MM (Axis) VS HB (Allied) Game over HB welcome

[MagicMissile]

March 14 1941

Not that much to report but had my first good submarine turn I think in the whole game. With some help of surface raiders I sank 14 merchants for 1 subfactor.

Iraq falls to the imperialistic British.

[MagicMissile]

April 11 1941

Got cold weather in the arctic zone but it is such a small area basically just the Baltics and I have done those early Barbarossas so many times so decided not to this time.

But the hour is approaching. I think that the UK will invade Vichy North Africa when Barbarossa start so not sure how I will react to that. I have started to build another arm corps to use against the WA but it wont be ready until October.

At sea Deutschland was sunk by the British.

[Flaviusx]

I don't know how you guys are doing these 41 North Africa landings with the new BoA. Even a moderately successful u boat campaign puts serious pressure on British merchants and I find myself diverting a lot of production to merchants, shipyards and sometimes even detection heavy bombers. I really cannot spare the production for an early landing in North Africa.

I mean, you *could* go ahead and ignore that. But your merchant fleet will be trash for a long time and good luck sending lend lease to the Soviets.

Sometimes I even build Soviet merchants now. Just to free up British shipping.

After you take Iraq and Iran your merchant fleet is loaded down by having to haul all this extra oil you don't even need. That doesn't help.

[MagicMissile]

I might be overly scared maybe the invasion wont come yet. But you only need 2 inf corps and 60 landing ships to land at Alger and conquer Vichy NA. My BoA is picking up a bit of speed now but still havent done very well. HB havent built a single UK airplane he got the army at about 500 so all you need are the landing ships and 150 pp not that expensive.

Will help the soviets a bit as well if I have to divert 2-3 corps to the Mediterranean.

We will see what happens [:)]

[Flaviusx]

It's not the landing, it's the follow up that is pricey. You're going to need a whole lot more than 2 infantry corps to make this stick. And I find it hard to budget for additional mobile units at this stage. I typically have 3 of them at that point, and you need at least 1-2 of those in Egypt to keep the Axis honest.

I suppose you could throw in 4-5 infantry corps total just as a diversion and hold a front in Algeria somewhere. But you aren't going to get to Tunis in a hurry that way.

Is that really a lot of relief for the Soviets compared to focusing on securing the sea lanes and making sure they get lend lease? I am skeptical.

[MagicMissile]

Ok no wether or not you will take Tripoli I dont know but Vichy NA you can get like 16 months ahead of schedule and if it is worth it I dont know either [:)].

[MagicMissile]

May 23 1941

Barbarossa begins. I had rain first turn of May so it was delayed one turn. I have 13 mech 10 German 3 italian. I overrun 11 corps and surround 0. The corps in garrison mode for sure dont die as they used to so it is a bit harder than before but they still dont offer that much resistance so so far it still feels pretty ok.

[MagicMissile]

June 6 1941

I might have felt good but not anymore. A rain turn grinds momentum to a halt *cry*. One can survive rain in May but June that is bad. Anyway the struggle goes one but that is a set back.

In the Mediterranean the UK plans to invade Vichy Africa.

[MagicMissile]

June 20 1941

Weather clears and offensive resumes. I pocket a number of corps and take Kiev but Mech forces are already showing some wear and tear and I havent reached the main line yet just trying to clear up the inf corps.

[MagicMissile]

June 20 1941

And as expected UK conquees North Africa. I counter invade Tunis but not sure if I really want to defend Africa at all we will see.

[MagicMissile]

July 4 1941

Advance continues but feels slow but at least the infantry is catching up with the main Soviet line

Here situation in more detail

In the North

[MagicMissile]

July 4 1941

In the center

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July 4 1941

And in the south.

[MagicMissile]

July 4 1941

In the Mediterranean I am losing Africa a bit too fast. I generally dont care much for Africa but maybe I have been a bit to neglient.

[MagicMissile]

July 18 1941

Continue to push forward. Its hard going but making some progress. Aiming to make maybe some kind of Kiev pocket.

[MagicMissile]

August 1 1941

In general I think balance on the eastern front feels pretty good. It looks like I will reach something like a historical outcome. But in the games the balance is not good. I am outplayed in both games I feel but not over yet.

Follow is front by front in more detail.

[MagicMissile]

August 1 1941

Getting closer to Leningrad.

[MagicMissile]

August 1 1941

In the center I make a Kiev pocket but it is not very good one Inf army the rest corps.

[MagicMissile]

August 1 1941

In the south I am crossing the Dnepr and getting close to D-Town.

[MagicMissile]

September 26 1941

I forgot to take Screenshots 2 turns so I jump straight to the end of September.

Lines very close to historical. The only thing of note this turn is I managed to overrun and surrender 2 tank corps this turn the only mech units I managed to get rid of during the whole summer campaign.

Below sector by sector