4 Player AAR with new PBEM - Game 3

[kondor]

Furthermore, I've decided to take an additional risk by splitting my forces in Kharkov. I've sent a smaller detachment to Odessa, that move will allow me to threaten Rumanian oil fields next turn.
But, of course, Tim will surely defend it well.

That move was a difficult one, Germans can decide to go an all-in winter attack on Kharkov, and maybe they even win it. But at a terrible cost + that way, they risk being cut off far in advance.
My Odessa detachment could get easily overruned, but then my Kharkov army could retaliate.

My reasoning was that even Germans can't push on three different juicy targets presented to them. Tim will have to pick one, or two.

[kondor]

It is worth mentioning that last turn (SU 41), WA managed to damage/destroy several submarines. Now that will be harder to achieve as their defense is on 4 already! Tim has been investing a lot in subs, and I'm happy about it (unless crazy GE scientists find a way to give them tracks and guns [X(]).

Here is the current IJ production. Rafael has managed to build 6 CV-s, and one extra CAG for replacement.
I'm happy about GE superior panzer units being lowered (from 14?-15?) to 10 operational units.
Germany has an unusually high number of FT-s, does Tim still consider a late Sea Lion? With high investment in subs, and solid transport fleet numbers - it could be.

[kondor]

Rafael is ready to launch the war against the USA.
6 CV-s are in a position that may be historically correct, but in-game it leads me to believe he'll go for US east coast. CV-s frozen there are juicier targets than Pearl is.

17 TF-s confirms that theory. Supplies are here, everything is ready for the attack.

[tcart]

Germany Winter 42

Things don't look good for the Germans on the Eastern Front. I pretty much botched the initial attack, and Kondor has done a great job being aggressive with his units. My only choice this turn was to retake Belorussia, but again at a higher cost than I'd like. Mostly I hit MIL. What a waste.

The Germans are now spread out and it will take some time to build up a concentrated force. Hopefully the winter attack won't be too bad. Seems to me the Russian winter bonus doesn't apply to Rumania, which is threatened. I'm hoping he doesn't have good odds anywhere.

My position in the west is better. Japan will likely enter the war soon. Hopefully this turn as the US WR is almost at war. Between the two of us I'm hoping we can wreck the WA economy, keeping them from pressuring Germany too much.

My only other bright spot is that I'm slowly rolling up decent tech advantages. If I can keep ahead in key areas, I may get a second wind in 1942 while the Allies are still on their heels.

But this is not where Germany wants to be at this point in the game.

[kondor]

You've attacked my tank units and destroyed militias? Last turn I've upgraded their def to 8, but if you have used your panzers, I was fortunate.
Tim we want pictures! [:D]

Edit: I am not aware that Rumania is excluded from the first SU bonus, I'll have to find out. Thx for the heads up.

[rjh1971]

Wi42 Japan

As we already stated Japan running out of patience, and ultimatum was sent to the US to lift up the embargo. Silence was the reply to this fair request and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Japan will now seek it own oil sources, in order to do so the US navy has to be eliminated. A lone destroyer TF was sent to scout the US West Coast and landed secret agents. T
They astonishingly reported CVs were anchored in the harbour but no air cover was expected as no fighters were seen in any nearby airports.
This determined all Japans CVs heading for the West Coast to try to cripple the US CVs and a amazing victory was achieved. They were fully destroyed. Japan suffered only minor losses.

CVs then sailed towards Hawaii to blockade the PH US fleet. Spies reported they were awaiting a supply convoy, after the last naval training operations stocks of supplies were depleted. This will not take place as the glorious Japanese navy is patrolling the sea routes to Hawaii. PH fleet is a sitting duck and it will be a matter of time before it is taken care of...

To be able to give air cover to our CVs in the Hawaii area, taking Midway was a must. Militia units came all the way from China to take the tiny island. Fighters were next to come.

Next was the transport sea lane that linked the USA with Australia, merchants vessels were hit and sunk all along the whole sea route.

In South East Asia operations were carried out to secure vital raw material centers. Philippines, Sarawak, Malaysia, and Sumatra were all occupied. Five resource centers were brought back to it maximum capacity. Japan production capacity has increased 38,5%, totalling 18 production points. Same as previous to the embargo.

East India factory was raided and damaged.

Situation at the start of the turn.



West Coast attack



CAG damaged in the production queue. Number of turn to be repaired is random, it could be one more or one less than it actually is (iirc)



Operations carried out this turn

[kondor]

Tim has successfully denied any targets for my winter attack (I've considered attacking Rumania, but the winter penalty is probably not applied to them. The odds were 4:1).
So, I've taken Kiev (smashed up the production there). At least something good has come out of it.
Retreated on other fronts as well.
Come spring the Germans will be knocking again, this time we'll be prepared for them.

[kondor]

The only area where GE has tech advantage (if we exclude navy and airforce) is infantry.
My artillery is at 9, tanks at 8/8, and we are closing the gap on infantry & FT.

This was partly credited to the constant stealing of tech (mostly from GE).

[kondor]

We can thank CH for the IJ production records.
IJ has heavily invested in its navy, and it only now can defer some of the resources to building troops.

Rafael has completed a beautiful attack [&o], but we'll see what will he do next. From now it's a blank page.
I'm aware that WA is under heavy pressure, and I'll do anything in my power to help Goran.

