abukede

Not much action to report. It is mainly all quiet in the West. One of my U-Boats bumped into a UK cruiser. Beyond that... lots of moving around behind the scenes. UK forces pushed into Italian held North Africa. I don't think they will have an easy time of it. In Asia... I there were a couple of minor attacks in the south. In Central China Japanese forces pushed forward to the Chinese line backed up by Artillery. Note the upgrade status of Japanese ground units. The Chinese I suspect are in for a rough time. Back to Jim.

Turn wise... only limited action in Asia. I conducted a few minor attacks just to remind Jim the Japanese are frisky. I spent a good part of the turn rebuilding and bringing up reinforcements. I expect serious action next turn in Asia to keep the Chinese honest. The Germans were very busy consolidating their new additions to the Reich and shifting forces eastward. So there was no action to speak of. Convoy raiding has stopped... so Jim has to wonder where my U-Boats are and what I am up to? I bet Jim is also wondering what the German forces in North Africa are up to also??? Essentially lots going on but not much to talk about or show any pictures. Back to Jim.

brianlala, You are not rooting for me? Sniff sniff... I am hurt. abu

No real photos in Europe this turn. Germany is busy consolidating her holdings. I did not yet get the DE event to bring Spain over to my side. Germany is in the process of consolidating her holdings. The weather over the continent was terrible… otherwise I had set the Luftwaffe up to hammer Jim’s fleet in the channel. Lucky him. In Asia… Japan continued her offensive in the center destroying another Chinese corps and a garrison further south. I also attacked in the south mauling a third unit. China is bleeding cash. Game wise… I feel pretty good about Germany’s position. With the proceeds of France’s fall I was able to purchase 3 additional armor and 1 mech. I expect to have 7 armor deployed shortly. All should be ready for Barbarossa. In addition over the winter I invested heavily in technology and additional HQ’s to support my growing army. Japan is still a work in progress. I have a lot to work with and I have plans. Back to Jim.

I think that Jim wasn't expecting that move primarily because I have never pulled it with him. We have played a large number of games with Gold... and to date I have never gone with the complete conquest of France option. He knows that I like to vary things up... but I get the felling he thought it was a long shot option for me... and yes one of the reasons I pulled an invasion of Algeria was the fact that he had invested in diplomacy for Spain... but also because I felt there was a real chance of pulling it off due to the fact that he had likely stripped North Africa of the defending corps. It is kind of a cool move.

A ton of action this turn… Jim destroyed an army, which I expected. When he attacked with his armor I wanted him to strike an infantry rather than an armor. He would have been hard pressed to go after my armor but I did not want to give him an opportunity to destroy one so I put my infantry forward. I need my armor with all their experience gained in Poland and France for the Russian campaign. I simply could not afford to lose one! I have been slow walking the French campaign for a couple of reasons. One reason was that I wanted to build a lot of experience for later in the game. The second reason will become clear in a moment. There was a corps to the right of Paris, which was quickly destroyed. I then began the reduction of Paris proper. Notice there are no UK units left in France… at least in view Jim appears to have pulled them out. I took advantage of my armor to finish the reduction of the city. This is how the final positions in France looked. I deliberately avoided Jim’s armor, which after his attack upon my army… he pulled back to Orleans. An attack on that armor would have resulted in additional casualties. There was no sense in taking additional losses by attacking the armor directly, especially since France is defeated. I mentioned that I had a campaign with both German and Italian forces in North Africa. I had invaded Tunisia. Axis forces pushed into Tunisia and then Algeria. Why attack West when I have UK forces building up in the East? When I invaded the Low Countries I counted French units and I noted what seemed to be more than expected. In addition, Italy entered the war a few turns early and it seemed to me that Jim had likely pulled his French garrisons completely out of the Med. I decided to take advantage of this… with Algiers as my ultimate goal. I figured that I could completely reduce France proper (destroy most of her ground units and gain additional experience) by October and with Italian and German forces advancing in North Africa seize Algeria around the same time, especially should Jim have transferred his defending corps to Europe… hence the primary reason behind my slow walk of France. I needed to give Axis forces in North Africa time to seize Algiers, which this turn they did… walking into the city unopposed. Jim had indeed move his defending corps to France proper where they were destroyed in detail. Holding both Paris and Algiers I saw no need to accept Petain’s Vichy France proposal. I said “No” and France as a whole surrendered, including most of her colonial possessions around the globe. Germany gains additional production and additional ports in the Med. Taking the colonial possessions is also important because it gives my raiders additional supply and bases of operations for minor repairs. When the Japanese enter the war they can also take advantage of these ports and supply sources. There is also a third reason I went this route which I will explain shortly. In Asia there was very heavy fighting with the Chinese seeing a number of units badly mauled. No pictures this turn of that. Back to Jim.

