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

[golden delicious]

Your right - though I note that the Recon Rifle Squads have 1 AP strength so very weak and if we are including them then AT teams should also probably be included.
Recon Rifle Teams = 6.7 (the vast majority of these are with the Japanese)
AT Team = 8.1
Engineers = 7.4

Total 22.2 for a total squad strength of around 95,000.

What I'm interested in is the ability of the infantry to hold the line- which above all depends on the defence strength of active defenders. Irregular, Mounted and Motorcycle Squads have lower ratings but all the other infantry squads are rated at ten, and that includes the recon rifle squads. AT Teams are rated at only three. For the record I have 6.5k AT Teams of all types assigned at turn 44. Given those totals you have 95 - 10 = 85k squads and teams on the line and I have 100 - 39 = 61k squads and teams on the line, for a slightly better than 4:3 superiority. Of course as you get ahead you do have to deal with my reserve divisions, and as of turn 44 there were about twenty reserve divisions within a few hexes of the front which covers a big chunk of the gap, making it more like 5:4.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 47
Really the best part of this turn was the playback, Ben counter attacked in many areas but, for the most part, this was one of the Allies worst turns in the match with Allied units evaporating fairly commonly while nothing to critical to me seemed to take place. My own turn was very lackluster as I essentially caused myself early turn ending by accidentally having a round with only a single air attack and one ground combat. The ground combat goes the whole round and eats up most of my turn in the process. At this moment that turns out to be really only a pretty minor inconvenience as the most critical events mainly took place in Mexico and were done very early in the turn.

Between these two events I am pleased to see that the loss rating finally jumped reasonably significantly in my favour. It might help that I have bashed Ben’s replacement rate down to 55% which is pretty poor for the Allies and I am likely getting stronger then him on a turn by turn basis.

The Japanese take care of the wayward Canadian Brigade but I also get over zealous with my Japanese pushing a unit back to the point where I will probably lose the Division. I try and turn it into a big move by attempting to cut off the Allied Armored force counter attacking but that fails. I need to be much more careful here. The Japanese have lots of replacements, but they can’t replace a destroyed Division.

Mexico is mostly mopping up the forces I cut off last turn and bringing up my new big guns. This is all taking longer than I would have liked and I am still concerned that Ben will find the forces to actually reinforce. As it stands his victory in Central America will see some new Divisions arrive on the front, probably including the 1st American Division all the way from Panama.

In the North West I hold in the vicinity of Denver hoping to bring up reinforcements to hold this line. I might be stopping my retreat to soon.

Around Minneapolis Ben counter attacks hard against the city. For a moment I am concerned he might take it back but that does not happen. He moves on the flanks again but nothing to dangerous develops. On my turn I take most of the forces that attacked Minneapolis and head toward the flank myself. This should turn into a flank battle. I’m stripping down the units on the Mississippi to support this fight. This basically means I have shut down my drive on Chicago. I think at this stage in the game with the Panzers leaving for a swap out there no longer is much prospect of an offensive that way.

Of note here I find an American Infantry Division that is near fully supplied but very weak. I also noticed Ben ordering Canadians to a lot of the heavier fighting recently. At this point I am sure Ben is out of replacements for the regular army. Almost certain this is true for the National Guard [Edit: I believed this at the time but it was probably not true that the National Guard where exceptionally pressed] but the Canadians will have tons. Basically the regular Rifle Squads seem to be used somewhere else in the Allies OOB but wherever that is they don’t often die – the result is there are always loads of Canadian Replacements for their small army. This is especially true in a game like this where much of Eastern Canada has fallen. That is where they make the Canadians and it means a significant chunk of Canadian forces never entered the map meaning those that did have even more replacements to draw upon.

Illinois is also pretty disappointing. Basically the story here is similar to the rest of the Axis offencives with my units just pooped out and to many Panzers withdrawing. The attacks are minor and the offencive does not go far. Ben's turn did not appear all that great but then again neither did mine.

Minneapolis: 55%

The Japanese make a desperate play to surround the American Army north of Los Angeles but come up short

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[golden delicious]

Turn 47:
Something about a "fantastic turn" in Jeremy's email and I panic... turns out he is talking about some historic turn and actually everything is still more or less fine. My first priority front is Illinois. My US troops are getting increasingly badly handled here as they burn out, but the Germans are worse; I open with two RBCs on already shattered German divisions and set up flanking attacks on those which are just holding on. However even with the influx of Canadian troops here I will need more reinforcements to keep the front together. I'm having thoughts about getting the armour out from here and deploying it to the Pacific where the Japanese may struggle to deal with something as formidable as an M4 Sherman. For now, [to replace them] I'm able to gather five NG divisions in various conditions (mostly from Minnesota), plus the first available "AAC" division- the nearest thing I get to elite troops, with lots of heavy armour and 80% proficiency.

The Pacific is still in crisis mode. Jeremy tried the double envelopment of my armour that I was worried about and while the move didn't complete in the turn, my force here is now in a dangerous salient. The Japanese are weak here and with their high recon ratings a direct withdrawal is too slow, so I will aim to fight my way through both shoulders. On the Sierra, the Japanese are almost through and I give up any pretence of blocking a move north to focus on holding this line. I'm able to add an NG Division from Arizona, and two armoured divisions from Minnesota. My counterattacks here play out nicely and I reverse the situation, putting a Japanese division into a pocket and giving it one round of going over. I'm confident it can be relieved but the battle here has really sapped the strength of the Japanese; with their long supply line, it may take a very long time to recover

Two fresh, refitted Panzergrenadier divisions show up between Veracruz and Mexico City and I think this marks the beginning of the end here. I have a fair number of pieces still but the best ones are 5-5s or so and not likely to stand up to good German troops. Elsewhere Mexico is triumphant, as I extract my two extra divisions from Monterrey and succeed in driving the Axis from the gates of Guadalajara and begin to move against the rear of the main body here. I start withdrawing troops from Central America but Jeremy is holding at Guatemala City and I don't think I will be able to get my Central American troops through this barrier for at least five turns, probably too late for Mexico City.

In Minnesota, as predicted the Germans stopped attacking, which allows me to draw off troops for other fronts, but I don't intend to let up here as the German troops on the flank are still wrecked and I keep chewing through them. I actually have limited success here but over in Illinois, despite their battered condition my tired troops are able to really hammer the Germans. I'm going after the weak divisions (one of which evaporates on the line) but more particularly big stacks of HQs; where I can get a flank bonus the artillery is starting to take losses in a big way and this will really hurt Jeremy's ability to continue this back and forth.

Although the loss of Mexico City now seems inevitable, it's still unlikely to be before turn 50, giving me a fairly healthy 86% replacements on that turn, before falling off to an acceptable 69%. However, after that there are no obvious immediate targets for Jeremy's aggression; the only cities near the front are Toronto, Boston and Indianapolis. The former is too well defended and advances from the latter two extend an existing salient. The greatest threat is that Jeremy concentrates an overwhelming number of his reconstituted panzer divisions on the Illinois front and breaks my defences here, but as of now only one panzer korps has returned and the first units went to Mexico. Jeremy has been quite relaxed about the rate of further withdrawals and I don't expect to meet really significant numbers of reconstituted panzer divisions until closer to turn 60 (and in the meantime a lot more older divisions will withdraw), nor do I expect big transfers of Axis troops north from Mexico; there are about thirty Axis divisions on this front and immediately behind it but most of them are in miserable condition and will need a considerable period of rest and refit before being sent into serious action. Still, with this in mind I need to be sure to keep pumping up the Illinois front so it's doing more than just clinging on. Then if all I lose between now and turn 60 is Mexico City that puts my replacement rate at 104%. That'll be good as one regiment that reconstituted this turn consisted of 81 Squads, 23 recon vehicles (mostly jeeps) and 4 howitzers.

The last-ditch defence of Mexico

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Jeremy has been quite relaxed about the rate of further withdrawals and I don't expect to meet really significant numbers of reconstituted panzer divisions until closer to turn 60 (and in the meantime a lot more older divisions will withdraw)

I actually withdrew them to quickly - especially considering that some Japanese will show up and want to be landed. Even with ignoring the Japanese much of the time I ended up with turns where there where just loads of Divisions sitting in the European Ports without enough sea transport to land them. These are Divisions that I would sorely have liked to have on the front line during this period of the game. I was most definitely feeling pressure to withdraw them because I could do the math as well and I wanted them back in time to influence the game. The reality however is there are 9 Corps - one leaves early so it does not figure into the math but after that if you withdraw one every 3 turns it is going to be 24 turns before you can withdraw them all and even that will be too quick at 24,000 sea transport (and way to quick at 20,000). Its probably about right for 28,000 sea transport.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 48
The overall trends in this match are becoming very concerning but this turn itself is solid.

The Japanese do get a Division cut off but I am able to rescue the unit on my turn. That said I think I am pretty close to the physical limits of how far the Japanese can advance without reinforcements and in fact growing ever more concerned that Ben is going to find enough reserves from his ever-strengthening forces to really start to put pressure on me. On the other hand a fair number of Japanese reinforcements will eventually show up. This is kind of a toss up at the moment as to whether I can find the units I need to keep going or Ben will find the units he needs to start driving me backward.

The Guerrilla war taking place in north west Mexico right up to about Albuquerque see’s me storm the Chihuahua and then immediately I start fleeing out of the area back toward my supply lines just as most of the remnants of my forces in the American southwest are in full flight.

Down near Mexico City however, things go very well with the arrival of Axis monster units. The Mexican Army is just smashed hard on my turn and cut up into small groups usually cut off and often surrounded. I am pretty sure I can have Mexico city within three turns at this stage.

The North West is scary at the moment. It is getting what reserves I can dig up – even a Panzergrenadier Division is being sent here and the supply line is leaping forward as this is the priority for my rail repair but the line is barely being held together. We will see what Ben does to me next turn.

Out near Minneapolis I turn the tide on Ben’s flank attacks and start up with a major flank attack of my own. However, a lot of my line here is also setting up defensively and with the Panzers withdrawing it is not so clear how long this will keep up.

Illinois is straight out scary. Here Ben just tore into the line ripping a large gap in it. It was well backed by a double line so I survive the experience but on my own turn there are a couple of minor attacks but primarily I am just looking to keep a double line in place here. I am very much on the defensive here.

In the North near Boston the Swedes pull off an unusually good turn and I am actually up beside Boston City this turn for the first time. German units are arriving in the theatre quickly now though I have yet to land the remains of my returned Panzer Corp here.

One element that comes up this turn is with all this defencive play I am suddenly searching for my Engineers as I don’t need them to cross rivers or repair bridges – I need them to help dig my forces in. I also can’t see how I am supposed to keep driving Ben’s replacement rate down much further however if I can take Mexico City I’ll be OK through turn 60 and Boston would, I think, really cement that. After that the situation will become much more difficult if I can’t restart some offencives. Hopefully return Axis Panzer Corps will allow me to do that.

Loss Rate: Axis: 257 / Allies: 273 / Spread: 16

The arrival of massive Axis Panzergrenadier Divisions collapses the Mexican line.

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[golden delicious]

Turn 48:
Oh bloody hell looks like I was wrong about Mexico City. Jeremy essentially obliterated the whole Mexican line this turn, leaving me with a few pieces in scattered pockets and the city itself totally exposed- I expect to lose it next turn. I start setting up one last counterattack to see if I can stave this off but I realise that's futile, and in fact what I need here is to rescue a couple of units which can then carry on the fight from the bottleneck around Tonala. One division and an HQ which railed up here just last turn flee towards Oaxaca, while other fragments try to break for the hills to the south. The Axis appear to be evacuating Central America (there are two Venezuelan divisions down here still, one of which is trapped outside Guatemala City), but it will take some time for this force to resupply with Mexico City gone as I'm down to 20% base supply from the local capital cities. I have two good Mexican divisions at Tonala now and will hope to resupply others enough to add them here before the Axis arrive, though Jeremy is not likely to make a major effort here. The majority of the scratch force I had at Guadalajara pulls back to the city and will rail out next turn to oppose the Japanese.

That front is actually looking good. The Japanese division broke out of its trap but otherwise Jeremy's moves here are being seriously slowed by his supply situation and the lack of firepower the Japanese suffer from. To the south, I pull my tired but victorious armour back to resupply. To the north, the Japanese have concentrated their strength on the Sierra passes, which are now solidifying, so I hit his strung out troops further north with my armour. I'm wrapping up my campaign in Arizona (most remaining Axis troops have withdrawn and the rest were destroyed) so I'll have these pieces to play with elsewhere in the next few turns. This is actually seven divisions of various types and conditions.

Jeremy added two fresh German infantry divisions to his slow burning Boston offensive, and this allowed him to crack another row of my defences. This puts Boston on the front line, but with two fortified divisions and a dense urban hex, and only a single Axis hex adjacent this is hardly a done deal. I continue my series of counterattacks here and add another fresh US armoured division to strengthen my response next turn.

Just as I predicted things quieting down in Minnesota Jeremy kicks off a counter-counteroffensive, with about six mechanised divisions (mostly already in a bad condition) committed here. I've achieved my objectives and the Minnesota NG aren't due until turn 56 so I'm prepared to fall back here to avoid the blow, refusing my flank while bringing up two new M4/76 armoured divisions behind the line. A lot of my troops here are looking extremely sad as the manpower crisis really bites. I seem to be stuck on about 14k Rifle AT- Squads but they're spread across more and more units. One of the units here has only 1/6th of its authorised squads. I'm contemplating sending a couple of these pieces to the long static line between Louisville and the Atlantic, which is currently tying down twenty fresh divisions (and slightly more Germans).

I'm really tearing around in Illinois. I slice behind one infantry division from two sides and then eliminate it. Something similar is in the cards with SS Polizei but I lose confidence and try to time the attack on the division to happen the same round as the cut off and it doesn't come off. I am however constantly expecting the new panzers to show up here. They must have landed 1-2 turns ago now and so should have finished their scenic drive up the Mississippi valley.

The high density front in New England grinds forward

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 49
Sort of the opposite of last turn in that I am happy with the macro developments but considerably less happy with the actual turn.

The next wave of Japanese arrive and that should allow me to put more pressure on Ben while giving my beachhead an overall solid defence. Ben has been making small armoured counter attacks but hopefully this will make those less concerning and allow me to go back to trying to blast my way to Los Angeles – which if nothing else is something Ben can’t ignore.

Down in Mexico my initial probe on Mexico City ends up sucking up the entire turn there meaning the city holds for at least one more turn. Otherwise Ben is fleeing into the hills. He is not cut from supply completely but is on very low supply from the supply trace. I need to figure out when this is done enough that I can start withdrawing forces.

The North Western flank sees continued Allied attacks and a Romanian Brigade is doomed but my supply line and reinforcements are finally arriving on the scene.

Near Minneapolis but out on the western flank my counter attack was going reasonably until I really screwed up and two units advanced leaving 3 HQs undefended beside a US Armored Division. All I can do is hope this does not turn out to badly. Trading an Armored Division for an HQ should be well worth it for Ben and if he got more then one I would really be crying.

In Illinois Ben tears into my line driving me back. This turn I shut the offencive here down completely. I have enough units here but so many are so burnt out that they just can’t resist the Allied attacks in any form. I’m digging like crazy trying to slow this advance down.

Meanwhile near Boston the advances are marginal. Could not land any of the returned Panzer Corp this turn because the Japanese used up all the sea transport but I’ll call that a good problem.

One thing I noticed was that at the start of my turn the Loss Rate had jumped 10 points in my favour but that was down to only 1 point once my turn was done. At this stage it seems like the attacker is losing more then the defender – though part of my issue might be massive air losses as I attack with the Japanese air forces who inevitably trade 3 Japanese Planes for every 2 Allied Planes.

Axis forces counter attack the flank west of Minneapolis but accidentally open themselves up to a counter move.

Fall Grau JB 49.jpg (1.11 MiB) Viewed 1590 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 49:
A fairly manageable turn from Jeremy- I even held onto Mexico City unexpectedly, as the ruined mess of the Axis army bounces off the fairly strong garrison here. I continue to evacuate what I can from central Mexico while leaving a small force at Guadalajara to protect the airfield while it still offers cover for the capital.

In the west, Jeremy seems largely to switch to the defensive. The Japanese have stopped advancing and the Axis forces I've been picking away at in Colorado have been reinforced and dig in. He now outnumbers me here and with the offensive opportunity gone this area is objectively worthless so I'll draw down my strength here in favour of more critical battlefields further east, but unfortunately this turn two divisions decide to go into reorganisation and I'm only able to withdraw elements of one division immediately, with the rest rather clumsily pulled back into a position which is useful for neither attack nor defence.

Minnesota is more promising. Here, Jeremy burst through my southern flank, but failed to pierce my refused northern one, and his flanks are ludicrously weak, containing five HQs and one 8-5 division (between two hexes). I have strong forces on both sides and will counter here with my strong armour forces railed up last turn in the hopes of wiping out these troops. I rationalise my line further east to pull out another three (now rested) armoured divisions; provided I don't get early turn ending this should look good.

Illinois, too, looks to be largely defensive for Jeremy. I'll pick some targets for further counterattacks carefully, but really what I want is 1) to rest 2) to withdraw units to more threatened fronts and 3) build a double line in places in case those fresh panzers do show up here. I withdraw three National Guard divisions, two armoured brigades and four HQs which actually leaves this front pretty light on infantry, but hopefully Jeremy won't immediately notice and flip back to attacking.

A nice result. In a turn that was otherwise quiet, six good armoured divisions envelop SS LAH and Grossdeutschland, cutting off and destroying both (save for one battered regiment) plus an infantry division. These were the two best divisions the Axis had in this sector and I think at a stroke this will put an end to the renewed Axis offensive here- although when I check, Grossdeutschland was actually due to be withdrawn next turn or the turn after, so this is mainly just attrition. I hope to use this breathing space to reorganise, evacuating the very badly worn regular infantry divisions from the flank and perhaps pulling my armour off the line to form a bit of a reserve for my next action- whatever that may be.

The Allied offensive in the north plains comes to an end as Axis force build up

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 50
Well, here we are at turn 50. Turn 45 is the official halfway point of the scenario but turn 50 is in many ways much more significant as this is the high point of Allied reinforcements. They still get lots after this point but they get a plethora on turn 50 itself.

The turn itself is somewhat unique in that, over vast parts of the map things have gone basically quite. Only the very earliest turns, with a mere fraction of the units on the map, where generally this quite and in those turns things where intense everywhere there where units, here 98% or some such of the units on the map are simply unengaged this turn as Ben and I both, for the most part are on the defencive. This won’t last. Fall Grau always did tend toward rising and falling crescendo’s of violence and this is just an extreme case of that.

On the West coast my new Japanese reinforcements race south but have not yet arrived in force. A few go north to help deal with a minor Allied counter offencive north of Sacramento. In the south I take Bakersfield as it is a key cross roads in the advance toward Los Angeles.

Mexico does see some heavy fighting but all of it is over Mexico City which I am attacking from all sides with units of every nationality and loads of artillery however my units are very low on supply and readiness and I dare not really push them. The Mexican defenders of Mexico City can’t be cut from supply and there are four Divisions in the city. While the defenders are reduced to a remnant they hold the city for another turn. This is not great news for me as it means Ben will get two turns of 83% replacements.

Up on the far Western Flank I lose a Romanian Brigade but reinforcements are arriving and the supply line is rapidly closing. I think Ben may be starting to shut this offencive down as he pulls some units away to parts unknown. The parts unknown are actually kind of concerning because I am beginning to think that there are a lot of Allied units I simply can’t account for out there. I really want to keep an eye out for the two Allied rail repair units because I think there is a solid chance they would give away any counter attack at least in the West. Thing is I don’t recall seeing a lot of rail movement to anywhere in particular. If I where to guess at where Ben is gathering these reserves, I would guess Bismarck or Billings. If true then these forces are not so much a counter attack force but a defencive reserve – These two cities are roughly in the middle of the Allied extended rail net. From these points Allied reinforcements can be pretty much anywhere except deep in Mexico in one turn of rail movement. Of course a defencive reserve could turn into an offencive force pretty quickly… and I am not even 100% that there is all that much back there.

Minneapolis was a bit of a disaster and I brought it on myself. Ben does not destroy the HQs but he does surround and destroy A German Infantry Division a SS Panzer Division and 2 Regiments of Gross Deutchland… humorously the last Regiment then withdraws off map this turn meaning they must have had teleporters or some such! The counter attack and the fear that Ben has gathered reserves in these parts has me shut down my attack completely as I go over to the defence out here.

Illinois is also exceptionally quite. Ben launches just a couple of pretty minor attacks and I counter attack to retake a hex but all in all this front appears to be shutting down for both of us. I see Ben withdrawing units from the area but where they are going I have no clue. For my part I can only really breath a sigh of relief as I have so many really battered units here. Now they seem like they will get a chance to rest up. I would not be shocked to find that I am forced, in the future, to start pulling out at least the elements of the 3rd Line to reinforce some other front and if the second line started to thin out as well after resting up it would hardly be a shocker – though it is at least possible that I return to the offencive here at some future date when most of the Panzer Corps have returned.

Finally, the East Coast sees very heavy fighting as I try and advance toward Boston. I land the big Panzer Units here this turn.

Allied Production Boost: 83%

Grand Overview - turn 50

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[golden delicious]

Turn 50:
Turn 50:
Here they come! Two fresh panzer divisions land at Portland, Maine. This was my vote for the most dangerous move Jeremy could make with these troops and means that my forces available locally (even though I've just raised this to three armoured divisions) are totally inadequate. I plan some immediate attacks to thin the herd of weak Axis divisions here and give me some strategic depth.

Fun and games continue in Mexico- incredibly, the city is still in my hands with a very depleted garrison. Various Mexican troops are still fleeing in all directions, and new irregulars keep popping up. Some of them start converting road hexes in the Axis rear to make evacuating overland more difficult, while others block the supply point at Tampico which puts every division south of here on "overextended" status. The two divisions I rescued from Monterrey are almost all the way to the safety of the Pacific rail line, while the better part of two divisions actually make it to the US, where after resting they'll get into danger again.

An embarassment of reinforcements this turn- despite a second, unscheduled corps of five armoured divisions having four of their locations blocked- and I have far too little rail lift for all of them. As a result paradoxically very little ends up going to New England (three divisions, one of them armoured) as I have so many units that are miles from the front which need to be brought forward and I'm loathe to use my rail lift shuttling stuff backwards and forwards between fronts.

This does mean that I have an enormous quantity of units in Minnesota, and I decide to use them immediately, launching most of my armour here into the weak point in the Axis line left by the destruction of the two mechanised divisions last turn. One German division RBCs and the rest are a mess and should easily be shifted. I intend this to be a wide breach immediately in the rear of the Axis flank facing north. If I can reach Sioux Falls, I have another armoured division due here, but mainly this is about killing Germans.

Something similar is planned in Colorado, where after last turn's mess I'm still unable to evacuate the force and so I flip back over to the offensive against the rather weak Axis units here, with the goal of seizing Denver, the arrival point for another armoured division. This comes off nicely; I destroy two brigades and put two divisions out of supply and end the turn firmly in possession of the city itself. Minnesota / South Dakota is more complicated. I get ahead, but the line is backstopped by armour, including the fresh SS Hohenstaufen. I settle for cutting off and destroying one infantry division and otherwise mauling the enemy, but with so much Axis armour here I feel like I'm going to be in for some rough handling next turn. I had high hopes for my push in New England, with Axis units piled high in a small space and I do destroy a Swedish armoured division, but this falls short and I think I'm going to have to accept losing Boston in the next few turns. If Jeremy continues to ramp up the pressure here then we should see a decisive battle develop in New England, where I absolutely cannot afford to retreat more than a few hexes. Next turn, I'll be railing as much as I can to this sector to respond; I have quite a lot of good armoured divisions on the rail ready to move off, and I'm happy to strip reserves now that the panzers are starting to be committed- I've still not seen a 2nd corps show up in the news.

A whole lot of reinforcements this turn so time to test the contention that turn 44 was my highwater mark;
strengths (in 000s) 44 / 50:
Squads:
Irregular: 1.4 / .6
Mounted Rifle: 5.7 / 5.8
Motorcycle: 0.9 / 1.2
Light Rifle: 31.4 / 28.8
Light Rifle AT-: 8.9 / 10.4
Rifle: 19.9 / 19.5
Rifle AT-: 14.5 / 14.7
Heavy Rifle: 4.2 / 4.3
Engineer: 4.1 / 4.0
Total Combat Squads: 90.9k / 90.3k
Remembering that garrison divisions accounted for 33k of my strength turn 44. I'm down to 76 US, 12 Canadian, 16 Mexican etc. garrison divisions, for a drop of about 3k squads. That does mean my strength has actually increased, mainly with the addition of some more National Guard offsetting the loss of much of the Mexican army.

