Magicmissile(Axis) vs Tigercub(allies) Tigercub welcome

[MagicMissile]

With some warts this is still the game I enjoy to play the most for the moment so started a couple of more games. A mirrormatch with Tigercub.

I will make a AAR of both games but they will be fairly simple and I wont do every turn since it actually takes some time to do this [:)]. Can be interesting to see a game with the latest betapatch and all the changes so it might have some educational use and basis for balancing. Tigercub is welcome. I don´t think there is all that much to hide in this game and I will delay posting a couple of turns and any comments or insight from Tigercub is welcome and from anyone else for that matter.

Feels like starting a new game with the cheaper subs and changes to Interdiction and airforce nerf so not sure what to expect but I followed the old style. Luxemburg on turn 1 Poland on turn 2 Denmark and The Netherlands on turn 3.
Losses after turn 3 23 land and 11 air am happy with that but a lucky CV strike got 3 sub factors and in return the subs only sank 4 merchants so not the best of starts in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Good luck to Tigercub!

[MagicMissile]

February 1940

Waiting for better weather. No cold turn to try and take out Belgium yet.

Battle for the Atlantic so far 6 sub losses for 18 merchants and 1 escort.

[MagicMissile]

29 March 1940

Finally a cold turn and I manage to take out Belgium and make a small inroad in the Maginot line.

In the Atlantic now 10 sub factors for 20 merchants and 2 escorts.

[MagicMissile]

May 1940

Mixed results I am happy with Lille fallen and only 2 hexes from Paris at the end of May I also managed to shatter the British WDF unit so so far so good. But my running of the air war and ground war leaves something to be desired. As loss ratio in both air and land is only 1:1 with Britain/France. Not sure why my axis fighters are not flying at 75% strength and readiness around 60% but because I played a bit too fast and didnt look some bombers flew unescorted and took heavy losses.

[MagicMissile]

June 26 1940

Campaign in France is over. Happy with how fast it was done but not happy with the airlosses. Feels like I am doing something wrong but not sure what. For example bomnbed Paris bombers were escorted still the French fighter won 4-2 and then Paris AA shot down 1 so 5-2 to the Allies, argh I cry blood [:)].

Battle of the Atlantic also soso 16 subs for 25 merchants and 3 escorts. British CV have scored hits 4 times already in my other game I have scored once but we are lagging some turns there.

[MagicMissile]

August 40

France surrendered first turn of July. Moved units down to Greece and invaded in July now taken 3 turns and far from over.
Hard to take in any quick way.

Italy entered the war and did fine at first. Their airforce sank the Malaya and a British corps on route to Egypt and invaded cyprus and by controlling the air try to get the British navy to leave the eastern Med. But the British now have a Fighter in Egypt (I think) so the British navy for now fairly safe.

Getting greedy the Italian navy sortied to try and punish 2 lightly escorted CVs outside Malta. That was a big mistake and the CVs sank a Italian BB and damaged several other ships.

Otherwise moving some troops east.

[MagicMissile]

November 40

Grece fell finally took a long time. Considering wether or not to go for Malta. I have suffered a lot of airlosses and Malta have some AA so not sure I think its worth it. Egypt sees plenty of British troops not much can be done there I think. England have invaded Iraq and I guess Persia will follow shortly.

Build up in the east continues.

Battle for Atlantic pretty slow sink a little bit and lose some subs. Ill post losses next time. The British have built som merchants and are not in any kind of trouble I would say.

[MagicMissile]

A new year starts. Quiet in most places. I build up for invasion of the Sovietunion and meanwhile the British have jumped on the poor and innocent Portugal. Germany dispatched a corps to at least put up a symbolic defense of Lisbon.

Will show screenshot later but seems the Soviets have chosen a pretty far away from the border defense.

[MagicMissile]

March 14 1941

A spell of cold weather and a Russian pretty far back defense decides the issue and the Axis launch a early Barbarossa.

The only major gain was Odessa and we manage to invade one port in the Kerch strait not much else happened. Main goal is to get the railrepair going as fast as possible. Even faster now in the new patch if I understand things correctly.

The forces were far from ready some not at the front and some in garrison mode so feels like a big gambel we will see how it turns out [:)].

On the other side of Europe the British conquer Portugal. In the Mediterranean not much going on.

[tigercub]

Was surprised by the early attack but thinking about it was a good idea! but my Russians are as ready as can be pretty happy with how they are for now, but the smile may go from my face.

Tigercub

[MagicMissile]

April 41

Barbarossa continues but with the bad weather it is slow going. I still like it as I hope to be at Smolensk or so when historial Barbarossa started but we will see. As can be seen from the losses screen the Soviets havent lost anything basically. My invasions in the Black sea ties up quite a number of Russians so think it was worth it.

Rest of Europe nothing going on really.

[MagicMissile]

June 20 1941

This is the starting position on the historical Barbarossa date. At smolensk, just a few hexes from Leningrad. Yes some units are a little tired but I still believe the early start of Barbarossa is well worth it.

Forgot forces and casulties do it next turn.

[MagicMissile]

And in the Med the British have landed in North Africa. I think I have enough to hold them off until the US enters but we will see.

There was a naval engagement where the Italian navy sank two British BBs outside Tunisia and we sank a British aircraft on a transport in harbor so some Italian succesesses for Il Duce to be happy about.

[MagicMissile]

East: Railroad to both Moscow and Leningrad have been cut, Doesnt matter much I realized as cities are supply sources and
can get reinforcements. Some units are getting tired and oil is beginning to run a bit low but with a fair amount of clear turns left I hope to get Leningrad and Moscow before the bad weather comes but it is far from certain.

[MagicMissile]

The Mediterranean:

The British sunk a CA in harbour with a carrier strike. The italian landbased air managed to sink a British corps trying to disembark in Oran. The British only have one port so far so their units look a bit tired. Think I can hold Alger for a while.

[Flaviusx]

These early Barbarossas seem to work every time. Soviet players really, really, should not leave the frontiers uncovered until at the very least May, and then maybe they can withdraw at that point. This runaway defense is an invitation for trouble. You just end up with the Germans past the Dnepr by early July and the railheads pushing forward way too fast.

[Flaviusx]

For all the talk about Soviet runaways, the easiest answer to this alleged problem is...invade early and invade often.

[MagicMissile]

I agree. One need to posture forward and withdraw as late as possible. If you can postpone start till May you will be ok but these early starts seems powerful indeed as will be seen in the next post.

[MagicMissile]

August 1941.

Game over. Leningrad, Ivanov, Voronez and Moscow have fallen. Most of the Red Army surrounded or near surrounded so no comeback possible so Tigercub decided to resign the game. Thanks for the game was fun!

I lost to this strategy you can read it in Tyronec vs Magicmissile AAR. After that I have used it in all my Axis games 4 of them completed and it havent failed once. In this game at least I repaired my subs and had some Germans as garrison in the west and sent a little bit of help to the Mediterranean and with the nerf to airbombing units I thought it would be harder. On the other hand rail repair is faster now and less need of partisan garrison so it worked out fine in the end.

The only answer I can find is the Russians need to set up on the border to deter a bad weather early invasion and then try to run away as late as possible but before the invasion begins.

[Flaviusx]

I knew this was over the moment I saw that July screen, heh.