Global War AAR in Pictures

[AlbertN]

Even how Soviets defend is pretty bad.

You need -holes- in your line that are blocked via ZoC. Not a continuous line (some could be mentally trained for that due to other games though which require continuous lines).
In the South that Soviet MNT is fated to be Blitzed probably at +10ish about if not more; stack a MOT with your MECHs to blitz and occupy the hext behind the 3 sized Soviet stack to encircle them; and move on in the hex occupied by the MNT 1 INF + 1 division of sort.
Leave empty in the advance the Hex in front of the Soviet CAV - it is irrilevant IF the Soviets put their nose in that hole. Yes they can attack from 3 sides the advancing units if they do.
That's why you want 1 good bomber at the ready still to bomb them and pin them down - or eventually to provide defensive ground support (which is much more efficient if your stack of 7 combat factor suddenly goes up to 10-12).
Though IF that MNT unit was not there at all - the hex could have been occupied by the Germans, but in no way in the world they could have got a Blitz result to push til the very rear of that stack south the Pripets.

To leave a hole very often is better than to put a single defender of average quality in a hex - that allows the enemy to advance into the hex (in other cases) or even advance 2 hexes.

In the north where you have more panzers they probably can blitz where there is the Soviet AT (mass 4 armoured units there - that neats a +3 ontop of what I vaguely expect to be a +8 at about a 4:1).
That allows too a Blitz and MOT-Divs are important to take losses (both when you attack and in case the Soviet opts to counterattack your armoured spearheads).
To have bombers now would be pretty nice against Minsk and the other hexes in the open with 2+ units. They'd not move nor threaten your flanks. (A disrupted unit not just does not move, it occupies 1 spot of a hex that could be an location of attack on you).
The 6-4 INF will prolly die - assuming in Riga there are 4 moving INFs which can fit in the swamp along the road without disrupting - being attacked from 3 different locations.

But in the end nothing will stop the Soviets to run away with the bulk of their forces or just retreat slowly impulse by impulse.
Germany has no planes to pin them down or to stop them.
And even if Germany advances a lot - in the next Turn -all- of their planes will be so behind that Germany has to lose an amount of impulses being without aircover / air support.

[Centuur]

Exactly. If you can't have two land units in each hex, a frontline consisting of two units every second hex is still good enough, if you can retreat as the defender and allow only an attack out of two hexes unto a stack of your own. This means the Soviet positions are now 1 hex to close to the enemy. You need at lease some distance, to make sure the Germans has to stop when entering a ZOC.

Also, look at the map of the Ukraine. There are five hexes to defend if you look at the map a little bit to the east (from Nikolayev to the North West). Together with the hero city of Odessa, that makes it possible to have two units a hex. That's the first defense line for the Soviets, not the position you are in now, which will be blitzed...

[rkr1958]

Thanks guys (Generals Courtenay, Cohen & Centuur) for your continued critique and advice on my game. I'll apply it as best as I can as I move forward. It's just difficult mentally for me to set a defensive line with gaps. I've just got to get over it and rethink what a proper defensive line is. That is, stacks of two every other hex is far superior that a continuous line composed of single units. And, I'm working on transition from ground support to the value of ground strikes. I have transition some but not enough. Fortunately for this game, all sides are equally inexperienced. However, that's no excuse not to learn and play better as the game progresses.


Good grief learning to play MWiF is difficult. Learning to play it well is difficult squared or even cubed. I'm not sure how close I'm to even having the difficult part mastered (i.e., just learning how to play it), much less learning to play it well. But, I'm having a blast and I really do appreciate the time you're taking to follow my AAR and help me learn to play better. Please be brutal in your assessments ... that's the only way I'll learn. [:)]

[AlbertN]

The main issue of the game is that if the Axis does not do well in the "Blitzkrieg" age, then it is utterly steamrolled.
So your being equally inexperienced still puts the Axis in heavy disadvantage as the production and mass will favor more and more the W.Allies.

If the Axis conquers til "Zone X", the W.Allied will produce TOT-X, but if the Axis in their high tide can get to "Zone Y" the Allies will produce something less - on the long run it's felt.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Weather.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Japan. Combine. Northern China.

