Matrix Games Forums

Hello,

I felt that the AAR forum have been silent for too long and I have to do something about it. I feel that the interest of the game is waning a bit based on forum activity but maybe an AAR based on the latest patch might be of interest to someone . I will not report on every turn and this AAR will not be in the same league as the latest one by Nirosi and Boldaire but I hope it might entertain a little bit,

I also want to honour and thank PanzerMike for his work on modding the game so I will use his map and units in these games.

I am playing Nirosi. We have played one game before. I was the Axis and after pulling off 3 fairly large pockets of Soviet units the Germans had a fairly easy time to hold on but we are not 100% sure how it would have ended because the game was lost in the last patch update in I think it was April 1944. I have played more games so I have more experience for sure but I expect these games to be close.

As to the state of the game I do feel that the Germans are very strong right now. Late war economy seems a bit too strong and manpower a bit too high or maybe the Soviet manpower is a bit too low. But I also feel that the Germans will very rarely win by conquering the Soviets nowadays that is hard to do but it is still very possible to deal enough damage to basically make any Soviet comeback impossible.

My strategy will obviously depend a bit on what the Axis do but the main strategy is to get into Berlin before August of 1945 . More country specifik things I will comment on later on.

Here is the tech. Again this is more or less standard for me nowadays have some variations but mainly this is it.
I did not include the French I am not sure why . Thank goodness for the new 10MB picture limit. It was so annoying to change the size to 200KB on the old forum. A small thing maybe but still some progress.

September 1 1939.

The war begins in this alternative universe as well. My Polish gallant heroes circle the wagon around Warsaw.

MagicMissile wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 9:09 am As to the state of the game I do feel that the Germans are very strong right now. Late war economy seems a bit too strong and manpower a bit too high or maybe the Soviet manpower is a bit too low. But I also feel that the Germans will very rarely win by conquering the Soviets nowadays that is hard to do but it is still very possible to deal enough damage to basically make any Soviet comeback impossible.

I hate to repeat myself so I will stop to comment on this even if I am 100% agree with you. In WITE2, this is perhaps the contrary.
Great to see a new AAR, following.

ncc1701e wrote: Fri Nov 11, 2022 5:34 pm
I hate to repeat myself so I will stop to comment on this even if I am 100% agree with you. In WITE2, this is perhaps the contrary.
Great to see a new AAR, following.

I probably should also stop moaning about it . Still in my last game vs Nirosi when Soviet manpower was below 50% the Germans were still above 90. Just doesnt feel right. The Soviets if they want to attack will rarely have above 2:1 in odds and suffer way more casualties without the manpower to sustain them. And I know Germany can avoid many historical mistakes but so do the Soviets who usually are managed better than in the real war. I might write a bit more of this as the game progress. PS I have not forgotten our WITE game I am on it .

End of 1939

1939 comes to an end. Poland and Denmark fell on turn 2 as usual. After that nothing happening really. The BoA is going on of course. Losses in 1939 was 21 merchants and 1 escort vs 3 subs. Not a bad outcome for the subs but not spectacular either.

My defense with the French is just all out garrisoned inf. Wont bother with any armour or anything fancy this time.

MagicMissile wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 2:42 am I probably should also stop moaning about it . Still in my last game vs Nirosi when Soviet manpower was below 50% the Germans were still above 90. Just doesnt feel right. The Soviets if they want to attack will rarely have above 2:1 in odds and suffer way more casualties without the manpower to sustain them. And I know Germany can avoid many historical mistakes but so do the Soviets who usually are managed better than in the real war. I might write a bit more of this as the game progress. PS I have not forgotten our WITE game I am on it .

Take your time, WITE2 is indeed huge but at least it has a real Soviet OOB.

May 10 1940

There were no cold turns at all so the Axis ofensive started on the normal date 10th of May. Belgium falls. The Netherlands are left alone for now.

I sent 4 corps to France. I usally dont send more but there used to be a armour corps among the 4. I am not superkeen on the all in UK strategy since I dont want to win in France 40, I want to win in Germany 1945 . But given how strong Germany is maybe one need to bleed the Germans in France a bit more than I ususally manage to do. Anyway we had no houserule about this. Also we are actually playing with the old scenario where the UK can build armour. One is on the way but I doubt I will send it to France.

