4 Player Game AAR with new PBEM++

[rjh1971]

Hi all

We are starting a new AAR with the latest version of AWD that includes the new pbem++ system incorporated in all new other Matrix and Slitherine games.

Cveta (Germany) and Kondor (Japan) will be playing the evil Axis [;)], while Tim and me will be playing the "good guys". I will command the soviets and China and Tim the Western Allies.

Cveta is new to the game, Kondor used to play it when it was released in 2006 and was a very tough opponent but he has to relearn the game as it's been quite a time since he played. Tim is also an excellent player.

In the summer of 39 Cveta took Poland and Denmark as expected suffering no casualties. He tried a trade agreement with Switzerland but failed. Particularly I never waste my supply trying to achieve trade agreements, I believe they are not worth the cost.

Kondor took Foochow but since as I said he is a bit rusty, he forgot to repair the resource in the area as no supply was available.

As for my first turn as Russia, really nothing much I could do. I partly repaired the rail in Eastern Poland so I don't get negative modifiers when the Germans launch Barbarossa and I shifted one infantry also to Eastern Poland in order to force Germany to post more troops in Poland.



As for my production I invested in two research cheats and four supplies that will amount of 20 supply points. The idea is to send part of that supply to China and invest in spies to steal technology from any other side. Russia is technologically way behind Germany.





As for China I concentrated all Chinese forces in Changsa, but left the AA guns protecting the areas with factories. China won't be able to launch any offensive due to lack of supplies and good technology, but massing all its troops will make it harder for Japan. Hopefully the WA will bring more supply to China. Unless China is knocked out or crippled in the early stages of the game it can be a pain for Japan later on.

[rjh1971]

Autumn 39

Cveta failed to take Norway a brave militia unit was able to fend off the all mighty Wehrmacht, nonetheless the Low Countries were not so lucky and were invaded.

You can see the number of German troops left in TLC and positioned in Germany after the invasion. A bold attack into Germany could knock her out off the war if the Allies are lucky. It happened to me the first time I played against a human opponent. Germany will spawn six militia if it's attack.



Japanese bomber pilots were unable to drop their bombs on the factory but destroyed the only Chinese fighter, nonetheless before it went down they damaged a Japanese fighter.

As for Russia, supplies are being sent to China and more troops are moved to the border.

China will not have much to do. Also production in China is every three turns iirc, so no production until Spring 40.

[rjh1971]

Soviets spy network has already started gathering valuable data for our war effort.

[tcart]

I'm playing the Allies. I scrolled quickly through the other posts so as not to read secrets. But I see a lot more pictures than I have. Seems I'll have to up my AAR game.

The WA plan off the top is going to be pretty standard. I think they, above all other sides, can be conservative early and roll into their power as they go. My priorities are to keep the convoy routes open and my economy humming, hold the Middle East and wait for the US to come on line.

[tcart]

WA- Fall 1939 - Churchill rejoices! Norway holds out and the Brits have a Second Front already. Now my plans shift. I must garrison it strongly enough to make it a major pain in the ass for the Axis, especially if Finland enters the war. At this point if I was Germany I'd turn down a Finnish DOW just to prevent the WA from undermining the Eastern front.

It'll cost me in transports, but its a price worth paying.

All else is the standard phony war.

[kondor]

Japan airforce still struggles with bombing CH factories.
The entire airforce sent on a single province protected by one flak, and 0 hits.
I'm still contemplating SU or WA as primary targets. I'll have to make a decision soon.
Winter is upon us, not much movement.

[rjh1971]

Winter 40

Soviet war readiness goes over 10, production is increased x2.

Once it reaches 34 it will enter the war.



Consequences of failing to invade Norway was that it is now garrisoned by British troops and it will be an excellent air base to pound Germany with Strategic bombers.

Besides the two German Transport fleet that carried the German invasion force were an easy prey for the WA, both sunk.

In the next screen you can see the production for the turn of Wi40. This quarter the production output doubled. The units in circle are the ones that have started being produced in the Wi40. The others will be ready this turn. The battleship in the production queue is on hold, not worth the cost yet.



Research chits were invested in developing better defense and attack factors for infantry, armour and fighters, the remaining one for improving AA attack in Flak units.

At the end of the turn evasion value for armour was increased from 6 to 7, and spies keep stealing technology.



As for China nothing much that can be done, moved five supplies received from the USSR closer to the front.

[tcart]

The Western Allies are still facing screenshot issues. But I'm making progress. The images from our other players should give you the situation.

So far it's the standard WA opening plus Norway.

France survives the winter because the weather modifier presumably scared off the Germans. As it probably should. She will fall next turn and I'm not interested in risking the BEF against superior German troops.

My research did manage to push the WA infantry evasion from 4 to 5 in time, so we'll be a little harder to hit.

My main focus is on preparing for what happens next. I have merchant ships in the production queue in case the Germans really invest in Uboats. I'm also sinking research into ASW. Next turn I'll start to do so for heavy bombers as well.

As far as deployments, I'm prepared to kick the Italians out of Ethiopia and deploy a strong enough garrison to Egypt to make it a tough nut to crack. In my experience, if the Germans really push hard they can still take it, but doing so will pull a lot of troops from the Russian front, which is a win for the Allies.

