Life is a Beach

[LiquidSky]

June 24th.

Dear Diary,

Hitler was mean to me again today. He's always yelling and throwing things. Maybe if I get him a nice teddy bear he will be happy.


The mean old british keep attacking and pushing back my lines. Even the americans are picking on me. Why is everybody so mean?

At least my airplanes are doing okay. Although they say they want 1400 more pilots for them. Bunch of whiners.

My troops on the front line are also complaining about lack of supply....something about the rail lines not working. I think they are all just lazy and should carry the stuff themselves. Oh well...I suppose I could fly some to them. Only cost me 41 of my nice shiny transports.

After bombing the airfields of Corsica last turn it seems the entire 15th airforce has fled the island! Take that nasty americans!

Bombing VP's and V-Wpn VP's are cancelling each other out, leaving the score to drop fairly quickly to -89 due to casualties. Look Hitler, I'm winning! Take a chill pill.

Well..thats all for this week...I mustn't attack anymore, I don't want my toys getting broken. I can't even move them very much because of all the nasty interdicting aircraft all over the place...breaking all my stuff.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky



Now this is an aircraft squadron [:D][:D] Half the squadron is at least 90 Experience.

I can't wait to give these guys Me-262's.

I'm still working on the air phase, and will have to do the ground phase tomorrow.

they'd be soooo much more scary though if their emblem didn't include an umbrella, I mean does this mean that they can only fly in the rain if they are under cover?

[LiquidSky]

July 1, 1944.

It appears the Canadians have managed a breakout. But it does offer me an opportunity to 'snip' the thrust along the yellow arrows since he should retreat eastwards because of stacking. (or so I think).

Of course almost every attack I have launched has ended up around 1.9-1 odds and failed miserably, so I am not hoping for much.

Stay tuned for the debacle.

[LiquidSky]

Step 1: Destroy Lufwaffe.....I mean bomb allied units.

For the cost of 326 bombers shot down, and 562 damaged...I managed to kill just over 1000 men and a handful of guns/afvs

Still...this is a maximum effort mission. No room for cowards.....nobody tell hitler I wrecked his bomber fleet.

[Fishbed]

ORIGINAL: loki100

they'd be soooo much more scary though if their emblem didn't include an umbrella, I mean does this mean that they can only fly in the rain if they are under cover?

Well actually, it is supposed to be related to this gentleman's umbrella.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bund ... enfeld.jpg

Which would make II./JG1 a highly specialized unit when it comes to British-bashing [:o]

[LiquidSky]

Well..I gave them a mission that no one would envy. There job was to escort the Stukas in Ground support in my operation to cut off the allied pincer.

9 of them gave their lives and morale is at an all time low of 12 as they were swarmed by 2-1 spits.

[LiquidSky]

And finally....the combat. A success! Even though a US armoured division decided to make an appearance, and non of my panzer divisions on reserve activated...I still got 4.1:1 odds and took the hex. A somewhat mollified Hitler after the loss of 80% of the Luftwaffe bombers is pleased that we just might bag a small allied army.

Now I have to plug the hole, survive a 10,000 plane raid on my units, try and stop air transports from re-supplying his units...yeah, right.

[Seminole]

Now I have to plug the hole, survive a 10,000 plane raid on my units

Good luck with that in July when the sun is rising before 6am and setting after 10pm... [8D]

Might have been more efficacious to try and push the brigade and those two divisions farther east, then route them back in the same turn.

[LiquidSky]

To be honest...I didn't have the power to push one of the stacks. If I did, I wanted to push it farther south so that I had a two hex gap between his surrounded units and his front line. In retrospect, I should have at least routed the two armoured divisions and brigade back to whence they came.

Its just it was a sweet game ending disaster, 5 British armoured divisions and a brigade trapped. The vp's shining like crazy diamonds.

Instead I have this:

The bottom attack barely failed the first time, but barely succeeded the second time. The top attack bulled through me like I was Italian.

The only good thing I can say about this is the -27 Other Loss VPs I got this turn.




I am under a ticking bomb though.....the allies will be invading somewhere. The worst place for me would be just north of my front line, so I am forced to garrison it.

If he invades Normandy, Brittany, the western/Southern coast of France then I will have to strategically withdraw (I tell Hitler I am advancing on the Russians).

Its been 4 turns now since he could be planning his invasion. Tick Tick Tick


Oh...pilots are down to -1403 from max. I may be forced to start adding some teenagers to my planes. Who's only training is to be told 'Pointy End Forward'

[Seminole]

In retrospect, I should have at least routed the two armoured divisions and brigade back to whence they came.

That's what I was trying to say. Next to no hope of creating and maintaining an encirclement in that environment. Have to go for the low hanging fruit and hope to route them.

I wonder if flipping the hexes he had on the eastern edge first and forcing them back through the stacks might not have generated even higher losses than cutting them off and routing them in the same turn. Being forced to retreat multiple times (because of overstack) will cause additional losses. I'm fairly certain retreating adjacent to enemy units causes extra losses too.

