Just another AAR

[Tac2i]

@Kaldadarnes - if you install my latest set of small unit counters, you should get some nicer looking screenshots in 'zoom out' mode.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 20

The big news is the capture of Gazvin [:)](north of Aurora). Several turns of artillery fire, followed up with an attack by 2 corps’ tank brigade and 2 infantry brigades. I had expected to launch multiple attacks over a couple of turns before taking the city so it’s a good result. It’s been a slow but steady push northwards to effect the capture – find an infantry held hex, shell it, attack with Armour, occupy with infantry, and repeat…However it has enabled me to close up on the city, bring it under artillery fire and then attack with multiple units. Losses are fairly heavy on both sides (c.50% of engaged forces destroyed w/significant readiness losses), but I have enough troops both to reinforce the brigades used in the attack quickly, and move a fresh brigade straight into the city (held in reserve for this task). From a strategic perspective this victory should secure my Northern flank – neither SE nor DoM have any other cities North of Aurora, and I have now cut the main rail line to the North East which should discomfit the SE troops massing there (check the supply overlay map from last turn). There are also some oil and raw sites to the North which I should be able to capture in the future, but I will need Armour as the country is very open.



The massed bands of the household division celebrate the capture of Gazvin by dropping Wink's "higher state of consciousness" on the jubilant crowds

Counterattacks to the East and West of Aurora take some ground but at a heavy cost to SE forces . Rain affects air operations around Aurora meaning no air drops can be made to the Brighton garrison this turn.

SE units in Hull seem to be recovering their readiness which is surprising – I chance an attack with an armoured unit which is roundly defeated (lose 4 of 5 light tanks). I’m not sure how they are being supplied – unless the SE HQ unit in Hull has a large stockpile of supplies.

I upgrade my last oil well to level 2. I’m now producing at 4500 a turn, which should be enough to support air and armoured operations – as long as I don’t get too carried away. I’d like to upgrade some oil wells to level 3 but at 100 PP a pop, it’s too much to spend at this point. I also research artillery 2 and upgrade my half dozen artillery units. The crash infrastructure programme has really sorted things out with all (the increased) production now being transported, and increased strategic rail transfer capacity as well.

As an additional benefit, most of my infantry brigades now have a couple of jeep units attached which I have been deploying over the last few turns. This has increased my reconnaissance ability considerably, so I now have a good idea of the forces facing me on my main fronts.

I had 4 objectives from turn 14 - although I should have really assessed these last turn, let’s see how I’m doing…

Assemble an armoured corps and seize Gerza
failed due to prioritising infrastructure upgrades over tank building
Stabilise Hull/Cheltenham sector and advance 9 corps to defensible line seizing the raw and oil
failed due to fall of Hull – but situation is improving
Upgrade all oil facilities to level 2 – hooray!
Seize Gazvin – hooray!

2/4; Not a great result it has to be said, but glad I waited a turn before doing the assessment.

By the end of June (by turn 23)
Assemble an armoured corps, artillery brigades and seize Gerza with those forces
Recapture Hull and advance 9 corps to defensible line seizing the raw and oil in that sector

@Webizen - I will certainly download those new files at some point – will they work OK with 2.15e? Thanks for all your work on the NATO symbols – I’m a big fan [&o]and hope they will be formally incorporated as an option in Advanced Tactics at some point.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 21

Brighton falls! [:@] It was only a matter of time and the defence has been heroic. However the lack of supply had reduced the formations to shadows of their strength. (Brigades which would normally have default strength of around 100, reading just over 10…). I lose around 100 infantry, a dozen guns and half a dozen tanks in the final collapse, and probably closer to double than number in the last few turns. With hindsight I should have worked harder to get supplies into the city by air. I should have also fortified the surrounds of the city with engineers - I frequently had infantry dug in on open plains leading to unnecessary casualties.

Question – in this scenario, could I have strategically transferred supplies by air? Or can you only airdrop?
Question – could engineers have feasibly repaired the city faster than the heavy artillery destroyed it?