May 24 1940

Lucky with the weather. Rain pouring down on the digital soldiers. The Germans still attack and make some progress. Myself I am too scared to attack in rain preferring to rest under an umbrella but maybe I should reconsider .

June 7 1940

The French fold very easily in this game it feels like. The airforce is doing ok but the land forces not so much.

July 5 1940

I always forget you dont need to take Paris any longer and it feels like my opponent is going for the other cities in France.

I always defend other parts of France too weakly but this time I had enough time to at least defend Lyon properly so maybe
I can hold out a bit longer otherwise it looks like 2nd turn of July ending in this game as well. Silly me I see now I havent garrisoned St Nazaire either. Hmm too many mistakes .

Italy declares war but makes no offensive moves.

July 19 1940

Fighting all over France. Heroes of the Hour was the defense of Metz who withstood 8 attacks still holding on to the city.

Think next turn it will be over. The UK withdraw.

July 19 1940 Malta

I prepare the defense of Malta copying from someone I played against. Place 6 AA and 2 subs on Malta. I have played against this defense 3 times. In one game I managed to sink the 2 subs and a couple of other ships with pretty low losses. In the 2nd one my Italian airforce was almost obliterated so in the 3rd game I did not even dare to attack Malta. We will see what Nirosi will do.

Aug 2 1940

Lyon and Metz falls so France is done for. The UK forces get away unharmed.

I will let Nirosi look and comment. He has many good views on the game and maybe it will make the AAR more interesting. Guess I will post with a 4-6 turn delay or something like that.

Sep 13 1940

The German Blitz the Netherlands and Norway and Yugoslavia. Norway falls but the Netherlands stands to fight another turn but that wont matter that much. A bit more concerning for the German HQ might be Yugoslavia. With bad weather approaching there is a chance that taking Yugoslavia might be a little bit more costly than what one would like.

Oct 11 1940

Yugoslavia still hangs on and bad weather arrives.

Oct 11 1940 Malta

The Axis airforce attacks the Subs at Malta. And the AA defense is not very good 8 hits for 3 hits on the Subs.

Since I am terrible at defending the Soviet motherland, may I ask you in your AAR some tips about it? I am under the impression that I am retreating too easily but at the same time I fear encirclements. Is there particular positions with Soviet rifle corps to adopt to maximise ZOCs and avoid encirclements?

Thanks in advance

ncc1701e wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:50 pm Since I am terrible at defending the Soviet motherland, may I ask you in your AAR some tips about it? I am under the impression that I am retreating too easily but at the same time I fear encirclements. Is there particular positions with Soviet rifle corps to adopt to maximise ZOCs and avoid encirclements?

Thanks in advance

If only I knew the answer . I have actually not played as the allies except in one hotseat game vs myself. I play this one vs Nirosi and another one with Hadros which are the first pbem games I have played as the allies since the corps into armies change.

I will show screenshots of the set up later but basically I build one corps every turn until 1941 tech then I build as many as I can afford. I set aside approximately 2000 pp to upgrade all mech units to full tech usually 1941 and full strength and upgrade som inf and cav that start not at full strength. I do not upgrade the 3-5s and I do not touch the airforce. I am always tempted to disband some but I have stopped doing that as it feels a little bit gamey. Also I want the Red Airforce to work but I have no idea how .

I think one have to set up at the border. You can not allow the Germans to enter on a cold turn in March or April. Important that they cant get the supply line going forward too early. First turn of May is early enough in my opinion. That is 3 turns earlier than history.

When the war starts I just try to zoc down as much as possible to drain some movement points and hope my multitude of units will drain German effiency. Retreat every turn trying to stay out of range of the German infantry as much as possible. And as you said try to avoid encirclement as much as possible which is easier said than done.

In my hotseat I did survive 1941 with a pretty big army. I think it was at around 2600 at the start of the summer campaign in 1942 but 1942 is scary. I think 42 is worse than 41. Think it is the same problem Wite 1 had summer 42 the Germans have perfect supply and since a rail line can supply endless units you can form a panzer ball on the fields south of Mosccow that can really hurt.

If you want to play for practice just let me know. And sorry still not done my Wite 2 turn. I will do it this weekend for sure.

/MM