In southern China my offensive continued. I was almost able to knock out a second Chinese corps. Over all I am very pleased with the progress in France and Asia.

Lots of action again this turn. German pressed forward to the border of Paris. I conducted air attacks followed up by ground assaults with solid results. Here you can see the attack pushing forward as Jim’s final line of resistance collapses. This is how it looked when my attacks in France were all said and done. You can see I destroyed 2 armies and 1 corps for little loss. I am also in the process of surrounding Paris. France’s morale is around 54%. I expect it to plummet this turn. Here is an interesting picture. Jim finally got around to sending naval assets into the Adriatic. He hammered an Italian cruiser pretty hard. However note the upgraded Italian navy. 3 fully upgraded BBs and 1 Cruiser supported by 2 upgraded and highly supplied fighters. Jim may have waited too long. The Italians attacked the French fleet, which saw the destruction of the French BB, CA and significant reduction (primarily due to air attacks) of the sub. Though I would prefer to fight UK ships as the French are about to surrender… the national morale bonus of sinking those two ships really helped Italy. I expect the UK navy to show up next turn… however such an attack will prove costly. Jim used one of his carriers to make multiple attacks on ground forces in North Africa and he took casualties doing it. Should he bring his carriers in, he will have to contend with land based air that is upgraded and well supplied. With much of the French navy gone… any attack is sure to be ugly. It will be interesting to see what he does… keep the Italian navy bottled up or attack? In North Africa Italian and German troops continued their offensive in Tunisia. In Asia I was able to break the last fortification in Central china and destroy the corps that had been defending it. I expect to push forward next turn.

In China... it is a priority to save and as quick as you can purchase a second HQ in the south... that alone really changes the dynamic of Chinese defense.

In South China Jim had attacked a special forces unit mauling him… I used him to attack and reduce fortification levels before performing attacks against Jim’s entrenched lines with limited results. I did make the decision after my attacks to sack the Japanese commander and replace him with a higher level HQ so that supply and command and control is improved. So far I am pleased with my offensive operations in China. The Japanese are now in the process of destroying a Chinese unit a turn. The last two turns have been very costly for Jim… including his counter-attacks, meaning he is now losing more than he is making. I actually expect there is a good chance Jim will fall back in the center to the mountains to preserve what is left of his forces.

Lots of action this turn. The action in France opened with a bang. I pushed forward in a big way. I destroyed the corps near the French main line and then advanced forward destroying the garrison, occupying the mine, then the fighter and the corps next to my armor. In this picture you can see my armor in the process of destroying the last holdout on the Maginot line. I know a lot of players hesitate to assault this line but with proper planning and sufficient air support it is easily overcome. This turn I bagged 3 corps, 1 fighter, and 4 garrisons. The French army is still dangerous but much weakened. Any attacks Jim makes should hasten France’s fall. In North Africa the Italians pushed forward against Tunisia and the Germans landed reinforcements to bolster their Italian allies. I am confident this makes Jim very uncomfortable. I plan on having a heavy German presence in North Africa and I intend to push toward Egypt after the French fall. In Central China Jim attacked Chengchow with a lot of units… swapping out the fully entrenched units for fresh ones after they attacked. My gallant defenders were able to successfully hold. I continued with my offensive targeting the entrenched unit south of Chengchow. I reduced his entrenchment level with arty and air bombardment before performing a ground assault which resulted in the destruction of the army.

