'We got five years..5 years what a surprise' NO STJEAND

[sillyflower]

5 bonus PPs in their next game for the first person to identify the song and original singer

Following FlaviusX' sales pitch for the '40 scenario on my 'how to ruin the game?' thread, stjeand agreed to play axis in a '40 scenario. I think this will be the 1st '40 AAR and neither of us have played it before either.

I will post the original set ups for both sides. No research done yet so nothing to see there.

[ComadrejaKorp]

This really is a challenge! uncharted territory for both sides!
Good luck to you both!

[sillyflower]

Our intelligence services have done an outstanding job of discovering Stsauron's dispositions






The highlighted 4Ppz and 2 PxG xxx look very scary and clearly all have '40 breakthrough tech.

All Nazi ground units also have 75 experience just for doing nothing except for taking our Poland, Denmark and Norway. The 3 fighters have 70, the bombers a mere 60.

[sillyflower]

G starting tech

[sillyflower]

And the overall starting forces:





The good news is tha the Kreigmarine has taken a beating. Only 4 surface vessels with the Bimark to come, and 2 subs with a 3rd due on July 8. I don't think Stsauron will mind too much about the latter because he never has any luck with BOA

[sillyflower]

The flimsy fence between the panzer blob and Paris. An historical date for the fall of France looks very possible as he will need to spend his 100 trucks on something. Never mind, at least the trucks won't do that much for his panzers now.

[sillyflower]

No turn from Stsauron, so he must be practising.

During this phoney war, I have decided to toughen my troops by issuing them with some new equipment

[stjeand]

Yes I BOA will take two years to even get anywhere...but you can't win if all your subs sink.
And mine will.

That is some sweet intelligence you got. Wish I could get that...OH wait I can.

[stjeand]

Interesting notes...

Lots of infantry.
All the small corps in the West wall are 50% experience
Most units are 75%...All the garrison are 70% and a few of the ungarrisoned.
Paratrooper is 80%
I think 4 of the Inf corps are damaged and in need of repairs
German oil is pretty low. Normally have 100% but start with 40%
Italy is REALLY rough. Look like less units than the 39 campaign but will have to verify.
Definately will need German help from the onset as they can't cover all their ports.
Africa might actually be interesting for a little bit since the Allies don't have 3 armor / mech corps to start
All sides have the starting Generals...

Attack started with a wipeout of the low countries. They all fell much easier than the 39 campaign. All the units are weaker.
No air used. One armor in the 60s...2 others in 70 and the rest 80+ in efficiency.

[sillyflower]

My strategy will be based on that of the great Genghis Khan. To put it in more modern parlance:

To crush my enemies - to take their tanks and goods and to hear the lamentation of their significant others. That is best.
On T1, Stsauron took out the low countries with great efficiency only losing the equivalent of a division. At least this means that France will not fall before the end of June, so I am already ahead of the historical curve. A gap of 1 hex separates the French from the orcs. The use of the word 'French' instead of 'allies' is intentional. The BEF has decided that there is little point in staying around, and 1 xxx is already bound from France to the middle east, along with the xxx stationed in Plymouth.

[sillyflower]

T1 the orcs took out the low countries, with the loss of only the equivalent of a division, so that was well executed. They also came up to the french border, took a look at my feeble defences and promptly retreated. The good news is that France will not fall before the end of June so I am ahead of the historic curve. Also I now have 239 spare merchants so I hope not to have to buy any more. With 22 UK and french escorts I can protect 2 shipping lanes against his 2 subs with 1 to come, and the UK excorts have '40 tech.

[sillyflower]

T2 Stsaurons orcs get aggressive



I was able to attack the point unit. At least it cost him more than it did me, and it's important to damage his units because replacements will lower their exp levels a bit nearer to the national numbers. Every little helps.

For some reason I thought there was only 1 turn in May (I'm definitely getting senile) but even if he gets Paris in next turn II'm still on the historic timeline.
I managed to get 3 hits on the uboats for the loss of 3 MMs. 2 on the sub with 75% exp and the replacements come in at 50% so that will weaken them as well as slowing the down a bit. (Am I wrong to think they only repair 1 hit per turn?)

T1 UK purchased an inf xx for home defence and UK and USA each bought 1 escort. Probably more to do with muscle-memory than urgent need. Last turn's replacements to WDF last turn and this, so it will be ready to deal with Vichy Syria as soon as it appears. Next stop hopefully Baghdad as I like to nab that early.

2 inf xxx will arrive in the ME next turn. I from BEF and the other from UK. The gallant Canadians are also on their way. Gort returns to the UK as will the rest of the BEF.

G and I both only have 10 LCs each so any invasion before 8 August (when LC bought on T1 arrive) will be feeble but all ports will need defenders. Cyprus has already been garrisoned by weak forces and troops move up to the Syrian border.

