Turn 21: Mar. 28, ‘41
On the TTLB’s turn I lose a corps in Southern China, and the V2 continue to bombard London. Also I somehow forgot that I moved a battleship next to an Italian sub I trapped to note down its data and left it there, an expensive mistake, but the sub will likely be destroyed on the return.
And indeed we managed to destroy the Axum sub with ease. Also our newly deployed maritime bomber and the canadian one returning from Australia destroy the German sub U-73 in Saint Nazaire harbour, which we trapped there for the last few turns. Finally the German navy embraces the rule of 2 revealing their true evil nature as Sith. They have 2 BBs, 2 CCs, 2 CAs, 2 DDs, and 2 SSs remaining. The Italian navy consists mostly of capital ships with 3 BBs, 1 CA, 1 DD and 1 SS remaining.
In East Africa we finish what we started and destroy the Italian HQ and take Addis Ababa. The remaining corps and garrison are just cleanup. The local troops will be relocated to Egypt and the Middle East.
In Southern China we get an opportunity to damage the always dominant Central Expeditionary Army. We got a 4:2 by the Dare to Die SF and another 4:1 by the adjacent Chinese army, with the opportunity to add a few more attacks without threatening our defensive position substantially. I decide that this is the only chance I will get to slow down the Japanese occupation of Chungking and take it. After the dust settled I dealt 5 points of damage to the CEA , losing about 230 or two turns of MPP in the process. If my troops hold the next turn, this might delay TTLB’s push by a few turns. Have I mentioned that I think this specific unit is dumb?
As upgrading in preparation of OBS and Barbarossa continues, the only purchases I make are a chit each in GAW and AA research for the US.
In Depth: Defending Russia
With our house rule excluding an attack on the USSR before April ‘41 expiring next turn I guess it is time to write about my USSR strategy.
As everybody who played this or a similar game knows, there are three general thrusts the Germans can take into the Motherland. Heeresgruppe Nord traditionally pushes through the Baltic states with the initial goal of Leningrad, and the secondary goal of cutting off the convoy at Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. This is usually not the focus of the Axis player, as the ground favors planes, but the weather does not, so attacking is hard, and the reward not so great (cutting the convoy is a big deal, but the resources the Axis get are not all that much, unless they got Sweden that is). The second thrust is conducted by Heeresgruppe Mitte pushes straight for the heart, with the first goal of Smolensk, then Moscow, and finally the secondary Soviet capitals. This is also rarely the Schwerpunkt of German operations in the initial stages of the war, as the valuable price, Moscow is quite hard to reach before the winter of ‘41. Heeresgruppe Süd meanwhile is the favorite in this (and most other) game. Here the initial goal is to cross the Dnepr and occupy the production rich areas of Ukraine. Then both the Caucasus and Stalingrad are possible secondary targets. Stalingrad and then Kubychev are the targets if the Axis player wants to achieve a quick victory in the east, the Caucasus provides the resources to maintain a longer war. The southern thrust also has the most amenable weather and ground for German tanks and planes.
As a defender, you need to make everything work for you if you want to survive. Survival is conditional on an Allied invasion of mainland Europe, and setting up a proper Operation Overlord takes time. So time is the currency the Red Army deals in. The strategy I have settled on (and I feel like is the standard way of playing) is to set up a defense removed from the front lines, stopping the Germans from reaching their primary goals. So my initial strongpoints are Leningrad in the North, Smolensk in the center, and the Dnepr in the South. All those goals are far enough from the front line that supply will be an issue in the first 1 or 2 turns of attack by the Germans.
I won’t go into every detail of how I arrived at the exact resource allocation between the three strongpoints, because it took me about 2 days. The general philosophy was that I identified the minimum number of necessary engineer turns, and the minimum number of infantry, by analyzing the offensive lines and defensive hexes along them similar to the example in France. Also, I decided to guard critical supply nodes on the way towards the strongpoints. Maybe this gives me an extra turn at some point. Also it teaches TTLB that my supply nodes are always guarded, which might influence him down the line. After allocating the engineering turns (it works out nicely that the initial engineer can do Smolensk and Leningrad, while the second one gets the Dnepr done) and the Infantry, I decided that all mobile units would be allocated to the South as this is where I would expect encirclement attempts and overextended German motorized units. The Soviet air force will support OBS and scout/clear the Gulf of Finland so that the Allied troops can land safely.
