MWiF Global War Hot-Seat (AAR)

[Red Prince]

And, to make sure you don't think I short-changed myself, I scrapped very few units for the USSR. I know some people who scrap all 3 of the 3-3 INF at the start of a game. I actually didn't scrap that unit until several turns in.

[Red Prince]

Since it's quick and easy this turn, here's the chit summary for N/D '40 (Turn #8):

Impulse: 7
Italy aligns Iraq; USE-1 (+1 chit, 91 [1])

End of Turn:
USA drew 1 marker to the Ja Entry Pool (51 [1])
USA chooses no Entry Options

Ge/It Entry: 33
Ge/It Tension: 22
Chance of DOW: 0%
Japan Entry: 30
Japan Tension: 21
Chance of DOW: 0%

Allies Support Mozambique; USE-10 (no chit)
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Edit: Added the USE for supporting Mozambique.

[Centuur]

Well. Next turn is 1941 is it? The Soviets are about 8 INF type units short of getting something of a defense together (including the reserves...). Also: Zhukov needs reinforcements in Persia too. Build INF and CAV to the maximum and start praying for the bad weather to last a very, very long time (no snow either, please...).
Is Murmansk held by two INF units by now? If not: that's the place where reserves of reinforcements should go with priority. You want to get two factories there to be used by CW resources. And retreat that GAR near Leningrad into the city, because he is alone there... Same goes for the units around Cernauti. If you want to defend the city, you have to at least double stack the place (however, I wouldn't bother, since you are so short of units for the defense of the Dneiper river).
Railmove the ART to a position further away, or put it in Sevastopol or Leningrad. It is far to slow to retreat from the Germans and will be killed at the frontlines. Now, it's only good for one bombardment...
Is that the Mongolian CAV in Pskov? If so: is there another unit in Ulan Bator? There should be, in case the Japanese decide to attack the USSR...

Germany hasn't got his airforce in position at this moment, however: next turn the air units will be in position and than, if snow comes around it should be time for Barbarossa (even when not all German units are in position). The Germans should start in M/A to capture Eastern Poland and invade Lithuania. The turn after that, the first units should enter the USSR.

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

Well. Next turn is 1941 is it? The Soviets are about 8 INF type units short of getting something of a defense together (including the reserves...). Also: Zhukov needs reinforcements in Persia too. Build INF and CAV to the maximum and start praying for the bad weather to last a very, very long time (no snow either, please...).
Is Murmansk held by two INF units by now? If not: that's the place where reserves of reinforcements should go with priority. You want to get two factories there to be used by CW resources. And retreat that GAR near Leningrad into the city, because he is alone there... Same goes for the units around Cernauti. If you want to defend the city, you have to at least double stack the place (however, I wouldn't bother, since you are so short of units for the defense of the Dneiper river).
Railmove the ART to a position further away, or put it in Sevastopol or Leningrad. It is far to slow to retreat from the Germans and will be killed at the frontlines. Now, it's only good for one bombardment...
Is that the Mongolian CAV in Pskov? If so: is there another unit in Ulan Bator? There should be, in case the Japanese decide to attack the USSR...

Germany hasn't got his airforce in position at this moment, however: next turn the air units will be in position and than, if snow comes around it should be time for Barbarossa (even when not all German units are in position). The Germans should start in M/A to capture Eastern Poland and invade Lithuania. The turn after that, the first units should enter the USSR.

I can sum things up by saying, "no, there is almost nothing where you say it should be", meaning Murmansk, Ulan Batur, etc. Zhukov has a CAV and an INF with him in Persia now. The units near Cernauti haven't had time to retreat yet, nor has the GARR near Leningrad. Only 5 moves per impulse, especially during bad weather and short turns, doesn't get much done.

In N/D '40, I had all of 2 rail moves and 10 land moves for the USSR. I know this stuff needs to get done (it's been said before), but ran out of time. I did get Odessa screened so the factory can be railed out. Other than that, I need to hope I can use my Reserves in good positions. I'd really rather not have all 3 of my Siberians on the front lines in the Baltic region, but I had no other units to use, so there they are.
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Edit: Siberia is just going to have to suffer. The Soviets can't defend Poland, the Baltics, Karelia, the Ukraine, Persia and Siberia. Something's got to give.

[composer99]

Regarding long-range aircraft:

I view satsifactory long-range NAV and FTR as those which can reach at least the 3 section of a sea box during a naval air mission if they begin the mission in a hex adjacent to a hexdot. That is, any NAV or FTR with 7 or better range.

By that reckoning, there are three each of FTR and NAV in the CW force pools which meet this criteria. It so happens that most of the other CW FTR are useful even if they are not built (by now the Allies should realize the value of being able to stop the Stukas), and of the two NAV-2 in the force pool, the short-range one is a very strong convoy defender.