I've left enough naval force to protect the sea lanes up north and sent everyone else south to fight Italy. In a perfect world I will wipe out or neutralize the Italian fleet and then redeploy to the Pacific to press Japan from both sides.

Note that capital ships burn huge amounts of supplies if they move more than half their MP in a single turn. So I'm starting to load up Gibraltar for the offensive and I got everyone in position slowly.

The only other development of note is advance planning for WA production. Two things are relevant: first, build your big, long term units first. So the US invests in carriers, paratroopers, and heavy bombers. Infantry can come later when my industry is rolling.

Also build in blocks of 5. For every 5 units you have in production or on the map your research requirement jumps a notch. So try to avoid having six of something. You're paying more for research and upgrading.

Carriers are key to the Pacific. I'll soon start investing in CAG tech too. If you build in the SW USA remember to build fighters there too or you'll be vulnerable to a San Diego Pearl Harbor.

Paras are great for D-Day. They really help you get ashore and once you have them in the UK you force the Germans to garrison the west a lot more heavily, helping the Russians. Or, if they don't see the threat, you can launch a Dieppe style raid that might only last a turn or two but which can cause massive damage to German infrastructure and force them to redeploy from Russia.

I haven't owned Norway at this point before. Note to Axis players, use your paras and your inf to attack. Staging my paras and bombers there might be fun. It'll be a thorn in the German side no matter what.

Plus, the loss of German transports means I don't fear Sealion. This makes Egypt much easier to defend.

[kondor]

I'm still struggling with the airforce.
My first wave missed an undefended railway.
Then my second wave (3CAG-s + 1 heavy) on the defended railway, and got shot down by the hero flak unit.
I don't get why my CAG-s are attacking with 3 dice instead 4, while my HB-s are correctly attacking with 3?
Well, I've damaged the railway and suffered 2 damaged CAG-s (one of them was a veteran unit).

[kondor]

If it's some modifier taking -1 dice from attack, why aren't the HB-s impacted as well?

[kondor]

I've decided to connect the coast, so I've attacked the Liuchow, w/o losses there.
Will China have enough balls (and supplies) to launch a counterattack?

Air units have me puzzled, I'll have to get back to the manual for some more clues.

Chinese partisans appeared in one province and knocked out my resource point, the yellow warning didn't go off, or I've missed it?

And on that terrible disappointment, we are sending over the rains to our enemies. [:D]

[rjh1971]

Spring 40

Nothing much to report, an artillery unit moved to Eastern Poland, I wonder if Germany's garrison of four units is enough. Soviet war readiness jumped from 11 to 16.

Goran if you get a red human symbol that's a warning your are not meeting the garrison conditions.

In China lack of supplies prevents any action. One rail damaged for two CAGs hit is a great victory against the invading Japs.

[tcart]

WA Spring 1940

France falls as expected. My strategy here, as usual, is to avoid getting sucked into a losing battle and instead to be prepared for the next phase of battle. You can't win at this stage, but you can lose

Several Free French naval units flee to England. That's a nice bonus.

[tcart]

Otherwise, we're waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Most WA production now is going into long-term assets and research. If I was feeling more pressure on the uboat front or on land I'd have to divert to transports and land units. IMO the Germans need to do something to keep the WA from a free run to build as they please. Otherwise 1943 is going to be tough.

Here's the WA build strategy. Note paras, carriers, and bombers.

[rjh1971]

ORIGINAL: kondor

If it's some modifier taking -1 dice from attack, why aren't the HB-s impacted as well?

I think this is because they CAGs are operating at their maximum of their autonomy (2 areas) and they get a negative modifier.

[kondor]

Ty Rafael, that might be it.
Again some half results from the railway bombing campaign in China.
Managed to destroy railway where there were no enemy units, but failed to do so (despite the odds) on the area where are enemy units.
I'm running out of time.

[rjh1971]

Su 40 USSR + China

The Polish border keeps being reinforced. This usually is a risky bet an experience German player would most probably wipe all forces in Eastern Poland or isolate and decimate them in the next turn.



Soviet war readiness increased another 5 points, now at 21.

Soviets keep investing in research, they are way behind the Germans and they need to be even in technology or it could be a disaster in the combat field.

Take a look at the values in the next images:

Infantry



Armour



Artillery

[kondor]

I suppose that the German progress research info is visible due to the spies action?
As this is a learning game, I've looked into the WA data, and WA arty at 8 already is a real concern to the IJ forces.[X(]

[tcart]

WA Summer 1940

The Axis proceed in a predictable fashion. He's had some bad luck in Italy only joining now. I can see this by moving my cursor over Italy. Though shaded neutral, it says 'Axis' in the popup.

Looking to cause the Germans headaches and having the luxury of an extra transport I can burn, I beefed up the Malta garrison. All other things being equal, next turn I should have air cover over the Central Med, allowing me to stack a big fleet there and block Libya. Or trigger a huge battle under advantageous conditions.

If the Germans want to counter this they'll need to throw a ton of air power into Italy, hopefully messing up Barbarossa. Or at least creating some attrition.

Everything else is business as usual. The Allies build up slowly and start to commit more resources to research and espionage.

[kondor]

IJ airforce continued their bad streak, 3 tactical bombers + 2 HB-s vs militia & flak, no hits.
Maybe I just should disband them?