The main issue is those SE and DoM troops (and artillery) are going to move straight from using Brighton city centre as target practise, to attack Aurora and 2 corps. There will be no time to celebrate the capture of Gazvin (although the capture of that city reduces the threat). Not sure if this might not be a good moment to invest in aircraft to attack enemy artillery.

Question - what is better for attacking artillery - level or dive bombers?

SE forces attack North from Hull – very surprising as I was expecting them to be starving to death now – I am really not sure how they are maintaining their supply. The DoM forces in the pocket are similarly not falling apart as I expected them to. Might just be a waiting game.

I have a flick through the manual and find on the last page (hidden away by Vic – sneaky [;)]) the following: The AI can produce supplies from captured cities at 200% of the usual costBollocks. Explains why I’m not getting the victory I expected however. I will need to properly surround and reduce Hull.

Meanwhile, I continue to build up my frontline brigade units in 1 & 3 corps with the objective of:
a) supporting an attack towards Gerza on 1 corps front, with 12 [armoured] corps moving up to drive in the attack, and
b) push towards Aurora (3 corps have been steadily moving extending their line taking possession of vacant hexes).

I prioritise the delivery of artillery to 1 corps for next turn so Gerza can be put under fire As with Gazvin, a few turns shelling followed by the assault is the plan.

I also start considering an ambitious encirclement plan for all enemy forces on 3 corps front should Gazvin fall quickly…

Situation map below



Brighton has now fallen so Aurora and 2 Corps will be next in line for the assault. However 3 corps is steadily pushing forward to the relief on it’s right flank, and if Gerza falls rapidly then there is potential for a rapid drive to relieve Aurora and create a pocket. The supply situation for the SE troops marked with red dots is not good.

[Tac2i]

Question – in this scenario, could I have strategically transferred supplies by air? Or can you only airdrop?

No, supply can only be air dropped to cutoff units.

Question – could engineers have feasibly repaired the city faster than the heavy artillery destroyed it?

Engineers can only repair blown bridges. They cannot repair anything else. Cities and factories self repair at a set rate. A cutoff city under heavy bombardment is doomed if you can't get supply to the units defending it.

Question - what is better for attacking artillery - level or dive bombers?

Not completely certain but both should be effective against artillery. Dive bombers may be slightly better.

[Twotribes]

In random games only one nation, cant remember which, can use captured cities for supplies at a 3 for 1 rate. At least that is how my game works. It is a skill that can be edited in though and usually I give all the countries that skill on large maps.

[british exil]

Nice taste in your music, I bet the household boys had fun playing that song.

Mat




[quote]ORIGINAL: Kaldadarnes



The massed bands of the household division celebrate the capture of Gazvin by dropping Wink's "higher state of consciousness" on the jubilant crowds

[Kaldadarnes]

2 Corps/Aurora

Attacks to the East of Aurora are held off comfortably, but there is a lot of movement out beyond my lines - suspect a sledgehammer is going to hit in the next few turns. I add some AT guns to the line, but with >50% of Aurora’s production taken up with supplies I can’t build that much – I need to relieve the city ASAP. I prioritise engineers for the next turn so I can start building some shelter for my infantry on the plains. I am currently benefiting from bad weather which is making the attack more difficult (frontal attacks with massed infantry, through the snow, against massed heavy machine guns, in prepared positions…what could go wrong?*). To the East of Aurora I counterattack and re-establish a 3 hex wide defence zone (good as my artillery are no longer in the front line!) My armoured brigade is also starting to look a bit light – it now consists of only 3 light tanks, still very effective but lacking in weight.

9 corps/SE sector

The paras are overrun by massed infantry, it’s a shame to lose them but they did their job stalling the drive by SE towards Cheltenham. I become aware I have 3 tank brigades static in the jungle holding the ring around the encircled DoM and SE troops – which is a bit of a waste of 50% of my armour. DoM forces are evidently out of supply (the boys from Saud don’t share their rations evidently) and their readiness has dropped to around 10. I push them back with my infantry and can move 2 tank brigades off towards Hull.



The Domain of Macau South Eastern front commander chairs a meeting exploring the possibility of integrating logistic & supply capabilities with Saud forces.

12 & 1 corps

12 artillery units have now been assigned to 12 corps – I shell the hexes to the north of Gerza and attack with Armour – complete success. Infantry move forward to occupy the ground. 3 opposing infantry divisions are wiped out.

