This was a mirror match after I had just played the Axis and Jeremy the Allies. Jeremy was the original designer of the scenario at 50km/hex and I revised it at 25km/hex, so this is a designer vs. designer match. All screenshots will depend on opening the .PBL files I have saved in my email (thank God I use easy passwords for TOAW) and so will be from the Allied point of view at the start of the turn.
Turn 1:
[Sorry this is a bit long- they get shorter]
Initial German landings
Like the last match, the opening here is a bit unusual. Jeremy's used almost all of his airborne might to storm Mobile on turn one. This port's not normally very approachable due to the placement of the anchorages, and indeed his infantry is still a long way from the port, but four divisions of paratroops is ample to seize it on turn one. This does mean that he's not far from the shore, as no paratroops have dropped ahead of the main landing, but the South is so short of Allied troops that a vigorous response just isn't possible. Inevitably, Jeremy will be able to open up a broad front here quite quickly.
In addition to this, Jeremy's attempted a landing at Quebec. This is an unusual target as it's at the extreme limit of Axis sealift, is a nasty combination of being hard to expand from yet close to the heartland of the initial on-map Allied force. His landing here is a bit anemic- 22. Luftlande to cut the city off from supply and six infantry divisions, two thirds of which are on the wrong side of the St. Lawrence. I'd like to think I can throw him into the sea here. I think the purpose of this landing is similar to mine at Boston in the last match- a diversion and an opportunity for me to blunder.
Jeremy's third landing is at Tampico with just two divisions, presumably to be reinforced on another turn. I'm slightly concerned as a designer that this is almost a gimme- take Tampico and Mexico City will follow by turn 10. I don't like no-brainers in a scenario like Fall Grau and this is something to come on to in future. Maybe Mexico's balance of regular and guerrilla forces ought to be re-assessed.
Initial Allied response
So that's what Jeremy did, what do I do? Well I contend that the secret to winning Fall Grau as the Allies is to avoid fighting the Axis- especially avoid fighting them where they're strong and in open ground. This of course has to be balanced with slowing them down, but slowing them should be done with delaying actions, not massive set-piece battles.
The instinct is to rush everything to Quebec. But there is little available locally in the South and reinforcements for this front have to come from somewhere- in particular, I don't want to let Jeremy too quickly into the relatively open country of Georgia and the Carolinas, and the ports along the long Atlantic seaboard need covering. Forces from New York wind up heading south to cover the coast of Maryland, and most of the rest goes to shield Massachusetts.
What does go South is almost everything in the Midwest, up to and including Milwaukee, plus forces from the west as far afield as Omaha. Next turn and the turn after I'll be painfully weak- and if Jeremy chooses to make a secondary landing at Savannah there's not a lot I can do about it- but thereafter I should have some options. Thing to do will be to keep my strength intact rather than just sacrificing my reinforcements every turn.
Mexico is more of a problem. This front will get nothing for the time being, but I must prevent Jeremy bloodlessly reaching the Plains. I achieved great success with small armoured forces in highly mobile fighting around Monterrey two matches ago, but against a competent player history does not repeat itself- I must expect Jeremy to behave differently.
I spend quite a bit of time making sure that supply doesn't "leak" out of Jeremy's existing supply points to his troops landed without supply at Tampico and Quebec, and also leave him without supply at Pensacola for what it's worth. This leaves me with an extremely loose bag around the landing at Mobile, which will be RBC'd out of the way on the Axis turn. The best part of it is that I am able to extract 9th Armor from the stack that retreated out from Mobile.
Mexico makes do with what it has. I intend to erect a screen of troops in the rough ground around Mexico City, which will be given time to entrench by delaying forces in the pass through the mountains to the north- but delay is all that these troops can hope to do if Jeremy serious reinforces this front.
At Quebec I have a tempting option. Adjacent to the city he has three divisions, with the other four linked by a hex held only by half of 22. Luftlande. If I can throw the brigade out of this hex, he'll have a hell of a time assaulting the city next turn. It's a gamble, but worth it. I throw the city's mobile defenders into this assault, plus the full might of the RCAF, whilst the USAAF for its part hammers the other brigade of 22. Luftlande over to the west.
The attack out of Quebec is a complete success; the Luftlande Brigade promptly evaporates, I advance, destroy the bridge, then withdraw back into the city to entrench. The USAAF does some damage to 22. Luftlande, but not enough to be worth the loss of supply and readiness, and so for round two these withdraw to the South.
So after one turn- looking good. It's a genuine possibility that I can stop Jeremy getting the port at Quebec. He'll have to reinforce heavily if he wants it- and then there goes his fast start out of Mexico. Actually as him, I'd almost be inclined to give up on it, let me spend four turns destroying these six divisions with a good dozen of mine. Whatever happens, I don't intend to rest on my laurels; there will be a hard battle ahead in the South and West.
The initial German landing at Mobile - only two divisions are in range to respond