(I had plaed pictures for this post, but i sadly never got around to doing them due to the sudden end of this project)
Turn 22: Apr. 25, ‘41
As expected the Germans take the first chance they get to strike at the heart of the revolution. TTLB executes a very clean Barbarossa T1. Both Russian spawn-groups close to the front are annihilated without an issue, and all blockers in the Ukraine are removed. As predicted the force of the attack is with Heeresgruppe Süd, but TTLB does not make the mistake I have seen other players make time and time again and put ALL breakthrough units at one front. This lets Russia guard its other fronts with reserve units while focusing all efforts on the Schwerpunkt. In my opinion, good German play recognizes that medium sized army groups with a decent punch are what leads to an imbalanced Soviet defense and to major breakthroughs. Note: obviously focusing South is the right play, but I think posing a credible threat at the other fronts is required to be able to overstretch the Russian defense.
The offensive is accompanied by the Kriegsmarine raiding the Gulf of Finland, sinking a Russian cruiser. Following that, the Scharnhorst runs into the surprise attack of the Russian battleship. This does not really matter in the long run as the Kriegsmarine has about 7 more turns before it ceases to exist.
In China we might have seen the first thing close to an Axis mistake. TTLB does not coordinate his attacks incredibly well and distributes them in a way that both my corps at Kunming and the army in the fortifications South-West of Chungking survive, the latter with 1 HP remaining. This breakthrough might follow next turn, but 2 hexes on the Capital would have assured its capture.
On the return the Red Navy sinks the Scharnhorst. The Soviet Navy's job is simple and important. Once OBS launches they need to scout all enemy vessels in the northern Baltic Sea, so our AVLs can slip through unhindered. This is made easier by the RAF’s maritime Bombers finding a German batleship in Stetin port and sinking it. That's 50% of the (current) Kriegsmarine sunk. The other RAF mission of disrupting the rockets turns out to be a small-scale disaster, as I forgot that carrier land attack only works well against units without an HQ. A mistake which cost us 150-200 MPP in fighter reinforcements.
The situation in Ukraine does not look great.The engineer will only finish the fortification at the end of my turn so it will spend one turn at the front. If it dies this would be very bad. Also, one hex is not yet fortified… I must have been a bit optimistic in the calculation of the number of turns it would take the Germans to get here. The fall-back line is first Sevastopol, then Kerch and then the Kerch Strait in the South; the Don down to Rostov in the center; and Kursk on the approach to Moscow in the North. All land units from Siberia, including General Zukov, have been hurried behind the front lines.
Regardless of whether TTLB made a mistake or not, his ferocious attacks really overstretched the Chinese reinforcements. With 117 MPP there was no way of reinforcing the army at 1 HP, nor the army guarding Chungking, nor the army guarding the river crossing, nor the corps in Kunming. The Chinese central command considered multiple options of shifting troops around achieving the three goals of reinforcing Kunming, guarding the capital, and keeping forces in the fortification which might have a slim chance of holding. Finally drastic measures were taken. Chen was relieved of his command and all the freed up manpower was ordered to the front. 4 Chinese HQ’s will have to suffice from now on (and likely will).
For purchases I got the heavy artillery for the Raj and a chit each in logistics and anti-air research for the USA. For whom I also decided to purchase a maritime bomber and an AA gun.
The Soviets chose to send 100 MPP to China, a most welcome relief, even if the Soviets themselves need all the help they can get. The British convoy is at maximum capacity, as neither the Kriegsmarine nor the Luftwaffe seems to be able to threaten it. Obviously the US also begins to send help via Vladivostok.
Turn 23: May 23, ‘41
On the second turn of Barbarossa the Wehrmacht continues their march into the Motherland. TTLB laid his greedy eyes on the engineer and destroyed it, as well as one of our armies guarding Kiev in the South. In China the Japanese now have infantry weapons 2 and attacked the approach to Chungking and the city of Kunming. In the West, the V2 continues to bombard British towns, reducing our MPP income.
Behind the curtain, we had quite a long break before this turn so there might be some discontinuities from my previous thinking.
I am very pleased that the positions in China were held. It seems the spoiling attack on the Central Expeditionary Army put a wrench into the Japanese gears. Kunming is a point of concern, as without connection to an HQ it won’t hold very long and might even get killed the next turn. This also means that the diplomatic efforts in Burma are not critical anymore, and I won’t invest in any more chits. (I checked the scripts and as far as I understand are all US support roots tied to Kunming being in Allied hands. This means that the strategy going forward for India will be to hold Burman and take back Kunming. Even though the line was stable this turn, Chinese MPP are seriously low, and I do not see a world where I can get infantry weapons 2 in a reasonable time.