Some SE light armour probes down from the North towards Gladstone and Bristol. I move a unit of 10 corps across its rear - hoping it will run out of supply and can be picked off at leisure. As insurance I stick 20 riflemen in both the threatened cities (just in case…)

*rhetorical question – quite a lot…

[Kaldadarnes]

Summary map around the centre of my front – you can see the 3 corps inching towards a linkup with 2 corps, also 1 and 12 (armd) corps closing in on Gerza. Top right of the map you can see the rogue SE unit moving towards Gladstone. I’ve also marked the SE & DoM troops opposing 3 corps in the centre who now seem to be experiencing some supply issues.

[Kaldadarnes]

South Eastern front - DoM forces are driven back. The 3 armoured brigades holding the ring can now be released to more useful occupations as the infantry in the centre of the map push south into the jungles. They have been weighted with extra SMGs for this purpose.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 23

A terrible turn for DoM and SE – they launch multiple attacks on Aurora, but are roundly repulsed. They lose c.300 infantry and a hatful of armour, guns and support, I lose 15 riflemen…I push some engineers out and start digging in the troops on the plain.
I also attack towards 3 corps. The artillery with 2 corps is now quite experienced and starting to be quite brutal. I shell around 50 infantry, their readiness is so reduced that I don’t even bother attacking with Armour – I move an infantry brigade forward to rout the dazed survivors, they take a couple of losses but free my armour to bounce another division to the north west consisting of armoured cars and infantry. The supply situation for the troops between 2 & 3 corps seems to have got worse since I captured Gazvin (logically enough as I guess supply was being routed around the North of Aurora) and they are now suffering reasonably serious readiness losses. Nice as it would be to claim this was my genius plan all along, it is more of a happy accident. Although I did reckon we would do some damage.

9 corps – I continue to tighten the ring pushing back the out of supply DoM units. However I miss an SE unit hidden in a DoM stack and take 50% casualties in one of my infantry brigades (careless!). 9 corps HQ start moving towards Hull to provide staff bonuses to the attack on that city.

I research Heavy Arty levels 1 and 2 and get some on order for 12 corps. Over time I’ll mobilise them with trains in a specialist siege unit as per the pic below (or rolling smorgasbord of high calibre destruction RSOHCD as I will be terming it…)

In infrastructure terms things are looking up. I am having no Oil issues now (of course, if I go crazy with an air force that will change), in fact I’m actually stockpiling a few thousand barrels a turn which is extremely handy.



Congratulations on choosing the Ordnance BL 9.2inch mk. XIII railway gun, please read these instructions carefully and it should give you years of trouble free maiming.

Oh and with regard to those end of month objectives I gave myself in turn 20, capture Gerza and Hull by turn 23? There is some rather embarrassed shuffling in the Supreme HQ bunker...let's say end of June instead (turn 27).

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 24 – 10/06/32

More attacks around Aurora are beaten off comfortably, I lose 6 rifles, they lose 181…

9 corps continue to reposition for the assault on Hull, the heavy arty has arrived but it is slow moving with trucks (I cannot spare the trains from the transport pool at the moment. I would have been more sensible to allocate the heavy art to HQ and then transfer down as and when it is required. As it stands it will be a couple of turns before they are in range of Hull. 9 corps continue to push forward through the jungles west of Hull - with a para unit overrunning an HQ. Around 100 staff surrender – fortunately this chap is on hand to deal with them. Warning - this video contains unexpurgated footage of the treatment of German prisoners by British officers – it’s pretty raw stuff so view with caution..."schnell - you stinkers!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_malUGxNloo

North of Gerza I continue attacks to isolate he city and manage to catch an artillery unit with my Armour; 2 heavy arty and 3 normal arty are destroyed and the remainder will be out of action for a few turns – a good result. I also shell the city once again. Clarence McNeil’s 1 corps HQ now has 8 artillery as well, and will be in range from next turn. Which will make 20 arty mk.2 shelling the city.

