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

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 40
Sigh – all that work and along comes the Allied Production Boost and Ben is back up in the mid 70’s for his replacement rate. My turn is cut short after three rounds with a failed proficiency check. Not the worst as in most places my forces are mainly just working their way up to the line or I managed to finish off the resistance early in the turn.

Its all quiet in front of Toronto but the Mechanized forces in the North burn treads and rubber for Sault St. Marie this turn getting most of the way there and encounter a Canadian Division along the road. What is even better is I think I just saw Ben withdraw even more forces from the defense of Sault Ste. Marie. Lets see how Ben reacts.

The Swedes lose more then the replacement rate for the whole turn in one attack and here things are a little annoying because I could have grabbed a hex (and been one more closer to Boston) if the turn had not ended.

Illinois is another area where more attacks might have seen me do a better job of busting up the line. I am also kind of vulnerable to a counter move here and should probably start backstopping the line with the more worn out Divisions to help make sure that Ben has a difficult time reversing things. I think I will get away with this, this turn, as I am not really advertising the vulnerability.

In Missouri Ben surprises me abandoning the southern part of the line behind the river (which I sort of expected) but counter attacking and holding hard north of Des Moines (which I did not expect). Mostly I am just moving forward and surrounding Des Moines so here again not the worst time for an early turn ending though I see a possible Allied Counter Move that could net Ben two Panzer Divisions.

[Edit: I don’t know why I am always ‘seeing’ these dangerous counter moves and noting them. Except in the most obvious cases where I have driven deep into the Allied line and am ripe for cutting off or where I have screwed up and there is a gap in my line do these ever actually seem to come to pass. Bad things happen but rarely the ones I 'see'.]

North West Flank has Ben beating up a Romanian Mountain Regiment that had strayed way out ahead. Mainly I think I see Ben railing his reinforcements to Minneapolis or east of the Northern Mississippi River.

Mexico is interesting with me beginning to deal (I think – we will see) with all these units on the upper western flank while the Hungarians, Spanish and Turks just blitz south after eliminating the Irregulars in the area. I think I am in a pretty interesting position with fast mobile forces that could either make a bee line for Mexico City or try and do a wide Envelopment of Tampico. I am really wondering if there is much of a defence of Mexico City? I don’t recall really seeing Ben set up such a defence and he has been steadily railing Allied units out of the city if they are Canadians or Americans.

Ben tested out the effectiveness of airfield attacks on his turn but so far as I could tell he took slightly more losses then me.

Allied Production Boost: 76%

Loss Rate: Axis: 173 / Allies: 213 / Spread: 40

Axis Turn 40 Overview

Axis Overview Turn 40.jpg (5.12 MiB) Viewed 1323 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 40:
A pretty quiet turn over most of the map again- another early turn ending for Jeremy. Axis troops finally show up at my Sault Ste. Marie line, which makes me feel better about having a fairly large force here marking time the last five turns. Canada otherwise is very good; the Swedes make no progress in New England and so I am setting up a counterattack here with the Canadian Guard while digging a double line, but I have so much available that I am actually pulling out one US infantry division; I'll swap this for a full-strength division that's fortified further north.

The big influx of National Guard in Illinois makes a huge difference, and this turn I'm planning multiple attacks wherever I can get a flank bonus on the Axis positions. I actually think the poor condition of the German troops if anything gives me the advantage here and I intend to press it, while at the same time pulling out many of the regular infantry and armoured divisions which at this point are little more than shells- these go to remote outposts on the Mississippi

The withdrawal from my last Iowa line comes off fairly cleanly, with some National Guard regiments having to be disbanded but nothing too serious. The regular infantry shifts to positions behind the Mississippi, while the National Guard and the four armoured divisions here swing north to block the direct approach to Minneapolis and with the intent to strike west next turn at the light forces Jeremy is infiltrating further north. I'm able to add a couple more divisions here by rail, too, including the first armed with M4/76. Way over to the west, I kill another Romanian division which could potentially be the last Axis unit in Wyoming. My first rail engineer unit arrives here this turn to start fixing up the line, though most of this will clear up automatically.

Mexico remains a problem. I'm beginning to think that I have to accept that I'll ultimately lose Mexico City- and with it probably the whole regular Mexican Army- as I definitely don't have US troops to spare to fight here. The terrain alone should make this a prolonged operation for the Axis, but the forces they have in place now are too strong for me to block without major reinforcement. I pull back my coastal position somewhat and refuse the flank along the hills that run between here and the desert front; beyond those hills is a powerful mixed Axis mobile force which I can barely hope to slow with the forces available. The two National Guard divisions I already have in central Mexico will still aim to push north via Chihuahua, but the rail is already cut in multiple other spots so this is not going to change anything.

The attacks in Illinois are fairly satisfactory. I wreck every single German unit on the line, to the point that a hex with two divisions simply RBCs when pushed. Things are just getting interesting when the turn ends after three good rounds- one more and I would be wiping out a significant number of German units in overstack evaporations. My Canadian Guard have fairly good results as well, routing a much larger force of Finns, but the hex is too exposed to advance into so I shrink back and let Jeremy decide if he wants to let me do it again. It does start to feel like the German army is collapsing. I certainly have quite a lot more fight in the National Guard and the Canadians. On the other hand the Japanese have got to land some time... I bump the Pacific back up to two armoured divisions this turn.

The Allies abandon Iowa

FG40a.png (1.18 MiB) Viewed 1290 times

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 41
Once again I am plagued by early turn ending getting about half a turn. Because this was once again set to be a lighter turn it is not the absolute worst but it is unfortunate that I don’t manage to dig in many forces particularly in light of the fact that Ben has become increasingly aggressive as of late.

In the north the Canadian Division blocking the road to Sault Ste. Marie is pushed back a hex. Of maybe more significance is I realize I can’t actually do much of a flank move with most of these mechanized forces. They don’t seem to be able to penetrate far into the forests out here. I do have some infantry coming up that should be able to perform this role but this certainly concerns me as I don’t actually want to have to advance only along this single road.

The Swedes push forward a hex or two but over absolute heaps of their own dead.

Illinois remains a story of going back and forth though Ben launched a pretty intense counter attack on his turn and I spend mine trying to recover most of the ground. I would say that this is maybe the first turn on this front so far that I think the overall exchange of hexs actually favoured Ben. Here we are seeing his large reserves of Armor and the difficulty I am having getting this front up to strength. Nonetheless I do have large numbers of forces to the rear that are resupplying as most of the reinforcements for this front have finally arrived but not yet resupplied.

In Missouri, Des Moines falls, and Axis forces are now just arriving at the Mississippi along most of the line but the Panzertruppen that are leading this are not really, for the most part, in much of a condition to keep going. I pretty much hate both of my options here. I don’t want to try and keep advancing with burnt out Panzers but on the other hand now is hardly the time to take a long operational pause to refit.

To the north in the direction of Minneapolis Ben is pushing a counter attack with some Armor and a lot of National Guard while I move up to meet him along this line with forces of my own. Here too I have some choices I am going to have to make probably next turn. Either I reinforce the northern advance fairly significantly with the goal of capturing Minneapolis or I focus on getting across the Mississippi in the direction of Chicago. I am not sure I have the strength to do both.

Mexico might be the front that looks like it has the most positives going on as I blitz south and then begin a major operational level flanking move of the main Mexican Army north of Tampico. I think I am pretty close to the flank and rear of Ben’s forces here so yet another possible trap that Ben will have to slip out of.

Dominating my thinking as this turn ends is that I think next turn it is time to kick off the Japanese attack on San Francisco. That is a huge move and its success or failure is going to play a very large role in determining if my situation is improving at the moment or in the first stages of falling apart.