The situation in Ukraine is bad. Losing the engineer is not the worst (it costs me ~120 MPP and about 1 fortification) but the line is now open and there is always a threat of encirclement. I have held my armored units in reserve to counter all too aggressive German advances, but should he not overextend radically I have no illusions about their impact.
The remnants of the Kriegsmarine are committed to blockading the Russian port in Finland, and the Russian sub and battleship reduce the Z 20 (DD) to 1 HP. As I am dominating the seas in all three: numbers, quality, and awareness; I position the Royal Navy offensively, reducing the Norwegian convoy port to 1 (the assumed spotting range of the German MB is marked in gray). I also use my Strategic Bombers to bombard one of the mines near Düsseldorf. The staging for OBS is almost complete. All 5 CVs are in the area and upgraded, the final colonial troops are moving to position, and the airforce is now complete with the arrival of the second strategic bomber. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal is also not garrisoned so I hope that I will be able to access the Baltic Sea without declaring on Denmark, saving me some US mobilization penalties (which are quite large for the declaration on Sweden already).
This turn I spent most of the MPP on reinforcements except in the US where I got a chit in industrial tech and purchased an AA gun. The Soviets rebought the destroyed engineer. Here I think I need to commit to purchasing at least one critical tech a turn, which includes armor and AT tech, armored warfare, and the industrial techs. Also, I desperately need more HQs. India will save for to build an airforce, as I think 4 bombers benefiting from GAW are likely worth it.
Turn 24: Jun. 6, ‘41
Summer ‘41 is Axis prime time. The next 18 months I will be busy with damage control. And there is a lot to control already. In Ukraine the Wehrmacht barely needs to break at my prepared line. TTLB destroys 3 Soviet armies at the front line, and with a tank and air force destroys a tank holding the rail line at Konotop and captures it with a Fallschirmjäger corps. German units pouring in behind the spearhead and a corps moving through the Pripyat marshes complete the encirclement of the units behind Kiev. As one of the armies initially destroyed was the one holding Kiev, all those units (2 armies, a heavy tank, and an AA gun) start the turn at 0 supply. In the east the IJA finally conquers Kunming.
The loss of Kunming is bad but expected. Other than that the front line in all of China has stabilized, and the Japanese look like they could need reinforcements. I continue spending all my MPP on reinforcements as well, and as the Japanese have started to strat bomb my mines, this trend will likely continue.
In Ukraine the situation is dire. The number of troops in Army Group South is larger than I expected. While the bait for TTLBs overextension wired a little too well with a substantial encirclement (gray line), the counterpunch did materialize, and with their last drop of fuel the soviet heavy tanks drove a strong attack at the spearheading tanks. The armored train also got off a punch and then the mechanized soviet units in together and a siberian army shattered the German tank units. This broke the encirclement and the tank destroyed at 4 supply is gone for good. As I assume that TTLB overproduced tanks, this means one less tank for the rest of the game. This is a small win. Also I might add the paratroopers to that tally, since they are at 0 supply. On the other hand I had to give up my defensible positions around Kiev although I still hold the Dnepr in the North and the South. But more importantly I have left Zukov in range of 2 tanks (purple lines). He does not see Zukov and has to destroy an army on the way there and reduce 2 more below 5, but this is something he could feasibly do if he spots it early during his turn.
In the other areas of the USSR the Germans destroyed a garrison on the approach to Smolensk. Meanwhile in UK preparations continue, and I try to destroy the German maritime bomber but dont quite manage to do so. But it should not fly next turn, so the chance of my attack being spotted is very slim. Strategic bombing form both sides continues aswell.
The Soviets invest in industry and armored warfare research as well as in 3 garrisons which I plan to use as entrenchment builders. The US invest into infantry weapons 2 and purchase a maritime bomber. In other news I misclicked the British fighter wing in Egypt sending it to the front instead of scouting it, resulting in its destruction through the surprise attack of the Italian army.
Turn 25: Jul. 18, ‘41
It has been a few days between me writing this AAR post and when I played the turn, so I will focus on the major points of the turn. In the Ukraine the Germans tried and failed to reestablish the encirclement east of Kiev, captured Dnepropetrovsk, and broke through our southern line establishing a bridehead on Crimea. China saw continued attacks but no major breakthrough. Also the Japanese appear to have 2 strategic bombers. I guess that means China will be ground to dust, and an attack on the USSR from the east could follow.
