Decisively Beating the AI

[Harrybanana]

End of turn. I capture the "Free City" of Milan, while isolating a few more units near Venice. The decision I faced now was do I capture Venice and keep pressing towards the Alps in Northern Italy, or do I stop the offensive in that direction?

[Harrybanana]

Turn 36: Mar 4, 1944

The map at the start of my turn. Note the infantry division circled in green with the 41 MPs. Last turn I had about 150 Admin Points so I thought I would try motorizing an infantry divison to see what the result would be. I liked what I saw, so over the next few turns I motorized some more. Bear in mind though that motorizing infantry divisions uses up Admin points each turn the unit is motorized. So you will not want to over do it. However, when you are advancing rapidly against no opposition that is the time to do this. As I understand it motorized units consume less fuel than armour; so they will often have more MPs than your armour. Also it is better to push your infantry divisions (resulting in lower CVs) than it is your armour.

[Harrybanana]

After my turn below.

I forgot to mention earlier that I have had 5 TFs with 9 infantry divisions total prepping in England for the last several turns. Working backwards you want to have these TFs and their divisions fully prepped with 90 prep points for T46: May 13, 1944 or perhaps even the turn before. This is because this should be the first week of expected clear weather in NW Europe. 2 divisions prepping in a size 6 or 7 port will gain 6 prep points per turn and therefore require 15 turns to be at 90 prep points. So you want to start prepping on T31: Jan 29, 1944. As I indicated at the beginning of this AAR I intend to invade the Pas de Calais. In particular the 5 hexes south of Boulogne. I am pretty confident on taking all of these except Etaples. That one we will have to see.

[Harrybanana]

Turn 37: Mar 11, 1944

Map at the start of my turn. By looking at their MPs you can see that I have motorized several more infantry divisions. As well I made the decision this turn that I would not bother trying to capture Venice or advance any further North In Italy. Instead I will setup a picket line of regiments from the Swiss border to the sea near Venice. This would free up a lot of units (including armour) to return to England in time for Overlord.

Since most of my armour in the East (near Venice) was British, while most of my armour steaming west towards the French border is American, it would have made a lot more sense for me to move the British armour to England for Overlord. However, when Overlord happens I want my Americans on the left/north wing (near the Channel) and my British on the right/south wing. As the troops moving up from Southern France would be on the extreme right/southern flank, I therefore wanted them to be British. Accordingly,I decided to remove my American armour from battle to return to England and rolled all my British armour across Northern Italy to the French border.

Of course, in this game this really was not necessary because you can freely intermingle your American, British and Commonwealth units without any penalties whatsoever that I am aware of. But playing the AI it is my intention, at least in NW Europe to keep my American and British units separate. The one exception is I might assign the Canadian Army to an American Army Group. I will have to wait and see.

[Harrybanana]

T38: Mar 18, 1944

Not much to report this turn. I slowly maneuver my units in NE Italy towards the Swiss border while pulling out several divisions. In Western Italy I continue my advance into France against almost non-existent opposition.

[Harrybanana]

T39: Mar 25, 1944

Heavy mud this turn, but I make some more progress anyway. Below is the Map of the Italian-French border at the end of my turn.

[Harrybanana]

Here is the situation in NE Italy after the end of my turn. In a couple turns the line will stretch from Switzerland to the Gulf of Trieste. I am hoping it will then sit like that until Wars end. I have 9 divisions here facing down 21 German divisions, many of them elite panzers and paratroopers.

[Harrybanana]

Turn 40: Apr 1, 1944

Screenshot below of my advance into France. Nice has been bypassed for now.

[Harrybanana]

And the Info screen. Again, despite heavy losses the Germans have more manpower and aircraft than they did 10 turns ago. At least they have fewer tanks.