[kondor]

IJ was happy about his 18-pts opening, well it's 17 now.
Chinese launched a successful attack on the Foochow region. It was over 70% chance of success, and I was pleased to see it went well.
This will be a minor annoyance to production & transport. But these small victories pile up, especially vs Japan.
Rafael will have to garrison the remaining regions with more troops, meaning fewer troops available for SU/India/Australia.

[rjh1971]

Sp42 Japan

I have to congratulate Dalibor on his excellent attack on Foochow. It has somewhat upset Japans expansion plans but fortunately the WA are in no position yet to oppose IJN. The US has set up a new base in the south east of the Pacific, subs and a Light Fleet were already sent to cripple the transport vessels, nonetheless our spies report that this time supply depos are not empty, they also report a bomber squadron has been stationed in the islands.

In China an all out attack was executed against Chinese army in Foochow, chances of achieving a victory were around 8% but it is more about attrition than regaining the lost area. Pity was that units hit were not those that were disembarked and two more inf units and a paratroop were further damaged. China can not afford a long queue of units it is factories while Japan can replace its losses quite fast at this stage. Japan had 28 population in reserve.

True that research plans had to be put on hold but we are optimistic there will be funds in the next term to improve our heavy bombers land attack.

India's factories were targeted but I guess cloudy weather mislead our brave aviators and could not drop their load of bombs with accuracy. Nonetheless British fighter opposition was smashed.

Borneo was taken and one of its resources is fully operational again.

Combats this turn



Production queue



Production output

[tcart]

Germany Spring 42

Sorry for being out of order. Time is short here, and Rafael moves fast.

Germany congratulates Japan on a fantastic offensive.

In Europe, things are less well, but there's still hope. Africa and Asia are cut off from Allied factories, which surely will hurt the American economy long term. Uboats rule the atlantic, at least for now.

The German army concentrates, at least as much as Russian rail will allow. The one thing about basing in Belorussia is that it forces the Russians to defend a lot of potential targets. Where will the Germans go???

[kondor]

SP 42 SU
Dance with the Germans continues.
Troops were shuffled around, to Odessa, Kharkov. Moscow and Leningrad received reinforcement as well.
First tanks from the Ural factories have rolled out from factories.
The stage is set for massive engagements. Who will pull the trigger first?

Chinese withdraw from the coastal province they've gained the last turn.

[tcart]

Germany Summer 42

Lots of action on all fronts. With the Russians dividing their forces, I decided it was now or never to take a bite out of the Red Army. I think Rumania and Belorussia can hold. Everything else was thrown into Kursk. I took the region but got lousy results as far as damage went. The projections were 22 - 6. Final damage was more like 16-9.

Will the Russians launch a mass counterattack, and will it do enough damage? German commanders are concerned. But I had few other options. With the WA on their heels I'm hoping that the Russian economy won't stand up to attrition warfare and the need for mass supplies.

[tcart]

In other news, the Afrika Korps is dispatched to Libya. Russian train nets stink, and with Cairo cut off due to uboats I'm optimistic about tidying up the Middle East and meeting Japan somewhere near the Pakistan border.

The naval war also continues apace. A few more transports are sunk, and it's very gratifying to see Allied escorts take losses chasing my uboats around.

But the big news is the Luftwaffe out of France puts a hurt on a British Carrier. The Ark Royal goes down, at least for a while. Allied transport numbers are now low, and many are trapped in port.

My spies do a nice job of sniffing out Allied production orders, too. All that money sunk into espionage pays off!

[rjh1971]

Hi guys, I just noticed we're playing without FOW [&:][:D][:D][:D]

[rjh1971]

[/quote]

My spies do a nice job of sniffing out Allied production orders, too. All that money sunk into espionage pays off!

A waste of resources FOW is off [:'(][:'(][:'(][:D]

[rjh1971]

Summer 42 Japan

I thought spies had revealed the area where Goran (WA) had place a Light Fleet and two transport ships, but then I wondered how I could be seeing his CVs in the area behind and that's what made me check if FOW was on, which was not.
This is a handicap for all players since no surprise attacks can be planned as deployment of forces are seen...

Anyway I split my CVs into two TFs one attacked the Light Fleet and Transports and the other stayed in Hawaii. The Allied CVs TF was not attacked as I would have left my CVs stranded in the middle of the Pacific outside the supply chain.

The US sub was attacked by a veteran Light Fleet and sent back to docks for repairs.



In the South Java and New Zealand were both invaded. The Light Fleet in Jave was bombed previous to invasion to avoid it from reaching a safe port in Australia.



Foochow was not invaded as lack of supplies prevented further operations. We shall deal with that little problem later on.

Our Heavy Bombers were improved with a higher bomb load capacity and better sights...

[kondor]

I thought spies had revealed the area where Goran (WA) had place a Light Fleet and two transport ships, but then I wondered how I could be seeing his CVs in the area behind and that's what made me check if FOW was on, which was not.

Hm, there is something wrong here then, as I clearly remember that I had to send my submarine and HB to scout for enemy positions-earlier in this game.[&:]

[Joel Billings]

I downloaded what says it is the "initial file", which I assume is how the game was created. It comes up in 1939 with FOW/Advanced Supply/Auto Supply. Is that how you think the game was started? I'll have to ask Erik/Karl about this.