Colin I

Germans counter in Southern Spain - loss of Gibralter and two units to the Axis assault. Russia is fairly quite - some exchanges over a mine in the Caucausus. Games getting very interesting. Allies have clawed their way back well in the West suberbly - although they are really only at their starting position Russia - he still has some forces but this is quite a different story. The Russians are rather fragmented with a strong enclave in the Caucauses but isolated from the rest. 1944 will be an interesting game.

The Allied assauilt on UK looks good - think it depends on the weather - the UK is tricky to fight over in the mud. Gibraltar - that corps can feel justifiably aggrieved - Axis high command is doing little to help it apart from ship in fresh recruits. But Russia is a different story. Here the Axis are giving it full attention. The Russian counterattack is badly damaged, it happens in clear weather letting the Axis air strike where they can do most damage. This is in concert with an infantry assault directed by Von Manstien and heavy armour. Three Russian armoured units go down and one more put out of supply, plus two armies. I estimate some more losses my side if he presses; but the Germans are getting the better of this one - to such an extent that its hard to see how he can sustain these casualties. Around Lenigrad, some slight signs of Russian aggression.

Germans push north after Stalingrad. Long ranged air is deadly, pilots sit back in cushy rear areas and make life hell, switching targets without rebasing. We are now into September, I'm rather hoping for a few more turns before winter strikes. One notable feature of the game is no major tank battle - Kursk has yet to happen despite serious armour on both sides. The Russians are split, at least some of their tanks are in the Caucausus where he has fortified positions. The Russian air is sensibly keeping a low profile after another paratroop assault. Meanwhile there is a Russian corps floating around in landing barges in the Baltic. As K-man says the Allies are seriously focussing on retaking the UK/Eire. So far, Axis holds all cities and has a fortification near London but the island is isolated by Allied seapower. Italian paratroopers die in Eire. Gibralter hangs on for dear life.

A little Winter action around Rostov results in a lost army on both sides and the fall of the city to Axis. Allied carriers very effectively mob a German army and storm the Med. after bombarding Gibraltar port down to zero. Russians fortify around Stalingrad and Caucausus. Germans fortify around London. Its Spring in Russia, 1943, and one suspects the game is going to warm up a little....

Agreed, though the Allies must also contend with the UK struggling to rebuild through MPP limitation and North Africa being a low supply springboard in part of which the Gibralter effect operates. On the plus side his gang of carriers is very effective. His only access to the Med is via Suez. Losing my fleet was stupid though. It will be a few turns before we see any major activity in Russia I'd suspect.

Germans indeed push the Western Allies out of Iberia with heavy casualties on the Allied part - that has to be most of the British army with their MPP, including HQ, several corps and armies and the armour out of supply plus 2 American armies killed. Axis lose a para. Less wisely, sally by Italian Navy crushed. We are heading into 1943. W. Allies have their Navy + Airforce + North Africa/Middle East. Soviets are rebuilding. Italians are knackered - they own Eire but lost North Africa! Germans are formidable on the ground and in the air.

Hellraiser - happy how it worked out. Sealion reduced the effectivess of westen Allies a lot. It was a partky opportunistic move. Germans continue in Russia but wont take stali8ngrad this year. Despite a Russsian counterattack or two and some extensive fortifications they slog on - helped greatly by the excellent axis air force. Meanwhile towards the end of 1942 Western allies invade Iberia eliminating a minor corps in Portugal but on the first turn not taking Lisbon but relying on HQ supply as they storm ashore. Interesting timing, I'd have waited for the Spring and let the Winter salvage the Soviets. Germans respond with an attack on UK HQ with a corps from Gibralter - sadly not enough to eliminate it - and engagement with a UK corps.

Highest difficulty (+2 experience) - with this the German front line is essentially inpenetrable and you have to fight to hold them. You can do it by creating killing grounds - areas the Germans must advance into leaving them vulnerable to attack from several sides. In the long term you can only break them by thinking strategically - either tech improvements using your MPP advantage to lever a way into Germany or opening a second front. Russians have lots of troops but have to be played well not to get trampled and care must be taken in middle east and I lose Serbia though its partisans keep popping up. At this setting I think its a more historical game than SC2 though partly thats because a lot of the production is preplanned. As I say, at this setting its very realistic - inevitably a bit TOO realistic - you do get sick of the ground slog in the West but you should do! Give you a PBEM game if you want though give me a week or so as I'm away.

