Sea invasion of Rostov from Romania

[sillyflower]

It is pretty ridiculous to do this without control of the Kerch Straights, especially with Russian units on either side. Even putting a ground unit on the hex with the straights did not hinder reinforcement units from arriving in Rostov the next turn.They no doubt waved at the Russian navy adjacent to the port as well.

I know of no other game that allows this for the very good reason that it would have been completely impossible. Perhaps the simple answer is to put a minefield in the hex with the straights.

I leave open the question of how the Germans could have got the necessary ships to Romania in the first place

[ncc1701e]

Yep, I have just tried. This is much too easy and gamey. Even putting a Tactical Air Group in Sevastopol plus a fleet don't prevent the move. There is no interception.

I agree with your suggestion to put a minefield.

[ncc1701e]

Coincidentally, I just received my first Barbarossa turn. I can admit about the paradrops but not really about those naval invasions...

[sillyflower]

Maybe your opponent took the port of Tamanskaya first . I had actually garrisoned every Black Sea port because my opponent delights in making weird invasions. NB this is not a criticism of him in any way - it's a lot of fun to play him.

Your screenie shows the need for a house rule (no axis ships can enter hex 199,43) until there is a patch

[ncc1701e]

Oh I am having fun. This is just that I have still not learned my lesson to guard every port. But, the Rostov move is a little too much.
Invasion is so easy and so cheap that you need to protect yourself.

In another game, I am about to do a naval invasion of Germany as UK in summer 1941, without the US at war. It will perhaps fail but the fact the game gives you this capacity so early is weird.

[AlvaroSousa]

The arrow crossing you are talking about? I'll set up something for that today. If you control the passage they shouldn't be able to pass

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: Alvaro Sousa

If you control the passage they shouldn't be able to pass

The yellow circle ports are unguarded at the opening turn of Europe 1941 scenario namely:
1. Kerch
2. Tamanskaya
3. Novorossiysk
4. Batum
And, of course the port of Rostov in the red circle.

So this move was not anticipated...

So yes, first put a minefield where the red cross is in my below screenshot to prevent this move. But, you need also to add units in those yellow ports to prevent an invasion.

And there are two bugs coming on transports/landing ships.

[Flaviusx]

You are lucky he didn't go into the Caucuses instead of Rostov. The entire coastaline is uncovered. That's another problem with the scenario. It has lots of problems.

[ncc1701e]

Yep, we need Infantry corps to protect these four ports.

[PanzerMike]

Landing ships are the problem IMHO. The Axis hardly had any, let alone in the Black Sea.

[ncc1701e]

I am lacking some knowledge here.

But, the big question is:
Is it possible to share Transports and/or Landing ships between countries of the same side?

And, if there is sharing, how would it be possible for Germany or Italy to bring Transports and Landing Ships into the Black Sea?

[ncc1701e]

And, also the game have some flaws.

In this case, you can consume the Transports that you do not have:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4801995

And, in this case, you can consume more Landing Ships that you own:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4802007

The above green question is very important to answer. But, in any case, there are two bugs to solve.

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e

Yep, we need Infantry corps to protect these four ports.

Or best, we need four Marine Division to protect those four ports and this makes perfectly sense. Something to add in all 1939, 1940, 1941, ... scenarios

[sillyflower]

I think that invasions in the Black Sea are not really that different from the weird ones you can do in the Med. and western Europe.

There are 2 insurmountable problems with sea invasions in the Sea of Azov.

1 It is suicide to try to get through the Kerch Straights if even 1 side is held by the enemy. The strait is 3.1 kilometres (1.9 mi) to 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) wide and up to 18 metres (59 ft) deep. The invaders won't have local pilots to help them so the chances of getting stuck are high, and even light AT guns on 1 side would blow invaders out of the water during the many hours that it would take the whole fleet to get through.

2 From Wiki: the Sea of Azov is the shallowest sea in the world, with the depth varying between 0.9 and 14 metres (2 ft 11 in and 45 ft 11 in). Details of LSTs' draught are hard to find but HMS Boxer in WWII had a draught of 18ft (approx 5.5m) That means that the invading ships (still without local pilots) would get stuck before reaching their destination. German siebel ferries commandeered for Sealion had draught of only 5 ft 1.5m when empty) but a max speed when empty of only 11 knots so no 'load, move and unload' before anyone could react: especially if they had to shuffle through the Kerch Straits first.

[PanzerMike]

fb.asp?m=4802417

[AlvaroSousa]

It's been fixed in the current beta.

[PanzerMike]

Ha! You implemented the same solution for the Sea of Azov by making the crossing resource also a minefield.

Can I say it: great minds think alike [:D]

[ncc1701e]

Thanks Alvaro, the move is now forbidden. And, I like the new Europe 1941 deployment and the new Army in Sevastopol:

[AlvaroSousa]

In WarPlan we don't use the word "forbidden". The proper term is "Verboten!"

[PanzerMike]

In my mod I added a mine graphic to the crossing resource. Just an idea..