PBEM: Take WaW, add 4 Newbies; An exploratory AAR

[Svend Karlson]

Hmm, do I not automatically lose when I don't control both East & West Germany? That is how I interpreted the rulebook. Did I miss out on a strategic withdrawal?[X(]

[dembe73]

Well yes you are right I guess. The Russians are just eager to do better than history. With Finland taken Denmark is the way forward into turning entire Scandinavia into Communism

I normally surround territories when I can because it means units are destroyed rather than damaged when they are pushed back.

[Svend Karlson]

West Germany, 1946

Firstly, DOH! If I had realised I had to hold EITHER east or west germany I would have withdrawn everything to the West last turn.

Secondly, YAY! I have survived to 1946, which I didn't believe I was going to do. I think that helps the victory score a bit, which I still expect to be crushing.

[Svend Karlson]

Keitel's HQ, Spring 1946

What am I still doing here dear readers? Well winter assaults don't work well against the West Wall it seems, even when you are attacking from the East!

Both the Allies and Russkies sent in an attack with everything they had - the results of the Russkie attack below. I don't have much of anything left in West Germany now though.

[dembe73]

Russian HQ, somewhere in Eastern Germany, Spring 1946

Although many thought the war was over with the capture of Berlin, the officers of the Red Army know better. To finish the job they started after the Axis invasion of the Motherland, all German forces have to be taken out.

So in yet another heroic assault on Western Germany only a small force of surviving Wehrmacht remained. It is expected that an allied attack this spring will split up Germany between the Western Allies and the great army of the USSR and will end this war.

[Svend Karlson]

Allied Occupation Zone, Summer 1946

I don't get to see the final Allied assault, but there is not much need anyway. The Allies win a Total Victory with a crushing score of 6521 vs 782. That is higher than I had seen in my games against the AI.

In retrospect, my summary learnings from this game are:

- I tried to employ a Sea-Lion strategy I had developed against the AI versus a capable human opponent & suffered the consequences of failure + a late SU invasion
- Having the US brought into the war very early (4th turn) was a major mistake
- Not having plenty of supplies on the Soviet border when beginning Barbarossa severely hinders your operations & exploitation of captured provinces

On the postive side, I think I can be satisfied with my force composition, which until the very end was still capable of granting me significant tactical victories. If you are interested to see how my next game progresses, you are welcome to check it out here : tm.asp?m=864715