Not sure what to make of USSR. It has quite a lot of good armour, some with '40 tech and exp. at 35% and ? 2 at 50%. inf xxs in the interior largely have 35% exp. That said, getting units to full strength strength will take a while even tho' I have set replacement at 90PP. At least I will only have to upgrade the reasonable inf up 1 grade to '40 tech, and the reserve armies will also only need that single upgrade when they come on. However, they will be facing a Wehrmacht on steroids so we will see.

@ Flavius any tips from your experience welcome [&o]

[Flaviusx]

The Red Army in this scenario actually has something you don't see in 39: an early counterattacking ability. I wish the 39 scenario had a few high powered units like this. Because the second major problem with the 39 scenario is imo the Soviet Union is too weak. (Along with the Western Allies being too strong.)

I don't like the 30% change or the delay in mech at all. Basically the Soviet Union is nearly helpless until late in 1942 now. It really sucks and all because Alvaro wanted to make some crackbrained 1942 Barbarossa possible. This is silly, because if you are going to do the Soviet Union, you had better do it in 41. The 42 Barbarossa is not really feasible even with these changes. All they've done is make life much harder on the 1941 Soviets, as if it wasn't difficult enough already.

What to do? Just pump out infantry corps until the end of the year, 1 per turn. The rest of your production going towards replacements and upgrades. You need grunts. There is really no point in building more mech, you've got plenty of it already and indeed it is of higher experience than you are going to see for a while. I would probably disband the bombers, too, and buy an extra 3 HQs.

If the Germans decide to do Barbarossa they will be very strong in the 1940 scenario, because they can knock out France easy, already have 6 mobile corps to start with, and have a bunch more infantry than in the 39 scenario. They can easily invade early.

Make use of the new terrain. There's a whole brand new river line north of the marshes that can buy you an extra turn.

[sillyflower]

Thanks. Fits with my thoughts re this scenario and the russian mech OP change.

Russian armour got wiser from experience. I don't have an issue with the idea of a '42 Barbarossa being viable. It fits with the game philosophy. However, the OP increase should be linked to X turns after the invasion starts, not an arbitrary fixed date

[sillyflower]

T3

The Nazis seem to be taking it carefully. No urgency required and Stsauron will still have plenty of time to take out the Balkans. He has favoured taking both Yugo and Greece in our previous games. UK in no position to stop or even do much to delay him.


No UK troops remain on the continent. Gort and the last 2 inf xxx returned to Blighty. I was going to send Gort to the ME, but the 3rd UK HQ is led by a subordinate and it will be a while to get enough command points to get someone good in charge. ME now has the other 2 BEF xxx. Canadians bought another escort to celebrate getting 3 more hits on the uboats this turn. Both have lost 3 pts so will presumably now be on their way home, after sinking only 6 merchants in return. My opponent is clearly failing to send proper sacrifices to Poseidon as he has this problem in all his games.

[sillyflower]

In Europe T3 after my Brexit





There may even be a chance of surviving into July!

Axis losses to date land 45, air 23 and the 6 subs. French losses irrelevant. The French navy took the opportunity to run around the North Sea in the absence of the Kriegsmarine, knocking out 2 orc bombers in the process.

Germans are now back to starting Barbarossa on the 1st turn April these days so it will be a long summer for me in '41. Oh well, it's no fun if it's easy. Actually, like many old sayings, this saying is not very true.

Replacements will continue to go to NA for quite a while. I can't see much point inn upgrading the RN -at least in the forseeable future. I have no idea how the RAF won the battle of Britain with 2x'39 tech ftrs and 1x '39 escort ftr so they are safely out of the way.

[sillyflower]

T4 France. Another careful advance resulting only in 24 land losses for the G, and 1 more bomber courtesy of the french navy which lost 2 CA points.





In fairness, the visible panzers are looking very tired with CVs of only 7, and I expect he doesn't want to waste them at low odds.

[sillyflower]

Elsewhere the u-orcs flee in their ruin back to Mordor (sorry: I'm going all Tolkien here).

NA looking good and another inf xxx is on it's way there, and all is ready for taking out Vichy Syria.
All the inf in UK go into reserve which just enables me to order up a tank xxx. Replacements still all to NA for the moment.

Canada invested in another escort as its land forces start to go round the Horn of Africa. Nothing boring in this AAR!

[sillyflower]

T5 July 19

Paris falls at a cost of 13 land steps and 4 a/c + another 2 as the french fleet carries out it manoeuvres up to the last minute



ME defences solidify around the El Alamein bottleneck as Vichy Syria is taken without any allied casualties. A shooting war with Italy seems unlikely. No signs of axis naval activity either. Sources within OKH have reported complaints about lack of fuel oil.

RAF fighter command has received much needed more modern aircraft and now has 3 units with '40 tech interceptors.

[sillyflower]

2 August
BOA is getting a bit embarrassing. 3 more hits on uboats without any losses. I still bought another Canadian escort tho' - complacency is seldom wise. UK has more fun building a mech xxx. '39 tech is at least cheap.




Double line of inf xxx now facing the Italians. Canadian reinforcements are en route, and the fleet in Alexandria doubles in size