abukede

Jim left his Italian bomber on Crete… primarily because he used it to hammer a RN cruiser. That was an expensive mistake. There were 3 carriers nearby and all three struck the Italian airfields with devastating result. I was able to successfully destroy the Italian medium bomber. My north African campaign has already claimed 1 German Fighter, 1 German Division and an Italian medium bomber. British ground forces pushed forward slamming into Italian positions with devastating results. Here you can see my attack going in. This is after airstrikes. I was able to get both the Italian army and corps to retreat with heavy losses. In asia… no action to speak of. I am expecting invasion of the USSR any turn.

Well… this was a very interesting turn for the Allies. The long awaited UK offensive in North Africa and Italian East Africa finally got underway. My north Africa offensive includes 2 British armies, 5 corps, 1 armor supported by 2 fighters and tactical bombers. They began advancing toward the Italian line near Tobruk, while British commonwealth forces began assaulting Italian position in IEA. Land based fighters in Egypt had engaged German fighters over Tobruk, while in a surprise movement… a large surface Fleet, which included 3 aircraft carriers, launched airstrikes against the ground based German airbases behind Tobruk, with devastating results. In the process of eliminating the German air defenses around Tobruk, an Italian convoy was discovered transporting a German division attempting to flee Africa. The Italians thought air defenses sufficient to defend this vulnerable convoy. I am sure the German High Command is furious at their Italian allies for failing to properly escort this convoy. Both the German transport and fighter were eliminated…. paving the way for a massive assault on Italian lines next turn. General O’Conner reports that the spirits of the men run high. He is confident they will acquit themselves as befit British soldiers. I expect there is a good change the remaining battle wagons and cruisers of the Italian navy may sail to hammer one of my carriers. I felt the risk of losing two or more British carriers was worth it to destroy the German fighter in Africa and cut off any further chance of escape. An added plus in my mind is that if the Italian navy sorties I will be able to catch them and maybe destroy the rest of the Italian fleet, making it easier to pull off an invasion of the mainland at a later date. In Asia… no real action. The Japanese pulled back slightly and the Chinese are celebrating.

I conducted a number of strategic raids across Europe and even sent a BB to bombard a port... for recon. It will be interesting to see if Jim's navy comes out to engage me. As you can see by this picture... last turn I was able to hammer Kiel hard enough to shut down the convoy from Norway. In the Atlantic I was able to sink a U-Boat on the Canadian convoy route as well. Russia continues to prepare for the coming German offensive. Japan seems to be struggling in China. I just need a little tech and I can make the Japanese existance in China very difficult. Beyond that... not much else to discuss. I have a lot going on behind the scenes.

No pictures this time. It seems clear that Jim is evacuating German grounds units from Egypt. My offensive there is pretty much ready to go. I decided to hold back a turn or two as there is no rush. I have a number of initiatives going on around the globe... I would rather get them better prepared first before I have to spend money repairing units that are part of an Egypt offensive. Strategic bombing again of Kiel with no fighter defense. I think I bombed the port to 0. I took casualties this turn. In asia... I hammered a Japanese army inflicting heavy casualties on him and forcing him to retreat. Elsewhere Jim is building up on the Eastern Front. I expect an invasion as soon as the weather becomes fair. Not much else beyond that... it is soon about to become very exciting.

I think you might need to take more than a week off.

