Catacol Highlander

OK - second half of summer 1943 and a sitrep for you all. We have 4 battlefronts at present - I had wondered if we would have 5, but Marc has not so far advanced towards Moscow. Here is the first, and increasingly interesting one in England: You will remember that really I did this to try and occupy Marc. I am wondering now if I might actually get a permanent hold here and be able in 1944 to breakout and try and conquer the island. I destroyed an armour myself - disappointed about the loss of my own just south of London, but Marc mobilised what looked like most or all of the RAF to do it and I hope my jets wreaked havoc - and also drove another off to north of London on strength 1. I destroyed a battleship in the Med with Italian air power and damaged that US battleship in the Thames Estuary. I wonder how strong the Allied Navy is in real terms? This is a fascinating part of the game for me, as a newcomer to the setup of this scenario. Elsewhere I am driving north out of Stalingrad and harrying the Red Army as it retreats: You can see here the towns to the north of Saratov that I have now set as an objective for the summer. The power of the Red Army in the South is broken now. To the north I waited one more turn in Leningrad to get my arty in range like this: 3 artillery units now ready to heap misery on the defenders. The last battlefront concerns the bottled up Russian army around Grozny, but I am not ready yet to deal with that. Still hitting other areas first. All in all I am in a very strong position now, even though I have sustained significant losses over the summer. As of yet I am not rebuilding any of these - it is all about reinforcement, upgrade and advance still. My Mpps are such that 2 turns over winter will be enough to buy everything back. Finally a slide showing losses over the course of the war: What is significant here from my angle is the armour losses. They are the killers in this game - my 2 armours near Saratov killed 2 full strength armies last turn between them with almost no loss in return. If you command the skies as well it becomes a fairly easy task to smash an enemy line. My Panzer Divisions combined with air tech (Marc seems to have had very bad luck in growing the tech level of the Red Air Force) have thusfar put me in front: when I next fight as the allies I will certainly be putting together a long term strategy for trying to nullify their effectiveness... Notice also how little damage the Italians have sustained - I think the Mediterranean is a superflous sphere of action in terms of victory overall, but from my angle my Italian troops have been very valuable in combatting partisans and defending key points. They are even now attacking Leningrad. Were Italy put under pressure it would put Germany under pressure in Russia through unit use. Something to consider.

There are partisans in Spain, but not ones that pop up as actual units - just hits on supply. Having played this AAR game I see no point garrisoning any part of spain to prevent them as they are infrequent. France has not had a single guerilla or partisan attack which has surprised me. Maybe Marc opted not to help La Resistance? In the East it is a different ball game. I have approximately 15 units tied up dealing with Partisans, either units that are attacking pop up partisan units that then can cause mayhem, or simply garrisoning key towns to allow supply to flow and operational movement to occur. Partisan attacks in the East have been very frequent - they are a real and potent headache. Without the axis minors and Italy on board it would be a very tough job to contain them and also fight the Red Army. It does occur to me that one potentially powerful allied tactic would be to try and take out Italy - a lot of my anti partisan troops are Italian - and maybe even invest diplomatic points in Romania or Bulgaria etc early on to prevent them joining the axis. This would be a serious blow to axis chances - as I have said in an earlier post I was at maximum unit numbers at the start of summer 1943 and to my mind it wasnt enough. No minors? No successful offensive I would suggest as many good German troops would be needed to fight the Partisans.

No - NM seems redundant in this scenario. I have posted in the Beta Forum that I think this is a shame, but I do not know if there are any plans to make the most of it. Even Russia still has an NM in the 80s somewhere despite the loss of Moscow and Stalingrad. That I think has a negative effect slightly on battle performance, but NM is not a big factor to consider in this scenario.

