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Ok been a year since we had the last AAR so lets do another one. All the time I say to myself I am done with WP but I keep coming back . Any of the remaining players that still play and read this feel free to write or ask anything.

Playing Stjeand who is a very good player but I am playing the Axis since Stjeand wanted to try some new things. We just played a mirror game and in both games the Axis won by defeating the Soviets so the point of this game is to see if Stjeand can save the Soviets with some new ideas he has. Both of us thinks that the Axis is too strong or the Soviets too weak. Giving the Axis a way too big edge in the game. To make things worse Stjeand showed me that Germany can take out Belgium in 39 giving the Axis an even bigger edge. I will try to do this myself in this game and see how that works out.

The AAR wont be super detailed until Barbarossa since that is when the real game begins.

We have played Spetember 39 so far. Denmark fell on turn 2 as usual. Poland fell on turn 3 since I withdrew the armour and all the airplanes to use against Belgium it was a sole infantry operation thats why it took 3 turns. On the last turn of September Germany declared war on Belgium and Luxembourg and at the end of the turn Germany have taken 2 hexes next to Brussels and High command is now looking too see what the allied response will be. A spy have reported that the allies have trained extensively to counter this strategy so we will see how it goes.

Battle of the Atlantic started with a bang the first convoy attack sunk 3 MM and 2 escorts for 3 hits on one sub so they have to limp back to port. Was a very short patrol.

Yes, an AAR! Thanks guys!

PS: pictures please

Rain, want a snow or even better a cold turn to try and finish the Belgiums off.
Luftwaffe did ok but not amazing 40-26 in losses but allied losses are interceptors and most German losses were bombers. Evil Allies have put 6 AA in Brussels so that hurts them.

November 39

2nd turn of November get a snow turn anf launch the assault on Brussels. After a hardfought slog it falls and Belgium surrenders. In the end it was pretty costly. I lost 66 airfactors in total vs 58 french and British. The allies also lost 6 AA so thats 90 pps as well and as the Germans you also get a small production boost from Belgium. On balance a bit expensive but I think it is worth it.

I feel bad Stjeand have so many posts already . Anyway in snow in January the Germans are already inside France. I wanted the hex with the rail connecting into Belgium to improve the supply in Belgium. It was a costly attack but finally successful. I think I will stop attacking now I need my effectivness recovery.

Other advantages with this strategy is that your airforce and infantry are already up front so if I am lucky with the weather France might fall in June.

The question is what to do with the extra time. Vichy NA is very difficult nowadays as is Egypt. There will be less stress to move your forces and conquer the Balkans thats probably it. The best use of his strategy might be to try invade the UK but I have no plan to do that. Or doing the Med strategy with Spain and Gibraltar but I have no plan to do that either since this game is to see if USSR can survive.

May 10 1940

Had almost worst possible weather and no cold turns so nothing happened. When May came around I prayed for no rain and the prayer worked. Offensive started not doing amazing progress but low losses for the Germans and high for the French.

I also seized the moment and invaded Norway. I thought most CVs were on Sub hunting duty but I was wrong. So the usual messy how to get to Narvik before the British played out. In the end I got there but I cost me 1 division on transports as well as a DD sunk and Scharnhorst severely damaged.

June 7 1940

Of course I forgot to take a screenshot of the 2nd turn of May. I got slightly lucky again so may 1940 had all clear weather.
I took Lille and advanced further south. On the first turn of June the Advance continued. No French unit really offering any resistance and my forces are already next to Paris and crossed the Seine to the south. Its gone very easily and that is because your infantry start upfront and lead the charge. A fair amount of UK units in France would be nice if I could get rid of 1 or 2 but there is a chance they will run next turn.

I feel fairly confident I have enough units in France so already sent a arm corps to Italy with some more units to follow. There might be a chance to mess with Egypt. It is really hard to take but I might give it a try.
In preparation for the arrival of the Germans the Italians declare war on the UK and move the fleet to Tobruk and move into Egypt.

June 21 1940

As expected the UK forces tuck tail and run leaving the hapless French to fend for themselves. They put up a bit of a fight but in the end both Paris and Rouen falls and the French are considering a surrender.
In Egypt digital Mussolini brings his white horse and dream of marching into Cairo but supply is so bad so I am not sure it can be done. And there is always that nagging feeling every strength point you lose against the UK in 40 wont be in Russia in 41 so we will see what happens but the first Germans arrive in Africa.

July 1940

France surrendered on the first turn of July. In Egypt Axis forces reach Alexandria. Axis forces are moving into position to invade Yugoslavia.

On the seas the Italians scored some nice hits on the Uk navy sinking one BB and one CA and heavily damage 2 or 3 BBs. Unfortunately the Italian stayed too long at sea and the UK Carriers arrived and scored some severe hits on all 3 Italian BBs.

My heart was not really into attacking Egypt and I could only muster a 1:2 on Alexandria so I passed. As I wrote above testing the game in Russia is what most interests me but if I really just wanted to win pouring all German mech units into Africa forgoing Yugoslavia or let the Infantry do it I think it is possible to take Egypt which is close to a game winning movebut also if you fail it could almost be game losing depending on the losses you take and how long time is spent fighting. In the end I started to retreat back to Libya.

