Fall Grau 2.28 Jeremy (Axis) vs. Ben (Allies)

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 17
The turn has most of the elements of a good turn. Up around Quebec Ben continues a partial withdrawal, though he killed the Infantry Division that went out on a limb. I break out over the St. Lawrence just north of Montreal cutting the supply line of a number of Allied Divisions. I hope to drive south on the East side of Montreal as that should make it comparatively easy to cut the city off.

In Alabama very little of the Allied forces cut off here manage to escape and are instead destroyed this turn with Axis forces, especially mechanized forces charging forward just south of the Tennessee River. My target is Memphis and then a drive north to Paducah. Birmingham is cut from supplies this turn.
To the south of here Ben, once again manages to scrounge enough to cut off my beachhead but it, nonetheless continues to expand, cutting off some of the dribs and drabs he is using in turn. I am doubtful Ben will be able to keep me cut of by next turn. I’m playing very aggressive here landing three Panzer Divisions to hopefully allow me to exploit through what has so far been really just a screen for a defense. New Orleans is cut from supplies this turn but I still need to find the forces to assault it. Here again the target is Memphis and maybe I also encircle some Allied forces when the drive from here and the drive along the Tennessee meet – but I would not expect to net much. Ben has had time to get out of the area.
The West remains my problem area with Ben smashing up the far western flank again. I manage to cut off Oklahoma this turn but I sort of suspect that the Tired Panzer Division that achieved the feat might not be so long for this world.

I like the movement I am achieving and while the loss rates are jumping they are not really moving apart much. My biggest concern at the moment is that the Axis can feel like they are absolutely devastatingly awesome and then one day the have run out of steam and the Allies have gathered enough power to just stop them and ultimately gather the steamroller together to drive them back. So far Ben has denied me any real victories.

[Edit: In retrospect I think I am being a little hard on myself in terms of thinking I never win any battles... The destruction of an Allied force north of Birmingham does count as some kind of a victory even if it is not as large as I would like]

Atlanta: 80%

Axis reserves run out in the West.

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[golden delicious]

Turn 17:
Still in a bit of a crisis mode. Three of my US divisions nearest the St. Lawrence are out of supply this turn, as Jeremy crossed the river along much of its length. I think the best way out is through, but this is going to be ugly- and disastrous if I get early turn ending. My Commonwealth troops continue to withdraw south towards the Ottawa River, with Montreal now on the front line. The spare troops released hit SS Totenkopf, which is driving towards the gap between the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, which I need time to block. To the north, Jeremy assumed I completely evacuated Malartic and rushes up with an unsupported Alpini division, but I still have a reserve here and am able to smash it accordingly.

In the southeast, Jeremy is rushing to link up across the Mississippi, which is quite urgent as his lead troops here have already been three turns without supply, but he's not quite fast enough and I'm able to keep the bag around this force another turn. Many of these units are complete messes, and accordingly my armoured reserve hits the lead division, 9. Panzer. This will have to be a quick exercise, however, as Jeremy is converging from multiple directions here. I continue preparing the line along the Tennessee and out toward Memphis but I'm still a few pieces short here.

Jeremy continues to push in Oklahoma, this turn fully encircling the city itself and destroying the lead division from my flanking move last turn. I may keep saying just one more turn for some time but... just one more turn. I'll try to take advantage of the continued poor supply situation for the Axis and see if I can't kill SS Wiking, which is exposed north of Oklahoma City, as well as hammering the western flank of the line, where most of the Axis units are unsupplied from last turn.

Much violence. I clear the path south along the St. Lawrence, hammering multiple German units along the way and shoving them all back over the river- though hoped for overstacking evaporations don't appear. In Mississippi, I smash 9. Panzer, then move across and do the same to the Herman Goering division- which actually evaporates. It's too bad that this can't go on because it's fun. Oklahoma is more mixed (due to the now very battered condition of my own troops) and a key Tiger brigade resists three rounds of hammering and I'm forced to attack SS Wiking directly. Ironically the Tiger brigade does then evaporate, and to be fair Wiking is now a wreck, too. I do have to pull out of this front soon, though, as with my reinforcements dried up I am just wearing down the same units turn after turn and it's really showing. It's OK as long as the Germans are the same way, but any fresh troops that show up are very hard to stand up to.

I can't decide which way this is going. My replacements are at a staggering 80% still and I do feel like I've outfought Jeremy and my army is in a very good condition, with some heavy losses for the Axis. On the other hand, Jeremy will get Birmingham and probably New Orleans next turn, which brings me down to 65%, and then Mobile, Oklahoma City and Montreal are all on the chopping block probably for the next five turns, which will (with the replacements boost on turn 20) leave me at 71%. OK, not great. Then there's replacements. I'm now really burning through the Rifle AT- Squad pool: I've lost 3,000 squads in just the last two turns, which really is not sustainable. Even if things slow down a bit and my replacements remain broadly steady, I'm still looking at reaching the bottom of this replacements pool very soon- perhaps as early as turn 25. That means I need to move to a more defensive posture or risk running out of units. Hopefully pulling out of Oklahoma in the next turn or two will help with this. Of course Jeremy is really driving his force hard, too: I don't think any mechanised divisions have gone back to rest since landing, and it shows. Axis loss penalty at 66 is seriously high for this point in the scenario. Mine's low at 75- but that'll change when those squads run out.

Allied forces get back to a more defensible line in the northeast

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 18
We will see but I’m not so happy with developments this turn. I search out and find a spotted hex and decide to go for an airdrop in Quebec. I’m lucky enough to get the paratroopers on the ground… mostly in good order but am a whole lot less happy when I realize just how much of an Allied Army stands between my forces and the paratroopers. I’d never have dropped them if I had realized the mountain I was going to have to climb here. I throw everyone into the fray trying to cut off a large chunk of Ben’s forces but I fail. There is a thin line of connected hexs still supply most of his forces. I get a little somewhere on one small part of the front and maybe, just maybe I can save some of the Airborne Divisions. Really after that I might well have to simply shut the front down for a short while because I have burned my own units out in the desperate fighting.

The South looks to be the only front where I think everything is coming together. Birmingham falls and the Panzertruppen continue to race West of the city heading for Memphis and a link up with the forces coming out of the south – which Ben did cut off again this turn. I think he can’t do that again and none to soon as the troops on this beachhead are really beginning to whither though they are blitzing forward as Ben is mostly just screening me. However, he counter attacked and destroyed the Herman Goring Panzer Grenadier Division on his turn with an Armoured concentration – one which probably escapes this turn but I am hoping I can actually catch.