We respond in Ukraine by continuing to retreat the troops caught behind Kiev, and counter push the southern breakthrough trapping another German tank. I do not think we will be so lucky and get to destroy it, but standing on 0 supply accelerates the moral and readiness losses which will assure the German attack grinding to a halt at some point in the future. Or at least that is the hope. The lack of units forced me to decide to not defend at the Don, as there would be no real way of setting up a reliable defense there. This means the next primary defensive line will be at the Wolga.
In the UK preparations for OBS continue, but for some reason I did not save enough MPP to load all the AVLs. Disbanding British garrison troops in the colonies I manage to find enough to load 6 AVLs (one not shown below), which is the minimum needed to take Sweden without declaring on Denmark first.
Turn 26: Aug. 15, ‘41
On the Axis turn the Wehrmacht encircled various Russian elements in northern and southern Ukraine. The situation is dire. The Krigsmarine, seemingly not fully aware of the RN deployment, blocked the Kiel-Chanel with the newly deployed U-81 and flew some maritime bomber missions on the convoy raiders. In China the fight for Chungking picked up again, with the Japanese gaining a major victory, destroying the army and the fortifications guarding the hex southeast of the Chinese capital.
Starting in the west Operation Barbershop Shop was a success. While rain grounded the Royal Airforce, our destroyers were easily enough to dispatch with U-81. The invasion of Sweden went as choreographed, leaving 1 AVL in reserve. The Presence of the Kriegsmarine in the Gulf of Finland, would have made an immediate attack on the northern Axis member impossible this turn anyway, so the lack of AVLs did not hurt as much. What does hurt, is that I loaded a British HQ into a normal AV…. which is very suboptimal. I might need to take Norway next instead of Finland. Also, my Carriers had a few planes left, sinking the heavily damaged Z-20 hiding between Danzig and Königsberg. The Red Navy also performed admirably, interfering with Kriegsmarine activities and scouting the positions of the Swedish Navy. The critical point here is to find the optimal window to retreat. The Royal Navy needs to destroy the Kriegsmarine, and could help with the conquest of Finland. But I have plans of getting the Italians next and then leave a token force in the Atlantic and sail to the Pacific. So ideally I hold the channel for 2 turns, taking the next to destroy the KM and leave in the following, or I support in the Baltic up until Pearl Harbor and then go through Denmark.
On the “Eastern Front” I admit defeat, seeing no way to free the encircled units. I retreat - although there is not much to retreat - with the intention of forming “strong points” in Rostov, Stalingrad and Voronezn. Somolensk is doing better, but the Germans brought artillery now, so we might start to take a beating here as well. I am not very optimistic about the Russian chances, and I am not sure If winter can save us. I expect to lose Stalingrad or (hopefully not and) Moscow in ‘41.
In China we destroy the corps, trying to establish a bridgehead in the northern side of the Yangtze river. We have no forces to hold this spot, but I think placing a unit there could backfire for TTLB. Nevertheless, the double strategic bomber of the Japanese are basically unoposed and will slowly destroy the MPP base of the rest of China.
I also decided to annex Persia for obvious reasons, and purchase a HQ and 2 corps for the Russians. The US also get a HQ, and another research chit in production tech and amphibious warfare. The Indians purchase 2 chips in AA seeing the bomber focus of the Japanese.
In Depth: Status after OBS Strategic Assessment:
Position In Europe
The position in Europe is mixed at best. The western flank of the Reich appears to be wide open, the Kriegsmarine will very likely not play a role after the next turn(s). Contrary the situation in the USSR is abysmal. There are no units to send to the front, and Stalingrad, as well as the Caucasus are likely going to be taken in ‘41. The only silver lining in this theater is that the USSR and Germany have about the same income, which means that there might be an opportunity to win a war of attrition should we manage to bind German forces somewhere else.
Position in China
The position in China is bad. While I held on to Chungking, I no longer believe that the Indian/ US intervention will arrive in time to make a difference. China will occupy Japan for about 1 more year, and then the strategic bombers will have done their job.
Position on the Seas
At the seas we are dominating the Axis. I am quite sure that I should be able to control the waters around Japan mid to end of ‘42. The German navy will get a few more subs, but their impact will be minor. The Italian navy will be dealt with once the RN is no longer bound up in Scandinavia.
Position Rest
I will roll up Africa once I have sufficient resources with the UK not needed for our Nordic adventure. It seems very unlikely that the Italians will be able to hold without reinforcements.
