Campaign For North Africa 40D-43

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: devoncop

Warspite.

You are a dangerous man (living up to HMS Warspite herself). I had decided OAW IV would not be for me having read the convoluted stuff re timestamps etc and as I am deeply involved with FOG2 ......Now this superb AAR has me reaching for my battered post Christmas wallet.......great job. It is no fun watching an expert play flawlessly....much more fun watching someone learn through the odd "minor error" [;)]

How intuitive do you find the air war side?

warspite

Hi Devoncop, I think that the one real issue was the timestamp malarchy, and had it not been for the support received here, I recognise that I am probably too thick to have worked it out. [Small Gripe] Gamemakers really should pay more attention to this sort of thing when writing manuals. But as for how intuitive the rest of the game is, I'd say very. As for the air war, I mean its not like one is micro managing the air side. One sets the placement of the units, gives the orders, but the actual combat is under the hood and one can find units sent to support some combats and not others. But that is all fine - fog of war and all that.

I am just finding this game a whole bunch of fun - yes that is largely the subject matter (Western Desert 1940-43) but that would not be enough to keep me playing to this intensity; that I am is because this is just so much damn good fun!

[devoncop]

Thanks Warspite.

Glad it's not just me that was bamboozled by the whole timestamp mechanic as described. You seem to have your head around it now so hopefully I will do the same when I take the plunge.

Love the scale of this scenario....big enough to see the scope but small enough to feel attachment to individual named units. Actually prefer a slightly abstracted air war so what you describe sounds great. WItW just was too much for me so this looks much more manageable.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: devoncop

Thanks Warspite.

Glad it's not just me that was bamboozled by the whole timestamp mechanic as described. You seem to have your head around it now so hopefully I will do the same when I take the plunge.

Love the scale of this scenario....big enough to see the scope but small enough to feel attachment to individual named units. Actually prefer a slightly abstracted air war so what you describe sounds great. WItW just was too much for me so this looks much more manageable.

warspite1

Agree on WITW. I cannot get to grips with GG games. I love and admire the detail but I feel he takes it too far.

[warspite1]

Turn 52
7th June 1941

Another couple of South African squadrons join the ranks.

[warspite1]

Turn 52 - Round 1
7th June 1941

Rather than constantly being on tenterhooks about Tobruk it would be great to actually take the war to the Italians. Wavell decides that Sidi Omar and Fort Maddelena are to be attacked at the earliest opportunity. 7th Armoured and 2nd New Zealand Divisions will be in the vanguard, with 2nd Armoured and 4th Indian Divisions in support. The units of the Australian 9th not in Tobruk will provide cover for the Halfaya Pass.

But before that (i.e. the arrival and deployment of those units) the defenders of Tobruk must struggle on.

The RN open up against German and Italian armour, causing 24% losses in rounds 1 and 3 (during the latter the HQ of the 61st Bersaglieri Regiment (Trento Division) is destroyed. In round 5 the losses are 20%, 22% in Round 7 and 18% in Round 9. Wavell and Morshead are most satisfied with this.

[warspite1]

Turn 52 - Axis Turn
7th June 1941

Collishaw orders a couple of squadrons to interdiction. First time he's felt able to do this for a while. Immediately it is noticeable that when the Axis move they are liable to attack en route.

Anyway the first barrage is against Tobruk's southern strong point and achieves 2% losses, there's 1% losses in the west and 3% in the centre (at a cost of 1%). There is then a big battle over the skies above the RN task force. The newly re-arrived Free French squadron is obliterated, but so too are a couple of Ju-88 and SM.79 squadrons. 23 Hurricanes fly in defence of the fleet and 13 are lost, but again the losses to the Axis are enormous - 25 German bombers, 32 Italian bombers and 6 Italian fighters. Ouch.

Two bombardments in the west result in 3% losses each, while a barrage against the south fails to register.

The pressure is ramped up once more - 8% and 9% losses are recorded against the two strong points. Morshead feels an attack is coming....

Two more barrages follow - each inflicting 5% losses in return for just 1%.

As the halfway mark sounds, there is an inconsequential barrage against the centre, but then another 7% in the west. This is brutal.

Huge amounts of artillery are now ranged against the western strong point which receives another 6% of losses.

A bombardment against the centre costs 4% losses but this is only half of what the west takes this round. Once again Morshead Can't see that there is much by way of an assault force gathered around the western strong point, so is hoping that there will be nothing to follow up these losses with.

Fortunately this brings the turn to an end.

[warspite1]

Turn 53
11th June 1941

Oh.... the whole of the RN fleet are reorganising. This could be a golden opportunity for the Germans.