In the West I am mostly trying to shore up defenses but I managed to surround Oklahoma again and given that the defenders where already out of supply attacked. Sadly I had already dug a bunch of my forces in before this move occurred to me and I did not quite succeed. This leaves an SS Panzer Division kind of hanging.

Once more I went for landing 3 Panzers on the southern beachhead since they can race north quickly from here and another two German Infantry Divisions to help try and stabilize the Western Front. I think this is the last turn I do this however as I need to get back to landing mostly Infantry which is really beginning to stack up.

The Loss Rate swings in Ben’s favour this turn – I think partly because I have had so many units cut off for so long but also because my desperate attacks where more costly than I would have liked.

I’m taking Industrial Cities at a reasonable clip now but all I am really doing is keeping myself out of the completely screwed zone when Ben gets another boost on turn 20.

The real disappointment here is the airdrop – I feel like this game is slowly sliding away from me and I generally do well with airdrops and have even completely turned games around with them. This, however, is a fiasco where all I can really hope for is that I might manage to get some of these units out alive.

Absolutely desperate fighting as the Germans try and save the airbourne which has gotten itself way to far out on a limb.

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[golden delicious]

Turn 18:
Here we go. Jeremy landed four airborne divisions behind my US line in the northeast, but tragically for Jeremy his land assault failed and only a couple of divisions are out of supply. Still- the situation is pretty bad and it's going to take some fancy footwork to rescue my trapped troops, and plenty of them are in reorganisation so may be doomed no matter what. The other good fortune is that my withdrawal from the Canadian flank leaves me with several good divisions loose in the rear which now swing around and block the immediate route south of Jeremy where he's made his breach.

The jig is up in the south, with massive Axis forces converging from every direction. I extract the majority of my surviving forces fairly easily, although about three divisions are forced to stand for a turn at Tupelo, a few hexes ahead of my main line, while two of my armoured divisions elect to withdraw through 11. Panzer, which is still unsupplied. Jeremy is testing every bridge over the Tennessee, but every bridge is blocked by good troops and most of them fortified.

The game is up, too, in Oklahoma City, with the city cut off again, so it's time to get out, but again an awful lot of units are in reorganisation. Well... actually I think I can get everything back except for one armoured division, which is possibly the best I can hope for. Three divisions rail immediately to the northeast to ensure I can staunch the flow here. Of the rest, four infantry divisions slip over the Arkansas River and will prepare a defence along the super river line here, the bulk of the armour (turns out less than five intact divisions, whoops) stands for now at Independence, Kansas to block the open ground north of the Arkansas, and the cavalry (less one division which is trapped) and the other units on the western fringe of the line move out to the Oklahoma Panhandle, where they can either interfere with moves to the west or rail off to another front, depending on my needs. Also on this front I have a total of fourteen fighter units; the bulk of these also go to the northeast, likely giving me local air superiority here as Jeremy is still short of airfields near the front.

Not exactly dazzling results from my counterattacks in the northeast. All the divisions are either mauled, cut off or both, but none are actually destroyed. My main advantage here is that Jeremy simply does not seem to have much of his strength east of the St. Lawrence: everything is piling up to assault across the river and here is where I have significant armour. The other point is that I really do have an awful lot of pieces here and a fair number coming up. On top of this, Jeremy's own force is spent: I see divisions going into the attack that are at perhaps 1/3 of their nominal strength.

Above all, it's a relief that the high intensity action of the last 3-4 turns is now at an end, with what was going to be lost in the southeast largely gone already, and the battle in Oklahoma over. I badly need losses to drop from 1,500 Rifle AT- squads per turn to more like 500, a rate which I would be able to sustain for 30 turns rather than 3. It's good that any further attacks by Jeremy in the south must land on the National Guard, a force which as it stands could be replaced three times over with room to spare.

The new Allied centre- for the first time, a continuous line straddling the Mississippi

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 19
OK well that was not really nearly so bad as I had feared. Ben does not manage to kill a single Airbourne Division on his turn. He only seemed to get a couple of rounds and had to redeploy a lot to surround them. Plus, apparently a lot of his good Armoured Divisions chose this turn to go into reorganization. With desperate and bloody attacks I essentially bludgeon the Allies back to make the Airbourne Divisions simply a part of the line. They are still vulnerable if Ben can orchestrate a creative and successful counter attack but I have them on minimize losses so if they are attacked they should just run away and unless Ben manages to surround them first I don’t think he catches them.

At this point, on this front, I think I pretty much just need to go back onto the defencive. Ben is very strong here and my forces are completely worn out. I land a few Italian Divisions this turn but they are really just here because the rail line has expanded. The Finns are about to show up. Originally, I was going to land a bunch of Italians here but that got sidelined by the southern Beachhead and now I think it will be Finns and eventually Swedes up here.

[Edit: The Finns are about to show up – they are not likely to land for many turns however as there is not nearly enough sea transport]

In the south the pincers come together but all I manage to get are a handful of Allied Divisions. Ben has managed to put together a line in front of Memphis consisting of mostly the National Guard. However, his entire Western line just vanished, and I am pretty much certain that he is racing the vast majority of his forces in the West to this Memphis line. My hoped for coup de main on Memphis is looking increasingly unlikely and while I have a powerful army here now that the forces coming off the beachhead and the ones advancing east have combined my supply line remains far to the rear and I’ll likely face difficulties in getting forward.

Abandoning the West makes some since. I’m actually pretty weak out here as a fair number of units were drawn into the battle East of the Mississippi. My units are also burnt the heck out. I don’t think I really move them for the next two turns as I try and gulp down the supplies from Oklahoma. Nonetheless even as Ben shifts his forces I plan to shift mine with the West becoming the primary recipient of reinforcements for some turns to come. There are a lot of worthwhile targets I can advance against from here and the reality is I have to. Despite taking Oklahoma and Mobile this turn all I have actually done is maintained the status quo in terms of the Allied replacement rate. It remains high and even my taking New Orleans won’t change that all that much. Ben has me on a clock and I need to take down a bunch of Allied Industrial cities over the next 10 turns. Most of the obvious ones on the chopping block can be reached from the West if I can get the forces to launch these offencives. Though there are a number of tertiary operations. I’m clearing out Florida which should be completed shortly. The Panzertruppen that landed went to the West but one of the German Infantry Divisions is being sent to the front in Virginia and I hope to keep trickling reinforcements this way in order to eventually capture Norfolk.

For only the second time in the match the Loss Rate swings my way substantially – though I think much of that is the fact that so many of my units were cut off on the Beachhead for so long and now that they are back in supply they are gorging on replacements.