Dynamics of game work well, Western front does bog down and you start looking for technology and second front solutions. Costing is good - high MPP costs for repair of capital ships and amphibious assaults are realistic. Air is nice - not superpowerful but great for spotting and fortification reduction rather than killing units. Supply - have you changed the model? Units I would have said were out of supply in SC2 seem to be low supply here - though maybe its there are more supply sources. What was strange was that in one game I broke through the German lines and captured a low level supply source. this enabled me to dig in for a year and continually reinforce to 10. I'm not yet in 1917 but presume there is a russian revolution event;. loved the Lawrence of Arabia touch. To improve? Maybe graphics of terrain a little. AI - Austrians keeps leaving Serbian capital open to partisans. Partisants - how about a figure such as a farmer or hunter rather than the P symbol?

Not necessarily - KMan and myself are gaining valuable experience slogging it out in Russia too

Exactly Arado. This is a game where we are free to choose a non-historical path. The Allies actually did violate neutrals but tended to do it on a small scale. However, UK involvement in middle east, even outside Egypt wasn't always consensual. I presume plans did exist for the invasion of Sweden or Spain or Eire even if unlikey to be implemented. I'm fine with invasion of minors by the West but would suggest greater diplomatic penalties for the Allies. If this is unbalancing then simply up the Allied MPP which would also be historical. I'd also like to see penalties that work through the game. Both sides hit minors indescriminately after all the major nations are in the war as the worst penalties (eg induction of US into war) no longer apply. But I'd like to see a free diplomatic chit go to the other side too in some cases, which can be spent to represent the effect on minors with less scripting that can be manipulated.

Dauriac, Like the counters and that units can appear very low strength and are then upgraded - seems right for WWI recruitment. Colin

Late 1941: The British have taken Tobruk from the Italians and Matildas are trundling towards Tripoli. The Axis finished their conquest of British Isles and headed into Russia taking Riga-Smolensk-Minsk-Kiev-Odessa with the Finns weighing in for good measure. The RN finally trash the Kriegsmarine who were exposing themselves protecting the German land units in the UK. British Navy is large but pretty knackered – doubt they have the MPP to repair it too fast. Broadly, the Med is contested with UK strong in the Middle East and North Africa with an excellent bomber in Malta -though the Italians have started to bombard it in a vain attempt to take the pressure off Triploli. Barbarossa has been muted – clearly the Axis has yet to see what the Soviets have prepared and the Axis have yet to hit with full force. Axis own a lot of real estate from Iberia to Ukraine. Norway/Sweden, Eire, Greece/Yugoslavia/Turkey and Tunisia/Vichy Algeria are all still neutral. Gibraltar remains British though there are German units camped just outside shelling the place and Italian ships bombarding and it finally falls. Turkey is quite pro-Axis after the adventures of the UK in the Middle East and loss of the British Isles. The Germans reinforce their hold on the mainland, garrisoning their conquests. The Americans have yet to show up in any real numbers. Spring 1942 The Axis troops in the UK take Eire before the Americans decide to use it as a staging post or airbase. The allies complete the conquest of North Africa with only a little harassment by the Italian navy. The Axis Spring offensive has one primary objective: Moscow. Three German army groups with sundry corps on the flanks and air support advance on the Soviet capital. They are conscious of a serious looking Soviet force to the South/East. The Axis bypass Leningrad, letting the Finns box in the Soviet army. Moscow falls fast and the Germans contact the Russian armour and infantry lurking. The Axis attack is aggressive – an air attack reveals the location of the intercepting Soviet air and Axis Long Range Air destroys one. Long range paratroops jump deep and take out a Soviet HQ whilst armour and infantry pile through the Soviet lines in support. Critical moment – if the Soviets counterattack strongly they could cut off the Paras and lead armour. Soviets have three armour to hand and lots of high grade (but low mobility) infantry – but on the negative side they are losing the air war and (I hope) have command control problems – with luck only one HQ is in range. Could go either way. He retreats. Axis take Gorky and swing south towards Voronezh and Kharkov where there is extensive Russian infantry dug into fortifications. He is clearly preserving his armour. Axis try to raid Casablanca with a corps, thinking he only has a US corps in the region. Something of a shock to find the rest of the Western army and air force using it as a staging post. “Here’s looking at you, kid!”. Well, possibly worth the loss just to get the intelligence – the German corps damages a US fighter before the inevitable.

