A musical global war AAR...

[freeboy]

"I' ve been all around these forums from the great beyond to the icy depth, but this aar with its melody takes me where no other has gone",
from the poet within
lol
GREAT new addition adding the songs!

Also loving the details you put into the steps as a noob here in MWIF

[Centuur]

Thanks for the praise. It's nice to know that people like the music. I'm a music lover myself but I have a very large range of music I like.

In almost every type of music, I tend to find things that I like. There are a couple of exceptions, though. I hate modern Dance music and I also hate modern Classical music.

But all else, be it medieval music through to hard rock, I always seem to find things I like... Strange, isn't it...

Now, that I'm getting involved in the music out of the 1930's - 1940's I keep finding all kind of very nice treasures. It's to bad that Matrix can't affort to spend time to find out what kind of music is rightsfree or not, so we can put the music in MWIF too...

[Centuur]

September/October 1940, Axis impulse number 7:

There are a lot of units in the wrong places at the moment on the Axis side. With the military campaigns in Spain and China over, there are a lot of units which have to be moved to other positions. So all Axis powers take land actions.

You can say that this was a “phoney war” impulse. No actions taken against the enemy at all. So I'm going to give some pictures some important area's at the end of this impulse.

But first: here's “Shoo Shoo Baby, as sung by Ella Mae Morse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YywLzU0jbdk

Germany and France. Notice the units in France, on the way to the Eastern Front?

[Centuur]

The Western Med. The presence of CW units in Morocco is a nuisance to the Axis. Notice the build up for the attack on Portugal, which will take place next turn (in conjunction with Japanese invasion of Portuguese controlled area's in the Far East). A lot of units are currently moving out of Spain towards the North.

[Centuur]

The Eastern Med. Notice that the Italian army in Lybia is currently out of supply.

[Centuur]

Italian East Africa. There's something of a stalemate here. Now, the CW should take out the Italians here, somewhere during 1941, because it can gain a HQ, by liberating Ethiopia. But with the war so succesfull on the Axis side, it has become questionable if the CW can get the forces necessary for this on the battlefields there. No picture, because there isn't a lot to see. A couple of TERR and a 3-3 Inf watching eachother. If one moves, the other will react...

Before we continue towards Middle East, here's Lena Horne: Stormy Weather:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCG3kJtQBKo

The Soviet army and airforce after the job of securing the Middle East oil fields is done:

[Centuur]

The Soviet Union itself. A lot of empty area's. So therefore, some Russian music: Here is Leonid Utesov and his Jazz Orchestra: U samovara

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsrZTAtHZZE

[Centuur]

Finland:

[Centuur]

Manchuria with the build up on both sides taking place. Will this become a “Sitzkrieg”?:

[Centuur]

Before we continue: here's the Otto Stenzel Orchestra: “Musik! Musik!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXu4P6KpoLU

Northern China:

[Centuur]

Southern China, with the whole of the Japanese army moving into all kind of directions to get out of the country (except for anti partisan units)...

[Centuur]

The turn doesn't end.

I've made a decision for the Axis on how to proceed. First, the goal is still to close the Med. That means it is imperative that Portugal is attacked. Morocco and Egypt need to be cleared of CW units and the Balkan situation solved. If the Axis can get a Barbarossa going, they will do so. They will start building for this, however I don't expect Germany to be able to break the pact until July/August at the earliest. The high number of resources owned by the USSR makes this quite difficult to do earlier and Germany has spend a lot of build points on building Italian assets for the war in the Med. That is money rightly spend...
Japan will harass the USSR and try to grab Vladivostok, Main goal for the Japanese for 1941 will be the build up and prepare for the Pacific war which will start quite early.

The Axis have been very, very lucky to get as far as they did until now.

Any comments to this decision are welcome.

Next update will be in about two weeks time. Cheers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl6t-fB1fuI

[freeboy]

New to game.. so why waste time on Portugal? no idea..
The CW seem in very tough shape.. the Japanese threaten To unleash forces potentially aimed at india?
Can Germany invade England and knock Brits out? The addition of the French fleets and the fall of the Rock seem to point at one thing.. invasion or starvation of the UK?
Im so very curious as to the plans.. seems you mentioned the Italians can swing the Yugos over by attacking Greece?
Seems like the CW is going to be in very tough shape unless the US get in and soon...
I was wondering if in hindsight the Spainish should have push troops up against French border to delay the Germans?

