Tourny round 3, Forwarn45 vs kondor

[kondor]

We are already well into a game. Forwarn45 just mailed me his Barbarossa turn[:@]. I am curently at work so I should attend it later today...

This should be another learning game for me, so I will try to keep this AAR active for you guys to. There really need to be more AAR from good players (not me[;)],-> Forwarn45).
The beginning was standard (he took Poland, start harassing with his elite sub-after first turn it was elite[:-]), the he ignored TLC and tried to take E. France, which was heavily defended... he had a lot of losses there SS will follow...
I belive that France fell at summer 1940, with immediate joining of Italy next turn...
Central med. has been reinforced to stop him deploying fascist all over Africa[;)]. Malta is defended with 3 flaks, arty, 1 inf + milita. (The Luftwaffe scored a great victory bombing my FT&TAC to oblivion on Malta), and last turn I was forced to redraw 6HF + 2LF to East. Med.
He took Yugo and Greece, and Japan had a good time bombing China factories. He stay away from inland and amassed a lot of troops in Manchuria... (I belive he has just used them in SU), more to come, with pictures, when I see Barbarossa myself.

I invite Forwarn45 to keep this AAR going, and from now on I wish him bad luck in our game [:)].

More soon to come... in theaters near you...[:D].

[Forwarn45]

I'll try to contribute to the AAR, as Kondor suggests. This has actually been a tough game for the Germans in France - although I have some hope for my invasion of the SU. And the Japanese did rather well bombing China in this particular game - gaining decent experience and hitting the Chinese factories with little losses.

1939-1940 saw trouble in France. I attacked East France in winter - hoping to attrition the French for an easy spring invasion. Casualties were expected to be close - but the German army was badly bruised by Kondor's British and French troops. Artillery casualties were fairly close - but many more German infantry were damaged. In retrospect, I perhaps should not have attempted it as I don't think I got to infantry evasion 6 until the end of the turn. Spring of '40 still saw a favorable attack into Eastern France (with a little over 80% chance of success) - but it too failed. But Summer of '40 saw final victory for the brave Axis troops.

When Italy activated, it faced a large Allied force in the Central med. As a result, Africa has been lost. To add to it - I had not been able to get Greece to join the Axis club despite repeated diplomatic attempts (I think at least 4 attempts!). And Mussolini started his border war with Greece in late '40 - so an invasion was necessary - and a few troops that were involved were not available for the Spring of '40 invasion of the SU.

The war at sea has gone reasonably well - with a few increases to WA war readiness and I think 1 sub loss so far. Anyway, it should be interesting now that the SU is in it. I wish my opponent good luck (but no autohits). [;)]

[kondor]

Here is costly winter ´40 attack on France as promised[;)]

[kondor]

And now back to Barbarossa... Well Forwarn surprised me a bit there (I tought he will commence it turn after (at summer ´41). And so caught me without supplies...
Kiev, Belorussia, E. Poland, Baltic states, and all of the east coastal regions fell to the foe! But Stalin has promised that Soviet people will endure and will be victorius at the end!
IJA has not yet been checked at east, first I must consolidate western border...

WA fleets in good spirit attacked Central Med., but failed miserably. Odds where 3,8 against 3 on my side, and I have lost 2 HF, and did no damage to Italian fleet .
In follow up two CAG-s where sent to follow up, again odds where favorable but I just ended 2 CAG-s less , and small loss to enemy side (can´t recall which).
Here is SS of Europe and a world map to show Axis progress so far.

[kondor]

World map at the beginning of SU turn Sp´41. First turn of aggression.

[kondor]

Su ´41, Germany and Japan continue to push onto SU. Kharkov has fallen[:@]. And no doubt the evil horde will not stop there. SU forces are no match against combined attack. We shall continue to wait for enemy error.

[kondor]

Rostov has been occupied to, and IJA is still unchecked on the east front.. SU just cannot hold two fronts..yet. At least Leningrad is holding...
Germany is strong on HB-s (7), weak on subs (1 elite). This turn Hitler sent Rommel in Tobruk, but only to find that there are lots of WA artys down there. Few dog fights over Tobruk and the losses where equal.
USA continues to be on standby, but is researching all kinds of new toys[:D].
England and Gibraltar stationed HB-s successfully damaged few resources in France/Italy. And the Italian transport near Sardinia is resting on the bottom.
1942 is promising to be a very interesting year... Will SU collapse... we shall see...

