3 Way War: Dire Position

[robphx387]

Alright, I’ve done some AAR work in ww2ol (AKA battleground Europe), Supreme Ruler, and others . . . but this is my first go around with ATG. I’ve only played through 2 long games (and my first, incredibly short game—a lopsided ass kicking by the AI when I didn’t know how to do anything). That said, this should be an interesting AAR, where the result is unknown and totally up in the air due to my noob-ness on the engine; though I am experienced in many tactical and strategic simulation-grade programs—so at least I have some idea of what I SHOULD do . . . just not always if I am really doing it right in ATG!


This first post is a PRE AAR, introducing the map, the factions, the starting ORBATs, and giving yall the chance to suggest which side I should take over (so I can’t just play the one I want to). So, without further stalling for time, I introduce to you—the map:



NOTE: you may notice that not all sides have the units fully in yet—I am still finalizing the setup, but I will describe it as it will be, not as it is in the picture.


GEOGRAPHY:
2 major, one minor “continent” w/ several islands. The entire map can be traversed through open sea zones—though 2 spots are “panama canal” type zones, where control of them cuts sea travel time significantly. Resource and city # are balanced. Some fortifications exist for each side—not always in the same AO.


GEO-POLITICS:
BOSTON PROTECTORATE (Brown on map) is on the Western side if the L shaped continent and on the island between that continent and the center continent.

GERMANIA occupies the Green zone of the southern portion of the L shaped continent and most of the center continent (its homeland). They also occupy one island between the eastern edge of the L and the micro-continent in the north east

EASTERN EMPIRE (strange multicolored mess) occupies the NE tip of Germania, the east half of the L’s base, and the whole microcontinent.

All start at peace


GENERAL ORBAT (details later):

Several pre-placed & identical “reserve” units & engineers (though not in exactly equal number of formations). Organized into 2-3 reserve armies, each with one fully-equipped reserve crops—all w/ leaders & one spare leader per-side. Each town has 1 reserve unit in garrison.

Strong Side/Weak Side
BOSTON
+ Aside from the one island city, they are all on one continent. Very defensible layout.
+ Main seaport is centrally located & has access to the “canal”
+ Despite having only 2 traditional “army” commands—additional sub-HQs (navy dept, Air dept. etc) allow greater human control of production getting to front line units quicker without micro-managing transfers—AI & player benefits from having more HQs to start (PPs can be spent elsewhere)
-Hard to make offensive gains due to the terrain and existing defenses at both chokepoints.
-Leaders already in command positions are generally less experienced and less effective than the other 2 nations
POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE (thinking of giving one of these to each side)
Either double pps to start (50 instead of 25) OR start with a GUN factory

GERMANIA
+ Effective generals, some with much experience
+ Centrally located forces on the main continent w/ easy movement between fronts
+ Great fortifications in the southern front around the city and the chokepoint with Boston.
- Island outpost is very easy to cut-off (essentially behind enemy lines already)
- Instantly at risk of a 4-front war w/ enemies on their home continent
-Capital City is within air range of enemies and close to both enemy ground positions
- Long supply line over poor terrain for any southern attack
POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE
Either a starting submarine “Wolf Pack” and small battlefleet OR 5 each of fighters, and both tac/level bombers in 3 formations.

EASTERN EMPIRE
+ Best balance of experience/morale/combat bonus for generals—though some lack staff command ability for large forces
+ 2 cities on the German continent, complete with fortresses
-/+ Does not begin with a bulk of their forces in position to do any one thing well (but, not all their forces can be caught early by surprise either)
- Resource points at-risk early if cities on Germania fall
- Resource points on barren islands may be a risk
POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE
Naval surface fleet (few CAP ships, but many DDs and cargo ships)—If Germans don’t have that OR begins with a tank factory

SO, which side do you guys think you want to have me choose? I built the scenario to be Boston, but it should be winnable by all three sides. Here would be my main goals with each side:

BOSTON:
Defend in place while building a large air and naval force.
Save pps for unlocking halftrack, medium tanks, TDs, and assault guns as quickly as possible
Attack by airborne/sea forces to cut off southern German city before invading the mainland

GERMANIA
Surrender (J/K . . . mostly)
Hold the line vs Boston and invest heavily in the airforce while positioning most reserves against the East.
Spend pps on factories first, then worry about upgrades later
Batter the Bostonians with air power to keep them at bay (if they are at war with me) while using artillery to soften the East. Once enough artillery damage is done (or if extra planes are available, shift air power east), break through with lite armored units of various kinds at the weakest point in the east.
Turn my attention to Boston and eliminate them while keeping mobile reserves and air power to defend against Eastern incursion.