This turn was a fairly interesting turn. I have a lot going on behind the scenes. What is holding me back at the moment is income. The UK has sooo much it can do… all the parts but I need to put them together… but it takes much greater time to prepare because of the lack of cash. That said one part was finally ready… Strategic bombing began in a big way this turn. The UK hammered Kiel with 4 strategic strikes from 2 upgraded heavy bombers attached to a HQ. I was able to get hits on all 4 strikes with “no” damage to my bombers. Why is Kiel important? Notice the convoy line running through it? So… with any luck I was able to seriously crimp Germany’s income from Norway. If I did 2 per hit… it will take a while before the port rebuilds itself… especially if I hammer the port again. If it turns white from blue I've done my job. There was absolutely no air defense. I would hazard Goering has some explaining to do. This is only the beginning. Germany is already hurting income wise… so anything I can do to help make it worse… I will. In China, Jim pushed up to my line and launched some attacks which did limited damage to the units on the line. 2 Chinese corps hammered back at a Japanese corps doing solid damage. Remember I mentioned I purchased 2 HQ right off? That’s why. Having only 1 Chinese HQ’s in the south is a real weakness. Now I have 3!!! I feel the Japanese player need to attack just as soon as he is able to do so in the South… within 4 or 5 turns of the game beginning…. Well before the Chinese have the opportunity to build up there. The Japanese player needs to be able to push the Chinese player back as soon as possible and keep pushing lest the Chinese player gets too strong. I think Jim may have given me way too much time to prepare and as a result he will pay for it loss wise. He may ultimately push me back but it will be much more costly than it is worth. Because I have 2 HQs handy near the line I wanted to show some of the boost to supply and readiness it is giving the Chinese line. Here is one of the Japanese units on the line at strength 9. I did not attack him. The Japanese unit came from good supply before it moved... hence the good readiness and morale. Notice that there is no Japanese HQ in view. This units’ morale and readiness will soon begin to degrade as a result of the poor supply. I expect Jim to have a hard slog in China beginning just when he is preparing for his big offensive in the pacific.

Nothing really that I want to show this turn. The Chinese smacked a Japanese corps pretty hard that got too close to the front lines. One of the problems in Southern China is a lack of HQ's... making it pretty easy for the Japanese to push southern China early. Jim gave me over a year and a half with no real action there... as a result there are now 2 additional high level chinese HQ's buffing up my line. This in turn I hope will lead to heavy japanese casaulties when he gets around to attacking. We are in January... and the weather is pretty terrible everywhere. There are several operations I am planning as soon as the weather turns fair.

Jim airstruck a cruiser pretty hard this turn... though 2 UK fighters stationed in Egypt were able to intercept for all 3 strikes. It is clear that Jim upgraded both the italian and German tactical units with naval 1. I am going to have to watch that. The British are also planning an offensive in 2 areas. In China Jim unloaded on an entrenched division for minimal effect. Intelligence shows that he intends a major push once the weather turns fair. I love the German propaganda. Note the last two turns for losses. Also you can see the effect giving France over to the Italians has had on German income. Germany should be over 300 income by now. The question is... will Germany be able to keep up with the losses on the Eastern Front after the initial push? My guess is not... unless he secures an extra source of income... perhaps Vichey, Yugo, Greece... maybe Spain too?

Not much action to report this turn. Jim had an airstrike in the med intercepted by fighters... the British continue to build up and prepare for his attack into Egypt... I have a number of intiatives going on around the globe.... a couple of dastardly surprises for him. One he bumped into this turn. He found one of my DD's... then brought another sub in to try to kill it... not realizing I had 3 other DD's nearby. Poor weather kept me from killing them but I did manage to give him a wakeup call. I think the UK now has 8 DDs deployed. Once I start building Light Carriers his U-Boat force is in trouble.

Turn wise... nothing really to report from the Allies. Jim hammered my cruiser with all of the air he brought down to Libya, 3 tactical bombers and 1 medium. He has invested a lot of money into Libya. I am still not convinced it will pay off for him in the long run. I have a very large force, including armor waiting for him in Egypt. The Soviets finally began purchasing units this turn. I invested in production tech early... they are at level 2... with more chits invested in that research... so long term it should really pay off. No action elsewhere. Oddly quiet in Asia. mcarfy, Think of the carrier strike aircraft being more tactical in nature... such as divebombers and the medium bombers being designed to hammer rear areas/communication, airfields, etc.

Not much to report this turn... other than Jim is flooding Africa with reinforcements running the RN blockade. I decided to play it safe and pulled the UK forces back in the direction of Egypt. Nothing else I would care to comment on as I have some surprises in store for Jim. No pictures either. FYI... we are now in mid september.

