Sveint(Allies) vs Battlevonwar(Axis) no Sveint

[battlevonwar]

Kiev

[battlevonwar]

Most of the Eastern Front has been pretty predictable. Lots of retreating but now established Fronts in the South, Center and North and no more of that. There will be a Frosty Counter Thrust something sneaky in the West likely and then the decision of this game will likely be made in '42

[battlevonwar]

1942:

This is the current situation. I see that the Allies are prepping for D-Day and they know I am ready for a French one so it PROBABLY will be a Spanish one. That is going to be a migraine for me to cover and will give lots of bases to do ugly deeds all over the map to me. That or he has N.Africa/Italy in mind. With the USA/UK there I would have to fight hard to hold on. I've not played him before and most of my ports are pretty well covered in the West. I have my vulnerabilities but nothing I couldn't rail in 3-4 units to mop up usually with the current rules.

I am not quite sure of his strength but I am quite strong as the Russians have not done a true Frost Counter Offensive. In fact it's FrostKrieg in the East. He has used his air I imagine with truck supply to whack some of my planes and I have sort of dealt with this. Of course these go back to shortages from the French campaign and my expectations of better weather and taking more of the pie, which never happened.

I have left with so many puzzles and I am now reacting instead of acting. I am not sure in Summer that I will have the initiative or not or he will have it. I am not certain how strong the Russians are. This could be a very quick ordeal if the East and West are mutually strong and my front teeth have been grind down so far I have nothing to throw at him that will hold, push or smash through him.

Regardless U-boats out on the prowl again...

[battlevonwar]

Clear Weather Spring/Summer '41:

Spain invaded by the Allies and Axis on the push in the East. North Africa abandoned and this is turning out to be an overall odd game.

I like aggression as Axis and I like to play Defensive generally as the Allies. Which is favorable for both given the right circumstance. I went all-in here to attempt to balance the Eastern Front which is too heavily leaning Allied.

[battlevonwar]

Progression of the primary Battle in the game ... and the front around Moscow

[battlevonwar]

Right before Summer Approaches massive Russian Counter Offensives, Patton gets killed, Vichy gets turned to the Dark Side and we're trading blows on the Eastern Front. I am not sure of Sveint's reserves. If he has many this is a losing battle for me. I had more but many got tied down by what the UK/USA were doing. Unfortunately in Warplan in '42 offensives are a luxury if your opponent built up properly. Plus since I have been attacking rather than defending. He has cost me a lot of production through bleeding my forces I am not sure I can sustain any more attacks and may soon lose all the initiative and be an entirely spent force.

[sillyflower]

Sveint posted the forces screen. Only 1200 German land forces left = wehrmacht is already a spent force I'm afraid after a gdod start

[battlevonwar]

Clever opponent, it's not just the numbers either it is the type of numbers that count. USA/UK has armor and lots of it with lots of Air. EARLY! I do not know how this is going to go into '43. I went too ham on the USSR.

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

Sveint posted the forces screen. Only 1200 German land forces left = wehrmacht is already a spent force I'm afraid after a gdod start

[battlevonwar]

Here I am realizing, well I realized awhile ago that I was in big trouble but I didn't imagine just how much trouble this would be right away so ill prepared for it. No Armor(destroyed around Moscow) for counter offensives and little to no air in exhaustive air missions where they did no good. I have never really seen the Allies successfully use Spain but this is the first. I have learned some more here for the future.

[battlevonwar]

This is just incredibly disheartening to watch! The US is I assume just going to smash through France with the British behind them in 1942!

[battlevonwar]

Losses have been extreme. I haven't played a competent Allied defender in the East in about 5 months so I am re-learning what they're capable of. Russia just smashed through my forces there and though I got a few of his it really hasn't been a fair trade. He is pushing through my lines in the North but more importantly I now have nothing to mail West to stop the bleed of Real Estate. Cleverly done by my opponent. I am hoping to at least take Moscow maybe there is some sliver of hope I can stop the UK/US Armor hordes! Which probably have more armored units than the Axis/Russians combined!

[battlevonwar]

I think anyone here can see what has occurred I have really underestimated how quickly the Allies would break out!(TUNNEL VISION) I also imagined having 3-4 Corp to Rail in, at least in Italy and France. I have had rail issues in the East several times locking down things due to partisans and Soviet interference and not only that I did not expect my opponent to go so ham on Italy which subsequently surrendered devouring nearly 1/3rd of the my actual Garrison force. I couldn't keep fighting on with such a situation and my tiny Axis French Force nearly to be surrounded. He simply went around my defenses and I let him in the Pyrenees. I saw this coming but my reaction time ~ it was wishful thinking! I thought I could hurt the Russians and backtrack in time to stalemate the Allies. This did not occur and instead I got myself entrenched in a fight I couldn't win on either end. Had I been able to halt the Allies I could of possibly dreamed of a VP Victory.

The Russians sitting there looked so scrumptious and I thought he will be slow through Vichy and by that time I will have dealt him a killer blow in the East. The trading of armor and corps there meant there was no chance for a defensive fight for '43 and no real estate in the West for it all. Just 2 corp deep and some reserve armor could of held there indefinitely!

