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

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 53
Nothing good for me this turn. Ben never pulled off anything as elaborate as I feared at Boston but it was still pretty damn bad as he tears into my forces a brutal counter attack that drives me back and out of Boston. It is to late to change the Industrial hit for him but I lose a number of units along the way including the powerful returned SS Das Riech. This is all due to over stacking on this front. I make a much more limited counter attack on my turn trying to reduce the dangers of overstacking but we are fighting on just to tight a front here.

Given that Ben’s attacks in Illinois, the West flank of Minneapolis and even out on the Far Western Flank are much lighter I think it is really a massive Allied Concentration here that is a big part of my problem and I need to force Ben to defend other parts of the map if I want to make any headway on the East Coast.

This is all something that is likely possible as I actually have very substantial reserves coming out of places like Mexico but it will take time to get this stuff to the front and meanwhile I am very cognizant that the situation is not exactly phenomenal right now (I still have not made this even a draw) and on turn 60 Ben’s replacement rate will jump to 90%. I will be right back in a place where I desperately need to be taking Industrial Cities. I had hoped the Japanese would be doing this for me but they are just bouncing of the American Armored Divisions that stand in their way and their supply situation is poor this far from San Francisco.

The Japanese just seem unable to make headway against American Tanks

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[golden delicious]

Turn 53:
A pretty quiet turn from Jeremy as his big push got so badly blunted last turn. My focus is now on southern California where the Japanese continue to harass my line. With his close to indestructible navy blasting away on the coast, there's little I can do to stop a gradual advance here, but I'll keep reinforcing with armour which I'm banking on being tougher for the Japanese to shift. I add one division from northern California where the situation is stable and a regiment to complete another, plus a second Mexican armoured division to build up behind the line.

I notice a new panzer division moving north from Mobile; this suggests that Jeremy intends to re-open the front in Illinois where he has been passive for some turns. There are also now at least six old mechanised divisions resting behind the line here, so this starts to look like a serious push. With the need to pull off troops to the northeast evaporated, I can keep my existing strength here, but I continue the process of pulling the Canadians out of the line to make sure this may still look like weakness, but in fact these units just move back one hex to form a second line and/or reserve. I also move a powerful, fresh armoured division this way from Toronto where it's been released by a newer unit that's not yet fully supplied.

I have so many troops at Boston and so many other rail movements to make that I continue my counterattacks here, with enough troops left over to establish a major defence in depth.

My attacks on the Plains are losing momentum from having so many units withdrawn, and once the immediate defensive battles are won I'll want to bring more troops out here. For the time being, I shift several divisions further west into South Dakota to attack the vulnerable long flank of the Axis line, but many of my units here simply rest. Colorado is a bit of a different story as the Axis are so thin on the ground here, my one powerful armoured division co-operating with the National Guard is able to get a series of RBCs, destroying two regiments and threatening to cut off the whole southern flank of the Axis line here.

Fair results. I destroy another couple of Axis units in Massachusetts and smash the Japanese around Bakersfield. I really need to drag my army back west from New England as it feels like the Axis are on the brink of collapse west of Sioux Falls and I need more pieces to be able to turn a defeat into a disaster for Jeremy. He has to pull something out of the hat and fast if he wants to stay in this match. If I were him, I'd [redacted]

The Axis flank begins to collapse in South Dakota

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 54
Oh gross… The Loss Rate swung pretty hard in the Allied favour and for the first time (except on turn 1) the loss rate actually favours the Allies by a few points. This could eventually become a real problem. At the moment Ben’s replacement rate is pretty low but it will get totally out of hand on turn 60 and there is not much that I can see that I can do about it.

The Japanese are just not really going anywhere – they simply cannot harm Ben’s tanks – very little in their TO&E can even penetrate the Armour and they are at the end of their rope supply wise. I don’t see them making much headway to Los Angeles any time soon – in fact Ben showed off the fact that he can retake multiple turns of Japanese advances in just one turn as he bashes in the Japanese centre in the south.

On the far west flank there is some significant excitement as Ben breaches the southern wing of the line and just tears off out into the open. It is not as bad as it could be as Italians have arrived in enough numbers that I can cut these wandering souls off though I only manage to actually destroy a National Guard Brigade while losing 3 or some such extremely depleted brigades of my own.

The flank West of Minneapolis is better. Ben manages to surround a couple of German units but only kills one leaving him vulnerable to a counter attack that destroys one of his new Armored Divisions. He’ll get the unit back quickly at this stage however as there are likely a fair number of new Shermans in the Allied on hand pool.

