Cohen vs Enrico - Yet another AAR

[AlbertN]

5 US offensives in 1942? Why? The US hasn't got the necessary sea lift to transport enough units overseas. The US got 75 build points wasted, which could have been used to build the necessary TRS and AMPH. It doesn't make sense to me...

I can easily explain.
Japan bumped their production up very rapidly at the end of 1940 - Gear up at Sept / Oct 40, first DoW in Nov / Dec 40, and total war in Jan / Feb 41.
Also, the US DoW'ed; they've not been DoW'ed. This means their gear up limits did not turned "unlimited" at all.

In 1940 some units are not excellent, especially airplanes - pratically the player thought to better produce O-Chits by then, with the gearing limits low, than units; and churn out more units later on when there are actually better units in the force pools.

I tend to apply the same reasoning with Germany in '39 when it comes down to planes. Could I use more planes? Yes. Which planes I can buy? A bunch of LND3 with range 2-3 with 2 bombing factors, unless I luck out the few good ones? Hmm. Do I really want to risk BPs for these airplanes?

The mistake that I can possibly point out is to have scrapped the 3 movers TRS instead. But that is a different tale.
Right now US should try to fuel some BPs into UK economy to produce their still abundant amount of TRS sitting in the Force Pool.

[brian brian]

Building units is a very enjoyable part of the game. What takes time to sink in is that the results on the map in the first 1/3 of the game have a huge influence on the struggle later in the game. So you have to build for the future, and the present at the same time.

This will be an interesting game with that early of US production increases. That is another fact-of-game that sinks in slowly over multiple games.

I knew a very good player who loved playing the USA. He didn't even fool around with drawing units. He would line them up in the Force Pool and draw them by year. His philosophy was you would end up drawing the 1940 counters in 1942 anyway, and the USA gets so many Build Points it didn't matter how you built them. - his opponents would never object of course.

A good way for the Germans to maximize what is available in 1939 vs 1940 is to build aircraft gearing slowly in the 2 1939 turns, possibly "wasting" a build as compared to their true desires by building a NAV-3, an ATR, or even a CV plane (that might get the mind of the CW player going a little). If an extra-potent Luftwaffe is desired in 1940, which is a good thing to have, in 1939 the Germans can build Pilots in advance of their nifty new Stukas and Emils.

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 (After 1 impulse each)

USA opens with a Supercombined.
The Royal Navy arrives to assert a large presence at sea.

The US Marine Corps perform a landing at Rabat, overwhelming the measly Italian defenders (only an INF-Div); despite the efforts of the Luftwaffe to stall the landing by half of the Condor Force. Only a MAR-Division disrupted.

In the while the resistance of the Italian troops at the mountains by Mogador is erased by the advancing Yanks.
The USAAF though fails to hinder Axis forces - their bombers not too effective.

The Germans retaliate with a Supercombined as well.
Daringly - German remaining naval forces, 1 TRS and 3 cruisers sail out in Cape St.Vincent.
The W.Allies have more units and a HQ in the sea zones.
The Axis air forces too scour the sea trying to provide air cover to the precious supply cargo.

The Axis at sea indeed finds twice in a row the Allies, but the superior power of the W.Allied formations is just overwhelming.
An empty US TRS is damaged, and a Swordfish squadron is shot down, but the Luftwaffe loses their precious 6 strong 4 moving FTR and their NAV. One of the cruisers too is damaged.

But the Axis manages to remain at sea.

As the USAAF proved useless - the Axis pouring a Condor, a Gabbiano and a Me109 used as bomber on the new beachead at Rabat harvest no result.

Italy had to take a combined - and shipped from Italy into Tangiers two corps - which quickly take position to extend the defensive perimeter at Tangiers. The DAK too moves from Casablanca, to make space for the withdrawing 5-3 Italian corp that was left unmolested - and mostly is in supply now.

With the failure of a possibility to assault Rabat - a chance only if the airforce was to hammer the marines - the Axis can only brace for impact.

The Luftwaffe though poured more and more assets in the zone, including the war hero Rudel!

[AlbertN]

May / June 1942 (After 1 impulse each)

With the looming threat of the Amphibious invasion from UK - the Luftwaffe scattered some to have more coverage; but the shortage of airpower the RAF can project is low.

The Germans are not -excessively- worried there. Especially as they wait for more forces coming from Sovietland.

[AlbertN]

May / June 1942 (After one impulse each).

Sebastopol has fallen - 3 ARTs and 3 Stukas were used ontop of ENG, and an amount of other forces (2* 7-3 German INFs which will be shipped to the Western Front).

Tblisi is emperiled - and the Soviet have lost a few divisions here and there.
Germany has ensured as well that Turkey will join them.

Air battles saw a He111 shot down, but the VVS too lost their best fighter in the process.
And the Soviet HQ, despite being in the woods, got bombed.

