First Solo Game impressions

[Primarchx]

Started a Global War campaign many, many hours ago and I just completed the seminal May/June 1941 turn wherein Germany commences it's attack on Russia and Japan declares war on the CW (but not the US).

It's been quite a journey of discovery as I'm playing with nearly every rule in place, except Oil (that's a level of bookkeeping I want to defer for now!). This involves playing with the manual up in the background for reference and lots of trial and error as I see how this complex beast works. I opted for the 2d10 CRT, too, as I like bell curve results tables rather than linear.

Germany suffered a loss of three 6-3 Inf corps in Poland, mainly due to a bad decision. The Germans also invaded Denmark to seal off the Baltic and quickly transitioned most of the units back to the French border after the fall of Poland. Build priorities are ground units, fighter and strike aircraft and subs.

In the Med Italy moved an HQ-A to Tripoli and sent out some token cruiser escorts for their cargo ships. They did not declare war on France/CW until the German invasion of France began. Build priorities are getting their BBs in the line and land units.

I decided the Brits were playing risk-averse, keeping their forces intact for the 'long war'. On the RN front set up large ASW task forces in Halifax, Liverpool and Gibralter. Battle fleets are at Scapa Flow and Gibralter. The German fleet is pretty easy to contain but the Italian fleet is a big concern. Only a token force of a few cruisers is placed at Suez and a moderate force centered on a (plane-less) CV and 1 BB is at Calcutta. The RAF has pretty useless aircraft so their fighters were arrayed to intercept any German strategic, port or ground strikes. Weaker army groups moved toward the coasts while the channel ports became the center for my England-based transports, and therefore exportable land units to intervene in France when the time came. Their build priorities are fighters, infantry and naval. They start clearing their construction pool of high value combatants as well as ASW escorts. Not much 1st build naval, though.

France just settled in a defensive front against the Italians and placed what it could against the Germans.

The Japanese start the war fully engaged against the Chinese. The launch an offensive to rob the Nationalists of their cities in central China but the realities of logistics and crappy weather make me change that to simply securing resources and keeping a reduced but capable force in place there. In the north I do the same but the Communists are more dangerous, not suffering from the Weak China rule. My only decision as I move forward with the Japanese is that I'd like to take on the CW in the summer of '41 with India and/or Australia as goals beyond the usual NEI goodies. Builds concentrate on land units, some air and the best naval units as well as a bit of transport.

The US doesn't make many changes in the fleet deployment and puts the propensity of land forces on the East Coast. Their builds focus on strengthening the navy with a secondary emphasis on slowly growing the army.

[Primarchx]

As 1940 progressed Germany was able to effectively position the forces I wanted for the invasion of France. Weak divisions along the Rhine to tie down the Maginot defenders and good infantry & mechanized formations along the rest of the French, Belgian and Dutch frontiers. I'm liking corps with comparable move rates stacked with a damage-soaking division where possible.

France can do practically nothing at this time as they lack the strength sustain an attack into Germany and don't want to risk their precious few aircraft on pin-prick attacks.

Britain continues the naval contain in the Faeroes and sends out naval patrols into the North Sea. German subs are still at Kiel and lack the range to seriously challenge the ASW forces north of England (since they can't use the English Channel to get out to the south). The UK sends an infantry corps to Malta from Gibralter and a stronger one to the Rock to replace it. A few cruisers are brought back from Calcutta to add to the Gibralter squadron with only three cruisers left at Suez. A motorized corps is sent to Egypt and eventually reinforced by an infantry corps (via the Liners) and Spitfires from South Africa.

The war for France begins with attacks on the Netherlands and Belgium, with an airborne attack on Rotterdam. Within a couple of turns the Germans have swept Holland and are pushing near the Belgian-Franco border with minimal losses. They are careful not to over extend and be vulnerable to a French counter-attack. At this point I want to commit the BEF but can't figure out how to land them (I've got another thread on that!), though in the end it fits with their Fabian strategy.

The Germans quickly smash past the French along the coast and circle around toward Paris. The French fall back to try to get favorable attack odds but can't find them. Militias are raised and some forces join the fight from the Italian (who declared war as the Germans invaded) front but few opportunities exist to blunt the Germans. There's no hurry as the German front constricts, generating high odds on one group of French corps after another. By the end Paris is taken and only a small French pocket on the Maginot line remains north of the Seine, with a German group threatening Lyon by the end of the turn. The only losses occurred against city hexes and were generally absorbed by divisional units.