[Harrybanana]

T41: April 8, 1944

Little action this turn as I just continued my advance into Southern France spearheaded by my motorized infantry. However, it was on or about this turn that I discovered a problem with my rail repair units. As I mentioned earlier I just left these units attached to either AFHQ or 15th (AAI)BR Army Group. Unfortunately the Rail Repair Value ("RRV") of two of these units has been reduced to "1". You only need an RRV of 1 to repair rails, unfortunately as I moved these units during my turn the RRv would fall to 0. I am informed the likely cause is a loss of a TOE in the support units that was not being replaced due to a low level of supplies being received by these units. This surprised me because, as you can see below, the supply levels of the rail repair Corps themselves (in this example MTO CW Rail Group) is quite high. But when I examined the support units attached to the RR repair units I did indeed discover that their TOEs were low and they were not receiving any supplies. I am told the solution to this is to attach the units to a closer HHQ. Accordingly I have attached them to 8th Army, it is too early to tell if this will work. As I stated earlier, if I am unable to win a Decisive Victory, this will be the main cause.

[Harrybanana]

Below is the map after my turn. As you can see it looks like I may finally be facing some serious opposition as enemy armour has been spotted in Avignon.

At the moment I have 5th Army with 9 divisions (0 armour) in NE Italy and 8th BR Army with 15 divisions (including 4 Arm and the NZ Mixed Inf) attacking into Southern France. All other combat units, including 7th Army, have been returned to England.

[rickier65]

Still following this and looking forward to more.

and by the way, the circles and arrows you draw work fine for me.

I'm not sure I totally understood the issue with the Railroad Repair units and why their supply was low, but maybe it will become clearer.

Thanks again!
Rick

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: Rick


Still following this and looking forward to more.

and by the way, the circles and arrows you draw work fine for me.

I'm not sure I totally understood the issue with the Railroad Repair units and why their supply was low, but maybe it will become clearer.

Thanks again!
Rick

I'm not sure as I understand it either. But my understanding is that the problem was caused by my keeping the RR Repair units attached to an HQ that was too far away and/or with too low a supply priority. So now they are attached to 8th Army which has a supply priority of 3.

[Harrybanana]

T42: April 15,1944

The map after my turn. Note that my division in Lyon is out of supply. This happened to me a few turns in a row where I would "convert" hexes to my control on my turn, only to have them revert back to German control, even though there are no German units nearby. I am sure there is some obscure rule that explains why this happens, undoubtedly something to do with supply.

[Harrybanana]

T43: Apr 22, 1944

The Map before my turn is below. The unit in Lyon is again out of supply.

[Harrybanana]

The Map after my turn. Marseilles is captured. I couldn't quite close the gap on the units in Avignon. But surely they will see the danger and react appropriately. Oh yeah, you may have noticed that most of my infantry have been "de-motorized." I did this as I was down to about 70 Admin points and I am finally encountering some resistance.

[Harrybanana]

T44: Apr 29,1944

But as you can see below in the screenshot from before my turn, the AI did nothing. This allowed me to isolate the units shown in Avignon, plus another Panzer Division that cannot be seen due to FOW. I forgot to take a screenshot after my moves.

[Harrybanana]

T45: May 6,1944

The screenshot from before my turn is below. You can see that the German panzers tried to escape isolation, but were just barely unsuccessful. Actually what i don't understand from this screenshot is why the 10th SS panzer did not convert the hexes W, NW and NE of it's position to German control. Anyone? Or is this a bug? In any event, this is as far as I got in my game. From now on I will be playing a turn or two and then posting the results. So if anyone wants to offer suggestions, feel free to do so.

[Harrybanana]

What I should have mentioned prior to this is what I have been doing to prepare for Overlord. Commencing on T39 (Mar 25, 1944) I have been using BC, 2nd TAC, 8th and 9th Air Forces to bomb ports and railyards in France and the Netherlands. Naturally I have been flying Strategic Recon to confirm the actual damage. The results appear to be impressive. See map below of just part of the area I have been bombing. Of course, this has meant no Strategic bombing of factories, so my Strategic Bombing VPs are down to just 3 per turn. This is even though 15th AF began strategic bombing itself on or about T30 (primarily the Ploetsi oil fields and Vienna).

The other thing I have done over the last few turns is moved the majority of my air groups back to England. TAC only has 916 aircraft in it and Coastal only 316. Meanwhile 2nd RAF has 1790 aircraft, 9th 3101 aircraft, and RAF Coastal 910 aircraft. Of course most of my tactical recon air groups have also been moved back to England.

[Harrybanana]

Here is the view after my turn. No surprises I am sure.