Guderian - thanks to the supercombined - reorganizes quickly the two squadrons of medium bombers.

[AlbertN]

May / June 1942 (After one impulse each)

The Germans simply cracked with ease the first two "Hero-Cities" of Stalin, and one of their HQ reorganizes the 3 planes used and a new panzerkorp that was sent via rail.

The advance is meant to continue with grand haste for the Germans.
Onward to the next Hero City!

[AlbertN]

May / June 1942 (After one impulse each)

Yamashita made his arrival in India and got railed closeby Dheli.
It seems Japan is trying to seize more of this other "colony" of the Brits.

In the while finally the Royal Navy managed to sever the supply line to the Italian army in Iraq.
Probably too late.

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 - After Allied Impulse #2 (Turn Impulse #3)

Caucasus Situation, where the Turks will deploy?
To push harder in Caucasus or at Instanbul to be railed west?

The Axis maindrive now will be slowed down again by Luftwaffe operations, especially as the threat in the West raises.

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 - After Impulse #3 (Allied #2 Impulse of the turn)

The Royal Navy performs a landing with success. Alexander led it (and is disrupted).
The Axis is caught off guard but the Brits currently lack heavy means to reinforce it but a Marine unit. The fear is that Lisbon could fall!

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 - After Impulse #3 (Allied #2 Impulse)

The battle for Marocco rages on - the W.Allies gains supremacy over the sea shooting down the Gabbiano and damaging the German TRS in the sea zone.

The US forces prepare for the assault on Casablanca. There is an air battle, where the Axis manages to get through their Stuka; but their modern Do217 is shot down. The FW190 though at the same time manages to grind away both Fulmar squadrons, leaving the RN Carrier Task force now with only one carrier operational and three empty ones.

The US proceeds nonetheless with their assault, from north and south, but the Italians resist fiercely, inflicting minor losses to the US (a MOT-Div).

Pacific Sector: Nothing truly worth mentioning except the Japanese airpower sinking an US submarine.

[AlbertN]

May / June 1942 - Caucasus after the #2 Axis impulse

The Soviet situation looks very precarious now that their HQ has been busted and Tflis taken.
Many of their armies are suddenly out of supply - and if they maneuver they risk to be cut off.

The deadly Ju88 that got reorganized earlier (in the first, Supercombined impulse - and remember we play with the Variable Reorganization so LND3 costs double!) struck the 3 stack in the mountains by the Caspian Sea.
Hitting all 3 of them - paralyzing a relevant stack of Soviets.

In the while the Italian bombers too succeed to disrupt the Soviet ARM in Iraq, which is swiftly mopped up.

The best Turkish troops have been deployed west of Istanbul, in Europe proper, to be shipped into Spain or France most probably; their HQ included.

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 - After #2 Axis Impulse

Germany keeps pushing into Sovietland, preparing to jump on the second line of "Hero Cities" of Stalin.

No combat happened there but the distance was closed and the Germans have a score to settle here before the USA presence in the West turns overwhelming.

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 - After #2 Axis Impulse

The Axis start to scramble as many troops as they can into Spain.
There are even a PzKorp and a Mot.Inf.Korp coming from Paris - now that the UK performed their landing. They'll take a while to arrive via roads and not rails, but rail movements are needed for other forces too.

In the while the Axis opts to try to keep Lisbon in supply - at the cost of keeping only 1 Italian unit in there.
The Axis sealed a pretty weak perimeter around the British beachead. Yet the Brits could try to assault Lisbon using their Marine as well. It will be a hellish fight for the UK if they opt that (roughly a +2 assault!); but if they luck it out somehow, and one of their unit survives, it's not only Lisbon to fall but also 2 Condors being seized on the ground. (12 BPs + the Garrison there!)
It's a high risk, high reward gamble. But I would not do it - mainly because if it goes wrong the Royal Marines are off and I'll see them by 1943. They're much better as flexible threat.

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 - After #2 Axis Impulse

The Luftwaffe sends the old Hs123 to bombard Rabat, with a degree of success!
Seeing the situation half desperate but with some units around Casablanca disrupted by the USA side, the Axis shifts some units around, eventually leaving empty to mountain hex by the side of Tangiers.
Then they attack Rabat - relying on the MIL extracted from the mountains as sacrificial lamb. The roll is good, but not that good - the last outcome is a 19; two losses each.

For the US the question is if to keep the 7-3 INF which is more self sufficient or the HQ possibly, as the Axis has still some operational units. But the HQ works as port and could bring on more troops later one. It would take too long to rebuild it.
The US loses a MAR-Div and a quality INF.
The Axis loses a MIL and then the hammer hits with the 2nd loss. If they lose the German INF the supply is broken to Casablanca, which is no good. The Italian ART has to go - despite costing 4 and being decent!

[AlbertN]

Destroyed pool - til now!