I'd also like to look at armour (again in 000s):
Light MG Tank: 0.8 / 0.6
Valentine: 0.8 / 0.8
M3 Stuart: 1.7 / 1.5
M10 Wolverine: 1.8 / 1.8
M3 Lee: 0.6 / 0.5
M4/75: 5.1 / 5.7
M5 Stuart: 1.2 / 1.4
M18 Hellcat: 0.6 / 0.7
M24 Chaffee: 0 / 0.4
M4/76: 0.4 / 1.5
Total: 13k / 14.9k
This is a nice clear increase as a result of the large number of new armoured divisions that have been organised in the last six turns.

All this is fairly cheering, as it shows that although my replacements can't keep up with the rate of loss, the addition of reinforcements tops me up to the point that my strength continues to grow, while the Axis armies are mired in something of a lean patch when a whole lot more mechanised divisions have been withdrawn than have returned (4 out of 9 corps have been ordered home so far). I think this vindicates my strategy of attritional offensives and counteroffensives over the past several turns. We'll see how this develops as Axis strength comes back onto the board- I expect a second corps to show up next turn.

The dangerous New England front. There are as many industrial cities in this one screenshot than in the whole map west of Salt Lake City; an advance of two hexes every five turns puts the Axis in New York City before the end of the match

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

The dangerous New England front. There are as many industrial cities in this one screenshot than in the whole map west of Salt Lake City; an advance of two hexes every five turns puts the Axis in New York City before the end of the match
FG50a.png

Well close. Calgary is a little east of Salt Lake City (and is my vote for the safest Industrial City on the map - I have seen it attacked but not 100% sure I have ever seen it fall.

Still that leaves Vancouver, Seattle, San Fransisco, Los Angeles & San Diego which is one more then on the screenshot. Nonetheless the general idea is absolutely correct as there is the double city of Philadelphia just outside of the shot and a bunch of others not to far off.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 51
Things begin to heat up again. Ben got so many reinforcements that his very high rail transport did not even come close to allowing him to move them all. My rail transport – which is just a fraction of the Allies, is over strained at this stage in the game as well.

Out on the West Coast the Japanese reinforcements have begun to arrive. Massive naval firepower allows a slight advance along the coast line but the attacks more in the centre of the advance against Los Angeles just bounce off the American Armored Divisions which the Japanese really struggle with having very little in their TO&E that can handle a tank. Worse yet the Japanese supply situation is poor once any distance from San Francisco. Japanese losses are easily replaced but supply is near impossible to come by without marching a unit all the way back to San Francisco and then sending it back to the front. Something that I will do with units once they completely run out of supply but it is a long drawn out process.

Mexico City finally falls. This will drive down Ben’s replacement rate significantly and it is critical as it is pretty clear that Ben is recovering with this replacement rate above 80%. The Loss Rate jumped significantly in Ben’s favour this turn putting us very close to even once again. Vera Cruz also falls so units can start to shift out of this front. At the moment many of the units will gorge on the supplies offered by Mexico Cities fall but forces are desperately needed in other parts of the front and a significant shift of Italians into Mexico and everyone else out of Mexico is about to begin. [Edit: No Italians are ever actually sent to Mexico – quite the reverse actually] Likely slowed down by the fact that the Returning Panzer Corps are a massive Sea Transport hog.

I really need these reinforcements as well as Ben has been slowly expanding the front line between the front near Denver and Minneapolis. Near Denver it is a little up in the air who is on the offensive and who is the defender but that is not the case on the western flank near Minneapolis where an Allied Armor concentration smashed in the wing and surrounded and destroyed a German Division.

Illinois is mostly quite with some attacks by the Canadians in the area and me constantly reorganizing the lines. It does dawn on me that, as my forces recover I might restart a limited offensive here myself. I can’t afford to really use the Infantry here anymore but I still have a few Panzer Divisions and a lot of idle HQs. Panzer led attacks with artillery support are something I could afford and would help in not ceding the initiative to much to Ben.

The real story this turn is on the East Coast where the Panzers from the returned VII Panzer Corp finally hit the line. These things are just absolute behemoths when they first enter the fray. They are never quite the same again and they are merely impressive by turns end but they simply blast through Boston and expand outward forming a defencive line in front of the city all in the first half of the turn. In fact I shut the whole turn down shortly past the 50% point as all my attacks are done.

That said even though I have a handful of super impressive units Ben is awash in reinforcements and the lions share of them headed this way last turn so now there is roughly a Panzer Division a hex set to try and block what will likely be a do or die massive Allied counter attack.

Here there be monsters

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Here is a look at Axis strengths as of turn 51 - also I have a better idea of what Ben is looking at and put this on a spread sheet so consider these figures more authoritative then the previous post like this.