Seamonkey, Ask for CTV’s... I give you CTV’s. First up is the medium bomber. Upgraded this baby is very deadly… alone the de-entrench ability is invaluable. Here is the light carrier. I have also included a normal carrier below for comparison purposes. I love the Light Carrier. They are cheap… only 200 and take only 6 months to build. You can include them with the main body of your fleet and easily use them to recon out the enemy for the main carriers to strike. They are also great to provide a little extra punch for a small task force without any main battle carriers. Light carriers are also fantastic tools in working with DDs to hunt down and destroy enemy submarines. Light carriers are an essential tool for the Japanese, US and UK. By the time the Japanese enter the war… they should have all of their Light Carriers deployed and upgraded… Don’t discount them… upgraded they are very useful… but also at the same time incredibly vulnerable to enemy attack. In comparison… the main battle carrier everyone is familiar with… takes 18 months to build… is much more powerful and it hurts to lose one.

mcarfy1, I disagree with Jim on the value of Italian fighter... in this game and others like standard Gold there are a lot of people who feel it is useless unless upgraded. Many people only bring it up to strength right before it goes into action. Doing it that way you can not build enough morale and experience for it to do any real good. To make it really effective put it in one of Italy's major cities, attach it to an HQ, strength it up and take the time to build that morale and readiness up... if the allies come calling with carriers I think you will be surprised at how well it does... in addition over the period of the game... focus on resaearching fighter tech. Add in a German fighter and naval units with anti-aircraft tech and you have a real defense going. The italians in many ways are like the Canadians... the UK over time gets a good core of canadian units. Many people never ever build a canadian HQ and a few other Canadian units... that is a mistake. You really have to use what you are given in this game and take advantage of every edge no matter how small.

The AI is better in both AoD and AoC.

Okay... my first response to seeing Jim give Italy France... was to laugh like hell. It completely surprised me. Then I began to think about it... Italy with a 150+ income a turn could be quite dangerous... on land and air. Then again the Germans will be missing that income in Russia... but the Germans start with a huge army... Italy will need to send ground forces to Russia to make up the imbalance... I am not sure how it will work out... but Jim really surprised me. I suspect that in the long run it will hurt Germany... my job will be to make sure it hurt. I think that will be the UK's job in the Med. I think perhaps a wiser strategy might have been to keep France in the game... take all of France with Italy... and if Germany needs that income later hand it over. Very interesting move though on Jim's part. Let's see how it will work out. Game wise... I hammered Tobruk again... there was some fighting in China... with a Chinese partisan unit hitting a japanese corps. Beyond that not much to share. I sent an armor unit to the middleast, recognized Free france and the UK accepted US aircraft meant for France... Back to Jim

Oh and I fully admit... it was a sneaky thing to do. All is fair in love and war.

Seamonkey, The Italian navy can be made quite formidable. I have done it in several games prior to war with the allies. It requires some work. The Italians begin with 1 chit in naval warfare. What I do with Italy to make their navy a real threat is invest 1 chit in Anti-aircraft, and later on another one in naval warfare once I have infantry 1. I bring the majority of the navy into the adriatic, move my Italian HQ near them and bring the Italian fighter up to 100% and attach him directly to the HQ covering the fleet. When Italy enters the war I also bring down 1 German fighter to help. This essentially takes much of the punch out of any carrier airstrikes. I also bring the Italian tactical bomber in to use in a counter role. If you get Naval one in time... I make sure to upgrade him before I upgrade the fleet. I also use my sub to guard the entrance to the Adriatic. In addition... when I take them out to fight the British navy I make sure... if I can, to operate them under the cover of land based air... that combined with shipboard anti-aircraft help better protect them and to some degree negates the advantage of the allies. I find it is actually easier to upgrade the Italian navy and have it ready to fight the Allies than it is to be able to afford to upgrade the RN in time to counter such a strategy. Usually when I go strong Italian navy... against a player I discover an unprepared player who did not expect it. The Italian Navy is large and potentially a real threat... it depends upon how one wishes to run italy and where they feel their focus should be. In my opinion one goes strong navy to make sure that after France falls you can get sufficient Germans down to Africa to help out and go for Egypt. In addition... when I engaged Jim... I made sure I brought overwhelming firepower... not just the two carriers. Much of the British Home fleet had arrived to intimidate the rest of the italians to keep them out of the action. I had screens out that Jim could see guarding the entrance of the adriatic. That tactic is always risky... because it leaves a much weaker naval home reserve to oppose an Axis landing, which in another game with Jim... he took full advantage of. In our game... much of that initial muscle is already on it's way back to the English channel. I think my strat in shattering the Italian navy before they could become a real threat is a viable one. Jim had sufficient time to build them up... and work to protect them... (the Germans start with 3 fighters) but it appears he had another focus and left them mostly as they were and instead of concentrating his forces he left them spread out across the Italian empire. Had he concentrated them, setup protective air cover and a defensive strategy he could have cost me a number of ships which might have come back to bite me. Jim clearly has another focus than going strong Italian Navy. I just dont know what it is yet... and that bothers me.

