AshesFall
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Posts posted by AshesFall
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Um... is this... intentional?
That makes AA a little less interesting, I mean, should they not be able to fire even if the bombers have intercepted? Or have more than one "defense" strike?
Just throwing some ideas out here. -
Progress at the end of August. I broke defensive lines at Riga and Kiev, took some losses at Kiev (7 from a soviet counter attack excluding the ones you see on the picture).
Destroyed some four armies in total in north and south this turn, including a HQ spotted by bomber aircraft. I've discovered the joys of passive fighter spotting range, makes a lot of difference in the center. Realizing that I wont reach historical lines by the end of 41, I've gone for a "force conservation" strategy as far as possible. I try, as much as at all possible, to attack weakened and demoralized targets, and stay in 6+ supply. It's not easy, and it slows things more.
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I was wondering. In our current SoE game, the past two turns british bombers have attacked targets in france without my own fighters responding. They are in good supply, in range within 8 tiles, and set to "intercept" according to the "set mode". There are AA units stationed near the targets.
What's going on? Why dont they intercept?
I still have the savefile if needed.
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Thanks for those thoughts StrategicLayabout!
How would you go about such a thing? With "early" do you mean in december, or like in march (providing decent weather).
About the game then. Barbarossa has kicked off. In summary, not a single thing has gone as well this game as in the last game.
. I guess that's a good thing, since this game will probably go the distance! This downturn is partly due to Will playing well and milking what he has much better, partly due to bad luck (the smaller part, weather has been atrocious to me so far during all of yugoslavia campaign and stopping me from tkaing denmark when I should have) and mostly due to several instances of bad gameplay on my part. I think this bad gameplay is also partly due to the fact that I'm not writing a proper AAR, it seems that writing them really helps me focus my thinking and evaluate the circumstances in ways I dont do when I just play.
General situation: War of atlantic going badly, no raiding for a few turns as all of MPP's have gone to barbarossa. Yugo taken, greece still in the game. Italy strong in africa with inf tech and dug in. Waiting for naval tech 1, did loose a battleship and a cruiser. Industries have been hit a lot, have built AA and keeping two fighters with HQ over france.
For barbarossa I really effed up. I accidently left warsaw ungarrisoned for a turn, and messed up the logistics around deployments trying to keep units away from the "bad" cities until the last moment. End result; Soviet declared war in june. This (I realized afterwards, after having spent 15 minutes in june debating whether to strikt first despite being completely out of position and in the end deciding against it to upgrade according to plan and -get- into position) has the nasty side effect of letting Will buy back the STAVKA stuff. Gah, winter and 42' will be bad.
These are the positions in July as barbarossa kicks off;
I build lots of arty, I know there will be several nasty sieges and they are going to be very useful there. let's see how this goes.
Tech wise, I do have an infantry warfare edge on the soviets, not sure about the tanks yet. I have lvl 3, but most tanks are just lvl 2. I probably wont upgrade until winter unless it really seems to be a good idea to pause. However, I dont have any industry tech at all, no AA tech, and only lvl 1 intelligence. I simply havent had the funds to invest properly. But, at least I did invest two chits in industry the turn after barbarossa. I have definetly been off my game so far.
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select the unit, then hover over the unit you want to "switch" with and hold down shift.
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Yep, now it makes sense. Thanks a lot Hubert!
To wit, intelligence is a race. Whoever has the most intelligence gains increased progression, and an increased chance of breakthroughs.
To return to a previous thought; The "US intelligence strat" essentially focuses on researching int tech at three chits throughout the game until you get lvl 5. Germany can never focus on int in this way, and will therefore never benefit from an int tech bonus. However, germany must still research it, because if the UK, and more importantly the Soviets, were to gain a higher intelligence than germany, they will soon overtake them in the research war. The strat then forces germany to remain at a relatively low tech level (having trouble getting breakthroughs and progression at the higher levels of tech) while still forcing it to burn MPP's to prevent USSR from overtaking it too quickly. It's a nasty gambit, and I am as of yet unsure of whether it might be a little too good
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Allright! So the only effect it has is reducing enemy bonus or giving you a bonus if you have a higher int than any opposing nation, not anything else. It doesnt (just to make it absolutely clear, I didnt see the answer to this in your posts Hubert, or Bills) affect the chance of a breakthrough after 30% at all, either positively or negatively?
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You're quite right, so I've corrected my post above.
I will have to check on this and report back!
Glad to be of assistance!
Great!
