Do I need to re start campaign?

[cgoddard]

Just looking for some guidance as I feel I am way behind in my first campaign so would like to compare where I am with where perhaps others would expect to be.

It is approaching mid Sept 1943. I have captured all of Sicily except for Messina which i cannot capture. All but one Amphibs are back in North Africa but most seem to be some way off full prep (prepping for 3 landings in Southern Italy and one in Sardinia.

Sicilian ports repairing very slowly even with priority given.

Am I on course or well behind the curve?

[Harrybanana]

You are probably behind where you should be. But in your first game you are going to make mistakes. This game has a pretty steep learning curve. Whether you want to start a new game now or continue learning before you start a new game is a personal choice; no wrong or right answer.

My recommendation is you spend some time reading some of the Posts and AARs, before you continue either with the game you are playing or starting over. In particular I suggest you read my AAR for Newbies.

How to capture Messina is one of the most FAQs in this Forum. You won't have to scroll down too far to find a post on this topic. Repairing Ports of size 2 or less is easy; just park a TF adjacent to the Port and it will fully repair in 1 turn. Port sizes 3+ just take time to repair. In order to repair more quickly you can make repair a priority. This should cause an available construction engineer to move to the hex. If you have priortized repair at a particular port and an engineer does not move there than there could be a few reasons why. Such as you have units in the hex or there are no construction engineers available.

[HMSWarspite]

I would carry on, but set yourself a few short term goals, and forget the overall situation. I would suggest:
- capture Messina
- Invade the mainland (see an Italian surrender and understand what happens
- capture Sardinia

Then pause and assess - you might find the mainland invasion bounces, or bogs. You might find it is OK, but you have invaded the wrong place (no major port etc). But either way, unless you are still learning, then do a restart. I would suggest at playing at least another month, maybe to December. If you get the next bit right, carry on and learn other events, what reinforcements arrive etc.

[cgoddard]

Thanks guys, good advice. Will probably play a few more turns for experience and start again

[whoofe]

good advice above - there are several things to consider on an amphibious invasion, so its worth doing one or two invasions on your own (not just sicily that's already set up for you) to see what works and what does not

#1 the place you choose must have air cover, both naval patrol and air superiority need to be able to reach it. you need to keep your naval interdiction levels at minimum neutral to get supply to the beachhead.
#2 you need to be able to expand the beachhead until you can capture some ports. ports allow you to bring in supply. you don't want to be too far away from ports
#3 if your invasion is too close to ports, your naval units may take damage, so consider that as well
#4 strategy - this of course is up to you, where you choose to invade may have strategy implications - outflank the enemy, overwhelm in numbers, invade in stages, whatever

I am sure there are a few other things to consider I am not thinking of at the moment