Catacol Highlander

The Allies are now ready to resume operations. The Spain debacle put me back a bit, certainly in terms of the Brits and their planning, and it has taken a while to get the US into a position to act, but I hope to be able to show progress nearly every turn from here on in as the drive to destroy the axis gathers pace. Today - Tunisia. ANZAC forces invaded and took Tunis with the help of strong carrier support. Graphic here: Clearly this will not stop here - my Aussies and New Zealanders will drive on West to Algeria and take the whole of North Africa in time. This will increase mpps and also put a bit of pressure on Spain again. To the north German engineers appeared north of Paris and the increasingly strong allied air force was able to destroy them after 4 tac bomber runs. Life in France is about to get very difficult for axis troops... Further East the British Army in the Middle East close in on Tehran, and in China a counter attack in Burma forced a Jap Special Forces unit to retreat. Pressure here will also crank up soon. Lastly the Chinese did yet more damage as army after army gathers serious experience. I am very much looking forward to seeing how much mayhem the Chinese Army in general can wreak once the Japanese are stretched. Elsewhere more jockeying, buying and reinforcing, particularly from the US which is going to have a bigger and bigger impact on the war from here. And Russia? Well - to give you an idea of the size of my Russian Army, I got a tech increase last turn and it used all of my mpps up this turn in order to dish out the new tech to my units. There are a seriously large number of troops in Red Army uniform now, and when they are unleashed (at the right time of course) the momentum is going to be huge!

OK - very quiet still. The Brits declared on Persia and seized the oil; Tehran will follow shortly. I also got given 2 lovely spanking new British cruisers that turn which was nice. Chinese attacks destroyed a Japanese corps and damaged 2 armies. Not fun for the Japanese commanders I am sure. Elsewhere more movement, more purchasing and a readying of things for the Spring. I am roughly on course for where I wanted to be globally when planning for 1943 apart from Russia where my purchase pattern is a little on the late side: I didnt quite get all the items I wanted into the production queue early enough, but that is no bad thing. If Marc attacks me first I will have them arrive just in time for the counter... :-P If he doesnt attack then my own actions there may need to be delayed to summer rather than spring. One thing of note - the Australian Defence Corps mobilised that turn. Having not played Gold before I dont know if that is a normal planned thing, or whether it means Jap forces are heading for Oz. We will see...

Ah yes - Persia. Might be a thought... watch this space. Anyway another almost silent turn from the allies. I destroyed Japanese paras north of Rangoon in revenge for the fall of the town. Got enough force in Burma to stop him short of the oil I think. Chinese did yet more damage, 2 to an armour unit, 4 I think to a corps and 6 or 7 to an army that was forced then to retreat. All good fun. I also took Kwajalein on the eastern edge of the Marshall Islands with an amphibious Free French corps. Hard to know what to do with the Free french - got a max of 2 units and have an income, but cannot invest in tech at all so am using them as a free, disposable, "give it a go and see what happens" sort of force. The more I think of Peter's post a page or two back the more I think he is right to a degree. Otherwise very quiet indeed... Back to Marc and his scheming. My own scheming, after trying so hard to use the British to make his life tough, is going well at present. Will be interesting to see what gives in this battle of wills. The calm cant go on forever.

... very quiet from the allies through the winter. I am buying lots in preparation for Summr 43, reinforcing key areas, jockeying my forces and hoping that axis intelligence is poor. However more attacks from the mighty Chinese. These guys might end up being my war winners. I have 2 armies now on maximum experience of 5 stars, have income of 170 thanks to tech advance, and am able to do 8 - 10 points of ground damage every turn. Later in the game, when the Japanese are really stretched, Chinese ground attacks might be what turns Hirohito upside down. Roll on Spring and a bit more action!

In answer to your question Seamonkey - Iraq is mine already after a revolution, so the oil is secured. Next turn I'll show a few more graphics so that people can understand the geopgraphy. I am in a no man's land situation at present. The US navy is strong enough to strike, but it is getting stronger all the time so I might as well be patient! Russia is also very strong now, but it is winter and a daft time to hit really, plus I want to do it when I am ready and when I can distract German forces elsewhere. The UK is rebuilding after losses, although she sank 3 u boats that turn and retook Iceland so all is not quiet totally - but much planning going on. Burma and China rumble on a bit, but fairly well stalemated. In the pacific advance US forces took the Marshall Islands, not all that far due east of mainland Japan. China hit a few more Japanese forces, continuing the slow attrition of Japanese mpps. So an eerie calm has descended for now. I am working towards hitting Germany in the medium term - I have made that clear in my strategic update. When it comes it is going to be nasty because the forces will be so huge, and for precisely that reason I have to do it right and time it right, so dont expect it in the next few turns. Against Japan I am in a holding pattern: I dont think the Emperor's boys are in a very strong position although the loss of British ground troops in the pacific has allowed a bit more Japanese overall progress than I had hoped. Marc is stuck there really - if he pushes his navy into the Indian Ocean my US navy will hit him through the central pacific, and conversely if he strikes out East at the US then the British have a free hand in Burma and surrounding areas. Tough position, that will be made tougher when my Brit Navy gathers and arrives on the scene. It is December 1942....