Birmingham: 72%

The Axis Pincers finally meet south of Memphis

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[golden delicious]

Turn 19:
Jeremy cuts through to his paratroops, destroying the divisions which were isolated forward. His forces are, however, at the extremity of their strength and so I'll be counterattacking while at the same time preparing the new line to protect the northeast. To the west, I pull out of the dangerous strip of land between the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, preparing instead a position between the Ottawa and Lake Ontario, and another on the south bank of the St. Lawrence, with Montreal now at the northwestern tip of a fairly narrow salient protruding from New York state. I've neglected it in the AAR- but two Commonwealth armoured divisions have been dancing around at Malartic routing Italian troops coming up towards this position on the two rail routes. This turn, they run into a German division, so this party may be over shortly.

Jeremy follows up aggressively in the south, putting my forces at Tupelo out of supply, though they are able to worm their way back toward the line and I'll counterattack the lead Panzer division here to try to ensure their safe return. The position in front of Memphis tragically is not completely ready as the Germans arrive, with only one hex fortified, but the good condition of these troops should help and, besides, I'm prepare to lose these units (2nd National Guard Army) if I have to as they're so eminently replaceable. I'd say there will definitely be an assault here as I see no less than twelve German mechanised divisions coming up here. The west flank is most vulnerable, and here I reinforce with two first class divisions of regulars which were withdrawn from Oklahoma last turn [Jeremy's speculation that the whole western front is headed here isn't accurate, but some of them are]. As the Germans follow up to this line, they expose the southeastern flank of the position I have along the Arkansas river, so I start to prepare positions on the White River slightly to the north; I can then pull back from the lower portion of the Arkansas when this is ready, but all these positions will be temporary as I expect to be forced out of Memphis which will push everything back to the Mississippi-Missouri

Speaking of which, looking further upstream the position at Fort Smith is already turned, as there's no super river to the west of here, so the three divisions here will pull back further to the rough ground to the northeast. This also has the virtue of reducing the length of unprotected river frontage in my south rear here. I then extend this position as a screen of two divisions through Joplin, Missouri, to connect with my resting armour in south Kansas, giving me a more or less continuous position as far as Wichita. Out to the west, my two remaining cavalry divisions scout forward and easily eliminate two Colombian cavalry regiments. I take two more divisions out from the ex-Army of Oklahoma, one each for the northeast and for Memphis, while reconstitutes continue to trickle in to the parts of my river line that are still incomplete. So many of these units are broken down and it would be good to gather together some to rebuild full divisions, but even the full divisions are a bit sad: 17th Infantry that reconstituted this turn has no engineers, no AA guns and 14 out of 100 authorised artillery pieces.

Still no indication of any advance toward Mexico. I currently have no less than fourteen Mexican divisions screening Monterrey, but it's questionable if they could be doing better work elsewhere, as they are both fragile and non-reconstituting. Well; two of these divisions do reconstitute and I have them forward here and will probe forward with them at some point. The Mexican irregulars (which also reconstitute) form in five turns and these can be used more freely, too. In the meantime I continue to accumulate mobile Mexican units here while sending the infantry to the Pacific to release the last few US regulars on the coast there. I'm sort of reluctant to bring out the two European divisions that are currently in the northwest as these don't reconstitute either.

Not too bad. I was able to cut off and destroy Folgore and the IX Fliegerkorps HQ. This is not irrelevant as it will significantly increase the time it takes for the remaining German airborne divisions to recover. Sadly the other three airborne divisions get away, and I can expect to see them again in another ten turns or so, but this brings to an end the crisis on this part of the map. I hope to now hold Jeremy at arm's length from my intended new line for a couple of turns while everyone digs in; hopefully during that time he will continue to furiously attack with his already battered divisions (SS Das Reich is now a 6-5). Jeremy took Mobile as well as Oklahoma City this turn so my Turn 20 replacements will be 87%, to fall soon after when he clears New Orleans. Surely he must also get Montreal quite soon, though Jeremy hates to attack Reserve divisions if he thinks they might retreat and then be re-used elsewhere.

The plains. Two divisions of Cavalry in the Oklahoma panhandle are the only Allied force between Wichita and Albuquerque

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 20
I don’t love this turn, though what I try and do actually mostly works. The problem is I am mostly just sitting around doing nothing. This really benefits the Allies but do nothing seems like my best option at the moment.

Ben counter attacked on his turn in Canada and managed to surround and kill one of the Italian Paratrooper Divisions and kill the HQ unit for the Paratroops. All in all, considering the fiasco that looked like it was going to be I think I got off pretty lightly. The airbourne remain a viable force for another try at some point. I do manage to really screw up as I decide to withdraw an Italian HQ from this front (they are valuable due to their artillery component and it was not doing anything on this front) but I make a long move with the unit and it decides to sail by some coast guns and is obliterated. This leaves me swearing to myself as I should have been more careful – this was just careless.

Not sure Canada is the place though. Ben is strong here already and I am surprised to see him send another two American Divisions to this front. I suppose from his perspective I actually shoved forward a fair bit in the last few turns. From my perspective I burnt out my whole army advancing 3-4 hex rows and captured a lot of not very important real estate. It was necessary to save the paratroopers but I fall back onto the defensive here. The rail lines are near the front and I should manage to resupply these forces… Unless Ben decides to go for a heavy counter attack of his own. I am definitely curious about what he will do here. He might primarily just dig in himself or he might start trying to pressure me on this front. As it stands I land a German Infantry Division here – first real forces I have landed here in some time but I want to relieve a Mechanized Division that has gotten itself stuck on flank guard duty.

Out on the flank here Ben has a couple of good Armoured Divisions that have been harassing – well beating the snot out of really – a couple of Italian Infantry Divisions. Not really planning on doing anything about this.

My new Infantry Division arrives on the Virginia front and another is sent this way. I’m getting a tad more aggressive here this turn but Ben still has a really good Armoured Division and some reserves of his own so it might be a while before things progress here – and if Ben can find yet more reserves they might not progress at all – but I am hoping that just about the point when Ben needs to find reserves for this area I will be threatening enough other points of valuable real estate that he won’t be in a position to do that.

The front near Memphis is the only area of really heavy fighting this turn. I don’t manage to catch everything I cut off but I get the Armoured Division at least. I also storm New Orleans which was a pleasant surprise. I had not expected to take it until next turn but the Chilean Navy really came through here (made this a flanking attack).