In Mexico Hungarian, Spanish and Turkish mobile forces continue racing south looking for flanks as the, primarily Italian, infantry try and keep up.

Fall Grau JB 41.jpg (1.58 MiB) Viewed 1271 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 41:
More heavy pressure from Jeremy but nothing too extraordinary. The two divisions at Sault Ste. Marie are reinforced and this is now a real force, which means I'm digging in everything rather than swapping units out. The Scandinavians continue to crawl forward in New England but these units burn out so fast and I repeat my counterattack from last turn. In Ontario, I swap my armoured divisions into the line to pull out the infantry, as I realised the former are full of tanks and squads that I'm short of but the latter can easily be replaced. I also pull the big artillery units out from here for active fronts.

Illinois is good; Jeremy pushed back but frontally, and his units are still wrecked. My first go at setting up an attack fails as a middling German infantry division simply collapses and RBCs when I prod it. I'm adopting an approach here where the National Guard and better armoured divisions attack while the regular infantry fortifies in place. Thus if I ever need to draw off troops I should still have a good line which will hold for a turn or two. To the west, Jeremy is scouting the Mississippi crossings, which are all held in strength. He moved up to my position in Minnesota and while I could simply engage him here, I expect he's ready to move around my west flank. As such, I refuse it, while concentrating my best armour on the east flank, which is anchored on the Mississippi and where I can target some of the more vulnerable German mechanised divisions.

Mexico continues to deteriorate. The Axis push hard through the desert flank and my coastal position becomes completely irrelevant. I pull the whole line back, defending immediately in front of Tampico. Here, at least, I have several fresh, fortified divisions which should slow down the Axis push for a while, and I put another row of defenders in front of them. The rest of the force here takes up a position on the Rio Panuco, southwest of the port, much reducing the gap between the main body here and the rabble I have on the desert flank. The only good bit is up near Chihuahua, where I reverse the siege as the National Guard moves up and puts a panzer regiment out of supply, while new units formed in the city make a lifeline to the outside.

Another bloody turn in Illinois. I actually cut off a big stack of German units, but my major units fail to advance, so an attack on it now would just burst the pocket. I leave it to suffer desertion effects on the Axis turn, instead using the last round to tidy up my line for Jeremy's next push. Other attacks come off nicely too; I maul basically the whole Swedish army, with one division evaporating from overstacking, and also hammer the two mechanised divisions on the flank in Minnesota. I realise sadly at the end of the turn that if I'd thrown a couple of divisions over from the Mississippi line, I could have destroyed an SS Panzer division here, but never mind.

FG41.png (529.88 KiB) Viewed 1258 times

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 42
I am stoked to the gills! The Japanese operation was everything I could have ever asked for. It goes off basically without a hitch. Italian and German Airbourne grab the airbases. As expected there are no Allied fighters anywhere nearby to even intercept this move. Having seized 4 airbases (I had 4 Paratrooper Divisions) practically the whole Japanese airforce arrives in the area and then the Japanese amphibious assault is sent south. Ben and I were working out some quick one time rules for special landings (landings at a non port hex) because TOAW IV eliminated the special icon that signaled which Japanese units could do this. Turns out it was not needed as while I set up the special landings the Mexicans in the area just gave up the ports and the Japanese even exploited a bit off the ports so all the units assigned to ‘special landings’ instead raced to land at the newly grabbed ports. Of note I actually suspect now that the Mexicans, with their low proficiency, pretty much always give up the port against a major Japanese attack and the meta where you send the Mexicans to defend ports outside of Japanese air cover from Vancouver is flawed. I suspect I could have taken these ports even without the help of the other Axis airbourne units – though the ability to keep Ben from railing units really close to the invasion points might well still be pretty clutch.

I only have 5 Divisions left out at sea each now with two naval units protecting the two small stacks and almost the whole Japanese airforce is here to defend them. I seriously doubt Ben can manage to kill them with intensive bombardments but we will see.

I’ve even manage to exploit out of the ports enough that San Francisco is already cut off which is great news as I am or will very shortly be on a serious clock to take a supply source. I think the forces south of San Francisco will get trace supply through America but suspect that Ben can cut the northern guys off.

Oh and I blow every bridge in Washington State which means Ben’s anti Japanese reserve force, which has been set up here and awaiting the Japanese invasion is not railing out. Not this turn. In fact I am hoping that it will take Ben multiple turns just to get to a rail line connected to the rest of North America. The key to stopping the Japanese early is the ability to rapidly react and I think I have taken that off the table. In the centre of the map I have advanced so far north that I suspect that it is two turns of rail movement to even get to the area around San Francisco. Basically speaking as long as I can quickly secure San Francisco itself this naval operation looks to be a complete success… and Los Angeles is not that far away and is now only connected by a single Salt Lake City/Las Vegas/Los Angeles rail line.

Mexico also seems to be going well. This turn I cut the rail link near Guadalajara meaning reinforcements to Mexico are now pretty much cut – though with the rail line to the area having to practically make the Canadian Border before going south via Salt Lake City I can’t really imagine much is going to be getting in or out at this point. Ben breaks contact with most of the Mexican army north of Tampico and is now racing south to avoid being cut off. He blocks my own flank move but I just keep racing south threatening to cut his forces off. At this moment I doubt there is much of an Allied force at Mexico City itself and I just got a lesson in how easily the Mexicans can crack. I think I might well just make a play for Mexico City even with exhausted forces – though cutting off and destroying the Mexican Army remains the priority if I can pull it off.

In front of Minneapolis the Allies counter attack but the Axis attack on my turn seems to be progressing. I break out into the open with the 21st Panzer Division because its part of the XIX Panzer Corp which I just ordered to withdraw. The hope is the unit just vanishes before Ben can kill it but even if that is not the case it seems worthwhile just to try and disrupt Ben’s defence of Minneapolis – which is increasingly becoming the target in the area as opposed to an attempt to cross the Mississippi.

In Illinois Ben goes with an extremely aggressive counter attack and at one point my heart is in my throat as he surrounds 3 Axis HQs. Fortunately, he does not manage to attack them and I extract them on my turn. Losing 3 HQs would have been a serious set back. My own advance in the area is pretty modest and really my only hope for some real advances here lay in the idea that I might still be able to threaten enough else of value that Ben can’t find to much more for this front and I can eventually keep advancing.

In the north the Allies counter attack against the Fins and Swedes and I launch assaults on my turn as well inching another hex closer to Boston. Ben has lined up the Canadian Armour north of Toronto and looks like he may launch an attack this way. I think I’d hold on reasonably but if I am wrong I have all these excess Finns and Swedes that could shift more to the defence to free up excess German Divisions to try and deal with this.

The assault toward Sault Ste. Marie appears to go very well even if it is basically just along the road. I drive to within two hexs of the city itself and a big stack of Allies have retreated south onto an Engineer and might even be cut from supply.

The only real downside here is Ben’s strength is clearly recovering with the Loss Rate constantly shifting his way. Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie, San Francisco, and Mexico City are all hopefully on the chopping block and if I can take these cities I should be in a reasonably strong position after turn 50.

With help from German and Italian Airborne units the Japanese storm ashore on the West coast near San Fransisco.