My main problem with real time 2 player is that it ceases to become a game of skill and planning, and becomes one instead that focuses on speed of play. I am in my 40s but not quite an old duffer yet! I happily play Battlefield 3 and cope with all the whipper snappers, and have been known to give the odd youngster a good whooping at Fifa 12 on the Xbox. But CM was a game that played to the wargaming audience. In other words it excited those who had played board games, done 1:72 model gaming with dice, fiddled around with Panzer General or Steel Panthers etc etc. It was about tactics and, with a big enough map, it was about strategy even if it was never really designed to model battalion level stuff. Now? My brain needs to be quick, and my mouse even quicker. Dont get me wrong - I did not write this game off without trying it. I fired up some multiplayer games with my long running opponent and we did our best to give orders to tanks, send sections out on recce, position that mg in the right place.... but to be doing that while the clock ticks actually, in my opinion, makes it LESS realistic because you cannot accurately simulate simultaneous movement. Under WEgo with a 15min clock I could make sure that the orders for my tanks, my mgs, my spotter, etc were all implemented so that they happened AT THE SAME TIME. In other words the battle played more realisitically, becuase no soldier on a real battlefield ever sits in a shell hole doing nothing for 2 mins at a time when there is stuff to be done. However now? With so much action going on the mg on the hill covering the road gets left alone. In fact it is only after a quick map scroll that you realise the enemy has started to lay down suppressing fire and flank it. By the time you realise that has happened - becuase you were busy sorting out the frontal assault on the farmhouse down the road, or the shape of your armoured platoon as it crested the rise 400m to the south, your mg is a gonner. That armoured car you had positioned in reserve never went up to help it - because it was humanly impossible to keep tabs with all the action in 3, 4, 5, 6 or more zones at once. Bottom line is that the only way to make it work real time is to play with such small forces where contact areas may be only 1 or 2 zones, and the map is small enough to need very little panning... ... and for that reason I dont play cm2 anymore. I have no interest in a platoon sized engagement. I certainly have no interest in playing the AI - false challenge that. I have no interest in playing a wargame that punishes me for not noticing (or being able) to keep up with the action. Wego CM1 meant that every unit was accounted for each turn, unless I made a hideous mistake in my 15min turn and forget to do a final cycle through all my units. BF argue it is more realistic. Engine-wise it is. But game-wise it isnt and the wargaming fun has gone - the old board game, panzer general audience has probably almost universally been alienated. And I dont think it bothers BF one bit becuase they are now making more money by producing a very detailed product that caters for the Command and Conquer / Warhammer / Company of Heroes etc generation. Probably a younger generation - yes. I dont begrudge them that - making a living is making a living and if it makes money then they would be foolish not to do it. But I am disappointed nonetheless. CM1 was revolutionnary in its make up. With a new CM2 engine that remained loyal to its wargaming background it had the potential to be so so much better, and keep its unique niche in the market. But that's gone now. It would be a major U-turn in policy if future engines rebuilt the miltiplayer wego concept. It wont happen, though a small optimistic part of my brain thinks a pause button might be a goer. Just maybe... So I have just built yet another CMBB operation and will start it next week with my opponent in a 2 hour online wego session. CMBB is still there; CMAK and its modded CMETO are still there. Th engine is a bit flawed; there are bits in terms of spotting etc that are inaccurate... there are some problems with graphics (although not with my new GX560 I am glad to say) but it will continue to be a much better multiplayer product than cm2. So let's stop whining and just get back to cm1. Nothing wrong with that. Let the new/young generation click their way through cm2 believing they are fighting a realistic battle while parts of their army wither on the vine of AI control and lack of orders. They will never know what they are missing by failing to see the beauty of cm1 wego over the net.

