GC Republican AAR

[Rysyonok]

Welcome to this grand Republican disaster, where most planes can't be replaced, there are only 2 functional subs to start, some ships are so antiquated that not even AI can explain what an "xAKL-T" is, and our main source of transportation is a mule.

But we're going to have fun anyway, all the way down to Valhalla.

Let's see, the first orders are to:

- send every pilot into training until we can get a better grasp on long-term air availability
- the northern fleet is redeployed south
- all gunboats are sent to closest ports overnight
- the two functional subs are sent towards Gibraltar and towards the remote entry point towards Italy
- a couple of mobile units will consolidate to their closest largest city

Santiago!

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[Dreamslayer]

That reminds me:
"The day came when I gave the order: "Get a fighter in the air" — we had only one plane!"
Ignacio Hidalgo de Cisneros, "Cambio de Rumbo"

[RangerJoe]

The xAK-T/xAKL-T is a cargo ship that has cargo spaced converted into troop accommodations. You probably won't need those in the game.

[Rysyonok]

The very first day is definitely overwhelming. Sevilla falls, predictably, although by some grace of luck both units are on the move (run). There's a 1% chance they might make it out, too. Also, because of all of the bombardments, I can see the size of the nearby enemy units, even though no air recon took place. I imagine there's fog of war, but 19 men won't become 1,900, will they?

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Plans for today:

- Start evacuation of Menorca, there is a small naval HQ and a pioneer unit there without a disband flag
- Start to figure out how to save the Northern enclave

[Rysyonok]

The xAK-T/xAKL-T is a cargo ship that has cargo spaced converted into troop accommodations. You probably won't need those in the game.

Thank you kindly. I guess they are like APs, just much smaller. Might as well intern them in USSR to deny VPs to the Nationalists.

[Rysyonok]

That reminds me:
"The day came when I gave the order: "Get a fighter in the air" — we had only one plane!"
Ignacio Hidalgo de Cisneros, "Cambio de Rumbo"

After armadas of WPO and WIP, seeing squads with 1 plane is definitely underwhelming. I get that most replacements will probably come from new units, but, man, this is scary to start with.

[Rysyonok]

The second day brings on even more combat all over the place. Overall, it's a slight win for the Reps in the North, a stalemate in the Center, and an upsetting loss at Granada. It turns out that recon can be in fact misleading. Some of the "60-men" Nat INF units turned out to have 10x more, which made pretty much every battle have 0:1 odds. In the meantime, most high-volume AKs / APs are sent to Russia, to Leningrad and Odesa. Murmansk is unavailable due to a unit panel that won't go away (there's a separate post in the bug forum). Trainees manage to damage 2 planes. And it looks like we are going to see some naval action by Gibraltar shortly.

[Q-Ball]

Subscribed! Are you playing vs. AI or Human?

Some observations about the Republican Air:

--Initial planes are terrible as you say, but the Dornier Wals are useful search planes, and the Vildebeest on Nav T is pretty solid....have to respect anything that carries a torpedo. Only problem is that you don't get any replacements, so when you run out, you run out.
--The I-15 Chato is equal to CR 32, and superior to He 51
--The I-16 Mosca is better than anything except some of the Bf-109 Models (haven't really looked carefully, but I think at least B model or better)
--The Potez and Bloch bombers you get early are slow and vulnerable, but carry decent bomb loads, and there aren't alot of fighters around
--SB 2 is a good mid-30s bomber all-around

What's your plan on Mallorca? That's an early decision point.

Don't forget the Tanker in Casablanca, and send other tankers to Odessa to start picking up fuel

[Rysyonok]

> Subscribed! Are you playing vs. AI or Human?

Thank you, yes, Nat AI at the base settings.

> Some observations about the Republican Air:

> Only problem is that you don't get any replacements, so when you run out, you run out.

Precisely. I am intentionally inserting a PEBKAC (Problem exists between keyboard and chair) here: I am a heavy WW1 (and pre-WW1) player, so over-training pilots from the get-go is engrained with me. That said, I haven't seen any movements with the top-skilled units, so I may be releasing them to action soon.