Japan takes a combine. They use their three land moves to block the two Nationalist Chinese cavalry units moving through the mountains in Anhwei Province and protect the cities of Suchow and Nanking from these raiders.

Japan uses the their two naval moves to move Yamashira and an white print 6-4 corps into the China Sea for deployment in China.

Long term plans include the extraction of Yamamato and all Japanese marine units from China for operations elsewhere.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Italy. Middle East.

Italy takes a land and starts moving their forces in the Middle East into Egypt to guard against any British push from the south.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Germany. Ground Strike. Minsk.

Germany takes a land and uses one of their air mission to ground strike the Soviet stack in Minsk. This ground strike was completely ineffective.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Germany. Land Combat. The Eastern Front (South).

Germany conducts four land combats. Two are in the south and two in the north.

The two in the south were at very good odds and went well.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Germany. The Eastern Front (South).

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Germany. Land Combat. The Eastern Front (North).

The two land combat attacks in the north were at lower odds than in the two in the south but both were on the Blitz table. These two land combat attacks also went pretty well. Not the best but close.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Germany. The Eastern Front (North).

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #3. Germany. HQ Reorganization. The Eastern Front.

Germany uses their remaining two organized HQs on the Eastern Front for reorganization. Now with all four German HQ units on the Eastern Front disorganized (Guderian, Rommel, Rundstedt, von Bock), Germany will play it's remaining o-chit next impulse to reorganize them.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #4. Northern China.

The communist Chinese pull back into the mountains and better defensive terrain. Let the Japanese defend in the open terrain of the valley if they wish.

A Nationalist cavalry division manages to get behind the Japanese lines and "liberates" the Tsinan. It's life expectancy isn't long, but maybe it can cause the USA to add another chit to the Japanese entry pool.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #4. USSR. Factory Rail.

The USSR takes a land and uses two of their three rail moves to rail the factory in Denepropetrovsk to Omsk.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #4. USSR. The Eastern Front (South).

Trying to implement Generals Courtenay, Cohen & Centuur recommendations for the Soviets on the Eastern Front. Better?

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #4. USSR. The Eastern Front (North).

The Soviets in the north are in shambles. But, again, tried to implement the advice of Generals Courtenay, Cohen & Centuur.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. CW. Combine Action.

The CW takes a combine and has no interest for combat in these three sea areas and neither do the Italians.

Because, ...

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. CW. Eastern Med. Amphibious Operation.

Because, the main objective of the CW's combine was an amphibious operation by two division to try to retake Cyprus. A major issue that the CW is facing in the Med, other than losing Egypt and the rest of the Middle East, is the lack of air bases. Right now they have Malta which with an engineering division can base 4 planes and to the west they have Gibraltar, which can also base 4. However, only Malta can support naval air operations into the East Med and the Italian Coast. The CW needs more air bases to operate from especially for the East Med. An undefended Cyprus in that context looks very inviting.

The RN last allied impulse wanted to clear out or at least degrade axis air and naval power in the East Med. However, as you may recall, neither side was able to find the other in the East Med during the last allied impulse. This impulse, however, the RN has no desire to find the axis and risk their two loaded amphibious division. However, the axis do wish for combat and a chance to sink one or both division before they even get a chance to land. So as the non-phasing player the Germans choose to initiate combat. After the decision to initiate combat, the Germans fly an extra fighter and the Italian an extra NAV into the area (specifically sea box 2).

Luck, for now, was the CW's side. Both sides failed to find the other so no naval combat. The two CW division would be able to land unmolested by axis naval and air forces.

By these two division were formed turn before last by breaking down a CW infantry corps in Gibraltar. They then were moved into the East Med this impulse via 6 speed heavy cruisers.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #4. CW. Amphibious Landing (Land Combat). Famagusta, Cyprus.

With maximum naval bombardment and air support allowed, the CW manages to get +11 attack and they roll well enough to successfully land and take the port without lost. Though, one of the two divisions was disorganized.