EASTERN EMPIRE
Basically, ignore the south (minor air/artillery investment . . . move over some QRF armor, send everything else north)
Hold the line in Eastern Germania until a 2nd front is deployed through marine/airborne attack
Clear mainland Germania and march across to Boston
PPs spent upgrading the same way as mentioned in Boston plan
ALL
Upgrade raw vs oil at a rate of 2-1 (generally)

[rhinobones]

Really like your approach to writing an AAR. Want to see how Boston takes on the enemy.

Regards, RhinoBones

[robphx387]

This will be the last post before I begin the scenario. The map and sides are nearly finished, so I’ll outline the major leaders for the three sides and the TOE theory I’ll be using for the game. If you still want to have input on which side I select to play, please post your request no later than Friday afternoon, Arizona time.

ARMY/STAFF GENERALS & NOTABLE FIELD COMMANDERS

NOTE: stats are formatted STAFF/COMBAT%/MORALE%/EXP
Also, (except for Boston) this shows only the commands that already exist. (and even w/ Boston, the eventual extra corps are unlisted). Army Groups are not used to start the campaign (hence the lack of four star army officers)

BOSTON
*****George Marshall—GHQ (70/20/18/20)

****Henry H. Arnold—Air Force HQ
***UNASSIGNED—Fighter Command
***UNASSIGNED—Bomber Command
**UNASSIGNED—Support Command
*Richard Winters—1st Airborne Division (25/38/20/0)

****Chester W. Nimitz—Naval HQ (40/22/20/10)
***UNASSIGNED—1st Fleet HQ
**Clifton Sprague—1st Carrier Battlegroup (36/32/30/12)
**UNASSIGNED—1st Heavy Battlegroup
**UNASSIGNED—1st Assault Group

***Douglas MacArthur—1st Army (32/16/40/24)
**Alexander Vandergrift—Corps Commander (32/20/18/8)

***Omar Bradley—2nd Army (50/26/20/0)
**Troy H. Middleton—Corps Commander (30/16/24/16)

[Officer in reserve]—George Patton (30/28/22/4)

GERMANIA
*****William Keitel—GHQ (80/15/18/10)
****Karl Donitz—KSM HQ (50/15/23/6)

****Friedrich von Arnauld—Luftwaffe HQ (42/28/18/24)

***Heinz Guderian—1st Army [SOUTH] (45/35/18/22)
**Erwin Rommel—Corps Commander (28/38/28/22)

***Gerd von Rundstedt—2nd Army (45/35/20/16)
**Joachim Peiper—Corps Commander (35/26/15/12)

***Daniel von Manstein—3rd Army (40/19/31/10)
**Hasso von Manteuffel—Corps Commander (42/28/12/15)

[Officer in reserve]—Fedor von Bock (43/25/20/24)

EASTERN EMPIRE
*****Georgy Zhukov—GHQ (32/33/15/10)
Nikolai Vatutin—1st Army [SOUTH] (58/28/28/12)
Ivan Konev—Corps Commander (37/22/20/5)

Vasily Chuikov—2nd Army [WEST] (46/28/30/12)
Nikolay Krylov—Corps Commander (45/18/18/5)

Pavel A Kurochkin—3rd Army [HOME] (47/22/15/24)
Andrey Yeryomenko—Corps Commander (30/20/22/14)

[Officer in reserve]—Boris Borislov (30/20/20/0)

NOTES ON PREVIOUS POST
I decided to go ahead and give great general to both the Germans and East Empire, but to give the east fewer. Also, I decided that BOTH side bonuses would exist for all sides… so the Germans got 3 squadrons, a wolfpack, and a cap fleet. Easterners got a DD/Merchie fleet and a tank factory. Boston got gun factory and double PPs.

