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AAR Dave Axis vs Colin Allied


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I’m posting this because there haven’t been many AAR in GC yet and because there seems to be quite some debate as to whether TAC air is unstoppable in Russia and whether UK can halt the U-boats. Hopefully my opponent will contribute.

Opening Moves (over a year)

West: On the land the Axis systematically flatten Poland, Benelux, Denmark, Norway and France as expected. Germany shows IW2. The only upset is the loss of an armoured unit to the French. Diplomatically the UK score a coup in persuading the Swedes to stop shipping ore. The French raid the Norway convoy (a nice new tactic) and this duty is taken over by Bomber Command the RN which also blockades French ports against SeaLion. British carriers sink the Strasbourg as soon as its brought into service. Vichy France is generally recognized.

An interesting situation is developing off Norway. The British carrier group raid Narvik to stop the Norwegian convoys and nail a U-boat as a bonus. British are showing long range air from their carriers – this is VERY useful. So far Germany has not raided much at sea. The RN also moves towards Oslo and encounters quite some German TAC bombers though thankfully these look specialized for land warfare (suggesting he has AT2). RN bombards these. It will be interesting to see what he does next turn.

Italy and some Axis minors (despite UK diplomacy vs Spain) are in the war but North Africa and East Africa are rather quiet. The Italians have a bomber watching the Med.

East: Japanese have built quite some armour and got it to L3 already. Thankfully, the single strike and bad terrain limit it in China but these are getting effective. Looks like Guderian has been advising the Emperor on the new method of warfare. The combination of Japanese armour and carrier support plus IW2 for Japan is worrying. India has declared for the UK.

So, too early to tell much. Axis has got good fighting technologies (at least two of armour, IW, AT) on both fronts. I’m very happy with the UK so far, its got good diplomacy hits and is looking a significant power quite fast though I expect some defeats soon.

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The confrontation over Norway is cancelled due to bad weather in both Axis and Allied turns. From a retreating German paratrooper and all that land-orientated TAC air it looked like he was planning to invade Sweden for not shipping any ore.

Unfortunately the Japanese armour in not in the least prone to backing off and another Chinese army (lacking antitank guns) dies.

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May 1941

Its Yin and Yang this game. Bad East, Good West. In the East Japanese armour grinds through the Chinese like snails rasping their way through a leaf. There are three of the nasty level 3 menaces. In the West the British combine bombers and carriers to lay waste a German bomber standing guard in Norway and generally harass the coastline of fortress Europe with bombardment and blockades.

Blockades are nice - combined with bombardment you can really shut down a coastline forcing your opponent to respond or live with it. Its also reasonable, puts a greater premium on sea control.

Rest is quiet - Italians have yet to make their move and UK isn't pushing it in North Africa.

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LATE SPRING 1941

China is strange. Basically, its packed with Chinese troops that simply get munched by Japanese troops. They cannot effectively counterattack. The only ray of hope are the Flying Tigers - the only "Chinese" unit able to mount any counterplay. They go tank busting. I do notice China had some generals with excellent ratings - anyone know if this was historical?

In the West the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine are strangely absent despite the Canadians bombing Oslo harbour and various other bombardments and air strikes against Norway.

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SEPTEMBER 1941

Barbarossa clearly about to happen. Japan continues in China, again the Flying Tigers try and interdict the tanks. UK continues to be active in and around Norway. Sweden swings back towards the Axis but not enough to restart convoys.

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WEST: Barbarossa is go, although no cities fall and Germans face IW2 AT2 Soviets. German L3 subs sink a battleship off Oslo - weather too poor for Allies to strike back. However, British advance in Norway.

EAST: Pear Harbour hit, Thailand and Hong Kong falls, Dutch East Indies hammered, various Islands assaulted as Japanese expand their Empire violently. Graaf Spree and Italian destroyers contacted off India. US gets various units to safety as best it can and British send arms to the colonies.

Its a bit early to judge how this is going but at first sight East continues to be better for the Axis than the West.

