Matrix Games Forums

11-10-1939

The SitzKreig is in full swing.

Poland fell in little more than two weeks, and Denmark fell simultaneously.

The United Kingdom is in dire straits.

The BOA is going poorly, with merchant ships going down every turn, and the Uboats deftly out maneuvering our escorts and DD and Cruisers. No Uboat hits have been scored to this point.


Our formations are in woeful condition, understrength. The Admiralty has chosen to prioritize construction of new formations over the upgrading of existing ones. All eyes are on the German buildup in the west.

France is stripping formations where possible and attempting to establish a double line of formations west of the Maginot line.

The allies have received strong intelligence from observers in Poland as to the manner of german power, and will look to counter.

But more on that later...

A brief panic occured in Stavka, and although it went unsaid, even with the Supreme Leader.

German forces laagered in Poland for sometime after the joint occupation. Could it be Russia's 'ally' harbored ill intentions?

However, as more German formations rail westward, the crisis passes.

To ensure the Germans at no time consider hostile actions, powerful Soviet rifle corps are moved to the new frontier.

Heavy armored formations are currently under construction to bolster the Red Army. In truth secret plans are in motion for a possible offensive campaign vs Germany, perhaps as soon as 1943, but more likely 1944. This Five Year plan will have the Red Army at its peak.

Action prior to then would be disastrous.

Canadian formations land in the desert.

They will be tasked with digging in at the depression. This will leave English and forces from the Commonwealth to cover Egypt and the middle east.

England sends canada aide to help in the production of additional forces.

Here, we see the beginnings of the defenses planned to meet the blitzkrieg that will ensue in the spring. obviously, these are shell formations that will need to be filled out, but they can begin to entrench. additionally english formations will be added to the BEF.

This turn(early dec), England finally begins to divert some resources to reinforcements, and also begins purchasing supply trucks. France too, begins to work on supply.

In the BOA, the last two turns have seen a turn of fortune. 5 hits(but no sinkings) have been scored on the marauding wolf packs in the North and South atlantic. The feeling of helplessness that had overcome the Royal Navy is, for now at least, held at bay.

French and English high commands don't have to guess at the german intentions. The buildup is both impressive and intimidating.

Currently, a strategy to counter the likely scything strike through the low countries is being formulated, and assets for said plan are under construction.

Speaking of production of assets, far to the East, this is what the Soviet factories are attempting to churn out.

Lots of T-26s(and hopefully a few KV-1s) will be rolling off the production lines over the next year or so.

There aren't many effective formations currently available to Russia. But as they say, "Quantity has a quality all its own"

More Armor added to the Soviet que.

Russia will be switching to infantry now, even though conventional logic is that rifle corps are useless.

Zukov had a very interesting plan for the defense of Russia. These armored formations will be key to this defense, which, when they are on the map, we will discuss further.

Formations are more or less in place. As April is fast approaching, both the UK and France are now scrambling to fill out existing formations and also trying to stockpile supply trucks.

As anyone who's reading this has likely deduced, I am very inexperienced with the allies, having only played one game vs AI and one(disastrous) game vs a human. So my production and timing are very rough.

The current question is, how many formations should be set to garrison status? I'm really not sure.

For now, we will make no major changes.

The French Air Force is coming up to speed. In perhaps two turns, they will be battle ready.

The BEF as you can see is still woefully understrength. But it likely has a bit more time to be built up.

Essentially, our strategy is incumbent on Germany not breaking through the principle French defenses until early May. This in itself may be overly optimistic.

We pray for rain.

4-12-1940: The day breaks cold and clear. The allies brace for the German onslaught, knowing full well that preparations are likely inadequet.

And yet...there is no sound of guns. The German armies remain idle.

Why? Perhaps waiting for warmer weather?

Whatever the reason, the Western powers choose to be thankful. Even the slightest delay is to be cherished. We fear, above all, a rapid victory in the West, which would free Germany for additional goals of conquest during the campaign season of 1940.

So, the wait continues.

4-26: German meteorologists are proven correct, as snow blankets the battlefields.

5-10: The Wehrmacht rolls into action, crushing Belgium in one turn(something i've never been able to pull off personally).

Germany loses virtually nothing in the ground war. The air war is fairly ferocious however, as France and England contest the skies over Belgium in a vain effort to slow Germany. Three allied fighter formations are mauled. They are immediately pulled out of service and designated priority for reinforcement.

The Luftwaffe also takes heavy losses(19 steps i think?), but comes out on top.

The BOA continues to go poorly. The Royal Navy manages three step hits on the Kreigsmarine, but we lose large numbers of MM. More merchant ships and escorts are on the way, and this turn sees advancements in sub hunting tech.

In the desert, a new Canadian corps lands in Egypt and moves to secure the choke near the depression. Italian armor is detected to the west.

On the front line in France, anti tank formations that are obviously targets of the German mobile formations are moved to garrison status. I honestly have no idea if this is a good idea or not, but the hope is that it will at least blunt the opening attack.

I was under the impression that an attack on either belgium or the netherlands would activate the other nation, but i'm clearly wrong. No idea why i thought that...

ORIGINAL: boldairade

4-26: German meteorologists are proven correct, as snow blankets the battlefields.

I believe the reason Nirosi did not attack Belgium on the previous turn had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with the fact that he had not yet completed the builds of the armour and mechanized that he needed to take out Belgium in one turn.

5-10: The Wehrmacht rolls into action, crushing Belgium in one turn(something i've never been able to pull off personally).

If you build properly after the fall of Poland you should be able to have at least 3 Armour and 2 mechanized ready to go by the first May turn. if you attack the cavalry unit in the Ardennes first and plan your attacks carefully, this will give you enough force to conquer Belgium in one turn.