Attrition
Overall our MPP production is around 40% larger than the Axis, but our losses are 66% larger. At the margin our income is even better at ~145% of Axis income. Adjusting the losses for Barbarossa Turn 1 (2800 MPP lost on the USSR side) our losses are pretty much exactly in line with our overproduction.
This is obviously not the same across theaters. China and Russia are taking large losses whereas the UK and US are building capabilities. Italy and Japan are only increasing moderately in strength, whereas Germany added 50% of income to its stock since the fall of France.
Overall this means that as our power shifts to the West, we should get those two more involved in the war.
Research
With regards to research, the US is outpacing all others having spent 3900 MPP, next is Germany with 2500 MPP, followed closely by the UK and Japan with 2150 MPP and 2125 MPP respectively. The USSR is slowly catching up, rising to 1775 MPP on research, about 30% of which has been allocated since Barbarossa. Italy stagnates at 875 MPP invested.
The USA has focused on navy, airpower and industrial techs, so its land forces are well behind the Germans. Japanese investments are not 100% transparent to me but I am assuming that they include the standard naval/ amphibious/ aerial packages they normally do. This would be the same as the UK, so I assume there is a technological parity between the US, UK and Japanese fleet. The USSR needs to catch up on key defensive and industrial techs. Germany's tanks are not yet from a sci-fi universe so at least that is good.
Strategic implications:
Taken together this assessment draws the following strategic picture. China and the USSR are losing and while the other fronts seem more promising. Therefore, we should force the Axis, but especially Germany, to engage with the western Allies.
This means we will go with the rather historical strategy of attacking Germany and containing Japan.
Let's consider containing Japan first. The British fleet is likely on par with the Japanese navy at the time of Pearl Harbor. Considering the rather offensive uses I am considering for the RN, my fleet might be a bit weaker on capital ships (without any purchases or losses there is parity around turn 40) but a lot better equipped with screening ships. Also including the US Navy the Japanese will likely not have much of a chance. This means we want to seek an engagement with the Japanese early on, so we do not need to invest into any more Naval research. Once the Japanese navy is gone, we will be able to interdict their trade or even the movement between the continent and the Japanese home islands.
For Germany we will need better land tech, as well as an invasion force. The UK is in a good position to provide aerial supremacy and a large amount of medium quality landing forces. This means the US needs to invest into tactical bombers (incl. medium) and armor. The UK into fighters and strategic bombers. I have not decided on an exact landing spot yet, but since TTLB did not do much of rolling up Europe, there are several good targets, from Greece to Italy to France to Germany itself since we will control the Nordics.
The role of India is not quite clear yet, but I guess they will try to bind Japanese forces once they are freed up in China. Other than that I will try to form an Indian Air Force, just because it seems fun and useful.
The strategy for China and the USSR is simple: survive and increase attrition losses for the Axis. For the Soviets this means that they need to invest into AA and AT, as well as armor. China should probably get another chit of AA research even if it hurts, and upgrade all their strong points with AA 2.
This turn almost broke me. Just as the Red Army, my fighting spirit all but ceased to exist. The Germans destroyed 20 units in the last 3 turns of the game, many of them in poor supply. The only thing that might prevent the capture of Kuibyshev and Perm in ‘41 is the distance between the Germans still have to cover. If this was a normal game, I would stop wasting everybody's time right now and admit defeat. As this is a show match, I will soldier on but morale is low. To add insult to injury, the Japanese shattered another Army guarding Chungking.
First let's start with a problem assessment. As readers better at this game then me (so most of you) will already have noticed, is that I chronically underestimate TTLBs ability to mass firepower on a single hex. I should assume that any hex in range of a German ground unit (including paratroopers) is a hex that can be taken. Therefore, I need to analyze my defensive positions for critical hexes, which if taken, could endanger the whole front section. All those nice prepared positions are useless if they are undersupplied. Also fighting in lines covering the whole front is likely a bad idea for this reason. Setting up lines invites breakthroughs, exposing critical hexes. The best lines are also quite frequently through supply nodes, exposing them to capture. This leads to the situation observed during the last view turns in Ukraine. A breakthrough threatens a critical hex. In the followup, the local supply node - which is part of the intended front line - is taken and the cutoff is made, leaving all entrenched units to be destroyed in the most disadvantageous situation. My proposed solution to this is to set up defensive rings around critical supply points, which at least guarantee that the outer layers have to be fought at decent supply even if the section is cut off. This also discourages fast cutoffs, since the holdout potential is higher, giving the reserves more time to reestablish supply. Also 100% amazing weather for Germans did not help.