France struck at a German armor this turn… dropping it to only 4 steps… (can you say goodbye to experience?) but there is not much left she can do. The situation is so helpless I brought the last UK corps back to England this turn. I also sacked Gort and replaced him with Monty. So now I have a large defending force in England under command of a solid General. Should the Germans invade I think I am as ready as I can be. Should they opt not to invade, these forces will be freed up for operations elsewhere. In the Med… the Italian navy sortied to attack the south of France. I am confident this is a diversion to allow Jim the opportunity to get additional German forces into Africa, which I think is a lost cause for the Axis at this point as the UK is getting very strong there. I have been building up around Italian East Africa and in Egypt. Soon there will be British armor and air support in the region. The Germans took a lot of casualties in France… anything Jim sends to Africa at this point is likely lost in the long run. It will become clear shortly if he intends to invade the UK. If he does not I can easily reinforce North Africa. Perhaps it’s just a delaying tactic… but either way he must ready for an invasion of Russia which is coming up in less than a year. I was able to destroy an Italian BB, CA and Sub this turn. There are only 3 Italian naval units left. So I would have to say my early surprise strike against the Italians has paid off. Look what I found! Notice I struck the port so reinforcements would be delayed getting ashore… leaving any that come that way open to naval and air bombardment. Here are my first attacks on Tobruk with good success. Historically… O’Conner is one of my favorite Generals. I think Jim has brought in a German division… the one I spotted last turn in Sicily. It will be interesting to see what else he brings down to North Africa… the Med is rapidly becoming an allied lake. One of those armies in the picture is the Army of India... since I declined activating India early... the army was redeployed to North Africa. It really adds strength to the British forces there In the North Atlantic I found another of his subs and hammered it. Still, inexplicably nothing of note in Asia. Back to Jim.

The French fell back on Paris this turn… while the bulk of British forces evacuated for England. I was successfully able to extricate my HQ, and the BEF army. I have left a Bristish corps in France for the moment. Not sure if I will use him or evacuate him next turn. The French have a fully entrenched army occupying Paris… so hopefully they will be able to cling on for another couple turns, especially with good air defense assets in the region. I feel very secure at the moment that England is well defended. My troops in North Africa, under the command of General O’Conner began to lay siege on Tobruk this turn. I expect actually attacks to begin next turn. I discovered a German Division in Sicily. Are the Germans preparing to assist the Italians in North Africa or just holding the boot of Italy? If they intend to reinforce North Africa… they will have to make it past the RN and French Navies. The Italian navy is already under strength. Off East Africa I found an Italian DD and caused him some damage. In Asia again there was little action from the Japanese… the Chinese have had nearly a year to build up and prepare to receive the Japanese offensive. There either must be a major offensive push coming… or Jim has something else in mind. I decided to reroute my convoys. Interestingly… Jim decided to occupy Iceland. If I am correct this more than makes up for the US becoming unhappy with the UK’s war dec on Italy. Back to you Jim.