Fall Grau JB 42.jpg (1.31 MiB) Viewed 1236 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 42:
Well that's creative. Jeremy flew his German paratroops all across the Rocky Mountains and dropped them in the California central valley, at the same time as storming ashore either side of San Francisco. I have no reserve whatsoever down here as my two armoured divisions are both on the Puget Sound, and this lodgement is already huge- most of central California- so there's no way for me to cut off supply trace across the map despite the Axis not yet having the supply point at San Francisco. Responding to this is going to be extremely challenging. I realise at this point that Jeremy's campaign of bridge bombing in the northwest was not to keep my reserves out, but to keep them in; my two armoured divisions here start the long journey by road down to northern California and will arrive late next turn, far too late to do anything about the initial landings here. I rail one division out from the north Plains for here but no other formed divisions are able to transfer out of this area this turn; instead, I pull the three Canadian infantry divisions out from the Ontario Peninsula which can get as far as central Nevada this turn. This leaves the line here slightly precarious as the units replacing them are only entrenched, but with Jeremy's mechanised divisions at Sault Ste. Marie I'm not sure he is ready to attack a line of fresh armour. I also scramble together a National Guard division from its constituent regiments which is added in Nevada. Various other bits are found and by the end of it I have about eight full divisions and various smaller units converging on the invasion area- though this is a lot less than what the Axis have.

I go back and forth on trying to put a huge ring of entrained units around the Japanese landing. Thing is I think if I'd planned this before moving any pieces I could have made it happen but because I faff around with other things before I settle on this I wind up running out of units to complete the bag. All the Mexican troops I actually have in California are in reorganisation and so I'm forced to draw a line all the way up to Coos Bay, and it's just too far... OK I really screw this up and denude a couple of places on the coast but I think it's done. A huge ring of trash units circle the Pacific from just north of Los Angeles to Coos Bay, and the entire Axis force here goes out of supply (in theory). This had better be worth it.

Other stuff happens too. The Axis continue gradual pressure on Sault Ste. Marie and New England and here I'm continuing my counterattacks with the Canadians. There was a furious response to my successes in Illinois last turn and my forces here are starting to tire from the constant action. I set up some local counterattacks whilst reorganising my line, but pull the majority of my armour (five divisions plus several brigades) back to rest for a more serious counterattack next turn. In Minnesota, a panzer division burst through my line and will be destroyed but this disrupts my position here and I remain in danger of being outflanked to the west

The situation in Mexico continues to deteriorate. Jeremy shows no interest in the supply point at Tampico and drives at full speed for Mexico City. I cut off a number of his lead units and actually encircle 2nd Spanish which will be subject to attacks from most of the remaining strength of the Mexican army and air force. In all the excitement, however, I forget about this entirely past the first round, so the division is bloodied but survives.

I plan the usual air attacks on the still embarked elements of the Japanese army, though the results of air attacks on ships so far in the scenario have been gravely disappointing, and there are at least twelve Japanese fighter units already ashore in California. I drop about fifteen of my own fighter units in range to ensure a degree of air superiority, move all my US heavy bombers out west and prepare strikes against the offshore units, as well as against airfields to try to sap off the fighter strength before this attack takes place. This ultimately comes out OK as after the airfield attacks only a minority of Japanese fighters respond when my bombers come over, and I kill a whole division in the first round, and the other on the second- although at that point I also start losing air units and these were sadly the only units left embarked.

A hugely complicated and stressful turn. The scenario is building up to a climax and the invasion of California may stretch the Allied armies past the limit. Above all, I need the National Guard army which is due to form here in two turns [I'm wrong about this, this formation arrives in Arizona] to keep escalating the number of pieces I can put into the field as I now face a very difficult problem of defending Los Angeles while Axis forces are rapidly approaching from north and east. I suspect the answer to this will be to smash the weak probes coming up through Arizona (I just eliminated a South American regiment here this turn), however I've no idea how and when I'll find the strength for this, as I am up against it across the map and my once massive replacement pools are starting to empty- only enough HRS to rebuild 8 National Guard divisions. For now, I'll see if I can clear as many arrival hexes as possible for the National Guard, while keeping as many Axis units as I can unsupplied- hoping Jeremy fails to bag San Francisco next turn. Overall though I don't feel confident about the match. I need the European Axis to run out of steam so I can stop them dead, regroup and counterattack. That may never happen.

Allied units swarm to California. Shown in black, below, is the last rail line connecting Los Angeles and Mexico to the rest of free North America. Los Angeles is a supply source, but nevertheless an Axis link up here would be a strategic disaster for the Allies.

FG42a.png (895 KiB) Viewed 1225 times

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 43
Ben’s bombers show up to blast the Japanese and he does kill all the guys in the 2 unit stack but completely ignores the 3 unit stack just above it for some reason. Did Ben just miss it or was the Japanese air force effective enough to get Ben to stop the bombing campaign or was there some other reason Ben halted this?

On my own turn I am aggressive with the airfield attacks with the Japanese. Part of this is just to stack the deck with 1 rounders, part of it is that the Japanese have sat the first 40 turns of this war out and have loads of air replacements so I want to pressure Ben’s airpower before it returns back to the east. All that said these airstrikes Cleary go the Allied way most of the time. The Japanese fighters are second rate.

Otherwise, the Japanese landing proceeds. Ben rails a lot into the area though I see a ton of broken-down units among those so it is not at all clear exactly how strong Ben’s response here is. Loads more Japanese come ashore, and San Francisco is reduced to nothing but the Coast Guns so it should fall next turn. All and all a Japanese Landing that only loses 2 Divisions and is on the West Coast is phenomenally good.

Mexico seems very solid as well. Ben tells me with all the excitement of the Japanese Landing he accidently forgot to kill 2nd Spanish Division which he surrounded. On my turn the Division cuts its way out of the encirclement and runs off to safety. The race to encircle the Mexicans continues. This turn I reach the hills east of Mexico City and hopefully have cut Ben off from easily connecting Mexico into the offensive line of the Mexican Army. Mexico City itself really does not appear to have much of a defence though I am still a few hexes out from it. I hope to cut the city off shortly. That should pretty much put Ben’s Mexican Army onto trace supply.

The assault toward Minneapolis proceeds apace even if it is nothing spectacular. Illinois is actually picking up steam this turn. I think it is a combo of more HQs on the front as well as Ben having very ample reserves here and other places going into crisis. His forces are wearing out somewhat and the front line is expanding somewhat but he is in no immediate danger here so this front does not get extra reserves.

In the north Ben drives my attack on Sault Ste. Marie back a bit and really burns out two of my Panzergrenadier Divisions. I am withdrawing them and looking to dig up Infantry to replace them. My thoughts regarding having fast forces to avoid being cut off in Quebec are being put on the back burner at this point. With the Japanese ashore in force and threatening all sorts of valuable real estate I think the danger of a strategic level Allied Counter offensive is receding. I am to strong here with to many reserves. Ben would have to commit in a big way to an attack this way and he is just not strong enough to do that without allowing me to easily grab to much of value elsewhere. On that note however my own offensive toward Boston is a crawl and increasingly I am using the Finns in particular to just hold the line and free up Germans that can be thrown into the fighting at Sault. Ste Marie. I am close to taking the city I think… but it needs a bit more to close the deal. One more anomaly on this front is Ben has the Canadian Armour – 3 Divisions of it – digging in on the quit Toronto front? What is the story with that? He even withdrew the Infantry that had been defending. Actually thinking about it I have a guess. Canadian Replacements are through the roof but Sherman Replacements are not only tight but the type of Shermans these Divisions (and many American Armored Divisions are made out of) are not only pretty tight but also due to end on turn 50. Ben’s digging in with these Armoured Units because they can’t be easily replaced or even topped up. This is my guess.

Axis forces close in on Sault Ste. Marie

Fall Grau JB 43.jpg (1.08 MiB) Viewed 1205 times

[golden delicious]

One more anomaly on this front is Ben has the Canadian Armour – 3 Divisions of it – digging in on the quit Toronto front? What is the story with that? He even withdrew the Infantry that had been defending. Actually thinking about it I have a guess. Canadian Replacements are through the roof but Sherman Replacements are not only tight but the type of Shermans these Divisions (and many American Armored Divisions are made out of) are not only pretty tight but also due to end on turn 50. Ben’s digging in with these Armoured Units because they can’t be easily replaced or even topped up. This is my guess.