[Forwarn45]

A few updates. First, I had taken a screenshot of the attack in early '41 by the RN against Mussolini's glorious and infinitely superior Italian fleet.

What actually happened was that almost none of Kondor's heavy fleets engaged, and my air also helped a bit. I think that in surface battles, you can have the biggest deviation from the combat odds calcuator given the big variable about how many fleets will actually attack on each side.

[Forwarn45]

And now to more recent events. The attack on Leningrad in Fall. The Germans had a very low chance of taking the city - but the expected losses were highly favorable. Leningrad holds, but Goebbels assures the German people that the Reds will be crushed in '42. [:-]

[Forwarn45]

With the '41 campaign at a close, some information on current troops near the beginning of the German Winter turn.

[Forwarn45]

Casualties so far. Note the Russian army has suffered - but is still in relatively decent shape. But German and Japanese airpower could prove telling.

[Forwarn45]

A brief comment on the game so far. First, a little insight into my thinking. I had actually not intended a joint attack by Germany and Japan against Russia in Spring of '41. I originally considered an attack by Germany alone - but my trouble and delay in France caused me to reconsider. In the end, I decided Japanese help was needed. Also - I was not sure whether the initial date of invasion would be Spring or Summer as a few troops had not reached the front and supplies were adequate for German invasion - but inadequate to build up my infrastructure. But the supply situation of the Red Army in Spring and the pullout of the Allies from the Med. pushed me to choose the earlier rather than the later invasion. As Kondor says, 1942 should be interesting. [;)]

[Forwarn45]

And something from Japan for '41 - the Japanese have been steadily advancing with little opposition so I have been forgetting to take screenshots. Anyway, here's a replay from the German turn showing a Japanese attack in Fall of '41 against a small airforce detached to meet the Japanese bombers. A subsequent attack hit the tacair. Kondor has a screenie showing how things stood at the end of my turn.

[kondor]

Now back to ´42. SU is in bad shape, as last turn I was forced to discontinue southern land lease from WA. As my foe stated before German and Japan airforce is formidable, most of them elite, and they are destroying SU infrastracture...
Forwarn is great player and he is not leaving me no holes where I can move in with WA... Europe is well defended for now...
But Chinease used the lack of IJA on their borders and attacked coastal regions (two of them are again under China control[:)]). I suppouse that Forwarn has not noticed that WA has been supplying China army...
Last turn I did another mistake... I moved HB from England to still neutral TLC and altough I had two more movement points, I could not move the bomber further... I suppose that is explained somewhere in the rules .
And the turn after Japan declared war on USA...
SU is in bad shape but WA are almost at peak condition... It is a very good game by Forwarn and I did not expect anything less from him[:)].

[Forwarn45]

Churchill's treacherous attack against Dutch civilians reveals the true objects of the British.

[Forwarn45]

The British return to the Med - but the Italians exact a toll.

[Forwarn45]

The defenders of Leningrad finally capitulate.

[Forwarn45]

With the Dutch East Indies appealing for help from Japan against the British aggresor, Japan has not choice but to attack Britain and her Australian lackies.

[kondor]

Moscow has fallen! Altough the Germans had a slightly numerical advantage, the difference at tech, and moral of troops was significant- as was the result. Huge losses of red army. Counterattack was impossible from the lack of supplies.[8|]

Then the air battle over London took place. Casualties on both sides, almost equal... Both German and WA FT-s are at 6 attack, 6 def. With both sides upgrading heavily... (My spies where busy all through the game[;)] . I invested heavily on spying at the beginning and it seems that was the only good thing I did [:)]).

And dreaded German HB-s come flying from Rumania, or Yugo. and bring death to North Africa stationed British FT-s&bombers..[X(]

To addition Forwarn released 5 new sub fleets, upgraded to 4def., into Atlantic. But they did not have the time to hurt WA transport routes. WA was well connected, and trade routes continued even without few trannies... If the game continued they would certainly cause me headache for one more turn.. (Then my ASW would be efficient to handle them as before..).
And as you guessed [;)], the match with axis AV. Decisive victory!

Congratulations to Forwarn![&o]
I now that I had to do something with WA when SU was attacked from both sides... But what? Forwarn nullified my every move. Another lesson from superior player[&o].

[kondor]

[X(][:D]