(game started) World War III - East vs West: Game III

[Grymme]

NATO sent its turn already but will still present highlights of turn 15

- A NATO fightertrap sprung up killing some 10 fighters and bombers with no losses for the Alliance. I do think that the sky is owned by the west.
- After several turns of production the previously weak NATO navy is now powered enough for fighting against the Russkies.
- A USSR puch towards Prague is cut of with high losses for the pact. However the desperate elite units in surrounded refuse to surrender in the deep forrests and repel the NATO concentric attacks with high losses on both sides.
- USSR forces advance in the Turkish mountains. Turkish forces withdraw.
- After almost a year of fighting the Ploesti oilfields finally fall to a concentric NATO attack.
- PDRC has for some reason declared war on the Pacific countries, but have yet to attack them.
- Strategic and tactical bombing of Windhoek is finally showing signs of working. A poorly led previous assault had the south african forces breaking down without supply.

[RufusTFirefly]

China turn 15 done and send to US.
 
Pakistan got lost. Although the Chinese units achieved a small success in their attack on India times will get rough there as India can bring more units to its eastern border now.
 
Chinese air force launched a massive attack on Japan. Four fighters and three bombers were shot down (ok, China lost some units too, but not more than 11 fighters and three strategic bombers).
 

[Appren]

Turn 16 received. About to pack and go home for Christmas, so the turn will be played on laptop and sent to China in a couple days time.

[Appren]

New turn sent to China. Not looking good, I've played a poor game (especially some strategic decisions on the first 3 turns), so lets see how long we can keep it up against the evil capitalists.

[Grymme]

Appren:
 
I dont know which decisions you are thinking about. The one serious misstake i think youve made is not upgrading to FighterII and fight for the air supremacy.
 
Other than that i think you have adapted very well to the situation. Those huge infantrycorps you are putting everywhere are quite difficult to deal with for my smaller but more equipped corps. Airstrikes wont take them and attacks are very costly. It doesnt hurt that you are holding quite nice defensive terrain  almost everywhere. 
 
My huge mistake was not guarding Norway properly and by risking my navy (and getting parts of it killed). Finally i am not happy at all about my play in South Africa. I am feering everyturn that Sweden will join the conflict (this event works since it has happened in other games, i guess you just havent been lucky so far) since they will probably be crushed imediatly and provide more production for you.
 
I do think that both our plays on the main front have been ok, and we have truly seen some epic battles. Such as my huge armoured offensive against Berlin which broke down, and your latest offensive against Prague. (which also seemed to have broken down.
 
 

[GrumpyMel]

It's a fun game so far for me as well. I will be putting up more of the AAR when I get a chance....just been very busy lately.
 
 
 
 

[Appren]

@Grymme - that is the one. It pretty much cost me the fight for air superiority.

[RufusTFirefly]

China turn 16 done and send.

[Casus_Belli]

This game sounds great! Will there be another one I can join?
 
 

[Grymme]

Casus: Im sure there will be more games.
 
I am going on holliday for a week or two (south of sweden & spain). Might not be sending turns during this time.
 
Highlights of t17 for NATO.
 
- USSR have started acting more activly with their fighters. The results was comparativly higher fighter/bomberlosses for NATO. In light of this NATO high command decided to do a sweep for the USSR airforces. A small fleet was found in Krakow (i think). An attack was made and the fleet destroyed. Total airlosses 5 fighters and 1 bomber for NATO. 5 fighters and 2 bombers for USSR.
- Not much movement in the central european front. NATO advanced cautiusly in some areas. Reinforced others. Heavy artillery & airbombings resulted in a lot of equipment lost for the USSR.
- The only major land action in Europe was a counterpush on the much contested areas south of Berlin. Theese two hexes are starring to look like Ypres. USSR forces driven back with high losses. Some 4 corps gutted.
- USSR offensive in Turkey seems halted for now. USSR forces still more powerfull though.
- A chinese expeditionary corps landed in the northwest of Borneo. Reinforcents sent into Suwarak.
- The Tamil tigers get killed of.
- A final push from the south african forces push the starving defenders out of Windhoek. Finally!. After strategic and tactical bombing for 7-8 turns the defenders couldnt supply themselves and finally succumbed to the attacks. The remains of their forces retreat out in the suburbs.
 
Merry x.mas

[Appren]

Turn sent to China.

Disasterous turn for the USSR, complete failure in Asia. Soviet forces also under heavy pressure in Europe, things are looking grim for the Kremlin.

[RufusTFirefly]

Turn send to USA.
 
Indian forces push eastwards supported by US units. China answers with heavy artillery and air attacks. No major success of strategic bombardment of Taipeh.

[Appren]

At this point in the war, Gadaffi's Libya found it smart to join up with the USSR. "Not the best career move" says independent political analyst about this decision.

