4 Player AAR with new PBEM - Game 4

[rjh1971]

Wi41 Germany

My apologies for the long delay. Lately it seems time slips through my fingers...

Anyway back to business, Yugoslavia coup despite have a 50% chance of taking place does not occur. That fact negatively affects the German strategy, troops should now be in position in Romania ready to attack the USSR which is not the case, all countries in the Balkans remain neutral [:@][:@]

In the mean time, Malta was taken care of and an attack on the WA naval forces took place in the Med. A lone sub misses its target off the coast of Africa.

[kondor]

Again a large naval encounter in the central Med. By taking Malta, Italia exposed its remaining fleets, and Churchill pounced on it.
One additional UK HF was damaged while retreating from the area. By auto hit from Sicily's TAC bomber squadron.

And the lone sub off the cost of Africa was damaged.

[kondor]

Tobruk was taken, and the push to Tripoli is underway. Without naval support (Italy is down to 1 operational LF), it does not stand a chance.
And the opportunity to take Sardinia was too big for me to skip. Sure, I'll possibly lose some transports and present a target for the Luftwaffe, but it's better to be bombed in Sardinia than around London.[;)]

Germany is poised for Leningrad, and the attack may come the following turn. If the Germans attack soon, Luftwaffe will not be able to present itself on east and west theater.

[rjh1971]

Sp41 Germany

The geopolitical situation could not have been worse for the Axis powers. No coup in Yugoslavia; Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary are still neutral countries so no deployment of forces to launch Barbarossa had taken place.

In the Atlantic an u-boat was damaged trying to hit a TF off the coast of Canada. A veteran uboat avenged the first one but that is no comfort.

In the Med, two TF were sunk.

Yugoslavia was invaded and its resources repaired.

Russia was also invaded, not a good start to be honest, two panzer units destroyed in the first turn. I tried taking Kiev with 8 panzers but the odds were barely 44% success so they were all withdrawn but one that was pinned due to revealing units under fow. This panzers were afterwards sent towards Belorussia taking the area, yet suffering the second loss of a panzer unit.

The image shows the Axis troops at the start of the turn not at the end.

[tcart]

Japan Spring 41

Sorry for my erratic posts. I'm a tad swamped.

The Emperor will cheer on his German allies in Russia. Seems to me that adversity in the Atlantic and the Med can be overcome by a good campaign in the East.

Japan has very little to report. I tried bombing Chungking but with no luck. Honestly the Chinese can only build back so much, so I'm not especially worried. Perhaps that will haunt me later. Mostly I'm repositioning for... well, I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.

I've always found this part of Japanese planning a bit tough. You need the supplies and transports to grab the juicy undefended South Pacific while pressuring the WA on at least one front. India? Australia? Pearl? I think it's a mistake to push on all three weakly. You need to pick one or two and commit enough forces to really pull it off.

Sadly, Japanese intel isn't good enough to really understand US War Readiness. That may affect my timing somewhere down the road.

Or, perhaps I'll just become a peacenik. That seems attractive too.

[rjh1971]

Su41 Germany

Barbarossa could not have started worse, Germany is now trying to amend the situation, Kiev was taken and reinforce to try to repel a possible Soviet counter attack. Soviet infantry evasion (defence) is only four, Germany will have to take advantage of this while it lasts...

[kondor]

I'm still in unbelief that the real world Russia invaded, and started another war.
Let's hope this will not spiral out of control, for the sake of all.

Back to our game.
SP '41 SU turn I've recreated from AAR.
Goran scored some nice wins vs GE panzer divisions, and Kriegsmarine. It seems that Rafael forgot that the SU has BB in Leningrad?
Anyway, congrats Goran!

Belorussia.jpg (169.99 KiB) Viewed 1110 times

[kondor]

WA spring of '41
With the aggression of Germany, I've immediately authorized a land lease help program for the SU. The first convoys arrived north of Leningrad.
A second step was using our range upgraded FT-s to damage the GE FT unit in France.

W. France FT.jpg (65.46 KiB) Viewed 1108 times

Our valiant DD crew scored a hit vs sub in the N. Atlantic area.

North Atlantic sub.jpg (74.57 KiB) Viewed 1108 times

Furthermore, our upgraded HB-s crew finally get their aiming correct and destroyed a factory in Berlin.

Berlin bombed.jpg (55.09 KiB) Viewed 1108 times

It's worth mentioning that Italians have been defeated in N. Africa, with the fall of Tripoli there are no more axis troops in Africa.

Germany is not in a pretty position atm.

P.s. I love the new forum upgrade! All images are loaded at once, and the minimum size is now 10MB per picture!

[rjh1971]

Fall 41 Germany

The WA liberated Malta and Germany retaliated against the invading naval force, not much was achieved its air cover was damaged and a TF sunk.

