FJ (Ax) vs meklore61 (WA) 43-45: The Inept War

[Fallschirmjager]

We are now on turn 5. We started this on the beta forum testing out the new railyard bombing affecting freight, new terrain, new naval interdiction and a host of other changes.
We are going to move it here so that others may see what is up. We will be ahead of the general public in terms of game updates so I hope there is not an issue with posting things before they are revealed.

This is my first time playing as the Axis against a human and it has been a disaster the first month. I will let meklore fill in some of the details.

My garrisons were a mess the first few turns due to me not knowing what I was doing. That gave him a 'free' 300 points as Vichy France had an uprising party for two weeks.

He also landed on the toe of Italy the second turn and cut off Sicily. I have been sea lifting troops off the islands (well the Germans anyways) and have took transport losses.

The situation has stabilized a bit, a defensive line has sealed off the toe of Italy and I await his next sea landing to flank my line.
During the next turn I will grab some screen shots.

Hope you enjoy reading.

[marion61]

I know you've all been waiting breathlessly for the next installment of Allied Annie! (Yes, she's the ward of BigDaddyWarBucks!).

On Sardinia the port of Tortoli was liberated from their nazi overlords! FREE PIZZA for everyone!!! One more port towards victory! There have been unsubstantiated reports of Strategic AF pilots, particularly the bombardiers, of getting hammered while on missions. From the results of their bomb runs, twice a day, they must be hammered cause they sure can't hit a huge port or damage it. My bomb city results are poor compared to if I used ground attack/port. But from what we've talked about recently I thought it would work better than just ground attack/port. Normally by this time in game I've put all the ports out that could be escaped from (*observation no definitive facts).

On Sicily Palermo was captured by our valiant troops! We sure appreciate those extra spades Albert!!! Thanks! We hear your up for the Victoria Cross for your help with the war effort!!!

Around Crotone the 8th army is reconnoitering the new axis positions and doing some house cleaning to rid the area of the local nazi infestation.

I would suggest you shoot recon where you can. It helps to see what the allies have around so you can see if you need a strong defense down there or not.

This is my last post from the Beta forum so you can see where things are at, and where I made a dangerous and not to be repeated invasion near Crotone.

[Fallschirmjager]

Turn 6 is complete. I got everything out of Sicily, but the 90th PZ Grn is all but abandoned. The Italians surrendered this turn and the port of Olbia went to WA. I recaptured it but that was automatic 100% damage so they cannot be sea lifted out.

This is the current front line is Italy. Probably the best place to defend on the map. Only four hexes wide and good terrain. I doubt Meklore will throw lives away here. He will land further up the peninsula and force me back.
Now that the Italians army is gone, Italy is a very empty place with a lot of open landing spots. The Germans don't have near enough units IMO to cover the coast so really you just have to wait until the WA picks a spot to land and then react.

[Fallschirmjager]

North Italy sees significant forces move in under the 1st SS Army. On Sept 1st I will need 40 CV to garrison here and this should get most of that. It can also be a reaction force to further WA landings.

[Devonport]

You should have some breathing space while he preps another invasion. If I understand the changes in .37 correctly, he would be advised to avoid anything out of air cover range, and that should take some time to establish. Thanks for posting - always enjoy the AARs.

[Seminole]

He also landed on the toe of Italy the second turn and cut off Sicily.

Two landing sites south of Crotone? Did he just make a single landing on Sardinia? Did you make any effort to contest supplies, or did he get solid enough naval interdiction that you didn't bother?

North Italy sees significant forces move in under the 1st SS Army. On Sept 1st I will need 40 CV to garrison here and this should get most of that. It can also be a reaction force to further WA landings.

Do SS units get any kind of garrison bonus, or am I just seeing a big difference in garrison CV because they're short of vehicles in my games?

[marion61]

1 landing at Sardinia, 2 on Sicily, and 3 at Crotone. He could have contested the landing near Crotone if his turn 1 had been prepared. I'm sure he won't fall for this again.[;)] I've explained to him how to counter this and how to set your 1st axis turn up to do so.