Here… I swapped one of the units out that attacked and had been adjacent. That attacker had used his prepared assault bonus to great effect. Having been swapped out… it is why he still looks active. Notice the number of Japanese armies on the front line for this offensive. There are 5 in view with 2 more just out of view. This is an extremely powerful force. I have also made sure to support it with 2 HQ’s and aircraft. Sadly my aircraft were grounded otherwise the destruction of Chinese forces would have been much worse. This is how it looked after the first turn of the fighting… with Chengchow under Japanese control. This city produced 10 MPP a turn and 5 National Morale points. The Chinese are now bleeding 11 points a turn… not counting those lost in unit destruction. Having taken Jim’s primary source for supply in Central China… I have successfully unhinged his line. He may try an all-out assault against my forces in an attempt to retake the city and regain a supply source. He may fall back toward the mountains. I hope he attacks. If he does, it will mean I will get a real shot at doing the Chinese a lot of damage. Should he opt to hold his ground his unit readiness will soon drop like a rock. My offensive force that took the coastal cites… pushed forward against Jim’s Southern line. You can see another more powerful force of Japanese units just to the north. Jim is shortly going to have major fighting on 2 possible 3 fronts in China complicating any type of defense. My goal in China is to take all of his production sources in the south and keep him too busy defending and replacing losses to even contemplate a counter-attack. So far I think I am off to a good start. Who said the early part of the game isn’t interesting? Back to Jim.

Lots of action this turn. One of my damaged U-Boats blundered into an allied cruiser on the way home… not good. On the positive side… I began the serious task of methodically destroying the French army. Jim kept his lines in place without attacking the German line. I thought he would have done so and was prepared for serious losses but in the end he opted to sit tight… his tactical choices were not great. Unless he pulled back he was facing the prospect of serious losses either way. Using massive air assaults and ground attacks I broke his first line of defense in several places. I destroyed the army defending Lille and the one adjacent to it and occupied the city. I also threw my armor into the line with solid effect. Note my armor is now upgraded to level 1. In this picture you can see the breaking of the Maginot Line. Next turn I expect to push around and out into France causing a lot of destruction. Having destroyed 3 French armies and a corps I think I am close to breaking the back of the French army. That said the French can still hurt me. In North Africa the Italians began an offensive drive on Tunisia. You can see Jim deployed his navy against the Italian ground forces in North Africa. I assume they were in the area in an attempt to crush the Italian fleet. Unfortunately for Jim… the weather over Italy was poor, hence throwing their weight against the Italian ground forces in Africa while they wait for improved conditions. In Asia things really got interesting as the Japanese made their first ‘real’ push against China. Much like in France Jim opted to sit tight… content to hold his positions safely entrenched. Notice the two Japanese artillery units. Both are charged with 3 shots each and both are excellent tools for defeating entrenchments. Jim’s units are dug in and entrenched. I unloaded a massive bombardment on Chengchow destroying those entrenchments and weakening the morale of the defenders.

It is May and the action in Europe heated up. I opened with an invasion of Norway, seizing the county. The invasion of France also began this turn with attacks on 2 fronts. Since Jim’s forces were well dug in and double stacked… making a direct assault by armor risky… I decided I would strike primarily south of Lille with a medium bomber and then use infantry to assault instead of armor. My second front was directly against the Maginot line. Using tactical aircraft and infantry assaults I was able to reduce French entrenchments and destroy a defending coprs and in general reduce fortification levels across the Maginot line, making that front particularly vulnerable should I commit my armor there next turn. I did not advance into the vacant Maginot line spot. I am going to take my time in the destruction of the French army in an effort to build experience for the Eastern Front. Strategically… I think that North of the Maginot line Jim absolutely has to assault one or more of the 3 German corps, which works for me as I would rather him batter away at corps and waste his strength than against my expensive armor. He will have the prepared assault bonus so not to attack and inflict damage on the Germans might be too much of an opportunity to pass up. So in essence… he attacks and can do some damage but takes damage as well making his defenders much more vulnerable to my second wave. It will be interesting to see what he does. In the Atlantic Jim hammered a U-Boat that has been lingering off the Canadian coast for some time… becoming more of a simple annoyance. I now have two U-Boast limping home. In Central China I opened up a second front against the Chinese… by pushing forward a powerful army supported directly by 2 artillery units, a medium bomber and fighters along with 2 HQ’s. I am fairly confident Jim expects (rightly so) an offensive drive in the south from the coast inward. I doubt he expected a massive push into the center of the country. Note how close my HQ is to the front… this is to provide better supply to my frontline units, making them more effective. It will be interesting to see how Jim reacts. If he attacks he potentially opens himself up to additional casualties by weakening his front line units, making them more vulnerable when the Japanese attack. Should he attack and swap those front line units out afterwards he sacrifices his entrenchments. It is a catch 22. He can see my forces advancing in the South and shortly he will have major fighting on 2 fronts… which over time should make it difficult to replace losses. At the end of the turn Italy entered the war… which I had hoped would happen at the start of the turn. This leaves them vulnerable to attack by the Allies before I can respond.