... and it is a turn without a graphic. I continue to hunt down the last of the axis navy in the west, reducing the last 2 U boats in the north to strength 1, and destroying an Italian cruiser in Taranto naval base. By my reckoning Marc now has those 2 damaged U boats, 1 mauled Italian battleship, 1 carrier in the Baltic and maybe another U boat or two holed up alongside it. What I want to be able to do in the long run is evacuate a good portion of the RN to the East to reinforce attacks on the IJN, and I might nearly be in a position to do it soon. I will leave destroyer screens around the UK of course, but all the heavy stuff can depart to the East, by which time I will have the Germans in a 2 or 3 front war. (Remember I had initially considered doing this NOW to squeeze the Japanese, but a change in strategy has led to this delayed consideration...) So at sea all is fairly good. On land the British have begun to buy back lost units and basically rebuild a fair bit. Income is still over 250mpps, down from the dizzy heights of 350 when the pacific remained intact, but it is enough to do what I want to do as I prepare for more British operations in 1943. I like the Brits - anyone would think I live there... :-) Tactically the battle for southern Burma continues. I made a mess of Marc's paras north of Rangoon and am fairly confident I can hold him away from the oil. Soon the Japanese will be facing more Chinese aggression along with the US navy and the Burma battle, and Jap mpps will be stretched. It will be interesting to see which zone Marc prioritises, because the jam can only be spread so thin, and in order to win this game he needs to make inroads somewhere. My intention is to keep that jam as thin as possible while I try to plot the shattering of the German army... wonder whether I can do that in 1943 or whether I need to have a longer term view and target 1944. That is a timescale I have not decided yet. I did launch a few air strikes in the East that turn and found the Luftwaffe fairly strong but not unbeatable. Did minor damage to a panzer unit and to paras in the Caucasus. Elsewhere quiet. I think it will be quiet from the allies for a fair while now. Purchase pattern will be key from here...

Hi Peter You are right of course - I am throwing Free French forces around the globe like confetti and it is politcally unrealistic. Actually I have just had another corps arrive in the pacific, and I have sent it straight to the pacific battle front ready to sit on an island and probably get pounded by the IJN. It is not what would have happened in history - not a chance. But it is the way the game plays... so it would be daft not to do it. Spain is an interesting one as it has become a point of discussion. Let me make one thing clear so that people dont think I'm trying to wriggle out of anything - my campaign there was a failure. It did not achieve what I wanted, which was to tie axis forces down for several more turns. I was over ambitious declaring on Portugal instead of anchoring an operation around the Gibraltar fortress and considerable carrier air power. In hindsight it was dull of me. However the context is important. I was never going to counter attack in Russia at that point - it would have been foolhardy and left me open to potential defeat and a turn around. I didnt have enough armour to do it, nor quite enough HQs on the ground. My purpose was to SAVE Russia from a German attack that I feared was going to come as I am quite certain that Marc still had local superiority in summer 1941. In that regard the tactical defeat in Spain, and the 3 or 4 British units lost, fulfilled a purpose. I could well have lost an awful lot more than that in the East if Marc had really gone for me. Maybe I overestimated his strength in the East - cant really know the truth of that - but from my angle Russia now is very strong with many many units spawning since the Spanish campaign started, and he certainyl wont take Moscow now without major loss. So we are back to square one really. Time to post my turn!

Zoiks - PP dislikes my strategy. :-) I'm not sure it would be very easy to set up a political dimension within the SC engine, though Hubert would know more about that. Hearts of Iron does what you suggest, though the game is so complex it is a completely different beast to SC, and the beauty of SC is its simplicity while still retaining never ending replayable challenge because actually an almost limitless number of results and options are always on the table. Agree that Britain would never have done what I did, though at the same time how do you equate historical politics with the situation in SC? My British were at level 2 infantry, same as Germany encouraging me to take the gamble. This battlefield parity wasnt even close in 1941 in History, so the political map of 1941 cannot easily be matched to the political map I face at present. Also the Battle of the Atlantic is over already - the U boats are beaten, but in reality it was a very close thing until the end of May 1943... so how does the game "predict" a political dimension when the parameters within the game can be so different? As an aside I dont think Churchill was ever under any serious political threat anyway, even in the darkest days of 1940 or 1941, so again very difficult to suggest a historical political angle when the history itself is very unclear. Had the RAF been beaten in 1940 and Wehrmacht actually got ashore it would probably have been academic anyway as Britain would have fallen, but I doubt Churchill would have been toppled - there really wasnt anyone else better in the wings. ... and back to SC: the forces I have lost have no bearing at all on the long term ability of Britain to conduct operations because I have been sitting on a huge pile of British mpps for a while thanks to uncaptured resources in the Pacific. Only now has Marc been able to whittle these down a bit - but on a profit/loss chart I would suggest I am on an average break even while Russia builds and builds. In other words if I faced exactly the same situation again I would land forces through Gibraltar as I did in this game, though perhaps not take the gamble of declaring on Portugal. That failed because I did not take Lisbon, but it was a whisker away: got the city clear of axis troops but couldnt get a unit in to take it. Pretty tight margins! In History had the UK had the depth of resource that I have had WOULD they have been so sensitive to losses such as I have just had? Remember the Somme and Paschendaele: Britain's largest ever continental army and enormous losses, but because the Empire's strength at that time was great the losses could be sustained. So - a pop up window telling me that that UK is now restricted in its operations would potentially be absurd in this AAR game because Britain has a power base beyond that which existed in reality. You cant create fixed scripts based on historical tenets when the game situation has quickly moved away from history in the first place.