[Seminole]

3 at Crotone. He could have contested the landing near Crotone if his turn 1 had been prepared.

Catanzaro, south of Crotone, and Crotone itself for the last beach? Just trying to tell from the screenshot, but I know that temp port symbols don't always show up. Luftwaffe stay home, or did he try to contest the Crotone sea lanes?

One of my first games was against Bomazz, and he came in early with landings on Palmi and Locri. This was a few versions ago with respect to naval interdiction, but it quickly taught me what terrain matters down there to extricate XIV Panzer Corps in good order.

[marion61]

Start of Aug. 7 turn:

ITALY SURRENDERS!!! With Notsee's on the run all thru the Med. our boys will be home by Christmas! (Christmas 46 maybe)

I was hoping Italy would surrender this turn, which is the only real reason to invade the mainland on turn 2. Once Aug. hits the Italians usually disappear and this puts my plans ahead of schedule now (for now). He's right about Southern Italy. I won't waste men trying to break his line unless I see an opportunity. I've taken pretty light casualties and most of my casualties from all the invasions was from shipping losses, not actual combat operations.

To Date Casualties: Allies 23978
Axis 95862

These numbers are less the 25k starting casualties we both get when the scenario begins, and probably about 30-50k axis casualties are from the Italian surrender. This is why maneuver is more important than bashing yourself against German defenses. If it offends thee, GO AROUND![;)]

[marion61]

These are our air losses to date. Before my air phase of turn 6. The Luftwaffe are being torn up and and some is from unescorted naval, and some I'm betting is from not having the most efficient loadout for fighters intercepting bombers.

1st suggestion is to go into the CR and sort your F, then FB, then NF by themselves. Wr210's are best for knocking down heavy bombers so keep that in mind, but you also have fighters to deal with so not every group that carries rockets should. I usually set certain groups in areas of coverage to rockets and some to extra cannons. I normally won't give them gas tanks because I don't want the penalty of having them on when I engage and since I'm intercepting so close to my bases there's no need for extra fuel. Putting tanks on them allows them to intercept further, but I'd rather not have the penalty for a little extra range.

[marion61]

I'm trying to start managing my other allied manpower now instead of waiting till it becomes a problem. I've actually set all bases that are empty to USTAF, set all AA (except US) to 50% TOE, except when they are assigned to a division (100TOE), to a XXX or XXXX HQ I set to 90TOE. My British manpower is pretty good right now, and the US is getting better. When I set all those air bases to USTAF it sucked a lot of US manpower for a few turns, but it increased my British manpower totals.

I've already disbanded 1st Canadian Army. It really servers no purpose except to be used for manpower as the two corps can easily be assigned to another army. Plus most of the Canadian Army commanders are more mediocre than most allied commanders.

[marion61]

Bombing points are going up, but it's about time to suppress the uboats again. Once it creeps back up to -2. I actually have a new plan for keeping them from ever creeping back up. Since most of the medium bombers of the 8th can't fly above 23k feet, I've started using them exclusively for light work and this is right up their ally. They only have to scratch them to keep them down and I can fly them every turn almost if I just fly 3 days a week doing nothing but uboat suppression.

[decourcy2]

Fallscirmjager, you are horning in on my territory; only I give Meklore 400 garrison points. If we all do it, then it will go to his head and he will be insufferable.

[marion61]

Don't expect a Crotone invasion! That was the Black Fleet landing in Gondor...[;)]

[Fallschirmjager]

ORIGINAL: decourcy2

Fallscirmjager, you are horning in on my territory; only I give Meklore 400 garrison points. If we all do it, then it will go to his head and he will be insufferable.

I have a handle on it now
But there was about a two week period that Vichy France though the war was over due to not seeing any German occupation forces.
Oops

It just took one game for me to learn how to shuffle things around, and I am already planning for Northern Italy.

