Tourny Rd2 1x1: Tica (Axis) v Forwarn (Allies)

[Forwarn45]

Time for another AAR! Tim and I have talked about doing one for our game and I have been keeping screenshots. First: The Background. 1939-1940 saw the French and British put up quite a fight to try to defend France, which I believe fell in Summer of 1940. At one point, the Allies retook The Low Countries. But in the end, the Allied forces wer entirely depleted and the remaining British troops had to be evacuated - er "redeployed." The British initially sought to hinder the Italians in the Mediterranean, but in the end the Luftwaffe forced a withdrawal to the Eastern Med and then through the Suez. At one point, the Axis placed a few troops in Africa - but Tim had other plans - and withdrew them in advance of the invasion of Russia. Tim elects not to wage much of a uboat campaign, which meant US war readiness increased slowly. I don't think I got the production bonus until maybe Fall of '41?

Tim's Germans knifed Stalin in the back in Summer of '41. And we begin this (delayed) AAR. Here, we have the situation near the beginning of the Soviet turn.

[Forwarn45]

Casualties so far - sometime near the beginning of the Soviet turn.

[Forwarn45]

Current troops.

[Forwarn45]

OK, and the Soviet turn sees the Russians hit the Kharkov panzer spearhead with enormous force. Russian tanks that had been built in the rear areas join air and artillery. We have just enough tanks (5) to get the combined arms bonus. Reinforcements are later rushed to Kharkov and I believe the rail was rebuilt to help resist further German advances. The factory in Belorussia is railed to Kiev, and the troops are redeployed (not shown).

[Forwarn45]

The Red Airforce has recently been strengthened. Tim has some of the Luftwaffe deployed against the Western Allies, who he occassionally bombs. The Reds sortie against airbases in Rumania. I can't recall if the Reds are equal or better than the German airforce at this point - I think they may be slightly better. Investing heavy in spies earlier allowed them to catch up and eventually surpass the Germans in quality for a time.

[Forwarn45]

Asia is quiet. Tim has bombed the Chinese factories - but we have kept most of them supplied and rebuilt. At this point, I can't tell whether Tim is about to attack the West or whether we have some time.....

[tcart]

Let me join in here, a litte late but I'll try to add to Dave's comments thus far. This game already looks like a primer for how not to manage the Axis, so I'm not sure what value the AAR will have, beyond other tournament players jockeying to play me in the next round.

I've played Dave once before and he's an exceptionally strong opponent. The Axis started with the overall goal of winning by running out the clock, as I don't expect to be able to score an AV. The Axis therefore opt to hit the UK with strategic bombing rather than uboats, as the damage won't push up the US WR. If you're going to play for time, keeping the US down for as long as possible is a critical ingredient.

Dave's robust defense of France caught me off guard. See my 2x2 game with Polonthi for a primer in how to counter this move. I hadn't seen it before and thus got sucked into a war of attrition in the Low Countries. As the Axis were hoping to steamroller France and then keep England down with strategic bombing until later in the war, few preparations had been made for an extended land campaign. France fell in Summer 1940, but with signficantly more German losses than I would have expected.

To add insult to injury, Italy delayed entering the war (Mussolini no doubt was impressed with the stout Allied defense), allowing the British extra time to redeploy back to safer positions and cover Gibraltar.

German strategic bombing of England, when it did get underway, was startlingly ineffective.

Summer 1941 found the Germans already in a hole. I managed to bust through to Kharkov, but faulty reconaissance failed to reveal the potential for a counter attack. I must confess, I didn't expect such a hard blow on the first turn of Barbarossa and therefore didn't push the right unit mix into Kharkov after my attack. Note to self, don't leave spearheads open to combined arms counterattacks, even against the wimpy Russians in '41

[Forwarn45]

Fall of '41 is fairly quiet. The Red Airforce again attacks the Luftwaffe and rail link in Kiev. The Soviet army will reinforce Kharkov with the hope of a counterattack toward Kiev in Winter.

[Forwarn45]

The Soviets have moved rapidly to close the tech gap with the Germans. One of the secrets to success - the spies! I thought this would be a good turn to show it since we stole German intelligence information - so you can see that as well.

[tcart]

Fall '41 - Axis
 
The Russian technology advances have indeed been impressive. I was particularly shocked to find the Russian air force already comparable to the Luftwaffe. I make a habit of checking the spy results each turn, but must have underestimated the effectiveness of the KGB and GRU.
 
Germany is pretty much stuck at this point. We lack the land power to push farther into Russia, and costly attrition battles will play to his advantage.
 
In the west we launch a strategic bombing campaign to at least keep the Brits off our back, only to suffer to HB's lost to AA fire in a single turn. Damn those low evasion rolls.
 
 

[Forwarn45]

On to Russian winter - Tim pulls back so I don't have the opportunity for the first winter offensive. The Soviets move into Kiev in force.

[tcart]

Winter 1941 - Germany
 
Having lost the momentum, the Germans see no reason to invite punishment by staying within striking range during the Winter turn. This puts us back basically on our own border, which is somewhat depressing, but what's a Reichsmarshall to do? One the snowball starts rolling against you in AWD it's hard to turn it around again, especially on the Eastern Front.
 
The Japanese shift their planning somewhat to keep the US out of the war for as long as possible. With the tide running against us just about our only hope is to keep the WAllies from gearing up.

[Forwarn45]

In Spring of '42, the Soviets hit the Axis airbases in Rumania in preparation for a ground attack. The result - the beginning of the "liberation" of the workers of Eastern Europe.

[Forwarn45]

Ground attack!

[Forwarn45]

And the World wonders when Japan will attack. Here is war readiness - note the US didn't get its production bonus until quite late! For now, the Pacific remains peaceful.

[Forwarn45]

Summer of '44 sees a German counteroffensive against Kiev - an apparent attempt to isolate the Rumanian troops. Fortunately, the Red Army repulses the attack.

[Forwarn45]

Stalin orders a bloody offensive against the strongest points of the German line. There is only a small chance of taking the territory - and casualties are expected to be heavy for both sides. But the Soviets have more blood to give. What can I say - Stalin was not a nice guy. [;)]

[Forwarn45]

The British have improved their airforces, and decide to take the airwar to the continent - bombing airfields in France.

[Forwarn45]

Detail from the airbattle in France.

[tcart]

Germany Summer '42
Summer of '42 and Rumania has fallen. Where do I turn in my World Conqueror's membership card? The Germans can only consolidate their forces and hope to delay the Russians as long as possible. I can reinforce more quickly and easily than he can, and Germany remains a formidable industrial power (for now), so I might be able to build up enough force to effect a stalemate until the US enters the war.
 
Speaking of which, the US WR remains low, giving the Japanese no incentive to stir up the sleeping Yanks. Supplies are built and tech invested in.