hellraiser

Game 1 - Colin Axis Germans occupy Odessa, killing the corps inside. Another red corps killed near Moscow. Due to railway still free, Russians are able to operate away their land units from Finland. Commie partisan pop up near Riga and recapture the city. British troops in north africa kill the Italian HQ stranded near Tripoli - North Africa is free of Axis troops. RAF fighter operating from Benghazi attacks a german bomber in Greece. China...well, no fun here. They're barely holding, only bad supply for japs keeps them alive. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis (late sep '41) Japanese advance to Langchow, beating up ppl in their way. USA at 29% readiness USSR at 71% but Axis decide it is high time to take offensive border positions. Actually, I don't have room left to place anymore units in the east Around 35 axis units deploy on 3 rows on the soviet border in preparation for the mother of all battles.

German aggro strategy is fun, sure And, more than that, it works. IMO, a german 'peaceful' strategy is unbeatable but the aggro one works too - Rambo played an aggressive strategy vs my allies and, despite some setbacks, he will win that game - the accumulated xp for his units is ridiculous - 4-5 stars tanks and armies - one of the advantages of an aggro strategy. Granted, my allies did not play optimally since it was my first h2h game but still he was very strong and was able to replace the losses easily. In my ongoing game vs Colin, his axis employed an aggressive strategy and as of late '41, there is little i can do to block his advance in Russia - despite having LOTS of russian units, atm i have to play a waiting game - until allies get tacs and a good air cover, they can't do much. In this game, Axis is not in the best position since allies control north africa completely but germany has it's unique advantage of being able to apply pressure with overwhelming power in a particular place. SO, both ways work - take the 'peaceful' approach if you want no headaches and turn the game into a cookie cutter or for some xtra fun go aggro, maybe 2-3 fancy moves and strategies , Rambo style @Colin - Crete is actually THE example why paras can never be more than a tactical weapon. They won the battle (with heavy air support ofc) but the losses amounted to more than 40% of the troops. Actually without LW support, they would have probably lost badly. They cannot employ heavy weaponry and if the surprise effect is not fully achieved, bye bye paras. After Crete campaign, Hitler drew a 100% correct conclusion - paras are only tactical and their further employment in ww2 operations was to be tactical. Karl Student, the creator of the para units in germany, tried to prove otherwise but failed Actually after Crete, Student went to Hitler to propose a para operation in Cyprus and was rebuked rather brutally by the fuhrer.

First of all, I don't really understand why paratroopers are in the game. Paras, as history shows, is a tactical tool not a strategic one and SCGC is a grand strategy game. Just remove them. @Jolly - army in singapore - although it's nice, its usefulness is questionable - by the time Japan makes the move, they are very strong - corps, army, it doesn't really matter. Unless you can ferry the army out of singapore and employ it somewhere else. Free french - i take them always, idk why Indeed the move is very expensive. Manchester and Italian gambit - fully agree - but they can be agreed upon at the game start. House rules rule The readiness issue - if i understand it correctly you want axis to be penalized for employing an overly aggressive strategy. From my experience so far, Axis doesn't need any other minor than denmark, norway and benelux pre barbarossa. So majors' readiness will be very low till very late '41 yet Germany has the cash to keep 750mpp in techs and build all tanks, corps, tacs , 2-3 extra HQs and maybe leave only 1-2 fighters unbuilt - Colin and Rambo can certify that. I frankly see no incentive in playing an aggressive german strategy in SCGC. I also see no incentive in Sea Lion-ing. The ability to upgrade minors to the tech level of their parent is very powerful - and here, Germany benefits the most since she has decent sized minors at her side.

