TRP 1.3 mini AAR Taxman (Allies) vs Old Crow Balthazaor (Axis)

[Bobo2025]

Between this and the videos a very interesting match with this mod.

Playing SP just to get a feel, the Soviets are really hard to knock out. One they get a lot of units. Two, I've taken Leningrad, Moscow (and everything along the road to those, Dnepro, Kyiv, and Volkhov...and Soviet morale is still 88% - albeit down to 81% before the US arrival.

[Taxman66]

Allied Turn #: 67

Beginning of Turn Decision Events:
None

Diplomacy:
Tunisia +8% Axis

Pulled the 2 UK chits in Tunisia out (as it is sitting at 99% and will join the Axis next turn), put 1 back into Turkey (for max 2), and 1 into Switzerland. Maybe it will scare him with economic shut downs.

Actions taken not visible on opponents Replay:
Ungodly bad luck for the Soviets. 8 dead INF Corps, and the defenses at Rzhev completely compromised. The perfectly nice Russian weather turn has Russia in a very bad spot. He has more and stronger units in the area of Moscow than I do.

Not only perfect weather in Russia, but the cherry on top was the 5% chance of Tunisia diplomacy firing and will now be joining the Axis. So much for a cheap Torch invasion to take Tunisia out.

Sub successfully scouts a path past Malta, enabling the CAN Armor Corps to arrive in Alexandria.
I’m sending the majority of the battle fleet back to UK for repairs. Some of the undamaged or lightly damaged ships will stick around Gibraltar, also sending Ark Royal to Aden to repair her planes.

MPP expenditures (excluding reinforcements and upgrades):
USSR – INF Corps x5 (shattered). 63 MPP before EOT
USA – AT & Amphibious Warfare research. 22 MPP before EOT
UK – Strategic Bomber. 59 MPP before EOT
FF – None. 36 MPP before EOT

End of Turn Decision Events and Diplomacy results:
None

End of Turn Tech Breakthroughs/completed research:
None

Pictures:
None

Saw that there will be clear weather again for the Axis in Russia in early November.
It is very unrealistic for the Axis to get 2 completely clear weather turns in a row at this time of year.

[Taxman66]

Between this and the videos a very interesting match with this mod.

Playing SP just to get a feel, the Soviets are really hard to knock out. One they get a lot of units. Two, I've taken Leningrad, Moscow (and everything along the road to those, Dnepro, Kyiv, and Volkhov...and Soviet morale is still 88% - albeit down to 81% before the US arrival.

Remember you don't have to win the war to win the game. Axis Marginal victory just for holding Berlin by the end of 1945. Minor victory for holding Berlin, Warsaw and Paris by the end of 1945. Anyway I presume it's the 'end' of those dates and I'm presuming the victory condition screen (click on the '?' box in the upper right, then on the box with the check mark) is correct.

[Taxman66]

Allied Turn #: 68

Beginning of Turn Decision Events:
None

Diplomacy:
None

Actions taken not visible on opponents Replay:
Completely screwed by the late October early November clear turns for the Axis. Holding Moscow will be extremely questionable and I have to set defenses up for Gorky. Losing one of the ENGs also sucked big time.

CAN Maritime bombers operated from Mogadishu to Plymouth. If the Sub stays in Brest I’ll hammer it next turn (weather permitting).

MPP expenditures (excluding reinforcements and upgrades):
USSR – ENG (shattered), INF Corps x3 (shattered), Mech Div (shattered), INF Div (shattered). 7 MPP before EOT
USA – ASW research. 22 MPP before EOT
UK – None. 6 MPP before EOT
FF – None. 65 MPP before EOT

Upgrading the CAN Armor cost 175 MPP

If I had gotten ‘traditional’ weather I would have started the USSR on Production research (lvl 3), now it will have to wait.

End of Turn Decision Events and Diplomacy results:
None

End of Turn Tech Breakthroughs/completed research:
USA Advanced Tanks 86% -> 100% completed (lvl 2)

Pictures

25 November 9, 1941.jpg (2.01 MiB) Viewed 958 times

[Taxman66]

Allied Turn #: 69

Beginning of Turn Decision Events:
None

Diplomacy:
None

Actions taken not visible on opponents Replay:
Maxed out USA -> UK convoys (25% -> 40%) now that there is fighting in Egypt.

Large amounts of Soviet reinforcements arrive (11 units), most go to Moscow.

