemy will be more tired, more hungry. Keep punching.
-George S. Patton