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Russia still slow for Germany with rain. but he has lots of low-tech armour coming.

British liberate Norway.

East continues to turn Japanese with Allied air and naval fleeing. China is getting hammered - he now has a bomber there too and a Chinese HQ is killed. Dutch East Indies falls as do a few more Islands.

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Russia gets a touch of frost (but not Soviet Winter Effect) towards the end of 1941 and Riga falls. Bad weather slows UK in Norway.

More carnage in China and island hopping from Japan. Manila holds one more turn and Singapore still British.

Africa and India quiet.

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EAST: Japan keeps rolling, most major targets including Singapore have fallen. It remains to be seen where he goes next. So far Australia and India are unthreatened. His focus is still China which continues to crumble faster and faster. Again, only the Flying Tigers distinguish themselves. The Chinese do now have AT1 but this does not halt his three L3 tanks.

WEST: Another story entirely. Barbarossa so far is limited with only Riga falling. The Germans retreat (from Riga, not Moscow!) to avoid Winter effects and are upgrading their armour - 1942 will be more violent. Soviets just prepare and wait. So far we consider this a border incident, not an invasion.....

Sweden swings to the Allies. This is a threatening use of diplomacy given the Allied strength in Russia and Norway.

Rest quiet. Finns stay out and Middle East quiet.

Axis have strong fighting technology (IW/AT/Armour plus L3 subs). Russians are as good on the ground. British have invested in long range air and a balanced portfolio otherwise. US are not revealing much yet.

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Germans advance back into Russia with lots of armour. Russians have AT2 so its going to be bloody when the weather finally clears.

Germans build a carrier - I'm quite surprised, would have gone with more subs or more air.

Sweden swings further to Allies. I think there is real pressure on the Baltic - imagine a pond full of tadpoles drying up - there must be a lot of subs floating around in there. On the plus side Finland declares for the Axis so he does have a lot of strength in that part of the world.

China - they are holding for now but I do not expect this to last - then Russia should watch its back.

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British carriers launch strikes into the Baltic (from south of Norway) sinking 2 German surface vessels. Also in the crowded Baltic German subs sink Russian battleship.

Germans start to make inroads into Russia.

Japanese armour, including one L4 unit, crawl towards Chinese capital. British lose a minor surface unit to an unexpected German sub off India/Dutch east Indies.

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WEST: Germans seem to have redeployed air power to the South of Denmark to defend Baltic. British Navy still very strong around there. Meanwhile Sweden drifts further to the Allies.

In Russia German Tigers edge towards Leningrad and Smolensk. Russians fight back a little including an air attack on a Tiger.

The balance of air power in this game is interesting. Germany has problems in Russia so really needs its TAC there as Soviet fighting technology is otherwise nearly as good and there are lots of them. But to do this raises the problem of British pressure - an amphibious assault on Denmark or France or a Baltic break in. Whilst this situation continues German subs (a deadly L3) cannot sap all those MPP going to Russia. Sooner or later this balance or vicious circle will break and the whole game will change.

EAST: Japanese heading towards India start to encounter Allied troops. So far no big engagement in the Jungle. British forwards deployment is really to offer the Chinese some indirect support. But China continues to fail to stand up to the Japanese tanks.

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WEST: German TAC guarding the Baltic is very effective and British careless with air cover - 2 Battleships sunk off Denmark. Sweden enters for the allies.

RUSSIA: Germans fall back, Russians edge forwards using partisans to scout ahead.

EAST: Japan keeps going in China but Chinese only give ground slowly. In Burma British and allies start to appear in quite some numbers to limit Japanese expansion.

South America: Some political realignments - will go into details next post.

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Allies reinforce Sweden threatening the Baltic.

On the other side of the Baltic a Russian partisan attacks the Graaf Zeppelin - bet you've never seen partisans attack a German aircraft carrier before....! They actually do not do much damage but it was still a morale boost.

The Russians roll forwards though only one enemy army destroyed so far. But there are a lot of Russians.

In the Far East Britain further crowds the Japanese in SE Asia and Chinese deploy AT2 technology. India wants rid of the British and riots break out.