You build up quite the airforce, bring in the Italian navy... bombard the heck out of it over several turns, use an amphib to finish it if need be or simply drop in a para. It does take a lot of force to reduce Malta though... usually 3 tactical bombers and 2-3 medium bombers all with HQ support. I usually think of it almost as a separate campaign, much like the ones in Yugo or Greece.

I find it handy to take Malta usually during winter 1941 and secure my African supply. Conversely taking Gibralter has the opposite effect on the British.

The weather cleared for most of the Front in the West this turn and I decided to invade and secure Belgium. I used a combination of air and ground to take Brussels. There was no British or French air defense. I am wondering where those fighters are? Knocking out all 3 Belgium units was a pushover. The hard part comes this upcoming turn when I push into France. Is Jim prepared? In Asia there was no action as I prepared for my next big offensive, by repairing units and bringing reinforcements up. I thought you might find this interesting. This is a graph of convoy losses for Britain. You can see that I have cost Jim 190 losses to date. I would have cost him more but I made an error with one of my U-Boats and he got clobbered… and is currently limping home for repairs. Convoy losses this turn should push him over 200. Convoy raiding is an important tool to slow UK production down. Don’t neglect it! Back to Jim.

Things got a little interesting this turn. Jim unzipped his fly in the Med and showed me a bit of what he is packing. I also spotted another BB thanks to air recon. I took steps to better prepare Italy for an early entry into the war. I am curious as to what he is up to. I was wondering if he would try an early knockout blow to Italy’s navy. Looks as though he may try. I have a few surprises waiting for him. The weather improved and Germany took the opportunity to invade the Netherlands early. She quickly succumbed. Belgium still remains neutral… Shenzhen predictably fell as well, wrapping up my Coastal campaign. I now will turn and drive north into the Chinese interior. I have a few surprises for China that are timed to coincide. The Chinese are now losing 6 national morale points a turn due to the loss of those 3 coastal cities. It is now time to accelerate that loss. Back to Jim.

A fairly quiet turn. We are now into February, 1940… so that will not last long. I began my attack on Shenzhen with an aerial bombardment to reduce the entrenchments, then assault by special forces. I almost destroyed the defenders. Japan is now causing China casualties each turn. So far I have taken 2 coastal cities. I expect that I will take Shenzhen next turn. Back to Jim

Numdydar, I understand your concerns. I view the readiness boost having the soldiers across a given country taking heart, being encouraged and becoming more motivated as a result of such victories. These readiness boosts for morale and readiness are short term gains only and abate rather quickly. It is an almost use it or lose it kind of thing. Turn wise… one of my U-Boats blundered into a UK cruiser and took some damage. I was hoping to avoid that kind of thing. I was shocked to discover the UK investing diplomacy into Spain. I would never have done that as the UK is very vulnerable to German invasion… I always work to strengthen my defenses before making such expenditures. Here you can see Jim invested 150 MPP in Spain. That is the equivalent of a British army! You can also see his research investments… 1 chit is likely in infantry tech…. perhaps 2. This actually makes me want to invade England as she is likely to prove weaker than expected. We will have to see how the invasion of France goes. If it is light on casualties I may pull the trigger and invade England. My coastal campaign in China continued with the capture of Amoy. Note my special forces unit assaulting the city first. He removes 2 levels of entrenchment per attack. The defender in Amoy was heavily entrenched. That said Amoy fell with little loss on my end. I advanced beyond Amoy moving in the direction of Hong Kong with the goal of taking one more coastal city before pushing north into the Chinese heartland. Naning… though a primary objective for many players is a secondary objective for me.