SeaMonkey... it was just a play on words... but that would be a pretty cool option. I will pass it on for SC3. No pictures for France this turn. The French after a masterful strike on the German armor were slammed back by the advancing Germans, breaking my first line of defense. French and English forces were forced to retire and reform around Paris. One army conducted a heroic attack on a German panzer inflicting some damage at great cost. A couple sections of the Maginot Line was abandoned. In Southern France the Italians are currently being held at bay. UK forces in England are hastily preparing for invasion. In the Adriatic I was able to nail another BB through carrier strikes. I also found and mauled an Italian sub. I expect the Germans to push forward and assault my second line of defense… then it is only a matter of time… which I will try to stretch out for as long as possible. Back to Jim.

I suffered a readiness hit with the US and Spain to attack. Why did I attack and not let Italy enter the war as they were nearly about to do? As Italy was preparing for war anyway… and the combined UK/French navy just happened to be nearby… I made the decision to reduce the threat of the Italian Navy “before” the French navy was no longer available after the surrender of France. When I am done, the Italian navy should be a shadow of herself not strong enough to challenge the RN for the Med. My first 2 strikes destroyed this jewel of the Italian navy. Notice I took the brazen step of bringing 2 Carriers into the Adriatic. Given a chance, the Italian navy can easily be a real threat. Should Italy invest in anti-air and naval tech early enough… they can be quite deadly in support of a German effort in North Africa. I was concerned that I might find the entire Italian Navy in the Adriatic… facing a brawl in tight quarters… however luckily it Jim spread them out across Italy. I hope Jim sorties to counter attack… otherwise I will need to use my carriers to dig them out one port at a time. Elsewhere in the Med British forces crossed the border into Libya in preparation for assaulting Tobruk. Turn wise both the Germans and Italians took heavy losses… but so did the French and UK… the French… primarily assaulting German armor and the British with ship and carrier air step losses. I don’t know why Jim did not post his invasion of Belgium… as a result I have this nagging feeling that Jim will be assaulting the UK simultaneously with an invasion of France… If he does I think I am reasonably prepared for that. I currently have 1 army, several corps and a division deployed in England with air assets and naval assets nearby plus units in build. Should he choose to invade, the USSR gets a big boost to war readiness and income…. So if he is successful it may prove to be a mixed blessing for him. We will see what he has planned but I think he will be surprised by the severity of the French and UK counter-attack that just occurred in Belgium.

Jim invaded Belgium this past turn, however I believe he made a mistake by not first pushing against the French and British line… which is the real threat and as a result I struck back hard. The Belgians are weak… and hardly a threat. With air recon he knew where my armor was and could have hit it with medium bombers and tactical air… limiting the damage I could have done to him. In this picture you can see the dispositions of the forces on both sides prior to my offensive. Note the upgraded French armor. This is how the attack unfolded… the French army adjacent to the German panzer… using the prepared attack bonus struck. He was able to drop the armor by 2!!! Next the upgraded French armor moved forward and attacked dealing out a lot of damage. The UK army and corps attacked next and then fell back. The French units moved up and attacked as well… with the ultimate result of Jim losing the armor, which was a very experienced unit. I was also able to maul the German corps just north of my mine by hitting him with both adjacent armies… taking advantage of my prepared attack bonus. I think I left him at strength 5. In the Atlantic… we had some action too. I was able to locate a U-Boat and reduce him to strength 2. Now for a bit of a surprise!

No pictures this turn. I had expected an invasion of France last turn, but it did not come. I have a few surprises waiting for Jim so I do not want to give them away. No real action elsewhere, with the exception of action between the Graf Spee and the Cumberland. The Graf Spee was damaged slightly in that exhange... down to 6 steps with the Cumberland at 8. I guess I can't hope for Jim scuttling his ship. No action in China... which is puzzling. The Chinese have had over a half year with no major attacks other than Foochow. The only thing I can think of is that Jim is building up a very large navy. Which is worrying because the US has not started building ships yet. Back to Jim.

Not a bad thought.

No real pictures to share. We're in March now... and I expect Jim to kick off his offensive against the west next turn. I am as ready as I can be... it is time to see how many casualties I can inflict upon him.