scout1(WA) v ultradave(GER) - War over - Major Axis Victory

[ultradave]

Turn 1

Scott gets his revenge as we reverse the tables from our last battle (http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3874004) with me taking the Germans and Scott the WA starting at D-Day.

This will be my first time ever playing the Germans, either solo or against a real opponent, so I expect that I will "learn" a lot of lessons as we go along. The initial Allied invasion is ashore in Normandy, and a counterattack by the 1SS Pz Div and supporting units drives the British 6th Abn Div out of Caen and back to the beaches. Other than that the German first turn is reacting to the invasion and moving reinforcements toward the beachhead without being totally attritted. Scott has interdiction values high in the immediate area of the beaches but beyond that I was able to move reasonably well.

Lesson 1 already is making sure to pay attention to partisan points so as not to lose too many victory points from lack of garrisons. I'm in good shape except for Dreux, which I hadn't realized was a garrison city until after I moved an armored division out of it. That will be rectified next turn.

A picture of the beachhead area after the combat turn that "removed" the paras from Caen.

[scout1]

Well, I haven't played the Allies before, so this makes us even .......

Ike opted to risk the weather and land on June 6th ..... The Allies are ashore, though not without some challenges ..
British and US ground troops waded ashore with the intent of the airborne forces already seizing key objectives.

The British airborne troops nearly took Caen but were pushed out by superior forces. The US airborne forces though had different plans. Neither the 82ns nor the 101st made it to the European mainland. Orders were issues to determine what went amiss....

The 82nd AB was found in central England near Nottingham scattered amongst multiple local pubs. The MP's were sent in the collect the boys for the mission they were late too only to have multiple injuries inflicted to the MP's. You know how those airborne boys are once they get to drinking ....
Meanwhile, it appears as if the 101st opted to scatter throughout the English countryside and have taken local garb as no sign of the unit as turned up thus far. Roosevelt is most embarrassed.

[ultradave]

Gotta keep on top of those 82d Abn guys. You never know what they will get up to.

As for the 101st, no comment.

[ultradave]

Turn 3

Shoring up the defenses in the bocage. Having those 2 Abn divisions fail to appear has definitely helped in setting up a decent defense. Did a bit of reorganization of units in Normandy.

I've included the interdiction levels. Looks like I was able to contest the air over the beaches, and prevent heavy interdiction in all but the areas directly behind the beaches. Hopefully that's caused Scott some trouble and allowed me to move some units up to form a good defense.

[ultradave]

Interdiction levels, turn 3

Victory points are at -78, mostly due to Allied casualties. To be expected assaulting the beaches I imagine.

[scout1]

82nd still resisting MP effort to rout them out of the English pubs ..... 101st found in Northern Ireland .... Guessing it's the whiskey they're after .....

Meanwhile, the ground troops slogging in the muck in Normandy ......

Italian Campaign an ugly reminder why it was such a bad idea ..... Thinking this was Churchill ....

[ultradave]

The 101st being in Northern Ireland presumably means their drop was defeated. 82d? Not enough transports?

Interdiction levels are high right at the front but behind the front, German fighters kept the Allied fighter bombers at bay making movement to reinforce the front not too bad.

In Italy looks like the Allies made a couple of attacks and took about 4x the casualties as the Germans. I can sympathize. Italy at this point is very tough.

Interdiction levels:

[ultradave]

Why are my pictures coming out so huge? They are small screen grabs.

A picture of the beach head area. Germans counterattack the British 30th Armored Bde and they retreated? But to where?

[ultradave]

Oh, there they are !!

[scout1]

They'll be back, don't you worry .....

Meanwhile, the AI air commander can't seem to control the airspace within this region. Guess I'll have to breakdown and actually read how to do this ....[&:][&:]

Managed to budge units out of one hex but took a lot of effort. Counter attacks expected .....

[Seminole]

Why are my pictures coming out so huge? They are small screen grabs.

I find imgur.com to be a very simple, free image host.