The Allies are building. Destroyed the last of the German Atlantic raiders in Brest harbour, pinged a U boat on the arctic convoys and otherwise did nothing in the West from a combat perspective. Having given up on Spain it is about preparing for the next thrust - remember I have set Germany as my priority target. There will be action in both northern and southern Europe soon. Britain has had a hard time the last couple of turns with heavy losses due to ambitious zipping around the Pacific. I am about to lose yet another unit at sea with a British Army transport running into axis navy units off the East Indies. Gutted. However the context here is good - by having so many mpps and forcing Marc to use forces in the southern pacific to mop up, and stay strong in China to keep my Chinese quiet, my US navy is reaping the benefits. I am not far off being able to launch operations in the central pacfic with the US Navy despite the fact that my mpp purchase pattern is overwhelmingly still focused on hitting Hitler. One theatre of operations is active, one that Churchill's government are very keen not to come second best in. This is the situation in Southern Burma: My Brits may have taken a mauling, but there is enough force in the Indian Ocean still to make life very hard for Marc once he is forced to face the US navy. I do not intend to let the Japanese take my oil reserves here, and once I have Germany under the cosh in Europe I will be trying to squeeze Japan from both East and West. Not got the power to do it quite yet, but my time will come... Meanwhile it is eerily quiet in Russia. Looks like Marc has given up the idea of storming any further forward, so now it is all about timing my counter attack right. For all you strategists out there it needs to come at a time when I can force Marc to turn his head in more than one direction, so from that angle it may be a while coming. That is not to rule out local operations and attempts to pinch a unit here and there - I might give that a go soon. :-)

Evening all I had an attack of common sense today after my flighty foolishness yesterday. I took a long look at Spain, pondered the situation and thought of purpose. It looks to me as though purpose has been achieved - good men have died in Spain, but Stalin sits pretty and untouched and more and more Red Army units are taking to the field every day. Therefore the evacuation was begun, 3 units escaped leaving 3 others to likely capture. Unhappy losses for the British, but - again - Russia is key. A factor in my thinking here was that the "death by a thousand cuts" technique of distracting Germany was further enhanced elsewhere. Marc made a mistake here - he forgot to move his battleship out of Copenhagen harbour - but more importantly he forgot to garrison the city. With so many British mpps currently (still many production centres in the pacific although Marc is gradually reducing them...) I had put a corps to sea just in case this happened, having spotted the city was empty last turn when conducting some convoy raiding. My sub took another pot shot at the unfortunate Tirpitz and then British troops move in. Here is a snapshot seconds before the pressing of the button that saw the Tirpitz go to the bottom of the ocean and another point of concern for Marc appear. This now allows my Royal Navy into the Baltic, and all kinds of nasty stuff can be engineered that way! No more Norwegian income either. So it became less of a difficult decision to evacuate Spain with this opportunity, and for sure Germany is not going to be let off the hook! Meanwhile Stalin sharpens his blade... Globally Iraq was also invaded - no surprise there - but more surprising was the fact that the Iraqi people rose up and joined the allies even though I was unable to capture the capital while at war. Very handy - no partisan worries there now! I also found another sub on the arctic convoy route - 1 more than I thought was still left afloat - and damaged it. Also did a bit of bombing in the pacific to try and hit Japanese supplies. I have aircraft dotted all over the place in that theatre, but more of that in later turns. Pressure there will build soon enough. China? Some local attacks did about another 5 points of damage to Japanese armies, and to the West of China the British presence in Burma stiffened. Dont want to let Marc get that oil supply if I can help it... Lots happening - lots more still to come. Stay tuned!