It's turn 70- but otherwise this is exactly right. In fact some of these divisions (for whatever reason) have the US base squad instead of the normal Canadian one, and others have Valentines (standing in for Canadian Ram tanks) for which I have no replacements.

[golden delicious]

Turn 43:
Bugger. For whatever reason, all the Axis units in California are still in supply. I can't figure out where this comes from, but at least San Francisco is still (however briefly) in my hands this turn, so I get one more shot. I would have really loved two turns unsupplied for all these Japanese units though. A big stack of Japanese is offshore in the San Francisco Bay, but this is actually attacking across the road hex here so I don't think they will count as embarked- I'll bomb them anyway and see what happens. With Jeremy's focus on San Francisco, my available forces pile in on the Axis here and I surround and attack the two exposed Axis airborne divisions in the north and south of the state, though I may not have the strength to kill them outright. Otherwise I close the net, blocking the passes across the Sierra Nevada but for now I can only screen north and south, and I expect my troops to take a real beating from the Japanese here on Jeremy's turn.

My more passive stance last turn in Illinois seems to have encouraged Jeremy, and he really rips through my positions, including two good fortified divisions of regulars pushed back by Italians. His own force is a real mess here, however, and two German divisions RBC right off the bat. I decide to make only local attacks on the Germans, but concentrate my armour against the flank of the Italian force, where they can potentially be pushed against the Illinois river. This is a risky move but I stand to wipe out a fair number of divisions if it plays off, and I need to win big to turn the match around.

The Axis lunge for Mexico City continues. This time, it's a Hungarian cavalry division which chooses to be cut off and I'll have a go at killing it, perhaps not being so sloppy will help. I continue to strip Tampico, removing everything but the static garrison this turn, but I cling to my positions connecting this to Mexico City for now as the poor Axis supply condition is my one advantage. I strip a division each from Veracruz and the forces facing El Salvador (I've made a careful operation to put these three divisions out of supply so they're distracted) which gives me a little more force for defending the city itself, but I'm running out of time here. With the Japanese landed on the Pacific, I judge Panama to be irrelevant and start moving my Central American forces up to potentially take El Salvador from the rear and give me a shot at waging a low intensity campaign here once Mexico is fallen.

Jeremy is also hammering on the door of Minneapolis. He's not necessarily stronger than me here, but so many German units are racing up on my western flank that this position is totally untenable. I send my mobile forces here off to the northwest, but this turns out to simply not be that many units and I'm in danger of being overwhelmed here, though I put two German brigades out of supply. Part of my force stays in front of Minneapolis but pulls its neck in significantly.

Haha! Turns out San Francisco Bay is not a safe haven. Seven divisions and two HQs go to the bottom- although I lose a lot of fighters in the process. A bunch of other stuff evaporates, too: a German division in Illinois, the Hungarian cavalry in Mexico and two Romanian divisions in Wyoming, and 22. Luftlande in California (the Italian paras here narrowly survive). The gamble, though- to cut off the Italians against the Illinois river- fails, as my turn ends abruptly after two rounds. All this pushes the Axis loss penalty up to just three points short of mine, which is cheering, but losing two armoured divisions in Illinois (almost certain now) will reverse that. I go to check how many National Guard divisions I'm due next turn and realise they're actually coming in Arizona, not California at all. Well that's fine. I think a couple of the hexes are occupied but I should be able to clear them as Jeremy has nothing here. However I think turn 44 will more or less make the high-water mark of Allied strength as from that turn my National Guard replacement pools are starting to expire, though I still have nearly 3,000 Light Rifle AT- and 9,000 (Canadian) Rifle Squads which I think I will never be able to use up.

The line stretches west. Note the low strength of some Allied units: 23rd Infantry (6-6) is at half strength

FG43a.png (1.32 MiB) Viewed 1182 times

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 44
Well, that was a brutal turn and not in a good way. Turns out you can bomb the causeway hex leading to San Francisco. I did not know that was a thing and 5 Japanese Divisions and 4 HQs all die. Very substantially weakening my Japanese invasion force. The HQs in particular are a brutal loss. What is really annoying is if I had realized this was a possibility, I could simply have attacked the city from the south and avoided this. The other kind of annoying this is the bridge is not even actually down. It got bombed…killed all my units but it is still on the map.

Ben also manages to cut the Japanese off so they are out of supply but San Francisco falls so that issue will end next turn. Ben’s response in the area is, unsurprisingly a mix of all of the Allies so everything from very weak Mexicans to some phenomenally powerful Commonwealth Armoured Divisions. My poor Italian Paratrooper Division got to far forward and is surrounded and about to die as well.

I am gathering the Japanese into a tighter perimeter waiting for the supply to return and then I am going to have to see how I can defend my supply point and also gather the necessary forces for a drive south to Los Angeles.

In Central America my El Salvadorians have all been cut off by Mexicans that slowly worked their way around the flank. I am sending some Venezuelans to try and save them – though this is all ultimately a side show as nothing of true value is down here. Mainly I want to save them because I am desperately short on rail guards and I am wondering if I could use them.

In Mexico proper Ben and I continue waging a guerrilla war in the north west of the country. Ben managed to reverse the cut from Mexico City I thought I had managed destroying a Hungarian Cavalry Division in the process. He has abandoned Tampico however so I should get that supply point shortly though it is still pretty far to my units fighting in the south. I also bash in part of the flank cutting a couple of Mexican Divisions off. Probably force Ben to retreat in the north. At this stage my plan to cut Ben off and pin him to the coast are not looking good and instead I mainly want to struggle to defeat his armies and cut Mexico City off – that would severely reduce his supplies.

In the far west flank Ben appears out of the mist, surrounds and destroys two Romanian Divisions and is also threatening to cut off some Romanians and Hungarians in the centre. At this stage I decide to start retreating. If I fall back enough I can get my forces concentrated enough to put a stop to this. In particular I retreat from Albuquerque even though there are no Allies here. Desperate for more rail guards I want the Hungarian Infantry to take up that duty as there is really no one else around to do it. I also have a bunch of German Infantry Divisions here that are just doing nothing and I really can’t afford that anymore. I plan to send these guys to Illinois to finally relieve the Italians who I think I could afford to have on these far flanks.

Minneapolis see’s Ben doing a wide flanking move that puts a stop to my plans to do a flanking move on him. It’s a manpower drain for me to cover this flank but I suppose that works both ways. I make a play to cut Ben off in front of Minneapolis but as usual he has just enough units behind the line to keep me from pulling this off. However now I am nearly on top of Minneapolis so I think the plan is simply to bludgeon my way into the city.

Ben shoved back hard in Illinois. Even surrounding and Killing a Division – however he left himself vulnerable to a counter attack and I managed to cut off and kill two Armored Divisions and an National Guard Division on my turn. I am however pretty concerned that in doing this I have left myself open for a counter blow from Ben – I don’t think he is strong enough to pull it off but I need to be increasingly weary as Ben is about to start getting a fair number of very powerful Armored Divisions. Also 14th Panzer got ahead of itself on my turn and it now is out behind enemy lines and probably doomed.

In the north the back and forth with the Finns and Swedes continues as does my sending most of the Finns to simply occupy the line and relieve Germans. One thing I noticed here was the losses where less. Probably just because there where less infantry around to die.
Finally, Sault Ste. Marie appears to be going well with a handful of Ben’s forces in the wilderness cut off but also I have driven up next to Sault Ste. Marie and cut it off as well. We will see but I think Ben will have a tough time relieving it from this position. I still have a number of fresh Infantry Divisions heading this way just in case Ben can manage to keep fighting out here.

