My Historical Global War AAR

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: AllenK

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

May / June 1940. Axis Impulse #3. Algeria.

The Italians successfully land two corps in Algeria and capture the port of Oran.

Editorial note: It wasn't until I read through a thread where it was discussed the danger of stripping North Africa for the defense of French that I realized I had put the French in this danger in my game. So I decided to make my allied (French) side pay for this by launching this "surprise" invasion. Though, to properly prepare this surprise took three impulses, over which the allied had two. Of course in solo play once one side figures something out the other side "immediately" figures it out too. So to maintain the ability to execute a surprise that takes multiple impulses I will not react to something that the other side has figured out for some "reasonable" time.

I dunno, my play is of a competency I tend to find I've left myself all number of surprises waiting to be exploited when I swap from one side to the other [8|]. A couple of glasses of one's favourite tipple is another sure fire way of keeping the surprises rolling in.

I hear that. [8D]

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Allied Impulse #6. France.

Surprisingly, there's friction and noncooperation between the French and British. [;)] The French decide it's in their best interest to reform their defensive line by pulling back 1 hex to the west. This leaves the city of Lille undefended, but most distressing to the Brits, is that the French leave the southern flak of the BEF 7-6 armor corps and Gort's HQ (which is disorganized) undefended. Also, this opens up the British 7-4 mot corps, which is also disorganized, vulnerable to attack.

Whitehall is questioning their commitment (i.e., the commitment of the BEF) to the defense of France. Paris is questioning why the CW didn't declare war on Italy after the Italian DOW on France. Mistrust not only at the political level, but at the military and, most importantly the civilian level between France and Britain is now running rampant.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Axis Impulse #7. France.

The Germans didn't take the bait (the exposed BEF) that the French had left. Instead, the Germans ignored the BEF and achieved a breakthrough against the French stack southwest of Lille. This puts the exploiting German mech corps in contact with the Paris defenders. Assuming the weather holds and the turn continues, the Germans plan to clear the units in front of Paris next impulse (#9), which will give them a chance to capture Paris this turn, or at worst early next turn.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Axis Impulse #7. Eastern Med.

The Italians continue to exploit the friction between the French and British by attacking and sinking a French convoy in the Eastern Med without any interfere from the large RN force at sea there. This results in even more pressure being excreted by the French government on the British to declare war on Italy. The anti-war PM Neville Chamberlain is resisting and in his speech to Parliament was quoted as saying, "... this is a French problem."

Editorial Note: In my version of history in this AAR, there was no German invasion of Norway (Operation Wesenbung), no disastrous intervention there by England and France and, therefore, no event that resulted in the fall of the Chamberlain and formation of the Churchill governments. So, I'm scripting one so that Chamberlain's government falls and Churchill becomes PM. [;)]

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Axis Impulse #9. France.

The weather turns to rain creating supply difficulties for the Germans in France. The Germans decide to pause and wait for next turn to resume their offensive, capture Paris and conquer France.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Axis Impulse #5. Chengchow, China.

Terauchi and his army manage to regroup, launch an effective counter-counterattack against the Chinese communist and retake the city of Chengchow.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Axis Impulse #5. China.

In addition to recapturing the city of Chengchow, Yamanato's army is able to capture Ichang and continue their move north to link up with Terauchi's army.

In the south, Umezu's Army Group cross the Hsi river, captures the Chinese resource for which there's no way to get it back to Japan and moves into the mountains of the Kwangsi Providence. This move puts elements of Umezu's Army Group in contact with the Chinese nationalist; however, these elements lack the strength for a high confident attack on the Nationalist. So, for the moment, a stalemate in the south develops.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Axis Impulse #7. China.

The communist held city of Kaifeng in the north is captured, a communist corps is destroyed and a second corps (out of supply and disorganized) is forced to retreat. The Japanese now have a clear road to the city of Sian, which houses a factory and a resource, and to Mao.

A storm hits in the south, which shuts down Japanese supply and any hopes of making any ground there this turn.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Axis Impulse #9. China.