No need for a graphic as it was fairly quiet. Having taken Stalingrad I pushed out of the city, destroyed an army and mauled some artillery and otherwise tidied up my advance. Took out a corps on the outskirts of Leningrad and then decided to land some panzers in England. My little beachhead looks fairly secure now I think - I sank a couple of ships and badly damaged another as well, so I am not sure that Marc can dislodge me from here now. If I get a strong toehold in England and win the last battle of the year with the Red Army to the East of Moscow then all should be done and dusted pretty much. I'll post some graphics on the next turn so you can all see what my disposition is half way through summer.

Vicious fighting indeed - I lost 9 or 10 units in Marc's turn but I reaped a terrible revenge. ARound Stalingrad 3 soviet armoured units were destroyed, plus 2 air and some other ground damage. Stalingrad fell, the Soviet government fled and the final image was thus: Is this the end of the Red Army? What are they planning around Moscow? We shall see... In Britain more vicious fighting leading to the destruction of a British Army and damage to a US one. I also landed paras further up the coast to try and stretch Marc further: Quiet around Leningrad and the Caucasus, but I think the axis now are in a very strong position indeed.

OK - the next few turns are going to be massive, and they will represent my attempt to win the war. We have 5 separate battles going on now - I intend to win 3, will lose 1 and will try and at least get parity in one. Here goes: 1. The Oil War in the south around Grozny has now swung my way. This was the end of the turn: I destroyed a soviet armoured unit using tac air once again, plus a corps with my armour, and will now reduce this pocket slowly. In no hurry to do so actually as the more crucial battles are elsewhere, and I am now glad that these units were not adding to the defence of Stalingrad and cluttering up the approaches. 2. The Battle for Stalingrad entered its 3rd turn (by my account) and from this graphic I would expect it to fall next turn: I destroyed 3 units on the approaches and have very considerable firepower here. I spy 3 soviet armour units - and crucially Marc revealed 2 more to me to the east of Moscow. This made up my mind that I could hit Stalingrad without having to move any air power straight away, and that the battle would be won by my guys. Intel is a huge factor in the game, especially of armour. They are the killers. 3. No graphic from me about the Soviet counter offensive to the East of Moscow. Marc conducted it very well and will take Kovrov next turn, but I will take the loss of 1 armour and 1 HQ plus some other units for the intel it gave me. He could possibly be at the gates of Moscow in 2 or 3 turns, but with poor supply and no chance of taking the city... 4. As a result of the intel I began my slow attack on Leningrad. You will see it is slow simply because I do not have any really big units up there, but enough to grind down what I think is defending it: Italian units showed their worth, with some supporting Germans. This will be a slow fight with the units I felt I didnt need elsewhere, but I hope to grind the city down by the end of summer. 5. Lastly I decided I was able to leave my main tac air force in France once I knew where all Marc's armour was, and I destroyed a British army with it while also taking time to reinforce my bridgehead a little: Still nothing like enough to take the UK, but the RAF and USAF had to take to the skies that turn and I know my jets must have done some damage. I dont mind losing all 4 of these units if it takes Marc the whole summer to take them out: by that stage I intend now to end the effective war in Russia. So happy all in all. One final graphic - if you guys out there play without making mistakes like this then you are better than me!! I did not bother to keep an eye on the isolated garrison in Sebastopol and it has now taken 2 mines back. :-( Stupid error - costs me mpps - but the unit will die, the mines will be retaken so not a biggie. Annoying though. Not sure why Marc's unit hasnt appeared once I fast moved a corps in to the area - is that a bug or intentional Hubert?

... and as an aside to all players one problem I have now begun to run up against is that I have bought every unit available to the germans - but dont have enough. I wasnt all that bothered with the thought of using diplomatic points to take Spain, but part if me is now wishing I had done as I could have bought a whole load of Spanish units. I will have a few to rebuild come winter as Marc has destroyed 3 or 4 in the last few turns, but basically I am at max and it is a bit frustrating! I wouldnt suggest playing this game with soft builds on though - I suspect it would make it very hard for one player to make a come back if his/her opponent gets ahead by mid game.