[LiquidSky]

Well I just routed the cz arm brigade. It lost almost all its tanks, and a third of its infantry. I'm playing this turn more cautious. Most of the divisions that have seen combat are looking a bit hurt. I am going to fill the line with infantry and back out as much of the armour as I can to refit, and to use as a mobile reserve if he invades close to the front line.

I notice that I am not revolving Lurfwaffe commanders in/out of HQ's anymore. The teddy bear I gave Hitler must have worked....although I notice an awful lot of fluff around the operations room.

[LiquidSky]

July 29th, 1944. A mere 71 years ago.

The beach head widens like the tide coming in. My ability to push back incursions is getting weaker and weaker.

The allied air is bombing the rail lines and interdicting the flow of supplies so that a lot of my panzer units are at 50% ammo. I am still able to fly tranports, which get chewed up, but at least drop a enough to keep one or two corps fully topped up.

I'm feeling pretty close to pulling back and abandoning France. I have gained a fair number of casualty vps, probably enough to drop the score to a minor victory in my favour, but the city vps I would be giving up would be a fair bit.

Anyways here is the enemy air activity around the beach head.

[LiquidSky]

The air war is turning against me. A couple turns ago I was forced to give some squadrons poor pilots, and even though the number of fighters I put into the air is bigger then ever, I am noticing the effect in lower morale and more planes/pilots shot down.

For a long time I wouldn't have to rest my pilots...then I would rest a few that would drop below 70 morale.

Now over half the squadrons are below 70, and I am forced to lower the rest requirement to 65 morale.

Pilots KIA since the beginning: Axis = 6617, Allies = 14998.

Pilots To Max remaining somewhat constant at -500 to -600.

BOMBING VPS: 2 so they are doing their job.

[loki100]

I'm sort of coming to the view that you can be too clever in how to manage the air war. I'm not arguing to leave it to the AI or whatever, but it does seem as if the game has 3 pretty much hard wired phases.

Early game, its a bit of cat and mouse, very tactical, both sides can win big or lose big;
Mid game, the allies are clearly dominant but played well the Germans can cause attrition or disrupt bombing missions etc
Late game, who cares what the Luftwaffe does - as the allies not even worth finding their bases to bomb.

In my first full AI game I thought this pattern was due to how the AI managed the airwar but in my current PBEM I've seen exactly the same pattern. In particular, about Oct 44, my opponent had to start using less experienced pilots and most turns he'll now lose about planes in a ratio of 1:3 (air combat:operational).

As such relative skill/luck will bring forward or defer the transition points but that is as good as it gets?

The critical bit is 1943, if either side plays that badly then the difference in bombing VPs can be game deciding.

[LiquidSky]

ORIGINAL: loki100

I'm sort of coming to the view that you can be too clever in how to manage the air war. I'm not arguing to leave it to the AI or whatever, but it does seem as if the game has 3 pretty much hard wired phases.

Early game, its a bit of cat and mouse, very tactical, both sides can win big or lose big;
Mid game, the allies are clearly dominant but played well the Germans can cause attrition or disrupt bombing missions etc
Late game, who cares what the Luftwaffe does - as the allies not even worth finding their bases to bomb.

In my first full AI game I thought this pattern was due to how the AI managed the airwar but in my current PBEM I've seen exactly the same pattern. In particular, about Oct 44, my opponent had to start using less experienced pilots and most turns he'll now lose about planes in a ratio of 1:3 (air combat:operational).

As such relative skill/luck will bring forward or defer the transition points but that is as good as it gets?

The critical bit is 1943, if either side plays that badly then the difference in bombing VPs can be game deciding.

I agree mostly...however, I suspect that even though my Luftwaffe Reich is starting to be shot down in large numbers, I wonder if they are damaging enough bombers to prevent them from bombing.

I have no illusions about saving the Luftwaffe for the end of the game. It's gonna die. I know and accept that. But can I minimize/disrupt the bombing enough to make a difference in vps?

From previous games, it feels like I am ahead about 6 months. It's the end of July 1944, and the total vps for bombing is just over 250. Uboat/V wpns subtract about 150 from that....which means the allies have gained only 100 vps in this game.

I believe that most of the Bombing VP's for the allies are to be found in the Ruhr...and by parking the entire day fighter force there (protected by flak), I denied him an easy source of vps.

[LiquidSky]

The great retreat has begun. Date: Aug 12, 1944.

The trouble with trying to hold the allies to a bridgehead is it allows his air to ravage your units. The front is tight, so it is easier for him to control it. I hope by retreating back towards Germany, he will no longer be able to concentrate wherever he wants. I was hoping to get him to -300 vps first though...only got to -250.

Bucharest fell last turn to the Russians...so my fuel will start to feel the effects. For the first time the graph is showing a downward trend. I hope I have enough reserves to last me through to 1945.

