AAR #1 - Germany V. The AI

[Hanal]

There have been a number of posters who wondered about the AI, so I will do two AAR's where it is me v. the AI....In this game, I will play Germany, Challenging difficulty, using Simple Supply (supply is simply drawn from a supply pool)...afterwards, I will play the Western Allies v. the AI with Advance Supply rules....One caveat: I am a bottomfeeder when it concerns gameplay, so be kind...[;)]....I will show some AI v. AI action in the Pacific as well..

[Hanal]

Spring 1940

Start up screen for Germany and initial attack...Phase 1 is basically by the book as Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, and France, fall....I sent the DAK to North Africa...How much you send to NA must be balance with what you need to continue conquest of Europe....Cairo at start is lightly defended...send Italian fleet out to lay claim on MED..

[Hanal]

First turn SP 40...DAK in North Africa

[Hanal]

Damaged Rail, Manufacturing, and Resources are costly to repair, but are a vital neccessity for the German war effort!

[Hanal]

British response in Med...Cairo is reinforced and the Italian Navy holds its' own agianst a series of Royal Navy attacks.....I lose a Uboat in the Atlantic....I will have quite a few turns posted later tonight as work beckons!

[Hanal]

Summer 1940..

Germany prepares to attack Yugoslavia...You can see that once you are prepared for an attack, you can view a recon report, which provides projected loses and whether or not you should take the area....There is no guarantee that you will win a battle if the report states that you should, but your chances are more favorable than if this prediction is not present..... if you do not see a positive prediction for the pending battle, you can add more forces to the battle until the declaration that you should take the area appears....

[Hanal]

Winter 41

A quiet turn as forces are redeployed to east front..I begin the build up of armor units in East Prussia so that I can try taking Leningrad on the first turn...

[Hanal]

Winter '41 Force Pool

[Hanal]

Armor Research....this is a war within the war, as you try to keep pace with the enemy...there is much decision making to be had when playing this game.....

How much of your manufacturing do you devote to research at the expense of your army?....the overused "Quality v. Quantity" does apply here....

Which branch of your Military do you want to improve with your research points, and then which unit characterisitc do you want to iimprove?

You will try different variations to your Research strategy everytime you play the game....

[Hanal]

The Battle of Cairo - Winter '41

I did not take the region but inflicted heavy loses to the WA....The Italian Fleet, stationed in the Eastern Med, provided much needed off shore bombardment ..We'll see if if the WA reinforces Cairo, otherwise it will fall next turn.....

[genie144]

Good to see some new updates... Gives us people eagerly waiting something to do at work

Sam

[Hanal]

Spring 41

Cairo is now under Axis control and the Italian Fleet moves into the Red Sea....I delay Barbarossa one turn because I was not happy with my unit deployment on the East Front

[Hanal]

Summer '41 Operation Barbarossa

Well, this is the point in the game where I usually have my head handed to me...[:)]

Using my para unit, armor, bombers, and Heavy Fleet, I manage to take Leningrad on the first turn...as a bonus, since my fleet blocked the port, the Russian Navy was destroyed (scuttled?).....with the fall of Leningrad, Finland is unfrozen, and they quickly move into Karelia......this two region advance into Russia is the most important early strategy and I want to try taking Kiev as well...as I poured units into the fight, I was not seeing a positive prediction of the outcome until I found two bombers within range...be back in a minute to see how the battle is resolved!

[Hanal]

Kiev falls with minmal loss to the German Army!

[Hanal]

Here is an illustration where you cannot do everything you want.....If I had some more armor in reserve, I could advance even further by taking the lightly defended Velkiyel Luki, Belorussia, and Kursk...but, I have spent my forces on Leningrad and Kiev so I will have to wait until the next turn where my advantage of the surprise attack will be lost....

[Hanal]

Simple Supply

Do not presume that using the simple supply rule means that it makes the game easy as there are still important supply issues, that you face which can cause quite a few headaches....now that my initial attacks in Russia are over, the next step is to reinforce my newly occuppied territories with my reserves in West Germany....if you can see it, I am attempting to strategically move an armor unit into Eastern Poland but there is a little red "No" informing me that I cannot....the reason is that all of the railroad infrastructure has been destroyed in Poland and I must first repair some of the RR to complete the Strat move...this costs valuable supplies which I need for my war effort, so this will influence how much manufacturing I will need to devote to creating supplies, which reduces the amount of units I can produce, and how much research I can invest in....simple supply my butt!.....[:D]

[Hanal]

...and here you see a portion of my Repair Screen....note how low my supplies are (32) and one can see that this is my first, of probably many mistakes.... I have not devoted enough Manufacturing to creating supplies prior to my invasion of Russia to adequately repair what I need, and launch any more offensives in North Africa...I can salvage this somewhat by changing my spending philosophy but at a cost of other things...for now, I must repair the RRs in order to fortify my position.....

[Hanal]

Fall 41 - At start

The Western Allies response to Barbarossa was to launch an invasion of Morocco and bomb the Italian Militia on Sardinia into oblivion.....the Russians fortified their positions, bombed Bulgaria for the fun of it, and moved into Northern Persia....

[Hanal]

The Importance of Armor Movement

Armor units can move 2 areas which is crucial for advancement...my early games failed to take advantage of this, as I used many of them for my initial attacks and then had little left for exploitation....here is an example of how my Leningrad armor group can assist in the attack on the Belorussian pocket...note that the armor can attempt to run the gauntlet through enemy held Velikye Luki, but the unit will be exposed to an OP Fire attack, and it's a good chance that it will be destroyed....rather I take VK first in order to avoid this....

[Hanal]

Final German position on East Front after I cleared the Belorussian pocket....strong buildup in Kharkov could cause me problems....