MWiF Global War Hot-Seat (AAR)

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: composer99

SS MIL, GARR and maybe the 6-3 SS INF from 1939 are decent garrison units. Regular GARR and MIL are also good

Right now, given the small CW army you don't need a strong anti-invasion defence. Just cover up the cities on the coast and key ports. Italian and Rumanian HQs are good for maintaining supply in Western Europe outside the range of the capital cities.

MTN units are actually better off used for winter operations in USSR where they are winterized.

Edit: Also, garrisons against invasion do double-duty against partisans.

More Edit: Also, because you want to defend against port attacks on surface fleets in France & Portugal, you will want to base FTR to defend any of Brest, Bordeaux, Gibraltar or Lisbon that you have surface fleets based in. These also contribute to anti-partisan garrison while organized.

I've actually already got the Rumanian and Hungarian HQs working as supply links in France, because they're not much real use elsewhere, and why waste a good German HQ (or semi-good Italian one)?

I already have FTR based in Brest and have some to rebase from the Gibraltar area to Lisbon, so that works.

What I was most interested in was if I should use the MIL units or other INF types, since MIL can be rebuilt quickly. Thanks for answering that question for me.

[composer99]

The exception would be stronger MIL such as the Berlin & Munich MIL (if memory serves the latter is 6 combat factors) which are good for losses vs Red Army forces hunkered down in cities.

[Centuur]

I would use the white print German MIL's in Russia. The other MIL, GAR and some black print low factor INF units, together with the Italians land units are for this moment enough to garrison the Western European coastline. I would suggest leaving some higher combat factors around Morocco. You need FTR 2 around ports where surface naval units are based (not when there are only SUB's there). Some FTR's should also be around the factories in France to counter strategic bombardment. Together with a couple of HQ's to keep the necessary ports in supply, that's it.

However: when the USA comes into the war, you should be checking the build up of CW/USA armies around the Western Europe/African and react accordingly. That means that, even when you are in Russia, you have slowly to keep sending more INF units into Western Europe to strengthen the defenses of the Atlantic Wall.

On the USSR, I would suggest to send the Italian airforce (some FTR and all LND and ATR) to that theater, together with Mr. Balbo. Build the Italian lend lease Stuka in 1941 immediately. Nothing better than an Italian airforce doing an air impulse, ground striking defenders in an area and after that, the German army, together with ground supporting Stuka's will decimate the Soviet defenses in the German land impulse (however, that is more easily said than done. This means building Italian air units using German build points).

Oh, and use some SS MIL in Poland for anti partisan duty. That's one country you don't want to see a partisan appearing...

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

I would use the white print German MIL's in Russia. The other MIL, GAR and some black print low factor INF units, together with the Italians land units are for this moment enough to garrison the Western European coastline. I would suggest leaving some higher combat factors around Morocco. You need FTR 2 around ports where surface naval units are based (not when there are only SUB's there). Some FTR's should also be around the factories in France to counter strategic bombardment. Together with a couple of HQ's to keep the necessary ports in supply, that's it.

However: when the USA comes into the war, you should be checking the build up of CW/USA armies around the Western Europe/African and react accordingly. That means that, even when you are in Russia, you have slowly to keep sending more INF units into Western Europe to strengthen the defenses of the Atlantic Wall.

On the USSR, I would suggest to send the Italian airforce (some FTR and all LND and ATR) to that theater, together with Mr. Balbo. Build the Italian lend lease Stuka in 1941 immediately. Nothing better than an Italian airforce doing an air impulse, ground striking defenders in an area and after that, the German army, together with ground supporting Stuka's will decimate the Soviet defenses in the German land impulse (however, that is more easily said than done. This means building Italian air units using German build points).

Oh, and use some SS MIL in Poland for anti partisan duty. That's one country you don't want to see a partisan appearing...

All very useful information again, thank you.

Barbarossa is definitely looking like it will depend entirely on the weather conditions over the next 2 turns. The earlier recommendation of a J/F '41 Barbarossa may not be possible, since I've been using GARR and MIL units (particularly the SS) to keep garrison levels up against the Soviets. That means I'll probably need to use my rail moves to get these units to the French and Iberian locations, while land moves slowly bring the remaining forces back to the new front. I have moved some strong units back already, but certainly not enough to be ready to break the pact. I might be able to get my forces placed "correctly" for M/A '41, but unless very good weather is sustained to end 1940, J/F looks like a long shot.

[composer99]

You've got time to move the GARR/MIL to the French & Iberian fronts to defend against invasions. Until the CW has AMPH on the board and some more land units to replace its recent losses I don't see much invasion potential (maybe you see otherwise?).

Concentrate on getting the 'real' army to the East for Barb.

