Rise of the Reich (no 821Bobo)

[Michael T]

Multiplayer PBEM, 1939, me Axis, Robert (821Bobo) Allied. No Dip.

Robert and I are old WITE sparring partners.

We are both new to this like most. We were not playtesters so you can expect plenty of blunders and foul ups

So that should at least be entertaining. Kicking this off from 13th Oct 1939, turn 4.

Poland surrendered on turn 2. Then with the remaining good weather attention turned to Benelux. They have just surrendered.

I haven't really come to any decision as to what I will do with Italy yet, still thinking about them guys. But I did disband a bomber and built a fighter in place.

Main aim for Germany obviously is to eradicate France ASAP.

Pic below shows the main front end of my turn 4.

[Michael T]

A couple of combat reports. My subs in action and some bombing by the Allies on my Panzers.

[Michael T]

Some more reports...

[AlbertN]

Have you got so many Germans at France exploiting the Eastern Poland 'teleport'?

[Michael T]

No teleport. Just rail. I started railing from turn 1 though. Even a Panzer Corp. Seems to me Poland in one turn requires luck. Whereas Poland in two turns is safe and you can spare some people to go west straight off the bat.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Michael T
But I did disband a bomber and built a fighter in place.

Curious why you chose to disband the bomber? Keeping it in Italy on naval mission set to support means it'll automatically try and intercept naval invasions within its range during your opponents turn and possibly sink or damage units at sea before they get ashore. Naval mission means it won't fly any automatic land bombardment missions most turns so no oil usage until an invasion or lurking fleet shows up.

I think (not sure) if you keep it on a supply 9 hex it also won't count for oil upkeep costs, so I don't see a downside to keeping it around.

Jim

[Michael T]

They start with 2 bomber, 1 Tac and 1 fighter. I prefer 2 Fighter and the Tac plus 1 Bomber at this point. So I can keep 1 Fighter covering the fleet and the other free to go where I desire it.

[Zovs]

Ah, but the bombers do come in useful in direct gs mode.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Looking forward to reading of this game. Good luck to both of you.

[Michael T]

End Turn 5 (27th Oct 1939)

I tried an experimental probe into the French line, just to see if any progress could be made in the Rain. Nope.

I lost 2 Arm steps, an Air Step and 2 INF steps for the gain of 7 French INF losses over the course of two attacks. And I failed to take the hex. Considering the losses and the fuel use in this exercise
I don't think I will be attacking again in this weather. So let the Sitzkrieg begin.

My U-Boats got hammered this turn as moving them 2 op points and then not being able to turn them to raiders is suicidal. As they can be baited to intercept and get crushed
by overwhelming force. So the only way I see you can move the subs around in relative safety is to only use 1 op point and hit raider. So that means it will take 2 turns to get
to the convoy route, and 1 turn to return. That just leaves 2 turns to actually attack the route. Unless you use oilers. French ports will help the cause. But till then it's going to be difficult for the U-Boats I think.

I also built a new German Fighter this turn. The French bombed Munich and got 2 hits. I think I am going to need at least 2 fighters just to defend against Strategic Bombing, even at this early stage of the war.

[Zovs]

Put the subs on raider first

[Flaviusx]

Rain is worse than snow for combat, imo. I wouldn't give up and go all sitzkrieg just yet. You can wreck one enemy corps a turn even in inclement weather, and this adds up. You also aren't bringing all your power to bear here, I see you kept one panzer corps in the back to exploit. Nope. Forget that for now, belly up to the bar, and put as much combat power into an attack as possible. 4-1 odds or better are acceptable imo. The enemy may be putting his troops on hold orders. That's fine, if you can shatter one corps a turn that works for you.

The strategic bombing is annoying, but If I have to choose between building panzers or aircraft at this stage, I'd say build a panzer.

[Michael T]

Certainly rain is no go for attacking these allied units, from what I have seen so far anyways. I will most likely try again in snow just to see. The problem is the cost even if successful. So much fuel used. It's inefficient. I already have 2 Pz Corp in the cue. I plan to build 2 Mech units next. So by the good weather in 1940 I will have at least 4 Arm Corp and 2 Mech Corp.

As an aside, in my allied game ( v bcgames) my bombers have obliterated the Ruhr cities (still in Dec 39). I don't think one can afford to ignore the threat of strategic bombing even at this early stage.

[Michael T]

BTW that Panzer in the rear was on the front line but it was subject to a staggering number of ground strikes the past 2 turns and it's readiness was below 60%. So I switched it out, rather than expend 3 trucks to make it combat worthy.

[Flaviusx]

6 total mobile corps is plenty for France, yeah.

[comsolut]

My U-Boats got hammered this turn as moving them 2 op points and then not being able to turn them to raiders is suicidal. As they can be baited to intercept and get crushed by overwhelming force. So the only way I see you can move the subs around in relative safety is to only use 1 op point and hit raider. So that means it will take 2 turns to get to the convoy route, and 1 turn to return. That just leaves 2 turns to actually attack the route. Unless you use oilers. French ports will help the cause. But till then it's going to be difficult for the U-Boats I think.

My impression as well.

[Michael T]

November 10th, 1939

The weather Gods smile upon us and we get a Cold turn. So Germany launches an offensive and manages to drive a nice wedge in to the French lines and capture Lille to boot. Losses for this operation so far have been 13 German Ground (inc 4 Armour) to 54 French (inc 1 shatter). Much better. Air losses were 3 or 4 each. But I am a little exposed, so now we have to sweat it out and see what any counter attack results in. My spearhead Panzer Corp is risking destruction. Fingers crossed it survives. I expect a multitude of air strikes on it and then a number of ground assaults. I have my best leader in range and the unit is set to hold. There is some remaining ground support.

In other news we lost a sub. It had 3 strength and attacked a convoy. Sunk for nil Merchants lost. I am really wondering about the so called U-Boat menace at this point.

Also Germany DOW on Denmark. Pushed up to Copenhagen. Will the Allies send in troops? I doubt it.

Munich once again got hammered. I have a Fighter in range now, so expect raids will stop, or find a new target. Most likely my exposed Armour.

[Michael T]

Total losses for the majors.

[Michael T]

Looking at the loss of Lille for France. That's 25% of their production. That's a blow if I can hold it.

[Michael T]

A pause for 3 or 4 days in this game until my opponent returns from a trip.