2 corps continue entrenching on the Western Front and pushing towards 3 corps on the Eastern. A link up is effected but it’s not solid yet. (The link up is over open ground rather than rail so not quite the relief of the city as yet – the WI keep the bunting on ice for the time being.) But a potential encirclement is emerging. As per the map.



potential encirclement in red, with 3 corps link up marked as well. The arty unit bounced by my armour is in blue

Also, with my oil situation improved my dive bombers go hunting and knock out half a dozen tanks and armoured cars in 3 corps sector.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 25 – 17/06/32

Sorry for the delay in updating – Turns 25 and 26 turned out to be pretty epic – possibly decisive.

Central Front

Headline – Gerza falls! The shelling from 1 and 12 corps reduces the city to rubble and is followed up by a massed combined arms assault. There are some losses from 5 AT guns that were entrenched in the city (readiness of 73 so still pretty effective) but with the supporting arms’ readiness almost at nil they couldn’t do enough. However 12 corps loses a few tanks in the assault and ensuing follow up attacks and will need reinforcing with Armour before the next attack. I also push out from the city a hex or two as there is a little opposition. The enemy attempted some diversionary assaults down my long flanks, but they were repelled with ease. There is now a definite pocket North East of Aurora.



Battle graphic from assault on Gerza – the artillery pounding had left the defenders stunned and unable to resist a strong assault from combined armour and infantry.

[Kaldadarnes]

There is a lot of artillery making its presence felt on the Aurora front now, but the entrenchment of my troops remain sufficient. However I make a note to get some aerial recon and bomber power in the next few turns to counteract the threat. The link up with 3 corps continues to firm – I break up a few units of 3 corps into smaller units to start creating lines to hold the corridor and hold the north of the pocket.

My dive-bombers attack again and knock out another half dozen armoured cars – they have experience of 67 which I reckon is probably quite a lot. Given there are only 3 of them, they are doing a grand job. I’d like a few more if the Oil allows.



Central front situation map with developing pocket from multiple corps link up, and Gerza (now in our hands) marked.

[Kaldadarnes]

South Eastern Front

I do a reorganisation in the South East – Andrew Arlington (remember him? Our groovy spreadsheet toting logistics officer from a few turns back) is a) recovered from his paper-cut and b) mightily pissing everyone off by moping around HQ. I assign him to the “Hull front” – splitting 9 corps into 9 corps and 13 corps. This should boost the leader bonuses and for all troops engaged on that front. He can take care of the Hull assault and then I will build 13 corps up as a reserve formation. 9 corps is still a bit straggly but will cope in the short term.

9 corps continue their steady moves forward - the 9 corps artillery reduces the defenders and then infantry attack on multiple fronts to seize a raw facility. Although it is currently unconnected and badly damaged, it should be repaired and at full prod’n by the time Hull falls. With Lancer’s ERM mod active it will stockpile production so I will get a boost when we link up - I need to keep putting trains in to the transport pool for when we establish the rail link (I am currently over capacity on my trains pool and they are bringing in stockpiled oil each turn. I now have around 2 turns production held as surplus.)

I also note that Clarence Arlington, Andrew’s younger brother, is also moping around HQ. I will assign him to a specialist siege division – lots of big guns (I will assign him the 16 Heavy arty 2 now active) and some assault troops. Ideally I’d like to avoid having to stop my tanks every time they reach a city to maintain a siege – so having a siege division mobilised will be ideal.



SE front summary - you can see 9 corps spread out over a large area, alleviated in part by he creation of 13 corps as marked. The siege arty is also marked making its way towards Hull.

[Kaldadarnes]

Northern Front

I also start to push 10 corps under Steven Heath forward in the North – they’ve not been doing much up there except screening Gladstone and Bristol. There’s only space in front of them. Ideally I’d like to swing my line round counter clockwise from the current SW / NE axis to N / S from Aurora up to a the mountain range (and also those lovely, lovely resources…). There’s a map below as this isn’t a front that has had too much activity so far.