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: composer99

You've got time to move the GARR/MIL to the French & Iberian fronts to defend against invasions. Until the CW has AMPH on the board and some more land units to replace its recent losses I don't see much invasion potential (maybe you see otherwise?).

Concentrate on getting the 'real' army to the East for Barb.

I'm not so concerned about invasions as I am about Partisans.

[Centuur]

You shouldn't be to worried of Partisans. The killstacks and HQ's can't all move by rail into Poland. A lot of those units have to be moved normally to get to Poland. This means that while you are moving, you probably have got enough face up units in the conquered countries anyhow. Don't forget: you are moving almost your whole army. Units now on garrison duty in France should be moving into Spain, the ones in the low countries and northern Germany go into France and the ones in Poland go to northern Germany and the low countries. Also: the airforce need to redeploy to, so there are going to be face up planes all around the map for the next couple of turns.
I expect that you will see a lot of garrison points in place at turns end, to prevent partisans. And Poland isn't going to be stripped of all forces, is it? There are units there already, who are going to be used in the USSR...

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

You shouldn't be to worried of Partisans. The killstacks and HQ's can't all move by rail into Poland. A lot of those units have to be moved normally to get to Poland. This means that while you are moving, you probably have got enough face up units in the conquered countries anyhow. Don't forget: you are moving almost your whole army. Units now on garrison duty in France should be moving into Spain, the ones in the low countries and northern Germany go into France and the ones in Poland go to northern Germany and the low countries. Also: the airforce need to redeploy to, so there are going to be face up planes all around the map for the next couple of turns.
I expect that you will see a lot of garrison points in place at turns end, to prevent partisans. And Poland isn't going to be stripped of all forces, is it? There are units there already, who are going to be used in the USSR...

You're probably right about this. I do know I'm going to have to rail some units to Spain and Portugal, because the ones I have in France right now mostly can't get there as fast as I can evacuate the stacks that are there now. Poland has received some reinforcements of value, and it'll keep its SS units until I'm sure I can break the Pact, but it's mostly GARR and MIL units that are "protecting" the border at this time, including 2 Bulgarians. Fortunately, they have the speed to replace the units that are in Hungary and probably Denmark, too.

It's a complex puzzle. I've got to take a full inventory of available units before I decide how best to deploy them and how best to get them to the eventual location of deployment.

You may have noticed that I've been taking a few days off, and this will probably continue through the weekend. The summer turns were quite exciting, I think, and that led me to work more hours than I intended. Unless I want to make completely foolish mistakes (instead of my more standard dopey mistakes), I need to take these days to just relax and regain my energy levels. It will also likely provide me with a better idea of the state of affairs, since I'll need to refresh my memory of where each unit is on the map. This last is the primary reason I haven't even started to try the Allied impulse #1 yet. I know I need to restructure (again [:(] ) and consolidate the CW fleet, but if I force myself to wait a few days, I'll be in a better frame of mind to consider where each unit is and what goals I need to set and accomplish.

That's a little off topic as to your response, but I'm tired, so please forgive me. [:)]

[Centuur]

Well, I'm very tired too, but that comes from a realy busy week at the office (and I've still got another day at work coming up, tomorrow...). So I'm going to put my head on a pillow...

[Red Prince]

At composer99's request, here is a brief update that might be of interest:

During the first year of the war, the Axis had 27 impulses and the Allies had 25 impulses. In the first year of the war, the Axis moved 1st 5 times and the allies moved first 1 time. The Axis had a double-impulse between J/F '40 and M/A '40, with a lucky roll of Fine weather everywhere to start off M/A '40. Yes, the CW and other Allies have had leadership problems (me), but perhaps some of this should be taken into account -- particularly the first move differential. It's hard not to get beat up when you haven't got a chance to reset your fleets and defenses before the enemy strikes.

[Red Prince]

Been studying my convoy pipelines, and I'm fairly certain I can get them completely reset and fairly safe from attack this turn, but it's going to require using an HQ and either 2 or 3 of my TRS to reorganize convoy points. This won't have an impact on reinforcing Egypt with 1 unit, and I might even be able to get a 2nd unit there -- if I only need 2 TRS to reorg convoys. That's the plan, anyway. At the least, I can get most of the structure reset and lose only 1-2 BP this turn if I use only 2 TRS for reorganization.

Before anyone screams bloody murder, the other 2 TRS can't do much useful anyway in terms of moving units around the map, and it's either this or lose half my CW BP this turn. Egypt will get its units, and the CW will get most or all of its BP. This doesn't even take into account other naval actions that I'll be taking, though both the N. Atlantic and Faeroes Gap are going to require fairly strong surface forces committed to them until I can get my NAVs in place (and probably after that, too). And I also don't intend to leave St. Vincent or Biscay open to enemy sorties either. Add a fleet of DSB into the Red Sea, and I'm going to have to be smart in deploying the RN.