The Monsoon continues in the South and rain sets in across the rest of China shutting down Japanese operations countrywide. In the north, the commands of the Terauchi and Yamanato armies have officially be combined into the Northern Army Group under Yamanato. Terauchi is now severing as a sub commander under Yamanato's.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. End of Turn.

The May / June 1940 turn comes to an end. Algeria surrenders to the Italians. Though there was a lot of action in France, China and the Med fewer units than I thought were actually destroyed.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. German Production.

German production hitting on all cylinders (only 1 factor idle) and with a nice stockpile of oil.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Italian Production.

The problem with Italian production is the lack of resources to feed all their factories. 7 of their 11 factories sit idle.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. Japanese Production.

The Japanese have the same problem with idle factories as the Italians do. 7 of 19 sit idle. The Japanese did manage to capture an additional resource in China this turn, but have no route to transport it back to one of their idle factories.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. CW Production.

All 22 CW controlled factories are running at full operation. The CW has stockpiled quite a bit of oil too though 2 Oil resources sit idle. The Brits plan to move a few of their 23 reserve (i.e., unused) convoys next turn to get the idle oil resources flowing to factories or storage tanks. In fact, the idle oil in Burma was saved this turn to India. All in all, CW production looks good to me.

[rkr1958]

May / June 1940. US Entry Options.

I'm sure I'm honking this phase up. This turn the allies choose # 26, Relocate fleet to Pearl Harbor and # 7, Occupy Greenland and Iceland.

[Courtenay]

Resources to Western Allies should be a priority. Also, the Burmese oil can be saved in Mandalay, or, if there is a convoy chain from India to the UK, used to reorganize units. (Land from Burma to India, then onwards using convoys. Reorganization uses supply lines of infinite length.) It only takes two convoys to get the NEI oil to either India or Australia, whichever you think better, where it can be saved.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

Resources to Western Allies should be a priority. Also, the Burmese oil can be saved in Mandalay, or, if there is a convoy chain from India to the UK, used to reorganize units. (Land from Burma to India, then onwards using convoys. Reorganization uses supply lines of infinite length.) It only takes two convoys to get the NEI oil to either India or Australia, whichever you think better, where it can be saved.

The screenshot of CW production above was taken a turn ago from the preliminary production phase I think? Though I'm getting ahead of my AAR the shot below is from the July / August 1940 preliminary production phase. I think I did do exactly what you recommended. All oil is going to production or being saved and no factories are idle. The issue is that the CW has 6 idle non-oil resources. What do you recommend I do to get those 6 resources? Is there anything I can do to put them to good use?

[Courtenay]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958
The issue is that the CW has 6 idle non-oil resources. What do you recommend I do to get those 6 resources? Is there anything I can do to put them to good use?

Don't burn oil if you can save it and replace it with non-oil resources. The Burmese oil should be saved, for example. If you can ship it for production, you can ship one of idiotic Malayan resources, instead.

Since I don't know your convoy situation, I don't know if you have the capability of shipping any of the resources to the CW. At the start of game (that is, through 1941), I generally get two of the eastern resources (India, Malaya, Australia) to the CW, and ignore the other four. While the Allies theoretically have the CPs to get some of them to Britain, I find it better for the Allies to keep CPs in reserve for when something happens to the convoy chain.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

ORIGINAL: rkr1958
The issue is that the CW has 6 idle non-oil resources. What do you recommend I do to get those 6 resources? Is there anything I can do to put them to good use?

Don't burn oil if you can save it and replace it with non-oil resources. The Burmese oil should be saved, for example. If you can ship it for production, you can ship one of idiotic Malayan resources, instead.

Since I don't know your convoy situation, I don't know if you have the capability of shipping any of the resources to the CW. At the start of game (that is, through 1941), I generally get two of the eastern resources (India, Malaya, Australia) to the CW, and ignore the other four. While the Allies theoretically have the CPs to get some of them to Britain, I find it better for the Allies to keep CPs in reserve for when something happens to the convoy chain.