In Illinois Ben seems to have realized that I was preparing for a counter attack as he goes onto the defencive, when I unleash the Panzers they make modest gains but nothing spectacular this turn.

The East coast is a brutal problem for me. Massed Allied Armor and Artillery is really chewing my forces up. The real problem is that I can’t actually effectively defend because of the danger of losing units to overstacking which Ben is certianly attempting to pull off. Worse yet I can pretty much depend on the extremely powerful new Panzer Divisions being the last units that will be forced out of a hex so if there are going to be overstacking losses it will fall on them. My solution is essentially to keep many units off the front lines and give ground. Of course this plan means that my idea of just blasting my way slowly into some of the other Industrial Cities in the North East is essentially stillborn at the moment. I am the one going backward.

A Panzer Corp (the V) withdraws and another (the XV) returns this turn. As with all my turns at this stage there is not enough sea transport with the large numbers of units pulling out of Mexico to get more then a few Panzergrenadier Divisions ashore. Mexico City is no longer a supply point so that situation is just going to get worse as hordes of Axis units in Mexico head for Vera Cruz and withdrawal back to the Continental US.

The plan has not really changed. Axis reinforcements are being spread among the East, Illinois, Minneapolis and the Far West front. The East is totally stalled but if the Axis start experiencing success on other fronts Ben will either have to withdraw units from that front or deal with the issue of the other fronts collapsing. Illinois is not to far from a couple of Industrial Cities so it could maybe become a solution to the coming huge Allied replacement rate. Minneapolis is less likely but has the highest potential to destroy Allied units and a real victory here does start shifting things back toward a crossing of the upper Mississippi. The main push will still be a drive to the West Coast via Salt Lake City. If I can pull that off the Japanese will have rail repair units and a could potentially garner enough Industrial Cities and Victory points to win this. Of course its getting the units to the battle that is my problem. Most of the force that I plan to do this with is going to be the Axis minors in Mexico and pretty much all the PanzerGrenadiers I get as Reinforcements. A few Panzer Divisions will be sent this way but not much. Basically the Panzer Grenadiers don’t work well in the confined fighting in the East. As always in this scenario time is my greatest enemy.

The situation begins to really fall apart on the southern flank of the North East Front.

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[golden delicious]

A Panzer Corp (the V) withdraws and another (the XV) returns this turn. As with all my turns at this stage there is not enough sea transport with the large numbers of units pulling out of Mexico to get more then a few Panzergrenadier Divisions ashore. Mexico City is no longer a supply point so that situation is just going to get worse as hordes of Axis units in Mexico head for Vera Cruz and withdrawal back to the Continental US.

I don't get this. You have brand new units sitting on the docks in Europe but you prioritise sealifting old units out of Mexico? Units which are probably missing a bunch of their equipment and which could, at least in theory, march up to the rail net at Monterrey- or make their way over the desert to threaten New Mexico.

[golden delicious]

Turn 54:
The Japanese continue to put pressure on my coastal positions north of Los Angeles, with the big naval guns pushing me to within four hexes of the city itself. I'll push back, but at the same time continue my operations around Bakersfield. An advance here makes the position along the coast untenable and ultimately creates the prospect of trapping a big batch of Japanese divisions against the Pacific. I want to reinforce here further but for the moment nothing in range is free- though I do add another two strong fighter wings to cover another strike on the battle fleet.

There's also a new attack in Illinois. At first I thought this might be the expected offensive, but it's decidedly limited in character, shoving back a total of four hexes and with infantry only. I guess this is Jeremy trying to keep my fortifications incomplete until the fresh panzers show up, which should be next turn. I'm happy for the chance to get my Canadians back into action without having to deal with fortified defenders, so I push back. Two first class divisions join this front by road

With so much of my strength concentrated in New England, my offensives in the west are starting to run into trouble, with Jeremy making some damaging counterattacks in Colorado and South Dakota. With Boston retaken and Jeremy showing no signs of resuming offensive activity, I immediately pull six first-class divisions (three of them armoured) out of Massachusetts for South Dakota. What's left is still vastly more than is needed for defensive purposes so I keep pushing to take advantage of the Axis unit congestion.

