Burns vs. Flaviusx

[Flaviusx]

Absolutely brutal fighting in Tunisia, I will not be able to sustain this for long, the sheer weight of allied airpower will tell. I rotate out the worst hit German infantry corps and replace it with a fresh Italian one, lol. That costs me the entrenchments, but it is what it is, no doubt that poor Italian corps will explode next turn. So I'm feeding meat to the allied machine and hoping to stall a breakthrough as long as I can. It won't be that long. It may be time to pull out the German contingent. If it can get out, it might not be able to brave the allied air cover. The Italians, well, they will mostly die in Tunisgrad.

Next turn the Italians will achieve a minor victory as per VPs. It is not likely they will do better than that. Probably this is due to the accelerated pace of German conquests in 1940, picking up Greece and Yugoslavia, which helps the Italians as well. So, moral victory for Italy.

The luftwaffe continues to abuse the Red Air Force in the Eastern Front, but otherwise no ground action on either side for months. That is fine by me. I've already had to pull out two panzer corps for Spain. I could wait to do this, but want them in place to react now and not be tempted to commit them to action in the East when it clears up. Not a time for Eastern heroics. The Med is a house of cards and it could all start falling apart quickly. I will be forced to defend both Italy and Spain and that's a lot to cover, not to mention leaving a substantial garrison in France. The Wehrmacht is stretched.

I've put 4 fighters into the building queue over the winter months, because they take that long to crank out. Going to need more air cover. The American AAF is no joke. I also had to crank out a few extra HQs for new fronts. No new panzers. The panzerwaffe is probably about as big as it ever is going to get, what little is left of the German logistic pool is going to go to more infantry corps. It's not quite tapped out, but it will be.

Manpower is gradually recovering from the hard fighting in 42. Enough to build out the rest of the Wehrmacht anyways. There is certainly not enough there for any kind of supreme effort in the East. My plans there this year is maybe grab Kursk and Orel and grind up the Red Army, but the time for grand maneuvers is gone, now it is a question of keeping the bear down to a dull roar and holding on to what I've got.

I am encouraged by my exchanges with the Red Air Force, it is no match for the luftwaffe, especially with 44 interceptors.

I have a couple of escort fighters in the east as well, for assisting deep strikes at Red Air Force bases. This is the one front where I can hope to maintain air superiority and I intend to hold on to that.

[Jim D Burns]

12 March 1943

In Russia the Soviet airforce is pulled back to strategic reserve. Some of my units still have 39 tech and it is simply worthless as a fighting force now. I'll bring it forward for special occasions, but until it can catch up in tech I won't be using it any longer.

I really do think the Soviets are short changed in production in this game. Even with max lend lease I use 100% of production on land unit repairs every turn. There is no chance to dedicate production to upgrading the airforce as any saved up production is desperately needed for new units builds.

In Lybia the Italians have pulled back towards Tripoli abandoning the last port before the capitol they had been defending to the British. In Tunisia the US and Canadians push the Germans and Italians out of the two hexes attacked last turn and occupy one of them. I did advance into the other, but at 6 strength I decided to pull back for some R&R.

It appears my offensives are not going to be sustained ones. Effectiveness recovery each turn is simply too low, so I may have to stop after every hex or two and wait for 4-5 turns (possibly more) as supply trucks slowly build effectiveness back up to near 100%. I am not liking how this works, it will be impossible to repeat what the allies did in less than a year after Normandy.

To give an idea of how bad it is, some US planes who just landed in Africa a short while ago are now in the 20%-30% range of effectiveness having only flown for 2 turns worth of missions. They have burned a truck every single turn they've been in Africa, but their effectiveness has tanked so fast I doubt I'll be able to use them for probably 3 months to give them time to recover enough effectiveness to make them a reliable asset again.

This system needs MAJOR work to make it a feasible system. I like it's theory, but its execution is poor right now.

[Flaviusx]

Soviet production is about 3/4 of American production all by itself, it is not being shortchanged here imo. And they get literally dozens of armies for free as reserves.

I have to say the German economy in this game is perhaps a little too good once it gets going. I'm pumping out over 550 production points with Germany right now. That is over twice what it started with. It may be better than the US economy. Although the Axis as a whole is surely being outproduced. Total Axis economy with minors thrown in for giggles is around 700 points. The Allies I'm guessing are at about 1000.

