Executing attacks on Poland, France

[MPHopcroft1]

I started a game yesterday (don't know if I kept it, not sure how to save games yet). It took me three of my turns to conquer Poland. I was about to try and start getting units west, but some of the mechanics I haven't quite figured out (specifically, how to use the rail system to transport my forces).

My question is this: when executing the attack on Poland, how do I properly use my armor and air? The idea seems clear -- use infantry to open holes and take places like Lodz and Krakow, and then drive deep into Poland with the tanks -- but how do I actually accomplish this in the first turn? Also, where do I use air most effectively since it seems I only get one or two airstrikes per ait unit?

Yes, it's a very basic question, but it was my first time playing this game.

[Sugar]

The idea seems clear -- use infantry to open holes and take places like Lodz and Krakow, and then drive deep into Poland with the tanks

Sounds more like the "deep penetration" doctrine used by the Sovyets, but not like the german "armored warfare" doctrine. Tanks are your main damage dealers, use them to destroy the most valuable or threatening targets, possibly after reducing enemy entrenchment by cheap corps or Stukas.

I suggest to read the manual first and get used to how the vital readiness works, and how it`s affected by demoralising attacks and supply.

[PvtBenjamin]

MPH welcome to the game.

Warsaw falls easily in 2 turns.

MPH you have the basic concept correct, you need to push the Panzers forward.

1) Basically ignore the troops at Poznan, encirle them. I dont know what the AI does but if you are playing PBEM you'll need to place soft units like HQ's & air so the Poznan troops cant attack. One idea is to put the HQ's in cities.

2) The Modlin Army (North) is entrenched 1. Use the Medium bomber (Von Bock)to de-entrench. Then use Von Kuchlers (N) 4 units (3 land & 1 tac bomber)to destroy Modlin(or significantly reduce). These troops are then prepared Warsaw in attack 2.

3) Use the NON Panzer units to attack the units directly in front of the Von Bock & Von Rundstat armies. You should be able to end with one Panzer in Torun and the second from VonR by Lodz , if played correctly can actually attack the Prusy Army (SW of Warsaw) at least once maybe twice with the VonR Panzer.

4) Second turn for the attack on Warsaw you have 2 Panzers & VonK units close and bombers within range. Warsaw goes down.

I'm sure you thought of this but I turn FOW off first to practice then back on.

enjoy.

[yooperdrew]

No such thing as a dumb question.

You can easily take Warsaw in two moves. Ignore everything but Warsaw. You want both tanks in striking distance after Turn 1. Use planes on both turns to lower Warsaw's entrenchment. Should be easy.

I'm happy to answer any questions about the game. I found 99 percent of posters on Matrix to be (frankly) jerks who were offended by anything but advanced questions.

If you (as I did) ever wonder how to finally win the game as Germany/italy, I finally had success by defeating France then sending everything to Russian front, building up as big a force as possible to aim solely at Moscow (then Leningrad, then south east of the river toward Stalingrad.) Don't worry about Britain/America. Just have enough maritime bombers and subs to take out anyone crossing the channel. Line the coast with upgraded garrison, corps and AA. Focus research on better subs, tanks and fighters, everything else is secondary. I take out Yugoslavia early, then send a German tank, an army and a corps to Africa well before the Afrika Korps. The oil fields to the east are very valuable. Go get them. At the start of game, hide your navy in the Baltic, emerging only to take advantage of the AI's stupidity (for some reason, they'll drift aircraft carriers your way occasionally.)

[PvtBenjamin]

I played countless hours of SC1&2 vs the AI and now only play SC3 only in PBEM.

I'd highly recommend playing PBEM if you have the time to commit.

You'll need to sharpen your skills vs the AI first and understand that the learning curve in PBEM is very high. You will take a beating early on. Once you get up to speed and play a dedicated comparable player its a blast.

ORIGINAL: yooperdrew



I'm happy to answer any questions about the game. I found 99 percent of posters on Matrix to be (frankly) jerks who were offended by anything but advanced questions.

I haven't found this to be the case. Most of the criticism is directed towards people who think the game doesn't work correctly because they are losing. Questions put like MPH above are generally constructively (like I did) answered.

Any game has people who dump on the "Noob". I always think this is funny because everyone at some point was a "noob" and wanted to be treated with respect.

There are a few players who comment who are on the crusty side, interesting many of them know this game better than anyone.

If you can get past the crustiness you will find a plethora of information.

[MPHopcroft1]

ORIGINAL: yooperdrew

No such thing as a dumb question.

You can easily take Warsaw in two moves. Ignore everything but Warsaw. You want both tanks in striking distance after Turn 1. Use planes on both turns to lower Warsaw's entrenchment. Should be easy.

But then how do you prevent the Poles from cutting off the supply lines of the Panzers? In my first game, I had the Poles sneak in behind my back and take Danzig out from under my nose. As it turned out, it didn't do them much good except to embarrass me. (it was against the AI -- I'm not up for PBEM yet in either time or skill level). It could have been much worse if they'd cut off the Panzers -- it would oinly delay the inevitable, but those are MPPs I'd rather spend elsewhere.

[PvtBenjamin]

Did you read my post? If you're new to wargaming it may take some time to ramp up.

[MPHopcroft1]

To update everyone, I managed ot get Poland in two turns this time. Unofrutnately, I think I forgot something vital and because of that my attack on france has bogged down. Headquarters!

I really need to read up in the manual on how headquarters work. Apparently I seem to be having trouble getting command done.