Night king.jpg (7.27 KiB) Viewed 916 times

MPP expenditures (excluding reinforcements and upgrades):
USSR – INF Corps (shattered), INF Corps. 22 MPP before EOT
USA – None. 121 MPP before EOT
UK – None. 37 MPP before EOT
FF – None. 94 MPP before EOT

USA is saving MPP to reinvest in Tanks next turn.

A large portion of Soviet MPP went to repairing a strength 1 Tank and the strength 2 Armored Train.

End of Turn Decision Events and Diplomacy results:
Zhukov and his gang arrive (Siberian troops transferred, not shown in pictures below)

End of Turn Tech Breakthroughs/completed research:
USA Infantry Weapons completed (lvl 2)
USA Naval Weapons completed (lvl 2)

USA navy is going to be a beast.

Pictures:

26 November 21, 1941.jpg (2.18 MiB) Viewed 916 times

[Duedman]

I do not like the northern defense of Leningrad. I see that often but 1 or 2 Special Forces landing and all goes to hell super quick. Leningrad itself is nearly impossible to take by the Finns. I usually just have units sit in there. Frees up troops from the extended perimeter for using them elsewhere.

North Africa looks dangerous for OCB now. If you manage to get out of the Qattara depression and fan out 3 tank corps will be hard to stop.

[Taxman66]

I agree about Leningrad, it's just I really couldn't afford to put more units up there this turn. Almost everything went to Moscow. The situation up in Leningrad will soon stabilize, at least for a while. As mentioned above, Big Zhu showed up at the end of the turn with a host of angry Siberians.

As for North Africa, yes that was my plan...
No overt spoilers but cheap operating costs come into play shortly.
It will be interesting to say the least.

[Duedman]

I guess you are talking about US Stratbombers. Which are very evil in North Africa. Combined with coastal bombardment & port blocking you can totally snuff out Axis. Ensure that there is no supply of 3 left and there will be no HQ chaining. Leaving HQs in battered cities generating a measly 5 supply.
No more upgrades, no more full repairs, no more dying at least in supply.

This is why I think OCB made a mistake with is force composition. They way Lothos designed the Qattara Depression it is absolutely necessary to bring several panzer corps down there. It is a total traffic jam and without these double attack units you can not bring enough firepower to bear. Panzer divisions do not just have 1 less attack, they also got weaker stats. They just don't cut it.
The only way for Axis to get through there is to just kill off units faster than Allies can bring them in.
I see no other way.
If Axis does not manage to do this until US enters, this will end in no-supply-land. And all the bloodshed for Malta will have been in vain.

[Taxman66]

Strat bombers is one possible way, but they take a very long time to build and if you go back and look, the USA hasn't built any of them (there is one that starts in the queue). I've been concentrating on getting the USA Tech going, though I did build 1 Tank and the Rangers.

Like I said don't want to spoil things here.

[Duedman]

Alright, then I won't guess any further.
I did not thoroughly follow your buildsorder.
I usually go with a Strat + HQ to be ready in december 1941.
It is just the most straightforward way to bring US firepower into play imho. Plus, if NA / Middle East is still a thing they I found them to be super helpful there.

[Taxman66]

Allied Turn #: 70

Beginning of Turn Decision Events:
None

Diplomacy:
None

Actions taken not visible on opponents Replay:
I have a submerged sub 2 hexes north of Tobruk, hoping to catch something going into/out of the port.
Ark Royal makes her way back into the Red Sea. I may be being too greedy by not naval cruising her so that I can keep her at 12 supply.
There is a ring of 7 DDs and 1 MTB around Vigo, with only 3 open hexes out. Even if he moves out submerged I should be able to find him.

Haven’t decided where to send the big Zhu yet, but in all likelihood it will be Moscow giving me 3 HQs in that theatre. I will need one to support Voronzeh and one in Karelia, but I got 3 more coming in (February, March & April) and am allowed to build 1 more. I was planning on building ahead and getting a couple of bonus HQs, but the earlier clear weather disasters put the kibosh on that idea.

MPP expenditures (excluding reinforcements and upgrades):
USSR – Production research (lvl 3), INF Corps x2 (shattered), INF Corps. 11 MPP before EOT
USA – Advanced Tanks research (lvl 3). 6 MPP before EOT
UK – None. 7 MPP before EOT
FF – None. 123 MPP before EOT

USSR has finally built out all her INF Corps. Yippee!