Game 1 - Colin Axis Norway liberated by british troops. Tripoli captured by UK; Italian HQ trapped nearby; Axis presence in North Africa eliminated. USSR DoW and occupy Persia via amphib landing. Germans captured Moscow last turn, russiansdon't dare face the axis units...yet. China? I think i forgot to move the chinese units Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Germans still building up on the eastern border. Japanese kill a chinese HQ and occupy a sorry ass city above nanning. USA still around 25%

Game 1 - Colin Axis Russia knocks Finland out of the war - nice plunder. Germans close to Moscow. UK started to hit Tripoli, corps damaged - gibraltar effect kicks in RN carrier attacks bomber in Oslo and british lands an army which attacks Oslo; HQ transported to norway as well ; the minor corps that previously liberated benelux appear in norway - german heavy pieces were operated near Belgium last turn. Japan rolls in China; jap tranny sniffing near Rabaul. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Germans still upgrading units for the upcoming late barbarossa. African task force take dar es salaam and mombasa.

Game 1 - Colin Axis Germans advance in Russia, Smolensk taken. Finland joins Axis but a big russian task force attacks towards Helsinki, kills the HQ and air unit - 3 red tanks adjacent to helsinki. Had i dow-ed finland last turn, hungary and romania would've joined immediately. Unfortunately, despite my caution, Hungary joined and Romania will probably follow. Probably they join if Germany push into the USSR. In the west, british commandoes liberate Bergen and Brussels. In North Africa, british forces kill the italian tank and make contact with Tripoli defender. Chinese kill a marine (or army?) near Chuking. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Germany is still upgrading units on the eastern border - USSR at 50% and something, USA still around 20-25%, Japanese, using carriers, TAC, 5 star army+some other units occupy chuking - capital moved to langchow. Another chinese army killed in the north, near that fortified village.

I sent you the 1st turn , Jolly.

Game 1 - Colin Axis British forces make contact with the defenders of Tripoli. Italian tank badly damaged, RAF bomber from Malta keep Tripoli and harbour at 0 supply. USSR prepares for war! Colin will use mainly the polish border for his attack on the soviets since RO/HU are still neutral - the 'bonus' for killing Franco before ro/hu are axis. China just having fun, i mean Japanese having fun in China Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Japanese capture Yenan (?) - that fortified village in the north. In the south, Chunking defender reduced to 5. We keep hitting hard that defender to avoid him building entrenchment and to keep his xp low while building some xp for my jap armies - once TACs arrive, it'll be a different story. Germans continue the buildup towards USSR - all tanks, corps, tacs bought plus enough HQs to take care of the eastern command. 1 or 2 fighters still missing but that's Colin's fault since he made me invest in diplo ^^ Due to a very calm Axis game in Europe - DoWed just the essential minors - USSR readiness is still around 45% and USA somewhere at 20+. The advantage of this cautious approach is the obvious time Germany has to build an enormous army against USSR and starting with '42 to have available troops to employ in different theatres as well. The disadvantage is that if you attack in late '41, you won't be able to fully exploit the power of such army because of mud, rain and snow. But starting with spring '42, Germany is a true monster.

Game 1 - Colin Axis RN kills 2xsubs, 1xBB, 1xCA west of Iceland - ASW and carriers win the day Chinese are useless. UK around Tobruk - Gibraltar effect kicks in Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Kuwait corps flee in terror, italian claim the sheikh palace. Japanese kill a corps in the north, ping the central chinese city (capitol i think).

Games resumed: Game 1 - Colin Axis Japanese hit like a sledgehammer those poor chinese. China split in two, just trying to delay things. In North Africa, UK troops, after previously capturing Tobruk, take a break waiting for supply to catch up. Desert RAF grounded due to sandstorms. Bomber in Malta hit Tripoli and harbour down to 0. Italian tank counterattacked a british minor corps and retreated west towards Tripoli. Bad weather prevented the Kriegsmarine to retaliate last turn - this turn, the RN aided by minor destroyers hunt down the axis ships west of Iceland (1 or 2 subs sunk, cruiser sunk, can't remember if Bismarck went down below as well). Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Japanese kinda suck I always take the longest route when dealing with China - instead of exploiting the northern flank, I go from south and east...eh...the absence of Jap TACs is making it even more difficult but, on the bright side, all available jap marines are bought already so the bonus ones will greatly add to our specops assets. Germans enjoy quite a wonderful amd serene spring of '41 in Europe. Kriegsmarine stays around home ports, subs are still stuck at lvl 1. African task force exploring the savanna. Italian task force arrived in Irak, Kuweit under attack - fighter, tac, tank. Last turn I noticed UK bribed USA so, despite my contempt for diplomatic actions (unless the opponent really sinks chits into it, I don't bother) I was forced to counter the UK chits. All available axis income (that's somewhere around 800 mpps) was invested into diplo-ing USA - bang! USA takes a 14% reduction in readiness at the end of my turn. Mr Churchill, sweet tonguing those yanks ain't gonna work!