Also, it wasnt entirely clear; Did intelligence also affect possible "gain" from your opponent having better tech? If so, does it;
A) Negate both your own intelligence AND the bonus from tech difference separately (I.e. if you have 1 inf warfare and 2 intelligence tech and your opponent has 2 inf warfare and 2 intelligence tech, it first negates your own intelligence bonus to 0, and then -also- negates the tech disparity bonus from 1 % to 0%)
or
Negate all of these bonuses as a combined number. In this example, you would gain 2% From your int, and 1 % from disparity, but the enemy int tech reduces these total 3% of bonuses by 2% to just the 1%. Another thing that's a bit muddy (or maybe I'm just being a bit confused) is whether intelligence tech affects the "breakthrough" chance, whether it is a flat or variable rate. I.e. would an opponents higher int tech reduce my chance of getting a breakthrough once I hit 30%?
I think those are the very last things I need clarified with this
Again, thanks a lot Bill!
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France fell 30th of August. I'm a bit thoughtful about the representation of the French case. In the three games Will and I have played, France has not surrendered after the capture of Paris once, it's always transferred it's capital. Granted, it's fallen around August in every single game, and the French have surrendered in early september every game. Is it possible to achieve the historical result?
Anyway, I took quite a bit of damage in france. I didnt loose any units, but most lost between 1-3 steps. I have very little experience to show for the french campaign, which will be trouble come barbarossa. I spent time reinforcig, and am now marching everything across the map to poland. I think will recognized vischy france, because I got the Strasbourg battleship option and took it. I operated units to Yugoslavia, and have now declared war on it with what will be Heeresgruppe Sud.
The battle of the atlantic has been interesting, Destroyers and U-boats damaged back and forth, a fleet of three upgraded cruisers hitting Will and sinking two cruisers and a destroyer group. Britain keeps loosing MPP every turn to U-boats, sometimes 12, sometimes 30. The air war intensified as I repaired and shifted my three tacs and three fighters, all fully upgraded. I think I hurt his fighters/bombers pretty bad, and my tacs sank a carrier at port in the english channel.
Italians are sitting pretty, getting good readiness/organization with full strength and good supply/HQ. Waiting for inf tech.
Trying a bit of diversity for barbarossa, some fighters, tacs, special forces, armies, tanks, artillery. Things to deal with what comes, no matter what it is. My barbarossa wont be near as strong as last game, I lost a lot more MPP's both in damage to units and to Wills incessant attacks on my ports with his navy, and his bombing campaign against the dusseldorf industry.
Edit; One more thought. I did manage to kill Gort in france in low supply again, and damaged the BEF a lot. The question is, is it worth the damage I took doing so? I mean, from this game it sort of feels like Will is throwing the British and French at the Germans a bit nilly willy under the theory that "every point lost/spent against Wallies doesnt hit the USSR". As a large meta game, I guess that works. I mean, it's all kinda decided in the east. I'm pondering if it matters much how much the brits lose in MPP's to u-boats or in units or whatever. It's the US and USSR who wins the game anyhow. Hm.
It is now december 1940.
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Allright. So, intelligence levels can only ever reduce the "extra" progression you yourself would get from your own intelligence. Does it also reduce gain from the enemy having higher tech than you? That would seem logical ...
Given that the above is true, the germans in my example would have 5% (base) +/-0 (highest enemy level) -1% (current level) +/-0% (own intelligence level negated by enemy intelligence level, but no more) = 4% gain, in effect, a 2-6% progression each turn. I clarify, because in your answer to the total research chance in the german example you wrote 2-4%, which doesnt quite seem right with the description of intelligence. Just looking to be sure, this is pretty confusing stuff!
Also with each turn that the progression is above 30%, a 4% chance of breakthrough each turn (If I understand correctly, there is no "variance" in the breakthrough chance, no 2-6. It's a bit different under point B than under the followup question answer in your post.
).Thanks a lot for helping out with this Bill, it's super appreciated!
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Well, things have not been going exactly to plan.
I had thought to take Denmark in october, everything was prepared, tacs and ambhib. Bad weather. And then... nothing but. So I had to make it a protectorate instead, costing money instead of giving it and readiness. **** happens
. I also screwed up the buildup for France. At least now I know that you shouldnt invest much in research before france, I've done this twice, and it hasnt paid off. Even if it did, I wouldnt be able to afford to upgrade everything. Things stalled a bit so I could upgrade, and then stalled some more because will is doing very well with defending france. Dug in, good lines. I found the BEF, hit the HQ, but didnt manage to get it to 4 str (where destroying it would have meant full cost buyback). Paris should fall soon, but it will be in early august, which kinda sucks.
I'm not sure I much like the france/italy gambit, baiting italy into war to suicide the french navy into italian ports to lower their mpp and do some fleet damage. It's just so... extremely far from realistic. Oh well. It's a smart play though.