Thanks. I'll see if I can save Burma oil resource and then replace it at the factory with a non-oil resource. I have to admit that I have a very long way to go in adequately understanding the production, oil and convoy parts of this game.

By the way I'm playing under the impression that there's (sill) a bug that limits the number of saved oil and BP's to 1 per hex. So I change up each turn where I save my oil so that I don't try to save an oil point to a hex that already has one. Am I understanding this correctly?

[yvesp]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

ORIGINAL: rkr1958
The issue is that the CW has 6 idle non-oil resources. What do you recommend I do to get those 6 resources? Is there anything I can do to put them to good use?

Don't burn oil if you can save it and replace it with non-oil resources. The Burmese oil should be saved, for example. If you can ship it for production, you can ship one of idiotic Malayan resources, instead.

Since I don't know your convoy situation, I don't know if you have the capability of shipping any of the resources to the CW. At the start of game (that is, through 1941), I generally get two of the eastern resources (India, Malaya, Australia) to the CW, and ignore the other four. While the Allies theoretically have the CPs to get some of them to Britain, I find it better for the Allies to keep CPs in reserve for when something happens to the convoy chain.

Thanks. I'll see if I can save Burma oil resource and then replace it at the factory with a non-oil resource. I have to admit that I have a very long way to go in adequately understanding the production, oil and convoy parts of this game.

By the way I'm playing under the impression that there's (sill) a bug that limits the number of saved oil and BP's to 1 per hex. So I change up each turn where I save my oil so that I don't try to save an oil point to a hex that already has one. Am I understanding this correctly?

On my part, I like building some factories for the CW. You usually can put them to good use.

About the production screen, it is buggy as hell, and I rant against it quite often in my AARs. For saving oil, you are correct: there now is a bug (it wasn't there before) that limits you to one per city... You have to change every turn! And you have a problem when you run short of cities (happened in 1943 in my previous AAR when the commonwealth reached 65 oil stored) ; the problem is that you cannot play the commonwealth if you cannot run the convoys the way you need (and not the way the game decides, which is what happens now.) ; this means that I often have to spend an hour or so in that damn production screen to get the correct convoy routes ; and sometimes I just quit for that last resource that won't be shipped as I want, and accept the one BP loss it entails.

The Burma resource should usually be stored in Burma, and it should be your priority when using oil.
The Netherland oils should be shipped to India and stored there ; possibly in Africa sometimes, in a less vulnerable place, depending on your free convoys.
The Persian oil should be saved in Egypt/Palestine. A dangerous place ; but you don't intend to lose it, do you ? When France falls and Syria is not friendly, you can use one convoy to store it in your middle east possessions.
The Port of Spain oil should be sent to England proper and saved (not used for pro if possible) there.
Same for the Canadian oil.

Storing oil in England is of outmost importance, because it will let you cushion the occasional hits that your convoys chains will suffer. There is no way that you won't sometimes have a hole in your lines, if only because the axis sorties its subs on the last impulse! Your stored oil is then extremely handy. For that reason only, building the two synth oil plants is also of utmost importance! They are worth their cost : you even come on top... Consider that your farthest resources may well require 10+ convoy points : that's more than the cost of your synth oil. Later on, when you're swimming in oil, the US will happily feed its ships with it while it uses its own oil for production (the US don't have that much a surplus in resources.) And when you don't need the extra oil, you can store it directly in England (for one of the two synth oil), which makes your cushion even bigger. In my previous AAR, the axis sent loads of subs in the wild, and the commonwealth sometimes would lose as much as 8 or more convoys in a sea area (destroyed/aborted) : the commonwealth production never once was reduced! As a consequence, the axis is much less tempted to attack your sea lanes, because they often loses as much as you (subs that are damaged or sunk vs sunk convoys), and the excahnge is not worth it and the additional necessity of taking combined impulses.

Also, the commonwelath must always build at least a trickle of convoys. At the start of the game, I would build 4 per turn, then when my lanes are working well, I'd build 2 until I'm pretty sure that I have enough to plug holes if any should come.) If you don't have convoy reserves, you're asking for trouble!