I can literally build a panzer corps a turn if I wanted to with some to spare. But in practice, much of this is diverted towards repairs and such.

I expect Italy to be gone by the end of 43, so that will help your cause. I'm going to miss having them. I actually built them up into something credible in this game. I will miss the Italian air force in particular, 3 fighters, 2 tact, one dive bomber. New German production will only offset the loss in fighters.

[Flaviusx]

My situation in Tunisia is not tenable, notwithstanding your logistical problems. Am seriously considering pulling out the DAK while the going is still goodish.

[Jim D Burns]

Soviets build 332 I think far lower than Germany. US is in the 400s possibly, but they ship 80 to the Soviets. UK about 180 I think, ship 40 to the Soviets. I'll check specific numbers next turn.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
I expect Italy to be gone by the end of 43, so that will help your cause. I'm going to miss having them. I actually built them up into something credible in this game. I will miss the Italian air force in particular, 3 fighters, 2 tact, one dive bomber. New German production will only offset the loss in fighters.

I am starting to have serious doubts if I can take Tunisia by the end of 43. Logistics are that bad. I will track the armor unit I just pulled back, my guess is it's out of action for months while it tries to recover enough strength to be able to attack again.

[Flaviusx]

Well, we shall see. Italian morale is very fragile. You are probably going to take out Libya pretty soon. I'm pretty sure that if they lose anything anywhere past that they will offer terms. Sardinia or Sicily will do it for you.

[Jim D Burns]

26 March 1943

I've decided to track all the US air groups in Tunisia this turn to see if I can figure out if effectiveness recovery is locked at just 6% for units in an area with 0 stockpiles. Problem is some units will get higher recovery due to what little supply is coming in from the local ports, so tracking one or a few units might skew the results. This way I will be tracking enough units to guarantee not all of them get extra recovery from the small local ports (I hope).

So at turn end here are the groups and their effectiveness levels. All groups burned a supply truck this turn. All groups sit on a rail line and are in range of an HQ.

III Fighter Grp 58%
IV Bmbr Grp 74%
VIII Air Support Grp 39%
I Fighter Grp 41%
II Bmbr Grp 10%
III Bmbr Grp 65%
IV Fighter Grp 52%
IX Tactical Air Grp 24%
III Tactical Air Grp 16%

I should note, all air units have a full 20 strength, so it's not as if massive casualties from a devistating battle result has smashed their effectiveness, this is simply due to lack of decent recovery rates.

In Tunisia the Canadians take a hex from Italy in the south, and the US batter a strong Italian unit in the north. All other hexes taken were due to Italy falling back.

Blizzards and rain in Russia, nothing to report.

Production multiples must have recently increased, I show 209 for Britain, 440 for US, 348 for Russia and 35 for Canada for a total of 1032. Vichy minors produce 4 and 1, but they lack the ability to produce new units.

The British launch an attack near Tripoli with little result. Most action points were used closing the gap so they lacked the ability to wear down the defense.

[Flaviusx]

The DAK abandons North Africa. The Italians also extract both their mobile units from Libya.

The two alpini corps fall back from the front lines and head to the ports. I will try to get them out as well.

The trash Italian infantry corps will be sacrificed to the gods of war. I can buy a few more turns here, but that is all. At least the Axis is making the allies pay for their North African conquest.

All quiet on the Eastern Front.

Portugal is at 90% now, I've been sniping at it with my diplomats to delay entry, but this too is merely a question of time.

[Flaviusx]

The allied air force, curiously, has not interfered with my evacuation. They must be pretty tired out. I'm not going to wait for them to catch a second wind, either.

[Jim D Burns]

9 April 1943

It looks like my impression that my units were not recovering any effectiveness in Africa is spot on. As you can see most air units were at the same level of effectiveness they ended the turn with before. One unit recovered a bit which means it probably drew supplies from port. Two lost some, but that was due to the air attack, fighter flew cap and bomber suffered loss.

So it looks like the most a unit can recover is 6% if you spend trucks on it. 2 trucks per turn for air, armor and mech, 1 for inf.

III Fighter Grp......was 58% now 63%
IV Bmbr Grp..........was 74% now 74%
VIII Air Support Grp.was 39% now 39%
I Fighter Grp........was 41% now 39%
II Bmbr Grp..........was 10% now 10%
III Bmbr Grp.........was 65% now 65%
IV Fighter Grp.......was 52% now 52%
IX Tactical Air Grp..was 24% now 20% Grp attacked by air.
III Tactical Air Grp.was 16% now 16%

In Tunisia a breakthrough in the south allows a 2 hex advance by the Canadians. The US manages a one hex advance along the entire line south of the river. In Tripoli the British crack the center hex of the Italian line and advance into the hex.