The Brits have been very active with their ships, hitting italian ports hard all along NA. That lowerd italian income, but at least it hurts his ships too. I think he may have lost more than he really should doing such things.
Bombing campaigns are a pain. We've invested in AA units.
I also effed up the u-boat war a bit, got caught in a corner in gibraltar, I knew it was a stupid move the second I clicked the square, but by then it was too late. Live and learn! I have been sinking about 24 mpp per turn from the brits. Until the last two turns at least.
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As far as I understand it, the fall of Russia is event driven. But, those events depend on the Russian national Morale. So if you do very well, you never hit the "trigger" points on the national moral that activates the events that kill your NM and the revolution.
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This will be a much more condensed AAR. I have some very big exams coming up and cant really be quite as detailed as before. I'll summarize the goings on and maybe include a picture now and then to show something (that I think is
) particularly interesting. Conquest of Poland in two turns. Paid for the fast takedown with taking some damage though, and he hit some of my exposed HQs with the out of supply poles (good job being agressive with the poles!
). 320MPP's of loot was good. Marching troops across germany to avoid costs. Set up to attack Denmark, bad weather every turn since october, so no luck so far (need the tac there to destroy the unit). Building two armor groups and two armies for France.
Will is definetly a lot more on the ball this game. He baited Mousollini into joining in november, and is out to destroy the ports and the ships in them with the french. I'm hiding, dont want to fight frenchies. Managed to send two armies, a corps, the HQ and arty to NA. Will focus on inf tech first this time. He also bombed me a bit, and stole the Saar mines with a french corps. Cant kill it. Heh. Trying to upgrade the Siegfried line army and a corps there to switch in and hit him, have arty there too now. This should prove interesting!
U-boat war OK so far. Three in the atlantic raiding. Going to try to use the italian bomber to raid the med convoys, never tried that, so we'll see.
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Strange to see those fortifications empty at Minsk, seems Stalin was surprised by Barbarossa . Kiev taken in July ? That's very good for Axis. Seems Soviets didn't expect a strong attack from Romania or maybe there is some kind of evil communist plan at work since the north was also nearly empty...
Thanks! As you might have seen in the other AAR we talked the situation over. The English navy was basically gone (mostly destroyers left), North Africa was set to fall with the Luftwaffe and Rommel present in force and soviet was more or less empty save for the troops in the center there of which only half would be able to operate out. We decided to call it a practice game and restart, though I wonder, could he have come back from that?
It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed writing the "historical" battle descriptions and operations
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Hello Bill!
Thank you, somewhat! Just to get this straight in my head, let's use a practical example.
Germany currently has Infantry tech lvl 1, intelligence lvl 1, and one chit in infantry warfare.
Of the allies, the Soviets have 1 chit in infantry warfare, with a current lvl of 0, and an intelligence tech lvl of 1.
The US, on the other hand, has Infantry warfare tech lvl 1 and intelligence tech lvl 3.
Germany would gain; 5% +/- 0% (highest enemy level) -1% (current level) - 3% (US intelligence lvl) +1% (Own intelligence lvl) = 2% Gain per turn.
Soviet would gain; 5% +1% +/- 0% -1% +1% = 6% Gain per turn
Assuming that both sides dont get "breakthrough" and starting from 0%, Germany would need 50 turns to advance to lvl 2, while the soviets need 17 or so turns to get to lvl 1, and 20 turns to get to lvl 2.
Is this correct as a "per turn" gain?
Follow up question; How large is the chance of a "breakthrough" (immediate advance) once you reach 25%? Is it the same throughout? Does it go up as the % increases? Is this "breakthrough" chance affected by intelligence tech?
Second Follow up question; Is there a minimum? I.e. you always get at least 1% advance regardless of enemy tech? Ponder for example a US int tech of 5 in the example above.
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Thanks for the game Will
. It definetly is a learning experience every time with this game, which is a good thing! 
The current situation is pretty well laid out in my AAR, what do you more experienced readers think about it? Is it an unwinnable/horrible situation for the allies?
Very interested in thoughts and tips. It's very hard to judge the long term effects on the Soviets. -
Barbarossa – Initial Stages
The Wehrmacht strode across the soviet border on the 6th of June.
Heeresgruppe Mitte ran into immediate difficulties. Scouting corps detected a very strong Soviet presence along the border, and Rundstedt (still lacking the direct involvement of Kleists’ staff at this point) settled for a cautious advance towards the entrenched enemy to pin the Soviet forces in place, coupled with a few spoiling attacks at exposed AT and AA assets. One of the primary objectives was accomplished as Kowel fell to a determined assault by Special forces and a Panzer corps. Negligible losses for the Wehrmacht.