My air losses are getting worse, although the bombing vps are still well in my favour at 1 per turn. I still hold a lot of the cities as the allied bridgehead only contains Rouen and Le Havre. Although with the great retreat, he will get a couple more small ones. Paris I should hold for a couple more turns before he can outflank it and force me back farther

[LiquidSky]

Sept 2, 1944.

It looks like the retreat to Germany has turned into a run. Paris is abandoned leaving a lone security unit to surrender to the allies. A lot of hope and prayers went to an encirclement of the northern most Allied army, but holding it closed with only a few miles from the English Coast (and thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon... allied planes) was a pipe dream.

The victory points say 3 city points per turn, but that is about to ramp up over the next couple of turns while France is over run.

V wpns are -7, but he is about to over run the launch sites as well.

Total Victory is barely a minor axis victory, but its going to be tough to hang on to it as I have to kill more and more allied men to match the loss of cities and the easier bombing he is going to have.


Speaking of bombing...I am down to -600 from max. I have 3000 fighters though. Morale is middle to poor. He is getting in range of the Ruhr airfields with the front line, so I suspect that they will start to bleed off quite rapidly as he gets all those wonderful airfields in France.

Here is a picture of what I see of his units with mine removed from the board.

[LiquidSky]

Hmm..I just spent some time looking back over the Loki vrs smokindave aar and doing some comparisons.

First thing that surprised me was how his Germans have suffered less air casualties while inflicting more on Loki's allied planes.

For example I have lost about 9000 pilots total. Dave has lost 8600.

We've both lost around the same number of fighters. My allied player has lost almost 10k level bombers. To Loki's 11k.

Flak losses are much more in daves favour as I have only shot down 2k planes to his 3.6k planes....but then I think Loki uses his airforce aggressively on the German units, whereas DicedT is going after my supply transportation..

The front is similar...where as DicedT invaded the Eastern side of the Seine, thus denying me the use of it as a defensive line down to Paris...he has pushed me to the point of retreating back..thus putting him closer to Germany then Loki at the same time.

However..most of France is still under my control, albeit a tad empty of Germans. But he still has to make the effort to drive around and root out all the security regiments scattered about.

The VP's are eerily similar. Although this is before Loki's winter vacation plan in Denmark. I suspect I can hold on to a German Minor victory as the amount of casualty points inflicted on the allies will probably balance out the city gains. At least in 1944.

Our Italy fronts are similar.....DicedT put no pressure on the Germans, but even so, I finally blinked in the game of chicken and had to pull back to the Naples line. It freed up a couple divisions for France.


My Luftwaffe doesn't feel beaten...I have 9 fighter squadrons with over 70 experience. But almost half of my ftr squadrons have 50 or less experience. I wonder if all my losses are coming from these guys getting shot down and replaced with newer equally bad pilots....while my experienced guys mostly keep fighting.

But the similarities in victory points makes me wonder if the casualty points vps are set a little too high.

[Q-Ball]

Interesting AAR, thanks for posting.

I agree that defending the beach is a waste of time, to a point. A fort unit can hold a stretch of beach, you just can't afford to drop a fort along the entire Atlantic coastline. But you can place them to break-up stretches of beach in key areas. A Regiment by itself though? Yes, waste of effort.

Defense should be focused on defeating Para drops, IMO.

Destroying beachheads is nearly impossible against landings with more than 1 Division, IMO. It's very, very tough because of naval support and defense "Last stand" bonuses. But if you can pin the Allies to just the beach, even if for a short time, you win. That 2nd hex is critical to the Allies to bring in HQ units, repair airfields, and have some maneuver room. Denying that is key. Once they have that space, it just becomes a decision on how long you want to withstand the pounding from the air

[Seminole]

I agree that defending the beach is a waste of time, to a point. A fort unit can hold a stretch of beach, you just can't afford to drop a fort along the entire Atlantic coastline. But you can place them to break-up stretches of beach in key areas. A Regiment by itself though? Yes, waste of effort.

Depends on how your opponent responds to it. I have forts in every port on the Atlantic from Belgium to Spain. I have regiments along the coast and behind them from Belgium to St. Malo.
My opponent chose to attack via Denmark. That didn't work out, so now he is attacking from the foothills of the Pyrenees.
If it induces your opponent to pick less favorable invasion points, is that really a wasted effort?

Destroying beachheads is nearly impossible against landings with more than 1 Division, IMO. It's very, very tough because of naval support and defense "Last stand" bonuses. But if you can pin the Allies to just the beach, even if for a short time, you win. That 2nd hex is critical to the Allies to bring in HQ units, repair airfields, and have some maneuver room. Denying that is key. Once they have that space, it just becomes a decision on how long you want to withstand the pounding from the air

You usually have to let them blow up the balloon before you can try to prick it.
Where I have succeeded most spectacularly against Allied landings is when I've allowed them to expand, then penetrated their front and swept into the unoccupied beachheads.
The supporting fire from naval guns and last stand bonus are pretty hard to overcome.