Meklore has been more than gracious this game. I am expecting to lose badly but I have learned so much already. And despite the score, I am having fun. Plus this is letting the dev team hopefully see how some of the new changes are working in practice.

[Fallschirmjager]

I could not get off a turn today. I sat down to start on it and ended up having 50 distractions. The rest of my week is looking light so I will give it a go tomorrow.

[Fallschirmjager]

ORIGINAL: Seminole

Do SS units get any kind of garrison bonus, or am I just seeing a big difference in garrison CV because they're short of vehicles in my games?

Not that I am aware, I am just using them because they came up as reinforcements under OKW and they were handy.
I need 40 CV in North Italy by Sept and they are as good as units as many. Once he launches another landing I can use them as a response if I can find CV to replace them.

Axis forces are actually quite weak at the start of the game. I was rather surprised. They have a lot of men and gun and even AFV's but so much of what they have is tied up on every part of the continent and has to stay there.
There are surprisingly few units the Germans have that are actually able to freely move at will from Turn 1.

I can see why many WA players don't like the EF box. I think some changes have been made to affect the East Front more if you pull from it. But the forces you can pull from it can significantly alter things.

[Seminole]

Axis forces are actually quite weak at the start of the game. I was rather surprised. They have a lot of men and gun and even AFV's but so much of what they have is tied up on every part of the continent and has to stay there.

I've found after they get some supplies the first week their CV rebounds, and you have some reserves to shuffle into the Med. Biggest problem I have is keeping an eye on automatic withdrawals, so that they don't affect my garrison or front line needs.

There are surprisingly few units the Germans have that are actually able to freely move at will from Turn 1.

I think one of the keys for WA success is to 'let sleeping dogs lie' and not trigger extra garrison zones freedom until they have the on map OoB to deal with it.
I had knocked back Bomazz's attempts to get onto the Toe and Sardinia. When he made a large effort for the mainland north of Rome he made the mistake of making one landing above the N Italy line, and consequently freed up sufficient troops for me to block that northermost invasion, and send reinforcements to the larger landings just south.

I can see why many WA players don't like the EF box. I think some changes have been made to affect the East Front more if you pull from it. But the forces you can pull from it can significantly alter things.

I think it allows for the game to be unbalanced quickly on the map, but the VP consequences are too remote (unlike the instant feedback of violating garrison requirements) to make clear the trade off the Axis player.

[Fallschirmjager]

No screens this turn because not much happened. The 90th PZ Gren surrendered on Sardinia but that was no surprise.

I did however manage to get the Fortress Brigade off of Corsica and it can now be put somewhere useful in Italy.
Probably in a port since it is not terribly mobile.

In the south of Italy one British and one FF division have crept up to my defensive line.
No attacks here as expected since it would be suicide. Mekelore will instead maneuverer me out of this position with another invasion by sea.


I have no idea where that will be.
I don't think he will land in North Italy since that would free up the 40 CV garrison, but it is possible.
He needs Naples and Rome for the points.
But he has done the unexpected this game and could even bypass Italy altogether and go straight for the south of France.

[marion61]

All's quiet on the Southern Front this turn. I have Corsica secured and getting ready. Mostly just moving troops, getting commando's back to their TF's, etc. With Corsica in hand this puts everything on this side of Italy in jeopardy. That's a lot of coast, and too few troops.

Put your crappy units on the beaches, because the turn I invade they will have no MP to use, and station armor off the beach a few hexes in reserve. If your not covering southern France, you should now, while I'm still building up. I'm not saying that's where I will invade, but it is extremely vulnerable and I wouldn't neglect it.

Main thing is don't waste troops in Italy trying to hold it all. Decide what's important to hold and move accordingly. Italy is something to slow me down on my way to Berlin. If you leave France open you'll be scrambling to recover. You can move garrison units closer to the edge of their zones so they can react faster and put them on railyards and try and unload on a railyard. Bigger the better.