Of note I am really starting to feel the draining of the German Landswer at this point. For the first time I looked at a German Infantry Division that had been back in resupply getting its supplies back up and its now fighting fit… except it is still woefully weak. It sat there for however many turns and even so got very few new infantry squads. I’m short 10 to 15 thousand rifle squads across the army and there is just no way for the replacement system to make much of a dent in that.

Loss Rate: Axis: 224 / Allies: 242 / Spread: 18

The Northwest is a constant bleeding ulcer where Ben's forces appear out of the mist and surround and destroy isolated Axis Divisions.

Fall Grau JB 44.jpg (1.12 MiB) Viewed 1175 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 44:
Much less severe than expected. I lost those two armoured divisions down in Illinois of course, but the worst is that Sault Ste. Marie is now isolated and out of supply. The Germans are actually surprisingly weak here and I don't think this would have happened if Jeremy hadn't caught this position while I was transitioning units in and out, and for this turn I'll continue counterattacking as I see a nice big vulnerable stack of HQs that I can hit adjacent to the city. We're also still in our back and forth in New England, which I'm content with as I can continue to drive this with Canadian units that have a bottomless replacement pool and I don't think Jeremy will ever get forward fast enough to threaten Boston. I start thinning out the line to the north here and continue to withdraw US units for other fronts.

In the centre, Jeremy relieved his trapped panzergrenadier division, but in the process somehow sent 14. Panzer charging off alone into my rear, where it will die horribly. I make a number of other counterattacks along the line as the Axis units here are mostly wrecks and I want them to collapse.

Something similar is starting to emerge in Minnesota. Jeremy solidified his line out to where I'd moved west last turn but his units are just worthless. I probe to see if I can cut something off but then it dawns on me I can just hammer them in a frontal assault. I continue to leave a bare minimum immediately around Minneapolis to block the main force here- which includes two fresh mechanised divisions- whilst concentrating as much strength as possible against the feeble infantry screen out west. If I can get a couple of rounds of pummeling in then I may be able to destroy this wing, the main challenge is that Jeremy's moving north still further west, toward Fargo, and I can't keep stretching out to meet him until I've dealt him a real blow. Having said that, I have five divisions coming up here by rail and I drop them all in North Dakota to come down hard on the Axis next turn

California is eerily quiet. My supply cut did come off this time and it looks like Jeremy decided to play it safe for this turn while the San Francisco supply point comes online. My first move is to kill the Italian airborne division (now a 1-1) which I was sure would be rescued. It's hypothetically possible that I could cut supply again to the forces Jeremy has at Sacramento (at least three divisions) but I feel confident that Jeremy is alive to this possibility. Well, let's test this theory on the cheap: I send a cavalry regiment down to San Francisco Bay from the north and this is actually open. That's the easy one. Now there's the question of the link through Stockton and Oakland. I probe down from the Sierra Nevada and hit a wall of Japanese infantry. OK time to forget this and focus on defensible lines...

The Japanese have received the first three waves of troops so far which I estimate at thirty divisions, of which I've destroyed nine which makes 21 left. I have about a dozen divisions of my own, not enough to go onto the offensive and certainly not enough to defend everything in strength. My intention is to build a strong line blocking the Sierra Nevada passes and the route south to Los Angeles. This will involve shifting a lot of troops down through western Nevada as currently a lot of my strength is off to the north. I'm tempted to defend forward, due to my superiority in armour, but the strong mountain line between Santa Barbara and the south end of the Sierra Nevada is so much stronger, and if I'm going to be relying in part on Mexicans to hold this line they will need all the help they can get. On top of this, the Japanese have no rail repair equipment and so the further we get from San Francisco, the worse their supply condition. In the north, I allow the distance to be my main defence. On foot, Japanese infantry will need about twenty turns to reach the next industrial city (Seattle) and if the match is still going then I can deal with them when they get there.

My Central America offensive is going well. The El Salvadorean Army is totally wrecked and I'll begin digesting it this turn, while the US 1st infantry walks into Managua unopposed- I'd expected at least a regiment or something. Two Nicaraguan divisions are due to form here next turn. Mexico for its part is clinging on; inevitably Tampico is encircled this turn but closer to Mexico City I'm still fighting; an Italian motorised division turns out to be a 1-1 and when I prod it, it explodes and evaporates. A second such division evaporates when overrun by irregulars at Guadalajara. I can't cut any Axis units off this turn so I opt to hammer another Hungarian cavalry division on the line instead; I pull back the remains of the Tampico line this turn- it would be great if this holds together long enough that I can reinforce from Central America.

Huge numbers of attacks. To my satisfaction, the unsupplied panzergrenadier division which was rescued on the Axis turn evaporates when I hit it. Over on the Italian side of the line, I get some revenge for my two armoured divisions when two enemy HQs evaporate. In the west, my plan comes together beautifully as German brigades wilt, RBC and then evaporate. Two that stand their ground are isolated, trapped and destroyed. I had thought last turn was exceptional (besides the Japanese I killed five Axis divisions outright) but this turn I lose count- it must be six or seven. My satisfaction with the attacks in western Minnesota are however somewhat tempered when on more or less my last move my battered but triumphant troops bump into a fresh SS Hitler Jugend just behind the line. If there are others, the next turn might be a little ugly here. Still, things are looking up: Axis loss penalty is now 11 points higher than mine.

A perimeter begins to be established in California

FG44a.png (1.58 MiB) Viewed 1150 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 44 Allied force strength analysis:

As I think this is the high water mark of Allied strength it's time for a bit of analysis of assigned strengths (in 000s):
Squads:
Irregular: 1.4
Mounted Rifle: 5.7
Motorcycle: 0.9
Light Rifle: 31.4
Light Rifle AT-: 8.9
Rifle: 19.9
Rifle AT-: 14.5
Heavy Rifle: 4.2
Engineer: 4.1
Total Combat Squads: 90.9k
That sounds like a lot but I still have 14 Canadian, 77 US and 21 Mexican and Central American Reserve divisions, all in static deployments. Between them these account for about 33k squads which means my actual line combat strength is closer to 58k.

I'd also like to look at armour (again in 000s):
Light MG Tank: 0.8
Valentine: 0.8
M3 Stuart: 1.7
M10 Wolverine: 1.8
M3 Lee: 0.6
M4/75: 5.1
M5 Stuart: 1.2
M18 Hellcat: 0.6
M4/76: 0.4
Total: 13k
Again a little under 2k of the light tanks are in garrison units but this still gives me a fairly healthy 11k tanks and TDs in line units.

I'm going to compare with turn 33, just after receiving a big batch of reinforcements but after the regular US army hit its manpower crisis:
Irregular: 1.7
Mounted Rifle: 4.7
Motorcycle: 1.4
Light Rifle: 36.8
Light Rifle AT-: 6.4
Rifle: 18.9
Rifle AT-: 16.4
Heavy Rifle: 3.4
Engineer: 4.1
Total: 93.8k
This includes 14 Canadian, 96 US and 22 Mexican/Central American Reserve divisions for about 39k squads, giving me a line combat strength of about 54.8k. So over the last 11 turns my line combat strength is up by about 3k, and overall the mix is probably slightly better as I've lost a lot of Mexican units while growing the US and Canadian armies.

For armour:
Light MG Tank: 0.9
Valentine: 0.7
M3 Stuart: 1.8
M10 Wolverine: 1.9
M3 Lee: 0.4
M4/75: 6.3
M5 Stuart: 1.3
M18 Hellcat: 0.4
Total: 13.7
This shows that my armour strength has declined albeit by only about 1k (factoring in garrisons), almost entirely Shermans. This is reflective of the major loss of armour during the retreat from the Missouri and the two armoured divisions I lost this last turn.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 45
Well here we are at the halfway point. I think the game is still up in the air but the Allies are very much gaining strength at this stage. Some of that is because my Axis are losing strength as Panzer Corps withdraw. I order XV Panzer Corp to withdraw this turn. Ben should get the first of his new extra powerful Armoured Divisions on his turn. My supply and replacement situation is being reduced by Allied Submarines (though this eventually ends) even as Ben has very solid supply. Pretty much we are at the stage of the game where the Axis are getting weaker fairly quickly (but the Panzer Corps do come back far more powerful so it is worth it – especially as what is withdrawn just goes to the replacement pool) even while the Allies reach the point of the match when they get the most reinforcements.