Artillery definately important in numbers and impact but isn't it factored into the normal combat strength of Armies and so on? Even at 9 km we are talking about attacking an adjacent tile (also true of Naval guns). If you feel its important enough to be considered separately then I'd suggest an artillery technology with which you upgrade suitable units. This could reduce certain terrain penalties (fortifications, cities) when attacking, for example. Then a Russian artillery army would be IW1 AT2 Art3.

Tend to agree with Hellraiser. Artillery simply has no place in SC2, its too short range and whilst important is better factored into other units. Antitank is already simulated with the technology and armour upgrades. Comandoes are below the resolution of the game (a corps level amphibious assault is a hell of a lot more than a comando raid). Tactical bombers should be part of both air fleets and bombers. I'm possibly being inconsistent but destroyers, hmm, maybe, on the grounds of adding some needed texture to the naval game. There could be a case for customised graphics. For example if an infantry unit's antitank technology is above a certain level add a picture of an antitank gun to the graphic. I'd like to see that with mobility - infantry with mobility technology show a half track as part of the graphic. Have to say this is minor criticism, I'm enthusiatic about the road/rail nets because this adds realism AND playability/strategic options. Minor unit upgrades welcome too.

Yes, but some forwards allied units start at very low strengths, eg 4, and can be rallied to 10. These were small units that were unlikely to be enhanced or reinforced that much. This distorts the game as they are often at very high levels of entrenchment and rallying in this way makes them almost unbeatable.

Very nice mod, plays much better than many of the SC2 WWII smaller scale games including the ones that come with the strategic game. This feels right. Is there any way of stopping units being rallied above their original level - seems a bit much of an enhancement for small units?

Looks good - hope the simplicity of game play and lack of micromanagement is retained. Any mod of supply rules? For example, UK held by Axis is quite low supply. I think Axis would be able to supply the troops there very well. Would suggest a convoy route - if RN blockade it with surface ships then supply is as it is now but if they don't it is higher.

The US pacific fleet is a real disincentive. Because it weighs in whoever has a go at Spain it will almost always appear and it is quite a significant reinforcement. Given the only real source of additional vessels for the Axis are diplomacy of Spain/Vichy/Sweden or crash building Subs its hard to match. Having said that, its pretty reasonable and should be triggered by other events than Spain too - the US was hardly going to tolerate Axis Naval superiority in the Atlantic.

Personally I like the tactic but the danger is you lose the land war in Russia. Definately bad to sacrifice the Axis navy too cheaply - its lurking presence forces the Allies to be more careful and therefore undertake more limited operations and if they make an error you can exploit. Terif's advice - use the Kriegmarine to facilitate your strategic aims rather than just look for a scrap with the RN is good advice.