I also blast a solid hole in the National Guard defenses in front of Memphis. I know Ben has been moving what was the Western Army into the area (though I don’t know how much of that army is being sent here). While I have a pretty sizable force here most of my Panzers are pretty burned out. I am hoping that I have just enough strength to take Memphis, by which time the supply line should be just about up here and I can pause to rest and refit all these divisions.

The West is already mostly doing the refit thing. I kill a cut off Allied Armoured Division that must have been in reorg when Ben withdrew but otherwise try and just stay still to get the maximum supply. Meanwhile two Panzer Divisions and a bunch of Italians land here. The Panzers because I really want to get a powerful strike forces together in the West. There are just so many targets I want to try for but not enough units to do so.

The Italians because my western flank is very weak and on turn 24 Ben will get a bunch of Mexican Irregulars. Plus I have not seen the Mexican Army so far this match. Ben might make a play for my flank and if he does I’d rather it not be covered by a regiment every three hexs. Plus I don’t want Germans getting drawn out of position to deal with this.

Speaking of Italians Florida is cleared out this turn.

Also there is a speech event which will cause a lot of guerrilla activity for the next few turns – however my supply line is completely covered so it should not be a real issue.

All in all its not the worst turn but strategically it is concerning. I’ve stopped over far to much of the front and even With New Orleans falling Ben’s replacement rate remains very high.

Allied Production Boost: 108%
Mobile: 97%
Oklahoma: 87%

Loss Rate: Axis: 57 / Allies: 101 / Spread: 44

Axis Overview Turn 20

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[golden delicious]

Turn 20:
Chomp chomp. As expected, Jeremy eats through my National Guard line in front of Memphis. Well actually this is not so bad. He advanced on a front three hexes wide but only one hex deep. The chewed up units are mostly still in a fair condition and I have reserves behind the line which will now hit back at Jeremy's rather battered panzers while everyone digs in again.

In the northeast, Jeremy seems to have gone to an operational pause, apparently suspending all his attacks to rest his battered troops, while probably redeploying some of his strength to the west. Well, I have a lot of power here and he's exposed in a couple of interesting places, so if he's determined to rest I'm determined not to allow it. Besides, there's still one airborne division actually on the line and I'd like to have it limp back to the rear in as wrecked a condition as possible. Finally, this provides a bit of cover while most of my troops furiously dig in. Things are good enough here that I release an infantry division that was railed here last turn for the south; but instead of going directly into action I'm going to start swapping out National Guard divisions in static positions for these less ready regulars, to help even out the losses. This'll be a slow process, but with a good start: three whole divisions and elements of two more arrive in Tennessee this turn, but it may be that they get drawn immediately into the fighting further west

The Germans are now quite close to my armour screen in southeastern Kansas. I'm actually quite weak here- only four divisions and a number of smaller units- so I'm not ready for a proper fight, but I don't want to give the Axis a free pass to the Missouri crossings further north, and I can see that at least three German mechanised divisions are resting at Oklahoma City. Let's see how weak he is here: I fall back, but not far, hoping that light German forces will jump on Wichita and I get the opportunity to pin him against the city's garrison.

My counterattacks are not exactly completely satisfactory. I push the German armour back from Memphis but am unable to occupy the vacated ground, and while I'm able to kill a fair number of Germans in southern Quebec, it comes at a fair loss in armour, a stockpile I have once again emptied thanks to the division and change I had to leave behind when I withdrew from Oklahoma- though at least almost all my armour is back off the line by the end of the turn. Actually the sheer number of units I've lost of the last five turns is really staggering, and it's only becoming clear now that they're filtering back in as reconstitutes. I've done a fair bit of damage to the Axis in turn- but by my reckoning there are still fifteen turns of fresh Axis troops yet to come over the Atlantic, then the Japanese on top of that. If I still have my army together by turn 35 then we'll see.

Highlighted units are reconstitutes- which means they were destroyed at some point in the last few turns. There are a lot more of these further down, or that arrived already

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Actually the sheer number of units I've lost of the last five turns is really staggering, and it's only becoming clear now that they're filtering back in as reconstitutes. I've done a fair bit of damage to the Axis in turn- but by my reckoning there are still fifteen turns of fresh Axis troops yet to come over the Atlantic, then the Japanese on top of that. If I still have my army together by turn 35 then we'll see.

It is really not. A few small encirclements and you leave Regiments to cover retreats fairly regularly. Staggering is when the Germans actually manage to close the trap and keep it shut. Something I have only pulled off in any real way on turn 5 and that was not a particularly large encirclement.

At this point in the match I am beginning to become extremely concerned that I am doing far to little damage to the Allies who have been on far to high a replacement rate for far to long.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 21
Just a tad better then last turn. Ben is pretty quiet on his turn mostly settling in for the pause with a few local counter attacks. Given that pauses favour the Allies it is a bit of a disaster that I am having one. In Ben’s shoes I would probably do the same.

On my turn I launch just a few attacks. One to capture a hex with a rail line I would like to control. Ben might take it back however. My Italians also try for the port near Portland but despite the help of the Chilean Navy they don’t manage to capture it. I’d love the space because, if I get it, I am landing the Finns here. I’m trying to determine if Ben is making any significant withdrawals on this front because I am going to have a tough time advancing if he does not. On the other hand I think a pretty sizable number of his forces are here (though the same is true for me).

The advance into Virginia is small but much more significant than previously with the arrival of another German Infantry Division. Yet another is sent this way on this turn. All other Axis reinforcements (two Panzer Divisions, 3 Infantry Divisions and an Italian Infantry Division) are sent to the West.

Memphis is the main scene of the fighting this turn with a heavy bludgeoning attack toward Memphis. Ben’s forces are pushed back significantly but my Axis forces are ever more burnt out and there does appear to be a pretty large sum of Allied Units in the area including an absolute ton of artillery. Ben could well bludgeon me back, but I have so many units in my rear area that I don’t think he can finesse anything to impressive. I still have a fair number of units pouring into the area so, despite how beaten up the army is I can keep this up for a bit and the supply line is about to jump significantly closer.

Out in the West most of my units are still trying to resupply but I have managed to gather a reasonably sizable force to continue forward. This turn they just cut off Wichita (which I will mostly just bypass with a few units left behind to take it). My plan here is to drive for Kansas City but Ben might interfere. The reality is I’m not actually certain where his Western Army is but I believe it is primarily at Memphis or on the West side of the Mississippi more or less covering Memphis. Basically, along the Arkansas River and then up to Springfield, Missouri.

I noticed some significant movement by the Mexicans this turn. I would not be shocked if Ben where to commit them to fighting. Fortunately, a fair number of Italians are arriving in the area, so I think if it turns into a fight it just becomes a stalemate.