The Japanese – now back in supply expand out their bridge head. I chase a lot of weak Mexican Regiments around. Ben seems to mostly be transferring forces to defend Los Angeles and not near my present positions as there is great defensive terrain closer to the city. I am pushing south albeit somewhat carefully with a fair amount in reserve as I am unsure whether Ben might launch a counter attack. I need to keep Ben from ever retaking San Francisco so I can’t be careless here. I am not even really sure if I have enough Japanese to take Los Angeles – but there are still quite a few more Japanese set to arrive over the course of the scenario.

Meanwhile the next National Guard Corp arrived in the south west and are about to drive the handful of Italian Regiments I have in the area back hard. About half of them railed away to the north and I am not sure where they are going.

The battle in north west Mexico continues with Ben doing damage as he also retreats to the North West. I am I’d like to catch his small force and destroy it but am also weary of any kind of pitched battle out here as I am beyond my supply line.

Down in Mexico Ben continues to try and shift his forces for the defence of Mexico City proper which seems to be working at least partially well because the few powerful units I have down here need to be very careful as the rest of my units are burnt out wrecks far beyond their supply lines and are now often weaker then the Mexicans. However I just took Tampico so the supply situation should start to improve.

Near Denver I continue to try and fall back and extract my units from the fighting here as the supply situation makes this battle one that quickly goes against me. However that might eventually change as the rail units have reached Monterrey and that is where I stop that supply line. I’m railing them away and while most are going to extend the older lines back up to the new front a few will shortly start to extend the rail line west to pass near Denver heading for Salt Lake City… though I don’t know that I get that far – its pretty ambitious with Ben increasingly extending the flank battles.

[Edit: It is interesting that both Ben & I are wary of the flanks getting extended to far - neither of us have the pieces for that]

This is seen most clearly to the West of Minneapolis where I extended my line last turn but Ben really smashed the crap out of that line totally caving it in. I lost quite a few Brigades. This turn I set the line up with a much more solid double line and now of Divisions, though mostly pretty pooped ones. On my turn I manage to cut off and kill a couple of National Guard Divisions so hopefully that helps to compensate. I have also driven right up to Minneapolis. I am going to make a play at encircling the city but if that does not work I’ll just blast Ben out of it.

In Illinois Ben’s counter attacks and kills the 14th Panzer Division which is no surprise, he also kills several Italian units. At this point I have had enough of the Italians on this front. Their weak but large numbers could really be used in the far West and I dig up a couple of good German Divisions to hold their part of the line and then I withdraw the lot of them. I will fall them back on a rail line to resupply and then I am not sure where they will head.

Meanwhile, frustrated with my complete lack of success with trying duel pronged assaults to cut off and destroy parts of Ben’s armies in Illinois I return to just bludgeoning my way forward. A big part of this is that well supported attacks mean I lose a lot fewer troops and I inflict far more damage. I am immediately surprised when this blows a hole in Ben’s line here and, much to my surprise, I am suddenly in a position to surround and destroy a Division.

Back and forth between the Finns/Swedes and now mostly Canadians continues just north of Boston. I’ve managed to get the losses reduced in this fighting however.

Much more excitingly my plan to take Sault Ste. Marie appears to have worked. I take the cut off city this turn. Only one German Division actually advanced into the city so Ben could retake it on his turn but I don’t think that is likely as any Allied unit that did advance into the city would simply be cut off and destroyed on my next turn.

Finally in Central America the EL Salvadorian Army is completely collapsing even as the Venezuelans are just arriving on the scene. I don’t actually think the Venezuelans can save them but we will see.

San Francisco: 68%

Axis Overview on Turn 45 Part 1

Axis Overview Turn 45p1.jpg (1.72 MiB) Viewed 1105 times

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Axis Thoughts at the Halfway Point

So here we are just past the halfway point of the game and I think normally now would be a time to reflect and also consider what the plan is going forward. Reflecting and this really has not been a decisive game for either of us.

Much of the game was simply me trying to get into a position where I could finally get some kind of a beat down on Ben. Outside of a great turn 5 where I put a sizable dent into Ben’s Armor I felt I was always just a bit slow but also just managing to keep myself out of actually losing the game with moves like the invasion of the south that made Ben holding in the south untenable and sped up my conquest just enough to keep me in contention.

In particular, I noticed that throughout the 20’s Ben was shifting his reserve to wherever I was trying to advance and it was definitely slowing me up. I have most definitely seen the Axis player lose the game when the Allies are just able to shift around enough reserves to always be strong enough to stop the Axis from achieving their goals.

By turn 30 I was pretty sure I had lost this but throughout the 30’s the exact thing, shifting Allied reserves around, that had helped Ben do so well in the 20’s seemed to turn against him. Instead of Ben heading off all my moves with rapid reinforcements it began to feel like he was instead stripping areas of reserves just as I was about to restart a major drive. This was maybe most obvious around Memphis and Omaha where both attacks seemed to benefit from Ben pulling forces toward one then the other but only after my offensive was underway and making ground. I comment on one turn that I was pretty sure I saw units rail away from Omaha only to rail straight back.

Ben eventually managed to get things more or less back under control but not before I grabbed six Industrial Cities and won enough victories to reach the high point of the spread in terms of losses inflicted. By turn 40 I felt that the proceeding 10 turns had been so good that I was now well back into contention to win this game.
Since then things have been much more of a mixed bag. The Japanese Landing was fantastic until Ben destroyed a 9 high stack on Golden Gate Bridge. Even with that loss this landing is a good development. I deeply doubt the Japanese could have fought their way out of Washington State and captured Seattle. Now the Japanese threaten valuable real estate and should be a significant factor in the game. I also just managed to capture two other Industrial Cities. Mexico has been something of a disappointment with Ben fighting a masterful retreat with the Mexicans but their doom is inevitable. He just earned him self significantly more replacements for about 7 or 8 turns with his excellent defense (and maybe more importantly kept me from using my forces in another part of the map).

That is in fact showing as well. Both of our loss rates are rising but mine has been rising much quicker for a lot of turns now and we are just about at par. This is problematic but not a certain sign of defeat. It will get that way if I can’t reverse this trend but it looks like I might be doing that. The Axis player can most certainly win and have a higher loss rate then the Allies but that can only be stretched so far. Much higher is not going to work and having the Allies deeper in the hole certainly increases the Axis players odds.

So where to from here? With the objectives from this period achieved or in the case of Mexico almost achieved I have to see if I can figure out a way of actually winning this thing. Decisive Victory on the battlefield is, in my mind out. However, the Allied replacement rate for infantry has been significantly reduced in this match and I think that is where I ultimately go looking.

Basically attrition. In the end I need victory points but in Fall Grau Attrition can’t be a static front for the Axis. Reality is I might take what I need to take before turn 50… but then I need to do it all over again…. And again by turn 60 and then again by turns 70 and 80.

This will be made even rougher because the Panzers are slowly withdrawing and I won’t be back to full strength again until the 70’s. It is especially bad now because the period between turns 45 until I think 55 is the best in the game for the Allies in terms of reinforcements and it’s the worst for the Axis (with 3 Panzer Corps off the map) between turns 49 and 64. So basically there is a really bad 15 turn stretch coming up.

