Arriba Espana! A Nationalist PBEM AAR Q-Ball (N) v Przemek (R)

[Q-Ball]

And so, finally embarking on a PBEM AAR! I got tired of playing the AI. Maybe one day AI will be so good we'll have to play humans just to not get crushed.....but not today. So I am grateful for a human opponent.

I will be playing the Nationalist side, 1-Day turns, default rules.

Initial Objectives:

I think the initial objectives as the Nationalist side are pretty clear.

First, you need to get the Army of Africa to the mainland. Against the AI, that's a pretty easy task; I found it doesn't really stop you from running convoys from Ceuta or Tangiers to wherever you need to go. I don't expect it to be that easy this time, since I can already see Republican warships lurking around the Strait. So this will be a focus, to get those experienced troops to Spain.

Second, at the early stage you need to expand the footprint in the South. There are very few Republican troops and open terrain, so alot of this is pretty easy, but it's important to relieve Cordoba and Grenada, expand northward, clear Extramadura, and clear the rail line from Seville to Salamanca to unite the two parts of Nationalist territory

I also need to get initial formations together to start taking key objectives; this can be done right away. Nationalists are particularly strong in Navarre (near Pamplona), so San Sebastian is an early target. Need to put some pressure on Aragon, to hopefully blunt any move on Mallorca. Overall, need to start getting the army together and taking space, because space means villages/towns, and villages/towns means increased supply production, which is key.

I'll break down the tactical as we get going

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Side note, I have to say that the Republic had much cooler posters, maybe because most of the artists and whatnot were on that side!

[Q-Ball]

July 17-18 Initial Moves

Supply is very important, so my initial moves make that a big consideration.

In all the contested cities, I am abandoning the ones I do not control, and doubling-down on the ones I do. In a couple I actually have stronger forces (like Malaga), but still not quite enough to take the place before I run out of ammo. So, best to hit the road, get to a supply source, and then start causing trouble. At this stage, it's pretty easy to run since there aren't alot of Republican units around to stop you.

With that, the situation around Madrid; here I mostly want to save all the troops, particularly all the engineering units which will come in very handy later. We flip a few towns, and get ready to flee. (There's no way we can stay, as Madrid gets a ton of new militia units early, and will swamp the nearby towns). But we'll be back:

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In San Sebastian, our Artillery units run to Irun to join infantry there. We flee from Gijon to Oveido, to make a stand there and await relief.

In the SOUTH, we of course clear Seville, and will look to rapidly clear a line to Cordoba and Granada, where we have the upper hand. We abandoned Malaga; those forces will take some towns and eventually help join-up Granada and Seville. West of Seville, toward Huelva, we know there are hardly any Republicans, and mostly static units at that; but we will clear that area for supply production.

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Naval Moves:

All merchant ships in the Balaerics flee; too vulnerable there to planes from the mainland. Stuff is starting to move from Naples and Canary Islands. Otherwise, we are mostly in port repairing ships, because we have no escorts, no warships, no eyes on anything, so anything at sea near the Strait is vulnerable.

Of course, there are no Air Moves, because there is no Air Force! This makes shipping doubly-hard, because without Nav Search I can't see anything.

[Dreamslayer]

What about Preferences and Home rules?

[Q-Ball]

July 19

Some action at sea, as my CD guns got a lucky hit on a tanker (the one that starts in Casablanca; she was running the strait)

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Republic got some revenge on a small transport TF of mine running between Cueta and Algericas; the PG is very banged up. Somehow the APc escaped. This was after dropping-off most of a TABOR of Morroccans, the first Army of Africa troops to the mainland. 2 Fishing Boats were sunk:

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With DDs and Subs now around, I don't think the Cueta route is safe anymore, so I'm going to have to wait for naval support or figure something else out. I don't want the Army of Africa at the bottom of the ocean.....

Still Chaos around Madrid; we seized 5 nearby towns (temporarily, just for supplies), and are dispersing to cause more trouble. I have a few units headed to Toledo to see if we can help there; the rest are just flipping towns until their disband dates (which is soon).

Is this better than fighting it out in Madrid? Let me know your thoughts. Fighting it out there does tie-down the Republican troops for awhile, but I figured why get everyone killed? This way the forces will survive or disband into the pool. Defeat at Madrid is inevitable for the Nationalists, so why stay?

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Elsewhere, we are winning at Cordoba, Grenada, and Oveido, which is to be expected. At this stage the Republic generally will take more casualties, because there's alot of Garrison units and whatnot that are easy to pick-off.

