Matrix Games Forums

OCTOBER 24, 1941

0 MS sunk as my U-Boats are repositioning. Nothing happening in Libya.

Cold in the Arctic zone. I forgot to take after screenshots in Russia, but this is the Northern Map before my moves. I just advanced towards the Russians.

The same in the Centre and South.

NOVEMBER 7, 1941

11 MS and an escort sunk; but I take 6 U-Boat hits. Hadros now has over 200 British MS; so there is no chance that I will reduce him below his critical level. Again no action in Libya. It has turned into a staring contest.

Cold weather in the Arctic zone In Russia. I concentrate on one small section of the Russian line East of Moscow and punch a hole while destroying 4 Russian Armies.

Northern Half of the Russian Front after moves.

Southern Half of the Russian Front.

I need to figure out how to keep my armor as fresh as yours by this time. Normally I don't have many if any at or above 14...unless they were new.

Looks bad for Russia...and you are still holding in Libya...

One thing my normal opponent likes to do when Russia gets tight is invade Vichy NA or Portugal...but the Allies are all in in Libya...so that is not possible at the moment.

Another option...as you stated you will not sink enough MS to effect the UK...

You could sortie the Kriegsmarine surface fleet...

Start building one supply oiler every 4 turns and they can travel indefinitely.

IT is a little late though with the US about to join...and I do not know where the UK fleet is now.
But I have seen them sink 18 MS in one turn in a single lane. If multiple convoys could be heavier.


You do need some rain to get them out to sea and the UK fleet to be occupied with Uboats.


Randomly if a small carrier force is following them and you have Uboats nearby change them to fleet mode and fall behind the surface fleet. When he moves to attack you might get a lucky shot.


If you have plans for the surface fleet in the future then this is not the route to go...

ORIGINAL: stjeand

I need to figure out how to keep my armor as fresh as yours by this time. Normally I don't have many if any at or above 14...unless they were new.

I on the other hand can never understand why my opponent's armour is often so worn out by Late August or September 1941. I used to use a lot of supply trucks, but obviously don't anymore. Otherwise I assume everyone is doing the same as me which is:

1. Except in exceptional circumstances (such as the turn I encircled the large group of Russian units) always end your turn with all your armour within 5 hexes of an HQ.

2. Don't move or attack with your armour without a clear purpose. I don't hesitate to use armour to attack to punch a hole through enemy lines or in situations where I can surround and destroy enemy units. But generally speaking I don't waste my armour just to push back a strong enemy line a hex or two. Better to rest your armour, move your infantry up to the line; and then next turn use your infantry to make the first attacks and then your armour to punch through. There are exceptions such as certain situations in France and where the only way to capture an important objective (Leningrad or Moscow) requires it.

3. Set all your armour to priority replacements.

4. Set Reinforce/Upgrade to a high level to ensure that all of your armour get full replacements every turn and are upgraded to the highest possible tech level. If you find yourself starting a turn with several of your armour with less than 30 strength or less than the maximum tech level, than you are doing something wrong.

5. Use truck supply. Not a lot obviously, but I was using up an average of 18 trucks per turn on 3 of my armour every turn.

6. If a particular armour unit is getting worn, than rest it for a turn. Preferably on a rail line with a 9 supply level.

Looks bad for Russia...and you are still holding in Libya...

I think it looks bad for Russia too. But he is building back some of his strength. 1942 should be interesting.

One thing my normal opponent likes to do when Russia gets tight is invade Vichy NA or Portugal...but the Allies are all in in Libya...so that is not possible at the moment.

I think the reason it is impossible is because Hadros does not have any Landing Ships. In our mirror game I (as the UK) have built 9 Landing Ships which I have used to invade Norway and Vichy North Africa. But with the shipyards I used to build those Landing Ships I could have built an extra 22.5 MS. I am glad I did as I did. But the loss of those MS is costing the UK about 30 production a turn.

ORIGINAL: stjeand

Another option...as you stated you will not sink enough MS to effect the UK...

You could sortie the Kriegsmarine surface fleet...

Start building one supply oiler every 4 turns and they can travel indefinitely.

IT is a little late though with the US about to join...and I do not know where the UK fleet is now.
But I have seen them sink 18 MS in one turn in a single lane. If multiple convoys could be heavier.


You do need some rain to get them out to sea and the UK fleet to be occupied with Uboats.


Randomly if a small carrier force is following them and you have Uboats nearby change them to fleet mode and fall behind the surface fleet. When he moves to attack you might get a lucky shot.


If you have plans for the surface fleet in the future then this is not the route to go...

I used to sortie with the German Fleet every game. But since the Rule change my experience is that the RN finds and sinks a high proportion of them within 1 to 4 turns. I usually limp home with half the fleet sunk and the other half damaged. I would rather keep the fleet in being as a threat.

NOVEMBER 21, 1941

10 MS sunk and no hits on my U-Boats as there are no escorts in the Pan Atlantic or African Coast where they are operating.

Libya is still quiet.

North Russia.

Centre

South

DECEMBER 5, 1941

7 MS sunk, but 5 U-Boat hits. The BOA is a lost cause and my U-Boats will not raid again.

No Movement in Russia and there will not be until the Spring unless the Russians launch a Winter Offensive (which I doubt they will).

But there is plenty of action in Libya where the Brits attack the Axis Southern Flank.

In response I had to decide between two different plans. The first was the low risk/low reward plan of simply pushing the UK Mechanized unit back. The second was the medium risk/high reward plan of striking towards what had to be the the British HQ. If I could destroy it than the whole British Army in Africa would be out of supply. I asked myself "What would Rommel do?"

I chose Plan #2.

So I used up 15 supply trucks on my attacking forces, moved in the small fleet (2 CAs and a destroyer) to provide shore bombardment and bombed the British infantry corps a couple times . I was a bit surprised that no British aircraft tried to intercept my naval moves.

Next I attacked at 3:1 odds and got a retreat result. Lucky yes, but I would have been fine if the Corps had held as well.

Next I moved in my infantry to the vacated hex and attacked the UK Corps again at 3:2 odds (not shown) to soften it up. I then moved the mechanized through and attacked at 6:1 odds. This was enough to retreat the infantry again. I was surprised that the shore bombardment occurred again. I thought shore bombardment used up OPs, but maybe not.

At this point my plans changed. I wasn't sure I would be able to destroy the HQ, but noticed that if I could retreat the UK corps SW of my Mechanized this would cut off the retreat route of the infantry corps to the NW. So I attacked this unit at 5:1 and got the retreat. I them moved in my remaining Mechanized, attacked at 4:1 odds (which ended up being 5:1) and destroyed the UK Corps. I have to admit that I got lucky with my attacks in forcing all those retreats. The odds were with me for most if not all of them, but bad luck on any one of them could have changed things. I have to assume that Hadros did not have his units set to hold.

Edit: Actually, looking at the map again I think I should have attacked the HQ as I probably could have destroyed it.

The Final decision was where to move my Mechanized, Southeast or South? I chose South which gave me an attack on another British Corps and another destroyed unit.

Final positions. Note that I moved in a fresh armour into Tobruk and the rest of the Italian Fleet.

DECEMBER 19, 1941

The German destroyers and Russian submarine are stuck in the ice together off the coast of Sweden.

Libya before moves.

I was surprised that the British did not attack the Italian fleet.