Trying to figure out how to make this work. For one thing I need to capture 12 Cities above and beyond Mexico City. I keep looking to the West as I think that is the easiest place to capture them but the Japanese are not going to do it alone. I literally need to build a rail line to them. It means covering a huge flank which I am not sure I can do but maybe – once I mostly finish in Mexico.

This also only accounts for 7 of the Cities assuming I can take them all. Beyond that Toronto and Boston are both I am considering in the near future as cities near the front I can maybe take. Possibly by turn 70 I have the strength to just bulldoze forward in Illinois, possibly. If Boston where to somehow work out better then expected then the East is a real possibility as an alternative to the West but I doubt it really works. Thing is I need a plan that can maybe work even as I am pushed onto the strategic defensive in many places on the map. Ben is about to reach his relative apex strength while I reach my relative nadir. In some ways starting down the route of pushing a rail line West is something I can be doing while trying to handle Ben’s counter attacks all the while searching for just enough new conquered Industrial Cities to essentially get past this hump. Plus going West in many ways makes a late game move in the east easier. If Ben knows I have my eggs in an eastern basket he can make an advance in the East nearly impossible.

Axis Overview on Turn 45 Part 2

Axis Overview Turn 45p2.jpg (3.43 MiB) Viewed 1103 times

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

For Fun lets put out Axis Strengths and see how they compare.
Squads (in thousands):
Mounted Rifle Squads: 5.0
Motorcycle Squads: 1.5
Light Rifle Squads (Primarily Japanese): 12.7
Light Rifle AT- Squads (Primarily Italians): 11.8
Rifle Squads (Romanians, Spanish, Turkish, Finns, Swedes): 9.9
Heavy Rifle (Hungarians): 1.1
Heavy Rifle AT- (Germans) 32.9

Total: About 73,000 of which 3-5 thousand spend their time guarding the rail lines
At this stage I probably have a little more then 10,000 extra troops on the front lines compared to Ben's forces which is something but not a huge edge at this stage.

Light MG tank: 0.3
Panzer IIF: 0.2
Panzer IIIH: 0.2
Panzer IIIJ: 0.1
Panzer IIIN: 0.1
Panzer IVF2: 1.9
Panzer IVH: 0.7
Tiger I: 0.3
Stug III41: 2.7
Stug III42: 0.5
Stug IV: 1.8
Stug IV Brummbar: 1.3
Panzer Jager I: 0.2
Marder II/III: 0.6
Type 94 Tankette: 1.1
Type 97/47 Tank: 0.8
Strv m/42: 0.3

About 14,200 Tanks of which probably 13,000 or so are somewhere on the front lines. Here again the Axis still maintain a small but notable lead on the Allies however here I think the odds could change much more dramatically as my ability to replace tanks is very limited compared to the Allies on the other hand I am currently dumping excess into the on hand pool and will bring a bunch more on the board with the return of the new Axis Mechanized Divisions. I don't have a clue what this means going forward but might be worth looking again at where we are in and around turn 65 or 70.

On turn 33 my strengths where:
Mounted Rifle Squads: 6.7
Motorcycle Squads: 2.1
Light Rifle Squads (Primarily Japanese): 16.2 ***
Light Rifle AT- Squads (Primarily Italians): 15.1
Rifle Squads (Romanians, Spanish, Turkish, Finns, Swedes): 0.4
Heavy Rifle (Hungarians): 1.9
Heavy Rifle AT- (Germans) 42.1

Note here the Japanese are on the board but have not landed. So my strength without the Japanese is about 68,000. The arrival of the Japanese have boosted me by about 5,000 total troops of every nationality has actually fallen.


Light MG tank: 0.4
Panzer IIF: 0.3
Panzer IIIH: 0.2
Panzer IIIJ: 0.2
Panzer IIIN: 0.1
Panzer IVF2: 2.8
Panzer IVH: 1.0
Tiger I: 0.4
Stug III41: 3.0
Stug III42: 0.8
Stug IV: 2.1
Stug IV Brummbar: 1.6
Panzer Jager I: 0.2
Marder II/III: 0.9
Type 94 Tankette: 1.4 ***
Type 97/47 Tank: 1.1 ***
Strv m/42: 0.6

About 13,600 Tanks with 2,500 Japanese on top of that which have not landed. Here again the total armoured forces have climbed but primarily because the Japanese have been committed. Everywhere else the number of tanks have fallen. Interestingly on turn 33 the Axis and the Allies (not counting the uncommitted Japanese) where very close in Armoured strength.

[golden delicious]

For Fun lets put out Axis Strengths and see how they compare.
Squads (in thousands):
Mounted Rifle Squads: 5.0
Motorcycle Squads: 1.5
Light Rifle Squads (Primarily Japanese): 12.7
Light Rifle AT- Squads (Primarily Italians): 11.8
Rifle Squads (Romanians, Spanish, Turkish, Finns, Swedes): 9.9
Heavy Rifle (Hungarians): 1.1
Heavy Rifle AT- (Germans) 32.9

Total: About 73,000 of which 3-5 thousand spend their time guarding the rail lines
At this stage I probably have a little more then 10,000 extra troops on the front lines compared to Ben's forces which is something but not a huge edge at this stage.

You skipped recon rifle squads which you should have a fair number of with the Japanese as well, and also engineers. Offhand I would guess this means your edge is actually a good deal bigger.

[golden delicious]

Turn 45:
Well, there goes Sault Ste. Marie. This is a shame but it does release a significant number of units for operations elsewhere, as the route into northern Michigan is extremely narrow and already blocked by one garrison division. Three divisions from here, plus two from the static lines further east, form a new Canadian task force which will be added to the intense fighting in Illinois, as the forces here have been in heavy action for a prolonged period and Jeremy is just starting to work his way over the Mississippi near Davenport

SS Hitler Jugend, which I was so nervous about last turn, disappeared and instead of hitting my flank here, Jeremy continued his direct drive on Minneapolis. I'm reluctant to let this city go but I'm equally reluctant to ease pressure on the very fragile German line out to the west. I make local counterattacks to keep the wolf from the door here but keep my strength focused in the west as much as possible; my concerns about the further flank here are largely allayed as my significant force assembled in North Dakota last turn clears the entire state but finds just a single German brigade in the process, which will be destroyed. As such, I set up another set of attacks on weakpoints in the German line in western Minnesota, with the intention of breaking it up. I add three divisions behind Minneapolis from Wyoming, where I now have quite a lot of strength and the Axis seem to be mostly wiped out.

Central America continues to look good. A Venezuelan division showed up to rescue the El Salvadoreans, so I put it out of supply, while my main body to the west eliminates a couple of the trapped brigades. To the east, I leave the liberation of Tegucigalpa (where I'll raise another division, bringing the total to six) to the Central Americans, putting 1st US infantry within five hexes of San Salvador. If this is undefended, I could link up with the Mexicans in three turns. In Mexico proper, I continue to hit Jeremy at his weak point, his supply situation, putting four divisions out of supply with a combination of flanking and careful attacks. This can't go on forever and Tampico is now in Axis hands, but unless Jeremy troubles to fix up the rail this will only offer a modest amount of supply at the front, as the road is broken in two places.

Less of an incredible turn. A couple of Axis units do evaporate (the total was 3-4 divisions mostly of fragments) but my units in western Minnesota are now pretty worn down and this makes it harder to shift even weak Axis units; a key division holds out two rounds and prevents me destroying its neighbour, though both are hammered and routed on the final round. I'm also nervous about Minneapolis as my counterattacks here made no impression and Jeremy may opt to assault the city directly next turn. However I have six divisions now operating unopposed in the Dakotas, which I should be able to swing into Jeremy's flank next turn. My replacement rate next turn should fall to 62%, which is sort of OK but I think I may lose Minneapolis which would make 56%. Mexico City feels safe for a few turns- longer if I can reinforce from Central America. That'll make the difference between a decent replacement rate and a bad one.