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Naval Moves:

I don't think it's safe to run supplies from Napoli to Morocco/Spain at this point, so I'm sending the longest-range transports around Africa to the Canary Islands; they'll bring loads of fuel. I can then use them in the Atlantic, where there is less danger. I did send several mid-range AKLs to Naples Turn 1; these will form a convoy to run supplies to Palma in a couple weeks.

Eventually, I'll have ships going to Germany and back with mostly Fuel; from experience, the Nationalists need fuel for their armies. Supply is less of a concern, provided you capture alot of production in Spain.

We are starting to move troops from Canary Islands to Ifni, and beyond. I will try to move a few convoys through the Atlantic from Africa, where there is more open ocean and less danger from surface ships (should be plenty of subs though)

[RangerJoe]

You can fly out most of the African units except the vehicles, larger guns, pack mule, pack horses, pack camels, and the horse cavalry devices. There is a way around getting those to Spain as well.

[Q-Ball]

You can fly out most of the African units except the vehicles, larger guns, pack mule, pack horses, pack camels, and the horse cavalry devices. There is a way around getting those to Spain as well.

Yes, though it does take awhile......and right now all I have are 4 Fokker Transports. They will start working next turn. I know you can swap devices back and forth to get the unit over to the mainland, then swap back to what you want to turn Replacements on....I did figure that one out! It takes like a week for a Battalion-size unit to fly over.

I'm also collecting some LBs to try that approach for some of the heavy stuff.....if it's sunk, at least it's not a ship I'll miss

Not sure why you can't get a camel onto a Fokker Transport, I think the ground crew needs to get more creative. I definitely wouldn't want to be in the next load after the camel though......

[CrusaderRex]

Can you create LCU's in this match or limited to historical TOE with RSV and Logi creation only? I know you said default options earlier but I want to double check on this option.

Following this AAR - good luck to you both and thanks for sharing

[Q-Ball]

Can you create LCU's in this match or limited to historical TOE with RSV and Logi creation only? I know you said default options earlier but I want to double check on this option.

Following this AAR - good luck to you both and thanks for sharing

No, only logistical units can be created

Thanks for comment, all welcome, and I hope folks can learn something! If nothing else, at least not to make certain mistakes.....

July 20

Both sides sorting out the initial chaos. The Republican Airforce sank an xAKL, embarrassingly it was an ancient Airco plane with 12 KG bombs.....good enough against a wooden ship I guess:

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Our troops are finally gaining the upper hand at both Oveido.....

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...and Granada

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Meanwhile, all the Navarre forces are pushing hard on San Sebastian; I know the Republic is weak here at this point, so hoping to bull-rush and take this port quickly. I think we can do it:

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[Q-Ball]

July 20 Cont'd

Chaos also continues around Madrid; at this point I am confident we will save all the Engineering units for another day, and that the infantry will either help with Toledo, or at least disband so the stuff gets into the pool. (They all have disband dates in the next week). Przemek will have to send out some units to re-take some of the towns south of Madrid, but there won't be anyone there.

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Bloodier turn, as I lost 2 xAKL (one to planes, one to a DD off the Algerian coast), and we both lost men. I am pushing over some garrisons, that runs up the loss count:

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[Q-Ball]

July 21

Lessons Learned!
So, one of the reasons I wanted to play a human was because the AI is predictable. Against the AI, you don't even need air transports for the Army of Africa; just use ships. The AI will let you do it, with some elementary precautions. It's really very easy.

But here is Exhibit A that you have to change your behavior vs. an alert human like Przemek.....the Libertad went on a rampage, sinking all kinds of ships around the Strait.....including an AP and one of the TBs that can lay mines...ouch!

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The LBs had some troops on them, as I lost a few Morroccans on this. Another TF of AKLs coming from Palma was intercepted off the Algerian coast and sunk by a couple DDs.....that's a YMS and 6 x AKLs down. The Republican Navy is VERY active.

You can see here there are warships all around the Strait, on both sides, plus subs.....until I get some Naval ships, can't do anything about it, so we're going to be stuck flying over them for the time being....no sneaking LBs or anything else through.

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Unlike WITP-AE, the Nationalists do not have an unlimited supply of AK-shipping. So we need to play it more conservative......between the ships and air attacks the Eastern Med Sea is pretty much off-limits for me at the moment. It stinks sending ships all the way around Africa, but at least they won't get sunk doing that!

Otherwise, lots of fighting in place, and heavy losses all around; mostly because we each destroyed alot of STATIC units that are stuck in place Day 1. The only contested city left is Oveido, and the Republicans are taking alot of losses there....they may give up on it for now. Every other city is held by the side that owned it on July 17th.

