How the War went: Cpuncher (Allies) vs Fafnir v1.07 Full Game

[Cpuncher]

Hi all,

I will gradually post the important events that happened in this War, and the lessons learned from it. Fafnir may feel free to chip in should he feel like.

I will start with some fun events:

[Cpuncher]

The very last IJN ship, Carrier Zuikaku was hunted down all the way near Antarctica. I specifically brought in USS Arizona to do the honor. Due to a much faster than expected US mobilization, Fafnir couldn't prepare in time to attack Pearl, leave him in a very vulnerable position in the Pacific.

[Cpuncher]

Unknown to the Japs, Osaka port was under the watchful eyes of a range 5 Maritime bomber stationed in Okinawa. Taiho was initially deployed somewhere in the back but was moved into Osaka port late June, and was promptly attacked by multiple US carriers and sunk by USS Enterprise, about the same historical date she was sunk, and before she could lunch any attack on allied asset.

[Cpuncher]

It turned out that Stalingrad was the extent of Axis advance in the Eastern front. After a very brutal siege, Stalingrad was captured temporarily just as the winter got severe. However the German army was exhausted and had to go back to deal with the US threat in France. Meanwhile the Russian force had grown very strong in the region, and a prompt counter attack was launched. It was the quick collapse of the Romanian Armies you see in the area that started the process.

[Cpuncher]

As usual, in this game, the road to Berlin starts at Madrid and Gibraltar. It was a large concerted effort by the western allies to attack Western France, Portugal, and Gibraltar all at the same time to capture Madrid and Gibraltar before the Axis could respond in force quickly enough. Even so the Axis still could push the Allies back into the sea should the Fuhrer chose to. Instead he decided to do a 43 Summer offensive on the Eastern front and only try to contain the US inside Spain that allowed a massive US build up that eventually made the Axis unable to deal with both fronts at the same time. Otherwise the war could be much much longer and it's not impossible that the Axis can squeeze out a Tactical V.

[Cpuncher]

Overall, I got this V due to the fact that Fafnir is new to WAW. Tactically superior for much of the game, his many strategic choices sealed the fate. I just need to name one fact: USSR was DOWed on Aug 1, 1941, and 14 days later, US prepared for war. I think this is enough to end any game for the Axis. However, Fafnir was able to continue to make advances on all fronts all the way until early 44, at which time the MPP power of the Allies became too much for the Axis to handle.

[Cpuncher]

Let me start from the beginning.

Sep 1, 1939: Axis moved both tanks to near Belgium border to attack on the next turn, while trying to take Poland in 2 turns. Since it may not be beneficial to take Poland in 1 turn due to the Russian mobilization difference, this is probably a better move.

[Cpuncher]

Throughout the game, the Axis would blatantly leave his subs in the most predictable spot, e.g. 16 hexes away from the last known position on the same or nearby convoy line, sometimes even towards his last destroyed sub with a huge allied hunting party nearby, without any support of surface ships or land based aircraft. Unfortunately, in this game, the subs are not to be used in this way.

[FOARP]

BTW - the 200kb limit has been lifted on this forum (took quite a few asks to get this done BTW).

[LoneRunner]

ORIGINAL: Cpuncher

Throughout the game, the Axis would blatantly leave his subs in the most predictable spot, e.g. 16 hexes away from the last known position on the same or nearby convoy line, sometimes even towards his last destroyed sub with a huge allied hunting party nearby, without any support of surface ships or land based aircraft. Unfortunately, in this game, the subs are not to be used in this way.

My first thought was, wait a minute that's what I'm doing with my subs. Ouch.

Thank you for the screen shots and advice Cpuncher. I had a couple questions. Why was USSR DOWed in August and not spring 41? What caused the US to prepare for war so early? Couldn't have been just the DOW on USSR?
Lone

[Cpuncher]

ORIGINAL: FOARP

BTW - the 200kb limit has been lifted on this forum (took quite a few asks to get this done BTW).

I must apologize for the quality of the images. These are not due to the size limits. They were snipped from my original screenshots which were all taken on the lower magnification, to allow the coverage of the largest possible area per image, for my own reference. They were not intended for forum posting.

[Cpuncher]

ORIGINAL: LoneRunner

Why was USSR DOWed in August and not spring 41? What caused the US to prepare for war so early? Couldn't have been just the DOW on USSR?
Lone

I shall come to answer these once I elaborate the events that was to come before that.

[Cpuncher]

Oct 1939: Axis take Belgium with 2 tanks and a couple Corps, while the Allies discover 2 subs in one of the busiest Allied shipping area. One of them was eventually to be sunk and the other one got away.

[Cpuncher]

Nov 1939: For this game I wanted to try a total UK commitment in France. I would ship in as much as possible UK assets to defend France, hoping this may delay German progress long enough, even though we have a "no DOW Russia until 41" rule. I have tried this strategy in 1 previous game, though successful, wasn't enough to convince me that this is indeed a good choice.

Here is the first important lesson: This is bad choice, especially when playing against a good player. Although it did slow down the Germans somewhat, the cost to UK was humongous, which made her a very minimum factor for much of the rest of the game. This should only be used if there was not a 'no early Russia' rule.

Seen here I have shipped all the Egyptian force into France.

[Cpuncher]

Jan 1940: Germany eliminates a few French units defending the Belgium border and now face the UK line. How well can the British do in the face of the German onslaught?

[Cpuncher]

Meanwhile the Japs capture Changsha and eliminates 1 of the forts defending Chengchow.

[Cpuncher]

Mar 1, 1940: Half of the UK line is lost and the rest retreated to defend Paris herself, with the 1st Panzer reaching the outskirt.

[Cpuncher]

Meanwhile, Chengchow fell.

[Cpuncher]

April, 1940: After the bombing raids by the entire Luftwaffe (was good weather during Axis turn), and a couple daring Parachute drops, London fell.

This is the first major event that would shape the course of the war.

This came as a complete surprise, as after researching Fafnir's forum posts, I was under the impression that he would never do a Sealion. I didn't upgrade the AA of the garrison, nor London city. Luckily, I had a few units on the island to contain the paratroopers. The Axis had to use her entire air force for many turns afterwards to support the paras, which slowed down the progress in France.

The capture of London boosted German morale to an insane level (even at the end of the war, German NM was close to 110%), which helped to create all of the invincible German units that would kill anything in sight. It also mobilized Turkey and Spain greatly to the Axis side, who both eventually joined by additional Axis efforts. Both Turkey and Spain are extremely important to the Axis cause. TBH, later when Turkey was preparing for war, I thought I could have lost the game, as the Russian southern flank became wide open.

On the other hand, this also mobilized US from 35% to 53%, and Russia 22% to 45%. These are huge numbers, and they are early mobilizations, which would have their effects snowballed turn by turn. Now Russia has more than a year to have good income every turn to research and buy units. And USA would put in insane amount of research that when war broke out for her, she is very much ready to strike back.

It's hard to judge which side benefited more from this, though I"m inclined to say the Allies got more.

[Taifun]

Thank you very much Cpuncher for this detailed AAR! What a game and what a victory! I will follow closely this AAR between you and the King of WiE!!
This is huge! [&o]