Also, the 4-range NAV-2 are good for port strikes with their high air-to-sea factors.

[composer99]

Regarding the USSR defences:

Give Red Prince a break. The USSR starting on-map army is pitiably small, and their force pools in 1939-1941 are equally tiny.

[Centuur]

Some people scrap INF type units by the USSR? I don't. I need even that crappy 2-1 GAR on the board as a lousy and very cheap speed bump. Same goes for the 3-3 INF. The only units I would scrap is the 3-5 MOT (I personally hate MOT's, they are expensive, use oil and use motorised movement rates) and those fighters you've scrapped. You didn't make the mistake to scrap all 3-3 INF, so I guess I should ease off on that a little bit.
On gearing limits: the USSR should have build ARM/MECH in early 1940 and INF towards the end of the year. Gearing limits on INF are too low.
However: it look like you've emptied the INF pools, that's good. For a newbie player, that's not bad at all. You're excused here... [:D]

By the way: it might be nice to rebase that 17 moving STRAT bomber south. It is very hard for the Euroaxis to defend all oil wells in the Persia/Iraq/Rumania area with FTR's... If you put the plane in the woods hex NE of the port of Sukumi (on the Black sea, just north of the mountains) the plane is in range of the oil fields in northern Iraq and Ploesti. He might even be in range for an attack on the Persian oil fields, if the Germans capture those (depends on how the unified map is looking). Nothing better than to force the Euroaxis to keep FTR's in range of those precious oil fields...
Also: there isn't a large Axis airforce in that region, so it might be nice to use a good chunk of the Russian airforce in that area, so Zhukov can prevent the movement of the Euroaxis into Persia with air support. The USSR can retreat in the West, but can't retreat in the south at all. The one thing the USSR has to prevent is that the Turks might enter the war, giving the Axis another three HQ's to be used (since two have to be in the Syrian desert to keep Axis forces in Iraq/Persia in supply, and the other one is the Turkish one). I would suggest to put the USSR reinforcements into that area, making it a good defensive position.

[Centuur]

By the way: I keep forgetting it is an early 1941 Barbarossa occuring with a closed MED and an Italian aligned Iraq. This normally doesn't happen until early 1942. Really terrible position for the USSR, since there aren't enough INF available in the force pools to put in all the necessary places. In 1942 there are usually more USSR units on the map...

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Two units in Murmansk is a waste. Yes, it would be nice to rail factories there and then receive resources from the Allies into Murmansk. But holding onto Leningrad, Moscow and Rostov are more important. Put one very weak unit in Murmansk and force the Germans to commit an HQ up there to attack it. As the USSR I would be quite happy to see an HQ and several Axis units positioned around Murmansk instead of exploiting holes in the front lines down south. Karelia isn't worth as much as Russia proper.

Using Zhukov to defend Baku also seems wasteful to me. He is too good a unit to be placed on a secondary frontline. Use one of the weaker HQs if you must have an HQ there at all. What is most important on that front is to have a solid line of infantry occupying mountain hexes. Force the Axis to attack units that are doubled in strength. Only one failed attack in an impulse should bring the Axis offense to a complete halt for the turn.

What you want is to position units to hold the defensive lines you detailed in an earlier post. Those are the best places to stop the Germans but if there are holes in the line the Germans will simply ooze through and force the Russians to either retreat or be surrounded.

[Orm]

Since Germany has no units at all close to Murmansk I think that USSR should leave Murmansk undefended. USSR can always place a reserve unit there, or, two, if a German invasion seem likely.

If Germany moves units towards Murmansk USSR can easily reinforce this area.

USSR will have few units to spare when Germany attacks.

[composer99]

I take it there are no Finns up there? Any Finns placed to cut the rail lines to Murmansk & Archangel? If not, the USSR is good to go for the factory shipment to Murmansk.

[Red Prince]

RE: the last 3 posts

There's nobody in Murmansk, or near it, from either side. One of the Finnish Ski troops might be able to cut the rail line by way of the Borderlands, but I'm not sure about that yet.

The reason I chose Zhukov to send to Persia is two-fold. The USSR has 4 units coming in this turn (2 INF, 1 MOT, 1 MECH), and I'll probably use the 2 strongest of these to reinforce Baku. The others are needed in the Kiev region. However, all 4 units defending the southern border will still total less than 20 total factors, probably much less. Zhukov's 8 factors could go a long way to helping that. The second reason is that he has the highest reorganization value and mobility among the Soviet HQs. There are 3 German LND in the region already, and if these 4 defenders end up disorganized early in a turn there's a danger that they can be put OOS. Even doubled in the mountains, that's not much help. So, I figured I'd have the best chance of keeping them active by using Zhukov.

