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I am playing 2 games vs him. One as each side.

So far I am finding the French campaign early on balanced. He had a better than expected winter with 2 clear turns and still only took out France late June. As the Axis I tried a different strategy in France than he did and I am still stuck in August from collapsing them but I am very close. What I did different besides the map strategy is invade Yugoslavia. If I had not done this France would already be dead. So invading Yugo in 1940 along with France deprives the Axis of much needed troops in France.

My conclusion is that France is well balanced. I have had other tests with other games and generally France falls between June and August depending on the skill levels and strategies if both are close.

I am enjoying myself quite a bit as both sides.

You have done surprisingly well as the Developer in your Defense and Invasion of France.(1st real mirror game against a player who has played a bit) Yugoslavia is way too early to invade. 3 or 4 fresh German Corp would be nice to be able to cycle in and strike my depleted French/British Forces.

As Axis I really stacked France more than I would against someone else assuming you won't go for Sea Lion. I took a calculated risk and you're doing pretty well raiding me in the Atlantic due to my over-investment in Land Forces. I pulled every gamey trick to to make France as packed as possible with AT divsions-small corps-big corps. Also I will admit the UK has 2 Tank Korps in Aug. 1940 invading me would be suicide...

Now the real test will be the build up for Barbarossa and how well you handle it. You will probably see that it's quite hard against me and against you I should show you how easy it can be done given you may or may not know which unit composition to put into place. We shall see Mr. Fuzzypup

To War !!! (1 hint Mechs, riverlines, Tanks, and more Mechs I won't advise further)

Very fun game on both mirror games.

Yes I did not take a chance on Sealion. Building land units serves 2 purposes for the UK. Defense vs Sealion and reinforcing the Middle East. I have been also building an escort every other turn too. So my builds are pretty balanced. I went for 2 armored corps 1st thing as the UK and France for counter attacks.

I think Armor is very necessary till air power becomes more dominant later on or more numerous. You showed me a thing or two I didn't know could be done like blockading Malta or being able to take Denmark without letting any enemy in(I wouldn't think to toss my amphib points) but you should to prevent your Baltic from getting invaded.

Taking Denmark is easy. You need only one german corps. One turn conquest.
Place one german corps to the closest hex in North Germany. DoW, and move two hex, closing up to Copenhagen. Than detach a division. The division is alway detached closest to the capital.
The new 20 strength corps move and attack the capital. And the detached infantry division, ha 2 moves left, and that's enough to capture the city.
Always works.

I'm playing a little unorthodox to test exploits and possibilities. Seeing how it impacts the German time table. Allows me to balance better.

One thing I have noticed is while the Italian logistics level is about historically accurate it doesn't allow for more flexibility. So I think I will increase it some. The Italians run out of logistics quick. I will see later in these games how it impacts the situation.

It depends on if they're taking bad losses. Most the time Italy isn't so their logistics in all my games is capped early in 1941 usually...

As Almeron puts it there are exploits here and there, like any game... in World of Warships they have a system warning when a person targets you. If someone suddenly is targeting you stops, then starts again it's an exploit it means they fired torps. OR, they are pretending they are and hitting the X targetting system and throwing you ff.

As Almeron puts it there are exploits here and there, like any game

One turn Denmark is far to be called as an exploit. Just a simple detach in a good position.

Almeron that is a bug, correct. You are getting free AP out of a split unit. I am not sure if gamebreaking though?

My concern is a little wider, i.e. Can the Soviets hold when both sides are strong. Can Sea Lion be prevented if Brits are all in.

Some very polished games I've played had tons of bugs way, way into the release. The Dev is a pretty much a one man team addressing each, fairly fast.

I heard once with Strategic Command 2 it would be till 1.7 when most the bugs were ironed out they still had 'em and still do today.

Battle as Axis.... He invades Vichy and takes out North Africa. I send over a mountain of brits but he arrives to my defense line before I do in Morocco. So now I have to pull out. Battle is going for a Gibraltar invasion. After that I am not sure.

Battle as Allies... Axis take Malta and invade Greece. I tried a run around to cut the Greeks and run into heavy rain which almost kills my panzers. Now Greeks are going to go down before the Summer offensive. Barbarossa is piling up for a clash of titans. German u-boats lure the UK fleet to the South Atlantic. The German surface navy raids the Atlantic or a month causing havoc in the Allies convoy lines. They run out of supply just as the UK fleet turns around. They now run for home.

Both games are very interesting.