Fair combat results. I do manage a local attack in South Dakota, shifting my emphasis back east and smashing through the German line here to actually occupy Sioux Falls- though I'm sure to lose it again on Jeremy's turn. The most notable thing for me, though, is how one-sided my attacks on the Japanese are. They really cannot cope against concentrated armour, and in multiple battles I inflict fairly heavy slaughter on their light infantry for marginal losses of my own. I don't think Jeremy can sustain his attack here as his supply situation is so poor and the Japanese have already been badly handled. We'll see what comes of his new offensive in Illinois, but if it's dangerous I can certainly pump massive forces in from other fronts as needed.

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

A Panzer Corp (the V) withdraws and another (the XV) returns this turn. As with all my turns at this stage there is not enough sea transport with the large numbers of units pulling out of Mexico to get more then a few Panzergrenadier Divisions ashore. Mexico City is no longer a supply point so that situation is just going to get worse as hordes of Axis units in Mexico head for Vera Cruz and withdrawal back to the Continental US.

I don't get this. You have brand new units sitting on the docks in Europe but you prioritise sealifting old units out of Mexico? Units which are probably missing a bunch of their equipment and which could, at least in theory, march up to the rail net at Monterrey- or make their way over the desert to threaten New Mexico.

A lot of it has to do with how fast I can get units to the front and how many units can be deployed. You are putting a lot of pressure on me in the North East and up near Minneapolis. The German Infantry withdrawn from Mexico can rail to Minneapolis and the Axis minors can be railed to the North East and its a pretty sizable number of units arriving reasonably quickly. The Missing equipment also makes them lighter.

I also really want to get some of these forces out to the North East for my own hoped for Salt Lake City offensive. But yeah it is mainly the case that I can land 10 units out of Mexico or 5 units out of Mexico and 1 new Panzer or 2 New Panzers. I just get so many more units, even if the quality is not there, from the Mexican forces.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 55
Well that blows! I get a one rounder – very rare for the Axis. The turn had a fair bit of potential as well. Ben’s offencives had not been too devastating and in a number of places he had gotten his Armored Divisions out on a limb and they were ripe for a counter attack that surrounded and destroyed them. Something I really need as the Loss Rate is now almost 10 points in Ben’s favour at the start of my turn and this is with a fairly low 60% replacement rate. In 5 turns the situation will really start to get out of hand. The only upside is I don’t think Ben can hurt me too badly from this position because almost nothing actually moved.

Of note on Ben’s turn there was a massive transfer of units away from the East Coast up to the area North West of Minneapolis. Ben might be putting forces into reserve (this is the point on the map where he can reinforce anywhere) but I actually suspect that it represents a the beginning of a flank attack as Ben has clearly found the area of this front where my flank kind of trails off into weak flank holders and I am pretty close to out of extra troops in the area to hold onto the flank though I can probably skim a few units from here or there to make do.

I do have a lot of forces arriving on the scene – far more then I can land at this stage with Mexico beginning to really empty out and the returning Panzer Corps. The problem is I don’t want to send very many of them to the far flank near Minneapolis. Most of these units, Spanish, Turks, Hungarians, are really better for my hoped for offencive Salt Lake City and the West Coast.

Turn 55 Grand Overview p1

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Turn 55 Grand Overview p2

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[golden delicious]

Turn 55:
Another early turn ending for Jeremy- just as he's unleashing the hounds in Illinois. He has had the worst luck with these. This leaves southern California fairly quiet, but he did have time to reinforce the Bakersfield front so I pull back the armour to rest again and dig in along the line.

Jeremy's attack was also stillborn in South Dakota, where he enveloped but didn't threaten my division at Sioux Falls, so instead I receive a new armoured division (plus HQ) here. This could have been ugly as Jeremy unexpectedly has a new panzer division here. As it stands, I can make some local attacks here while the massive force just coming off the rail further west will deliver a broad, heavy punch with the intent of keeping as much of the Axis force on this front as possible (I keep seeing Axis units rail west). I can threaten to push his line back on the super river west of Sioux City, and in the long run this advance threatens the critical rail junction at Lincoln, Nebraska, which feeds the whole Axis position between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains

The main attack in Illinois disrupted my first line but without a subsequent round my position here is still in fair shape. I'll counterattack, reinforce and defend in depth to keep it that way. Two Canadian divisions and two HQs are added here. I shove Jeremy back in a couple of places but my losses are considerable and the western half of my line doesn't look all that impressive afterwards, with a lot of hexes held by weak units on "defending" status- although in some places this is three hexes deep.

Jeremy is also starting to look strong again in Massachusetts; I draw off what I can while still keeping a double line here and calling off my counteroffensive. This gives me another five divisions for my western offensive.

The big push is a colossal triumph. I shatter the Axis front across a front of 100km, then link up with my local attacks at Sioux Falls to trap two SS divisions and one Heer infantry, plus a number of HQs and engineers, which are then hammered and largely destroyed (as were several units which simply RBCed over and over as my tanks rolled forward). Jeremy has a fair number of units around Sioux Falls, but I think his position now is extremely precarious as my advance has created a bulge about nine hexes around which he is in no position to push back. I think he'll need to pull back the screen he has off to the west or it'll be destroyed next turn. Besides the troops I railed up here, I have seven more National Guard divisions forming in Minnesota next turn; this may give me the strength I need to carry this momentum into Nebraska.

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Sorry about the delay. I went on a long vacations and when I returned had lost the internet. But we are back in the saddle again. Expect a pause again in a short while as Ben has exciting events in his life coming up.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 56
Oh so not good. I had thought that I was not to terribly positioned with the early turn ending last turn but this turns out to be false. Ben was in fact massing for an attack on the western flank of Minneapolis and here he just blows through the weak flank of the line and swarms around the whole flank cutting off and destroying large numbers of units including an HQ stack. The whole area is just crawling with American Armour and more waves of such forces where transferred there this turn primarily from the East Coast.

Desperately I am trying to shore up the area but I have few reserves. I rail in a bunch of units, including units that had just been railed to the far western flank who never get a chance to get off the train and even a Division out from the Illinois front which now seems to have more excess forces then anywhere else though in truth nowhere is particularly doing well.

More forces pour ashore from out of Mexico and there are newly returned Panzer Corps piling up so if I can figure a way to get the forces to the front things should stabilize. The problem, of course, is I can’t reinforce this area anywhere as fast as Ben can.

This is also causing me to suffer an existential crisis as Ben’s replacement rate is set to go to 90% in four turns and if what I am doing during this period is just trying to stay alive and stabilize I have no answer at all for that.

I am back to launching offencives on the East Coast and in Illinois but while both move forward nothing particularly dramatic is happening on these fronts.

The Loss Rate also really turns against me this turn emphasizing how big of a crisis I am heading toward.

Loss Rate: Axis: 312 / Allies: 295 / Spread: -17

Axis forces trickle in to deal with the crisis in the west

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[golden delicious]

Turn 56:
A bit of a bigger turn from Jeremy, perhaps no surprise as everyone was nice and rested after last turn. I'm going to start in the northeast where a breach is developing to the west, although Axis strength here actually isn't all that impressive. As my own strength has been drawn down here in favour of the west I maintain a passive stance, building a second line and bringing my armour reserve (two divisions) over to the west where it can strike next turn if need be. I'm content to let Jeremy advance here as long as it's gradual- if I suddenly see a big concentration of troops here I'll reinforce seriously. For now, this front gets three of this turn's new NG divisions.

The big push in Illinois also kicks into gear, but thanks to the depth of the position it isn't pierced, and I'm able to set up some attacks where German units are exposed forward, although a key corps of Canadian troops is in reorganisation which limits what I can do here.

As predicted, Jeremy pulled in his western flank in South Dakota / Nebraska, but this is not complete and I'm able to trap a brigade of SS Reichsfuhrer immediately. My main effort is hamstrung by the failure of the HQs and engineers I trapped last turn to simply evaporate when prodded, forcing me to attack them and tying most of my best units to their ZOCs. The main Axis defence around Sioux Falls is made up of good divisions in fine condition, so while I make some attacks here I'm mainly shifting my emphasis west, to pull the Axis into the wide open space and force a battle for the broad front of Nebraska. I don't have a rail route here at the moment but one can be developed from Wyoming, where I just finished reconnecting a more southerly east-west rail route. I insert the remaining four new NG divisions right where this route currently starts

Further west still, around Denver Jeremy has been building up his forces for some time and now I see two brigades of tigers and a new panzer division, on top of about a dozen divisions of various shapes and sizes. Now that I'm at a disadvantage and with the Denver reinforcements released, I no longer feel there's much value in holding these positions as they stand with their southern flank wide open, and as such I shift my weight to the north-northeast to better co-operate with my main offensive on the plains, whilst dodging Jeremy's strength here. This gives me enough power to smash some weak units near Cheyenne, cutting off and destroying good brigade on the corner of the Axis position here, and then killing a regiment of LOC troops by RBC.

The most dangerous Axis offensive actually looks to still be the Japanese push into southern California. The invincible Japanese battle fleet makes this feel fairly inexorable; I rail another armoured division down here (making a total of eight US and two Mexican) to keep up the counterpressure; it looks like low supply is no problem for the Japanese as they keep advancing despite their bad condition so I'll need to push back. It also looks like the Japanese air force is extremely potent here; every time I do take a pop at the fleet, I get intercepted by two thousand or so fighters. I'm drizzling in more of my own fighters gradually, though I don't want to denude the east.

The attack into Nebraska goes pretty swimmingly, eliminating a second SS brigade and one of regular German infantry and one of Tigers, creating a void of about twelve hexes immediately west of the Missouri. This will surely provoke a severe reaction from Jeremy.

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[golden delicious]

Turn 56 Strategic Considerations

Time to check in on my strength again (in 000s) 50 / 56:
Squads:
Irregular: .6 / 2
Mounted Rifle: 5.8 / 6.8
Motorcycle: 1.2 / 1.4
Light Rifle: 28.8 / 28.6
Light Rifle AT-: 10.4 / 10.8
Rifle: 19.5 / 19.5
Rifle AT-: 14.7 / 15.5
Heavy Rifle: 4.3 / 4.6
Engineer: 4.0 / 4.1
Total Combat Squads: 90.3k / 93.3k
A fairly substantial increase overall- and in practically every category. Actually this is driven in large part by the arrival of the Mexican guerrillas, but the regular army is growing too

Armour (again in 000s):
Light MG Tank: 0.6 / 0.7
Valentine: 0.8 / 0.8
M3 Stuart: 1.5 / 1.8
M10 Wolverine: 1.8 / 1.7
M3 Lee: 0.5 / 0.6
M4/75: 5.7 / 5.7
M5 Stuart: 1.4 / 1.4
M18 Hellcat: 0.7 / 0.7
M24 Chaffee: 0.4 / 0.5
M4/76: 1.5 / 1.7
Total: 14.9k / 15.6k

So the Allied armies go from strength to strength. With still only three of the returned Axis panzer armies on the map (and only about seven divisions of the old ones in play), the enemy is at his weakest. The next dozen or so turns will see the remaining thirty or so first-class Axis mechanised divisions come onto the map, in addition to 28 more Japanese divisions.

Still, I expect to be more and more on the offensive for the rest of the match. I've established the current offensive intent is to converge the forces I now have on then northern and southwestern borders of Nebraska towards Lincoln, disrupting the Axis supply net and releasing about four divisions currently backed up in the state, and also putting the Axis position at Minneapolis at the top of a deep salient. From here, I can either attempt to pinch this off (though it'll be surrounded by super river) or continue to push to Wichita, to release another four divisions plus support troops.

That's enough to keep me occupied, but if I get into difficulties here, I see several other prospects for offensive action;
1) Ontario. This sector is (so far as I know) lightly screened, so an advance here should face limited opposition despite the difficult ground, and will be secure on both flanks. I'd advance to Ottawa which is a big VP location, which would also remove the threat to Toronto (currently three hexes from the front)
2) Western Kentucky. More of a tactical operation. This would release some National Guard units which I'm due to get in occupied territory on turn 62 and expose the flank of the Axis troops north of the Ohio
3) Mexico City. At 50 VPs and with its own supply point this is very tempting- but my supply route down western Mexico would be very vulnerable until I could get the city. This is a plan for turn 80 when I may be able to bring about a dozen divisions out of Guatemala for a supporting offensive.

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[golden delicious]

Sorry about the delay. I went on a long vacations and when I returned had lost the internet. But we are back in the saddle again. Expect a pause again in a short while as Ben has exciting events in his life coming up.

We're on track at least to finish the match before D-Day. Then posting a turn of the AAR takes about five minutes versus a good hour and a half to play a turn.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 57
OK so the bad continues but it is not nearly so bad as last turn. Ben finishes off what he caught last turn which wipes out two HQs one of which is for a Panzer Corp that will withdraw at some point. That is not the worst but now I wish it was the next Panzer Corp to withdraw but it is not on the list of options. In Fact the only Panzer Corp I can withdraw this turn is the 1st SS Panzer Corp and I just don’t feel I can do without it on the front line in this crisis so I delay the withdrawal. I will regret that later I am sure.

Otherwise Ben continues blasting through the Western Flank of the Minneapolis line destroying various odds and sods which is really not good though I am able to punish an Armored Division that got to far ahead. The line extends but it still trails off into terrible screening units and even some of the areas that look a little more solid are pretty vulnerable but this turn Ben sent very little extra to this front. I suspect he has committed the majority of what he is comfortable with sending this way which gives me hope that I can eventually put a lid on this.

Meanwhile my other offencives continue, hopefully helping to take pressure off of the crisis area. The Japanese are just unable to advance at all they are due to get some more reinforcements shortly however – with these I think I may be able to force Ben to commit more to defending this part of the map which is not much of a win but is something.

Illinois makes some ground but it is really along the East Coast that I appear to be having the most success. Withdrawing most of the Swedes off the line and widening the front removed the danger of overstacking and Ben certainly thinned this part of the front out.

[Edit: It certainly was not obvious at the time but something that I think is helping me here is that my Axis still enjoy a substantial piece count advantage. I suspect that if we counted up how many divisions in total each of us had on the map the Axis would have quite a few more. If I can get them into the area, as I am desperately trying to do, I can still hold a longer front then Ben can - especially true given his desire to concentrate for offencives. The danger of course is more and more I am relying on weaker Axis minors to hold the flanks... and we know how that tends to turn out!]

Axis reinforcements continue to try and close the gap

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

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Despite the tough situation infantry squads continue to rise slightly though this is primarily just for the Japanese.

Armour has fallen off just a tad but if you look closer what is falling off tends to be the weaker armour while gains in Panthers and Tiger IIs are offsetting this to some significant degree.

[golden delicious]

Turn 57:
A strong defensive reaction from Jeremy in Nebraska. He spotted the lack of a direct rail line south for my advance and so draws up his own line along the east-west rail I'm hoping to clear. However, with the National Guard coming from the west and my armour west of here already, I'm in a strong position to outflank and possibly destroy this force. With a little fancy footwork I rout two brigades and trap three in a pocket which I'll aim to eliminate this turn. If I can achieve this then Jeremy still has a big hole in his line here. I am, however, vulnerable out on my west flank at Denver, where the Axis are starting to exert some pressure. I add a number of reconstituting Mexican units here to skirmish on the open flank.

The major pressure, however, is in Illinois. The line is shoved back pretty firmly, but a lot of these troops are still in good condition so I have enough strength to counterattack while continuing to double the line in places. I'm able to release two good US divisions from the line in the Applachians which are in driving distance of here for next turn. Jeremy is also attacking in Massachusetts and retook Boston, but this situation feels pretty contained and I only make a local counterattack, otherwise digging in. I'm also counterattacking in southern California, where my accumulated armour is starting to look quite impressive.

Results in Nebraska are excellent, as the trapped units are eliminated along with a number of other minor units which evaporated when pressed, while two others are cut off deep in my rear. My lead unit is four hexes from the rail line which supplies the whole Axis force in Colorado and the breach remains far too wide to be contained. There are significant Axis reinforcements coming up (some new panzer troops but mainly the forces which cleared Mexico City ten turns ago) and my logistical situation is a bit precarious, but my number one problem is a shortage of pieces [see Jeremy's comment about how he has an advantage here], and I have armoured divisions covering most of the eastern flank of my advance here, for want of infantry to relieve them. As long as Axis pressure continues further east I can't seriously reinforce here, though if I can clear up the situation in western Nebraska that should release a couple of divisions.

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 58
The turn starts out really bad but feels a little less so by the time I finish my end of it. I had set up something of a road block in the centre of Ben’s advance south on the Western Plains and thought it could hold up his advance for about a turn but he just sweeps away the flanks, surrounds and destroys the whole force and that included a new PanzerGrenadier Division that is lost having really accomplished nothing. I decide that from here on I will try and make sure that at least one flank is held by strong units even if it means that the centre is basically undefended on this front. For one thing I now have quite a bit arriving on this front every turn so I can see a point where Ben’s advance should come to an end.

This is especially true as my attack on the East Coast is now past the old high water mark and beginning to become a threat to Industrial Cities. Ben has not been reinforcing the front on the Plains with much recently and with the East becoming a major concern I don’t expect him to be able to in the near term.

On the far West flank I am even making small advances back toward Denver with Axis minors.

The West Coast is a sad place. Ben really hammers forward with Armored Divisions and my depleted Japanese once again counter attack but I just can’t dent these tanks. I gain little and lose a lot. While the Japanese store of manpower remains very large this is just not going anywhere and it is not endless. At this point I think I give up on the idea that the Japanese can fight there way to Los Angeles unless the Allies withdraw some of these tanks or – later the Japanese will get some Armoured Divisions of their own - but Japanese Tanks are bad so it is unclear if that will make much of a difference. Nonetheless the best I think I can do with these forces is to remain a threat. I can slowly transition forces back and forth to San Francisco and basically resupply the army. It will take forever but this attack is hopeless. In a few turns another batch (of exceptionally poor) reinforcements will arrive and I might be able to force Ben to defend a stretched line in the northern part of the West Coast line.

My attack in Illinois is reasonably good making some decent ground but the units are burning out quickly and the Panzertruppen that have been making this possible are going to start withdrawing so I’ll be forced back onto the defencive here shortly. Also, this front has lost a good four Infantry Divisions transferred out and it never really had much of an excess to begin with. I think I need to try and keep up something of an offencive here for as long as possible. Try and go through the motions just enough to stop Ben from withdrawing forces from the area. I have a lot of HQs here so I think I can manage to make a lot of noise and smoke with very limited attacks with lots of artillery that might do the trick.

The Loss rate continues to be against me but that has turned to a trickle so maybe I can reverse this – though with Ben’s replacement rate about to go to 90% there is a pretty good chance that actually the Allies will start to actually recover significantly and things will slide ever more out of control.

With my attacks this turn not feeling to critical I ceased my airstrike campaign because I just can’t maintain the attrition in the air forces. I’d say the result was I had about one round less of combat but really the airfield attacks are more important on any round in which I have only a few ground attacks. What I might try and do is ration such attacks so that I only use them when I have dangerously few attacks that could suck up most of my turn.

[Edit: what I actually do is shift mostly to bridge bombing which has the same effect but with far less losses]

The gap begins to close

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[golden delicious]

Turn 58:
A pretty conservative response from Jeremy in the west. There was no counterattack against my main advance, only over to the west in Colorado. I see what looks like a very strong line blocking further progress south into Nebraska, with a fresh SS Panzergrenadier division sat comfortably opposite my lead unit (a cavalry regiment). Moreover there are a number of Axis divisions coming up by rail and I think this means that an attempt to advance further in this direction would invite disaster. Instead I'm going to 1) clear up remaining Axis units in my rear and 2) shift some of my weight to the west where the Axis are weaker and somewhat exposed in a broad bulge, and pushing out again to the southwest where I'd previous drawn my forces back to protect Denver. Here, I put two heavy tank brigades out of supply using the Mexican divisions I brought up last turn. I'm happy with how this looks so I'm going to gradually strip as many non-armoured Mexican divisions as I can from California (where I have quite a few of them) for use out here.

As I move on with this, I realise that it'll take me a huge amount of time to redeploy my armour, much of which is already in contact with a partially complete German line in northeastern Nebraska. I modify the plan a bit. Having spent the last two turns closing the gap between my South Dakota and Colorado forces, now that Jeremy has done the same I allow it to open up again. This is a bit of a gamble in that Jeremy may push into the void and cause problems for me, but I don't think he has the strength or the confidence for this.

Illinois is still hot, and here I have to start pulling divisions out of the line as their strength has been reduced to the point that they're a liability due to the risk of RBC. These will replace fresh, full-strength divisions currently fortified on the Mississippi line to the west. I'm still counterattacking, but these are getting weaker. The battle in New England is more of a slow, grinding affair, and with the new East-facing line solidifying I'm able to build up a fairly deep network of positions, benefiting from the significant number of fortified reserve divisions in this area. I add a newly formed armoured division here and a rebuilt one in Illinois, both will ideally rest before going into action.

Well, that worked. I pulverise weak German divisions in two places on the German line, routing and then annihilating them. This traps one strong division which then is targeted by all my artillery, while a second division is pressed against the Missouri, though I'm confident it will be either relieved or withdrawn on Jeremy's turn. I AM exposed here- if the Germans leap into the void in my rear then I could be in trouble, but a head-on counterattack will find my forces fairly well deployed, in depth and backed by artillery.

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[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 59
Open this one up to see that Ben has just blasted through my line West of Minneapolis on the West side of the Missouri River destroying 4 German Divisions in the process. I am actually really frustrated at that result as those where pretty close to full strength Divisions at nearish full supply and if they can’t hold I am not sure how I am supposed to survive – plus I can’t take these kinds of losses.