> --The I-15 Chato is equal to CR 32, and superior to He 51
> --The I-16 Mosca is better than anything except some of the Bf-109 Models (haven't really looked carefully, but I think at least B model or better)
> --The Potez and Bloch bombers you get early are slow and vulnerable, but carry decent bomb loads, and there aren't alot of fighters around
> --SB 2 is a good mid-30s bomber all-around

Great info all around, I appreciate it.

> What's your plan on Mallorca? That's an early decision point.

I'm giving it up altogether; I already know that the Reps long, so I'm defensive from the get-go, and the total lack of military wins the last day all over the place? A naval landing is not an option with my skill level.

> Don't forget the Tanker in Casablanca, and send other tankers to Odessa to start picking up fuel

Oof! What a save! Yes, I definitely need to get the TKs moving, and I didn't even have an idea about this one. AKs left last turn except for the really damaged ones.

[Q-Ball]

I would go for Mallorca vs. the AI, for the reasons I outlined here:

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopi ... 3f14eeac25

Amphib landings aren't that hard, and will be really easy if you depart July 30 or 31, because there won't be any Nationalist ships or planes that can interfere at all. And even after Aug 4, you'll have naval superiority, particularly because you'll have Jamie I.

Just make sure you load up a couple "supply only" ships, to make sure you land enough supply for the forces....maybe several of these. You'll need most of your transport fleet, but you have alot of transports. Don't bother converting any to AK-T, there isn't time.

You'll need ships at the embarkation points where there are some units, like Barcelona, Cartagena, Valencia, Alicante

I would go for it

[Rysyonok]

I would go for Mallorca vs. the AI, for the reasons I outlined here:

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopi ... 3f14eeac25

Amphib landings aren't that hard, and will be really easy if you depart July 30 or 31, because there won't be any Nationalist ships or planes that can interfere at all. And even after Aug 4, you'll have naval superiority, particularly because you'll have Jamie I.

Just make sure you load up a couple "supply only" ships, to make sure you land enough supply for the forces....maybe several of these. You'll need most of your transport fleet, but you have alot of transports. Don't bother converting any to AK-T, there isn't time.

You'll need ships at the embarkation points where there are some units, like Barcelona, Cartagena, Valencia, Alicante

I would go for it

Good evening, your research and data are solid. Unfortunately, I've already sent out my transports to Odessa, and with my mediocre battle performances yesterday, it does not seem like I can pull this landing off. Please don't see this as my dismissal of your very valid point, but rather an acknowledgment of my personal tactical failures.

[Q-Ball]

No problem! It'll be fine vs. the AI.

Send the Navy to the Straits of Gibraltar then; don't worry too much about the CD guns, they make alot of noise but don't hit much. Need to keep the Army of Africa in Africa

You'll have some opportunities to hit back; the quality isn't very good, but you do get alot of troops

[Rysyonok]

No problem! It'll be fine vs. the AI.

Send the Navy to the Straits of Gibraltar then; don't worry too much about the CD guns, they make alot of noise but don't hit much. Need to keep the Army of Africa in Africa

You'll have some opportunities to hit back; the quality isn't very good, but you do get alot of troops

Thank you, I appreciate it.

[Rysyonok]

Overall, a tough day for the Rebs. The main fleet has been thwarted with little accomplishments to speak of. I'm looking for the available free units around Barcelona to send them west or north-west, but the pickings are slim.

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[RangerJoe]

Invade Mallorca, you can look at my AAR to see how I did it. I used the small xAKLs, LBs, and such to carry the troops and supplies. I used regulars and some militias to liberate the island. You will need to learn how to do it.

You need the tankers for Leningrad and Murmansk, you have more than enough in the Mediterranean area to drain Odesa of fuel and oil. Yes, bring in oil since there are some small refineries in Spain. Bring in all of the supplies that you can, use the larger APs to haul supplies once the Soviet units that enter the game have been transported to Spain. Use the larger xAKLs along with the AKs/xAKs to haul supplies. The small "x" in front of the designation is to show that those are actually civilian and not military crewed ships.