[Flaviusx]

For whatever it is worth, you are not the only one with supply problems in NA. I've been on basic supply for most of the last year. My unit strengths are deceptive, after taking one good hard knock they don't recover unless I care to spend a fortune in trucks. I've been spending trucks to keep the Italian air force in order, as a matter of fact.

The Germans can sustain this truck burning affair. Italy cannot. So, I'm bugging out.

[Jim D Burns]

NA is not my worry, I need to somehow face down the German army with these rules.

All Germany needs do is attack attack and attack some more. I am limited to 6% per turn recovery, while Germany recovers 34%. How the hell am I supposed to stay ashore.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

These troubles go away once you have a level 9 port like, say, Lisbon. You are doing what you need to do and are in a better position than you think.

A Normandy type situation does run into this problem. Your supply situation is very sketchy until you can get Antwerp or one of the other 2 big ports next to it. Driving into the French interior is very hard otherwise. The various channel ports are good enough to sustain an advance along the coast and grab Paris, but then you need to race to the low countries ASAP or it gets bad. Tested this myself in solo play.

If you can do this Iberia thing? No problem. Lisbon can fuel the whole damn thing.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

These troubles go away once you have a level 9 port like, say, Lisbon. You are doing what you need to do and are in a better position than you think.

A Normandy type situation does run into this problem. Your supply situation is very sketchy until you can get Antwerp or one of the other 2 big ports next to it. Driving into the French interior is very hard otherwise. The various channel ports are good enough to sustain an advance along the coast and grab Paris, but then you need to race to the low countries ASAP or it gets bad. Tested this myself in solo play.

If you can do this Iberia thing? No problem. Lisbon can fuel the whole damn thing.

I did the math, Lisbon can supply 6 inf within 10 hexes, 4.5 inf within 11-21 hexes and 3 inf 22-30 hexes. Everything above that is out of supply. Only 3 armor within 10 hexes and nothing else, level 9 ports are not a huge boon. Alexandria is level 9, yet every once in a while the units around it are out of supply because the forces near Tobruk and Bengazi suck all the supply away.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

Well, I don't know about your math, all I can say is I've actually done this and it works like a charm. No supply problems whatever. Whereas the traditional Normandy invasion does run into these supply problems until and unless you take the big Dutch/Belgian ports. Then it is all good.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Well, I don't know about your math, all I can say is I've actually done this and it works like a charm. No supply problems whatever. Whereas the traditional Normandy invasion does run into these supply problems until and unless you take the big Dutch/Belgian ports. Then it is all good.

Check your game, is Lisbon a supply source? If so then that's what's going on, and if so it makes it essential for any German player to conquer it in 1940-1941.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

I don't have a save, but it probably was a supply source, because it was minor ally.

If the Germans want to take Portugal they also have to go through Vichy France and then Spain to do it, which is doable, but also commits them to a very western oriented strategy which they may or may not want to do. The British can cause trouble in both NA and Spain itself, although in the latter case they risk destruction. The Spanish army is not bad, but it takes some time to fully mobilize and needs some help in terms of production.

Anyways, just did my turn, NA is falling apart fast, you are two turns away from closing it out I think.

The weather gods gave me a gift of clear weather in Russia and I took Kursk.

Meanwhile, the elite portions of the Italian army have set up camp in Sicily and turned it into a fortress island. I'm worried about Sardinia. Strong garrison in the port, but just that one unit there. Italy proper has a ton of German troops now, helpfully reinforced by the DAK veterans.

[AlvaroSousa]

What an interesting AAR

[Jim D Burns]

23 April 1943

Clear weather in northern Russia, and Germany launches an epic struggle for Kursk. It took twelve ground strikes and six battles to drive out the entrenched 13th Mech Corps. In the end Germany suffered 3 air losses and 16 ground losses and the Soviets 18 ground losses (4 of them caused from the air).

Germany also retreated a Soviet tank unit near Bryansk.

In Africa the allies push in from both sides against the fleeing Italians. Northern Tunisian ports are captured and several Italians are destroyed and the rest isolated.