TOE THEORY
25—Battalion; 50—Regiment; 100—Brigade. These will be constructed in the TOE as either Mounted, motorized, mechanized, armored, or static formations (mostly).

Divisions—ad-hoc elements created by moving 1-2 brigades to the front and support regiments/battalions on-line or 1 back from them (artillery, anti-tank, anti-air type forces)

Corps—Begin with 5-7 elements (4-5 brigades and 1-2 support regiments/battalions). Corps grow as needed until a second corps can be created and attached to the army. I try to stay under 15 elements so everyone can get a combat bonus from the leader.

Army—Begin with 1-3 support or QRF (armored) units of regimental strength and 1 attached corps. Additional rear-area QRF and reserve infantry/anti-air/anti-tank forces can be attached to the army as well—sometimes on loan from (or waiting for the establishment of a new) corps attached to the army.

Army Group—should I ever find myself with over-extended supply lines and the need for even more rear-area defenders, I’ll organize army groups of 2 or more armies in a single theater.

Navy HQ->Fleet->Battlegroup->Task Force—This is new for me, not sure if it will work . . . but I want to have a floating naval HQ close to naval actions, called a “battlegroup.” Sailing with it, will be token “Task Force” formations, which can be filled by ships from the floating HQ battlegroup they are attached to. In order to maintain the 8-formation limit, I’ll have to also have Fleet HQs (as larger version of battlegroups) controlling a collection of amphibious battle groups/task forces. Naval HQ will simply be the destination for all new ship construction, and some air force construction.

Air Force->Group/command->Wing->Squadron—This worked well in past games. Squadrons are single-formations of 5 aircraft, wings 10 aircraft of up to two types. Wings/squadrons will be attached to a command/group HQ with a leader for combat bonuses. Some anti-air/anti-tank and reserve engineers can be attached to the group/command. The group/command is attached to Air Force HQ—destination for all aircraft manufactured (unless some are diverted to the navy).

NOTE—MARINES: still working on good ways to make this work. . . I so far use an infantry assault brigade heavy on rifles and mortars and an engineer/infantry hybrid with 30 engineers as my initial assault force. That wasn’t enough last time.

NOTE—AIRBORNE: Similar to above, except I just used 100 paratroopers, but have TOEs that sub out some of them for other equipment once they have made a link-up with supply lines.


Well, there you have it. That’s the set up. I’ll have some examples of specific TOE units that I’m proud of throughout the fight, im sure; but for now, this was plenty of information. Hope you all enjoy the game. I plan to start playing Friday night and have the first AAR up sometime either that night, or by Sunday (I’m teaching a class Saturday, so I may not have enough time to do it them if it miss the Friday upload).

Enjoy!

[robphx387]

Operation Enduring Boredom
The "war" beghins cold. Our communist eastern frenemies have likley continued their military buildup.
Things with Germany are less clear as we begin phase 1 of our plan--now called Operation Enduring Boredom.

This "covert" military buildup will see rear-area units, like the air force, expand rapidly in size and scope. We may soon also deploy an independent armored army (though that's phase 2 or 3).
Front-line units will be fully staffed according to TOE, but otherwise should se few changes. Each corps will be artillery and motor infantry, with some spare regimental augmentation forces attached to the parent army.
The one exception is that each border town will have its reserve garrison turned into a static infantry brigade

FLASH--MSG STARTS--Germania doubles border forces in East Berlin; Declares war on Eastern Empire--MSG ENDS


Somehow, Germany managed to double the strength of their presence at our most critical border junction while moving to invade the communists in the east.
Our productivity is still not at the level where we can begin constructing air or naval assets, and our land forces are two turns from completing reorganization.
At least we have about half a corps strength on each border point now. By turn 2. German naval forces had sortied to the North Sea.

By the end of Turn 3, the German surprise blitz had captured the vaunted super-fortress guarding the river-rung city of Leninburg--Fort Marx.
A large portion of the communist Western Army had been located there & in the surrounding areas. It is unclear as to their fate. The river itself may be all that stands in the Huns' way.