The Kiwis start moving south to prepare for their forthcoming offensive operation, but the 7th Armoured Division are all reorganising. The Australian 9th and the Indian 4th swap places. Sadly the 2nd Armoured is remaining stubbornly slow to re-supply.

Round 1

Only one regiment and two batteries are capable of proving artillery support at Tobruk. However they get a break when the Tobruk Minefield springs into life. The Germans/Italian lose 32%.

Round 3

Goodness! Who needs the Royal Navy? The minefield effects are at work again and another 40% losses are dished out the the Axis - this time to those to the east of the southern strong point.

Round 5

The bombardments move to the units that have been gathering in the centre of the Axis line, and another 27% of pain is inflicted.

Round 7

This is devastating. Another bombardment, yet another minefield effect in play and this time its 40% losses against the units directly to the south of the southern strong point.

Round 9

With these sort of results why not continue? The last bombardment is unleashed - this time its back to the original target. No less than 71% damage is caused. This is crazy - a pioneer battalion and a panzerjaeger battalion from the 21st Panzer are destroyed, but so too are four motorised units from the Trento division...wow!

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 49 - Axis Turn
28th May 1941

The Axis get back the initiative and I detect movement on Crete! I shall look that up when the AI turn stops.

The first round opens with an attack on HMS Valiant's group. HMS Arethusa is damaged and not less than 14 Hurricane fighters are lost. In return the Axis lost just under 50 aircraft.... The Germans panzers then lead an attack against the southwest strongpoint. 41% losses are taken against only 13% inflicted on the Allies.

Heinkels flying from Crete attack the RN with poor results. No damage is inflicted but 10 of the Crete based bombers are lost along with 7 fighters. The British lose 4 Hurricanes. The Germans follow this up with another assault on the southwestern strongpoint. Another 41% losses are taken and only 15% dished out. A battalion from the 90th Light Division is destroyed.

A third attack goes in and, worryingly, this time the losses are starting to even out - 26% v 23% - although still in the Allies favour. A panzer battalion is lost.

A fourth assault is made as Rommel becomes ever more impatient for results. The Brescia Machine Gun Battalion is destroyed as losses are 17% vs 12% in the Allies favour. Although these attacks have been massively costly, the small number of defenders in this southwestern sector have also been hit hard.

A fifth attack goes in and for the first time the Axis actually achieve more losses dished out than they have to take 10% vs 13%.

Round 8 and another attack goes in and the pressure is becoming intolerable. The 65th Anti-Tank Regiment is completely overrun and the strongpoint falls! 14% losses for the Germans and 86% for the Allies. It looks at the moment like only the Polish Brigade survived in any way shape or form.

Worse follows. The approaches to the port are also taken and the defenders of the western strongpoint are cut-off, while those in the southeastern strongpoint are now isolated.

The turns ends with Tobruk about to fall!!!

While not going to be of much help now, looking back at screenshots from a few turns ago I noticed that a large portion of your garrison were mobile and set to minimize/limit losses.

The defensive multipliers for being Dug-in/Entrenched (2.5x) or Fortified (5x) are large enough that you generally want to end your turn with all of your units dug in/etc and at ignore losses; because once they're pushed back they're mobile losing the defensive bonus and reduced to minimize losses leaving them wide open to be pushed back repeatedly until out of movement points, forced to reorganize, or even wiped out. This goes double when your unit density is so high that units would be destroyed because they don't have anywhere to retreat to.

warspite1

Two things on that. Firstly the loss status. Yes I don't think I looked at that at all - which was pretty dumb.

As for the Dig-in order, that I did remember but found that for no apparent reason the status on some units changed from time to time and I kept having to amend to 'Dig-in - entire group'.

That's the German/Italian artillery at work. Bombardment can dig units out of their trenches.

Other than, very rarely, evaporating a unit in low health digging them out and reducing supplies/readiness are about all that it can do to armor. Given that anything armored against shrapnel (basically anything except some Italian or Japanese 'tanks') is more or less immune to anything short of a freak shell landing on its roof it's a reasonable design for the WW2 period. It does (unless I missed a changelog) mean that modern rocket artillery delivering bomblets capable of sufficient saturation that they can get them close enough to punch through light armor and/or disable heavy armor by blowing off tracks/radios/gunsights/etc are less effective in this game than they probably are IRL.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: DanNeely




While not going to be of much help now, looking back at screenshots from a few turns ago I noticed that a large portion of your garrison were mobile and set to minimize/limit losses.

