'We got five years..5 years what a surprise' NO STJEAND

[sillyflower]

Apologies but there is a bit of a gap as I was doing quick turns and totally forgot to write note. or take photos.

The unforgivable mistake I made with the landings was to land a xx near Algiers in case it was needed there next turn, instead of at Oran.

Anyway I brought in reinforcements and did take Oran 2 tuns later after the surrounded Italian xxx there surrendered. At the same time I was evacuating what I could out of Algiers. I did the same from Oran as 4 pz xxx were heading my way. The expedition cost 3 inf xxx I think + 1 a/c overrun. The price of saving the USSR..............

Out at sea, the RN and KM traded quite heavy losses, which was fine by me. The 2 pt canadian DD in Iceland took a tremendous toll before it was sunk -taking out 11 enemy steps inc. sinking a CL/DD group. A wolf-pack must have been in fleet mode because surface ships sank one and got 1 more hit on the other.

The LW spends its time bombing the UK. the 2 ftr units there were overwhelmed but others are on the way back, and AA guns have been ordered. Vichy France is no more and several G units seen near the Spanish border. It is not known if this is an offensive posture, or due to rumours of an allied invasion of the Iberian peninsular.

In the meantime, Stalin finds the whole thing highly amusing.

[sillyflower]

June 6 forces forces



Apologies for lateness, but I'm glad this G army is not doing very much.

[sillyflower]

And by August 15



UK land forces have increased despite NA losses, mainly due to more armour rolling off the production lines. RN up slightly as Vichy covers RN losses in the BOA. Kreigsmarine now much weaker tho'.

HUGE Wehrmacht - I wonder if Germany has reached its logistic limit. Cannot be very far off. I think LW still only has 10 units. RAF has taken losses, but more are on the way. Soviets only have just over 400 more logistic pts to spend.

[Flaviusx]

Germans can get well over 2k land strength without hitting their logistic limit and their air and naval forces are not especially large here, either. He could reach 2.5k by 42. Maybe that is his plan, take out Iberia and Gibraltar and hold. I can hardly believe he will make much headway in the east in 42.

[sillyflower]

Sept 12

I would certainly take out Iberia and Gib, but no sign of it at the moment

[sillyflower]

I thought someone might be vaguely interested in my build queues

UK

[sillyflower]

US

[sillyflower]

USSR



The 2 armour may be a bit of a luxury, but hopefully they will be useful one day. The para might be a bit of an unexpected treat for some weak fascists without much of a retreat path, and out of fighter range! As my opponent doesn't seem to have enlarged the LW, there will be gaps and he can't leave the west without cover. I will probably upgrade 2 or 3 R ftrs to cope with allied ftrs who might otherwise want to shoot down my paras.

[Flaviusx]

I think it is fine to add a couple of mobile units, and would even consider building a second airborne so you can do up to two drops and take advantage of the prebuilt air transports. Heck, maybe add a couple of fighters. They are pretty cheap under the circumstances.

Maybe build some amphibs, too. Just to have the ability on hand if he is sloppy with port security.

Soviets can afford to buy some of these luxury items in a 42 Barbarossa.

[sillyflower]

I certainly want enough good fighters to try to stop his para lurking in Finland v. close to L'town. This is the 3rd time I've played him and he's always good with port security - and it's not as if he doesn't have enough inf! I'm still in mourning the nerf that prevents me from taking Ploesti out for 2 turns with a 10 pt cav - tho' Alvaro was right to make that change.

[sillyflower]

Sept. 26 and Oct 10

Nothing happening so clearly he is not going to attack anywhere before next year. He's stopped bombing UK cities and just tries to increase bomber experience by bombing a couple of vulnerable inf units. No naval forces emerge from hiding.

UK focusing on air unit repair and upgrading carriers to '41 tech and inf to '41 too. No other naval improvements/rebuilding needed.

Russians building 1 inf xxx/turn and upgrading the non-rubbish armour and inf to '41 tech. Given low LW strength, I should probably improve more of the AF. Only a couple of ftrs so far. The AF does have to fight because of the need to improve exp levels required for offensive ops.

[sillyflower]

October 24

Nazis ground and air forces mass on the border with the peace-loving USSR. All bombing of UK has stopped so AA guns will be transferred to Malta next turn as that is starting to experience weak ground bombing from the Italians.

Having looked at my PP numbers between now and the spring, I've decided to upgrade all the soviet airforce to current tech ('41) which will cost fewr that 600 PPs Inc. this turn, and assuming no increases, I will get another 3,270 PPs by end of April '42. As a result I've agree with Flavius' ideas and have bought another fighter, a 2nd airborne xxx and 40 landing ships. I also ordered another MM to help the US LL effort. At least, I hope the russian ships will carry US LL and not that from Uk, as the latter still has about 200 spare MMs and the BOA is over.

Doing all this will leave me with about 3K PP for the SU, but I only have 215 logistic points to spend, and I will need these for buying armies. I think I get them in May in any event, unless that has changed with the armour nerf. Hopefully, this cushion will reduce the initial need for LL as the US in particular is well behind the curve in terms of expansion. I've only been able to buy 1 tank xxx so far though I will have enough for a strat bomber in November.

[sillyflower]

November '41.

Nothing happened this month. not even any more G units appearing on the forces register, and I've almost forgotten what a sub looks like. 2 AA guns in Malta might stop the weak bombing attacks by Italians wanting to get more experience.

[sillyflower]

December 5 - nothing. Curse those Japs for not doing Pearl Harbour a few day's earlier [:-]

Dec 19 The Yanks are coming. Combined allied production leaps to 868/turn. US mech xxx ordered. UK focusing on updates.

Even a little action as uboats in the African coast route sink 2 MMs and 1 escort for the loss of 3 subs. Admiral Raeder must have been given another unit as force chart showed 5 more naval factors. Also 2 more LW units have appeared. Presumably fighters.

The state of research is still behind the 'normal' but closer to 'history': at least for the tech actually researched. Starting with UK:

[sillyflower]

US

[sillyflower]

USSR

[sillyflower]

January '42

I post the end of year casualty list with slight embarrassment. Clearly too much fraternising at the front and not enough fisticuffs.




I suspect that Stsauron will regret doing neither Barbarossa nor the Iberian peninsula and Gib. Still, he has a huge army so will be able to reinforce anywhere the western allies may go. My predictions are that the end of '42 will end up with stalemate somewhere in Russia and somewhere in the west. The UK is stronger than normal thanks to the absence of need to invest in the BOA, and the paucity of its losses. The US won't be very strong until '43, by which time russian experience levels will hopefully be high enough to be able to wrest the initiative.

[sillyflower]

Jan '42 con't

I can now build inf armies - I had thought that that was not until May. I start buying them[:)], but will soon run out of logistic points because they are 36 points each. UK buys a mountain xxx.

[sillyflower]

February 13

Very little to report.

There has been a little air action over France for the last 2 turns. Lille reduced to rubble (for now) and air losses to all intents and purposes equal. Given that G production will be only about 460 (no Norway, Greece, Russia or Lille) and allies will be adding 108 (axis figures based on production at start of '42 scenario) that totals only 2/3rd of allied production. Equal losses are therefore a good allied win.

[ComadrejaKorp]

Combined allied production leaps to 868/turn

I think the weight of Allied production will eventually crush the Axis, it's just a matter of time.

The Axis could make Europe a fortress but it would lose the game on points.

The only option for Axis would be to crush Russia but that will be difficult in 42, now they have the help of the Allies.

I think you have the game almost won, but you should play it I'm sure Stjean won't give up so easily!