Sturm und Drang : Axis Perspective

[cpdeyoung]

19440609 : Pressure everywhere.

[cpdeyoung]

19440616 : We escape an airborne drop in the East, and see the tracks of many Americans.

[Chocolino]

Your game here will become the gold standard of Axis play. I think nobody managed to hold out as Axis in an uncalibrated game as long as you did no matter what happens next - and you still have a lot of life left. I was actually inspired by your play in SuD to also abstain from attacking the USSR in Crossroads. The odds are stacked too much against a German attack with Partisans and Winter penalties while the Allies/Comintern enjoy a much larger industrial production at the same time.

[cpdeyoung]

Thank you, but that is not the way I see it.  I played the defense in the West very poorly.  The garrison around Le Havre was a joke against air power.  Le Havre is a special case.  Amphibious assault there is not the problem, rather one must watch for a massive air strike, a bombardment that can take a powerful corps down to a empty hex, followed by airborne assault.  Once the port falls it is a land fight against the Allied production.  I was so taken with my navies that I failed to see the air threat.  I will never forget that again.
 
One turn before I considered very seriously strat moving a 19SP L4 Panzer Korps to Paris.  It would have been a wonderful thing to have that first turn, but no, I wanted it on the Eastern Front.  One more korps there did not make much difference, but what a golden opportunity was missed by not putting it in reserve in the West.
 
The turn after Le Havre fell I rushed my two best Korps west, and then in a fit of over optomism I let them get surrounded, and lost them.  As soon as I sent the turn off I got a sinking feeling.  It was my lunch hour at work, and I walked to a friend's desk and said "I just lost the two finest units on the board."  I waited hopelessly for the next turn, for I knew Gary would see this chance, and when the next turn came in there they were, surrounded and defenceless.   Misery.  I disbanded the two German, and one Italian corps, and tried to make the best of it.
 
I am well aware that my current position has "life left" but with a little less false confidence, and a proper analysis of what Gary had to do to get on the continent, I could have kept him off.  "I couda been a contender!"
 
That lunch hour move, the one of the poor decision about my Panzer Korps, should have been put off till I got home from work.  I should have put my cue down and freshened up like the fat man did.  In wargamming, and life, it is better to not make big decisions when in an emotional state, and I was frazzled to be fighting Gary in the West.
 
None of this should be seen as anything other than an explanation of why "gold standard" cannot apply here.  I liked my decisions, and think I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, so on with the game!  You are watching two pretty impressive forcepools working against each other.
 
One more point, for all Axis players out there, the horrible danger of encirclement, unit destroying encirclement, that you, and only you face, will give you nightmares each turn.  You just know it is coming, and it is the major tactical/operational driver in your game.  It is just huge, and if you look at "Tripleplay" in Spain, Feb. 1943, you will see another poor Axis leader finding out more about it.
 
Chuck

[Chocolino]

I am not going to argue this much against the author himself. Maybe just so much: I am sure you are correct about the analysis of your own recent moves But I didn't mean to say that you executed each and every move perfectly (who does?), I was more referring to the overall strategy and outcome. You are alive and well as the Axis so late in the game against a formidable opponent. As annoying as LeHavre may be for you right now, once you have a chance to step back, you will see that you have all reason to be proud of the game as a whole.

[James Ward]

I think the Axis have been very well played. They are at a massive production disadvantage and are still fielding a very potent military. 
You should check victory at the end of April 45 to see how you did against history. 

[cpdeyoung]

19440624 : A quieter turn, much appreciated.

[cpdeyoung]

19440701 : Combat in the East. We had to pull our Luftwaffe out as the losses were mounting up. In the West we lose Brest.

[cpdeyoung]

19440709 : Replacing the losses consumes production points, and we can do nothing else. The Luftwaffe will not get replacements till we can get a multi-turn break.

[cpdeyoung]

19440716 : More preparations for withdrawal.

[cpdeyoung]

19440724 : Silkworms must be working overtime in the West as we have never seen so many airborne units.

[cpdeyoung]

19440801 : Scrambling in the West near the Spanish and Italian borders as the Allies are rolling. Soviets are cloaking their intentions.

[cpdeyoung]

19440816 : Soviets are still preparing trouble for us. The western allies push on.

[cpdeyoung]

19440901 : We are very worried about the state of both fronts.

[cpdeyoung]

19440916 : The Soviets nearly take Kiev, and try and trap some of our units. In the West we try and hold.

[cpdeyoung]

19441001 : Piercing breakthroughs, and probes towards our allies spell the future for Axis arms. It is now a matter of holding out as long as we can, preventing encirclements if we can.

[cpdeyoung]

19441016 : Falling back, again.

[cpdeyoung]

19441101 : Disaster in the West as the Allies use airborne units and armor to seal off a big pocket and eliminate 8-10 korps. Hopefully they will not be able to mount such an operation again soon.

[Joshuatree]

You're still doing pretty well. Two posts up I thought the fronts were about to collapse completely, but you still manage to withdraw and form some sort of line. Well done.

[cpdeyoung]

19441201 : The Eastern Front is looking very rough. Supply is going to be a big problem soon. In the West we pull back.