aaminoff (Allies) first game vs Boldairade (Axis) - Boldairade welcome

[aaminoff]

This will be less of a AAR in the model seen in other AARs in this forum and more just general description + me asking for advice. It is my first game against a human opponent. Enjoying it a lot!

This is the vanilla 1939 scenario. We got the game started without being able to incorporate the new higher defense values for Soviet corps, which I'm not too worried about, it is a learning game regardless. I asked for house rules that the Axis would not DoW any more neutrals in 1939.

The game has reached November 1940 and I think I have some tough decisions to make. I will walk through our story so far.

I was very afraid of the BoA so I built escorts and little else early as the UK as well as the Canadian shipyards. By contrast I believe Germany built nothing but Armor - I think I saw 7 armor total in France at one point. So I now have 36 escorts and feel like I am winning the BoA. I left 2 CVs for the Atlantic and sent 2 to the Med - more on that later.

Over the winter there was a fair amount of air activity, precipitated by German air trying to strat bomb France. The strategic bombing impact was neglible, but both sides attritioned air units. I put a lot of production towards repairing air instead of building ground units - I had 2 French armor, one of which arrived almost too late, and probably not enough infantry corps.

A mistake I made in France was leaving all the stronger Brits along the coast. In a single turn Boldairade punched through using waves of armor from the frontier all the way to the outskirts of Paris, pushing French corps out of the way, ignoring the Brits along his right flank. The turn after that had to be a rest & recovery turn for the Germans, they just expanded their frontage on Paris, but then the turn after that Paris and Rouen fell.

I was able to get the Brits out in reasonable shape. Some went to guard ports in southern England, most went to Egypt around the horn. While France fell early-ish (end of July?) I felt pretty good about my Sealion defense with fighters 6 hexes back from the southern coast and bombers 10 hexes back, out of air strike range but in range of incoming transports.

Over the winter the Axis conquered Denmark and simultaneously with France did Norway. I did not contest those. After France they conquered Yugoslavia, it took them a few turns walking all the way from Austria.

A couple turns after the fall of France, maybe late August or early September, the Italians (who were still at the time not at war with the UK) invaded Vichy North Africa. Forces advanced towards Tunis from Tripoli. This seemed like a mistake to me, so I shipped Brits into North Africa thinking that as long as I held the level 7 ports of Oran and Algiers I would have supply superiority. It so happens that the south-western most port in Britain is 48 hexes from one port in Morocco. I collected some other forces from the UK and shipped them, escorted by the British Atlantic surface fleet (2 BBs and a CA I think) to a spot off the Portugese coast.

It so happened that the turn of the Italian invasion of Tunisia, I had 3 corps - 2 inf and the WDFarmor - arriving in the Red Sea. Rather than disembarking in Egypt, I piled those 3 land units and the whole Eastern Med fleet (2 CVs, 4 BBs, 2 CAs, a DD) into a hex in the Central Med between Tripoli and Malta. Over the next couple of turns we had a series of naval battles, including reinforcing the Med fleet with the Atlantic fleet. Both sides took a lot of naval step losses and 2 UK BB groups and 2 Italian CA groups were sunk.

Meanwhile on land most of my reinforcements landed safely, although the WDF in Tunis was at a low Effectiveness level. At the same time, Germans were appearing near Tripoli. (Thinking about it now, why didn't my fleet intercept those?) 2 German armor made absolute mincemeat of the Vichy French and British forces in Tunisia, including forcing the surrender of the WDF. So the only armor the Brits have now is the armored corps I built in the brief quiet period between the fall of France and the North African campaign.

I still have 4-5 British infantry corps close to full strength facing off against 4-5 German corps including the 2 armor + another 3-4 Italians including a mech. I should also explain that most of the German and Italian air forces are on or near Sicily. I am definitely on the defensive in North Africa now.

Just in the past turn the Axis invaded Greece. It is very late in the year to be doing that. I shipped a UK full-strength corps from Egypt into Athens on the theory that I should be able to keep Greece alive through the winter weather.

So now my dilemma: will Boldairade launch Barbarossa in 41 or not? If they do, then I want to reinforce North Africa and fight tooth & nail for it because either they will have a weaker Barbarossa because of forces stuck in FNA, or they will withdraw the Germans there for use in Russia and I will eventually win.

But if they delay Barbarossa until 42, the UK has to survive another year of standing alone. I think I can pull this off, but only by withdrawing from FNA entirely and defending just England and Egypt. I think I can fully stack all the ports in both those places, plus the Eastern Med fleet after repair with 2 CVs. The defense of Egypt relies on the lack of supply for Axis units coming all the way from Tobruk. I have 2 corps entrenched at the gap by the Qattara Depression, which German Armor can certainly dislodge, but if I have another few inf corps and perhaps eventually the newly built armor in this theatre I am hoping that would be enough.

I will take some screenshots of current force & casualty levels and perhaps maps when next I have the turn.

[aaminoff]

Pictures as of the Nov 22 1940 turn

[aaminoff]

total forces

[aaminoff]

casualties.
OK I need to learn how to crop screen shots correctly. Sorry.

[aaminoff]

The turn after what I posted above, the Axis invaded an undefended port in Syria. They also sortied the Bismarck and surface fleet, which I am less worried about even though my LBA, 2CVs, a sub, and a surface fleet all failed to find them.

I am suspecting that I drew down my forces in Egypt too much, especially the corps I sent to Athens. Does one corps really make that much difference? Sure, if the the process of doing that I uncovered one of the ports allowing a quick invasion.

Also I really need to learn not to gratuitously send my Med fleet into enemy air range for minimal reason. (I tried a CV strike on the subs blockading Malta, got a couple hits, but in exchange the enemy LBA sank a BB).

So I am now pretty sure that we have another year of Britain standing alone ahead of us. I think there is a good chance I will lose Egypt, the whole Middle East, and North Africa. How bad would that be? At least one commenter seemed to think that a 42 invasion of the USSR was not great for the Axis.

[aaminoff]

The British Med fleet was unable to prevent supply getting through to the significant Axis forces in Syria, which were advancing on Egypt against token opposition. I was going to lose both FNA and the Middle East, so I conceded this game.