Germany quickly begins redeploy weak Inf or Garrison corps to the French Channel ports, sends a minor HQ-I toward Brest and does its' best to move forces east to set up an attack on Russia. This proves to be difficult as a naval turn is needed to bring U-Boats to the Bay of Bicay ports and the weather turns particularly bad.

Britain sticks to Gibralter while it figures out how to handle the Vichy fleet, which moves back to Metropolitan France from Oran. I decide not to attack them as Britain doesn't have the strength to challenge both them and the Italians in the Med. On a plus the KGV moves down to strengthen the Gibralter fleet.

Free France is a joke as it is now HQ's in Djibouti and has no manufacturing capability and 1 Territorial + 1 Cruiser to its' name.

The US continues to ramp up it's entry options, going for coastal and air ASW along with support for China.

[Primarchx]

1941 starts with Germany trying to move units into the East. Due to my inexperience Russia has somehow not taken eastern Poland or the Baltic states (must of missed an option there somehow) and hence lack several hexes of strategic depth. On the plus side I've arrayed most Russian land units too far from the border to be attacked on the surprise impulse.

Weather is a real pain here, with many impulses lost to storms (boy they eat up the time!). Moving East is taking a lot of time and due to supply plus how I positioned the HQs by rail Germany can't get as close to the borders as I'd like. During this time I decide Germany will not invade Norway as it only has one resource but will re-evaluate after I see how Barbarossa proceeds. However the resources of Yugoslavia are very tempting, especially since Belgrade looks easy to seize so I direct a powerful infantry force with limited air support to Budapest to do this in the Spring.

Weather again frustrates the German's Uboat assault as they can't find a damn thing. I slowly figure out a good ASW escort strategy (half the escorts with the cargo ships in Box 0 and the other half in Box 1 to move to Box 0 at the end of the turn). Though the British lose a handful of cargo ship points, it could of been much worse if better weather prevailed.

The Japanese begin to plan for their summer offensive. Also hampered by weather, it's not as bad since there are fewer land units involved and more naval traffic. Several division-sized units are placed on CLs and their amphib & transports are set up with their corresponding army/marine units. As many as possible deploy to Vietnamese ports in the Mar/Apr turn to get a good sea box in May/Jun, including a sizable 3-CV, 4-BB task force which settles into Saigon.

The Germans do find one clear weather window in the early months, enough to seize Belgrade with the help of the Hungarians, Italians and Romanians and manage to stage some units toward Russia before the onset of the May/June turn. Italy begins to send more land forces to Libya, too.

In the summer the first impulse is used to bring German forces to the Russian border, enough to make breaking the Pact a reality. In the next turn they declare war on Latvia and Russia. A paratroop assault on Riga succeeds, freeing up the port for sea-borne reenforcements waiting at Kiel. Strong mechanized groups take Minsk and encircle the western edge of the Russian line. A Ground Strike disrupts the Russian HQ, a Inf Corps and a fighter unit, as well. The main German weakness is that they lack small divisional units or cheap Inf Corps to soak up casualties so the Germans need to engage in sure things where losses will not happen, as all the lead units are expensive Mech and Armor. In the end this may well slow down the offensive, though supporting forces are not too far off. Up north the Finns have joined the fight, placing their forces to threaten Leningrad.

The Russians are not in a good spot. The push towards Smolensk has the heaviest forces and while they have a lot of units, their HQ is frozen and the Germans are not allowing much in way of opportunities for counter-attacks. In the South, Kiev is only 1-hex away from being besieged. They'll need to make a quick adjustment if they want to avoid total disaster.

The US can finally base at Pearl and have increased production. Four of five Essex carriers have started production. They'll need to get into the war soon.

[Hellen_slith]

Thanks for the AAR, I've been having a heck of a time just understanding the first move, have finally been able to start a few solo global games, but I can't seem to get the supply routes right (what's the best placement for UK's and France supply routes on turn 1, and why can't I get the supply from E.Indies to Japan??)