In Russia despite the snow coming soon Germany decided to advance into Kharkov. Russian infantry evasion rate still at four lets hope that saves us from the Russian winter counterattack...

Factories were hit in Stalingrad and Gorki. The TF in the Caspian Sea which has a great logistic value was sunk. Leningrad harbour was also raided.

Fa41 Germany.jpg (1.07 MiB) Viewed 1048 times

This is the situation at the end of the turn.

Fa41 Germany_1.jpg (491.56 KiB) Viewed 1048 times

[kondor]

These are the highlights of the turn BEFORE this one from Rafael.
The forum was unavailable to me, for that, I apologize.

SU summer '41.

SU naval force proved a strong opponent to the KM in this game.

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[kondor]

WA summer of '41.
The opportunity to hit KM in the Baltic sea is always nice. Preventing valuable northern resources to reach GE is important.

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First with CAG, then a follow up with BB:

Danish followup.jpg (72.81 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

[kondor]

The bombing campaign continues, the lack of GE FT-s in the area means that I'll be able to find targets for my HB-s.
E. France factory damaged, and a TAC bomber lucky hit on the GE artillery unit.

E. France.jpg (48.76 KiB) Viewed 1033 times

TLC tac bomber attack.jpg (45.85 KiB) Viewed 1033 times

[kondor]

The lack of Italian navy units in the area means that I have to worry primarily about the few air units.
That gives me options, I decided that Malta is another strategic key point I'd like to have. So, I've sent my forces to liberate it.

Malta taken.jpg (104.78 KiB) Viewed 1031 times

Now Italy has to be strongly garrisoned, and that will help alleviate the pressure off the east front.
Each unit tied up here is a unit less on the east front.

[kondor]

Two Italian subs near Gibraltar have been sent to docks for repairs.

[kondor]

The forum was not accessible last night, while I was playing this. And because of wonky servers, I'm posting this before Rafal posts his turn.

Fall '41

W.France.jpg (58.67 KiB) Viewed 986 times

Rome factory bombed.jpg (60.03 KiB) Viewed 986 times

W. France factories damaged (2 of them), and AA was successful in damaging 2 of my bomber squadrons in return.
So, I've attacked the area where there is no AA at this time - Rome. You have to be one step ahead of the competition .

Besides that, the only thing worth mentioning is that the Land lease line to SU is established once again.

[rjh1971]

Wi41 Germany

The German army had to withdraw from Kharkov to avoid the Russian winter counterattack. In doing so they tried to take Belorussia and though they failed there will not be enough enemy forces to take advantage of the Russian winter. A tactical bomber was damaged in Smolensk.

Wi41 GermanyE.jpg (786.43 KiB) Viewed 929 times

In the West a CAG was damaged by LW figthers operating from Norway.

Wi41 Germany W.jpg (382.55 KiB) Viewed 929 times

[rjh1971]

Tobruk was taken, and the push to Tripoli is underway. Without naval support (Italy is down to 1 operational LF), it does not stand a chance.
And the opportunity to take Sardinia was too big for me to skip. Sure, I'll possibly lose some transports and present a target for the Luftwaffe, but it's better to be bombed in Sardinia than around London.[;)]

Germany is poised for Leningrad, and the attack may come the following turn. If the Germans attack soon, Luftwaffe will not be able to present itself on east and west theater.

Tobruk.jpg (313.7 KiB) Viewed 924 times

Nice pic, we should play an AT game it was so much fun

[kondor]

for sure! ATG was a blast!

[tcart]

I'm with everyone else, shocked at the events in Ukraine and saddened at the thought of a large scale ground war in Europe. Slava Ukraini!

Japan Winter 42

The Emperor announces the great co-prosperity sphere. Pearl Harbor is hit, though blowing up battleships feels somewhat like a waste of time. I take Midway before the US can respond. No reason not to, frankly.

Most of the Japanese effort is devoted to snatching up resources in the south. Even with careful planning I don't have enough resources to take everything on turn one. But I feel good about the overall situation. China can't pressure me and hopefully more key territories will fall next turn as the war machine ramps up. I have no intel on the US deployments but the fact that there are only 4 CAGs in operation at least gives me some breathing room.

FYI the US WR was between 30-33. I was tempted to wait one more turn but it was close enough that I felt like I couldn't risk it. Anyone know off hand how much it goes up per turn in '42.

With all of the Axis powers in the game it will be interesting to see how it goes. We're nowhere near an AV at the moment.

[kondor]

Wi '42
No SS this turn.
I'm still getting used to playin' as WA. Not enough supply to move everything I'd like.
Some supply sent to SU, winter bombing of France proved rather inefficient, shuffled a lot of troops.
The battlefield became a lot bigger all of a sudden, and I'm still in a pretty comfortable situation.

We'll see where will the Japs strike next, and the battle in the sky of France will commence next turn.