aesopo Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 What is the percent of USSR activation? Stalin would have been ready to throw the whole kitchen sink in after being denied the partition of Poland and it should be a matter of months before DOWing Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catacol Highlander Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 OK - big throw of the dice here. As I said before I dont really know how this scenario punishes extravagent play like this, but I have done it anyway - the invasion of Spain is on. (Sorry Bill - forgot to turn the grid lines off...) Immediately 3 things happened: 1. The USA got angry, raising activation from about 40% I think up to 53% 2. The allies promised to defend Portugal... 3. Vichy said it was unhappy. 2 and 3 dont worry me at all - 1 is more of a worry as I dont know anything about US entry/timing etc, but so be it. The invasion itself went ok, though not perfectly. To discuss what I did: 1. Smashed the garrison on the border with armour and drove hard for Bilbao as objective 1. 2. Found a garrison and a cruiser in Bilbao. Pondered destroying the cruiser for NM benefit, but chose to hit the garrison instead. Keeping my second armour unit in reserve I pounded Bilbao with Stukas and then 2 infantry armies, destroying the garrison. 3. Tough choice - be conservative and take Bilbao with my reserve armoured unit, or push on for Burgos. Ever the non-conservative I decided to leave the capture of Bilbao for next turn and landed some paras next to Burgos to see what was what. 4. To my horror I found a Spanish armoured unit. Yuk. My first game in this scenario - hadnt expected Franco's mob to have a full power armoured unit. It was vital I try and destroy this, so committed my armoured reserve to battle, and on the field outside Burgos the men of the Panzer Divisions destroyed the unit but took 3 valuable points in damage in the process. Not happy about that, but it cleared the city and allowed the paras to move in and take Burgos. So Bilbao will fall next turn, and I now hope to be able to take Madrid in another 2 or 3 turns. Strategically, while it may bring the US in earlier, the capture of Spain brings more mpps but more significantly than that it makes operations in the Mediterranean much harder for the allies. I am thinking big here - if my invasion of Russia goes well I may be able to commit a second force to the mediterranean in 1942 to support my fairly large Italian Navy, and thereby further distract Marc from any thoughts of an early D-Day. All high risk stuff, but lots of fun. High risk strategies in SC can lead to swift defeat - and if that is what happens in this AAR then I apologise to you all, but they can also lead to big rewards, and it just may be that aggressive land warfare will give me a significant edge. It all hinges on Russia of course, and in the background preparations for that invasion are well underway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abukede Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 It's mid August 1940. Not much to report on this turn. I had expected to allocate resouces elsewhere for the UK but Spain required shifting around the Spanish army which was about the size of Al's invasion force though inferior in quality. I expect that he will have a bit of difficulty with Spain. I will take the readiness boost for the USA for trade in the fall of Spain and Gibralter. Once Spain falls.... my strategic options increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catacol Highlander Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Turn 2 of the Spanish Invasion. The turn ended like this: I drove a Spanish corps from the south side of the river north of Madrid, though my armour has been damaged in the process. As you can see the Luftwaffe is pouring south to lend support, and a second wave of support units has gathered to the north east to flood into Spain behind my Mechanised thrust. From here I may need to rest up for one turn to take on reinforcements and also get fighter support to my bombers. We will see - depends on what Marc does next. Elsewhere I destroyed another British corps, this time sat tight in Cherbourg waiting to be captured. My panzers happily absorbed the experience. What I have done is a gamble but in the blink of an eye other aspects have gone my way, namely research. Having got next to nothing for the best part of a year I got 4 tech returns in one hit, a reasonable one for the Italians, another reasonable one for the Germans and 2 very good ones indeed for the Germans. I am smiling again on the technology front, and feeling generally much happier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abukede Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 The Allies dug in around Madrid though with enemy airpower I am at a disadvantage. I hope to cause Al some serious casualties in taking Madrid. He took another channel port this turn. I still retain control of 1 more. I have a number of concerns that I am working on at the moment. His actions post Spain dictate which direction I will go. I also had a number of cool decision events… from swapping bases for DDs, which I accepted… to the USA sending tactical aircraft to the UK and also whether to send an armored division to the middle east. The UK has a massive DD fleet now. All in all I am pleased with the game’s progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catacol Highlander Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 My first quiet turn - did some reinforcing and moving in Spain, plus some more strategic redeployment elsewhere. Madrid comes with a 6 entrenched garrison corps which is a blow, but I moved an infantry army adjacent to it and pepped up my armour and air, so next turn I will begin the assault and either take it then, or the turn after. Looks like it will be done just before winter arrives - timing so far is not bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaMonkey Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Excellent move into Spain CH, what a maneuver to get Burgos, great staging point for the assault on Madrid. How many APs do those Panzers have, that was a pretty decent thrust all the way to Burgos in one turn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abukede Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I authorized the historic raid on Dakar and against all odds was wildly successful in seizing the French gold reserves and liberating French naval assets. This is a very risky raid and has the extremely great potential to fail (as the raid was planned and executed poorly) and piss off the Vichy. Something you don’t generally want to do. Germany has enough cash as it is. I figured to gamble on this one and take the risk. The gold will come in handy. Beyond that... not much that I care to discuss at the moment. There is a lot in play behind the scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LampCord Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Forgive me if this has been covered, but from some of the screenies it appears that Germany's national morale starts at 50%. Is this correct? It seems that Germany is in a huge hole from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LampCord Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I authorized the historic raid on Dakar and against all odds was wildly successful in seizing the French gold reserves and liberating French naval assets. This is a very risky raid and has the extremely great potential to fail (as the raid was planned and executed poorly) and piss off the Vichy. Something you don’t generally want to do. Germany has enough cash as it is. I figured to gamble on this one and take the risk. The gold will come in handy. ... Beyond that... not much that I care to discuss at the moment. There is a lot in play behind the scenes. I've been finding all these decision points to be one of the most interesting additions to the game. Its a great solution to allow a lot of historical events and choices to be represented without overly complicating the rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abukede Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Germany's National Morale is at 100% or near it. I believe you were looking at Poland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catacol Highlander Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Another post without an image as little has changed at the Front. The Madrid garrison has been battered down and lost 5 of its entrenchment, but it will take another turn at least to wipe out. If the weather holds then it will fall for sure next turn, but if the Luftwaffe is grounded then it may be more attritional. On the flanks of my advance other German corps have fanned out and captured a number of Spanish towns left undefended. Strategically more good news, as my research investment continues to bear yet more fruit. The sudden rush of techs has been amazing. At this point I am unable to recharge this investment as maximum effort is now being given to developing and growing a massive Wehrmacht for future operations. I think I have timed this well and will give a full analysis of what I have been doing on the eve of my next big assault. Once I have the army I want I will heavily invest in tech again as I think it is a crucial aspect of success in SC. For now it is mopping up in Spain. Anyone wondering what I am doing in Italy?? I'll tell you all later... :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abukede Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 It is now September 20th. Winter is about to set in a few turns from now. Not much action on my turn. The UK invested the French gold. Russia has gotten a number of tech advances and her army swells each turn. I am kinda wondering what Italy is up to as I've not seen hide nor hair. I have not advanced into Libya yet... though I expect it's only a matter of time till I do so. Spain is holding... depends upon what air assets he has in the region. I've not see any the last turn. He could have repaired them or operated them out to strike elsehwere. An invasion of England could still occur. Though I think it is likely he's preparing for a Russian or Yugo offensive. Guess we will have to wait and see. Any 'real' allied offensives should come in 41. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The K Man Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Great AAR (like the WWI one.) Thanks for all the pictures and details. I have read up to page five, so I'm sorry if this has been discussed after that, but I noticed on the tech pic, there was no upgrade to AT (antitank.) Is that true? I know this question has been raised, but I am also curious how Tac bombers will fair in this game. I didn't like how they were basicly "super weapons" in the WAW & PDE games. Are there as many decision events in this one as there is in Global? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catacol Highlander Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Weather stayed fine, and on Sept 20th 1940 Franco was forced to surrender. A Tac Bomber hit the garrison removing the last 2 entrenchment points (Tac Air seems less powerful than in GC to me, but does reduce entrenchment fast...), the garrison was then hit with 4 armoured attacks and to finish off the job Fallschirmjaeger dropped in to Madrid. Winter moves pretty rapidly in this game, so Spring 1941 will arrive in no time at all, and I need to be ready. My techs have cashed in so quickly I am now left in a frustrating position of wanting to reinvest to try and surge ahead, but needing to buy as many units as I possibly can for operations in 1941. Cant have it both ways despite my high level of mpp acquisition now. I was reading in a book by Matthew Syed the other day that in a game of chess there are more possible permutations of the layout of the board in the end game than there are atoms in the universe. Now - my maths brain is not too bad, but struggles with that concept: I wonder how many possible permutations of a setup and situation there are in this scenario come 1945? Surely must be more than in a game of chess, and this just makes the mind boggle. Let's hope that I can put together a setup in 1941 that causes Marc as much trouble as possible as well as putting me into a winning position for the end game. :-) I noticed the post above - I am new to this scenario but as far as I can work out from unit properties the Anti Air tech provides a boost to both air defence and anti tank capability, so it is a one size fits all tech. Makes it quite important... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abukede Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I had hoped that Franco would hold out a bit longer. Unfotunately that was not to be. Al now has a huge coastline to defend and garrison. I think he has inadvertantly complicated his position. I know he does not have the force to lock everything down so it will be interesting to see how he does it and manages the War in the East. The UK at the moment has a lot options. Norway, Denmark, the Lowlands, Spain, Coast of France or Africa? I ramped up the air war against him this turn. I strategic bombed the sub pens and drydocks at St. Nazaire and also bombed the corps holding the city of Brest with a tactical unit and fighters. No air defense was present. Beyond that I am keeping mum on my activities. Russia has held her war readiness the last two turns. I expect that to change rapidly as we approach 41. Fun game so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill101 Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 I have read up to page five, so I'm sorry if this has been discussed after that, but I noticed on the tech pic, there was no upgrade to AT (antitank.) Is that true? I know this question has been raised, but I am also curious how Tac bombers will fair in this game. I didn't like how they were basicly "super weapons" in the WAW & PDE games. Are there as many decision events in this one as there is in Global? Hi The K Man Anti-tank upgrades are now incorporated into the upgrade for Infantry Weapons, so it no longer has its own unique slot. This has freed up a slot which is now used by Anti-Aircraft, so that many units, both land and naval, can now be upgraded with AA. This serves as a potential counter to the power of the Tac Bombers that you mentioned above. This campaign does have quite a few brand new Decisions that haven't been included in any of our previous WWII releases, a good number of which either came directly or were inspired by players' suggestions that have been posted in the Global forum's Decision Event thread. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abukede Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 You can also find several decision events... I believe after page 5 that I posted and or discussed. I think you will be very pleased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catacol Highlander Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Not much point showing a map pic at present - air skirmishes, operational movement etc etc all rather dull. However for new players here is something else to note about the game. Personally I am unsure about the wisdom of the graphs that follow: for me they provide too much intelligence on the other player and what his war machine is up to, but they are in the game and are critical tools to use when planning future operations. Here is the first interesting graph available to players (there are many of these, and I have chosen a very small sample): This first graph allows me to see how much Marc has been spending on research in Russia. From looking at this it seems likely to me that he has invested a total of 6 points totalling 1100mpps. I did not bother to save the UK chart, but I can confirm also using the intel tool that he has not spent any money at all on UK research. Then next look at this graph: This one then allows me to see his total USSR mpps acquired so far in the game. Doing some simple maths allows me a rough guess at how many units he may have bought since game start, and it is clear that he has been heavily investing