Magicmissile (Axis) vs Flaviusx (Allied)

[MagicMissile]

Hello, Back again with more AARs. This will be my 14 and 15th PBEM and I think it will be my last for a while. There are other games to play out there so will probably take a break after this. So the idea is to make a much more detailed AAR than the other ones share how I like to do things in more detail. Anyone is free to comment and say you are such a noob or you are a genius as you feel like [:)].

I feel a little disadvantaged. I am pretty sure Flaviusx have read my other AARs so he knows a lot how I play and I know basically nothing about him Sun-Tzu would not approve [:)]. For that reason probably should spice things up and change strategy. But the more or less early invasion of the Sovietunion have been so very successful and I want someone to stop it. Flaviusx is a well known person on the forums and a good player so he might well be the one to do it. With the improved Soviet inf corps things might be a little bit easier as well. I don´t really know how big impact they will have guess we will have to see.

I could go for something like Sealion but I don´t really like it it is such a high risk high reward thing. If you manage fine you most certainly will win if you don´t you most likely will lose. So it will be a more balanced (historical) approach ie build some subs and maybe send something to Africa or a completely all out adventure in the East I havent decided yet. Of course if some opportunity show up I will try and grab it.

[MagicMissile]

September 1 1939 Poland

We launch the invasion manage to take 2 of 4 cities needed and i dont think I left any holes that can be exploited. Put One arm and one inf corps on rail to move west and assist in the invasion of The Netherlands. In this game I attacked Krakow on the first turn usually I don´t. I took it which was a bit lucky but on the downside the mech unit can go and defend warsaw so not sure if worth it.

The Polish pilots flew like the devil and scored 8-8 in airlosses so not happy with that but I took 2 cities and only lost 5 land factors. I am not in a huge rush I don´t really care if Poland falls in 2 or 3 turns.

[MagicMissile]

September 1939 West

In the west I move the luftwaffe out of reach of French air units. I place german bombers so they are 10 hexes from Amsterdam but also 10 hexes from Copenhagen. If I don´t want to spend the landing ships to invade Copenhagen (I usually do) I will have 3 bombers ready to sink any British that approach the Danish capital and since the changes a couple of patches ago they have a huge probability to sink the transport. I move some units prepare for invasion of Denmark and the Netherlands. Germany conquers Luxemburg. Finally I start gathering up the AA placed all over Germany. I like to place them wherever I have air units as aditional protection. I dont thin out the siegfried line at least not yet and I almost never do but sometimes I do in the southern part.

I set replacements to 0 and I dont produce anything on turn 1.

[MagicMissile]

Here is the German tech nothing special I think.

[MagicMissile]

Italian tech is trickier. I am not sure if I am going to disband the mech forces and/or the interceptors or keep them both in this game.

On a side note I put the whole Italian army in garrison mode on turn 1. I did not build anything and set replacement to 0.

[MagicMissile]

I manage to conquer Poland. I am happy with land losses 20 factors but airlosses at 14 is a bit high.
I invade Denmark and in the end launched the invasion to seal the deal. If you don´t you might want to sortie with the fleet which costs a bit of oil and 15 production points for better sleep at night is worth it [:)].

Immediately after Poland fell I put all Germans that didnt move or attack into garrison mode. Next turn all units except the few that invades the Netherlands will do the same. The goal of course to get out as much production as soon as possible.

Replacements for Germany set to 0. I managed to forget last turn, argh! Germany build a Pz corps.
For the Italians I decide to disband the interceptor and built a Naval air tactical. Moved the arm corps to Africa and Italy replacement still set at 0.

Some British units arrive in France.

[MagicMissile]

Germany invades the Netherlands and takes it. Last bombing raid flew unescorted so that cost a bit otherwise pretty pain less. Lots of air combat with the Germans doing soso.

Subs get 5 merchants this turn happy with that. All Germans into garrison mode allowing me to build one Pz and one fighter.

Goal is to have 5 panzer with a 6th on the way 2 fighters and 2 groundattack when the war in the west really begin. But forgetting to change replacements to 0 turn 1 might come back and bite me a litte bit.