Canadian troops arrive to support the defence of Illinois

FG45a.png (1.12 MiB) Viewed 1071 times

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

For Fun lets put out Axis Strengths and see how they compare.
Squads (in thousands):
Mounted Rifle Squads: 5.0
Motorcycle Squads: 1.5
Light Rifle Squads (Primarily Japanese): 12.7
Light Rifle AT- Squads (Primarily Italians): 11.8
Rifle Squads (Romanians, Spanish, Turkish, Finns, Swedes): 9.9
Heavy Rifle (Hungarians): 1.1
Heavy Rifle AT- (Germans) 32.9

Total: About 73,000 of which 3-5 thousand spend their time guarding the rail lines
At this stage I probably have a little more then 10,000 extra troops on the front lines compared to Ben's forces which is something but not a huge edge at this stage.

You skipped recon rifle squads which you should have a fair number of with the Japanese as well, and also engineers. Offhand I would guess this means your edge is actually a good deal bigger.

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.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Turn 46
The highlight of the turn is the taking of Minneapolis. I was actually surprised to take both Sault Ste. Marie and Minneapolis. When I conceived of these operations I was thinking that hopefully at least one would work. At Minneapolis I sort of wonder that I took it. There was great defencive terrain around it. I kind of think Ben might have been able to hold me off but he is focused on a flank attack, which is admittedly doing significant damage to my forces. There was also an oddity where a National Guard Regiment held one flank and I simply RBC’d past it and had the city mostly surrounded. In retrospect I wonder if this was supposed to be a trap?

That flank battle was odd as well. After the playback I would have said I lost 5-6 Divisions there. I believed I had really gotten smashed but I went back and laboriously went through all of Ben’s battles on his turn (I almost never do this). I lost a single Division though many were pushed back. Once again, I am setting up a double line out here and waiting for more reinforcements. However, the fall of Minneapolis might shift this fight somewhat. I also see Ben railing National Guard around, but they don’t appear on any front. I think Ben might be gathering a force to essentially extend this flank battle with National Guard forces.

The Japanese are pushing south and even north a little. I realize after I move it and it is to late that I really pushed forward with one of the Japanese Engineers – hopefully Ben does not find this guy. The real action on this front is actually battles for the Alpine passes. I noticed Ben had Canadian Brigades setting up on these great positions on the flanks that mostly can’t be flanked (or not so easily) and what I really want is these hexs for myself. These are just Brigades and not well dug in so I dragged up a couple of Divisions for each of these spots and some artillery and went to take them. Worked in 2 out of 3 times but one resulted in this scene where the Canadian Brigade retreated toward me and into the middle of all my undefended HQs. I really hope that unit goes into reorg!

In Mexico Ben launched some minor counter attacks. Cut off a few units but overall my army is improving significantly now that I have supplies from Tampico. The powerful VII Panzer Corp returned and I land 2 New Panzergrenadier Divisions and a new Heavy Panzer Brigade in Mexico. This ought to be enough to take Mexico City in reasonably short order. I also cut off another chunk of the Mexican Army but in doing so one of the Old Panzergrenadier Divisions is slightly out on a limb. Maybe the Mexicans can get it? I doubt they are strong enough but we will see.

In the north its all redeploying and the minor back and forth near Boston.

Finally in Illinois I get something of another reasonably sized breakthrough though Ben may well be able to reverse part of it as I surround 3 National Guard Divisions but only 1 dies using up the whole turn. Ben might be able to counter attack and in turn surround some of the units that just surrounded him. I’m also mildly concerned about a counter attack that could surround and destroy say a hex of mine full of HQs. I don’t think his army can pull that off this turn but I need to start to play more carefully because the army he is getting starting about now includes a lot of very powerful American Armoured Divisions.

Sault Ste. Marie: 62%

The fighting around Minneapolis

Fall Grau JB 46.jpg (1.82 MiB) Viewed 1026 times

[golden delicious]

Turn 46:
Yeah- there goes Minneapolis, and quite securely held too: Jeremy insisted on his usual business of cutting it off first and so he has a ring of units around the city, but took it on the same turn. I can live with this as I am really more interested in destroying the Axis force in the field at this point. I make some local counterattacks again near Minneapolis to keep Jeremy's strength pinned here, while continuing to hammer his battered divisions on the extended line. My force from North Dakota is largely brought in on the flank this turn and one division enters Sioux Falls- if I hold it, I receive another NG division here next turn, but I think Jeremy is aware of this.

My decision to reinforce Illinois is vindicated as Jeremy continues furious attacks here, trapping two divisions and putting another out of supply. My Canadians spring into the counterattack against the exhausted German troops on the flanks here, hoping to cut off and eliminate the panzer division in the centre. The US troops of my force here are pretty exhausted so otherwise I'm only able to make local attacks.

The most frustrating thing this turn is that the Japanese go hard for the Sierra Nevada passes, smashing up a couple of divisions worth of Canadians and breaking through what ought to be more or less an impenetrable barrier in a single turn. I'm forced to strip good divisions from my positions north and south of California to stop the Japanese spilling out immediately into the open space in Nevada, the trouble is these units have really high recon ratings so they can easily slip through gaps in the line, and with so few pieces out here the line is now mostly gaps; the only way to fight these Japanese is head on. With this in mind, my armour around Bakersfield plans an immediate counterattack against the Japanese now filling up in front of their positions, while the infantry (six divisions and some scraps) entrenches behind. I'm reinforcing here shortly from Arizona, where the Axis have largely been cleared out; the two NG divisions which relieved Chihuahua some turns ago are now moving in this direction and will link up; the El Paso garrison is still alive here too and may be rescued if it can last one more turn. I reluctantly send a first class US infantry division to reinforce the Sierra line, the first significant reinforcement to move west since the invasion turn.

The Axis really are in trouble in Mexico. A regiment of irregulars, unsupplied and surrounded on all sides, breaks out by RBCing an Italian cavalry regiment, which then evaporates. The only way the Axis get forward is by slicing through my line with one good division, an SS Panzergrenadier, but the other units are such trash that I can just counterattack and threaten its supplies. The end may be coming, though, as the first reconstituted panzers have arrived and I see a brigade of King Tigers disembarking at Tampico. Some respite is coming as the El Salvadorean army has been annihilated and I will have two divisions coming out from Central America in the next two turns. San Salvador is also captured and I should be in Guatemala City next turn. Far to the north, my irregulars sneak into Monterrey, where I'm due two divisions of Mexican regulars, one of them armoured.

An even more underwhelming turn than the last. I did destroy that panzer division and some odd regiments, but largely I'm just roughing up Axis units on the line, and not always very effectively. I hammer a couple of Japanese divisions around Bakersfield, but wind up out of position and if Jeremy realises it I could end up in a pocket. Having shoved back the flank in Minnesota, my offensive there has ground to a halt and I'm left wondering whether the forces used here should have defended Minneapolis directly- though of course I couldn't leave the flank open forever. With this city taken I expect Jeremy to shut this front down and concentrate on the Illinois front and possibly the Mississippi further north; ultimately once again the match will come down to whether the Axis can break into the US heartlands here. Long term, I would like to keep up pressure on the long western flank because this is where I can start to dictate the pace of the match. Ultimately this front leads me back to Omaha (currently 13 hexes forward of my lead division at Sioux City) which carries supplies for the entire Axis force west of the Mississippi. Trick is to balance this with keeping the Axis advance elsewhere to a crawl.

The Japanese push across the Sierras

FG46a.png (1.4 MiB) Viewed 1009 times