Axis Strength:

strengths (in 000s):

Squads Turn 45 / 51
Irregular: 0.1/ 0.1
Military Police: 1.1/ 1.2
Mounted Rifle: 5.0/ 6.1
Motorcycle: 1.5/ 1.3
Light Rifle: 12.7/ 16.5
Light Rifle AT-: 11.8/ 10.5
Rifle: 9.9/ 9.1
Rifle AT-: 1.1/ 0.4
Heavy Rifle: 1.1/ 0.8
Heavy Rifle AT-:32.9/ 31
Recon Rifle: 6.7/ 8.7
Engineer: 7.4/ 7.1
Total Squads: 91.3/ 92.8

Tanks Turn 45/ 51
Light MG tank: 0.4/ 0.3
Panzer IIF: 0.3/ 0.2
Panzer IIIH: 0.2/ 0.2
Panzer IIIJ: 0.2/ 0.1
Panzer IIIN: 0.1/ 0.1
Panzer IVF2: 2.8/ 1.5
Panzer IVH: 1.0/ 0.5
Panther: 0/ 0.7
Tiger I: 0.4/ 0.3
Tiger II: 0/ 0.4
Stug III41: 3.0/ 2.6
Stug III42: 0.8/ 0.5
Stug IV: 2.1/ 1.8
Stug IV Brummbar: 1.6/ 1.2
Panzer Jager I: 0.2/ 0.1
Marder II/III: 0.9/ 0.4
Nashhorn 0/ 0.2
Type 94 Tankette: 1.1/ 1.6
Type 97/47 Tank: 1.1/ 1.2
Strv m/42: 0.6/ 0.1
Total Tanks 16.8/ 14.0


Of note while Ben's manpower strength seems to have slightly dropped mine has increased slightly, primarily because of the arrival of more Japanese forces. On the other hand Ben's Armour strength has increased while mine has dropped. I still hold the edge in infantry (though a lot of that is Japanese Infantry which are shockingly ineffective no matter how many there are) but, at least for the moment Ben has more Armoured Forces then I do.

[golden delicious]

Still that leaves Vancouver, Seattle, San Fransisco, Los Angeles & San Diego which is one more then on the screenshot. Nonetheless the general idea is absolutely correct as there is the double city of Philadelphia just outside of the shot and a bunch of others not to far off.

You already took San Francisco- that was my calculation. You're right I missed Calgary since as you note its never been taken.

[golden delicious]

Of note while Ben's manpower strength seems to have slightly dropped mine has increased slightly, primarily because of the arrival of more Japanese forces. On the other hand Ben's Armour strength has increased while mine has dropped. I still hold the edge in infantry (though a lot of that is Japanese Infantry which are shockingly ineffective no matter how many there are) but, at least for the moment Ben has more Armoured Forces then I do.

Well if you look in the detail you'll note that if I discount static reserve divisions my squads have actually gone up, meaning I have more strength on the line, but still a lot less than you do.

[golden delicious]

Turn 51:
Oof- there goes Boston. Like Minneapolis, it's not just taken but overwhelmed, making a relief problematic- though with some significant reinforcements right behind the line I'll give it a shot, while some of the infantry attempts to prepare a line down to Providence RI to prevent this eruption pouring into Connecticut. I add further enormous quantities of armour here this turn- three divisions and three brigades, as well as several HQs and two more NG divisions, constituting most of my rail lift- though I spare enough for one armoured division to go to southern California where the Japanese are pushing along the coast road and I want to push back.

Apart from these two fronts (and the inevitable fall of Mexico City) all is pretty much calm and well, with Jeremy opting to withdraw before me in South Dakota, which I'm happy to follow up, continuing to sweep wide across the state with my lighter troops whilst hammering the immediate Axis front with my concentrated armour and artillery. If I can keep this pressure up then there's a good chance of liberating Sioux City (again) to get another armoured division, and perhaps further unhinging the Axis defence of this part of the map to force a withdrawal from the key positions on the upper Mississippi. My other major offensive front- in Illinois- is winding down as so many of the troops have been withdrawn, but I continue local attacks here where the Germans are weak (one division RBCs when prodded).

I don't quite get to attack Boston- so that's gone- but I do really hammer the Axis around here, destroying a panzergrenadier regiment and reducing the two fresh panzer divisions more or less to trash, putting the Axis loss penalty fourteen points higher than mine. I'm feeling pretty powerful at the moment but I need to bear in mind that I'll be stuck back on 61% replacements (at most) from turn 52-59 and this is not enough to maintain my strength in the field. XIX Panzer korps arrived on the map this turn so I expect to meet them this turn, possibly in New England. If Jeremy can keep the front mobile here then he has a breadcrumb trail of industrial cities to follow which can keep my replacement rate suppressed for some time. Whatever the case, I'm going to giving a firm shove back on my next turn, but I may need to start pulling out my own tired armoured divisions to rest once I can spare them

The Allied line under pressure outside Los Angeles

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 52
Watching the playback is initially terrifying as the Allies go over to the offensive just about everywhere. I am actually pretty shaken until part way through doing my turn when I find myself gathering back the Panzers into a strike force in Illinois and it dawns on me that the mass Allied counter offencive was a lot of noise but not a huge amount of substance. No where is really in crisis, the Allies did not burst through the line anywhere they just attacked in a lot of places. I’d be in a much larger pickle if one of the fronts was falling apart because the Axis can’t really transfer reserves around that quickly but, this turn at least, that is not to huge a problem.