This was a very fun game despite all that. I really enjoyed the action which was pretty non-stop! Sveint knocked off a lot of the rust on my abilities and I now feel a little bit more in tune with the new player strats/tactics.

I surrendered as '43 approaches... Thank you all for reading and thank Sveint for the fun and entertaining game!

[Flaviusx]

A few notes:

1. Piling on three deep invites counterattacks leading to shatters for lack of retreat routes. Don't do it. I also think you should have gone for Leningrad in 41 rather than Moscow, or at least seized the marsh belt south of it running down to Vitebsk. This position is practically impregnable against the Soviet until at least 1943. You never locked down the north and it blew up on you.

2. I think the Axis has to take out Vichy France in 1940, after collecting the initial French surrender, in order to better respond to Excellent Iberian Adventures by the Allies. Leaving it alone into 1942 put you one turn behind the ball in the West and you never recovered. Yes, that means you will also have to invade French North Africa.

3. Italy was undergarrisoned. This seems like a near universal mistake.

4. Your army seemed small to me. You should have been closing in on 2k strength by 1942 and it didn't look to me like it ever got there or even close to that.

[battlevonwar]

Thank you Flaviusx,

I certainly will not leave Vichy again and the reason that there were so few Axis units though is that Sveint had bled me in France. After that I had taken unnecessary air losses in other locations... Italy was a massive error but again it leads to the 2nd problem, my forces were frail by '41.(I had to give ground in the East not take it) I think that I had to micro things a little better, forget the u-boat war.

Can you put to an AAR about the region you explain in Vitebsk and Northern Marshes I know the Russians have no resupply if you take the key city there?

Yeah the 3 deep units is a huge rookie error. You just collapse yourself. I gave is good as I got as far as the fighting but I couldn't afford to give any at that point.

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

A few notes:

1. Piling on three deep invites counterattacks leading to shatters for lack of retreat routes. Don't do it. I also think you should have gone for Leningrad in 41 rather than Moscow, or at least seized the marsh belt south of it running down to Vitebsk. This position is practically impregnable against the Soviet until at least 1943. You never locked down the north and it blew up on you.

2. I think the Axis has to take out Vichy France in 1940, after collecting the initial French surrender, in order to better respond to Excellent Iberian Adventures by the Allies. Leaving it alone into 1942 put you one turn behind the ball in the West and you never recovered. Yes, that means you will also have to invade French North Africa.

3. Italy was undergarrisoned. This seems like a near universal mistake.

4. Your army seemed small to me. You should have been closing in on 2k strength by 1942 and it didn't look to me like it ever got there or even close to that.

[Flaviusx]

Just look at the map, it's almost all marsh from south of Leningrad to Vitebsk. This terrain has a 1.7 multiplier on the defense. If you can take this terrain in 41 when the Soviet is weak, even if you fail to take Leningrad, you will at least have a strong defensive position. And what's better, armor/mech is terrible in swamps. So by parking infantry corps on this area that's about 10 hexes of the front you can set and forget. I honestly think marsh is the best defensive terrain in the map and am always trying to build defenses around marsh if possible. The Soviet Union in particular has several places like this both sides can take advantage of.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: battlevonwar

I haven't played a competent Allied defender in the East in about 5 months

I am relieved that you wrote this before I sent you my Russian T1

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

A few notes:

1. Piling on three deep invites counterattacks leading to shatters for lack of retreat routes. Don't do it. I also think you should have gone for Leningrad in 41 rather than Moscow, or at least seized the marsh belt south of it running down to Vitebsk. This position is practically impregnable against the Soviet until at least 1943. You never locked down the north and it blew up on you.

2. I think the Axis has to take out Vichy France in 1940, after collecting the initial French surrender, in order to better respond to Excellent Iberian Adventures by the Allies. Leaving it alone into 1942 put you one turn behind the ball in the West and you never recovered. Yes, that means you will also have to invade French North Africa.

3. Italy was undergarrisoned. This seems like a near universal mistake.

4. Your army seemed small to me. You should have been closing in on 2k strength by 1942 and it didn't look to me like it ever got there or even close to that.

I agree completely with your first 3 points; though as I said before #2 galls me. But I personally have never had a German army closing in on 2000 strength at any time, let alone 1942. I think the strongest I got was around 1600. And this was with not building any subs, not losing any units and only having 8 armour and 4 mech. I admit I am a supply truck junkie (probably too much so) and use a lot of production on them; but it sounds like you are as well. I guess I will have to pay more attention to my build que.

[baloo7777]

I know it's just a game... but it seems like the western countries/Allies would never militarily invade a European neutral like Portugal or Spain in this Historical time period. This would reduce greatly the need for the Axis to worry about that border. Vichy France was seen as less of a neutral and more of an illegitimate French country, and therefore ripe to be invaded (after D-Day though historically). But I know, its a game not a simulation of the European Theater of Operations.

[battlevonwar]

sillyflower,not a slight ... haven't yet see what you can do do well, until you have taken my oilfields in Romania. [:@]

[sillyflower]

I know
I was only teasing you[:D]