Magicmissile (Allied)vs Battlevonwar (Axis) Battlevonwar welcome

[MagicMissile]

April 1942

I skipped a couple of months partly because we played so fast and partly because nothing really happens.

Now end of april 42 and summer is coming. I have tried to prepare as best I can. All corps and all armies with less than 40 xp are gone. Army size is not superlarge but nor is the Germans so if there is an offensive I will lose Moscow and more but I should survive decently I think.

If there is no offensive then it will be sitzkrieg. I know from experience without air superiority and a few more mech units there will be no Soviet progress. So there will be no reason to attack at all. Just build up for 43.

[MagicMissile]

Not much going on in the Med either.

I dont have any air superiority here either and Italy now well defended. I see no possibility to engage the Axis here.

So I will maintain an invasion threat but will do something somewhere else. If there is an offensive in the east I will probably invade France to draw some units from there hopefully. It wont be an invasion with purpose too stay forever unless things goes really well.

I will take Portugal soon and invading Spain is also an option for sure. I know this wont be possible in the next patch so in that way a bit reluctant to do it. But we play under this patch when you can so I guess it is ok [:)].

[MagicMissile]

May 8 1942

German offensive begin. I am again so angry with myself for always overestimating Soviet strength and underestimating German strength. I knew I would lose Moscow still somewhere I hoped to hold it I guess. I probably should have withdrawn last turn of April. Anyway 9 German arm and I think 3 Italian Arm with good supply manage to inflict a lot of damage on several corps.

[MagicMissile]

June 5 1942

The pain continues with like 3-4 shatters per turn and more corps mauled. Next turn will lose 4 more. I retreat a bit but with 7 turns of summer left the feeling is not very good for the moment.

[MagicMissile]

June 19 1942

Because of retreat last turn not that much going on but 4 units lost.

Army size under 2000. The best thing right now is because of better Manpower management I still have 79%. Bad side only 8 mech units with 2 more coming and with the need to build up army and airforce going on offensive 1943 might get tricky and it is a long way to Berlin.

[MagicMissile]

I dont really like it but I see no other choice so I invade Spain. Have to help the Soviets I feel. Cant take Spain out because of the max 2 op invasion new rule but it should fall next turn I hope.

[Flaviusx]

This game is getting interesting. I would even say Battlevonwar has the edge here if you weren't able to take out Spain.

Confirms my sense that game balance is very close right now.

I'm thinking maybe you shouldn't have disbanded those Soviet mech units in 41.

Also, it makes a big difference now that the Finns can actually shut down the Murmansk rail line. Glad somebody spotted that bug.

[MagicMissile]

Yes it is very interesting and from feeling fairly confident the outcome now feels very much in doubt. At least when it comes to outrigth full conquest victory.

Spain did fall on the 2nd turn.

Murmansk thing absolutely you need quite a few more soviets up there to stop that.

I dont think the mech were the problem but possibly I should have been slower with the upgrades of the inf I was disbanding like 30-39% xp inf armies very aggresively during the winter maybe should have gone for a larger like 2500 army instead.

Game balance might very well be pretty good now. I still dont know how many VPs and for how long the Axis needs too win. If compare to history in this game the Axis dont have Oslo, Athens and Belgrad not sure if Sofia is a VP hex but they don´t have that either but they got an early Vichy and now Moscow on the other hand the allies have Lisbon and Madrid and an earlier Alger than historical.

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: MagicMissile

Yes it is very interesting and from feeling fairly confident the outcome now feels very much in doubt. At least when it comes to outrigth full conquest victory.

Spain did fall on the 2nd turn.

Murmansk thing absolutely you need quite a few more soviets up there to stop that.

I dont think the mech were the problem but possibly I should have been slower with the upgrades of the inf I was disbanding like 30-39% xp inf armies very aggresively during the winter maybe should have gone for a larger like 2500 army instead.