FANTASTIC AAR..
music is a bonus

[Centuur]

If Portugal stays neutral, it becomes an invitation for the Allies to invade. Lisbon is a strategic very important port. Imagine the Bismarck in that port, far away from Allied airplanes enjoying the Mediterranean sun and sailing to attack convoys. Lisbon is also a secondary supply source. Also, there are the Portuguese possessions in the Far East, which are quite useful for the Japanese to use as bases when war starts in the Pacific in earnest. There is a resource in Portugal and economics is everything. Finally: I'm there and there's nothing to do for the German army for a while. So why not crush another minor with these kind of rich rewards to gain. Perhaps Italy even tries to take the Portuguese Islands in the Atlantic and use the minor port as an air and submarine base. Sure, that's a little tricky because of supply reasons, but why not?

Although the CW looks weak, it in reality isn't. It has quite a good airforce in the UK, there are land units all around the globe at places the Axis don't want them to be... Losses will be replaced quite fast. Sure, they got a lot of losses this turn, however, nothing they really should worry about. The convoy chains are indeed damaged, so some rationing will have to be done. Germany hasn't got the capabilities to invade the UK (to few sealift available to the Axis and it takes at least a year to build that). The CW fleet is almost untouched. Also, I didn't invest in SUB's with Germany and you need an awful lot of those to starve the UK. What I call the German "battle" army is almost unharmed, however the Axis lacks the units it needs to defend and garrison the conquered countries.

This is also the problem Germany has. It's end of 1940 and the war did go so well, that they simply didn't have time and money to prepare for the follow up of this very lucky succesfull campaign. Normally, it should have taken about a year longer to get Gibraltar. Fact is, that Germany can sooner break the pact with the USSR than be ready to invade the UK. The last thing is the most important thing to consider, since the Euroaxis needs to use the precious time it has to expand as far and fast as possible, before the US can put his weight in the war...

So, Germany isn't ready to invade the UK and isn't ready to attack the USSR. That leaves clearing the Eastern Med and kill the Greeks to make sure I get the Yugo's on the Axis side eventually. Morocco needs to be cleared of CW units too. In winter turns, that can be achieved quite well due to the fact that the weather is usually quite good in the Med, even in winter turns. Than, starting March-April the war over Egypt will start.

The set up of Spain in 1940 is very difficult. They are one unit short of making a good solid defense line in the Pyrenees and there was the Italian invasion fleet in the Western Med too. Don't forget the Germans were very, very lucky on that front too (if I were the allied player, I would have cursed and destroyed the dice by now...).

[Klydon]

I think the overall Axis strategy goals remain sound, although I think the Japanese need to clean up China as much as possible and put as much into the Vladivostok area they can to take that area over. It secures the Sea of Japan and really would put a damper on the Russian sub threat. Along with that is the addition of another factory for the Japanese to use that they actually don't have to ship things to by water. The more pressure Japan can apply on their side of the map against the Russians, the harder for the Russians to garrison against the Germans.

Overall, great AAR and I have really enjoyed stopping in to check on what is going on.

[freeboy]

does China and siberian USSR have any oil which could be used by the Japan factories starving for oil?

[composer99]

China has no oil resources of its own; it needs to either have oil lent to it (usually the Burma oil from Commonwealth) or build a synth oil plant (which is, I dare say, a rare occurrence). So there's none for Japan to capture (save, perhaps, any saved oil China possesses).

USSR might have some oil in the inner reaches of Siberia that Japan could conceivably reach, though if USSR defences have collapsed to the point that the Japanese can get past, say, Irkutsk, then chances are the Germans can lend Japan oil over the Trans-Siberian railroad. (9 out of the USSR's starting 10 oil resources are in or near the Caucasus; only 1 is in Siberia.)

[freeboy]

japan really needs oil... interesting to see where they wind up once US comes into play

[Centuur]

That's the Japanese curse. No oil. So what's needed is to grab the NEI oil and to do so just after the oil embargo has been declared, together with attacks on US and British possessions around the area. Not easy to do at all and it takes a lot of preparation time. Also, with the war in Manchuria around, that doesn't make things easier on the Japanese at all and don't forget the partisan threat in China too (I hate that rule, but you can't play MWIF without it IMHO).

[Centuur]

September/October 1940, Allied impulse number 8

France takes a naval, the CW, China and the USSR take land and the USA takes a combined action.

France moves a cruiser into the Cape St. Vincent, to make sure the CW units in the sea area are in supply. The US sends more BB's into the Pacific.

France initiates combat into the Italian Coast, However, both sides fail to find each other.

Meanwhile: Here's: Cole Porter: Begin the Beguine - Joe Loss & Chick Henderson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_Y3AGYRs8

Units are moved in Manchuria, to put more pressure on the Japanese. The German-USSR border is strengthened. The CW moves a division along the coast towards Spanish Morocco. The Egyptian front is strengthened. Finally the USSR rebases some aircraft, among which the TB-3, which is flown to Vladivostok and is now within striking range of the important Japanese factories.

Here is Manchuria: