Europe Turn 13-15 continued

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Turn 14, October 1940.

I spot both battle ships fleets leaving London. See the picture from turn history. This means that London is now safe to approach. I was deciding if it was worth it to make a grab for London knowing that it will bring the Soviets in the war in 2 turns. It would be worth it if I could get have the British Navy. But with London abandoned, it is hardly worth taking now.

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I fly a recon mission into Central England to determine if the 2 missing fleets are in Manchester. I only count 1 fleet. They might have gone to the Med. In that case, I probably won't see them for 2-3 months.

I shelled Birmingham with my artillery. There is too much flak to use planes. I then assault from 3 sides and capture the city. There are lots of infantry defending, but they are inexperienced and shell shocked. The West takes lots of casualties.

Now that London is not protect by the flak capability of the British fleet, I launch a massive air strike and take out about 1/3 of the defenders. Without air protection, I expect to have London nearly finished in a month or 2.

I decide not to occupy Birmingham. It is in range of the big guns out of Manchester. If the West occupies, I can re-take with my artillery. No use taking needless casualties. Here is the picture at the end of the turn. I highlighted Manchester so you can see all the units in the pile.

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In the Balkans, my Army Group under Rommel captures Belgrade. I wipe out the defenders with a combination of artillery, air strikes and concentric defense. The Balkan flank is reasonably well secure. See the picture at turn end.

The Balkan minors has the highest partisan level. Once 1942 starts, there is 0.5% chance per Axis controlled hex per round that a partisan unit will arrive (10 scouts).

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In Greece, I move to cut off the Greek army moving south to Athens. The forces in the area are not strong enough to take Athens without the support of the Italian Fleet. And, the Italian Fleet is not strong enough to confront the British fleet. So, I just try to keep the brunt of the Greek army cut off and bring down reinforcements from Yugoslavia. The invasion was helpful in at least dislodging the Greeks from the more difficult terrain to the north.

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Now that I know the British fleet is not in Alexandria, it is safe to approach the city. I send 2 corp around to try to grab the canal. The West has troops dug in across the nile and I do not have the action points to force a crossing. I will have to try next turn.

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In the long term, I have to think about supply. Below is the strategic map of the Eastern Med. The British fleet is likely to be in the 2 circle spots (near Greece or near Egpyt). I want my HQ close to Alexandria for support. But, if the HQ is close to Alexandria and it draws supply from Rome, the path is likely to be close to where the British are operating. (see the dashed line).

To fix this, I attach my HQ in Egpyt to the HQ in Tripoli which draws supply from Rome. This supply 'dog leg' put my overwater supply path well to the West. I should be in good shape unless the Brits bring down their home fleets.

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Finally, I have to start to think about Russia. I am slowly building up an army in the East. I bought some planes and fly a recon mission near the border. It is a good idea to check the status of the Soviet army. From the picture, I can tell that the Soviet's have upgrade infantry to level II.

Design note. I keep the Soviet army asleep until France falls. The Soviet strength is roughly what I would expect it to be in June of 1940. I felt that starting the Soviets awakes would result in alot of low value clicking during the early years of the war. I thought playability would improve if the Western player could use this time to concentrate on the West. This does provide some built in balancing. If the West loses France earlier, the Soviets will be stronger.

[seille]

Oh, i feel a bit lazy posting only one screen [:D]

My attacks has been very limited.
First i searched for targets in the UK worth an air attack. I found it with a unit SE of Birmingham.
The following two waves destroyed that unit nearly completely (picture shows attack 1)
The ground attack after that made the unit retreating.

The arrow shows the direction i made some artillery attacks to weaken any potential attackers
for the coming turn.

Near Athens i reopened the connection between my units and Athens the 3rd time now,
but it´s a hopeless fight when the german main army arrives to finish me off there.
At least i could prevent these troops from moving to the east front.

Some action also near Alexandria. Used my ship artillery and a ground attack to fight back a unit close to Alexandria.
Used a fresh divebomber unit to attack the germans close to Suez. Smaller losses there, but i destroyed 50% of the transport capacity.

On the russian front it´s still quiet, but some german troops arrive now.

Maybe some of you guy´s ask why i did not defend London better. There is no way to defend it. It´s in range of German Luftwaffe.
Same for the bridges to northern England. Splitting my ships is not a good idea.
In addition the only important hex is Manchester, so i concentrate my defense on Manchester
and the neighbour hexes.