I don't have extensive H2H experience with SCGC but so far i haven't seen any use of the japanese units in Europe. To me, Germany&Minors are more than able to exercise control over Europe without many problems.

there were always these kind of loopholes in our beloved series i remember the SC Blitzkrieg days - don't take smolensk so you don't trigger ural event too soon, don't take alexandria to keep majors' readiness down,etc These things, if proven to deliver an unfair advantage, can be regulated via some house rules. Till then, they're legit ^^ Don't want to downplay Dragon's smart moves here but I don;t think Axis really need those moves in order to win.

Axis cookie cutter at its best I fully agree, it is easier to play axis if you managed to set your objectives and stick to them. There are no mpps shortages for Axis in SCGC, the ability to upgrade minor allies as if they were german units is extremely powerful, the german navy is strong and difficult to battle against. The best axis approach is, in my opinion, a rather cautios one - there is absolutely no need for an aggressive style pre barbarossa. Germany don't need spain, vichy, etc so soon. I usually take the 2 freebies early in the game (denmark and norway) and capture north africa and don't bother with other minors till '42. And then i take them to use them as morale boosters for my russian campaign or to improve certain strategic positions rather than the mpp benefits. Thus, you keep the majors' readiness down making it very difficult fot the allies to launch anything serious before summer '43 or '44. By '44, if not seriously challenged in the west, Russia is dead and the game is over. Never bother with sealion as well. Why should I? Uk is at best a nuissance on her own. Only USA can help them do something in the west and usually if USA focuses almost everything against germany. As allies, your only chance is to detect the correct moment when you attack in west but only if the russians are able to attack as well in the east should the germans decide to counter the western allies. That means a very conservative approach with russia and saving of tough pieces (i.e. armour). And even then it is not easy at all. You cannot defeat Germany by mpp denial - they have them in abundance, but by killing their tough pieces and exploiting the period until the said pieces come back from the factories.

Game 1 - Colin Axis Japanese hit hard and capture Sian. Minor chinese counters in the south. China at IW1 finally. UK forces attack and capture Benghazi; Malta effect keeps kicking in and together with malta based bomber and canadian bomber based near Tobruk, keep axis supply down. A massive british (asw lvl2) armada engages the german fleet trying to sneak through the Iceland-Norway passage. 2 cruisers, 2 subs and an amphib corps sunk. I suspect a powerful counter during Colin's turn since I am pretty sure he has many more units hidden throughout the area - germans preserved their naval units so far. A lvl 3 sub raiding the atlantic convoy was driven away by a destroyer. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis German troops advance towards Addis Abbeba, still held by the italian specops unit. Italian units enter Iraqi territory to help the native corps capture Kuwait. Japanese slug it out in central China, Colin has units well entrenched, I miss tac bombers because I first invested in some xtra carriers, techs and bought all the available marine units. I am pretty slow with China always, I let them live thru 1943 most of the time. Games postponed till 10th or something, Colin is busy IRL.