Heeresgruppe Nord Struck the STAVKA forces, and Tank group 1 utterly destroyed them with few losses. Likewise, the assault on the Corps guarding Kaunas was successful without a loss. Leebs’ panzergrenadiers made a daring fast dash towards Wilno, and found the city empty with an army slowly approaching from the north. The soviet Central front is in danger of being encircled.
In the South, Kuchler was successful in a lightning dash to capture Vinnitsa, and deployed Panzer corps on the rail line to keep the soviets in the southern Pripyat valley bottled up with no way to escape. Massed attacks on Kishiniev brought the corps there to low numbers. A stronger Soviet Tankovy army has been spotted near Tarnopol, a counter attack seems probable. Heeresgruppe B advanced cautiously, having received dispatches of Kuschlers’ success. Bock preserved his aging panzers as much as possible, striking cautiously to destroy only one of the STAVKA tankovy armies. The fighters were overrun on the ground however.
Towards the end of the month Soviet forces counterattacked Bocks’ aging armor formations. The STAVKA Tankovy army was destroyed and the 2nd Shock tankovy army damaged as they battled Bocks forces in the largest armored battle of the war so far. Renewed German attacks strengthened by armor and special forces from Heeresgruppe Mitte destroyed both the soviet 2nd shock armor group and the army holding Lwow. In the end, Bocks’ two Panzer corps were too damaged to remain in service. They were dissolved (I.e. the soviets destroyed them in their turn), and the remaining relics of the French campaign redistributed to the surrounding Panzer corps as reconnaissance vehicles. Kishinev and Kiev fell to Heeresgruppe Sud, and Odessa is under siege. Buddeny has been caught in Tarnopol, and his staff will shortly be shattered.
The soviet army started a slow withdrawal up the central Pripyat Valley. Rundstedt, now finally aided in commanding the unwieldy strengthened army group by Kleist, followed. Rundstedts forces struck a strengthened STAVKA tankovy army behind Bialystok, and focused attacks on enemy AT assets to forestall the destruction of the forward Panzer corps as it sustained losses in its’ battle. Kleists forces attacked Brest Litovsk after a heavy bombardment, and the army there will soon be destroyed.
Leeb has taken up quarters in Wilno, and has set up his forces along the perimeter to receive the retreating soviets should they decide to stay in the closing pocket. Unfortunately, the special forces ran into engineers near Minsk, and failed to capture the city. Supporting corps are quickly taking the area around Riga.
(So far during Barbarossa we have suffered some 14 steps of army losses, 6 steps of Armor losses and two groups destroyed, and six steps of special forces losses. In return, we have destroyed five soviet tank armies (four STAVKA), two fighter formations, and several corps, two armies, as well as significant steps lost on auxiliary formations (AT/AA). Not brilliant, but workable).
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Barbarossa – The plan
The overall objectives of operation Barbarossa is nothing less than the total annihilation of the soviet armed forces with an initial focus on destroying the STAVKA armies as they deploy and the encirclement of their southern and central fronts. Each army group fits into this plan.
(By the way, I would like to commend you guys on the map itself, it really is very nicely done)
Central to OKH’s planning (after having spent half an hour staring at the railway network in soviet) is the two “corridors” (henceforth designated the Pripyat valleys) created by the Pripyat marches.
Heeresgruppe Nords’ main objectives are the destruction of STAVKA forces around Siaulaili (Primary) the area around and including Riga (Secondary), the Capture of Kaunas and Wilno (Primary) and if possible the city of Minsk (Tertiary, situational/opportunity). The capture of both Wilno and Minsk will effectively cut any forces in the Central Pripyat valley between the Mansurian lakes and the Marshes themselves off from the rest of the USSR. As long term objectives, the Heeresgruppe must capture Riga, Talinn and Leningrad. If Leningrad proves to be heavily defended, it is possible that artillery must be reallocated there.
Heeresgruppe Mitte seems to face a line of Soviet forces. If possible it must smash through these forces to encircle and destroy them. if not, it must engage the Soviets and force their slow withdrawal under constant harassment. The capture of Kowel is a priority to prevent any forces around Lwow from escaping. Heeresgruppe Nord will assist from behind if needed. As always, the STAVKA forces around Bialystok is a priority.