To the north, the Kriegsmarine landed in an unoccupied suburb of Stalinburg, pressuring both communist cities on the continent simultaneously; a blod strike!
From the west, the Germans have punched through to the outskirts of Fort Stalin. By the end of turn 4, this was under German control (Oct 1, 1939).

By January 1st, Leninburg is cut off as deep as Fort Lenin, having been completely surrounded.

Meanwhile, Boston has been busy calling Rosie to her rivets . . . and mining equipment.
Ore production is at 340, but is stalled by lack of PPs.
The fighter and tactical wings are under construction, as is a small DD/TT force to move the pioneers around for expanding resource points on the islands.

By June, we may have ourselves a good size force and strong economy . . . but I fear we will be forced to attack Germania before they hop over to the Eastern Empire's Homeland, or all will be lost!

NOTE:
In the picture below, you can see the TOE for one of my Static Infantry Brigades--this one has been completed, so it is an accurate representation of them.
I'll try to include a different TOE in each post whenever possible so you can see them.
This one is somewhat based on German Static Infantry doctrine during WWII.

[robphx387]

By February, central command committed to the pre-emptive strike on Germania. Unfortunately, only half the air and naval assets were ready, there were no marine units finished, and half the expected equipment had not yet been developed. Oil production was also not yet at a good point. But, with Leninburg and Stalinburg both cut off and surrounded, it was a situation of attacking now, or waiting until the Germans were too powerful to stop.

The date of March first was selected for the opening barrage on East Berlin. Corps commander Middleton protested . . . his anti-tank unit had no AT guns, and his artillery had yet to receive any artillery pieces. Thanks to modest gains by the encircled communists, command decided to delay and increase gun production, hoping for a target date of June/July, or when the first communist city fell. By May, the communists recaptured Fort Lenin, almost re-linking the twin cities.
June. Disaster strikes. While the commies have advanced in the south, breaching Fort Dresden, BOTH Stalinburg & Leninburg fall to Germania on the same day, with the Red Army trapped at Fort Lenin. Even with General Middleton’s objections & the supply situation at a critical low, Boston is forced to join the war . . . even though the marines are not yet ready. All efforts must now fall to a single axis of attack . . . right through the Berlin Isthmus.

German air power, despite outnumbering our 3-1, suffered 2-1 casualties after the initial bombardment caught several planes on the ground, followed by our airstrike. The counter attack launched on West Berlin suffered over 50 platoons worth of casualties, with our numbers 10% of that. To compensate, the Germans moved GHQ to East Berlin, including a massive reserve and AAA force.

INVASION, PROVIDENCE. Two large brigades land in providence and supply is cut by the Kriegsmarine. Attempts by the navy to reach the city prove fruitless and many aircraft are lost trying to break the siege. After two months, the reserve garrison there falls to the Germans . . . but takes almost 250 platoons worth of the Huns with them!
April. Now 10 months into the war, the battle over “the Meat Grinder,” as troops are calling Berlin, continues. In the south, we managed to take the enemy fortifications and tank factory, but the communists beat us to the resources and the city. So far, we are down one city and one source of oil—Germany is up a net 1 city and source of raw materials. Each month, defenses in Berlin weaken, though enemy counter barrage—especially air bombardment—has devastated rear-area troops needed to exploit any breakthrough. Admiral Nimitz is ordered to send the last of his naval forces to West Berlin, hoping the extra guns will help hasten victory in the East . . . or, if the fleet arrives intact, perhaps allow the Marines a shot at Cologne. In the first attempt by the Kriegsmarine to ambush our fleet, over 20 aircraft and two surface ships were destroyed, with no losses of our own. Unfortunately, the land attack led to the greatest single loss of life since the fall of Providence.

At this point, im actually pretty sure I’ve lost the war. Bad decision to jump the gun (also, forgot to put a port in providence when I made the map, so my defenders had no supplies all game).
I’ll keep at it for a while, but it looks doomed (unfortunately). Losses have doubled as kills have been cut in half. Any ideas?