With the air power I have it is a logical thing to do, but I am still musing as to whether I should have tried to do it better. I might find that Marc has most of the British Army meandering around the Mediterranean, in which case this back door is wide open, but 2 para units are not really going to be enough to do the job. We'll see. Much depends on how the battle for Stalingrad goes. I also still want to take Yugoslavia but havent quite got around to it yet.

OK - into June and I was in a position to try and wrest the initiative back from Marc that I lost last turn. Near Grozny I launched a counter attack taking the oil wells once again: I did not lose as many mpps as I feared I might with the loss of the one oil well, but I certainly dont want to lose too many more. I am in rather a mixed mind about this unwanted phase of 1943 - I didnt want to have to commit good forces to this area, but at the same time Marc has no way really of fast moving stuff down and so it ought to be easy pickings in terms of kills. Does that help me in Stalingrad or not? Unsure. Anyway back at Stalingrad my forces are pretty much in place now, and the front with my air intel looks like this: No armour in sight, but I know it is there. I dont need to go about this in a foolhardy fashion - piece by piece will do just fine, and I may well start that next turn. However air power is still my greatest asset - I have moved some to the Grozny counter attack and got more in France, specifically supporting this diversion: A very limited sealion has been launched using paratroops only plus an HQ. The landing itself was so easy I was left rather scratching my head and wondering if I should have gone about this with more force. Should I have left Stalingrad alone and instead amphib attacked with 2 or 3 panzer divisions? I am not sure again. This landing will force some kind of response from Marc, perhaps alter some mpp spending, perhaps allow my jets to maul the RAF and perhaps also alter the stance of the US. From my angle this is all about letting the clock tick down because I never really intended to try and conquer the UK when I thought about my plan at the start of this AAR, but we shall see. I need to be flexible, and so what I do with my tac air assets next turn will be my biggest decision. Leave them in France and any ground forces that come close to my beachhead will be easy meat. Send them to Stalingrad and I can maul the Soviet armour once again. Decisions, decisions. It's all about testing Marc's response at this stage, and then adjusting accordingly. ... and finally I HATE partisans, but measures are underway that should hopefully nullify them much better. I am annoyed with myself that I did not do more in the winter to make sure their impact was negated.

Well that was a turn to forget, and no graphics required to show it. Specifically: 1. Marc took Grozny - a good move - and one that I had predicted but reacted to one turn too late and the army sent to defend the transport link down to the Baku oilfields was mauled just short of its objective. That has put me behind schedule and I will need to reconsider my priorities a bit :-( 2. I started the Battle of Britain to find that the RAF refused to come out and play, and the tac air I sent against London was beaten up by anti air. Bugger. Going to have to rethink it. 3. The bloody Poles in Warsaw rose up and took a host of mpp points away from the city. Thank goodness a unit didnt actually pop up there as I have no garrison, but it was annoying nonetheless. 4. The army I lost in central Russia last turn in 0 supply was seriously a dull move on my part and about 250 mpps wasted. 5. I count at least 8 active pop up Partisan squares in the vicinity of Moscow in all directions, and a good number of these have activated and given me a headache. Going to need to rethink my garrison use now. So all in all I achieved very little that turn other than moving a bunch of units around, and effectively wasting a good weather turn. I should have been a bit better prepared for spring, but perhaps going to Madeira on holiday made me a bit careless and forced me to hurry my turns. No excuses!! - but SC at this level is a seriously mentally demanding game... Going to spend a couple of hours mulling over my approach for this summer as it is not too late to alter it. Hopefully I will have a bit more to post next turn depending on what I decide. Note to self also - best check the finish date of the game to be sure exactly how long I have to defend my space should I decide to go totally onto the defensive. It is one option from here.