This switch to a strongpoint defense, is likely already to save the SU in this game. I think it would be a mistake to try to defend Moscow or Stalingrad, as the Germans will reach them latest in early winter, and I do not believe that the winter effect is strong enough to stop the Germans from taking a hastily set up position. Therefore, the goal is now to establish a strongpoint around the two alternative capitals. This might allow us to survive ‘42, giving the western Allies some time to draw units away from the eastern front. I am not quite certain if I want to engage in rearguard action during my retreat. On the one hand allowing the Germans to drive straight through is likely a bad idea. On the other hand, this would likely reduce the number of troops which I will have available for fighting the Germans once they reach my last stand. Only bad options here.
It is not, therefore I will soldier on. Sadly my game crashed halfway through the turn and I had to play the first half again, including some very bad and annoying AVL moves I had to repeat. I am never sure when they can attack after moving and when not.
(Here I again the project ended before I got around to writing up the trun description or preparing visual support)
Here the game came to a close. I think it would have been fun to continue, even though I had likely already lost by screwing up the eastern front. Nevertheless, I was very happy with my home brew strategy, and the tools I developed for keeping track of the state of the game, and for strategic analysis. I bet they will be very useful for any future games I am going to play (and might be worth sharing in this forum if I find the time).
A big thank you to TTLB for taking me on for this show match, even though it ended in technical tragedy. Quite obviously he is an outstanding player, and he thought me a lot in those few rounds. I can only recommend him as an opponent.
If anybody got this far, I hope you enjoyed this AAR; any constructive criticism for future AAR projects is more then welcome.
wow crazy long read. Interesting and long to type out. I think I agree that soviet defense lies not on a line, but in "blobs" around major supply lines.
Great AAR Laurenz. I liked your detailed analysis on the Russian front. You are right, supply points are important. And yes, you don't want to give up key ones without a fight. The key for the Russian army is not to get surrounded. Defensive rings around strongpoints are okay but you got to be willing to pull away before the Axis gets behind your position.
Moscow is a great defensible position that typically requires an entire season for the Axis to conquer. Time is your ally. Yeah, Moscow will fall. But the longer you can force the Axis to attack in bad terrain, the better.
First of all I’d like to say that I’m sorry that things went the way they did, but to be honest, even if the hardware didn’t fail, I’d probably be forced to terminate the game anyway due to the situation in the Ukraine and the impact it had on my work and the amount of free time. Anyway hope you had fun, while it lasted. I’ll take this opportunity to say a few words about this campaign from my perspective and the plans, which I had.
Let’s start with the general strategy:
I wanted to do something different in this game, so with Germans I went for the rockets. I was hoping that after seeing these in action - turning London to ash - Laurenz would surrender immediately, knowing that there is no way to stop them. The Madman didn’t do it though and the Western Commies continued to fight.
Well, that’s most likely not a surprise to anyone, but they suck. They don’t only suck as a unit, but they also suck because of the costs of opportunity that come with going this route. 1/8 of the total research points has to be dedicated to them (my Long Range was hurting because of that), you don’t have any of those on board from the get go and you need to protect them, because rockets are squishy, which means that dedicated HQ and anti-air deterrent in one form or the other is an absolute minimum. Investing into them dictated my strategy, as it meant that all of the French plunder had to go into these instead of something else. Well, with that in mind, the best course of action would be to go for France Day 1, but I don’t really like doing this, as it’s boring. It also meant that I didn’t have any money left to spend on something else. Operating airpower to take Malta? Transporting German units to NA? Well, if I did that, along with investing into rockets then Barbarossa would be a complete joke. Even without doing anything to the GB in between Fall of France and its start, I was pretty tight on the budget to be ready by the April ‘41. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t maxed out on tanks, before the Afrika Korps event popped. It also meant that the GB was pretty much left alone to grow, which would bear its fruits at the end of our game.
With Japan I knew that I was going to do one of the two things: Dec 1941 LRA invasion of India or US West Coast (having the real Pearl Harbor there with hopefully not upgraded carriers and other ships that have to or can be deployed there) while simultaneously taking care of typical landgrabs with slow amphibious vessels. There were two determining factors to consider whether I’d invade one or the other – amphibious tech level around the time of LRA deployment and the amount of losses suffered in China. Because of these plans I went for amphibious tech and the airpower tech to make sure that it’d be available to support, once I’ve gained foothold during the planned invasion.