The defensive multipliers for being Dug-in/Entrenched (2.5x) or Fortified (5x) are large enough that you generally want to end your turn with all of your units dug in/etc and at ignore losses; because once they're pushed back they're mobile losing the defensive bonus and reduced to minimize losses leaving them wide open to be pushed back repeatedly until out of movement points, forced to reorganize, or even wiped out. This goes double when your unit density is so high that units would be destroyed because they don't have anywhere to retreat to.

warspite1

Two things on that. Firstly the loss status. Yes I don't think I looked at that at all - which was pretty dumb.

As for the Dig-in order, that I did remember but found that for no apparent reason the status on some units changed from time to time and I kept having to amend to 'Dig-in - entire group'.

That's the German/Italian artillery at work. Bombardment can dig units out of their trenches.

Other than, very rarely, evaporating a unit in low health digging them out and reducing supplies/readiness are about all that it can do to armor. Given that anything armored against shrapnel (basically anything except some Italian or Japanese 'tanks') is more or less immune to anything short of a freak shell landing on its roof it's a reasonable design for the WW2 period. It does (unless I missed a changelog) mean that modern rocket artillery delivering bomblets capable of sufficient saturation that they can get them close enough to punch through light armor and/or disable heavy armor by blowing off tracks/radios/gunsights/etc are less effective in this game than they probably are IRL.

warspite1

Makes sense thanks.

[Zorch]

Is there any provision for the Regia Marina to intervene?

Is there a posture that would make your units resupply faster?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

Is there any provision for the Regia Marina to intervene?

Is there a posture that would make your units resupply faster?

warspite1

I have seen no sign of the RM and don't know if they feature. The RN forces off Tobruk also appear pretty much immune to attack from the air.

No I can't see there is. I was told early doors that the RN don't even need to return to port to re-supply. That seems a little unrealistic to say the least and so I have been heading back to Egypt mostly when supply is low.

[warspite1]

Turn 53 - Axis Turn
11th June 1941

In response the German artillery looks feeble. 6% (centre) with the first barrage, 0% with the second (against the RN), 4% with the third (south) and 6% the final one (west). Meanwhile to the east of Tobruk, the Italians have finally cottoned on to the French Marine unit at Gambut. 8% losses are inflicted in a bid to soften up the defences ahead of ejecting them from the airfield.

Another 4% losses against the RN for no return - that's another 5 Italian bombers destroyed. The French marine company is then ejected from Gambut by a reinforced battalion from the reconstituted Savona Division. Back to Tobruk and 3% losses are incurred by the Germans against the centre, but in better news for Axis forces, 10% losses are inflicted in the south and 9% in the west.

As the turn heads towards its end, a better bombardment of Tobruk itself causes 13% losses and then the western strong point takes another 4% hit, and the centre 3%.

Three more barrages are unleashed against Tobruk with vary success, while to the east the French marine unit is close to being finished off.

The turn ends with a solitary barrage against Tobruk and more pain for the Frenchmen who remain intact - if badly beaten.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Zorch

Is there any provision for the Regia Marina to intervene?

Is there a posture that would make your units resupply faster?

warspite1

I have seen no sign of the RM and don't know if they feature. The RN forces off Tobruk also appear pretty much immune to attack from the air.

No I can't see there is. I was told early doors that the RN don't even need to return to port to re-supply. That seems a little unrealistic to say the least and so I have been heading back to Egypt mostly when supply is low.

Sadly the 2nd Armoured is remaining stubbornly slow to re-supply.
I meant resupply for land units...does being next to a railhead speed it up?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Zorch

Is there any provision for the Regia Marina to intervene?

Is there a posture that would make your units resupply faster?

warspite1

I have seen no sign of the RM and don't know if they feature. The RN forces off Tobruk also appear pretty much immune to attack from the air.

No I can't see there is. I was told early doors that the RN don't even need to return to port to re-supply. That seems a little unrealistic to say the least and so I have been heading back to Egypt mostly when supply is low.

Sadly the 2nd Armoured is remaining stubbornly slow to re-supply.
I meant resupply for land units...does being next to a railhead speed it up?

warspite1

They are not next to the railhead. The 7th Armoured - as the more important formation - took that slot.

[warspite1]

Turn 54
14th June 1941

Damn, Wavell was looking at plans for a forthcoming offensive which he has designated Battleaxe. A component of that plan was a brigade of the British 70th Infantry Division - but they are withdrawing shortly....

Never mind, that cannot be helped. Here is the big picture look at the situation and we can then drill down into what formations are actually available and what each formation actually contains....

[warspite1]

Turn 54
14th June 1941

Operation Battleaxe Order of Battle
See next post.


The rough outline of the operation, the objective of which is to destroy all Italian resistance east of Tobruk.