Game 1 - Colin Axis Japanese kill a HQ (i think), chinese kill a jap corps in return. TacBombers and carriers raining blood over chinese heads. In North Africa, british forces make contact with the Benghazi defender - Ghadaffi better hide, we're coming UK intelligence tech pays off - we spot things that were not supposed to know about Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis German cookie cutter at its best. Panzer unit enters Somali capital, italians advance towards Iraq in order to secure that british port. Malta captured by italian amphib corps. Japanese don't really do much except for capturing Foochow and reinforcing the CAGs. Actually they do something, i.e. trying to buy all the available marines before bonus troops arrive in the theater (a nice way to exceed the allowed limit, you can go as far as -7 or something).

Game 1 - Colin Axis Chinese counterattack moderately, reinforce and pray. British bomber from Malta and the canadian bomber from some sort of oasis south of Tobruk attack the italian port west of tobruk + malta effect kicks in = bye bye supply for quite some turns for axis forces. Colin already had some 2 diplo hits on USA (i think). I don;t usually bother with diplo but I guess I'll have to. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Japanese kill a corps near the capital in central China after previously upgrading their IW to 2. Germans kill the sudan defender using a tac bomber, soon we will march into the city. Italians capture Amman and continue to march east. Malta bomber killed, next turn italian corps will land there.

Game 1 - Colin Axis Axis fleet do some serious damage to allied med task force, carrier lost. Allies retreat their remaining ships into the red sea. British and commonwealth forces attack Tobruk. Japanese continue to attack in the north. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Germans capture Cairo, Egypt surrenders. Italian and syrian forces march towards Amman. Strong air units operated in Sicily, italian bomber and the Regina Marina destroy Malta city and port supply, time to get rid of that pesky RAF Bomber. Japanese back off a little bit in order to upgrade their weapons to IW2.

Game 1 - Colin Axis I had no ideea about any norwegian destroyer going to the allies Germans goosestepping all over europe. North Africa rather quiet - some skirmishes in addis abeba against the italian specops unit China DoW French Indochina and corps near Nanning marches victorious in the enemy capital. Due to chinese aggression, Thailand turns axis and starts the convoy route to Japan. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis RN takes revenge on my lvl1 subs and some cruiser in the north sea. In response, we risk some more uboats and a str 4 cruiser (used as a spotter) in order to kill a RN battleship. Meantime, on the norh african front, germans occupy Alexandria and italian navy goes on the hunt in the red sea (RN BB survives at str 1 , O'Connor HQ bombarded)

Game 1 - Colin Axis Due to massive pressure on Brest, british corps calls it a day and goes home. Gerry capture Norway. North Africa - calm, only the british bomber based in Malta hits the Tobruk port. Somalia terror camp (got this terror stuff ideea from an older AAR, must've been Rambo's, can't be anyone else's ) under attack by uk minor troops. Chinese kill a 4 star jap marine unit in the north. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis After a glorious and long voyage, Graf Spee managed to snuck into Bergen via Iceland but allied destroyer bumps into her mooring place. UK carrier off norwegian coast makes short work of the heroic ship. In the Med, allied ships, sporting NW2, ping italian army near El Alamein. In retribution for the loss of Graf Spee, nazi subs kill a cruiser in the north sea. In the Med, germans storm El Alamein and kill the british defending army, italian army mauls badly an uk minor cruiser in Cairo port. German bomber hits the egyptian convoy starting port prompting the carrier Ark Royal to intercept. Italian sub and 2 italian cruisers sink the carrier and 2 italian battleships sink a british battleship.

Game 1 - Colin Axis Japs coming hard from north Germans kill the Bordeaux corps. Game 2 - Hellraiser Axis Germans attack El Alamein. Allied bomber operated in Malta. Japanese DoW and capture Indochina.

Game 1 Colin Axis France kaput, allied corps holding brest and bordeaux Luftwaffe sink a RN BB Yugoslavia and Vichy attacked by Germany. UK bomber operating from Malta hits the italian North African ports to delay the ferry of troops. Japanese hitting hard the northern chinese flank. Game 2 Hellraiser Axis France kaput - @Colin - a wizard is never behind, he is exactly where and when he wants to be Since I don't operate troops from poland and i take a rather cautious approach, instead of march i get france in april or something - not really important. Germans started to deploy troops in north africa. Fort de France gold rush refused by the fuhrer - it doesn't make sense since allies can reach FdF in a few turns , faster than axis can. Japan captured Changsa - or whatever the name that city east of nanning is. Norway was captured as well 1-2 turns back.