Been a lot of posts since I took off! I'm not going to add anything yet to the debate on balance - it is still too early for me to get a total feel, but I would only suggest that to react too much to one AAR and one game is possibly not the way to go. Currently the axis have their noses in front, but let's wait and see how it ends. If the axis are to win then they need mpps and territory - if you make these unattainable then the axis will stand no chance. Let's wait and see... Back to the battle in hand: Marc has hit me nicely near Stalingrad, and his timing is spot on. I was one turn away from being able to fast move stuff into Morozovsk by operational movement, but now if the town falls it will put me back a fair bit. Here is another graphic: I have had to slow move stuff down to this area so the Romanians were rather out on their own, but that is very much about to change. Marc has a big decision to make now: he can push on and take Morozovsk and set me back a fair bit - - - but the question that I would suggest will be worrying him a bit is just how much I might have in behind this fairly thin Romanian screen and whether my counter punch will leave him badly mauled. I would absolutely love to be able to tell you that this was my plan all along - lure him out and then smash - but it would be a total lie. My graphic is deliberately vague (isnt this AAR a bit like a roller coaster thriller!!!?) but it just may be that I have got lucky and those Russian armoured units will suffer massive damage if they advance any further. We'll have to wait and see - am I bluffing? ... :-) Marc will certainly have to be careful though, because a big soviet battle defeat near Stalingrad this early in the season would probably spell the end of his defence of the city. One thing you can pick up on here is my second advance - it is much harder tactically to move the enemy around in this zone as I was able to do around Moscow, but I do have an avenue of advance from the NW and I have not ignored it. Forces are coming down from that way too, just to add a little to Marc's headache. Finally in my 1943 plan I said the Battle of Britain would start. It seems to me that it is a logical way to try and wear down some of Marc's UK mpps, and this pic shows that I have been fortunate in air tech which should leave me making hay in the skies for a while: This Luftflotte will strike soon, with the 2 tac bombers and 4 fighters hopefully keeping the RAF in real trouble for a while. Elsewhere quiet. Around Leningrad I am just about getting a feel for how many units I have left after my formation of the Stalingrad battlegroup to plan an attack, but I am best to wait and see just how much Marc has himself sent to Stalingrad. He is now isolated in 2 pockets - if I see much more Soviet armour in Stalingrad than I can already spy I may well start an early assault on Leningrad. We shall see...

Heading home from Madeira today - will post when I get back...

I promise some comprehensive graphics images for you on Monday - my laptop here on holiday is great but I forgot to load my graphics stuff onto it and dont have time to fiddle with any online substitutes. Sorry - I know it must be frustrating. Check again late Monday or early Tuesday and I will make clear everything that is going on. In words: It is now Jan 1943 and the German armed forces are preparing for operations in 1943. I am getting ready for any allied attack in Italy or France, and have units closing in on Stalingrad including a Romanian army group camped 2 hexes from Marc's lines. I'll show you them on monday - we wont have quite got to summer by then so not much will change. My one success this turn was to destroy a retreating soviet AT unit NE of Moscow - I am sending one battlegroup in this direction just to see if there is any chance I could cut off the arctic convoys at source by seizing Archangel... U boats now in harbour, and in France the Luftwaffe are getting ready to test the mettle of the RAF and USAF. MPPS now nearly over 1100 per turn. It is a lot and I am enjoying it. :-)

December 1942 and I dont have my graphics programme on this laptop so no pics I'm afraid. In the North Sea I have decided it is time to withdraw my U boats. I am still damn well stuck on level 1 tech, and it is annoying me now so I will wait until my fortune changes and I can get them out with decent punching power. Marc has hemmed one in in a Fjord, so it looks as though I will lose my first one... :-( In France the Luftwaffe is now in place in force and waiting for good weather. In Russia my forces to the West of Stalingrad are only 2 hexes from Marc's defences and awaiting more power and better weather. Near Leningrad very quiet... Outside of Moscow all forces are now fully reinforced, and are beginning to push out to the east of the capital. While my main thrust will be at Stalingrad I also want to clear the Soviets out of some towns and cities to the east of Moscow so that I create a buffer zone of sorts and an early warning system of any sneaky counter attack. Got my first units close to Yugoslavia in preparation for its seizure and have now decided to increase the size of the Italian Army. Marc has just seized Tunisia with the US Army, and an invasion of Italy must be a possibility so time to make proper preparations. All in all feeling pretty good. Still got my eye on Turkey but will have to wait a little while to do anything about it. Actually my head is struggling to keep to my priorities in general - there is so much I want to try and do now, but I musnt take my eye off the ball yet - Russia is still a major threat if I leave her to recover.