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[RangerJoe]

Just to let you know, even regular artillery will fire on ships within range. So you can line the straits and fire away. You can also load ships and then disband them in port. If the path looks clear, you can then send them from Ceuta to Algeciras where they can either unload and then disband or just disband until the next clear turn that you can unload.

Or you can wait until you get a German pocket battleship that is listed as a CA.

[melvi]

OMG men! CEUta please, CEUta! not CUEta!. sigh..
Regards:
Melvi
PD: Very interesting AAR.

[Q-Ball]

Just to let you know, even regular artillery will fire on ships within range. So you can line the straits and fire away. You can also load ships and then disband them in port. If the path looks clear, you can then send them from Ceuta to Algeciras where they can either unload and then disband or just disband until the next clear turn that you can unload.

Or you can wait until you get a German pocket battleship that is listed as a CA.

He's pretty vigilant; I think we're going to have to wait for Naval Support....so far there has been ships in the Strait every turn. Nationalists get a couple Italian Cruisers next month, probably try something then.

[Q-Ball]

July 22-23

Przemek is giving me a game, he clearly understands the engine from WITP-AE experience, so there won't be any freebies on the Naval side.

This turn, Jamie I bombarded Chafarinas, a little port in Morocco on the Algerian border.....I had collected Palmas refugees there. He found them obviously, sinking a couple small AKLs. I may have to move some, though there are DDs lurking nearby so this ain't easy.......also, Vildebeests raided the port, so that's fun!

You can see the Republican Navy is still hanging out around the Strait. With a cruiser 40 miles from Larouche, even the Atlantic Coast of Morrocco is a no-go zone.

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Elsewhere, all the Infantry from Mardid made it to Toledo; they are scheduled to withdraw in 2 days, which is about the amount of ammo they have left anyway. Will they make it? Defense are showing signs of cracks, I'd like to clear the town for the Static Garrison to get a supply source and just cause trouble if nothing else:

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All the withdrawing Madrid units are probably going to just safely disperse now. I still have one engineering unit on the run, but the rest have made it back to Nationalist lines.

Grenada is cleared, and we are clearing villages in the south

BIg push on San Sebastian, i''ll publish on next one

[Q-Ball]

July 24

Madrid Campaign Over
Alas, I ran out of time at Toledo; one last attack failed to clear the town, and then 3 Battalions disbanded into the pool. Oh well, we scared the bejeezus out of the Republic, because a whole horde of troops show up from Madrid. They'll probably look to take the Alcazar and end this nonsense once and for all.

I still think RUNNING from Madrid was the right call, rather than standing pat at the Montana Barracks

Battles

Still lots of fighting all around; we are pushing in multiple places. I still have only brought 1 Tabor over from Morocco, so Spanish troops are going to have to be fighting for awhile.

Here is a good result East of Zaragossa; we destroyed a Militia Battalion:

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This is important, because of the landing on Mallorca; most of those troops have to come from Barcelona, so the best way to prevent that is threatening a move into Aragon

Mallorca: 8 Republican Units have landed on Mallorca; it's only July 25th, so that's a pretty early move! I am sure more are on the way. I can't really defend anything other than Palma at this points, so it's going to be circle the wagons and see what we can make of this

San Sebastian: Serious pressure by us on San Sebastian; we are about to break through on the two towns to the South and Southwest of the city, and he's already falling back from Irun. Not sure if he'll make a stand or not, but I am bringing over 400 AV

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[Q-Ball]

27-28 July 1936

Naval War Update:
Skipping ahead a little bit....it's obvious that Przemek is a WITP-AE veteran, because he knows a few things about ships and planes.

When there is no AA guns or fighters, you can port raid at low altitude and hit things:

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The Vildebeest, IMO, is the best aircraft in the Republican inventory early. Not just as a torp bomber, but it's got decent range and bombload. Melilla isn't a safe port obviously, so have to take some risks to get ships West; there are subs and DDs along the Morroccan coast, so this is how you hunt down Nationalist shipping in the Med.

Speaking of which, Przemek also knows how to place subs right near the exit box from Naples; that's also an old WITP-AE trick:

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I formed up this convoy of supplies for Palma, hoping to get a head start for CA Trento arrival in a few days; I didn't want to have to slow Trento down to 10 knots to escort them all the way. Obviously, I should've just done that, because Trento would definitely force the subs to use submerged torp attacks only (though that would expose the CA to torp hits). Anyway, have to re-think some strategy here. I've lost 2 APs, and about 12-14 small AKLs so far.

Playing a human is a VERY different experience vs. the AI. The AI does none of these things, and AI sub placement is not very creative.