The Northern front – all the enemy forces in the area have been facing supply issues since the fall of Gerza – you can see how I’d like to swing my line around to release reserves and secure the raw and oil sites as well as those 2 factories. You can also see in the bottom left of the screenshot the progress of the link-up between 2 corps in Aurora and 3 corps driving West towards them.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 27

Central Front

DoM forces counterattack with vigour around the 2 corps & 3 corps link up and force several of the lighter units back (some were only at regimental strength) but take heavy casualties in the process and do not ultimately break through to their encircled comrades. 3 corps start to grind down the pocket from the North and East with 12 corps pushing up towards 2 corps and Aurora.

Southern Front

SE launch another sharp attack towards Cheltenham, thrusting NE thorough the gap between forces facing Hamadan and those closing the pocket West of Hull. whilst it is understrength and can be cut off, it is a timely reminder that my supply lines remain vulnerable and 9 corps stretched geographically as it almost leaves the forces around Hull out of supply, comes very close to bouncing the heavy artillery unit moving towards Hull (the handful of SMGs as close defence for the gunners were not going to hold off an armoured division) and is reasonably threatening towards Cheltenham which currently has 3 transport squadrons as a garrison! A better developed attack could have really caused problems.

Meanwhile, far way in the South East Hull is pounded by 16 heavy artillery (the RSOHCD which is now placed under the command of Clarence Arlignton), followed up by a combined arms attack – they lose the best part of a corps, I lose one infantry private due to a nasty splinter on a trench climbing ladder. That man Josh may have been right about the destructive power of heavy artillery.



Give me guns, bigger guns, better guns, and I will win you the world...

9 corps continue to mop up the surrounded troops between Hamadan and Hull – the battle here is nearly over and I start moving elements of 9 corps West towards Hamadan. I need to decide whether to attack Hamadan or merely screen and focus my efforts elsewhere. However the immediate need is to get 9 corps up to strength again as they have suffered a fair few losses in the last month.

Northern Front

10 corps continue pushing North into open space – I’m avoiding contacts and only advancing where there is no opposition as the units here are not capable of independent offensive action, and not at full strength (you will remember if you have been paying attention in class that they were originally constituted as an anti-infiltration screen)

As for my end of June objectives –

Basically, I wanted to capture Hull, Gerza and have an Arm’d corps operational – all achieved and with some style also.

The Southern front is now in good shape – although it is worth noting that the net gain after around 4 months of continuous fighting is a 1x oil well, 1 x ore mine and the recapture of a city I shouldn’t have lost in the first place! If this is a victory, I would hate to see a defeat.

The central front is also looking good – Aurora is linked up, we’ve destroyed significant enemy forces and we are soon to be able to release significant forces (3 corps) into reserve.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 28

A quiet turn as my efforts are mainly focused on mopping up the East of Hull (9 corps), around Hull itself (13 corps) and between 1-2-3-12 corps East of Aurora. I have a pleasant surprise on discovering that the oil well to the South of Hull has been upgraded to level 3 – thanks very much Saud Empire – I’ll get those dive bombers on order ASAP.

Enemy activity is slight this turn with strong attacks around Aurora the only real threat.





Central front - the pocket us now eliminated allowing 3 corps to be re tasked, there's a gap in the line to the north that needs closing ASAP before SE and DoM armour come streaming down. Meanwhile 12 corps push north west towards a second link up with aurora.

[Kaldadarnes]

Game change

I think I’m going to win this game much against my own expectations when I started it. The focus of writing the AAR has meant I’ve actually played much better than I normally do! The fall of Gerza, Hull and the closing of two pockets with heavy enemy casualties feels like a turning point.

However, AARs when the AI has been held off are never the most interesting as, basically, it’s just a grind to eventual victory - the tension is gone, the outcome is inevitable, decisions cease to matter. You know it, I know it, sooner or later, I’m going to win…yawns-ville. So 2 choices, I can either abandon the AAR and leave it as an interesting case study in early game defence, or…

Corrupted by left-wing – hippy – peacenik – pinko – crypto-communist propaganda*, my population grow weary of war, of their sons and brothers being away at the front, of seeing the human detritus of war - the refugees and wounded in their towns and cities, of the false bombast of medals and parades, and of the relentless shortages and indignities of a nation at war. With the existential danger to the Protectorate of London now passed, each month brings a growing clamour for peace, with, or without, honour…

Each turn from now on a % of my population will convert to the cause of immediate peace regardless of whether the victory conditions are met. The % giving peace a chance will be determined as follows:

Rounded down – turn number since game change / 5 x [random % modifier]
The cumulative total from each turn represents the total % who want peace immediately
The capture of an enemy city will convert 2% back to the cause of total victory, and the capture of a capital city will be convert back 5%.