Maybe that's a wrong decision, but it explains the choice I made.

[Red Prince]

I've been working on my builds for this turn. It's not easy to do, since I'm trying to wait on a few things until I can scrap the crap. A suggestion was made ealier that the CW should consider building a Fort for Gibraltar. There wasn't time for it, as it turned out, but I'm thinking of building 2 with the Germans over the next few turns.

The USA is going to be in this war earlier than normal, but even if they DOW Germany and get a foot into Spain or Portugal relatively soon, they won't be able to attack Gibraltar in force for at least a year or more. I figure that if I can get Fort hexsides to the West and Northwest, then I can use my white print MTN along with another white print unit and a division of some sort to make Gibraltar almost impossible to take back. I've even considered doing something similar with Tangier (but probably won't).

The effect of all this should mean a much longer-lasting Italian force -- as long as they can hold on to the Suez. If the Allies want to take Italy out of the action, they'll have to come through France or East Africa, and that's much more difficult.

So, what do you think of the idea?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

I've been working on my builds for this turn. It's not easy to do, since I'm trying to wait on a few things until I can scrap the crap. A suggestion was made ealier that the CW should consider building a Fort for Gibraltar. There wasn't time for it, as it turned out, but I'm thinking of building 2 with the Germans over the next few turns.

The USA is going to be in this war earlier than normal, but even if they DOW Germany and get a foot into Spain or Portugal relatively soon, they won't be able to attack Gibraltar in force for at least a year or more. I figure that if I can get Fort hexsides to the West and Northwest, then I can use my white print MTN along with another white print unit and a division of some sort to make Gibraltar almost impossible to take back. I've even considered doing something similar with Tangier (but probably won't).

The effect of all this should mean a much longer-lasting Italian force -- as long as they can hold on to the Suez. If the Allies want to take Italy out of the action, they'll have to come through France or East Africa, and that's much more difficult.

So, what do you think of the idea?

If Germany can take out the USSR, it is game over. Just imagine the entire Wehrmacht defending in France and the Lowlands. The Allies just don't have enough units to invade and drive them back. The Euro-Axis will have tons of BPs and Oil.

All BPs should be spent on offensive weapons. If you can't find ways to spend the BPs right now, an extra O Chit would be nice to have.

[Red Prince]

And here it is, my End of Turn Report for N/D '40:

Partisans
No Partisans

Entry Markers
USSR placed 1 marker on Defense (252 [2])
Germany placed 2 markers on Offense (218 [2], 76 [1])

US Entry
USA drew 1 marker to the Ja Entry Pool (51 [1])
USA chooses no Entry Options

Ge/It Entry: 33
Ge/It Tension: 22
Chance of DOW: 0%
Japan Entry: 30
Japan Tension: 21
Chance of DOW: 0%

Pre-Build Scrapping
None

Builds:
China (0): Nothing
CW (19): 2 x INF, 1 x MIL, 1 x FTR-3, 3 x CV(2nd), 1 x Pilot
France (0): Nothing
USA (20): 1 x MAR Division, 1 x ASW Carrier(1st), 2 x TRS(1st), 2 x LND-3, 1 x BB(1st), 2 x Pilot
USSR (17): 1 x INF, 1 x PARA, 1 x PARA Division, 1 x MECH Division, 1 x LND-4
Germany (19): 3 x MIL, 1 x ARM, 2 x SUB(1st), 1 x NAV-3, 1 x Pilot
Italy (11): 3 x TERR, 1 x BB(Repair), 1 x SUB(2nd), 1 x Pilot
Japan (15): 3 x INF, 1 x Convoy, 1 x NAV-3, 1 x Pilot

J/F '41 Gearing Limits (above 1):
China: None
CW: 4 x Infantry, 4 x Ship, 2 x Air, 2 x Pilot
France: None
USA: 2 x Infantry, 5 x Ship, 3 x Air, 3 x Pilot
USSR: 4 x Infantry, 2 x Armor, 2 x Air
Germany: 4 x Infantry, 2 x Armor, 3 x Submarine, 2 x Air, 2 x Pilot
Italy: 4 x Infantry, 2 x Ship, 2 x Submarine, 2 x Pilot
Japan: 4 x Infantry, 2 x Ship, 2 x Air, 2 x Pilot

Conquest:
Kuwait cc by Italy
Allies Support Mozambique; USE-10 (no chit)