So that concludes the initial phase of the war. Putting all airplanes in mission mode and on hexes with AA and just wait for a cold weather turn to take out Belgium.

[MagicMissile]

I set up the attacking force on Belgium 3 inf corps and 2 arm corps. All other units in garrison mode. I am considering disbanding a inf corps to speed up early production but on the other hand you need every unit later so unsure if it is a good idea.

[MagicMissile]

Actually got a cold turn in October doesnt happen very often.

I did not do anything in Belgium. Only had 3 inf corps of the 4 needed and one fighter is at half strength and the 2 arm corps at 23 and 25 strength so the forces were not ready. Hope I get another cold turn in March or April.

Battle of the Atlantic starts fairly badly 3 sub factors for 8 merchants so far.

[MagicMissile]

I skipped a few turns really nothing happened.

As can be seen losses have been pretty low on land and air but the subs are suffering. Already lost 7 out of 15 and that is without any carrier strikes hitting subs. In the other game the Axis have lost 1 so there seems to be a bit of snowballing effect. Once you start to lose some subs in goes quickly downhill. Not sure what to do but the BoA seems to be over in 39 [:)].

Units built in 39 4 arm corps 2 interceptors and 2 ground attack all will be arriving in May at the latest and ready for action in June. Also started building supply trucks need to build a few more aim to have about 100.

[baloo7777]

How do you get the big beautiful map screenshots to upload? I get file too large as I keep shrinking it to just a fraction of the map I want to upload.

[battlevonwar]

If you're building all those goodies your Allied opponent will have a lot to cope with in the Battle for France. Although your Atlantic Campaign went against him. I really feel the Allies have to stop the Axis from being able to pump out so many goodies early by whatever means possible or have a Hyped up France...unless Gibraltar Rules have changed or Spain Rules have changed. Or houserule?

P.S. I remember the snowball effect as well, sometimes you just cannot hit subs, or they get hit often. It's weird how the dice work that way.

[MagicMissile]

I am not very good at these things myself but this is how I do it.

I take a screenshot
I open the screen shot with "paint.net" a free paint software
I go to ( I do this in Swedish so not sure what its called in the English version ) Pictures and then change size of picture.
I set the picture to 60% that usually takes down the picture from 7.5 MB to 2.8 or something like that.
I then save the picture as a JPG and the program allows you to set the size of the picture so I put at as close to 200 KB as possible and lower then 200 obviously.
Save and then upload picture on the forum.

[MagicMissile]

Well you need to build this stuff because even with it France will not fall before July/August so doing Spain and still take Greece and have time for 41 Barbarossa not sure if doable but maybe I will try it this time. But holding Spain and Portugal against invasions later is a nightmare so not sure if Gibraltar is worth it in that regard.

/MM

[sveint]

I recommend Irfanview for quick and easy image resizing

Careful with disbanding units, you need to manage your manpower too

Good luck in France!

[MagicMissile]

Thank you cant have enough luck [:)]

[MagicMissile]

The randomness to me seems a bit to big. Lose 50% of you subs in the first 4 months of the war seems a bit harsh. I think damage to subs and escorts maybe should be toned down a bit. Not sure how much escorts were lost in the war but I cant imagine it was that many compared to the merchant shipping.

[sillyflower]

Clearly a lot of randomness in the BoA but maybe you just suck at naval warfare as your uboats are getting stuffed whilst t you can't sink anyone else's

[MagicMissile]

"Clearly a lot of randomness in the BoA but maybe you just suck at naval warfare as your uboats are getting stuffed whilst t you can't sink anyone else's"

I will immediately fire my left brain half and see if I can do better [:)]

[MagicMissile]

March 40

I too got a cold turn in March which is good as the units can rest in April if weather turns sour again. Germany conquers Belgium. I got the engineer improvement on one PZ corps. I always gone for the Elite all the time as the others feels more situational and I think I regret it already but maybe it made taking Brussels a bit easier.
Italy and Germany both build some landing ships always good to have [:)].