UK repaired her planes in Egypt and started on her CVLs in Great Britain.

End of Turn Decision Events and Diplomacy results:
Pearl Harbor!!! USA mobilization 77% -> 99%

End of Turn Tech Breakthroughs/completed research:
None

Pictures:

27 December 3, 1941.jpg (2.47 MiB) Viewed 835 times

[Taxman66]

Allied Turn #: 71

Beginning of Turn Decision Events:
None

Diplomacy:
USA invests 2 chits into Switzerland and 1 into Saudi Arabia

Actions taken not visible on opponents Replay:
Royal Marines (needing upgrades) deploy at Plymouth.

No reinforcements this turn for the USSR, though I believe I will be getting 8 next turn.
USSR Strat bombers operated to just south of Vladimir.

MPP expenditures (excluding reinforcements and upgrades):
USSR – HQ Buddeny (5). 29 MPP before EOT
USA – None. 51 MPP before EOT
UK – None. 198 MPP before EOT
FF – None. 152 MPP before EOT

UK finished repairing her CVLs (air wings) and a couple CAs and a BB. I probably won’t repair all the others, as I doubt that I will need them.
UK saving money as Ground Attack 2 will complete this turn (99%), and want to upgrade my bombers and start on lvl 3.

USSR spent her money on repairing units, providing elite strength to units and operating a couple of units.
List of things the USSR wants: Another (last) FTR, C&C research, More Tanks and More Elite INF and all the other goodies.

End of Turn Decision Events and Diplomacy results:
USA MPP shipments to USSR via Vladivostok – Yes
USA MPP shipments to USSR via Persia – Yes

Switzerland +6% Allies

UK starts paying the Pacific War Tax (-100 MPP/turn)

End of Turn Tech Breakthroughs/completed research:
UK Ground Attack completed (lvl 2)

Pictures:
None

[Taxman66]

Allied Turn #: 72

Beginning of Turn Decision Events:
None

Diplomacy:
USA reinvests the fired chit back into Switzerland.

Actions taken not visible on opponents Replay:
Most of the US Navy heads out, with half heading towards the British Isles and the other half (including CV Ranger) heading towards Gibraltar and the Med.

MPP expenditures (excluding reinforcements and upgrades):
USSR – Armor Corps, INF Corps (shattered). 63 MPP before EOT
USA – None. 2 MPP before EOT
UK – Ground Attack research (lvl 3), HQ CAN Simonds (6). 117 MPP before EOT
FF – Armor Div without upgrades. 13 MPP before EOT

USA upgraded her 3 MOT Corps and repaired a 5 strength (starting value) BC.

End of Turn Decision Events and Diplomacy results:
Form Coastal Command (Maritime Bomber in Iceland) – Yes

I almost said ‘no’ to this. In TRP the unit that deploys here is a ‘minor’ unit and thus is only allowed a single action.

End of Turn Tech Breakthroughs/completed research:
USA Production completed (lvl 2)
USSR Advanced Fighters 12% -> 28%

This mostly makes up for the delayed investment earlier.

Pictures:

28 December 27, 1941.jpg (2.25 MiB) Viewed 786 times

[Taxman66]

Allied Turn #: 73

Beginning of Turn Decision Events:
None

Diplomacy:
None

Actions taken not visible on opponents Replay:
Looks like I’m back on the defensive in Egypt. The bottleneck is messing with my retreat and I’m going to lose more units than him most likely. On the plus side that is a lot of firepower that is not in Russia. The big question will be will those GE bombers stay in Libya/Egypt or will they go back to Russia for the Spring/Summer?

UK fleet entering the med to go after his air units, AA be damned and to choke off the ports to prevent reinforcements.

US fleets continuing across the Atlantic, the two USA DDs are given elite reinforcements. US fleet is very large but only has 2 DDs, I’d rather some of the 7 CLs were DDs instead.

MPP expenditures (excluding reinforcements and upgrades):
USSR – C&C research (lvl 2) Elite INF, Light INF (shattered). 59 MPP before EOT
USA – Production research (lvl 3). 11 MPP before EOT
UK – INF Corps (shattered). 192 MPP before EOT
FF – None. 49 MPP before EOT

USA doesn’t have a lot of money with all they are giving to the UK & USSR. They are a turn or 2 away from getting Industry 2, which will help.