Not the best of turns, but I am pushing so hard really before I should do that I am bound to have problems. The Russians sit tight - to counter attack now really would be ambitious... My main focus was Spain, and what a big fight it is turning out to be. Here is the graphic: Now this is not all good at all! I checked out the predicted stats for attacking Lisbon and it was obvious I could not take it this turn. Therefore the priority became piling as many units into the area as possible, remembering that the whole idea is to divert Germans down here and take the pressure off Russia. I repositioned one army, and then sent the Malta Corps in to help. Oops! forgot about the Spanish Navy. Sent in a Russian cruiser to take them on - and oops again - found an Italian battleship at sea. At that point I got a bit stupid... maybe cos it is Saturday night. Who knows. Anyway I sent my carrier fleet in to engage and, as you can see, sank neither ship and left my carriers open to attack. I really should have given up the corps transport for dead and concentrated on reinforcing the carriers with more aircraft. My gung ho attitude will not help my troops on the ground. I even moved one carrier into a square with a dust storm so that its aircraft couldnt take off. I'd like to say I've had a few beers already... but that would be a lie. I just had a careless turn fueled by over aggression. It happens. Still - the one positive here is that my Brits, who are a bit tech starved, have managed infantry level 2, and all those units in Spain and Portugal will take some shifting. It is draining on my own resources too, but Stalin is smiling. Elsewhere I did a lot of moving in the Pacific, looking to exploit a rather weak Japanese position there and seem to have managed to stem the Japanese tide in Burma and reinforced some other key areas. My US Navy are quite close to being able to steam forward just as soon as I extend my land based air cover. More to come on that in future turns with graphics to show what I mean. The British in Syria prepare to invade Iraq - that wont surprise Marc at all - and destroyers make contact with the last wolfpack up in the arctic convoy area. Hopefully I can sink it next turn if it dares to stay at sea. I was even able to put a sub on the German convoy route out of Norway and did a bit of damage to the Tirpitz in Copenhagen harbour. I expect some destroyers will steam in to make my sub's life a misery, but it is nice to be able to turn the tables on Hitler in the convoy raiding stakes!

It's been a game breaker for me. CMBN 2 player RT is a farce and cant be done effectively - my regular opponent and I tried it and it failed dismally. I think it is a great pity that a step backwards was taken here and it wasnt a priority for BF to keep a wego 2 player online option going, but there we go - it happened. I bought the game but have therefore now migrated to other wargames. BF have my money but they have lost a fair slice of my customer loyalty. Seems to me that when a sequel to a game is brought out - even with a new engine - an effort should be made to keep the methods of play similar and the customer base strong. BF I think decided to reach out to a new customer base without sufficient regard for their existing one, the one that made their name in the first place. There isnt even a pause button to allow manufactured wego online - an amazing decision and indicative of how little regard they had for the online 2 player community. PBEM still works fine of course, but wego was the revolutionnary system that made CM unique, and 2 player unique wego gaming was a blast - fantastic stuff. Drop box isnt the same - doubles the amount of time to play a game. It's just manufactured pbem. Altogether very disappointing.

Use Hamachi. Problem solved - I am also on a network and Hamachi has been the saviour in all manner of games.

OK - it's getting really tasty now. First - to China. It is imperative I keep up the offensive on the Japanese to draw strength away from other areas. I had more success in the north where a Japanese Army was destroyed on the spot I have placed an X Note that units that swap when using the shift key now still can have action points left, and I was able to use this to good effect to bring my light armour into play. Delighted to see so much Japanese ground force heading into the area - Japanese operations are sure to be affected. I got lucky out at sea where I had a US cruiser in range to attack and sink a japanese amphibious unit as well this turn - the cruiser may now end up at the bottom of the ocean for its troubles, but I thought it a fair swap at this time and a further weakening of Japanese operations in the area. To Europe. Here I had a long think. A second front early is my priority as laid out in my second stage strategic plan, and the obvious place for that is northern France. However I am many turns away from being able to do a proper job on that... and the longer I looked at the map the harder I tried to think through the implications of using my Gibraltar bridgehead to good effect. Now - this is a risk, because it means a fast track of resources into Spain, and an inevitable hit on long term strategic planning. Marc may wipe out valuable units in the process (I did it to him in our AAR of the SCww1 ww2 scenario last year... ) However my British mpps are really good thanks to big help from the USA and several resources in the Far East still being under my control. So - I took the decision to go heavy on Spain and fully commit to it. I may lose lots, but Marc will be committed and bound to lose out too. Last turn I had put more units to sea than I thought I would probably use - as insurance against just such a possible decision - and so I was able to use them. No room to manouevre down there, so the first decision was to really go aggressive and declare war on the poor Portuguese. I used ever ounce of power I had in the area to destroy the Lisbon corps, but was unable to actually take the city. However more units are ashore, and the fact that I have 5 carriers operating in this area is going to give me a big air presence. This attack wont win me the war, but it might do a huge favour for Stalin. Here is the end of turn graphic: An HQ and 3 ground units for Marc to deal with... In addition I sank what I think is the last U boat operating in the Atlantic while it sat in Bordeaux harbour. There is one more up on the Atlantic convoy route for me to deal with soon. This turn I was also able to make happen the next stage of my Mediterranean operation, for although I am diverting a lot of power against Germany I still wanted to continue to expand my success in North Africa. A small combat group was put together, has been deploying and was able to strike and invade Syria this turn. End of invasion graphic here: This annoyed Iraq no end, and in fact reversed all the diplomatic points I had invested early in Iraq and the Baghdad government cut off the convoy link, but it wont matter - Iraq is next. :-) Had things not gone well in Egypt then the diplomatic points invested there earlier in the game would have been worthwhile. Finally - to the zone we are all looking at. The area where the war will be won or lost - Russia. I dont want to give too much away about what is going on there at my end, but I can tell you I deployed 4 units last turn, bought another 3 with available mpps and am still hanging back. I was slightly tempted to attack actually - 1 german armour spotted in Spain and 2 in the Caucasus means a weakened central front, but I held back. The time is not yet ripe, and even if Leningrad falls next turn - which it may well do - I can afford to wait. Marc is going to get increasingly distracted in other areas (Spain, France, Italy for example...) and I will wait until I can really do some nasty damage before I go hell for leather. Here at least for you to see is my immediate defence zone around Moscow - fairly strong, and not an easy nut for Marc to crack when he tries: So altogether very interesting, lots happening and more action soon to come I'm sure.