I sent a Japanese Destroyer down to try and scout beaches. Used to be they could see shore defenders but here, even after a port bombardment, I don’t see anything. Could be undefended but I kind of doubt it. I just got the Second wave of Japanese reinforcements so I do think that it might be worth trying a landing if I think Ben is not really defending the West adequately… I just can’t tell if that is true or not.

New Orleans: 78%

Axis force send an expedition to seize Wichita while the balance of the Axis army resupply by looting Oklahoma.

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[golden delicious]

It is really not. A few small encirclements and you leave Regiments to cover retreats fairly regularly. Staggering is when the Germans actually manage to close the trap and keep it shut. Something I have only pulled off in any real way on turn 5 and that was not a particularly large encirclement.

I think you overlook how many of these small traps you've sprung. On turn 13 I'm bragging that I'm still sitting on my original huge pool of Rifle AT- Squads. I then lose about half of it over the next four turns.

[golden delicious]

Turn 21:
Another blow from Jeremy outside Memphis. His troops are looking increasingly battered and my own strength is considerable, the problem is 2nd National Guard Army goes into reorganisation this turn. This significantly limits my options for counterattack, withdrawal and for potentially rebuilding the line, as well as completely ruining my "let the National Guard do the work" concept. To make matters worse, much of the regular force I have here is also in reorganisation, or broken down into fragments. I think I have to counterattack here, though, as to allow the huddled mass of disorganised troops here to be subjected to another turn of attacks seems like a really bad idea, and Jeremy is so vulnerable with these exhausted units pressing forward- I certainly don't want him getting the Memphis supply point on the cheap. I'm forced to shift three divisions west from the forces railed to central Tennessee last turn.

The northeast remains relatively calm. Jeremy took, I think, one hex, so everyone continues to dig in while I work out what I can comfortably withdraw from here. For the moment, actually, my rail lift is taken up mostly with reconstitutes etc., but I rail out an infantry brigade and an armoured division. Once I have everyone fortified I can rejig things a bit more; currently I'm holding two lines, as I was expecting Jeremy to pulverise the first one. The second can be partially dismantled if he doesn't try.

As expected, Jeremy jumped on Wichita this turn, but instead of a couple of battered units this turns out to be four fresh divisions, two of them mechanised, and this is too rich for my blood right now, but I'm still not delighted about Jeremy just cruising around the Plains without consequence, not least because moving around him is starting to interfere with my ability to move units east from their reconstitution locations. I shift my force to the northwest to Salina, from where they can jump back to block the Missouri crossings if needed, but are otherwise safe from all but the boldest lunges Jeremy might make. I add two armoured divisions here this turn, plus the missing regiment of another, making this six armoured and one infantry division, all in excellent condition. Having desperately railed 3rd National Guard army as far east as it would go last turn, I now realise I probably want it up here to provide support. These units are too distant to be meaningfully committed at Memphis this turn, and anyway not really ready for the job, so for now they stay where they are and gather supply, to be used as my strategic reserve for the centre later on.

As planned, my reconstitutable Mexican divisions probe forward, finding an Italian cavalry division. This is put out of supply, with the intention that Jeremy will commit himself to a reaction and show his strength- or lack thereof. If it's the latter, I have five more divisions waiting to jump him.

Hardly glamourous, but I give Jeremy a fair pounding outside of Memphis. His panzers really are a shattered mess, and he's starting to take some serious tank losses as a result- he isn't getting 200 Pz-IVs a turn like I am with my Shermans so this matters. I also get in amongst his artillery in a big way for the first time in the scenario, and this should slow him down, too. I really need a turn to get 2nd National Guard Army back in order; my biggest fear right now is that Jeremy will find a way to pin me against the super rivers and I'll suffer death by overstacking: I have a huge number of pieces here thanks to all the broken down NG divisions.

It looks like Jeremy is going for the traditional route up the plains and then over the Missouri and Mississippi to Chicago. His rail line is currently coming north through western Oklahoma, having skirted around the Red River to avoid vulnerabilities to bridge attacks (actually he is vulnerable as I can base fighters in Mexico and hit the ones further south, but we'll keep that to ourselves for now). I will ultimately need to build some sort of line all the way up to Kansas City and Omaha along the super river, but at the moment 1) I don't have the pieces for this and 2) my armoured reserve is between him and the nearest crossings. I'd like to force Jeremy to push me out of western Tennessee rather than simply abandon it because of his moves elsewhere- this position becomes untenable if the Axis are on the Missouri already. Even the Tennessee bend which is now so ironclad becomes a bit of a salient if I'm pushed back up to Paducah, and I may end up having to pull back here, too. The key about all this will be to take as long as possible over it (without losing my whole army in the process). If I can limit myself to losing two more industrial cities by turn 30, that makes 95% replacements. That'll really start to make a difference.

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 22
So, ships are apparently nearly immune to airpower in TOAW IV. Did not notice this before but Ben went crazy on the Chilian Navy – attacking like 5 times and the Battleship was damaged about 40% but the Destroyers where barely scratched. Unfortunately I then moved the Chilian navy beside a coast gun and all their ships where obliterated. I had thought moving beside the coast guns would be fine – it was moving out of a hex beside them that was fatal but apparently that is not how it works.

Another turn with almost no action in the North. I hate doing nothing, but I need at least some supplies to continue to push forward. Ben withdraws an Armoured Division from the front. Its not much but he is getting more comfortable up here. One piece of action that did take place was I stormed the beach near Portland. If Ben does not take it back I will land the Finns here and try and storm Portland because the area south of here has Boston and Ben has to defend that.

The offensive into Virginia stalls on player stupidity. Ben knocked me back to pretty much my start line. I launched an attack on my turn on the first phase and then promptly forgot about the front. It is a dumb mistake. Another German Infantry Division and two new HQs (read artillery) are moving up to this front.

Ben has decided to ignore the Japanese destroyers so I sent the next one out to look at Ben’s beach defenses in the middle and southern parts of the West Coast. Looks Like Mexican Infantry Divisions. Not sure I can risk an invasion against them but will strongly consider it. It is stupid dangerous without air cover but I hate the idea of trying to fight my way out of the Peninsula near Seattle on low supplies (the ports there give much reduced supply levels). If I could somehow successfully take San Francisco that would be an excellent jumping off point of a Japanese attempt to conquer the West Coast but it is unclear that is even possible without air cover. In any case I want Ben a lot more strapped for reserves unless he gives me an opportunity somewhere before I try anything.