We'll see how smart I am, I guess. [:)]

[ezzler]

I wouldn't worry too much about you leadership.

Historically the allies did just about as badly as they possibly could have up to mid 1942.
And the Axis did just about as well as it possibly could have.

Allies still won.

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: ezz

I wouldn't worry too much about you leadership.

Historically the allies did just about as badly as they possibly could have up to mid 1942.
And the Axis did just about as well as it possibly could have.

Allies still won.

[:)] And they get an extry 3 years to do it this time!

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Been studying my convoy pipelines, and I'm fairly certain I can get them completely reset and fairly safe from attack this turn, but it's going to require using an HQ and either 2 or 3 of my TRS to reorganize convoy points. This won't have an impact on reinforcing Egypt with 1 unit, and I might even be able to get a 2nd unit there -- if I only need 2 TRS to reorg convoys. That's the plan, anyway. At the least, I can get most of the structure reset and lose only 1-2 BP this turn if I use only 2 TRS for reorganization.

Before anyone screams bloody murder, the other 2 TRS can't do much useful anyway in terms of moving units around the map, and it's either this or lose half my CW BP this turn. Egypt will get its units, and the CW will get most or all of its BP. This doesn't even take into account other naval actions that I'll be taking, though both the N. Atlantic and Faeroes Gap are going to require fairly strong surface forces committed to them until I can get my NAVs in place (and probably after that, too). And I also don't intend to leave St. Vincent or Biscay open to enemy sorties either. Add a fleet of DSB into the Red Sea, and I'm going to have to be smart in deploying the RN.

We'll see how smart I am, I guess. [:)]

Be sure to give some thought as to where the TRSs will return to base.

They can reorganize units from the zero box (if sitting in the zero box is safe). That should give them a wide range of possibilities as to which ports they end up in at the end of the turn. What you want is to have them as near to ideally positioned as possible for the next turn (to move units probably).

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Been studying my convoy pipelines, and I'm fairly certain I can get them completely reset and fairly safe from attack this turn, but it's going to require using an HQ and either 2 or 3 of my TRS to reorganize convoy points. This won't have an impact on reinforcing Egypt with 1 unit, and I might even be able to get a 2nd unit there -- if I only need 2 TRS to reorg convoys. That's the plan, anyway. At the least, I can get most of the structure reset and lose only 1-2 BP this turn if I use only 2 TRS for reorganization.

Before anyone screams bloody murder, the other 2 TRS can't do much useful anyway in terms of moving units around the map, and it's either this or lose half my CW BP this turn. Egypt will get its units, and the CW will get most or all of its BP. This doesn't even take into account other naval actions that I'll be taking, though both the N. Atlantic and Faeroes Gap are going to require fairly strong surface forces committed to them until I can get my NAVs in place (and probably after that, too). And I also don't intend to leave St. Vincent or Biscay open to enemy sorties either. Add a fleet of DSB into the Red Sea, and I'm going to have to be smart in deploying the RN.

We'll see how smart I am, I guess. [:)]

Be sure to give some thought as to where the TRSs will return to base.

They can reorganize units from the zero box (if sitting in the zero box is safe). That should give them a wide range of possibilities as to which ports they end up in at the end of the turn. What you want is to have them as near to ideally positioned as possible for the next turn (to move units probably).

Yeah, I've been forced to do that, because a miscalculation makes me think I can't actually set the whole thing up this turn. I can come close, but even if I keep the Bay of Biscay loaded with Convoys and only clear out the Cape St. Vincent route, I'm still going to fall just short, I think. That's because I can reorganize 8 Convoys with an HQ in the UK, but trying to figure out how to get the necessary Convoys to the Caribbean and Mouths of the Amazon is giving me trouble. The convoys are available, but for some reason I started with the idea that I could reorg 4 with a TRS, but it's only 2.

I think the CW is going to fall short by those 2-3 BP this turn, after all. And that's still going to require me to use 2 TRS. I might be able to improve that slightly by using the 3rd TRS, but I'd rather get the 4th unit into Egypt. Big puzzle.

If you're wondering why I'm aiming for the Caribbean as part of the route instead of the Central Atlantic, it would actually take more reorg points to use that route.
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Edit: In the first paragraph I spoke about TRS when I meant Convoys.