Nothing special for Italy – the usual plan, don’t fall too quickly.
So how did the game go?
Let’s start with the Japan. To free units necessary for the planned invasion I had to go for China hard. I had to take under consideration the fact that with the recent patch by that time, the US mobilization rises significantly due to the Japanese advances in China. I didn’t want to be hindered by it so I adjusted the decisions I’ve made in Europe and in this theatre to countermeasure this growth to make sure that US would not join the war, before the sun was ready to shine. Due to that I did not occupy French Indochina later on in the campaign. Anyway I went hard into China, but due to the good decisions in terms of technology, the defensive preparations with good positioning made by LAurenz and a bit of lack of luck on my part (from my notes I gather that in one of the turns in every single attack - except one - I’ve lost more than the estimates had shown) the costs of the invasions have been quite costly on me.
To be frank it was one of the worst Japanese games, which I’ve had in regards to these terms. I’ve also lost 2 ground units – 1 corps due to my own stupidity and an army, but I believe that taking out the latter cost Laurenz more than it did me. The advance wasn’t terrible. In the South everything worth of notion South of Chungking was taken and at the end of this campaign Chungking should have fallen as I had a paratrooper prepared to land into the city after the unit there was destroyed, but I’ve made a mistake, while initially transporting unit and I’ve left it under 5 supply, which meant that it wasn’t prepared on time. In the Center I’ve just renewed assaults on Sian. Laurenz was unable to reinforce units to full for quite some time at that point and battered units were being pulled to fill the gaps, but that’s not unusual situation for this front. I’ve managed to buy all medium bombers, to make sure to receive the extra one in the Rabaul.
Because of the losses I’ve decided to not go for the West Coast, but India instead. I’ve started deploying units in amphibious vessels pretty early on to make sure, that I can begin invasion around Nov/Dec 41, as even due to all the measures I’ve taken to diminish US mobilization, it was looking likely that the war would begin around that time. My amphibious tech level was getting close to lvl 4, so I had some units in ports that were meant to reinforce the invasion later prepared to be deployed as LRA as well. I’ve used a battleship and a carrier as a bait, sailing them in loops in range of Wake spotting to make Laurenz think that the fleet was coming to Pearl, while gathering all of the forces South of the DEI. I was still upgrading some of the ships and deploying slow amphibious vessels, while the actions in Europe brought some spice to the timetable of the potential attack, but I’ll speak about it later on.
In Europe I’ve decided to take Poland in two turns to prevent USSR mobilization from receiving an extra 5% boost, due to the lack of DE pop after taking Poland in a single turn. Laurenz decided to invade Finland, which I always like to see my opponents do, as the Soviet mobilization was pretty bad. It would later have its repercussions. My losses in Poland were quite heavy – Polish bomber took 2 points of my panzer... it also lost a point in an attack against cavalry brigade, which, if I recall correctly, didn’t die by the way. Italians sent reinforcements to East Africa via DE, but I didn’t send any units turn 1 via Gibraltar. If Laurenz wouldn’t reinforce this front with substantial forces, 2 corps and a couple of garrisons can work wonders. I didn’t invade Denmark and Netherlands to decrease US mobilization (remember Japan) and to use them as a fodder to decrease Laurenz’ units morale and therefore readiness throughout 1942.
The French campaign went ok – I believe it took 4 turns + 1 for Belgium in bad weather. Laurenz invested into anti-tank, but it’s easy to play around this unit, when there’s only one of these around. France might have survived a turn longer if he had guarded both NM cities to the South, but he was too late to guard one of them once the Italians joined. It meant that taking Paris would suffice in bringing the French NM to 0, so I focused on that. Also Italians had a nice increase of MPPs for a couple of turns from the Vichy mine in the South. Speaking of them, they’ve joined war a turn too early to my liking and I had to decide between sending transport to NA, knowing that it might be the only chance to do so or reinforcing the aircraft. I sent transports and I did not move aircraft away to the North. They were also not attached to the HQ. Laurenz took this opportunity and used his fleet to destroy fighter and medium bomber swiftly following with the destruction of the Italian Maritime Bomber. He also sunk one of my submarines and 2 or 3 smaller ships (all of the battleships survived if I recall correctly). The Italians focused for the rest of the campaign on preparing defensively for what was about to come, while losing in the East Africa, as the Indians came in force. Nothing was happening in North Africa, excluding an odd bomber run. GB was pretty quiet, with the exception of some strategic bombing and the submarine hunt, which had reached as far as Sydney. London was turned to rubble ofc once the rockets were deployed. Unfortunately the lack of range, even with upgrades and the enemy bombers presence meant that rockets had to stick close to AA gun near Lille, as 1 fighter would not be enough to protect rockets, if one of them were to be moved to Cherbourg in order to raze to the ground mine in Cardiff. They would be bombarded in retaliation. Instead I focused on tearing down everything in range from Lille. As I’ve mentioned above, GB was a bit quiet at that time, which meant that he was either heavily preparing for long-game or that he was about to do some weird stuff.
