Jajusha vs Pelton, going where no WA has gone before

[Jajusha]

Ok, hoping this AAR will help alot of struggling players with what mistakes you should not do while playing the WA against anything not AI.

I invaded sicily as normal, and imediatle becan preparing the invasion of Mainland Italy.

The idea was a massive, 2 sided landing near Taranto.



It all began at turn 9 (28th of August), under rainy weather (bad idea number 1)
Invasion launched, and the paradrops are.... there are no paradrops, because no airplane has range to drop near Taranto (bad idea number 2)



I put over 1100 LBs and PAs, with 120 escort craft doing naval patrols to secure the shipping lanes. What can go wrong?

[Jajusha]

Turn 10

Ok, the Luftwaffe got lucky this turn. 0 supplies received.
Lets turn the tables shall we?

Enemy propaganda made its appearance in the invasion beaches, but any air casualty was dismissed by high command as "bad weather"


We capture the airfields and transfer nearly 150 fighters and 200 patrol aircraft to mainland italy to turn the tables in the air:


Air patroll intesity is doubled, but in the ground, some shortages are reported, but swiftly dismissed

[Jajusha]

Turn 11

Supplies received: 0


Luftwaffe UFO reports are now daily. Naval patrols are innefective. 1100 airframes just aren't enough!


Airframes in mainland Italy can't fly. Pilots complain they have fuel, but are too lazy to refill the airframes (no air support, even if the temp ports have around 8000 total supplies still, big mistake here, need to reread the rules about air supply):

[Jajusha]

Turn 12
Supplies received: 0

1 out of 4 invasion beaches captured. Real footage brought to high command:


CV values start to drop due to lack of supplies. After my air turn, this is the best i get (totally useless. Allied supplies are rolled after the axis air phase.)


1 decision remains...

[whoofe]

thats some serious naval interdiction!

[Baelfiin]

how many fighters are going in with your air?

Going that deep you might need more p-38s

[marion61]

Think of naval interdiction more in terms of how many sorties you can put over the area vs how many planes. Throwing planes at a distance problem won't work. Your Patrol craft can only stay over the target area once a day maybe, while his are making short range hops two or three times a day. Effectively he gets more planes patrolling at any given time compared to what you can throw at it. At this stage he can easily have 800 bombers doing just naval patrol, sucking up your supply route.

And I like the commentary with photos.

[Jajusha]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin

how many fighters are going in with your air?

Going that deep you might need more p-38s

1100 LB's and PAs, 120 escort fighters are flying
+
150 fighters and 200 PAs that won't fly due to lack of air support crews in the mainland italy bases

ORIGINAL: meklore61

Think of naval interdiction more in terms of how many sorties you can put over the area vs how many planes. Throwing planes at a distance problem won't work. Your Patrol craft can only stay over the target area once a day maybe, while his are making short range hops two or three times a day. Effectively he gets more planes patrolling at any given time compared to what you can throw at it. At this stage he can easily have 800 bombers doing just naval patrol, sucking up your supply route.

And I like the commentary with photos.

ORIGINAL: Jajusha

Turn 11

This a 10 hexes naval interdiction belt around my ports. 10 hexes of value 9 interdiction (on a rating of 1 to 9). Even if i do the same on my turn, it just gets contested for him to turn the tables again on his turn

[CaptBeefheart]

I'm just a noob, but perhaps bomb his airfields? Also, maybe put up some Air Superiority over that region?

Cheers,
CC

[paullus99]

I think we've discovered a good source of "what not to do."

[Baelfiin]

This is rough one man. Not sure how many guys you have left but need lots more fighters vs a concentrated LW. P38's p51's when you get them, Mosquitoes and night fighters flying day mission to escort your patrols if you go that far.
Probably run short of air bases on sicily

[Jajusha]

Turn 13

Pulled back from Mainland Italy.
Beeing stubborn would cost me 10 divisions.
This organized retreat will cost 2 infantry divisions. A small price to pay for such a critically bad move.
Attrition losses where small(ish), as the allied move phase is just after the allied naval patrols, and i was able to shift the sea lines slightly into my favor for the retreat.

General thought after around 5 turns of uncertainty:
Overconfidence lead to me expecting no resistance until Gustav line. I Was wrong.
Underestimated the full power of the Luftwaffe. Even if i had better number of Level bombers, the fighter cover was insufficient.
My lack of experience from playing the WA lead to unsustainable situations, like the lack of paradrops at key locations or the 300 planes that could not fly due to the lack of Air Support crews (that you don't generate unless you get shipping freight)

I think, at the end of this bad situation, this will cost around 100 VP points, and a foothold in mainland italy.