Matrix Games Forums

MAY 8, 1942

With the fair weather the Axis continue their drive on Moscow from the South. This time an army and a mechanized unit (a good one too) are destroyed. But the Germans are already looking a bit tired.

Russia after my moves. If the Axis continue to advance North it may be a bloodbath for both of us. The paratrooper in the upper left worries me more than any panzer unit.

6 MS sunk and 4 U-Boat hits.

After much deliberation the Allies (well really the US) invade Sicily. In the end the decision was between Sicily and the Netherlands. If I had more Landing Ships it probably would have been the Netherlands. Sicily is an easier target and my navy can better support battles here. But fighting up the boot will be difficult if not impossible.

As you can see there are a lot of German units in Italy, especially in the North; which is why an invasion of Vichy France was a no-go.

When deploying my Russian production I discovered that I had two armies ready to be deployed at reduced strength. Since I didn't build these units I only deployed one of them in an out of the way area to see what it looked like. I assume this is a bug. Has anyone else ever seen this? I am speculating that perhaps Hadros is using the latest beta where shattered units return to the build queue after a couple turns. If so perhaps these are the two armies that shattered on the April 10 turn. Another oddity is that the unit deploys fully entrenched.

MAY 22, 1942

4 MS and 1 escort sunk in exchange for 7 U-Boat hits.

Sicily after moves.

In Russia the Germans make several select attacks; mostly air strikes. But do not commit their armour in any big way and do not destroy any Russian units.

A Close up of the Crucial Front after my moves.

The South

Great AAR, enjoy reading it...

ORIGINAL: MrLongleg

Great AAR, enjoy reading it...

Thank you. I recognize that I don't have any flair for writing, so I just stick to the facts.

JUNE 5, 1942

This has turned out to be perhaps the Decisive Turn of the War in both games.

The Axis continue to attack towards Moscow from the West and South.

But several of their units are looking worn and the Axis Right Flank is vulnerable. If I can force the circled infantry to retreat NW it will cut off the retreat of the Armour to it's North.

After some spoiling air strikes to soak off his interceptors and then an air strike on his infantry corps, the Attack goes in and is successful. Unfortunately the infantry retreats to the wrong hex. Undeterred, I move my Mechanized and Armour units as shown.

The Attack is then launched on the German Armour and Shatters it. I then move my Armour as shown.

After remembering to grant the Armour elite status I then attack the 2nd German Armour, which retreats, blocking the retreat route of the 3rd German Armour. I was surprised that the German Armour retreated from this Attack when the odds were only 3:1; was it not set to "Hold", is it because Rokossovsky has an 8 mobility rating, or was I just lucky? In any event, I move as shown.

I then Attacked the 3rd German Armour and Shattered it as well on the first attack. Again, I think I was pretty lucky; especially if it was set to Hold.

Having Shattered 2 German Armour and mauled a 3rd I then attacked the German Armour adjacent to Moscow. It had a retreat route, so my objective here was just to maul it and force it back. But the game engine had different ideas as this Armour refused to retreat. Even though I had better odds then the Attacks which Shattered the other 2 Armour. Is this because it was in a forest hex, because Zhukov only has a 6 Mobility rating, or again did I just get lucky? I don't know, but the result was a 3rd Shattered panzer. I am really looking forward to the next official update where all 3 of these Shattered Armour would return in a couple turns. A big improvement IMHO.

Final positions in Russia. With 4 of his 9 (I think) German Armour Shattered I have to beleive that the Axis Offensive is going to grind to a halt.

In the BOA, only 2 MS are sunk and the U-Boats take 3 hits.

I forgot to take a screenshot of Sicily, but not much happened as the Italians evacuated Palermo.