Not a whole lot on this turn. The weather was poor over Europe so no action there. In the East I conducted the first attacks on Amoy continuing my coastal campaign. I moved up reinforcements. I expect Amoy to fall next turn and I will continue my advance further south. Japan invaded and occupied Thailand this turn. The resultant readiness boost will help me more easily secure Amoy next turn. In addition, the added income boost will be nice. I plan on using Thailand as a spring board into Singapore and Burma. We are moving into January 1940. Back to Jim

I hope you all enjoy this game as much as I do!

The weather cleared over Northern Europe this turn allowing the Germans to invade Denmark. Invade Denmark? Really? Yes! I prefer to invade Denmark because I do not want to waste money on being “invited” in. I would rather spend that cash on research and units… besides Germany gets a nice readiness boost and plunder. If the weather is good… I may use that boost to invade the Low Countries early. Typically the weather in November, 1939 is poor but I got lucky. I decided to roll the dice and capture Denmark several turns early, which will give me extra income amounting to the equivalent of a division. Every extra little bit with Germany pays dividends later against Russia. I used my medium bomber to hammer the defenders in Copenhagen and followed up with a swift occupation using ground assault and airborne assets. Remember that German paratroop I opted for early? He was put to good use this turn. As expected Denmark fell quite easily. Half a world away, I continued my offensive against Foochow, hammering that city by air followed up by prepared ground assaults which shattered the defending units. The Japanese forces took very little loss in the assault. You can see from the picture that Jim reinforced the defenders, spending badly needed Chinese cash. He really had no choice… he must hold off Japan for as long as possible… lest I get significant forces south before he is prepared to receive them. Foochow gives Japan 2 National Morale points a turn… so officially the Chinese slide on NM points has begun. My next objective is Amoy. Note the DD I am using to scout the city. This way I do not have to worry about a surprise engagement by bumping into the defenders. I will likely begin attacks on Amoy next turn. I need to keep the Chinese spending cash repairing units instead of purchasing new builds or performing research. Beyond that… not a whole lot going on. U-Boats are beginning to put a dent on UK income. To date I have cost Jim 80+ MPP… which is more than the cost of a division. I have a plan to ramp that income hit up much higher. Back to Jim

Not a whole lot of action this turn. Having captured Warsaw last turn, Poland finally surrendered this turn. It did not matter much when they actually surrendered as I already held all of the production sources. It would have been nice to get the 144 bonus income from the surrender the previous turn though. I intend to put that to good use this upcoming turn. Basically Germany spent the entire turn repositioning forces from the East to the West. I have a couple tricks up my sleeve that I will reveal shortly. My U-Boats and surface raiders are already actively at work… hitting Jim’s convoy lines. This past turn the UK lost 28 MPP. I expect that to increase in the coming turns. I want to cost him as much as possible to keep the UK from building up forces too quickly. This means I must be careful with my U-Boats… and creative. In China, my coastal offensive kicked off this turn with an aerial attack followed up by a direct ground assault on Foochow with good results. The Chinese took it worse than the Japanese… 7 steps for 3. That said I would have preferred taking fewer hits but the Chinese had been fully entrenched and digging them out of those entrenchments was somewhat costly. I also felt I did not have the luxury to wait for a prepared assault bonus. I need to begin causing the Chinese financial pain… and leaving them alone 2 turns already is too long. I expect I will take Foochow next turn and then my next objective will be Amoy. As you can see, I have already begun to build up a nice bit of combat power to force my way south along the coast. The Special forces units are critical to reducing enemy fortifications. Each attack by them drops fortifications by 2 steps. Some players prefer to use carriers to support their coastal push. I always found this to be too costly to justify such action. I would rather save my cash for unit purchases and keep my carriers at full strength until I really need them. My goal will be to keep the pressure on the Chinese by continually inflicting casualties on them so that they have difficulty building up. Back to Jim.

Only 1 picture this turn. I took Warsaw hammering the city by air and then by ground assault. I was also able to eliminate both of Jim’s aircraft, however Poland hung on and did not surrender. It was a bummer that Poland did not surrender… but she likely will next turn. This is a picture of the beginning of my assault. Three ground units and 2 aircraft were destroyed. In China… Japan is still in the process of reorganization. I expect offensive operations to begin next turn and continue without letup for several turns. I did invest in another chit of Industrial research. Next turn I will begin investing in additional ground forces for China.