Axis game:

Hard to counter anything the Axis do early, unless Allies pull some sort of move that is unexpected. In this phase. I am not pulling punches with the Developer. I want him to feel the Might of the Axis Land Force and the ability to free up resources west. Only way to show balance is to feel it. I feel my Axis have medium losses. Impressive by Alvaro.
It's up to Russia, the tiny window of timetable and the Western Allies to Throw in something clever mid game 1941 late or early '42 to move this fully Allied. It is doable...


Allied Game:

I have never seen such a clever maneuver on the seas. I notice the Dev has fully utilized the Atlantic War to frustrate me to no end. I am losing things but I still feel my Russians are incredibly strong. I am building such a defense and army the world has never seen. I feel the Germans will weep at what they see when they cross that unholy border (of course about 1000 hit points gotta go for me to get any experience on anything) This will be a true test of Russian Defensive prowess! And German Experience/Elite Units... We will have Tea in Berlin by Summer of '42 or bust!

Me Axis - This is the casualty report so far. It is March 1941. Conservative in Africa, took Yugo and Greece preparing for a 41 Barb vs a river line defense instead of one up front. I did not take Norway. I have max invested on subs in an effort to neutralize the UK war effort. If it is working only Battlevonwar knows. Let the true test of WarPlan begin. So far I feel we are about equal in skill.

There are 8 uboats on the map and 2 more coming out soon. The German navy is now on it's 2nd raid of the war in the North Atlantic. I might actually have a real impact on the UK's ability to transport production this year. I think it will be the critical year in the Atlantic. The UK needs ~130 MMs and it has ~150 MMs as of March.

Me - Allies. UK is on the offensive in North Africa. Germans take all of Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. I lost only 2 divisions in my impromptu evacuation. The troops are lining up on the Russian front. Not sure if he will Barb in 41. Malta is being blockaded and bombed. England is secure.

Battle von as the Axis has caused 37 MMs sunk and 2 escorts in exchange for 22 uboat losses.

Naval units around Gibraltar do the dance of the 7 veils around each other.

Allies: I really needed to invest a little more in the Navy... and you are dancing around me with your Navy. I need to play more Allies and mess around with them. I am wondering if I have a surprise in Russia for you. Maybe not initially. I think I can hold!

Axis:

I am feeling confidant here...Just a little slow in getting things organized. Your forward deployment in Russia is not something I would go with. I think this is the only error you may ever make then again it will only be for certain when I make a push and see. Egypt and Libya are just so seesaw and I have had the time to do North Africa/Gibraltar and I would of liked Spain but it didn't seem necessary.

Axis get rushed they make errors...timetables, same with the Allies... all about pushing the opponent on his heels unprepared like you have done with me with the U-boat campaign. Though I think that the Campaign make be too costly on the land army I have to see what you throw at Russia!

So more updates.


Me Axis Attacked Late May - The Russians keep pulling the akito martial arts not fighting me and pulling back river line to river line. I am at Leningrad, zoning in on Moscow and have passed the Kiev line with little losses. Forces 1500 Germans vs 2000 Russians. Allies are going on the offensive in Libya. Axis forces are prepared and defending. I did not take Gibraltar or Norway. I have taken Greece and Yugoslavia. I went a heavy sub strategy which has paid off hammering Allied convoys to where Battle is not probably slightly below the MMs he needs. I have a good defense of all my locations to thwart the Allies from doing anything to me without suffering greatly. I am protecting my rail lines in Russia, France has units to defend any invasion.

Battle Axis Attacked Mid April - The Russians are fighting a Krav Maga counter attacking and delaying at key points using the airforce to slow down Germany. It is late June and Battle is still on the Riga river line. the Kiev river line, and almost the same spot near Moscow as I am. Battle has taken French North Africa, Gibraltar, Greece, and aligned Yugoslavia. Battle went for a limited sub strategic and my UK is going pretty well. I have some surprises in store for Battle within the next couple months. Battle isn't protecting his rear in Russia and it just cost him an airbase to a partisan. Battle has around 50% of the forces defending his west coast. He seems to be throwing the kitchen sink at Russia.

1942 will be a very interesting match.

My Axis - balanced strategy, good defense, weak UK, holding less territory west, probably more territory east.
Battle Axis - kitchen sink strategy, strong UK, holding more territory west, and less territory east.

Our forces are about equal in terms of numbers. We both have the same amount of land units. I do have a substantial sub force though.

I think these two games will determine the balancing factors in Russia for future changes. We are evenly matched in skills so far. Very exciting game.

August 1st 1941 me as the Allies

Total forces

October 1941 me as the Axis