Playing as Allies - Sept 21, 1941 Russia looks bleak

[jpinard]

* Barbarossa Campaign
* Allies
* FOW on
* Intermediate level

I don't know if this is how things should turn out, but it sure feels like real history. I am in really deep trouble. While the British are doing great in Egypt thanks to a rare mistake made by the AI, the Russians are doing terrible. 70% of all the original and purchased units have been destroyed by the Germans, and there is no slowing their advance on Moscow. Kiev just fell, Leningrad looks bad, Smolensk will fall next turn, and Crimean Peninsula is an unknown situation as there are no Generals to help them hold out.

The plan now is to wipe out German and Italian influence in Libya as fast as possible and also wipe out Axis naval power in the Mediterranean. Then take those forces from the Middle East and thrust them into the soft underbelly of the Axis nations. I'm not sure Russia can hold on though. German force power feels like it outnumbers me 2:1, I've had no funds to put into research nor diplomacy and there aren't nearly enough troops coming in fast enough to slow them down.

I know almost everyone has played this campaign as the Axis, so this is the current situation as an Allied player. Things may turn around, but right now it's a pretty scary situation seeing Moscow in German sights. I wish I'd put my engineers to work building fortresses around Moscow instead of Smolensk now.

[jpinard]

May 1942

The Russian winter helped hold the Germans in check, but with warmer weather they're hitting harder than ever. Leningrad is still holding off and is connected to Russia via a narrow strip, Sevastapool will fall soon unless Germany decides to focus its efforts on Stalingrad. Unless a miracle happens, Rostov and Tagongrog will fall n the next week. I had a beautiful front that was holding fast West of Vyazma, but the Germans broke through slaughtering my main tank forces.

During the winter I felt solid and invested in diplomacy for Saudi Arabia with American and Russian dollars, but now that is coming back to bite me as Russia has very few replacement troops coming down the pipe. Meanwhile, Vichy France is about to declare War on me [:(].

On the American and British front, Britain has eliminated all but 4 ships of the Italian fleet, but we've still only managed to sink a couple German ships. I have put forth a ridiculous amount of effort to sink just a single German U-Boat. If I fall upon one with 3 destroyers, they come away beat up and the sub is only dinged. Flipping strategy to see if I can isolate the larger ships of the German fleet off the West Coat of France and if I can get rid of them maybe I can slow the turnaround for German subs. Tripoli is in the British sights and should have that in a few weeks. Meanwhile I've sent a task force of American ships and troops to the Persian Gulf to try to land on Greece. When the British are free, I will turn their attention to Vichy France.

[Ostwindflak]

Are you putting research points into ASW for your destroyers?

[jpinard]

ORIGINAL: Ostwindflak

Are you putting research points into ASW for your destroyers?

Ironic you should ask. I was just awarded an upgrade for British anti-submarine warfare. But no, I've not invested any money into research on my own. I've been on my heels and didn't feel like I could afford the investment. But maybe I should have taken the hit early on and did that. That's the great thing about this game. So many ways to play and so many "what-if's"

[jpinard]

Wow, what impeccable timing. Crimean peninsula just fell with Sevastopol barely alive. The AI Germans are steadily marching towards Rostov and Stalingrad. Vichy France declared war on me. The Germans in the last turn wiped out 4 Army units, 2 tanks, Rocket artillery while I try to hold the line 10 hexes from Moscow. Impeccable timing as the UK & Soviets just received a slew of critical technologies, and the Siberian forces finally arrived. The UK should have Libya wrapped up in a few turns, and the U.S. is awaiting a troop transfer to the Persian Gulf. So 4 turns, plus another 2 or 3 before the U.S. amphibious assault vehicles get to Greece. Had I known Vichy France would flip to Germany so fast I would have sent the U.S. troops to Southern France instead. Greece or Italy will be much harder to hurt than Southern France. I finally have an excellent combined force of naval and air power to hopefully neutralize the U-boat threat.

[jpinard]

August 25, 1942

So I messed up and overwrote the latest savegame. Thankfully I keep one every 2 turns. This gave me a chance to right some mistakes that led to *gasp* Zhukov getting killed and my frontline hollowed out. So Zhukov is now alive again and I inched him back to a safe distance. Having gone back in time a few turns how did things turn out this time around?

It's interesting. I thought I was doing great. I'd finally taken out some German armor, mech, and infantry units which felt awesome. After being pummeled turn after turn the ability to exact some revenge was incredibly satisfying. I had a massive Destroyer force with an Escort Carrier bearing down on a wolf pack in the North Sea, I made it through the dry spell of no units in Russia to finally feel comfortable, and the force I sent to Greece is now getting there quicker since I sent them to the correct sea-lane (accidentally sent them to Persian Gulf last time). I got Russian fighter forces and AAA setup to hold back the Luftwaffe in central Russia and things felt solid. However, the best laid plans and all that...

The wolfpack somehow got away even though I had a massive screen setup to catch them. Now I've got a big fleet floundering in the Arctic Ocean several turns away from being any use again. The large Battleship fleet I sent to sink all the German warships off the West Coast of France? Gone. My entire navy, over 40 units of them are all scattered West of the Gibraltar line while at the same time my Iceland Maritime bomber picked up a surface fleet west of Iceland. I'm in the right places at the wrong time thus the German Navy secures itself another 3 months of life. On the ground they threw a curveball and messed up my counterattack plans. They moved a huge airforce to a place I thought I had safely secured... Leningrad. The sudden showing of so many large and tactical bombers meant they were probably going to finally hit it from both sides, which they did. Managed to truck in AAA to help my lone fighter defend, but I'm not sure they'll hold up long enough for the Greek second front to pull forces away (or winter of Dec '42 to hit). Further North in Finland I've been sneaking a mech and army unit across Finland and I have just cut the country in half. I'm not sure this will actually help me much, but it feels good to mess that country up a bit.

In the Mediterranean, Rommel was killed 2 months back, but they still put up a stiff fight. I finally liberated Libya this turn, but it took longer than before. Like the German Navy, the Italian Navy is still alive much to my chagrin. Once again, they are sneaky little devils and each time I think I've cornered them they slip into port, or by me. I'm pretty sure they're down to a single battleship, sub, and destroyer - but not quite certain.

Finally on the Russian front, I really thought I had Germany locked down, stalled, and had just started a beautiful counterattack to encircle a mixed German force around the city of Kursk. What took me a long time to figure out was I needed to keep my armored groups together to have them be effective. To insult myself... I was playing like French Generals before the Ardennes Offensive. Concentrated armored groups were paying off, I'd held the Moscow line at the same time, and though Rostov is looking iffy I felt confident Germany was never going to have the upper hand again. 5 armor and as many infantry were cutting South of Kursk threatening the German advance. To my surprise however Germany had been holding back a large anti-tank force with which it has now hit my vulnerable armor. It is fitting and pretty ironic that the biggest armored battle of the game (thus far) is at Kursk.

I think Germany has shown me all its cards, which means attrition works in my favor. In a few months I have a large group of upgraded tanks coming in, and if my lines hold until winter - the war will be all downhill for the Axis.

[BillRunacre]

ORIGINAL: jpinard

I was playing like French Generals before the Ardennes Offensive.

LOL, I'm sure we've all done that at times! [:)]