San Sebastian Falls
Things are going much better on land though; I think Przemek held in too long at San Sebastian. I took the town, and now he has about 3000 men at-risk of being cut-off. There is a possible path to the West (and I at least should be able to hit his guys a couple times as they flee), but I think we can roll-up the whole Republic Del Norte front all the way up to Bilbao. Maybe I'm too confident? Anyway, good progress for July.

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Andalusia

I haven't posted awhile on Andalusia. The Nationalists here early need to clear alot of space, both to make progress but also for supply production. Republican forces down here are weak, so it's easy to do that generally.

I have forces advancing on Malaga, and moving toward Grenada. Grenada as you can see is surrounded by Republicans and under siege, though I think we can hold out until the army gets there. Cordoba is clear as you can see. It looks chaotic on those plains south of Cordoba; we are chasing a couple units and generally looking to clear space.

Huelva just fell, so those forces will mop-up towns around that area, then start taking territory up to Badajoz

An early objective is to clear the rain line from Seville to Salamanca, and unite the two chunks of Nationalist Territory. I think we are on-track to do that in August. Estremadura is not very defensible for the Republic, so it's inevitable, but still have to do the marching.

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General
Hope everyone likes this AAR format and is learning something!

[Q-Ball]

July 29

Vildebeests!

About those Vildebeests....should've seen this coming, but El Ferrol is within range apparently of Lastres, a large airbase near Gijon. At this stage we have no AA guns, no fighters, nothing to shoot back. So......

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And another attack:

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So, that's the BB Espana and my only operational Tanker, toast. 10 out of 14 torpedos hit; I don't think the Royal Navy had better hit rate at Taranto.

OUCH!

It's possible my purpose is to serve as a warning to all of you: El Ferrol is not a safe anchorage; on T1, the Nationalists probably need to move the ship. Unfortunately the only repair yard is Cadiz, so that trip has it's own danger with Republican Warships starting near El Ferrol, but it is what it is. Even Cadiz can be reached from Grenada, if the Republic takes the airstrip there.

The only safe port on the mainland is Vigo

[Rysyonok]

Great AAR, and I'm definitely going to follow this!

I like your strategy of pillaging supplies.

[Q-Ball]

Great AAR, and I'm definitely going to follow this!

I like your strategy of pillaging supplies.

Thanks for the comment on both!

Not so much pillaging, as securing supplies.......which I think is necessary for both sides

Consider the little village of Olivenza, near Badajoz. It's not strategically important; it's not on a rail line, has no airstrip, no port. All it has is 4 Light Industry. That 4 light industry produces 8 supply per turn.

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Over the course of a year though that's 8x365 = 2,920 Supplies. That's a large AK full of supplies you don't have to haul from Kiel or wherever. And that's just one small village.

Without capturing territory, the Nationalists will starve; you don't have the capacity to ship all that from Kiel or Canarias. Capturing all the little villages is essential to building an organic supply base.

Same applies for the Republic, though they are probably defending supplies more than capturing (Republic does have the advantage of a larger merchant fleet and easier access to Russia via Odessa, so I don't think they will be pressured in terms of supplies that badly, just fuel)

[Q-Ball]

August 4

Naval
VIldebeests are taking a break, mostly because everything is either sunk or fled in El Ferrol. (Thankfully, I got Velasco out).

A secret convoy route dropped-off a couple units from the Canary Islands, so starting that pipeline. A Bandera of the Legion finished forming and it heading for action, that is unit #2 from Africa; #3 should be done airlifting next turn. Airlift though is VERY slow.

We now have a navy, as CL Cervera and Trento have hit the water; I will likely use them to shield the Strait and move some of the bulkier units from Africa if I can

Ground Updates

Things are going well in Andalusia; the siege of Grenada is lifted, though it was never really in danger; with a large Light Industry there, it's hard to starve out, and the units there are pretty strong.

We are moving strongly on Malaga, and looking at the defenders, I am confident we are taking it soon; may even trap some units there (though he can easily sealift them out.....I'm not that powerful at sea yet).

Malaga is pretty tough to hold as the Republic IMO against a human for several reasons:
1. It's likely the first Army of Africa units will show-up in that direction
2. Grenada is in the rear, so there is a long supply line to defend in the back
3. Republic doesn't get amazing troops to defend it with

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You can also see that Republican cruisers are STILL hanging out at the Strait.

Up NORTH, we are pushing toward Bilbao, and pursuing routed units from San Sebastian. I am certain we will reach the "Ring of Iron" and have Bilbao under seige. I'll have to then decide whether to besiege it, or leave a covering force and keep pushing up the coast toward Santander, which is easier to take, and would split the North forces in 2.

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