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WEST: Serious armoured and infantry clashes in Russia. Russians unveil Sturmoviks as tank busters. British carpet bomb tanks in Russia from Sweden.....! Vichy France starts to drift towards the Allies.

EAST: Japan falls back in SE Asia and Chinese keep soaking up casualties but are holding.

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West: Germans fall back in Russia. Russians move forwards. British bomb Germany and Denmark plus take pot shots at the Kriegsmarine - all from Sweden. Germans have some very effective fighters on interception duty and those TAC bombers in reserve.

East: Chinese get hammered by Japanese armour (L4 and experienced). The only things saving them are their population base and fortifications. I think if Japan had bombed their cities the whole thing would be over by now with China lacking the MPP to continue. IJN suspiciously quiet - bit worried what they are up to. Still, USN also not very obvious either.

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Germans retreat to the border with Russia - no doubt backed up by air power but ultimately this can't hold the Red Tide. British repair and rearm, the weather is too awful to be active from Sweden. Vichy France continues to move to the Allies.

Japanese are far from spent - making kills in China and SE Asia. Two Japanese Carriers are off China.

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I think so, though I would like my opponent to comment, the account is rather biased right now.

One reason for posting the human vs human AAR was there seemed to be the idea that holding your subs in the Baltic until they got L3 technology (say releasing them early 1942) plus TAC in Russia is cookie cutter. The Allied strategy was an attempt to refute these ideas, Sub + TAC is a good strategy but not an automatic win. In this game the UK was both lucky and proactive in derailing the sub issue by bottling up the Baltic. Long range air was a big help here. I'm not saying it will work every time but think a lot of the comments on the Axis strategy might be from games against the AI. A human player might not have the extra units and other AI advantages but can counter an Axis steamroller far more subtly. Also, diplomacy is an issue not yet explored in current discussions. The US can bring a lot of pressure to bear - its a nice way of using its MPP that can force an Axis response when it does not need the distraction.

I'll actually ask the reverse question. I get German strategy, its not that different from previous games. But I think Japan is very hard to play. A fast China defeat is hard and it requires a lot of planning to set up the "Pearl Harbour" turn when Japan launches multiple invasions and takes on the US. Anyone want to post a good Japanese strategy which coordinates with Germany? In this game Dave has developed L4 armour which was really nasty (three of these monsters in China) but the single strike tanks and awful terrain still limits progress. And even the Chinese get L2 antitank technology eventually - though frankly it has not halted the armour.

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I think in order for Japan to make a go at it is actually just hold in China ven have some meagre progress and focus on invasion of Australia-Burma and Hawaii as that is where the major deployments occur also for the allies. This gives more bang for the buck for Japan and inhibit the US from taking an active naval deployment in the Pacific. If we can do a cost benefit-ratio analysis (MPP, preventing units deployment, time), this stratagem would bear out and the Allies would be hard pressed to stop this. China can wait, Japan must secure it's outer-rim and have it's superior navy in play early on and dominate (not get bogged down in China for meager rewards). This is a more agressive strategy that fits into Japan's strength's.

higher LR's, NW's, and better AL's are key.

We need to ask the maestro Terif for his recommended plan - I do think neutralising mainland England with sealion is number one even if you get delayed or assume a defensive posture at first in the east. You cannot just sit tight in France and ignore England while you prance around in Russia. That was the major axis mistake in WW2 by not focusing on establishing air superiority over the English skies and invade. Axis navy and combined air power has to come to bear to get this done. This eliminates a major base of operations for the allies. England was nearing breaking point for it's airforces during that time when Hitler stupidly shifted to bombing population areas ( we know how that turned out ). The drawback is that the USSR and America increase their readiness due to the fall of mainland England. Would you prefer England to frolic freely in your own backyard? And then open up antoher fight with the USSR at the same time? I would even get what Italian resources there are to serve as transport fodders/screen just to make this work.

This would be my strategical viewpoint on how to conduct the war for the axis powers.

Any other ideas?

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