Truth is I am not really sure what the solution to my problem here is. My take is that you really can’t stop attacks like this with a thin crust of Infantry. The correct answer is basically a double line or make the line out of far more durable Armour. A final alternative is simply to be able to play back with very solid counter attacks – but none of these options are really on the table for me at the moment. Thinking over this match Ben has almost always fought under one of these conditions or he has simply retreated – though the fact that he tends to catch me out when we end up in low piece count situations is also a big problem and a real leak in my play. The Japanese, while being forced back are in fact mostly doing OK because reserves are available. One large difficulty I have is that I can’t actually retreat very easily. It is difficult for the Axis player to effectively pull back as lost units are lost permanently meaning any attempt to shorten the line is a waste if even a small handful of units get caught in the attempt to withdraw and sacrificing regiments faces more or less the same issue. On a small scale readjusting the line is possible but actually withdrawing a much larger section often is not.

While I have a reasonable counter attack on the East Coast that pushes a little closer to some Industrial Cities I am definitely watching this game slip away from me fast at this point. I choose to send the two new Panzers one to the East Coast and one to Illinois as there really is no way forward if I can’t take some Industrial Cities with the Allied Replacement Rate rising to 90% next turn. I can’t say I am all that confident even in this but I am in a bit of a forced situation.

[Edit: It is pretty obvious that I am at a low point of my moral in the match at this point. My moral does recover… I am overestimating how bad the high replacement rate is in the current version of the scenario and therefore underestimating just how insanely powerful the returned Panzer Corps actually are.]

[It is also worth noting that while I am mad and frustrated at this stage and I am not sure if, in this moment, I believe my own solutions to holding a line under attack they are in fact all correct. Faced with an obvious offencive by Ben I should have broken all these fine Divisions in half and put one of the Brigades to the rear. While this makes taking the first hex easier against artillery a hex held by Infantry is probably going to fall. Forcing your opponent to then set up a second attack to pierce the line means they have simply need to use more attacks to get anywhere. That uses up more of their turn, gives your forward units some place to retreat to and basically makes sizable losses like this much less of a thing. Holding with Armoured Divisions is also very effective. The downside if your opponent can strip their line down (against infantry brigades). It is less costly for them to attack but even in this they do need to use more supply making more attacks so that drains an offensive. It does mean you are going to need to find reserves as well because the Brigades at full strength are great but at half strength and low on supply they can quickly just start to fall apart or evaporate in combat.]

Despite low moral in Axis high command the forces on the ground begin to operate against the wings of the Allied attack

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[golden delicious]

Turn 59:
Jeremy starts to push back in the west, moving up into line with my positions both sides of the gap I've allowed to open without making any major attacks. I'm obliged to pull in both flanks to prevent him from compromising these positions, but in general I'm happy with this. I've drawn huge Axis forces into this void where there are not actually any positive objectives- the nearest industrial cities that haven't already been taken are Salt Lake City and Milwaukee, neither of which are in the Axis direction of advance here. I'll continue to draw the Axis into this space while developing a reserve in South Dakota to hit him once he runs out of momentum.

For now, I still have a lot of armour in excellent condition on the eastern shoulder, so I take another opportunity to hit a series of highly vulnerable looking Axis hexes in this area with a view to cutting off and destroying a small section of the Axis line.

The Axis offensive in New England is starting to get dangerously close to Hartford, CT. I don't think I need to sacrifice any more industrial cities, so I push back here, getting a nice RBC against a wrecked German infantry division. My first division of M26 Pershings is formed this turn at New York and is moved into the path of the Axis offensive here.

The offensive in Illinois is also pressing forward but here I think Jeremy is overconfident and his flanks are held by shells. I set up a series of attacks with the aim of either pinching off the panzer divisions leading the attack, or causing overstack evaporations. He's broadening his front here but he would have needed the troops which are concentrated in Nebraska to make this work.

For the first time in a while, most of my attacks produce disappointing results, with heavy losses for my attackers across multiple fronts and little to show for it. I do destroy the two errant tiger brigades in Colorado that were cut off last turn, and as usual trash a number of German infantry divisions, but it feels a bit like now's the time to start moderating my expectations for the next phase of the scenario. The biggest success of the turn was actually in California, where in an ad-hoc offensive I am squeezing the Japanese between Bakersfield and Santa Barbara into a salient, forcing Jeremy to choose between attacking my armour in rough ground or pulling back.

The big picture, though, is that next turn my replacement rate jumps up over 90%. With no prospect of the Axis taking any industrial cities for perhaps five turns, if at all, this should help my army sustain the heavy losses it's now going through. I just need to be prepared to extract major forces from the western plains should Jeremy be able to sustain his pressure in Illinois and New England. It won't be enough just to trickle in new units and those I can relieve from the static fronts.

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