I thought about rebuilding a 2nd UK INF Corps, but there is a lot of damaged units, particularly fighters in Egypt.

End of Turn Decision Events and Diplomacy results:
None

End of Turn Tech Breakthroughs/completed research:
UK Production 41% -> 59%
USA Ground Attack 67% -> 89%

Pictures:

29 January 11, 1942.jpg (2.73 MiB) Viewed 755 times

[Duedman]

The comparison of forces on the Eastern front does not bode well for the olde crow

[Elessar2]

On OCB's feed I wasn't trying to mock your tactics in North Africa per se. I am simply continually amazed at the unwillingness of players to put their mobile units at any sort of risk, at all, in favor of this "bait" silliness. Given the game mechanics I don't really blame you (or OCB, or anyone), but reading the two books by Robert Forczyk on mobile warfare during the war (the North African one will be out by the end of the year) neither side (Germans or Russians) ever pussyfooted around like SC players do. They instead went right for the jugular. Yeah, they often suffered tons of hull losses, but so did their targets.

For my scenario I have been brainstorming how to remedy this state of affairs. My #1 change is to give them a ton more base movement points (with increased river, terrain, and ZoC penalties) thus getting their behinds in gear and favoring encirclements, but I am afraid I'll just see more of this fire and fall back nonsense. If I bump up mobile units' defense ratings then it becomes a game of armor/mech, and targets (infantry). Then lower their attack ratings by the same amount more or less? Vanilla has the base tank corps Heavy Armor A/D as 5:5. Make it 4:6 then they become more durable, but perhaps will now need some anti-tank units to take up the slack when enemy armor shows up (which is indeed what Forczyk's narratives often indicated), but then I'll need to make more A-T available as builds.

[Elessar2]

The comparison of forces on the Eastern front does not bode well for the olde crow

Yeah-he has so much stuff in North Africa and around Moscow that Army Group South is mostly Huns and Rumanians, with gaps in his lines galore. He pretty much has to go for Moscow next summer.

[Taxman66]

Some quick points:

1. Armor is weaker on defense than on attack and is easier to hurt/kill
2. With the game mechanics of being able to repair units all at once it is far far better to have a beat up unit than it is to have it destroyed, where you have to wait for it to come back. This is doubly important in TRP where the discount for reforming units is small, and the wait time is perceptively longer (due to increase in turns per year) and for tanks is actually longer given they take 8 friggen months to build from scratch.
3. Keeping the armor alive is also cheaper in MPP terms and doesn't run the additional time/expense and transportation risks of getting it back in theater.

4. Most of those Soviets are weak ass butter sticks whose offensive virtues consist of: a) Removing 1 entrenchment at a typical cost of 4 damage; b) Threatening encirclements.

5. Things change over the winter. TRP normalizes the MPP income so summer money is almost exclusively spent on repairs, and Spring/Fall and especially winter turns see serious rearming with new unit purchases.

[Taxman66]

Allied Turn #: 74

Beginning of Turn Decision Events:
UK Fund Commandos - Yes

Diplomacy:
None

Actions taken not visible on opponents Replay:
Repeating myself, but damn that is a hell of a lot of firepower that is not in Russia.

MPP expenditures (excluding reinforcements and upgrades):
USSR – Elite Armor, MOT. 54 MPP before EOT
USA – Airship. 112 MPP before EOT
UK – None. 128 MPP before EOT
FF – None. 85 MPP before EOT

USA did not make enough to even buy an upgraded MOT (they don’t get any plain INF).

UK repaired planes in Egypt, needs to save MPP for continued fighting. I would love to buy back the killed units but the money is needed for the surviving ones.

End of Turn Decision Events and Diplomacy results:
Switzerland +11% Allied

End of Turn Tech Breakthroughs/completed research:
UK Production 61% -> 84%
USA Industry completed (lvl 2)

Pictures:
None

[Elessar2]

I had already planned to reduce both cost and time to rebuild shattered units, so that would presumably help, a little. The books I mentioned often downplayed the "distinction" between "shattered" and merely wrecked down to near impotency- in both cases the unit would be pulled off the line and sent elsewhere to rebuild, yes slowly. If it was completely destroyed more or less, if not encircled and surrendered. the Germans at least would typically give the same name to a brand-new unit (full cost rebuild of course in SC terms).