Easy - click on the force march button top right of the display. Bear in mind it does a lot of damage to readiness and morale. You also cant do it if you are adjacent to an enemy unit or in poor supply.

I also promised a review of Allied strategy as we get somewhere close to the turning of the tide (I hope!) Here was my plan as laid out at the start of the game: 1. Priorities research above all else. This fits into the delay strategy overall. 2. Prioritise infantry, armour and air research for the Red Army, to prepare for the inevitable Barbarossa. 3. Prioritise UK research on anti sub - with a view to attacking the U boats at the earliest opportunity - , infantry and air. I will try to use UK land forces to delay where possible, but need level 1 weapons to do it and an air force than can combat tac air. 4. Prioritise US research on the navy and ground attack aircraft. All else can wait, becuase when I decide to try and wrest the initiative away from Marc in 1942/43 it will be via a US naval assault in the pacific and US air force attacks in the west to try and relieve the Red Army in the East. 5. Try to get level 1 infantry for the Chinese - if this Gold GC plays out anything like the original then the Chinese have no chance unless they get infantry tech. a. Do virtually nothing throughout 1940 but defend, aside perhaps from a sortie with the doomed French Navy. b. Launch my first major operation at sea, via a UK assault on the U boats. c. Delay the Germans in North Africa using all the UK infantry I can in an attempt to prevent any nasty axis gains in the Middle East or India. d. Pray for Chinese tech, and delay the Japanese as long as possible. e. Plan my first land offensive in the European theatre as soon as US air power is ready. f. Peg back the Japanese via US naval operations in the Pacific in around 1942. How has this gone? Research has been top notch. My Russkies have an advantage in both infantry and armour over the Nazi horde, got level 3 industry and also level 3 air. In addition they have level 2 anti air and still got a max 1000 points invested in research. Elsewhere the US Navy is at max strength 3, max strength 2 for tac air and also level 3 for industry. These 2 superpowers are therefore very much at the races. The Chinese have got to infantry 2 and also level 1 for air and tac air. Only the British have been a bit unlucky - got level 2 infantry and level 1 anti sub, but not much more as the dice have not quite rolled for Churchill. There is still time for that to change. My 1940 defence worked very well. The Germans were slowed up, and then the defeat of the Italian Navy ensured my priority to try and stop a German incursion into the Middle East was assured. The U boats have almost all been sunk (forgot to say I bagged 2 more last turn plus a destroyer and a spanish cruiser) so the Atlantic is mine. The Chinese have done more than just delay the Emperor - they have actually gone onto the offensive, at least in a limited fashion. So an excellent first half. So where from here? 1. Russians will have to engage Germany soon. In an ideal world I would love to have a second front of some sort opened up by the time that happens. Spain is a half hearted effort at that, but before the year is out I intend to be giving Hitler major grief in the West following a careful purchase programme in the US and Britian. 2. I intend to crank down a little agains the Japanese in order to allow me to bully Hitler. You may have read me say a couple of turns ago I wanted to hit the Japanese hard, and send a British Fleet over to do it. Changed my mind on that. Spain coming in partly changed it; seeing the morale and readiness scores of the Wehrmacht in Russia finished the job. It is also the case that the Japanese are really struggling - I have been playing GC long enough to know that their Empire is not where it should be, and from here it will get really tough. Therefore I can afford to go heavy against Germany firm in the knowledge that there will be time later in 1943 and 1944 to put the Emperor in his place! 3. US purchases will therefore move away from naval forces for Pacific operations and instead concentrate on building a land and air army ready for operations in Europe asap. 4. Russia overall? This may surprise you, but I will be quite happy to surrender Moscow if the German attack is too strong and continue a fighting withdrawal. I have played games before where I did everything I could to hold the capital and have lost nearly the entire Red Army doing it. Fact is that supply to the East of Moscow is a pig for the Germans - I will destroy as much as I can and then withdraw. Once a second front is opened in the West I will then come steaming back, and blast the Nazi horde westwards in a hurry. Obviously my number one option would be to stop Marc at the gates of Moscow, but it may not be possible. We will see. So lots to follow with interest as we go through 1942. Keep up and keep checking this thread!