Winter now, and the German army is refitting and moving to jump off points for next spring. However one interesting development: it looks as though Marc is about to invade Iraq... now I entered this game with an economic eye, and Iraq has 4 lovely oil squares. If he carries this out it will increase my own interest in Turkey - really the only real route I can use to get close to him in the Middle East. We shall see - for now my air assault on the UK wil happen as soon as the weather turns and I am now ready to start my mopping up operations to the east of Moscow.

Fighting my way through tired children and a big power cut I have managed to take a turn! Rule 117 hereby non-violated... :-) Not much to report. Destroyed 3 units and secured Moscow, did a lot of reinforcement, had a bit of a bash at a British Battleship in the North Sea and sunk another destroyer, and basically prepared to carry out the strategy stated earlier. Winter is now here - a few turns of not much coming up I suspect...

Finished? Good grief no. A long way to go. 1943 could see a big turn around if Marc can gather his forces and hit me in the right place and at the right time. Much still to happen - and for you all to read about! When I get back from holiday next week I might be able to take on one more opponent...

OK - I've managed to get online here in Madeira, but taking a turn is going to be far from simple because my family (not unreasonably!!) are rather keen that I dont sit at a computer instead of doing things with them... Daughter of 11, twin boys of 8 and a long suffering wife muast take some priority sometimes! I've got Marc's turn downloaded and I'll see what I can do later, but no promises as to when my next turn will be up.

I decided at the start of the game that the Mediterranean was not worth doing anything about. I knew the UK would not be strong enough to invade from there until 1941 earliest, and I also guessed that my Italian army at home, backed up by air force and navy, would be strong enough to defend against any early UK attack. I havent seen anything to change my mind on this. In GC Africa is important as it allows the Germans and Japanese to link up which can be a huge advantage, but I'm not sure that Africa is anything other than a diversion in this scenario. If a player wants to attack the UK then do it via Sealion - why bother to waste resources doing it in North Africa? The one thing I did with reference to the Mediterranean was to take Gibraltar at least to make the allies struggle for supplies and communications into that Theatre. For the future? If Yugoslavia falls easily then I may well decide to plough on into Greece and seize it. Much depends on how aggressive a stance Marc takes from here: I have done my bit, will continue to press in Russia, but otherwise will behave more like a boxer in counter punch mode. In other words if I see an opportunity I will take it - but otherwise I will wait for him to make the first move... Areas of opportunity that I will be looking at will be Greece (after Yugoslavia), Leningrad and on into Finland, the UK itself, Vichy France as mentioned in my 1942 strategic plan and possibly Turkey. Turkey might be a useful way of distracting Marc from D Day preparations. At the bottom of the list will be Sweden and Switzerland - no plans to do anything in these 2.

Agree with all that. :-) I'm off on holiday later today for a week, but have a new laptop with the game running on it that I'm taking with me. You will all have to give me 24 hours at least and then cross fingers that the wireless in the hotel is neither extortionately expensive nor unbelievably inaccessible. Hopefully all will be ok...