[Red Prince]

Okay. I think I've figured out what to do with the CW. First off, all of those ships that had to evacuate to Aden and Bombay are now either on their way back around to the Western Front or being used to provide Shore Bombardment capability for Suez. After that, using both the CW fleet and the remaining French fleet, I've set up a "defensive perimiter" which includes fleets in Cape St. Vincent and Bay of Biscay that should by large enough to keep the Italians from trying to break out into the Atlantic until more ships can be massed in Gibraltar.

The BB fleet that escaped Gibraltar and headed to Halifax (don't ask) are now trying to deal with the German CA in the North Atlantic. Once that's done, they can be used elsewhere while some CA take over for them. I still have a fleet of 14 ships in Plymouth that I could use to try to clear the Germans out of the North Sea, but until I can load these 3 CVP onto 3 empty CVs that make up part of that fleet, it just isn't strong enough to lead to a decicive victory (40 to 27 Surface factors, not including the 3 empty CV). Yes, I have NAV and miinimal FTR support, but the Germans have a total of 4 FTR units that could intercept, and 2 of them have Air-to-Sea Factors, too.

Therefore, I'll wait an impulse. The Germans aren't likely to be going anywhere. They have more important things to deal with at the moment, and the additional CVP will make for a stronger force. Even then, I'm not sure I should make the attempt until I've got more ships back from the Middle-East. The German fleet won't get any stronger, but the CW fleet has the potential to become overwhelming, now that it doesn't have to "worry about the W. Med" anymore. [8|]

I also started shifting my SUB fleet toward the Pacific . . . and it might get there by mid-1942 (joking), since the range of 2/3 of the SUB fleet is a glorious 2 sea zones. Likewise, I haven't forgotten to send the American SUB fleet back out of Iceland and headed for Pago Pago, along with my fresh MAR unit (although that may have to wait a turn, since my TRS are now out of position. I might be able to pick him up from a coastal hex and return to base all the way to Pago Pago at the end of the turn, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, these are the CVP I need to rebase to carriers:

[Red Prince]

The 2nd year of the war isn't starting out any better for the CW navy. The North Atlantic, apparently, is a big stretch of Ocean. Neither side could find the other.

[Red Prince]

This is what I was talking about earlier. I could move the MTN unit NE of Ankang (green arrow), putting the entire Japanese force to the west OOS. However, it would take a minimum of effort for the Japanese to re-establish supply (blue arrows). The black circle shows where HQ-I Yamamoto is now. Both double-stacks of Chinese units are 9-factor stacks.
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Edit: Maybe I wasn't talking about this earlier? I might simply have mentioned it in an email to Orm earlier today. Or maybe I posted about it in a different thread?
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The only real benefit I can see in doing this is forcing Japan to take Ankang, risking another US Entry chit. Both moves from the 3-stack positions can be made by 2-factor divisions, so it wouldn't significantly reduce any attacks. In fact, making this move would actually increase the attack factors that Japan could mount against the western stack from 33:9 to 44:9. One way or another, using air support, the Japanese can get at least a 3:1 attack on that stack, even if I swap the MTN for the MIL. Unfortunately, Japan can also manage a 3:1 attack on Sian, though it would be a little more difficult to put together.

However, a 3:1 attack has "only" a 40% chance of success. And, either attack would require an HQ to be included. If it doesn't work that makes it particularly costly for Japan. Without restructuring (and I don't know how I could easily accomplish that), I think the best thing to do is just leave the Communist Chinese units as they are.

I suppose this means I can begin pulling some of my Soviets back from the border, but I don't know if that's such a good idea just yet.

I'm going to take a break while people mull this over.

[Red Prince]

Reviewing the above himage, I realize that Mao can be eliminated quite easily. The only way to stop that is to move the MTN into the hex where the 4-2 MIL it, move one of those units in with Mao . . . and that leaves the hex with the 4-2 MIL vulnerable to a 4:1 attack or better. I think the better choice is to leave things as they are, let Moa die, and maintain the river line as a partial defense to help the remaining defenders.

At this point it's too late to worry about what could have been done. The best I can do is try to figure out what will keep Sian in Communist hands as long as possible.

So, instead of "wasting" moves here, I'll begin setting up my speed bumps in the USSR and creating stacks that can pull back when the time is right. The Soviet air force can pull out and/or return to Garrisson positions in a matter of just a few impulses, so I'll pull some of them back to see how it alters the Pact values. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of thing . . . deciding when to stop stuffing and when to start setting up the defenses. With most of the Germany primary forces still a long way away, it may seem early to begin the pullout, but I'd rather not get taken by "surprise" once again (as the Communists did in China).

[Red Prince]

And this is what it takes to get 16 convoys reorganized: an HQ and 4 TRS

This should hopefully allow me to get nearly all of the resources to the UK that they'll need to fill the factories. In the worst case scenario, I can use some saved Oil to fill out a factory or two that fail to get the needed resources.