Good to have Marc back - not easy I'm sure to pick up the reins of a battle fought by someone else, but I know he will do an excellent job. My turn... a bit going on but only 1 point of real note. Having banged my head against a brick wall for my stupidity in getting my maths wrong in Spain and letting Franco join the party I decided that perhaps it was a small opportunity to turn something awful into something slightly better than awful. Last turn I put some units to sea in case I was left with space to reinforce near Gibraltar, and as it turned out I did get that space. So the BEF is on the ground... I dont know whether this will prompt Marc to divert precious German resource away from Russia or not. If he doesnt there is a small risk to him in me being able to expand that bridgehead, especially as my British Atlantic Fleet contains 5 carriers now. If he does, then Stalin will owe the British a big case of Vodka. Elsewhere I managed to sneak a corps back into Singapore to try and cause a bit of grief there, and the Russians continue to sit and wait and the US build for future operations.

No graphic this time - the Russians continue to play for time sitting on a fat pile of mpps, and the US will not be ready for anything major for a bit. One bit of success in China where the northern most Japanese corps defending the Peking Front was destroyed and a Chinese Army rolled through the gap. I plan to try and make things as difficult for Bill in this area as possible. Main information to put across today is that the Spanish declaration of war on the allies has forced a decision on me to alter my British strategy. Instead of sending Brits out to the Far East as I had almost decided I was going to do, I have decided that the Reds need all the help they can get (particularly with the readiness and morale differences I highlighted before) so I am going to assume that my Chinese and US on their own can take on the Emperor and I am going to use my British power solely in the European Theatre. This is not a disaster - just a response to the strategic situation. At the start of this game I laid out my strategic goals for the first 2.5 years. It is time for me to update these, and I will do this next turn as we get to Spring 1942.

Ah - I see Crispy solved it for you. That's fast Forum work. :-)

It's not a bug - Japanese landings work fine. Double check that Japan is at war with your target. On the maps screen make sure you click on the Japanese flag (as Crispy said) to get off the default Germany option, and then click on the flag of your target nation. What does it say when you do that? Does a button that says "declare war" become available? Also at the bottom of the main game screen - what is the mobilisation % of the USA. Report back on these and we will continue to help from there.

Wow - what a lot I have to report this turn. The game is now fully on... and for the first time my smiles are mixed with a few frowns. Let's look at the good news first. This image shows the Pacific Western Theatre: As Japanese attacks go this is very modest. I had suspected that my strong Chinese would have an effect, and they have. With the Imperial Japanese Navy preparing for the attack on Hawaii, and land forces tied down in China, Marc/Bill had few points to spend on developing this amphibious zone. He will take a few more of these areas, but Indonesia will now become a pig to take, and valuable mpps will flow into my coffers before the axis reaches high water. As a guide a really good amphibious attack in this area can take nearly all of the areas on ths image above, and certainly all of the mpp producing ones. So happy there, and happy too with this: This shows the slow beginning of a Chinese counter attack in the northern sector of China. The Japanese corps worn down to 6 will either be destroyed or forced to retreat next turn unless Bill alters his line, and as soon as he does this lower entrenchment will cause greater casualties. I have no illusions here: I wont be retaking China at this stage with this army, but I dont need to: draw some reserves/reinforcements into this area and away from the amphibious operations around Indonesia and I will have succeeded. And Italian troops in Brunei!!! Got to be a first. Cant say it worries me too much - valuable oil income going to Mussolini is a darn sight better than it going to the Emperor. :-) And now for the not so good stuff... Now top of the list is the fact that Spain has mobilised. This is a SERIOUS mistake on my part - I had seen the investment of diplomatic points earlier in the game by Marc and had done some counter diplomacy in the meantime. Sickeningly I just invested 300 US mpps in it to turn it away from the 80% level and bring it back towards the allies. But somewhere I have got my numbers wrong, and at 91% Franco has decided to join. I am not in a position really to pre empt with a landing in Spain, and the extra income, and more importantly the extra units, will be hugely valuable for Bill. From memory 2 Spanish naval vessels will pop up - those I will quickly sink - but I think 2 armies, armour, air and a corps or two will also arrive in addition to Franco's HQ. It's a big blow, and if deployed wisely these units will make my western European plans much harder. Taking into account new axis units and my really bad timing of 300mpps spent on Spanish diplomacy this is easily a 1000mpp equivalent boost to Hitler. To rub salt into this wound I am a little concerned in Russia. It is a while since I played vanilla GC, but I dont remember seeing figures like these below. First - look at the readiness and morale of this german army in the south, and note that this is for a unit on a very modest supply level of 6 (a factor which affects these values): Now these are very high. For newcomers to the game it is a very important thing to keep an eye on these numbers as they can outweigh tech and leadership values. In vanilla GC there were boosts applied to these figures for when things went well: maybe in Gold these boosts have been extended, becuase the capture of a mine and a city seems to have sent the German army into extreme happy mode. Now this wouldnt be so bad if it were not for the numbers in this graphic: This is for a unit that is fully rested, in HQ command and on supply 10, an important aspect of readiness and morale figures. Again - my memory is hazy on it, but it looks like Hubert has decided to increase the impact of local success or failure on other units. I have plenty of Russian units, and good mpps. but with these figures I am in trouble. Extended combat and the impending loss of 2 more Russian cities is not going to make them any better, and it puts my strategy in doubt. Is the old vanilla safety net of retreating and not engaging the axis in Russia now something that should not be done???? Should the western frontier now be fought for tooth and nail to prevent a big gap in readiness and morale opening up? We will find out very soon. Overall I cannot complain at the geographic global situation for the allies - it is a strong position - but the 2 negative aspects of that last turn have certainly taken the gloss off, and my task in Europe has certainly been made much harder in the blink of an eye!!