Maybe you are right, but with double the mpps of the Soviets the USA and UK now can build faster than the Soviets, especially if they reduce the convoy route. That is why I will wait a little to see the mpp balance into 1943. It is a tricky balance from here: to over commit in the East could lead to a substantial landing in the West that could catch me off guard. In order to get to Moscow Marc will have to cover a lot of ground in poor supply once I have conducted my mopping up operation in autumn 1942, and I will see him coming from a distance. It will be much easier for the Germans to counter attack from positions of strength than it will be to assault a heavily defended Stalingrad which, by 1943, is sure to have 6 or so armoured units around it and presumably much better air defence than Moscow had. I'm still thinking it through, but we shall see. I dont intend to let him off the hook for sure, but I dont want to be caught with my trousers down in France or the Low Countries.

Having slept on it last night, and waiting for Marc's next turn, here is my 1942 Strategic report: Summary: 1942 really could scarcely have gone any better. 1. Oil was secured. 2. Moscow was captured. 3. Spanish allied attack was wiped out. The only objective that was not met was Yugoslavia, and I will definitely put that right very soon. On top of this the U boats have assaulted the arctic convoys and got away with it virtually free of damage. Marc must be short of destroyers or using his carriers for something else, because the captains of the boats are just sat on the convoys at the moment wreaking terrible havoc... 1943 will look like this from the axis perspective: 1. Defence of Moscow and Rostov will be assigned to axis minors, and fortifications built. 2. German battlegroup of substantial power will be gathered at Rostov and sent to Stalingrad in an attempt to seize it and knock Russia out the game. At this stage, however, this will not be the Number 1 priority - probably Number 2... 3. Number 1 priority will be given to the defence of the West with strong German garrisons on key ports and mobile forces plus HQs equipped to support them. 4. Air assault on the UK will be undertaken. I sense I have an air tech advantage so I might as well see what the RAF and USAF can do about it if I deploy air in the region and have a go at getting air superiority early. If it doesn't work then no biggie - I can withdraw the air a bit further back... 5. Tentative preparations for Sealion in case that air battle goes especially well. 6. Assault on Yugoslavia will happen, and the capture will be handed to the Italians. I want to be able to use that Italian fleet at some point, and so need an mpp boost for them. 7. Vichy France - ally or enemy? I have invested in diplomatic persuasion to bring Vichy on board after Marc's attack on Algeria gave Vichy a big axis boost. If it comes on board by June then good - if not I'll invade it and again give it to Italy for mpp boost. 8. As a final priority - surprising maybe? - I'll form what I have left for an attack on Leningrad to see if I can take it and liberate Finland. My head cant quite get around the Maths of how many units it will take to do all the above, but we'll see what is left once I've done all that I'll have a go. I doubt Marc will be able to defend both Stalingrad and Leningrad effectively, so if Stalingrad proves too tough a nut to crack then hopefully Leningrad will fall and I can bring the Finns back into the war. That should do it. A lot to plan for... Good job my mpps per turn should top 1000 within the next few turns!!

I guess I weas a bit lucky with that - my main northern Panzer force I had to leave where they were last turn in order to reinforce them with the HQ sat on the nearest town, and the fact that they were able to get adjacent to Moscow from there was fortune rather than detailed planning. A couple of them were actually not in a great state: readainess and morale at around 50/60% and that really shows on the battlefield, but they were strong enough to do the job. The panzers further south had been moved up from Bryansk on a full move last turn and were sat in poor supply at the start of this, but again rather fortunately all bar one could get close enough to do damage and one was very strong at 100% morale/readniness and strength 11 due to experience. The one that couldnt get close was used to destroy the Tula garrison. It went well. I dont know if there was any way I could have used my Stuka runs to take the SE district too: in a way that is a pity because it allows a lot of Marc's stuff to operationally retreat next turn but I'm just being greedy really by thinking that. Moscow will be an absolute pig for the Soviets to recapture even if I fail to destroy them completely in 1943 so I am happy.