August 1940

Axis invade Yugoslavia which falls without much fight. Having 2 mech units attack from Albania makes it difficult for Yugoslavia to get any units to the Belgrade area in time.

Nov 1940

Because of a lot of rain the fall of Greece took some time. Now all combat before the invasion of Russia is done. Too summarise my losses are higher especially in air than normal and I could not or did not use the couple of extra turns I had in any good way. As I wrote above if you want to really go for Egypt or invade the Uk or doing the Med strategy then a 39 invasion of Belgium seems like a good thing but if you play a very historical game as I am doing in this game then I am not so sure if it gives any great advantage. Of course if you are really lucky and get very good weather in 39 especially if you get a cold turn it might be possible to grab Lille as well in 39 then it would be worth it but I dont think you can expect to be that lucky.

More than 1 year of war and only 61 MM sunk is really not good but the escorts sunk are kind of ok. But in this game and in both games we played before the subs have done pretty badly.

MagicMissile wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 2:06 pm Nov 1940

Because of a lot of rain the fall of Greece took some time. Now all combat before the invasion of Russia is done.

Now that the UK initial forces have been reduced. France and Greece are more balanced to allow a realistic "blitzkrieg" period. That's a good point. Now, let's see how both of you play out USSR.

ncc1701e wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 4:43 pm

MagicMissile wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 2:06 pm Nov 1940

Because of a lot of rain the fall of Greece took some time. Now all combat before the invasion of Russia is done.

Now that the UK initial forces have been reduced. France and Greece are more balanced to allow a realistic "blitzkrieg" period. That's a good point. Now, let's see how both of you play out USSR.

Yes with France falling so early there is no problem mopping up the Balkans and plenty of time to move forces to the east.

May 9 1941

The digital world holds its breath again as the invasion of Russia begins. I had two cold turns in a row in the southern part of the front in April and I was tempted to start then but I thought May start is standard so for checking balance I felt start in May seemed more fair. We also talked about maybe start the invasion on the historical date just to see how that plays out. Stjeand let me decide and I let the weather decide and since it was clear I decided to attack. We might play another game with a 2nd turn of June invasion later.

For the first time ever I have sent some units to Finland. Since cutting the Murmansk rail now actually stops lend lease in the winter that is worth going for and it might draw more Soviet units from the main fronts in the South.
Riga falls. I have 15 mech units 7 North of Pripjet and 8 South. I have tried to spread them across the front to keep the opponent guessing where the main push will be. Hopefully they will converge somewhere and make a nice pocket we will see how it plays out.
Advance towards Minsk and Kiev the usual stuff. Note the Soviet mtn corps in the Swamp so they are part of Stjeands new build. I remember they were very popular to build a long time ago. I think they fell out of favour because the Soviets need more units but I had success with them before so might well work.
And the southern part. Odessa falls on turn 1.

May 23 1941

The nefarious British raid the coast of France and stomp on 2 airunits. Obviously not so good to leave them unguarded. The UK units wont likely see home again but it will be a small economic win for the allies since repairing those air units will cost more than losing some LC and 2 divisions.
On the northern part of the front the finns are looking for contact with the Soviet units. There are a lot of units defending Leningrd so I will not make a huge effort that way. Leningrad is not that important anyway not that much production. It is of course a VP hex unfortunately I have never played a game where the VPs mattered and I have played a lot of games. That must be changed somehow in WP2 I think.
Minsk falls and a small pocket is formed. I think I will try to push as much towards Moscow I can and then maybe turn North somewhere.
You cant get lucky all the time so there is rain in the south. At least the units will regain some effectiveness but rain always suck . The Soviets run.

June 6 1941

In Africa the British makes no attempt to go on the offensive. Makes me a bit scared they might be planning something else like invading Norway or something. We will have to see.



The advancement continue all over the front as the Soviets withdraw.

June 6 1941

Forgot the view of africa

June 20 1941

The finns approach the Murmansk railroad.
Soviets still retreating so getting close to Leningrad. Some naval action at sea with the Soviet navy actually doing ok. Kirov is sunk but some Geman ships were hit as well.
In the center the advance continues not much going on. So on the date when the invasion started historically the Axis is already close to Leningrad and Moscow and Kiev that is of course part of the problem.
In the south preparing to cros the Dniepr river.

July 4 1941

In the North the German cav cut the Murmansk railline. But as will be seen this was a prelude too disaster with hindsight I should have pushed later in the Summer and arrive on the rail when bad weather starts.
German forces approach Leningrad.
A breakthrough in the center and Kalinin is threatened.
And in the south the Dniepr is crossed.

July 4 1941

In the Mediterranean the Uk have the courage to invade my Beautiful Sicily. Not going to lie my port defense of Sicily was sloppy. Still the Uk ability to launch these invasions in 41 is a bit much and I always think that if we get balance in Russia right then something needs to be done about invasions so there is always something to fix and the holy grail of Balance is as elusive as ever . I think one solution would be to make land air be able to fly as many times as there are targets but of course then you need to find a way for the invader to deal with opponents landbased air.