Memphis remains the one major offensive I have going. Ben counter attacked hard on his turn and he has masses of artillery here. I hit back again on mine. I’m gaining ground in this back and fourth but the price is high.

A new front opens up on the Rio Grande with Ben sending a couple of units to cut off one of my Italian Divisions. I promptly gather the Italians I had in the area and kill one of his divisions and cut off the other one but Ben has more forces in the area so we could well have a fight on our hands.

Otherwise in the West I see a small Armored Stack north of Wichita and race up to try and kill it. Turns out to be an Armored concentration of Ben’s and it was pulled back just far enough that I can’t actually launch any attacks on my turn. I suspect Ben will pull it back on his turn – if he does my target will now likely be Omaha as its reasonably close to my forces.

OK and the big blunder – I actually won’t be able to land many Finns next turn. I just realized I forgot to land my reinforcements – as in I put them out to sea where they are near the “European” ports but then forgot to get back to them and actually land them. A small number of forces landed near the Virginia front but the forces for the West are just sitting there. I doubt Ben can see them so they probably don’t die – but this was just very dumb.
This is really not the time when I can afford such errors (not that I think there ever is such a time). We are on turn 22 and I desperately need to make more headway and soon or this thing is going to slip through my fingers.

A skirmish develops on the Mexican-American Border as Italians react to a Mexican advance.

Fall Grau JB 22.jpg (1.13 MiB) Viewed 2046 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 22:
Jeremy charges up into contact with my armoured reserve- but doesn't attack. He's daring me to take him on here, which make me nervous. There's three and a half divisions here and at least two, probably more further back, whereas I have six armoured and one infantry division plus some smaller units. I'm unsure of what to do here so the first thing is to race the two cavalry divisions which are all the way over in New Mexico over to the apparently exposed western flank, to see if it really is. This reveals an additional Panzergrenadier off this flank, which when I move to put it out of supply turns out to be two. A plan forms. I expect there'll be a similar trail of pieces off the east flank making a full encirclement impossible, so I'll be punching through the centre and hoping to put the western half of the force out of supply, since I'm already most of the way around this front. As I progress with this plan I find ANOTHER unexpected division- this time a Panzer. OK this is now seven divisions just that I can see, five of them mechanised. With the infantry coming behind this gives Jeremy superiority. I bring up another unit of mine from a great distance on the east flank- yes, there are troops here too, so that makes eight. Oh hell. Well I guess maybe I should have pulled back but I've committed a fair amount now and I do have a lot of firepower- and Jeremy is right there. Let's see how much damage I can do in one turn, to maybe even the odds a bit. I also bring up my whole force (2.5 divisions) which was in northwest Arkansas to shield my eastern flank

2nd National Guard decides one week really isn't enough- you spend the first couple of days getting settled, then you're right away thinking about going back to work. Really, a full two week vacation is the minimum. On top of this the Axis have effectively split my force in two here, making Memphis pretty isolated against the Mississippi, taking the bridge over the river here. Counterattacking him at this point is problematic as almost all my troops are on the other flank, but he's in such a bad condition that I go for it anyway, bringing down a couple of divisions of 3rd National Guard Army from reserve for the purpose. On the other flank I have a lot of troops, but besides the masses of them that are in reorganisation (including about half of my armour), the rest are mostly regular infantry which I'm keen to rest or withdraw- 3 divisions from here go up toward the Missouri river crossings. I'm also starting to work on a line running Chattanooga-Nashville-Paducah to get me out of the salient I'm going to be left with when I'm forced out of western Tennessee.

Haha! That helps. 65th Infantry, formed at Tallahassee last turn, sneaks into Atlanta and cuts the Axis rail line. This adds a bit to Jeremy's already ridiculously strained supply line. Talking of secondary fronts, at least five Italian divisions (most of them mobile) respond to my probe in Mexico. OK OK everyone back to the house. I'm content with this; the excursion cost me basically nothing as the units involved will rebuild, while I'm validated in keeping a fairly sizeable force at Monterrey to watch these guys.

I'm able to pull together ten divisions from various sources to reinforce the Plains this turn. Some of these will go to block the immediate Missouri crossings as they're not 100% ready to go into the maelstrom of a mobile battle with German panzers. I'm in the slightly strange position of counterattacking outside Memphis (because Jeremy's supply situation is so bad) while also evacuating or preparing to evacuate the areas I'm counterattacking from. The battle on the plains is fine as far as it goes, but as I advance I keep coming across more and more Germans- an SS Panzer division behind the first line of divisions and another infantry division on the east flank, bringing the total to nine divisions here plus the two at Wichita. I do however put the three on the west flank out of supply, through a bit of a cheat by dropping an air unit into the airfield immediately behind- an air unit may not have a ZOC but supply can't pass through it and that's enough. I also trash the centre of the Axis line, wrecking two divisions and hurting a third. This leaves the majority of Jeremy's force in a bad way for the start of his turn, though I'm sure there are even more units in the rear I'm not aware of. This could go either way: I could get really hammered on the Axis turn, but if the force I have on the board here is still in fair condition next turn then I should be able to do the Germans a good deal of harm. Either way this will need to be a short party as the railhead is not so far behind and I want to get behind the river shortly.

An unexpected battle- the Germans lunge at a force much larger than they expected and the Allies counterattack a force much larger than they thought

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 23
I land the units stranded out at sea pretty early in the turn. Ben never found them or if he did he never attacked them.

Ben pulls a pretty hefty chunk of troops out of the North as things remain quite there. Having captured and kept the beach near Portland I land my first Finnish unit there to help ensure that it remains guarded. Next turn I’ll start the offencive in the north up again. As it stands, I actually cross over the Ottawa River south of Montreal and find no resistance. Ben might counter attack my weak probing force, if not I’ll likely keep crossing.

My push into Virginia appears to be paying dividends as the Allies are pushed back. Hopefully I’ll continue to make some ground here. I am considering sending a Panzer Division this way to help speed up the process.

The fighting around Memphis remains as insanely brutal as always. My army is an absolute burnt out mess but I finally manage to isolate Memphis itself this turn. Be interesting to see if Ben counter attacks here or not. The conflict here is significantly hurt as Ben has cut the supply line with an American Division which has emerged from hiding somewhere in the south to grab a key rail hex on my supply line. I’ve got Italians in the area scrambling to try and clear the unit out and while it can be pretty easily cut off killing it quickly might be an issue – and I really want it dead quickly.