[RufusTFirefly]

Allied forces from US and India fight against Chinese troops that try to move westward. US has send Stealth Bombers into battle. China answers with massive air attacks that wipe out 6th US artillery brigade. An attack of two Chinese corps end up in a failure. After several losses on both sides the defenders still hold the area between Bangladesh and the High Mountain area.
 
Tientsing has been attacked by a US fleet. The guns of USS Iowa caused sveral losses. After the attack the ships vanished. The Chinese become aware of an invasion.

[Grymme]

Finally, after more than six months preparation NATO releases their winter offensive.
 
Secret buildups have been going on in five areas. Paratroopers around Ploesti, armoured units outside of Prague, Berlin and Breslau and a whole secret armygroup inside Hungary.
 
- Unfortunatly an unsuspecting corps happen to encounter the secret Northern Balkan armygroup which forces the offensive to be unleashed a turn early. Massive USSR reinforcements arrive on the border rivers between Hungary and Ukraine. This together with the incompetence of NATO engineers mean that NATO cannot bridge the border rivers. An StrafDivision (yugoslavians) of paratroopers is caught by themselves without support inbetween the rivers.
 
- At the same time 2 full armycorps of paratroopers are succesfully dropped in the back of the USSR southern Balkan front. Their goal to block supply, threaten inner cities and to hinder transfer of reinforcements. They might not live long but hopefully they will serve their purpose.
 
- Outside of Prague armoured units fight their way north between through the slovakian mountains towards Krakow. Resistance is low but the armoured collumns are vulnerable. 
 
- Outside Breslau Heavy NATO infantrycorps have been pressuring their way toward the city. The final assault towards the city is perhaps one of the single most bloody battles in the war. Five infantrycorps with a strenght of 240 attack and the city falls with more than 50 % losses for the attacker.
 
- Finally in the North heavy Armoured corps. Many with Heavy tanks storm through the plains surrounding Berlin. USSR infantryforces is bombarded, attacked, cut of and destroyed. A single INF corps is all but cut of on the coastline. Berlin falls, but the armoured collumns continue into Poland and spread out in the Polish plains heading for Warsaw and Kaliningrad. Contact is made with the regional USSR HQ which is found to contain huge engineer units, artillery and some 250 staff. The armours are do however not have fuel enough to attack them.
 
------------------
 
Total losses for the turn some 280 INF for USSR and 180 for NATO.

[Appren]

USSR is doomed. NATO forces advancing fast in Germany, with little left to stop them. Soviet leadership negotiating a long vacation to..oh wait, they cant go to Cuba...d'oh.

Please do not take my poor play in this game as an indication that the USSR is particularly weak in this scenario, in hindsight I realize multiple mistakes, some tactically but mainly strategically, where correct choices would have given me a far better chance of success

[Grymme]

I do think, as i stated before, that youve played pretty well after the first turns. And ive made some big mistakes too. I also think that NATO is easier to play then USSR and a little bit stronger. In this particular game i was also helped by PDRC activating Pacific countries without moving into them. They produce all my PP now.
 
That being said i do think the scenario is balanced enough that an experienced USSR can easily beat an unexperienced/passive NATO- player.
 
The USSR tactic i would go for (i think now). Is take Finland, Defend in Germany and Chechoslovakia. Heavy offensive into Greece/Turkey with naval landings into Turkey to try and get contact with Middle East early. Greece/Turkey is difficult to defend from the european direction and Middle East badly needs to be rescued. USSR is not going to get far in Germany anyhow and already have excellent defensive terrain. Your massive infantry building strategy shows how well and long those mountain/river-lines can be defended.
 
For production i would produce rifles, MG, Bazzooka and engineeers for defense in the centre north. Fighters all over. Armour/some infantry/horses for southern balkans/turkey. Also paratroops/transports in turkey to being able to jump into turkey and to establish an airbridge into Mosul imediatly.
 
   

[RufusTFirefly]

Sounds like ypu want to quit and declare NATO/West as winners in this match. If so it is ok for me.

[Grymme]

It would be fun to see a turn or so how my offernsive would have developed. But i have no problem with quitting now if people are tired. I think West is probably winning.
 
Rufus. I hope that you atleast got some action and found it a little more fun than you initialy thought.

[RufusTFirefly]

Yes, now I think it is challenging how to proceed in the struggle between India and China. And in another game I would like to play China again to try a different strategy. China has to be played in a different way than I did it here.

I have the turn now and will do it tomorrow morning (GMT+1), cannt do it tonight, it is quite late now.

Edit:

Have done the turn. Lets stop before it gets boring. The West has a won.

I dont know how many and what kind of units the transport ships near the Chinese coast are carrying. But there is no possibility for me to stop an invasion. The amount of ships is overwhelming and the losses due to bombardment are to high. Even without the bombardment of the fleets (seven enemy fleets near Tsingtau!) my units would be too weak to stand an invasion I guess. Not to mention the as well overwhelming amount of fighters that cost too much losses, so my air units will soon become useless (I should better say they will soon be eliminated).