I was under the impression that an attack on either belgium or the netherlands would activate the other nation, but i'm clearly wrong. No idea why i thought that...

An attack on the Netherlands or Luxembourg activates Belgium but not vice versa. But if the Allies DOW Luxembourg first than a German DOW on the Netherlands does not activate Belgium.

thx Harry!

Disaster may not be the right word. But it's probably not the wrong one, either.

The German Pz Corps strike exactly where we expect. However, we are completely unable to resist. The French Anti tank formations, switched to garrison mode in an effort to make them less vulnerable to armor, as well as being heavily dug in, immediately retreat.

German losses range from light to non existent. My guess is, I should have had them set on hold their ground, a rookie mistake. Even with their rapid retreat, a corps is shattered, likely due to no retreat hex. Since I did not anticipate anything like this in terms of an opening slaughter, an air formation is overrun. Our strategy of attriting the Luftwaffe and not surrendering air superiority is immediately rendered mute. I should never have had it so forwardly placed, it was poor planning on my part.

A carrier air strike east of dunkirk is launched in an effort to slow german mech groups there, but only results in the massive loss of carrier aircraft.

The only success is repelling an attack on the eastern Maginot Line. I almost wonder if Nirosi launched that attack just to keep my spirits up? It seems possible.

In the BOA, i forgot to retask escorts to the south atlantic away from the pan american sector, resulting in the slaughter of 9 MM vs 0 step losses for the kreigsmarine. Another costly error.

Here is the only possibility of even the slightest hope after our opening failure.

The allies have massed all armor here, NE of Paris. They are parked behind a battered line of infantry corps. Our hope is that the germans will smash through the infantry and find themselves vulnerable to a mechanized counter attack. It seems very unlikely though. We had hoped to force the germans to grind themselves down over 3-4 turns to get here, but they are instead here in 1 turn, and with virtually no losses.

In an effort to slow the onslaught, all infantry are set to hold their ground. However, not being dug in, it will likely do very little, if anything.

And things get worse...

The Germans apparently have detected my 'trap'. They swing to the south east, diverting their armor away from mine. I thought if my armor was two hexes away with infantry in front, they would be invisible, but like many things in this game, I manage to be 100% wrong at a critical moment!

In any case, it's a good move my nirosi. If he flanks, takes metz, and heads south, he need not take Paris.

So, not only have I managed to lose the front line, lose the war in the sky all in the first turn, turn 2 sees my only real plan, an armored counter attack, effectively neutered.

So my choice now is, move the armor to counter the new German threat, which means the "Straight to Paris" route is wide open, or keep them in place, have Nirosi out flank us, and have the armor never really fight at all.

I genuinely can't determine which is worse. But both are obviously quite bad. And it all happened in two turns!

At this point, the historical date of France's surrender(June 22?) would be quite an accomplishment. There are two major issues at play here. France is going to fall so fast and easily, Germany is going to take absolutely no losses. But the second issue is, and i think it's a bigger one, it's going to leave Germany probably 3-4 months of campaign time in 1940. Certainly Vichy France will fall, possibly Yugo and Greece. If he's truly ambitious, he could launch a 40 Barbarossa and be in Kiev and at the gates of Moscow in the spring of 41, which would effectively end this game. Another possibility, considering the skill differential here, would be him taking out Spain in two turns(i tried this in my last MP game and i lost the war attempting it, but Nirosi could pull it off) which would turn the Med into an Axis lake and open up a slower death for the allies.

Obviously, none of this is terribly good.

Did I mention another horribly turn in the BOA?

PS: sorry i forgot to imbed the jpeg, but you can click it here.

Carrier assets, UK based tac bombers, supply trucks, 8 Battleships, a frontal attack by two infantry corps, and finally the deployment of an armored corps manage to overrun the X Infantry corps of the Wehrmacht. Not what we were hoping for, and not where it's needed. But a bit of sunshine none the less.

A few battered French formations are rotated into the path of likely irresistible German armored attacks.

I made a mistake not producing more French infantry, i switched to trucks and reinforcement way too early. This lack of infantry is very telling now, and it will get worse. We will, however, get one more fresh French formation, next turn I think.

Air step losses are absolutely sickening.

Another disastrous turn in the BOA. 9 mm and 2 escorts go down to 3 wolf packs in the N atlantic, despite me deploying 8 escorts, carriers, CAs and DDs to protect that route. It's becoming apparent I just don't really know how to the new rules work. Some escorts are on the way in the ship yards. But UK's merchant fleet has now slipped below 200. I know I need to stay above that magic number, but I simply don't have the PPs to devote to it currently.

Things are less one sided on terra firma in France. One Panzer corps, attempting to exploit our weakness West of Metz, over extends. Nirosi realizes this and desperately attempts to create a vacant hex for it to retreat to, but his only option is a 20 step unit in the Maginot line, and he cannot displace it. I get over excited and attack with 6-1 odds instead of allocating more forces, but still achieve a good result. Could I have overrun it if i'd been more thoughtful? Hard to know.

The plus side of my hasty attack on the German armor is, it leaves assets for another counter to the NE of Paris. A strong german infantry formation is flanked on three sides by French infantry. In a risky move, the infantry is rotated SE to attempt to stave off a breakthru to the open roads to the south, vacating two land hexes to the west of the German infantry. These hexes are taken up by French and English armor. French tac bombers are sent in to soften up the German formation at heavy cost, but they are successful. This allows the armor, with support from one French infantry corps, to easily overrun the German infantry. Those PAK 40s are no match for matildas and Bi-bis armor!