Meanwhile near Memphis the Italians manage to cross the Mississippi and push forward against American Regiments in the area. Again, Ben could counter attack here and the low supply Italians would real backward. If he does not, they will likely flood the area next turn.

That said both the Germans and the Italians in the area are absolutely burnt out. The plan is very much to go back onto the defencive once Memphis is taken and try and resupply these forces as quickly as possible – which is why the break in the supply line needs to be fixed pronto. I really am beginning to see why Ben tended to constantly push (and reinforce) the same two fronts in the last game as these pauses are really not great for me. They give Ben far to much flexibility to shift forces from one front to the next.

Speaking of shifting fronts. Ben does not withdraw his Armoured concentration in the West as I had expected. Instead he reinforces it and finds a way to cut a number of my Panzurtruppen from supply even if only for a turn. This is also where his reinforcements are pretty much all headed this turn. Looks like he plans to fight it out. I’m basically down with that as significant amounts of my own forces head this way.

This is not really defencive terrain and here I hope I can finally do some damage. I think my tactics have been a bit weak this game. Primarily bludgeoning offencives and maybe I can manage a bit more here.

Finally, Ben’s Mexicans withdraw from their adventure losing another Division.

Memphis is surrounded by burnt out German forces

Fall Grau JB 23.jpg (1.35 MiB) Viewed 2011 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 23:
Jeremy declined to seriously counterattack my main body in the west, instead focusing on my flanks, smashing the cavalry division that was making the loose bag in the west and hitting a brigade on the east flank too. Moreover the units he's brought up to the line look pretty powerful: I see four mechanised divisions in good condition and two more that aren't (plus a third I know he has somewhere), and seven infantry divisions in various statuses, for a total of fourteen that I'm sure of. Against this I have nine divisions actually engaged and another seven ready to join in. This gives me a slim margin- IF there are no more guys hiding in the mist. My experience last turn suggests that's a bad assumption. I bug out. One division in reorganisation is left behind and a couple of other units fail their disengagement checks and have to be disbanded, but otherwise this is clean. I've now got ten divisions of regulars on the Mississippi-Missouri river line between Paducah and Omaha, with two more arriving on the rail. The majority of the armour (now five divisions) pulls back to a screen in front of Omaha, with a smaller reserve of two divisions just behind Kansas City (a third arrives from reconstitution this turn). This is strong- but not strong enough if Jeremy puts prolonged pressure here. To reinforce, I'm going to need to get out of western Tennessee and Arkansas, probably next turn.

The situation at Memphis is increasingly fatal. Jeremy surged over the lower Arkansas last turn, as well as moving some Italian divisions into the space between the White River and the Mississippi, making my southern flank pretty vulnerable, and putting the division at Little Rock out of supply. He's still not surging forward from the west, but this is wide open; I no longer have anything between Little Rock and Kansas City forward of the river line. I plan a number of counterattacks here to keep progress slow while also reducing the risk of losing my more exposed units so they can get out shortly.

A simmering battle that has been going for about a dozen turns in Virginia, where Jeremy persisted in picking at a non-fortified hex on my line, has finally spilled out into something resembling a mobile front. I'm not too bothered by this as I have a fair number of divisions that I could spare to close this off, and the losses he's taken in constant back and forth with me when I always have a flank bonus and he never does, usually attacking entrenched troops in bad terrain [I'm actually mistaken about that as at least half of these hexes are only light woods], must have been enormous. However it does need to be dealt with; I add a division that was really unnecessarily watching the coast at Baltimore (where Jeremy can't get unless he clears Norfolk first). Then on reflection I add four National Guard divisions that had been railed to the Plains last turn. This ought to close the front down.

Jeremy is slowly grinding back into action in the northeast (he has at least thirty German divisions otherwise sat on their hands here). He noticed I wasn't between the Ottawa and St. Lawrence, throwing two brigades into the gap west of Montreal here. However he's awfully exposed so I move to smash this incursion with my (considerable) Commonwealth reserves. He'll have noticed me draw off more and more units from this front and I think he intends to attack again soon, but in truth I still have a double line in most places and fair reserves. Perhaps more concerning ultimately is that he's slowly working on Portland, Maine, where he took one anchorage on turn 22 and is now free to land troops right on the front here. The attack is a complete success with one brigade routed and another destroyed followed by everyone trundling happily back behind my lines.

Relatively little action this turn altogether, however my counterattacks at Memphis bear fruit as overstacking kills one panzer division plus a regiment of another, and for good measure I'm able to destroy the intact bridge over the Missouri which Jeremy has now taken twice. The city itself- out of supply this turn- is quite lost, however. If I can extract the majority of the 8 or 9 division-equivalents (mostly National Guard) currently in Arkansas then that might be enough to beef up the Mississippi-Missouri and flesh out the 2nd line I'm building in Tennessee. The other part of this force- four or five infantry and four armoured divisions in western Tennessee- can continue their fighting retreat until pressed against the Ohio at Paducah.

The slowly developing situation around Roanoke, VA

FG23a.png (833.51 KiB) Viewed 2003 times

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 24
Things heat up this turn as I go all out in the north as the majority of the Divisions are fit for combat again. My plan here is mildly complex as my attack is essentially a broad front one that I hope to convert to more of a narrow front one, hopefully before Ben really manages to react and foil me. I attack across much of the front, but I am being carful to only advance until the terrain actually starts providing Ben combat bonuses (in essence I attack into light wood hexes but pull up short as I hit hills and forest hexs. Even as my units get to the objectives they are shifting toward the fighting around Montreal. Meanwhile Ben punished my crossing of the Ottawa River last turn (I lost a brigade) but I cross again this turn in slightly more force. Ben could punish me again here but this helps to keep troops away from my advance to the East of Montreal.

All that said while my advance east of Montreal is the most important advance and has the best units involved only a pretty thin line of forces actually managed to capture the key real estate and it is very possible Ben shoves me back here again. Hopefully even if he does do that I am in a much better position to retake the ground and hold it next turn. Also, on this front I land the whole 1st Finnish Corp beside Portland and launch a massive attack on Portland which fails absolutely spectacularly with some crazy number of Finns dead. The report was over 800 Finnish squads. I’ve seen attacks go spectacularly badly with 200 squads lost but this was four times worse than the most devastating attacks so far. Despite how bad this is it might well have longer term consequences but with 1,400 Rifle Squads in the on hand pool the losses can be replaced. Next turn I’ll land the HQ for the 2nd Finnish Corp, maybe they can advance with more artillery? I mean this looked like a bad World War I attack. The Finns went over the top and where just gunned down.

