653Nv1.7 Allied AAR

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I saw that his unit next to my UK units was in zero supply, so I turned off FOW and this is what I see. Well, sadly, in this situation Opie doesn't seem to know how to maximize supply. I am going to not take any action on my part in this area this turn, and I will check next turn where he is moving those two HQ's.
This situation is due to 653N having removed all of the towns that don't have ports [in N. Africa], which makes supply more difficult. If you saw the previous Axis AAR with 653N, I had no problem playing as the Axis here. Two HQ's are enough to get good supply forward [even one HQ will get you decent supply from Benghazi to Tobruk].
For technical reference, the German HQ arrived at Benghazi with the rest of DAK, so it appears to be moving away from the action. The Italian HQ arrived at Tripoli, so that one does appear to be moving forward.

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MPP Report

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Your choice, move them or risk losing them. Hint: Move them. These locations are worth 6 MPP's/turn, the new locations are worth 20 MPP's/turn. Plus, if you actually hold the original locations, you get the MPP's from both. The downside to moving them is that they temporarily are reduced to zero and take a few turns to get back up to 6 [if you manage to hold them], so temporarily supply and the ability to place units at these locations is restricted. This has only mattered to me at Moscow, and sometimes I don't relocate the factories there, but it still seems like a better idea to move them.

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As soon as I get that Mobilization bonus for the USSR seen in the previous MPP Report, I go for USSR Infantry Upgrades, and as soon as each level is reached I immediately go for the next level. This is more important than anything else, I think.

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Most of the USSR frontline defenders have been wiped out. The newly mobilized Corps [6's] and crappy Mech Corps are moving forward to blocking positions. I try not to move them or leave them adjacent to Axis units in order to avoid the bonus the attacker would get. Doesn't make much of a difference, but makes me feel a little better about losing so many units.
The only unit I will Operate is the HQ at Minsk. He will get overrun if he moves by foot, and it is too expensive and valuable a unit to lose.

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For the next many turns, USSR MPP's will be spent on Infantry Corps ONLY. The USSR has 140 of these, and they are the only way to clog up and eventually stop the Axis advance. Spending on more expensive units or upgrades only puts the USSR closer to defeat, in my opinion. Once a bunch of these corps start arriving, I will show how to best place them.

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More Soviet Army's are mobilizing. These arrive free of charge, but under strength, but with HQ's. Historically, many of these units were mobilized without weapons or even uniforms, and were ordered to the front with instructions to strip the dead for what they could. Can you imagine ?

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I've managed to survive the first onslaught in Greece and have units occupying what I intend to be my final stop line. I need to keep these guys reinforced to the max every turn, and also need to rebuild one of the destroyed Greek Army's so that I have a reserve.

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I've been monitoring Opie's defense in Libya since Post #41 and he isn't making any improvements. I'll have to look into some scripts to see if I can make any modification that will help him, otherwise the removal of the African towns seems to have killed him.

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Let's look at how the USSR can defend itself. The first frame of this slide shows the southern part of the front, quite barren of friendly units. This is because most of the mobilizations took place farther to the north, and I don't spend MPP's on operating units because I would rather be building units. Also, Stalingrad is much further from the Axis advance than are Leningrad and Moscow, so this area is not of prime concern at the beginning.
Now that new builds/rebuilds are arriving they can be placed. Priority will be in vacant towns, as seen in the second frame. These aren't intended to be a stop line, rather they are more speed bumps. We will watch the progression of this defense system over the next few posts.

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Well, no new units this turn, so nothing to do but sit still and tremble. Due to the way the turn schedule is set up, sometimes no new units will arrive, but I still build as many Inf Corps as possible each turn. This also means that during one of the winter turns I will get two turns worth of new builds, which is super nice.
Also, by placing new units ON the towns they gain a few Morale and Readiness for being at 6 Supply, as opposed to 5 if placed adjacent.

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This is an unwelcome distraction that requires attention, I think. I think I can say that this hasn't happened to me before, at least in recent memory. The USA is up to 80% and should be in in a couple of months, but meanwhile the only force I have that can react to this is the three UK Corps of the British 2nd Army currently in England, and I have to build their HQ.
There are no AVL's, and I've changed the configuration of Gibraltar so that you can't deploy into Spain from the port there. And no Carriers for recon and air support. I'll have to pull together a shoestring operation to try and grab a port in Spain, one that is defensible for some time.

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Back to Russia, another turn of no new units for the Soviets, so my demonstration of Russian defense is kind of sucking right now, but we will continue.
WHEN new units arrive, before placing them move the units in towns out one hex [in this case only Zaporizhne qualifies], then place the new arrivals in the towns. In this way you are rotating the slightly better prepared units into the forward defense. We'll see how this plays out over the next few turns.

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As for the rest of the front, my main lines of defense should be at the Red Lines, in front of Leningrad and Moscow. The Sappers haven't had much time to get anything built and the lack of new units the last two turns has left me with about nothing established so far. I hope for more units and lots of mud soon.

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Opie pulled what looks like a desperation move by squirting a Panzer Corps behind my UK Corps. He can't do much from there as he is in no supply, plus the one Greek Army that I rebuilt is available to place this turn, so that will allow me to seal off that gap in my line.

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I finally get a decent amount of built corps arriving this turn, and this should continue over the next several turns, so I should be able to get a good rthym going on setting up a defense line in the USSR. Here I can move the corp forward out of Melitopol while placing three new corps in towns. I can't place one in Stalino yet because the factories there were moved and its Resource Level has not yet returned to 5 [the minimum needed to place new units]. This works as intended because in order to move the factories, all available rail cars would be used, and the rail lines out of a moving location would be operating solely one way until the move is completed.
Zaporizhia is on its own, I won't place any new units there as it is too invested with enemy units.

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It seems that Opie didn't detect any of my naval units converging on the northwest coast of Spain, and I have detected several vacant ports, so my slow moving AV's will land this turn and capture a port. I had also loaded up two corps into Transports, in case the Axis DOW'd Portugal and I might have the opportunity to land there [but that hasn't happened].
I shall mention one thing that I don't like and that is the Minor Country's moving their units away from home. I'm going to take a look at some scripts to see if there is something I can do. For example, in the case of Spain, it should be occupying its ports as opposed to sending several of its corps to Russia.

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Anti-Submarine Warfare Level 1 extends Spotting and Strike ranges so that Convoy hexes can now be protected by Maritime Bomber units.

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I changed this a little from the stock campaign, for no better reason than I could. You still get a DE for it, and if you say YES the town northeast of Leningrad [Vaganovo] will go up to 5 Supply Level. This location is difficult for the Axis to block, he would have to use Strats or Rail Guns to reduce it.

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Game over for the Axis, its all a matter of time now. [:)]