I already posted about using "H" or even "h" to close the air unit screen.

You will get more aircraft for your air units but they will come in slowly. Start training your pilots. You might have to make a ferry unit of replacement aircraft from the Spanish inventory and then lend lease the unit to the USSR for them to use the planes. Your airforce early on is better than the Nationalists airforce.

[Rysyonok]

Invade Mallorca, you can look at my AAR to see how I did it. I used the small xAKLs, LBs, and such to carry the troops and supplies. I used regulars and some militias to liberate the island. You will need to learn how to do it.

You need the tankers for Leningrad and Murmansk, you have more than enough in the Mediterranean area to drain Odesa of fuel and oil. Yes, bring in oil since there are some small refineries in Spain. Bring in all of the supplies that you can, use the larger APs to haul supplies once the Soviet units that enter the game have been transported to Spain. Use the larger xAKLs along with the AKs/xAKs to haul supplies. The small "x" in front of the designation is to show that those are actually civilian and not military crewed ships.

I already posted about using "H" or even "h" to close the air unit screen.

You will get more aircraft for your air units but they will come in slowly. Start training your pilots. You might have to make a ferry unit of replacement aircraft from the Spanish inventory and then lend lease the unit to the USSR for them to use the planes. Your airforce early on is better than the Nationalists airforce.

Thank you very much for your wisdom.

[RangerJoe]

Invade Mallorca, you can look at my AAR to see how I did it. I used the small xAKLs, LBs, and such to carry the troops and supplies. I used regulars and some militias to liberate the island. You will need to learn how to do it.

You need the tankers for Leningrad and Murmansk, you have more than enough in the Mediterranean area to drain Odesa of fuel and oil. Yes, bring in oil since there are some small refineries in Spain. Bring in all of the supplies that you can, use the larger APs to haul supplies once the Soviet units that enter the game have been transported to Spain. Use the larger xAKLs along with the AKs/xAKs to haul supplies. The small "x" in front of the designation is to show that those are actually civilian and not military crewed ships.

I already posted about using "H" or even "h" to close the air unit screen.

You will get more aircraft for your air units but they will come in slowly. Start training your pilots. You might have to make a ferry unit of replacement aircraft from the Spanish inventory and then lend lease the unit to the USSR for them to use the planes. Your airforce early on is better than the Nationalists airforce.

Thank you very much for your wisdom.

You are most welcome.

[Rysyonok]

Menorca:

After some deliberation, I decided to hold off on the invasion of Majorca. Yes, I recognize it's an important action, but I may need all the troops back on the mainland that I can get there. The Balearic regiment is the first one to load up.

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USSR:

Predictably, all possible Spanish cargo is on the way to the Soviet ports for supplies, quick repair, full refuel (I don't intend to fuel them up in Spain for as long as I can), and to load up on supplies.

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Barcelona:

The plan is to gather all the available mobile forces and move onto Zaragosa from Southeast, avoiding the river crossing. The hope is that AI will overlook guarding an empty Nat base 119,77, and we can cross unimpeded.

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[CFab]

Good luck! Will follow along.

[Rysyonok]

Quite a tough turn for the Republicans. Nat forces are attacking all over and usually succeeding. I need to look at my setups and wherever I have guns, at least fire back. Granada is lost, and there are some rough battles in the north. Granada, though... it seems like this war is full of isolated Republican enclaves, and my next couple of posts need to be about that.

At least my ships are on the roll; CL Libertad, retreating to Cartagena from the north, sinks a transport and a torpedo boat. This adds to another enemy kill that I missed somehow.

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There is some enemy air activity in the north too; perhaps I will send my fighters from Madrid over there. In the meantime, I'm concentrating my bombers and patrol plans in the south, preparing for some air to sea domination.

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For a long-term fan of WPO forced to play 3-day turns just to see some movement, WIS is quite a shocker. For example, this is how much my 33-knot TF covered in a day while having survived 3 bombardments, at least 2 air attacks, and having participated in at least 6 hours' worth of naval battles.

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