The opening years have just been completed with K-man as Allies and myself as Axis in round two of the Rambo invitational. Germans took Poland rapidly then walked across to France taking in Benelux and Denmark on the way. There were two consequences, France didn’t fall too fast. When it started to crumble, though, it went down quickly despite the dug-in armour in Paris. This was mostly due to very concentrated Axis air including the Italians. L1 French armour in Paris seems de rigeur but I’m inclined to dig the HQ in Paris and use it to direct counterattacks designed to kill at least one high value German unit by forwards infantry with the armour lurking a little to the rear to swing in at the right moment. Anyhow, the second consequence was the Axis got some decent technology (IW2 and some air upgrades) with a “don’t operational-move-just-walk-and-spend-the-petrol-money-on-tech” investment policy. Germans lost a corps in France but, freakishly, the UK air fleet died in the same fracas. It was involved in killing the German corps (without the UK air having HQ support) and was intercepted by the best Axis air fleet with HQ. Nevertheless, taking 8 strength loss in one go is a bit harsh (equal tech). I suppose it was near maximum losses both on interception and on ground attack. I didn’t realize this had happened, hit it with my best air in the following turn (planning on following up with two more attacks) only to see it die as the last 2 points were removed. Allies nailed one sub rather innovatively, transporting the French HQ from the dying motherland to use as an ASW spotter! Germans launched a blitz on London in the absence of the RAF (also known as a Luftwaffe pilot training exercise). German Navy a nabbed French cruiser (after defection to the Allies, of course!) doing recce of the French coast. The UK bomber is on Malta, repeatedly hitting Tobruk harbour. It’s early 1940. UK has been active conquering Syria and Iraq. Both sides are playing quite conservatively and cautiously. Italians have been very passive (the Navy, with fine attention to historical accuracy, is cowering in port) and both the US and USSR are on quite a low activation percentages. German subs are active again in the Atlantic. In Spring 1941 the Axis planned to strike hard. Rumania and Hungary and Bulgaria already joined the Axis so I was planning a simultaneous DOW against Vichy France and Spain. Getting IW3 delayed that, it seemed worth upgrading the army going into Spain for a faster kill and the time was also used to upgrade the Tirpitz – German navy had shiny new guns and was lurking off the French coast and looking for trouble. Broadly the plan was to take Iberia/South of France and hope the UK opened itself up for a late Sealion. I considered going straight to Sealion but K-man was playing carefully so I figured he would have a good response. His ground and air forces were active in the Middle East (UK HQ, at least one army and armour and two air fleets were all there and the UK bomber was at Malta) which suggested that he had not concentrate everything in Northern Europe as some players do. This increased my willingness to risk Sealion. The Axis airfleets (L2+L2 LR plus basic tech. Italians) were placed in pivotal positions in France so they could: (A) Intervene in any Naval battle ( Hit Northern Spain. © Attack London if it was left open. (D) Hit Marseilles. Both German paratroop units assumed ready positions with long range transport – looking to London, Bilbao and/or Marseilles as targets depending on where a good opportunity presented or to help out if the ground assault bogged down. Meanwhile freshly built German infantry deployed to the Russian border just in case the Western operation took longer than I hoped. As with France this was very much trying to think ahead and minimize the operational movement costs in this game. I intended to perform the first year of Barbarossa with new units or those that walked there, guessing that he wouldn’t play a forwards defense and that there was time enough for the rest (particularly the armour and air force and best HQs) to arrive in 1942. K-man went after the subs. Badly damaging one though I nailed a battleship in return. Iran fell so allied morale was dangerously high. DOW Vichy France, destroyed the corps but didn’t take it completely – needed the other forces for Spain which was attacked same turn. Destroyed one border army, damaged another and took out the Spanish armour from the air. Held the paratroops though was very tempted to use them. Built Italian paratroopers and positioned these and other units for Sealion – Kriegsmarine screening English channel, Danish corps in Amphibious mode and army and HQ to Brussels. May 1941. It all depended what K-man did next. He did a nice defense of Marseilles, transporting in Barcelona corps and continued to hit Tobruk. It was clear UK air was still in north Africa and UK fleet hadn’t tried to take on the German surface fleet or block the sea so Sealion was GO. Three German air and Italian hit London, a second turn of heavy bombing so UK corps should be somewhat damaged and not entrenched. All three paratroops landed North of London and attacked the capital. The corps was destroyed and a German amphibious assault from Brussels occupied London. Meanwhile, Madrid was taken and the Spanish surrendered – very welcome – needed the MPP and the morale boost and the surrender of the Spanish corps in Marseilles makes it easy to continue a string of victories at a critical point in the game. Vichy France and Portugal fell to the Axis. This triggered Russian entry into the war and the US wasn’t far behind – not unexpected. Life is about to get exciting, the UK is under massive pressure as the Germans advance towards Scotland (not helped by the lack of HQ coordination for the British, the Germans got an HQ to London) but help is on its way. The UK launches a major blockade of the home island, finally attacks the Kriegsmarine. In North Africa the British pulls back from the assault on Tobruk after loss of a cruiser to the Italian navy. The UK capital shifts to Alexandria and Barbarossa is launched, its too early to see what will happen in Russia.

Perhaps the "Colin beats Arado" could now be removed from the headline of the topic - its old news. Not sure which way its going with K-Man, AAR to follow.

What about Clint Eastwood's recent duo of Pacific movies? Pretty intense and doing it from both sides perspectives was brave with an iconic moment in the raising of the US flag?

Great game. It was fun.

More battles in Russia - losses on both sides - Axis air gets degraded further. Meanwhile Axis attack strongly in Greece, Allies hard pressed. Turks having joined Allies start surging into the Balkans. With both sides so exhausted from battle think this will make a difference as will the huge Allied MPP income.