China Declined to Surrender to Japan

Factory Destruction:
None

Reinforcements:
CW scrapped 2 x ASW Escort, 1 x SUB
CW assigns Pilots to 2 CVP
CW places MIL in Montreal, TRS in Halifax, INF in Bombay, INF and 2 CVP in Bristol
USA scrapped 1 x CVP-1
USA assigns Pilots to 2 x CVP and 2 x NAV
USA places NAV in Long Beach, NAV in LA, 2 CVP and MTN in SD
USSR assigns Pilot to FTR
USSR places FTR in Leningrad, CP in Sevastapol, MECH and MOT in Dneptropetrovsk, CP and 2 INF in Baku
Germany assigns Pilot to FTR
Germany places its MIL in Magdeburg, Berlin and Stettin, INF in Breslau, FTR, HQ-A Rommel and MECH in Konigsberg, SUB in Kiel
Germany removes CVP from map
Italy scrapped 2 x CVP-1, 1 x LND-3
Italy assigns Pilot to NAV
Italy places MIL in Baghdad, TERR in Ethiopia, Oran, Damascus, NAV in Palermo
Japan scrapped 2 x FTR-2, 2 x LND-2
Japan assigns Pilots to 2 CVP
Japan places INF, AMPH, 2 CVP in Tokyo
Japan removes CVP from map

Lend-Lease
USA lent FTR-2 Kittyhawk to CW
CW lent 2 x FTR-2 to USSR
Germany lent LND-2 to Italy

Trade Agreements:
No Changes

Victory Totals
Axis: 33
Allies: 34

Initiative:
Allies win Initiative 11-3
Allies choose not to move first in J/F '41

Turn 9 J/F '41

Allies win Initiative 11-3
Allies choose not to move first in J/F '41
+1 Allied Initiative

Impulse: 1
Weather: 12
(See the next post for the nasty winter ahead)
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Believe it or not, I haven't got much to say about this last turn of 1940. There were only 4 total impulses, so not much was accomplished on either side. The USA moved its SUB fleet to Pago Pago, but that was probably the most noteworthy event of the turn. Wavell is in Mozambique, The Soviets and Germans are both still unprepared for war. China survives.

Take a look at the weather in the next post, and I think you'll understand why Germany isn't going to make a winter DOW at this point. All it would do is help the USA enter the war earlier and increase the Soviet Force Pools by adding MIL. Yes, Germany can break the Pact, but there is no real benefit in doing it now. If the weather looks nice in M/A '41, maybe I'll start the war then.

As a side note, the Italian transports are now available to get 2 of those German units from Gabes to Beirut, something they were not available for last turn.
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So, at the beginning of January, 1941, here is what the world looks like:

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

I've been working on my builds for this turn. It's not easy to do, since I'm trying to wait on a few things until I can scrap the crap. A suggestion was made ealier that the CW should consider building a Fort for Gibraltar. There wasn't time for it, as it turned out, but I'm thinking of building 2 with the Germans over the next few turns.

The USA is going to be in this war earlier than normal, but even if they DOW Germany and get a foot into Spain or Portugal relatively soon, they won't be able to attack Gibraltar in force for at least a year or more. I figure that if I can get Fort hexsides to the West and Northwest, then I can use my white print MTN along with another white print unit and a division of some sort to make Gibraltar almost impossible to take back. I've even considered doing something similar with Tangier (but probably won't).

The effect of all this should mean a much longer-lasting Italian force -- as long as they can hold on to the Suez. If the Allies want to take Italy out of the action, they'll have to come through France or East Africa, and that's much more difficult.

So, what do you think of the idea?

If Germany can take out the USSR, it is game over. Just imagine the entire Wehrmacht defending in France and the Lowlands. The Allies just don't have enough units to invade and drive them back. The Euro-Axis will have tons of BPs and Oil.

All BPs should be spent on offensive weapons. If you can't find ways to spend the BPs right now, an extra O Chit would be nice to have.

I'm not yet convinced that the USSR will go down so easily. Barbarossa could start now, but I don't think it should. Not only can the Germans do very little damage, but they probably can't even move very far into Poland. Check out the new weather roll (2nd J/F in a row starting on a '12' roll):

[Centuur]

Blizzard and DoW'ing the USSR? Not done. I suggest waiting until it's only snowing. That is the impulse you might consider DoW'ing the USSR, if the airforce is in place. If not, you can affort to wait a turn.

[composer99]

It looks like the Red Army forces facing Germany will still be out of position by the time war begins with short turns and bad weather slowing down their repositioning.

[brian brian]

[why should there be a USE roll for Allies supporting Mozambique?]

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

[why should there be a USE roll for Allies supporting Mozambique?]

I was puzzled by this at first. But then I realized the Mozambique is the new Home Country for Portugal. I'm pretty sure that's why there was an Allied Support roll.