Decisively Beating the AI

[Harrybanana]

Turn 26: Dec 25, 1943

I forgot to mention that last turn (T25) I began bombing the V-Wpn factories with 8th AF and the V-Wpn launch sites with BC, 2nd TAC and 9th AF. It is important to start bombing these sites in late 43 as you might otherwise be surprised by bad weather in early 44 that prevents you bombing them. Something I learned the hard way in my first game against the AI.

Below is the screenshot of Italy after my Recon and destruction of the units isolated last turn. I got lucky and a high pressure system moved in and gave me clear weather. As you can see I had a couple options. The first was I could have attacked the unit circled in purple and broken through to isolate the units in Livorno and Pisa. But instead I decided to attack the units circled in red with the plan of liberating Florence.

[Harrybanana]

As you can see below I got lucky. Instead of retreating into Florence the German para regiment instead retreated East, this allowed me to not only captured Florence, but to exploit into the mountains behind it.

[Harrybanana]

Screenshot below shows me cleaning up the isolated pockets. Nothing too special about this except notice that I left a spot for the strong German units in the mountains to move too. The purpose of this was to coax these units out of their strong fortified position in the Mountain hex into a non-fortified hex in clear terrain. Sure enough they fell for it and next turn I was able to mop them up with a small force.

[Harrybanana]

Turn 27: Jan 1, 1944

The New Year began with me poised to breakout into the plains of Northern. However, T27 I was primarily just consolidating my gains of last turn and renewing my offensive on the East coast.

Before:

[Harrybanana]

After:

[Harrybanana]

Turn 28: Jan 8, 1944

Okay Newbies take a look at the screenshot below and then take a guess at where you think I attacked this turn. If you have been following my AAR this far then this should be a no-brainer for you, as you must know that I rarely if ever let pass an opportunity to isolate large numbers of German units and you know that I like to attack the enemy at his weakest point. The only problem is that this time I had to use my armour to make the attacks as no infantry were in range. As I said before there are exceptions to every rule and this is one of them.

[Harrybanana]

I am sure you all guessed correctly, and below is the result.

[Harrybanana]

Turn 29: Jan 22, 1944

The Germans pulled back on the west coast and were again looking weak on the east coast. But my armour was also beat up and my infantry was still struggling to get to the Front. So on this turn I concentrated on trying to reduce the size of the enemy pocket.

[Harrybanana]

Turn 30: Jan 22, 1944

Unfortunately the trapped Germans are putting up fiercer than expected resistance. At the start of T30 the supply to my armour was still restricted and as a consequence CVs and MPs were still pretty low.

[Harrybanana]

However, by the end of my turn the pocket had been significantly reduced. I was hoping that on T31 I could continue my Northerly advance.

[Harrybanana]

VPs, Losses and other info as at the start of T30. I have bombed the V-Wpn factories and launch sites into rubble, but I am only receiving 3 bombing VPs per turn. My Canadian Manpower numbers are worrisome; so over the last few turns I have been withdrawing them from the Front lines and returning them to England. If you go back and examine the Info stats from T10 and T20 you will see that, despite their losses, the Germans actually have more men, tanks and planes than they did 20 turns ago. I assume this is due to units being transferred from the Russian Front.

[loki100]

Are you not at risk of over-committing in Italy? There's not that much more to gain (VP-wise)?

wonder if it would be an idea to start planning for a S France invasion and getting some of those better units back to the UK to invade France? Sort of links to your problem with Canadian manpower. I use the Canadian divisions extensively but have never felt much of a constraint from lack of manpower reserves?

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: loki100

Are you not at risk of over-committing in Italy? There's not that much more to gain (VP-wise)?

wonder if it would be an idea to start planning for a S France invasion and getting some of those better units back to the UK to invade France? Sort of links to your problem with Canadian manpower. I use the Canadian divisions extensively but have never felt much of a constraint from lack of manpower reserves?

I am already on T43. Indeed this entire AAR has been written after T43. Once I get this AAR caught up to where I am at in the game I will, obviously, have to start playing some more turns and then I will be able to start accepting advice. However, even if I could redo these turns I would not, and not only because I know how things turn out. Playing against the AI is different than playing a human opponent. My goals here were to: cause German casualties while limiting my own, force the AI to move the maximum number of units out of France and into Italy, push the Germans back to the Alps, and capture Southern France from Italy. Most of these objectives would be impossible against a competent opponent. But the AI is far from that. I do start transferring units to England soon; but it is only January, so I have lots of time.

[Harrybanana]

T31: Jan 29, 1944

Looking at the below screenshot you should not have any difficulty in figuring out where I attacked.

[Harrybanana]

The end of my turn screenshot. Generally speaking, it is preferable when doing a "Breakout Attack" to perform it along a 3 hex wide area of the Front, rather than just the 2 hexes I have done here. The reason is that then the units doing the breakout (your most mobile units) will not have to move from enemy ZOC to enemy ZOC. But often that is not possible.

[Harrybanana]

Turn 32: Feb 5, 1944

The break out this turn is as shown below. By the way, it is probably long past time that I apologize for my very poor artistic skills. Apparently I can't even draw an arrow. In any event I cross the Po River.

[Harrybanana]

T33: Feb 12, 1944

When T33 began I was surprised to discover that the Germans had performed a major withdrawal. It looked like they were going to defend North-East Italy and were giving me an almost free pass to the French-Italian border.

[Harrybanana]

After Moves:

[Harrybanana]

T34: Feb 19, 1944

Heavy Rain and Heavy Mud means I made very little headway this turn.

[Harrybanana]

T35: Feb 26, 1944

Start of turn.