The preparations for Barbarossa were ok, but not great as MPPs were funneled into rockets. In the meantime I’ve dealt with Yugo. By the April 1941 I had tanks level 2 (barely ready that is) and GAW lvl 2, getting close to level 3. Laurenz decided not to invade Baltic States, which basically meant that I’ve had some extra fodder to decrease his units morale in 1942 and only 2 routes of initial advance – Center and South. Due to the mobilization script around Warsaw you’re incentivized to amass in Romania, so that’s where the majority of the forces were deployed. Anyway that’s where the Soviet MPPs lie as well. Seeing where the fortifications had been built in the South - on the Dnepr leading from Kiev to the Black Sea, I pretty much immediately knew what I was going to do with my paratroopers down there. Initial turns went pretty much as usual – the only surprising thing was that Laurenz’ tech sucked. Initially even some of his units were not upgraded with lvl 1 infantry weapons, but I believe he had a tech, but not enough money to upgrade his units. I didn’t see anti-aircraft defense though well into 4th or 5th turn of invasion. My airpower had a field day, suffering mostly form the lack of long-range (thanks to rockets) more than anything else.
The main event of this campaign was the destruction of the Soviet forces in Kiev. I’ve used my airpower + paratroopers to take town East of Kiev and the land units to take Kiev to cut 5 good quality units form the supply. My tanks had to be committed aggressively to complete the encirclement. Laurenz had units nearby to counterattack and I’ve lost 1 Panzer, but in consequence he lost pretty much everything worth of notion that he committed, many of those units in 0 or low supply. Only a train and maybe a corps escaped the carnage. Near the mines to the South on the way to Rostov another set of his armies were encircled in 0 supply. In the center, defenses near Smoleńsk slowed me down, but I’ve started prepartions for another cut-off of a few units there, if he decided to stand his ground in the defenses south and north-wast of the city. At the end of August he had 21 land units left on the ground and some of them were cut-off from supply.
That’s when the GB decided to come out and play. Laurenz in a bold move secured entrance to the Baltic Sea by taking Kiel and invaded Sweden with the help of GB’s minor countries. It was a well-planned move, with a lot of potential. I expected that Finland and Norway were next on the list. There was perhaps a potential for a defense of USSR by tearing supply with strategic bombing form Finland, if Soviets survived till 1943, which was possible, but unlikely.
It’s a nice move, but I don’t think it’s great to commit to it before US has joined the war. By the termination on the campaign (29th of August was my last played turn), Americans dropped to the 55% of mobilization. A few years back one of my opponents went aggro with the Allies in a similar fashion, and the US never joined the war. Not sure whether it’s still the case though. Also in this specific situation if the Kiel canal were guarded, he’d have to DOW Denmark as well, which would make US situation even worse. Also I’m not sure whether taking Stockholm is consistently repeatable, but if something went wrong with the combat odds and the unit in Stockholm survived, it would be a GG. I think the safer bet is to go for Norway and just into Stockholm, after US would join.
Anyway, this invasion left me with an interesting decisionto make with Japan, as it pretty much changed nothing for the Germans. Do I attack the India around Dec ‘41, or do I delay the invasion till the US is about to join the war, which would be happening well into 1942. His entire fleet was in the Baltic, which meant that I would have literally no opposition on the seas for a long period of time and if he was to operate British airpower to India, it would significantly diminish the Scandinavian threat. Attacking now would put a cog into his Scandinavian plans, but delaying it till the US was mobilized (probably around halfway point of 1942) would mean that the WA could not muster threatening force against Germany probably until 1944. In all honesty waiting is overall a better option, but it’s boring so I’d go for the invasion to make Laurenz sweat a little bit.
That’s where the things ended. Thanks to Laurenz for playing with me and writing this AAR.