When the proportion of my population converted to the cause of peace reaches 75% the government will be overthrown and the “people’s assembly” will immediately sue for peace. My challenge is to win before that happens. I reckon it gives me a little less than a year, but possibly much less, to win.

AS for victory conditions – I have 12 VP to start, 26 VP is the standard victory condition so…

0VP – total defeat, I am shot out of hand for being “an absolute shower”.

0<->12 VP – defeat, major territorial concessions. I am booted out of the army and disappear into obscurity, eventually retraining as a taxidermist. I grow a beard in order to remain unrecognised by my fellow countrymen.

12<->19 VP – marginal defeat, some territorial concessions required. Demoted to corporal, I leave the army, change my name to Blenerhassett and open a tearooms in Penrith. My life remains calm and orderly until this happens… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRgwbkdoIcY

19<->26 VP – stalemate – return to pre-war borders – I retain my rank, but eventually retire and write a series of self-justificatory memoirs defending my role in the war and the eventual outcome, titled “We would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for those pesky hippies”

26<->31 VP – marginal victory, some territorial concessions won – I am awarded knighthood, I live out my life in ample comfort with a series of military sinecures and a chunky advance on my memoirs.

31<->36VP – victory, major territorial concessions won, I enter politics and am propelled to prime minister purely on the basis on my war record, where it is discovered I am entirely unsuited for the job. I am discreetly pensioned off to the House of Lords where I drink too much.

>=36VP – absolute victory, I return to the capital with my forces, overthrow the government and set up a reasonably benevolent dictatorship. All fine until I go a bit heady with it all, appoint a tin of peaches Prime Minister and announce we will build a high speed rail link to from London to the north entirely from cheese. Things rather go downhill form this point onwards.

Basically, I have to get beyond 26VPs within a year(ish) just for a marginal victory – which I think should be a good challenge.

I have never played a game on this basis before so have no idea whether it will work or not. It does also mean that I should finish the game before 2015...

*Apologies to any left-wing, hippy, peacenik, pinko, crypto-communist readers out there who are offended. Here’s a link to a website where you can buy some top notch organic quinoa by way of an apology http://www.incaorganics.com/quinoa.htm

[ironduke1955]

"*Apologies to any left-wing, hippy, peacenik, pinko, crypto-communist readers out there who are offended. Here’s a link to a website where you can buy some top notch organic quinoa by way of an apology http://www.incaorganics.com/quinoa.htm"

Thanks for the Organic Quinoa link I was running out. Nice AAR thoroughly enjoyed it. You deserve to open a Pub in Penrith.

[Kaldadarnes]

Further to the game change of last turn, the following highly confidential memo outlining the London Protectorate’s war plans – “Oeration Galloping Donkey” was found on the 22:17 from London to Gladstone* following the London Protectorate War Office summer party. It outlines a 5 phase plan to total victory. Sorry for the delay updating this AAR - life and stuff getting in the way. They'll be a few updates a-coming in the near future.



The Commander in Chief is an utter liability when he's been on the Jaeger-bombs

*Those of you not from the UK are sitting there thinking – “no-one would be so stupid as to leave confidential documents on a train – Kaldadarnes has lost it”. Well, let me invite you to peruse the following (It’s no wonder we lost the Empire with this lot - in the words of Terry Thomas – “an absolute shower”)

Prime minister leaves files on train to go to buffet car:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 04106.html
Health minister leaves files on trains
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... train.html
List of suspected Al Quaeda operatives left on train
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7449255.stm
Another list of suspected Al Quaeda operatives left on train
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7455084.stm
Senior police office leaves London Olympics counter terrorism plans on train
http://www.ironmountain.com/Knowledge-C ... x?rating=1
Lord Chancellor leaves confidential documents on train
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lo ... ent-401994
A few other I may have missed…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7449927.stm