Now to be clear it is a problem. In the West (near Sioux Falls) Ben has expanded out his counter attack and yet more Divisions need to be diverted to try and contain that, on the Far West a Hungarian and Italian Division are cut off and will be destroyed and the line is stretched to its breaking point, I’m constantly trying to shift the front West of Mineapolis backward effectively to handle the continued Allied advance but so far it has been pretty much survivable.

There are Axis reserves available it just tends to be the case that there rail transport is low and the distances that need to be covered so large that only a small amount of these reserves can get anywhere. Also, this turn in particular, a significant number of the rail transport was needed to pull some forces from Illinois back toward the American South. Somehow there is an American Division and HQ (at least) operating down there. Where the heck these guys came from is unclear. My best guess is that there is a named town which is the destination for some Allied reinforcements but there is no actual urban hex. When Ben was making the map he had some kind of a criteria for how large a city had to be for it to get a urban hex. Some places that are named don’t meet that criteria but are still designated as Allied reinforcement points hence they can be reconverted by guerrillas.

The biggest news of the turn comes out of the East Coast where a powerful Allied counter attack was just short of retaking Boston. On my turn I learn that the new panzers can sometimes be so powerful that they get me in trouble. I blitz south getting to the Outskirts of Providence and cutting off a bunch of Allied units only to realize that if I stay here Ben will surely cut me off on his turn and probably Destroy the Division in the process. I then spend the rest of the turn desperately trying to pull back and widen the base of my offensive even using another New Panzer Division I landed in the area. I am not actually sure if I have been successful enough in this to avoid some kind of a major crisis once Ben launches his attacks on his turn. If there is one area where the Allies are really building up a powerful force it is out here - that force is just coming against where I am bringing up much of my own reinforcements.

In Illinois I am gathering what Panzers I still have in the vicinity back into a single powerful force. The many nearly destroyed German Infantry Divisions in the area have now substantially recovered enough to go back onto the line an relieve the German Panzertruppen.

The Italians are a force I just can’t seem to decide what to do with. Last turn the plan was to send the ones resupplying West of Memphis to Mexico but with the North Western Flank now resupplied but desperately short of forces I am thinking of sending them there.

Mexico itself is beginning to empty of troops. The First of the German repatriates has arrived in Houston and I will send them an HQ to resupply next turn. Many more forces are due to follow. To the point where it is slowing down the return of the New Panzer Corps.

I also think the Dividends from the fall of both Boston and Mexico City might have started paying out this turn as the Loss Rating shifted back in my favour.

Boston: 75%
Mexico City: 60%

Loss Rate: Axis: 277 / Allies: 284 / Spread: 7

Pushing south past Boston

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[golden delicious]

Turn 52:
As expected, Jeremy wasn't prepared to give on the prospect of a mobile front in New England, and the first units of XIX Panzer corps show up here this turn. With heaps of fresh armour and artillery pouring in here from my side, I continue my own counterattacks, while withdrawing some of the more vulnerable units which are a liability now that there are powerful panzer divisions here. I pour in another five good divisions and masses of artillery, again maxing out the rail lift, again with one more armoured division heading for southern California to deal with the Japanese pressure that's increasing on that front. I'm close to clearing the backlog of rail movements that started on turn 50 but still have plenty to add here if I really start stripping the fronts, as well as more trivial shufflings around to get better units out of static positions, etc.

Otherwise it's business as usual; I continue local counterattacks in Illinois, South Dakota, Colorado and southern California, though all of these operations are effectively winding down as I seek to concentrate as much force as possible in New England. There, I manage to hammer my way forward with a succession of attacks which carry me all the way back into Boston and result in a total of four German divisions evaporating from overstacking- the last of which is the newly rebuilt SS Das Reich. We'll see what Jeremy can pull out of the bag- but his force here really is a mess. He needs to get all the dross of half-strength Swedish divisions out of the way and bring in some real units- or otherwise fight me somewhere else. He has to attack: the victory level is still (just barely) on marginal Allied victory, and even if it weren't he has to hit my replacement rate. The one serious hope of doing that is the slow Japanese advance in southern California, and if New England calms down, I'll be concentrating even more strength there; I have five armoured divisions there now and am ready to send several more next turn.

It doesn't help that I seem to have gotten air superiority from this turn- though at some point the new generation Luftwaffe air units will show up and this may reverse again, especially now my replacements are low. If not, then I'll start shifting some fighters to combat support- I feel short on bombers, as so many of them are always reorganising.

The Colorado front- an afterthought for both forces but now with the Axis railhead right behind the line this could change

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[Cpl GAC]

Thank you for holding tough east of Fort Collins. The Prairie dogs greatly appreciate it.

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You have to watch them coming at you full out for about a day before you get each other in range.

[golden delicious]

Thank you for holding tough east of Fort Collins. The Prairie dogs greatly appreciate it.
east of the rockies.jpg

You have to watch them coming at you full out for about a day before you get each other in range.

You've illustrated matters quite well there: this is great ground for a mobile battle when you have greater numbers and/or better manoeuvrability than the other guy- not great for a static defence.