in tech as a proportion of income, much more so than me. It is also useful to be able to see that roughly the USSR is getting just over 200mpps per turn. Here is a slide for the UK showing mpps also: The increase in mpps totals went up when I invaded Spain, but now with her surrender you can see that the UK is down at around 180 per turn. Now my final slide showing German mpps: You can see that last turn Germany earned over 540, and I can confirm that as Spanish city supply grows that will rise. The obvious conclusion is that Germany is currently winning the economic war quite considerably, and that is without adding Italian mpps to the total. It leaves me with an interesting quandary - do I leave my declaration on the USSR a bit longer? Should I take on the UK first? Once I declare Russian industry will be bumped up, and the longer I maintain an economic advantage the wider in theory I can make the gap in the relative sizes of forces. I have spent quite a bit on operational movement of course, and must also now spend some more on garrisoning key areas, but I am happy that whatever my next move may be I can afford to lose as many units as my opponent and still widen the gap - at least until the USA enters of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert.l.hatcher Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Since this is a game heavily dependent upon economics, I watch these charts closely. I try and force my opponent to loose more than he is making. I am also interested in diplomacy and research expenditures. I was once surprised by a benign power joining th eother side, and I do not want that to happen again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonRocko Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Wow, I never thought about using the graphs like that, in fact, I rarely even look at them. I think this will improve my game! You guys are tough competitors! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalkwerk2 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 i hope that there will be an option to turn off that you can see these graphs from your contrahent. they are giving away far too much information for my taste. perhaps investing in intelligence could give you some insight of this kind... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettowvorbeck Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I didn't know you could examine your opponent's spending with FOW on. Good to know! I don't think they should be viewable either. i hope that there will be an option to turn off that you can see these graphs from your contrahent. they are giving away far too much information for my taste. perhaps investing in intelligence could give you some insight of this kind... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abukede Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Those are sweet charts. What you did not see was the force size comparison chart. (This is the one that matters) If you look carefully you will see that the UK and Russian armies combined are greater than the German army. Qualitatively they are probably less effective at the moment but that will change with tech. The size of the armies at this point matters. That is a real problem for Germany... as he does not yet have sufficient forces to garrison and hold his new empire. There are 16 ports on the Spanish and French coast alone you need to garrison or when the Allies invade troops will pour in unhindered. If you add in Italy... axis land forces surpass Allied ground forces at the moment. However Italy alone has 15 ports alone to cover making it very hard to concentrate and use Italian ground forces effectively. There is a lot of territory to defend. What you also do not see are the USSR units in the que. When the war in the east begins... there are also I believe 9 additional Russian units that are "locked" under Stalin's direct control. These will be released upon the commencement of fighting. In all probability at this point the Germans will have fewer forces on the board than the entire Russian army. Al is behind the curve. At this point in the game when I play Germany I usually have around 60 units for Germany deployed with around 20 for the italians... ground wise. Yes Germany is making more than each country... but when you combine the UK and USSR it's close and the USSR is less than 50% mobilized. When the US gets into the game the economic race will change drastically. Also... it is important to note the size of the German airforce and UK airforce. Pretty darn close. Check out the size of the Navies too. Interesting stuff and the game is early. It will be interesting to see how a smaller technology superior German land army does as the game progresses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catacol Highlander Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Marc and I will just have to agree to disagree on that land forces chart...! There is a lot going on underneath the surface in terms of army development for both sides, and I am quite happy at present with that comparison. We will see what we will see - he has the greater experience for sure in this so perhaps my assessment is way off. Time will tell. Very quiet turn - nothing bar movement. I suspect it will be quiet now until winter is gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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