[warspite1]

Turn 54
14th June 1941

Order of Battle

7th Armoured Division HQ - Major-General Michael Creagh
Divisional assets
3rd Royal Horse Artillery Regiment
4th Royal Horse Artillery Regiment
11th Hussars

4th Armoured Brigade HQ
2nd Royal Tank Regiment (On way to form up area)
3rd Royal Tank Regiment
7th Hussars

7th Armoured Brigade HQ
1st Royal Tank Regiment
3rd Hussars
8th Hussars

7th Support Group
1st Kings Royal Rifle Corps
2nd Rifle Brigade


2nd New Zealand Division HQ - Lt-General Bernard Freyberg
Divisional assets
4th New Zealand Field Artillery Regt. (On way to form up area)
5th New Zealand Field Artillery Regt. (on way to form up area)
6th New Zealand Field Artillery Regt. (on way to form up area)
14th New Zealand Light Anti-Aircraft Regt. (on way to form up area)
10th New Zealand RRC (Detached at Alexandria)

4th New Zealand Brigade HQ
18th Bn.
19th Bn.
20th Bn.

5th New Zealand Brigade HQ
21st Bn.
22nd Bn.
23rd Bn.
28th Maori Bn. (on way to form up area)

6th New Zealand Brigade HQ (Reinforced)
24th Bn.
25th Bn.
26th Bn.
27th Machine Gun Bn.
2nd New Zealand Cavalry Regt.
7th New Zealand Anti-tank Regt.


4th Indian Division - Major-General Frank Messervy
Divisional assets
1st Field Artillery Regt.
25th Field Artillery Regt.
31st Field Artillery Regt.

7th Indian Brigade HQ (One reinforced Brigade only)
1st Royal Sussex Bn.
4th Bn. 11th Sikh
4th Bn. 16th Punjab
1st Bn. 6th Rajputana Rifles
2nd Bn. 5th Mahratta Light Infantry
Central Indian Horse Regt.


Independent Brigade
3rd Motor Brigade HQ
18th King Edward's Own Cavalry Regt.
11th Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry Regt.
2nd Royal Lancers Bn.

[warspite1]

Turn 54 - Round 1
14th June 1941

With the plans for Battleaxe coming together (just waiting on the Kiwi artillery to arrive), we turn our attention back to Tobruk.

There was one bombardment per round to ensure that all five groups of enemy surrounding Tobruk were pummelled once - and I think that is what is called a successful day at the office mused Admiral Cunningham....

[warspite1]

Turn 54 - Axis Turn
14th June 1941

Three bombardments begin the turn - one against the RN which again is massively costly for the Axis, and the other two against the south and west strong points, net just 3% losses.

Three more attacks 7% on Tobruk itself, 0% in the south and 4% in the west. Perhaps more concerning is that the Italians are moving toward Bardia in strength.

A decent turn for the Axis artillery - 8% against each of the strong points....

And another 5% losses in the west. Again, there does not appear to be the troops required to follow-up any success here.

The halfway point and its another 7% in the west, although the Germans took 6% losses for no return in the centre.

The Savona artillery starts to bombard the Allied units south of Menastir - 7% losses. However the attacks on Tobruk are disappointing overall.

Shells raining down on Tobruk causes 11% loss, another 7% at Menastir and 4% in the west.

The two companies of MG troops at Menastir must be on the verge of breaking - another 13% loss. Steady progress against Tobruk is also in evidence. These are uncomfortable times still for the defenders.

The turn comes to an end with another 8% at Menastir and more moderate loss at Tobruk.


Axis attacks are back up to 30 once more.....

[warspite1]

Turn 55
18th June 1941

The British decide to launch Battleaxe. Many on Wavell's staff have serious misgivings about the decision. The state of the air force, the fact that not all units are in place, some of those that are are not fully ready etc. However, Wavell states he has taken all this into consideration... and we go in! "On this the 126th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, we embark on another glorious chapter in the history of the British Army!" "Huzzah!"

The anchor for the left wing of the army is at El Hamra, which has been manned by the isolated Czech battalion for many months. The three battalions of the 4th New Zealand Brigade provide the southern flank for the Kiwi Division and have some protection at least afforded to them by escarpments that run north from El Hamra.

On their right are the 5th Brigade and their four battalions hold the division's centre ground south of the track that runs to Sidi Suleiman - the initial target of the attack.

To their right are the reinforced 6th Brigade. Both these brigades have the benefit of the divisional artillery which is placed behind them near the track. The 25th Battalion is in the most exposed part of the line and so is provided with the machine gun battalion and the anti-tank regiment for additional support. The 2nd cavalry Regt. is held back north of the track in reserve.