Road to Where: Axis

[gwgardner]

General collapse in Romania.

[gwgardner]

Fluid situation in the Balkans.

With the collapse of Romania, all Axis forces there lost the entire support of the Romanian supply network, and were forced to move back upon lines in Yugoslavia and Hungary. [at least that's what my generals tell me - I suspect it was the game system, which removes all units once a country surrenders!]

Bulgaria is next to fall, with Soviet armored units closing in on Sofia from the east and north.

An advance armored recon unit, far ahead of the rest of the Russian forces, entered Belgrade by a northeasterly route. Nearby Italian infantry units, on their way to the front, were by happenstance in position to surround the lone Russian spearhead unit, and we expect a surrender within a week.

German High Command, already dealing with a Normandy breakout and a race across France to the Rhine, is scurrying to build up some kind of line around Vienna, with the expectation that Hungary will fall to the Soviet juggernaut soon.

[gwgardner]

Situation March 16 '43

The Kiel pocket has remained static for six months, as the Allies have placed their main forces into the Normandy bridgehead. Strong American armor units blasted through German lines containing the Normandy pocket, and are now racing across France. A new defensive line is being set up in Northern France. However, there is little hope that it will successfully stand against the US armor.

In the East, Italian defensive lines are being set up in two layers. The forward line takes advantage of the mountainous terrain in Yugoslavia, but extends into the plans of Hungary. Once the Soviets have penetrated into Hungary, that first Italian line will have to bend or break, back onto the 2nd line.

A huge buildup of soviet infantry in the northern part of the Eastern Front looks ominous, but unless the enemy is willing to dash those hordes against the strong German lines, it looks like wasted PPs for the Soviets. So far, the Soviets have really shown no inclination to use their superiority in manpower as a blunt hammer, relying instead on armored spearheads to move the German lines back incrementally.

[Joshuatree]

"A huge buildup of soviet infantry in the northern part of the Eastern Front looks ominous, but unless the enemy is willing to dash those hordes against the strong German lines, it looks like wasted PPs for the Soviets. So far, the Soviets have really shown no inclination to use their superiority in manpower as a blunt hammer, relying instead on armored spearheads to move the German lines back incrementally."
 
Quite so, interesting because you'd expect a wave of russian units... you'd expect a collapse of the German Northern and Centre Army group. Apparently not. What's he up to?
Or did the Russian penal battalions drink too much Wodka again?

[gwgardner]

Title this post 'mystery solved,' or variously, 'Oh crap ... again.'

[gwgardner]

Meanwhile, on the Italian front - rather than breaking the front on the Hungarian plains, the Soviets have made a troublesome breakthrough south of Split.

[gwgardner]

The race is on.

[gwgardner]

Springtime in the East

upwards of 250,000 troops have been surrounded in the Poznan Pocket, and other smaller encirclements. The very troops which were being pulled back to man the southern end of the eastern front. Their encirclement has left Prague, Dresden, and Munich wide open to Russian spearheads.

[gwgardner]

In the west, the American, British, and Norwegian advance is inching forward against stiff resistance. All the rumblings within the ranks, that they ought to lay down their arms along the western front, has not yet made life any easier for the Allies.

The Allies seem more intent upon reclaiming French soil - no doubt taking some time out to sample the vintage - rather than pressuring the German troops retreating back to the fatherland.

[gwgardner]

The Italian front is holding strong in the mountains of Yugoslavia. The Allies failure to launch any kind of invasion in the Med may leave them with no choice but to slug it out along the mountain passes.

[gwgardner]

With Commintern forces on the outskirts of Berlin, and Spanish forces dissolving in the face of the Allied assault across the Pyrannees (sp), the Italians are the only remaining Axis power intact. Italian High Command has forced coups in German and Spain, and ordered a unilateral cessation of hostilities.

It is now up to the Allies and the Commintern to end the suffering.

[gwgardner]

Post Mortem:

IF ... I hadn't spent so much on research early on
    ...  I had built more armor
   ... I hadn't used air power so much with concommittant replacement costs
   ... I hadn't let Italy take all the PPs of Yugoslavia

Lots of ifs, and each one game-changing.  Same thing on the other side, however.  That's what will give this game some life, I think, especially with upcoming patches.

Biggest IF - if Chuck hadn't been so darned good at production!  He must be a bean-counter in real life, keeping tabs on every PP and strength point.  Anyone want to test their RtW skills, challenge Chuck.

One big thing that limited me, vis-a-vis Chuck's production-maximizing skills, was my intent to play the game somewhat historically, at least in terms of invasion dates.  I waited till May, '40 to attack France.  I waited till June 22, '41, to attack Russia.    In both instances, that was totally to the Allied/Commintern advantage.  The extra time I gained thereby for research wasn't all that useful, because I never had enough PPs to upgrade units in a timely manner.

[James Ward]

These were some of the best AAR's I've seen. The screen shots and comments from both of you were great. Thanks for letting us watch!

[gwgardner]

Thx. Now turnabout is fair play! Let's see some other AARs. So many options in this game. So little time.

[wilecki]

Thank you both for such a wonderful AAR. It was pure pleasure to be able to watch your struggle. What am I gonna do now? Hey, I think I'm gonna play this game myself

By the way, don't you guys think that this scenario is a bit unbalanced in the allies/comintern favor? I have a feeling that although gwgardner contributed more forces to the eastern fron than the germans actually did (no african campaign effort, lots of italian troops sent east, etc.) he managed less. What's your opinion?

[cpdeyoung]

Gary and I have begun a "turn around" game and we will know more soon.  I do feel daunted by the struggle Gary went through here, but I have some ideas to try to change the outcome.  I plan on getting up an AAR, but things are a bit slow just now.  Gary may not do an AAR, or he may wait a bit, and start later.
 
Welcome to the game, and remember to try some PBEM when you become comfortable!
 
Chuck

[wilecki]

Recently I noticed that I'm becoming more casual than regular gamer but I really want to try the game out. And I'm already looking forward to the new AAR

Cheers!

[Ingtar]

I'm not so sure that on a "level" playing field, the Germans can win. The combined production of the 3 allies is too much to overcome.

[James Ward]

A few house rules and some bias towards the Axis can help.
To start set the USA and Russia to get -25% per turn. They still over produce early but later on they under produce so it's almost a wash.
Give a 50% bonus to all historical minor German allies. Make them Human controlled even while neutral.
House rule #1, no more than 1 light bulb in any given research catagory for neutral countries.
House rule #2 only lend lease is allowed for PP transfers, at max 50PP per convoy, and only allowed once the event fires.
This will give you a pretty decent game while still allowing alternate strategies to be pursued.