OK - this was the turn that Moscow fell because the weather stayed good. Deployment for this massive attack was as follows: The only problem I had really was that I had positioned my armour just a little too far back: playing around with my units before starting the action showed that movement distances for the panzers only brought them up to the edge of Moscow, and there werent going to be too many action points beyond. I had to plan the breakthrough, make sure the town was taken and try to do some kind of damage beyond. For those interested this is how I did it: 1. Took away the entrenchment of the west most Russian units using mainly artillery plus 1 corps. 2. Moved my rearmost, and as it happens, strongest panzer unit forward to smash the first corps and a second panzer unit to smash the other. From memory had to then use a couple of armies to finish the job off on those forward entrenched units as the panzers didnt quite do enough. 3. Having opened a hole I used a couple of Stuka attacks on Moscow to soften it up plus one on the engineers adjacent. Then moved more panzers forward to exploit the hole and smash those 2 demoralised units. 4. Seized Moscow with SF (what I think of as Pz Grendier) Division and spotted air and Zhukov behind. 5. With some Stuka runs still up my sleeve decided to leave the air and take out Zhukov first. Did so and had one Stuka run left on the final air unit which unfortunately for me didnt quite do enough to kill it. 6. Then further south seized Tula pivoting my attack a little around Moscow and seeking to put myself in a strong position for next turn on the SE edge of Moscow should the weather hold. I suspect it wont. 7. Further north popped a garrison, seized Kalenin and moved my Hungarian HQ forward to aid with supply. That was about it and the forward picture ended thus: Apologies for not breaking this down further with arrows on my pics, but hopefully you can see enough. For any newcomers out there this really was a classic combined arms assault where every arm did its bit. Artillery is very important for breaking down entrenchment: Tac Air does a wonderful job against unentrenched units in the open as do the panzers of course; infantry are great at mopping up and seizing territory, and HQs must be carefully positioned to maximise supply. Fighters provide cover for the whole operation. The Capital has moved to Stalingrad. I suspect Marc will now evacuate while he still can as I was unable to take the SE district of Moscow which can still serve as a rail hub for him - I will certainly take it next turn unless snow and ice come very early. I will post an end of campaign season 1942 report when I see what happens next turn, but it is certainly time for the axis now to pay serious attention to the West while still trying to make sure that Russia does not recover. To that end I am likely to form as strong a battlegroup as I can in 1943 to try and smash Stalingrad - although I will have to wait to see quite what the mpp balance is by 1943 before deciding if I really go for broke to seize it - while definitely now forming that Western Army I discussed in my 1942 strategy, ready to counter attack where ever the Western Allies land. I dont think I can afford to gather my entire strength in Russia in 1943 - it is too much of a risk. I may even have time and mpps enough to do away with pesky Yugoslavia which has eaten away at the back of my mind. Dare I try Sealion in 1943? That is something to ponder.

1. Basically fighter units now have a longer ground spotting ability than bombers or tac air. At base tech level fighters can "see" 4 hexes, whereas bombers/tac air can only see 2. In GC it is the bombers that have a long ground spotting ability, and fighters are at 2. 2. There are no partisan hexes south of Rostov at all, so none of these rail links are threatened unless Marc attacks. As Bill says you can ask any air unit to "attack" a hex in enemy terrirory that you have no intelligence on, and it will fly a recon mission giving you intelligence on the hex you target but also a radius around that hex. Not sure how big a radius to be honest - maybe 2 hexes? Something like that. However I have found that this often leads to air casualties as the recon is almost always intercepted and it seems to my eyes to experience more casualties than when flying a combat mission (that is probably nothing more than an illusionary interpretation on my part, but that's the way it feels to me...) so I actually prefer to just use the natural ground spotting range of planes (bombers in GC and now fighters in this version) to allow me to scan the battlefield without taking any casualties from intercept. Out of interest I dont know the reason why fighters have taken over from bombers in having the recon "eyes." I quite like bombers having that ability in GC as it adds value to them: now that fighters fulfil that role it certainly makes them even more valuable, especially if you have long range tech. I'm sure the SC team have their reasons...