Virginia see’s a reasonable push forward but Ben has ordered at least 3 National Guard Divisions into the area to bolster his defences. No Germans land here today as the landing of the Finns meant only 1 German Infantry Division (and 2 Panzer Divisions) came ashore and I am more concerned with getting a constant stream of reinforcements to the West. I can live with these guys not getting a Division for a turn especially since I will probably send them a Panzer Division.

That annoying American Division that cut the supply line is dealt with. I actually called in reserves in the form of airdropping the German Falchijagers in the Carolina’s into the area to make sure the mess was cleaned up fast but they never got a chance to attack as the Italians where able to deal with the fall out. I actually like the idea of basing the Falchijagers at Atlanta anyway as I am still hoping to find some place I can use them to really pull off some kind of a win somewhere. I’m bashing on the Allies but I just can’t seem to catch Ben out anywhere.

I finally storm Memphis this turn. Ben punished me by killing a Panzer Division and destroying 1 Regiment of another last turn due to overstack. I honestly was not really surprised. I knew the stacks where to large when I made the moves I made last turn but I want Memphis and that is what it took. The Italians, supporting this attack do surprisingly well pushing across the Mississippi and advancing north. With Memphis gone and it not really looking reasonable that Ben could get it back (without risking losing more units). I don’t actually expect Ben to be even holding along this line West of the Mississippi next turn. I think he will fall back though I am not sure he will cross behind the rivers in the area or just pull north.

Meanwhile I keep driving forward toward Paducah but the units I am advancing with are wrecks. Ben might well be counter attacking here next turn. I’m hoping he does not do that to much. I also hope he really does pull back away from the Italians. With the rear area supply situation about to be restored and 2 turns of supply from Memphis what I really want to do is get all my armies in position to just suck up supplies as fast as possible but I need to hold the Paducah line. I can maybe drag a handful of good units together to do that if Ben is less aggressive in the area. If not things will be harder. More units will have to stay on the Defensive and it will take longer to get everyone resupplied. As it stands I hate shutting everything down here because things are heating up in the West and this gives Ben the opportunity to shift more reserves there but there is no help for it.

In the West the big fight I was expecting is postponed and Ben pulls away. Mostly toward Omaha but I have seen troops pouring into defencive lines along the Missouri as well. My only fighting here is dealing with a few forces that must have been in reorg and blasting Wichita out of existence. For some odd reason it would not go out of supply so I had to deal with it the hard way as it is about to block my supply route which will go through the city next turn.

Ben’s defence of the Missouri looks super solid. Where I can see units they are divisions and I see a good Armored Reserve gathered as well. So I think the plan is to keep pushing with my main force on Omaha where I hope I can essentially sweep around the city and eventually be attacking it from all sides. Meanwhile I go for Kansas City which might be somewhat tough to take but the geographic position of the city is not that great. I think so long as I don’t actually try and cut it off and instead content myself with just storming it and holding for a turn I should be able to get it. Otherwise, I want to drive Ben to the Mississippi-Missouri line but then I want to screen it while I dig up a force to go and take Denver which is not to far off and I don’t think has much defenses.

After that I probably mass for an attack on the Missouri River Line somewhere.

Memphis: 71%

Loss Rate: Axis: 81 / Allies: 122 / Spread: 41

Renewed fighting in the North

Fall Grau JB 24.jpg (2.13 MiB) Viewed 1993 times

[golden delicious]

Meanwhile I go for Kansas City which might be somewhat tough to take but the geographic position of the city is not that great. I think so long as I don’t actually try and cut it off and instead content myself with just storming it and holding for a turn I should be able to get it.

Jeremy is forgetting that we swapped Kansas City out in favour of St. Louis on the list of industrial cities- as it stands the city has no particular significance in the scenario any more than any other middle-sized city with a garrison.

[golden delicious]

Turn 24:
Jeremy pushes the button in the northeast, smashing through my line east of Montreal and.... realising I have another line of fortified troops behind it. He he he. Well, this is not entirely perfect, there are some gaps, but he really blew his load here; these units look very burned out after their exertions and his loss penalty jumped about ten points. Separately, an entire corps of Finnish troops hit the reserve division at Portland, Maine, and were reduced to rubble for little effect. In the west in particular, where I have scads of Commonwealth troops fresh for action, it's time for counterattack.

I execute a fairly clean withdrawal from Arkansas. Again a couple of units fail their disengagement checks and have to be disbanded, but only a couple of fragments are in reorganisation. Three National Guard divisions rail directly from the line to Nebraska, where I realise I need to hold for two turns to ensure the mobilisation of 4th National Guard army, due here on turn 26. With this in mind, I reorient my armoured corps here to sit off to the west of Omaha, either to block access to the rest of Nebraska, or to hit the flank of any Axis units scouting their way up the river. For the time being, Jeremy is showing caution here. This is nice as it suggests my show of force on turn 22 had an effect on him.

Ten Mexican irregular divisions are formed this turn; these are ideal units for the great open front in the west, as they readily reconstitute and are capable of holding a going toe-to-toe with the weak units I've seen on this front from Jeremy so far. These are added to the US cavalry I already have here and should hopefully suffice to stop the Axis from getting Albuquerque or Denver on the cheap.

A fair number of counterattacks, but all of them underwhelming. All my attacks now are with National Guard, armour or Canadians, as the US regular infantry stockpile continues to dwindle- 1,300 squads at the end of the turn. I'm hoping for a couple of turns of light combat coming up but when the intensity ticks up again I only have a few turns before this last reserve is gone, and from then on I'm going to start running out of pieces. This happened frighteningly fast and I'm worried about where I'm going to be in this match in ten or twenty turns. I need to get the rest of my units to pick up more of the slack but I only have six Canadian infantry divisions on the board. The National Guard are doing their bit, and I'm leaning a lot on my armour, but even with high replacements my production of Shermans isn't keeping up with losses: 1st Armored was disbanded last turn but I didn't have enough tanks on hand to rebuild it yet. Next turn (with Memphis gone) replacements will be down to 70%, and I expect to take the hit from Montreal the turn after. That leaves me on a mediocre 63% from turn 26 to 29.

The Allies fall back to the river line

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Meanwhile I go for Kansas City which might be somewhat tough to take but the geographic position of the city is not that great. I think so long as I don’t actually try and cut it off and instead content myself with just storming it and holding for a turn I should be able to get it.

Jeremy is forgetting that we swapped Kansas City out in favour of St. Louis on the list of industrial cities- as it stands the city has no particular significance in the scenario any more than any other middle-sized city with a garrison.

Yes I am - I will realize it at some point in the future.