Game balance might very well be pretty good now. I still dont know how many VPs and for how long the Axis needs too win. If compare to history in this game the Axis dont have Oslo, Athens and Belgrad not sure if Sofia is a VP hex but they don´t have that either but they got an early Vichy and now Moscow on the other hand the allies have Lisbon and Madrid and an earlier Alger than historical.

I don't know if it is possible for the Allies to win a VP Victory unless the Axis completely turtle. What is the current VP score? How many VPS are you currently gaining per turn? How many are the Axis gaining per turn?

[MagicMissile]

Good questions [:)]. Yes looks dark to win a VP win as allies. Its 1724 to 1601 in Axis favour and if I calculate correct Axis have 29 VPs per turn to my 16. So need Sardinia Taranto and France (7) to start gaining but 1 point per turn or even 3 wont be enough.

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

This game is getting interesting. I would even say Battlevonwar has the edge here if you weren't able to take out Spain.

Confirms my sense that game balance is very close right now.

I'm thinking maybe you shouldn't have disbanded those Soviet mech units in 41.

Also, it makes a big difference now that the Finns can actually shut down the Murmansk rail line. Glad somebody spotted that bug.

As an interesting aside, one of the reasons Finland did not cut that rail line in the real war is because of intense US pressure to not do so. Can't really model that in this game but it's not like in real life it was something the Finns just forgot to do.

[Flaviusx]

The Soviets can prevent it but have to maintain a significant garrison up there, which is also historical. If you tried to put in some kind of stop line then you'd also have to compensate with garrison requirements and it all kind of evens out if you leave it as. Sometimes, less is more.

[MagicMissile]

Retreat continues but losses gone down somewhat and no shatters.

[MagicMissile]

Spain in conquered but the door into France is locked. Wont be easy to get in this way.

[MagicMissile]

July 31 1942

Well the invasion of Spain have served its purpose kind of. The attacks have slowed down in the east a lot and like 50% of airforce left for France.

I think the Axis might have done enough though. Manpower less now with so much territory lost. Much to rebuild so maybe the same procedure can be repeated next year again. I might be able to rebuild the mech forces and meet him head on better dont think there will be much of an airforce 43 though. Also long front now which probably should be a Soviet advantage but it really is not [:)].

On a sidenote Battlevonwars buildstrategy is worth noting. I am not sure but German infantry corps most of them look fairly weak. I wonder if he upgrades them at all or if all resources goes into the airforce and arm units. And he builds a lot of them. I wonder what the oil situation is.

[MagicMissile]

In Spain/France I try to get control of a hex that would give me a 3 hex attack on Bayonne but The Germans throw me back every time. Not without cost though.

[MagicMissile]

August 13 1942

Forgot picture in the east but things have calmed down. Stalingrad Rostov under threat so retreated a little bit again.

In the west I manage to trigger a fair amount of aircombats. and If I managed to take out 60+ points of German air in 1 round I am happy.

[ago1000]

This is an awesome AAR. Thank you!! I was wondering if you could show a closer look of the eastern front.(North, middle, south). Only if you have time of course.[&o] I'm curious to see the types of units both sides have there. Wow. [X(]Massive battles are developing as the game gets into it's tipping point.[X(] The casualty rate is immense especially for the red army. Wow. Both of you have very impressive build strategies from the units I see on the map. Looking at your pic of Spain, UK per unit strength looks at par with the Axis in 42, only the amount of units the Axis have seems more. It looks like Spain's border is the new Battle of Kursk.

[MagicMissile]

August 28 1942

We aim to please! I calculated that I need 300 strength points just to fill up all the onmap units that is 11 turns with no losses. Manpower at 969 or 69% I need to build at least 3-5 more mech and some (preferable alot of airunits). The front is so long so it will be hard for anyside to accumulate a big ball of units to go on the offensive with but I think that might favour the Germans.

Also mistakes were made. The productionpoints are obviously not lost but there have been no lend lease all summer The UK and the US have been sending resources to each other isnt that great [:)].

Here Soviet north

[MagicMissile]

Soviet central