Cant go another turn without showing you all a graphic, so here is a zoomed out map of the Atlantic: This is the latest Allied success and you can see the size of the Royal Naval effort to stamp out convoy raiders. On top of the U boats sunk last turn I sank 2 more that turn and damaged a 3rd down to strength 1 before it got away. I think the Battle of the Atlantic is essentially over, and my mind is returning to the idea of a task force to set sail for the Far East in an attempt to finish off the Japanese Empire early. Little to report elsewhere. The British have a plan in the Med, but it wont be ready for a few turns yet, and I'll keep you all waiting to hear what it is! The Chinese pop away still at the Japanese and get ready for a bit of fun of their own... Lots of Germans massing in Russia now for an assault on Stalingrad and Moscow. The Red Army is hanging back... my only concern here is that the bad weather has hampered the return of the army from Finland, and these are my best formations. I had wanted longer to refit, rest and reinforce them than I am likely to get, and that might have an impact medium turn. We have reached the stage in March 1942 where any purchases of armour and/or tac bombers wont arrive until September, so time to stop buying and time to start thinking tactics and saving for reinforcements. I have done a good job on the tech front, but will need to be on my toes from here on in. The war could possibly be won and lost in Russia in the next few months - if Russia makes a mess of their fighting retreat then it will be really hard for the US and Britis to make a difference. To that end Bill's refusal to carry out Pearl Harbour is working interestingly. I have big US mpps now, and Japan are going to be in big trouble in 1943 if they dont do a good job soon, but it has prevented any convoy assistance from the US to the USSR and that can be quite important. Still - overall quite happy, and looking forward to throwing my Reds at the axis horde when the time comes.

Feb '42 and quiet. The Royal Navy took to the seas in force, sinking one U boat near Biscay and damaging another as it dived and weaved its way across the central atlantic trying to get away. Clever Captain - he managed it... for now... Elsewhere the Chinese sit tight, the Russians sit tight as reinforcements pour in (4 units that turn) and the British Army in Africa is still not ready for a move. No point me posting a graphic when little is occuring, but as soon as I launch another major land operation I'll post images.

Tired of doing not very much the RN sallied against a U boat contact just west of the Bay of Biscay. Several destroyer attacks were enough to deal with it and sink it. More contacts have been made off the Canadian coast - I need to decide if it is worth sailing over enough force to deal with them, or whether I should still opt for close home defence. In addition I am just beginning to ponder the possibility of putting together a Royal Naval Task Force to operate in the Indian Ocean. Pearl Harbour is late; my US navy is growing, and a RN task force to supplement the US Navy might just put an end to the Japanese early in this game. The real action is still in Russia, but snow and ice grounded most of my forces bar a couple of local counter attacks for slight damage to the German invader. I think the axis is going to struggle from here. My Chinese are so strong they are buying new units and will contemplate an offensive in 1942. The British control Africa and are building now for operations against the Italian mainland. Most important Stalin has had his tech scientists on 24 hour duty all game, and in addition to max inf tech I have air and tank at level 3, and industy and production also at level 3. Anti air at level 2 puts the finishing touches to an impressive Russian arsenal that is going to strike hard in 1942. I am getting 500mpps per turn already in Russia, plenty to cause Hitler no end of grief, especially once the allies make small dents in the West to break his concentration. Lots of action in spring 1942 to come, and lots of graphics from me once I decide the tide has turned and the allied counter offensive should begin.