The Germans are proceeding smoothly on the Soviet Front - only the He111 was lost there.
All the other losses have been suffered against the W.Allies. And the ironic thing is that the Axis have air superiority in terms of fighters all the way at the present! (Not for long though as the W.Allies can bring planes there much quicker!)

Italy is suffering about what they can produce pratically! (14 is baseline, plus 4 courtesy of the Fhurer).

[AlbertN]

It seems we'll have a "jump back in time" of one impulse each.
After some further planning my friend realized that invading Portugal is actually fruitless so we agreed of the jump back of 1 impulse.

[AlbertN]

Updated Destroyed Pool

The Axis started to suffer greatly trying to kneel the Soviets and having some bad rolls; and with astonishing successes of the W.Allied advance.

[AlbertN]

May / June - Start of Impulse #9, Allied

Bad play by my side here - I screwed up and I paid for it.

As stated above we jumped back one impulse, and the Brits reinforced this zone with their troops.
The US started to unhinge Axis defences not by assaulting Casablanca directly, but the mountain ranges to the east of it. The US suffered a MOT-Div and a MECH-Div for an Italianian MIL; but the Axis lost their FW190 trying to escort bombers on the spot.

Casablanca was deemed untenable and the Axis troops started to withdraw. And attacked Rabat which now had only 6 factors defending it. Alas, an oversight of mine, there were USA bombers around that just got rebased as I did the math in the turn of the enemy before the rebase but after the attack at the MIL!
The attack went horribly wrong obviously, and a +8 attack suddenly went down to +3 (Probably I should not have even attacked at +8, at the risk of pinning my forces in disrupted status).
Italy lost the AT and 1 INF in the attack, for 1 MOT-Div of USA (15 as result).

The US attacked the remaining Italian INF in the woods, and by mistake put their Mech unit - as I brought Rudel in to protect it better. Their attack was nonetheless a +10 - which went overly smooth.

The Axis was scrambling as many units as possible in the zone but Italy has only 3 TRS and I can only rail 1 unit per turn beyond the strait.

The DAK Panzer Korp was the next on the list. Another +11 attack, the Axis called for Blitz in the hope to retreat the DAK to fight another day, to no avail. It was destroyed. The W.Allied vanguards close in to the strategic pass of Fez.

Southern Spain is filling up with German units which probably will be bottlenecked by Gibraltar and Tangiers. The Axis perimeter is thinning by the day.

On the sea, seldom battle occurs. The Axis manages to sink an AMPH of the Royal Navy, loaded with the London MIL; and to damage an old RN Battleship.
In return the W.Allies destroy the German TRS and its escorting cruiser.

Currently the W.Allied have a "Bolo" bomber operational only, and the Axis has the 7 strong Stuka.

Rudel is in danger, as the W.Allied could try to blitz the place, though their attack power is not very strong all they need is to force a retreat to smash the Stuka with its pilot!

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 - Start of Impulse #9, Allied

The Soviets held a grand resistance there, destroying a grand-total of 7 German units, 5 only at Ufa (through 2 attacks), and 2 at Perm! The Soviets lost a total of 4 units in these 2 Hero-Cities. If the Soviets could keep a 1:2 loss ratio they'd manage to help greatly the W.Allies!

Despite the valiant efforts of the Luftwaffe, and of the Pioniere units, Ufa resisted beyond imagination (rolled 4, totalling 14 the first go; and rolling 6 totally 15 the second go!); the Wermacth bled profusely for measly Soviet losses (though the Soviets have hardtime replacing, even more so as their resources are getting cut from factories).

The first assault on Ufa was led by Von Bock, which was quite a disappointment.

Von Manstein promptly reorganized units in abundance, including the new ENG units that arrived via rail (well, one new and the other coming from Sebastopol zone).

Mannerheim then led the assault on Perm; meanwhile the ENG units stormed along with other powerful assets Ufa - if Ufa would have fallen, other Soviet units would be out of supply. It was not the case.

[AlbertN]

May / Jun 1942 - Start of Impulse #9, Allied

The Germans on the other hand, with the help of the Turks (in this occasion deployed instead to give a shoulder strike to the Soviets), undid in 3 impulses the Soviet defences.

One more impulse and Baku will be Axis, sealing the end of the Caucasian campaign; starting a minor Campaign to liberate Persia (Which has a CAV unit down the south still). One more impulse!

The main issue is that the Soviet HQ in this zone (the last on the map actually) got bombed in the woods east of Tblisi. That crippled the ability for the Soviets to defend properly as they had a gap in where they could supply units.

Delaying tactics from the Soviets served little once the Panzers found a way in the plains and blitzed through it. Twice in a row til the situation you see now.

The Soviets fought well - but it was a desperate battle where the remains of their Caucasian found itself cornered in a butcher's valley.

Italy as well cleared the Iraq Pocket - and now these Italian troops are free do go elsewhere (Probably North Afrika!)