European Theatres of Operations Game 2

[krupp_88mm]

haha nice work france is looking like swiss cheese alright, although i think you missed the historic fall date, probably more due to the map size than anything else though.. will a vichy France trigger if you invade the south? also tel those lazy Italians to get off their butts and help out as usual the SS has to do the Italians job for them!

[82ndtrooper]

a few thoughts.
while i am very pleased with how my plan has worked out I know its really nothing special.

Germany is supposed to be able to invade France and take it fast at this point in the game. The changes Grumpy made to the scenario from the first test game to this test game have made a huge impact and made it much easier for the germans and much harder for the west.  This one is much more realistic.

In the first game playing as the west i was able to raise my war footings a whole lot faster and this led to not only stalling Germany's attack but to having huge air battles with anything from 50 to a 100 planes in the skies fighting all at once.

I have to agree with Rufus this scenario is thrilling to play and its hard to remember to slow down and take pics.

[82ndtrooper]

ORIGINAL: krupp_88mm

haha nice work france is looking like swiss cheese alright, although i think you missed the historic fall date, probably more due to the map size than anything else though.. will a vichy France trigger if you invade the south? also tel those lazy Italians to get off their butts and help out as usual the SS has to do the Italians job for them!

Yes the map size and the fact you cant build roads so it was impossible to bypass parts of the Maginot line I had to capture the road junctions to open up the supply routes. But I am trying to take it as fast as I can and am sure that others will be able to do it faster than me in the future. But ill get to set the standard for them to beat.

its interesting to see how the game attempts to wake up the Italians and the axis minors I am just now starting to spend some PP on trying to get it to wake them up by buying lower neutrality cards. you can see all the attempts it made last turn in the screen shot above showing the report, its on the list on the left side.

i went back a took a couple screen shots to show the attempts to wake up a country.
Finland almost woke up this last turn.

[82ndtrooper]

but Italy wasn't even close.

[RufusTFirefly]

June 1940

As you might have noticed the battle statistics given above show allied losses of a Hurricane and a Gloster Gladiator. Meanwhile the RAF is built up to a level that I thing I might win the Battle of Britain. Therefore the RAF is now able to join the fight for France. A first fighter squad was sent to Paris and has already seen action. This is why there are first losses of British fighters now.

After a successful air raid against Tours that destroyed the town completely I launched another air raid aginst Nantes. This was a mistake. My bombers were attacked by Messerschmitts based at Nantes. 3 of 13 bombers went down and the damage was only half of what it would have been without any intercept. As response the RAF sent two fighter squads against the air base at Nantes and eliminated three of four German fighters while two Hurricans got lost. This is the beginning of the fight for French skies.

[RufusTFirefly]

And this is the battle statistic of June 1940 after the allied turn.

[GrumpyMel]

Awesome AAR guys!

As a scenerio designer, it's just an awesome feeling being able to read a detailed blow by blow account like this of 2 players going at it in something you designed.

It's also very cool to see that multiple different approaches are viable to tackle an operation like the attack on France. Brilliant classic employment of airborne forces 82nd... but I guess that shouldn't come as any surprise given the source [:)]

A quick technical note....the thing about not being able to air-lift HQ's.... it's something hard-coded into the AT engine...I've run into it in other scenerio's.... for some reason the Engine prevents HQ type units from being selected as the target of air lift missions. It's something I hope Vic will change in a future version...as it does make airborne Ops more difficult.

Looking forward to see how things develop from here... you guys both seem to be playing a very strong game so far.

[82ndtrooper]

its ok about the HQ's grumpy I was able to work around it and ill have a good idea how to work around it in the future.

I have been looking around the map planning my next invasion and I thought I would suggest something.
First for me I see nothing positive in attacking Norway limited production and a huge coastline to defend. I think it needs something special to make it more important. Wasn't there a iron mine there or something that Germany needed ? A nice fat supply center would entice the German player to really consider attacking Norway. Right now Sweden is a much better target, more production and easier to defend.

Also I suggest reducing the cost of subs for Germany from 8000 to 6000 and the same for cargo ships for everybody.

and last a question
I notice you can build Straits with engineers. what are these and how do you use them ?

[82ndtrooper]

ok this is for the Month of July and shows the last of two turns.

starting positions from the west
as you can see the 8th motorized is moving fast to the west.

[82ndtrooper]

center/south

[82ndtrooper]

East
we have engaged the second defensive line and the 14th panzer has finally regrouped and is ready to continue its advance

[82ndtrooper]

and the results at the end of turn

also notice the 1st army is on the move again and has been awarded a change of unit colors by Hitler for a job well done on the maginot line. ( its red now)

The 10th Panzer with the 7th is moving nicely and smashing everything in its way but its units are showing the strain and may need to slow down soon.

[82ndtrooper]

totals for the turn

[82ndtrooper]

and with turn totals scrolled down
notice that from my last totals on the end of June to now end of July I have lost 10 more BF109's it was a hard month on the Luftwaffe
but I am taking a lot less overall losses since i upgraded to Infantry II

[82ndtrooper]

Aug 11, 1940

as you can see for all the production I have I am really not producing that much. Its half supply and PP.

but what a nice battle report to see at the beginning of the turn for the Luftwaffe

[82ndtrooper]

and from the west
the starting positions

[82ndtrooper]

center/south

[82ndtrooper]

south

[82ndtrooper]

and the main area

[82ndtrooper]

this is my first try at adding some arrows to show what i intend. The arrows are color coded for the armies they represent.

the 14th Panzer (green) will take Orleans and then encircle Paris.

the 10th Panzer (pink) will drive onwards towards the coast.

the 1st Army (red) which is much better suited to urban fighting will move into and attack Paris
the 7th (blue) will move and take the two fortifications marked.

and the 8th Motor (purple) will continue its push west to the coast and maybe on to brest.