[ultradave]

Thanks. I do have an account there. Normally I have no trouble just uploading the pics from my desktop. All the ones I've posted have been about the same size. I think it has something to do with either my new MacBook Pro and how Parallels plays with the Mac Retina display. I may have done those at different base resolutions on the Mac

[ultradave]

Scott. At the risk of contributing to my defeat I think you need to control the air. The AI won't do enough for you to control the air over Normandy.

[ultradave]

Turn 6

Allies are still bottled up on the beaches, however, two US armored divisions are threatening Cherbourg. Still holding our own in the air and not losing too much moving units up to reinforce.

We'll see what happens when Scott takes control of the air directives.

[Joel Billings]

Not having the 82nd and 101st AB secure some space for you in the west has really put you in a bind. Did you not drop both of them on turn 1? You need space to bring in additional divisions. If you stay trapped on the beaches you may not get off them. You need to generate level 9 interdiction on the front line hexes and take one, then push in 3 more divisions. Every hex should be piled high. You should have your follow up divisions out at sea right behind the amphibs waiting to come ashore as soon as you make space.

[LiquidSky]

Yes....The most important tool in invading is the paratrooper. In early '44 you can drop 3 divisions and a brigade.

Here is the turn after I invade Netherlands in one game...I haven't moved yet...but the Germans have reacted. Because of the high level of interdiction he was unable to even get adjacent to the paratroopers..let alone attack or plug up my invasion.





EDIT: I apologize for hijacking your thread with this screenshot.

[ultradave]

Quite all right. It's an AAR but I'm sure we both feel any comments or related discussions are most welcome.

Your Netherlands invasion looks a bit like mine. Get ashore fast with as much as possible. I dropped 4 airborne divisions on the invasion turn and a 5th a couple of turns later to secure a strategic point.

Joel is right. Priority 1 is to secure breathing room. Otherwise there is no place available to bring in reinforcements.

[LiquidSky]

ORIGINAL: ultradave

<snip>
Your Netherlands invasion looks a bit like mine. Get ashore fast with as much as possible. I dropped 4 airborne divisions on the invasion turn and a 5th a couple of turns later to secure a strategic point.

<snip>

Yeah..I dropped the 82nd the turn after on a certain strategic ferry crossing [;)]

[scout1]

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

Not having the 82nd and 101st AB secure some space for you in the west has really put you in a bind. Did you not drop both of them on turn 1? You need space to bring in additional divisions. If you stay trapped on the beaches you may not get off them. You need to generate level 9 interdiction on the front line hexes and take one, then push in 3 more divisions. Every hex should be piled high. You should have your follow up divisions out at sea right behind the amphibs waiting to come ashore as soon as you make space.

Believe I did ...... the 101st was later found in Northern Ireland .... I'm thinking it was the whiskey .... Dave thinks they got bounced .....
The 82nd is a different story .... Found in the bars in central England .... I believe I "asked" them to drop but with all the activity, can't be sure ... either way, this outfit is a bitch to get out of the bars .......

[ultradave]

Real life story. When I was in the 82d, we did an exchange with the Canadian Parachute Regt. We swapped people with one of their artillery batteries (best thing I got to do in the Army - made up for some of the really bad times).

Our troops went up there thinking "We're tough American paratroopers. We're going to show these Canadians how to party"


Right.

Every night our guys were dragging themselves out of bed after a night of drinking with their Cdn hosts. The Canadians in contrast were ready to run 10 miles every morning.

Their officers treated us quite well too. I had one Canadian CPT (I was just a lowly 2LT at the time) push me away from the bar "This is my country. I buy the drinks here. What'll ya' have?"

It was great. They were fantastic hosts. It was just a familiarization exchange, where we got to use all their equipment and weapons for 40 days while their guys were at Fort Bragg using ours. Made 5 jumps with them and got our Canadian jump wings. They got a free long weekend in Myrtle Beach. We got a free long weekend in Ottawa (lovely city).

But out-party the Canadian Paras?? Not happening. And on top of that we came away very impressed. They were top notch troopers. Really well trained and motivated (and better paid than us).

Sad that the Parachute Regt is no more.

Perhaps your 82d gents fell in with some Canadians stationed around Nottingham. They have always been great hosts and great friends!