Game 1. Colin Axis Winter in France. French operate a M-line corps (previously operated there from marseille) near Paris to fill the gap left by the french dead army. UK change the convoy routes. In China, Japanese units pound hard the poor chinese who barely have the mpps to reinforce. Game 2. Hellraiser Axis Germans continue their march to the western border. Various units already in place, reinforcing. Japanese lose a corps in northern China due to multiple bold hits by chinese corps. Carriers retreated in ports for refitting. Various other units receiving upgrades to motors and IW and reinforcing.

Yeah, even if you fail 1 turn poland, it doesn;t matter idd Turns 3 and 4 - Colin Axis DoW on Benelux, they capitulate. On turn 4, germans kill a french army. Japanese maul the chinese lines, line still holding. Allies establish a fishing net around brasil shores waiting for Graf Spee - she bumps into an english BB and gets sunk. French cruiser bumps into german u-boat raiding the canada-uk convoy lines, sub dives. Turns 3 and 4 - Hellraiser Axis Germans DoW and annex Denmark. British bomber carpet bombing Copenhagen and the danish port. German ground troops continue to redeploy near french and belgian borders. Japanese capture Chengchow.

Well, it's been years since i last wrote an AAR After buying the game and playing 1-2 games against the AI to get myself familiar with it, I started my first h2h mirror game vs El Legende (both games still on atm). Yesterday I started a mirrored set vs Colin I - we didn't talk about writing an AAR but I am pretty sure Colin wouldn't mind me starting one ^^ So here we go, the first 2 turns : Game 1, Colin I having Axis - Hellraiser having Allies Turn 1. Very strong opening for Colin - he pounds Warsaw with everything, air, armies, tank attacking even from across the river- BAM ! my Poles give up. Pheew that was a quickie! Kinda risky if you ask me, it doesn't work everytime, but he pulled it off Graf Spee raiding those assets in the carribbeans. Japan killed an army near Chengchow. During my 1st turn, UK shuffled some units around the map, China moved the exposed army near Changsha in the nearby more easily defended mountains. Turn 2 German panzers spotted near Benelux border, Graf Spee still raiding the carribbeans (is it an oilfield there? perhaps a mj plantation^^). Japan captured Chengchow - bah, this is not good Allies continue to move units around the map, invest some cash in techs, reinforce some chinese units. Game 2: Hellraiser having Axis, Colin Allies. Turn 1. Not gonna try to pull off the 1st turn-dead-poland-miracle, too high % to fail for my taste so instead i take my time and kill their units , placing 3 heavy units adjacent to Warsaw. Graf Spee rading the same marijuana rich spot in the Carribbeans. Japan start hitting Nanking - carrier, corps and army. Allies take some lucky shots at germans in Poland, scoring a hit on a tank even with that lousy corps left alive...pfft Turn 2 Germans occupy Warsaw, german air redeployed to the french border, ground troops started walking towards Benelux border. Not gonna waste precious mpps with operating, the distance is short and mpps are too scarce for Germany early on. We need some tech investments fast. Japan capture Nanking using the 3 carriers and 3 ground pieces - China trade severed bla bla. USA say something about an embargo. I don't know if USA readiness jumps or not because the fall of Nanking, but 'severed' sounds damn good ^^. OTOH if this leads to an early embargo, it will be very bad for Japan - hopefully it's not the case (not gonna read the manual for this issue alone ) Games to be resumed later this evening.

yes, Colin we can do a mirror - send your axis turn to 'cosminerul@yahoo.com' i will send my axis turn to 'insertyourmail.here'