Problem is HQs are expensive, especially if you want the good leaders like Rundstedt, Rommel, or Guderian. It's one of those significant things for which Germany has too few MPP to pay for everything. I guess the prinicple question remains priorities. the Germans simply cannot do everything they would want to do in the early stages, especially before France falls. I think different players have their own ideas ont he priotiry of building HQs vs. subs vs. more tanks or air in the early game. In my first two games, I put the highest priority on getting more troops in the field. August 1940 is showing me the error of my ways, as I have lost two of my three panzer armies after ill-advised drives toward Paris and Ypres without sufficient infantry support.

[MPHopcroft1]

I'm going to try again from scratch. The game I'm currently playing has bogged down into a stalemate near Paris, I'm hemmoraging troops, tanks, and MPPs, and now I have to deal with the fact that I have lost yet another panzer corps that had somehow gotten bottled up and encicled on the Channel coast.

I'm learned some things about running a blitzkrieg from this. I think that if anything Poland is too easy now -- it gave me "victory disease" and made me overconfident in the panzers. I need a better plan to take out the low countries and GFrance (Holland hasn't fallen either by 9-15-40).

[PvtBenjamin]

Try playing the 1940 scenario first turn or two with Fog of War off then on.

The troops you have wont be the same in the '39 scenario but the Allies will.

[MPHopcroft1]

The 1940 scenario is interesting. I would love to have played it as a very short scenario set just in that theatre, with victory and defeat determined by how long it takes you to force the armistice with France. My armistice was in mid-September. That would have made building up for Barbarossa difficult with a significant time constraint to get the Panzers and Headquarters ready in time..

One thing I've noticed, both with and without FOW, is that the RN seems to have a virtually unlimited supply of ships. Especially destoryers, which are committed to wreaking havoc on my submarines when I play as the Germans. The Battle of ther Atlantic is almost no contest if the AI doesn;t make stupid mistakes. How many DD units does the UK actually start gthe war with.

[MPHopcroft1]

Now comes the real challenge -- defending Poland and France... It may be a while before I take it up, of course.

[Markiss]

You don't defend Poland and France... the goal is to slow the Germans down and to do some damage to high value units in the bargain. If you play the Soviets enough, you will become an expert in trading units and territory for time..for time is what you need as the Allies. Time for the Soviets to deploy their first big units purchase..time for the Siberians to show up..time for the Brits to build a large enough army to be relevant..time for the US to arrive. You don't need to win battles, just lose slowly enough for the natural momentum of the game to swing in your favor.

As far as the destroyers finding your subs goes, you have to keep your subs moving. Never raid from the same hex twice in a row, or you will be found. Take turns off and move to another location, it will make your subs very hard to track. Never move along a convoy route, that is where the destroyers are..don't go to them, make them chase you..and keep them guessing.

And most importantly, have fun. The more you play, the better you will get. Once you have played a PBEM game or 2, beating the AI will be child's play(no offence Hubert, you do a great job of managing infinite possibilities). But playing against a human adds a dimension to the game that you just can't get with the AI. Humans are sneaky. They will recognize and take advantage of your mistakes, they will use your over-aggressiveness to lure you into an ambush..or they will take advantage of your passivity by being over-aggressive themselves and leaving themselves open to counter attacks that you will not be bold enough to take advantage of. Out-smarting a real person is much more satisfying then smoking the AI. On the other hand, it does have it's disadvantages, like having to wait for your opponent to take their turn. But it is worth it, in my opinion.

[MPHopcroft1]

Well, my first PBEM game ended up with me suffering the wargame version of chess' "fool's mate". I was at the gates of Warsaw, but the Poles were in Berlin!

It happened so rapidly I wasn't sure how it had happened. The Poles I thought were pocketed and out of supply saw an opportunity when I din't have enough troops in my rear and charged into Prussia proper. It was a rather humorous development, actually, but conisderably less funny because I was opn the receiving end.

The French also took advantage of this, outflanking and bypassing the forces I had watching the Maginot Line and sweeping into the Rhineland, where I had very few troops to counter them.

Now this is about the most ahistorical result there is, and it's sticking in my mind now. I didn't have the forces to counter these moves. Does this happen often to beginners?

[PvtBenjamin]

ORIGINAL: MPHopcroft1


Now this is about the most ahistorical result there is, and it's sticking in my mind now. I didn't have the forces to counter these moves. Does this happen often to beginners?

I don't think so. Welcome to the unforgiving world of PBEM. I've played PBEM games that the Axis never took France & Italy surrendered in 1940. It sounds like you probably want to familiarize yourself vs AI for a while, get the basics down. Starting PBEM as Allies might also be a good idea.

To your question

1) You need to take Poland in 2 turns, even against a skilled PBEM opponent a proper Axis assault will take Poland in 2 turns. If you take Poland in two turns those units never make it to Berlin.

2) If you want an additional precaution put a garrison in Berlin.

enjoy

[Ktonos]

Polish units had supply, very low, but just about enough to move in unopposed territory. Your units cut off the Polish ones around Poznen. A city without a direct rail to a major supply source (Warsaw in this case) does not drop to 0 supply but to 3. Which means that the army in Poznan had 3 supply and the cavalry next to it 2. These units where allowed to run in Germany unopposed for 3 turns. They did have reduced AP and if attacked by even a garrison unit they would evaporate, but 3 weeks running through undefended countryside would be enough for scores of armed renegade Poles to enter and pillage Berlin (opposed maybe only from the local police force?).

In general you need to bypass units on the first mostly moving towards Warsaw with the two tanks and a couple of infantry, damaging what they find in their way. The rest must be used to guard the rails from Germany to your forward HQs. No worries about leaving the road to Berlin open as long as you finish off Poland on 2nd turn; they dont have the time in 1 turn to capture it. If you find that Warsaw stands after the second turn and if the Allied player moved something into Germany, then you need to move a unit to block their way.