Heeresgruppe B’s main objective is the destruction of STAVKA forces, and other soviet forces, around Lwow. Provided that Heeresgruppe Sud is successful, there is not much pressure on Bock to accomplish this with haste, as they will be unable to escape deeper into the USSR. If it is not, the STAVKA forces must be destroyed immediately at all costs. Heeresgruppe B is flexible in its’ long term objectives, slated to support either Heeresgruppe Mitte in its’ push towards Moscow, or Heeresgruppe sud in its ‘drive from the south.
Heeresgruppe Sud will, as a matter of extreme priority, focus on the disruption of the railway around Vinnitsa. Capture of the city and blockade of the railway must be accomplished at all costs. As a secondary objective, the capture of the area Dnepropetrovsk and Kiev or the support of Heeresgruppe B in the destruction of trapped soviet forces in the southern Pripyat valley. Long term Objectives include a supporting drive upon Moscow from the south, or if obviously unnecessary, expansion towards Rostov and Voronezh.
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June 1941 – Operation Barbarossa – Order of battle
On the sixth of June, all possible preparations within the time frame allotted by the OKH had been made. Operation Barbarossa, how can an operation with such a bombastic name possibly go wrong?
(In reality, I agonized a LOT about this. As you will see when I go through the preparations, I focused a great deal on building a numerous army. I did put chits into research, all the key areas have had at least one chit in them since the fall of france but I simply could not get a hit even with inf weapons at 90% and heavy armor at 50% . I suspect that this is probably due to American intelligence tech, but I haven’t really had the new system thoroughly explained yet so I don’t know. Mostly, the tech deficient is likely a result on a focus on units, and lesser focus on the tech aspect, while the opposite might be true for my opponent. Also, due to events elsewhere and the costs of operating and transporting units (I tried to walk most of them, but even given time since the fall of France they couldn’t reach the front in time without multiple force marches, something that would have hit my morale/readiness badly I think) I could not upgrade every unit fully. This had the unintended side effect that I actually presented a variety of old and new units, and armies with and without mechanized transport, just as in history. I could have waited another turn to upgrade everything fully, but doing so would shorten my summer window and just give the red army more time to prepare. It was time to strike. In hindsight, this proved wise, since all the MPP’s for the next turn went towards strengthening Africa at what could well prove to be a critical moment. As of the declaration of war against the USSR, and the deployment of their STAVKA armies, OKH estimates total german land unit count at 79 and Soviet count at 35. Of these, it is likely that around 50 German, and Allied, units are present on the eastern front. It's worth mentioning that the Soviets match the germans in both armor and infantry tech. ).
On the target date, four of the five Heeresgruppen envisioned by the OKH after the fall of France were finally ready. Despite the best efforts of German industry, several Panzer I’s and II’s were still in service at this time. The new Panzer III’s were allotted primarily to elite formations, and other Panzercorps as possible. Guderians brain child has been fully realized into this campaign, with formations of Panzergrenadier special forces supporting each Heeresgruppen. Originally, the OKH wanted no less than three fully mechanized armies, one Special forces, two tank groups and supporting artillery for each Heeresgruppen. This is the result;
Heeresgruppe Nord under the command of General Leeb sports two elite formations of Panzer III’s, a special forces army, two mechanized armies and one army of footsloggers. In support, two corps.
Heeresgruppe Mitte is the result of combining two previously envisioned army groups, A and C, into a single entity after the OKH found that it would not be possible to produce the necessary two Panzer corps required by German doctrine for flexible operations for group C in time for June. Instead, Mitte is commanded jointly by Generals Rundstedt and List, and as the bulk of Soviet forces seem to be concentrated in its’ area of operations it has been strengthened further by an army slated for Heeresgruppe Balkan and given what artillery could be manufactured in time for Barbarossa. In all, this is nearly two full army groups built in accordance with the original specifications, save for the lack of two Panzercorps. List, having fallen ill during the winter and only now starting to recuperate, is missing from this order of battle (he was slow at walking, and I couldn’t afford to operate him as he was pretty close to the front anyway).
Around Premyzl, General bock gathers Heeresgruppe Balkan, or B for short. Expected to receive support from and link up with Heeresgruppe Sud, B has been given the concentration of aging Panzer I’s and II’s. To compensate for the lack of the army given to Heeresgruppe Mitte and lack of special forces support, Bock can expect the support of the Hungarian armed forces.
Heeresgruppe Sud, led by General Kuchler, advanced intact to the USSR/Romania border after the conquest of Yugoslavia. Sporting elite grenadier armies and a mix of Panzer III’s and II’s, this army group is also supported by the Romanians and Bulgarians.
Next, the plan!
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The Prelude to the Storm – Operation Marita and Heraclion
The initial preparations for operation Marita were finished by April 11th. The Gepanzerte Afrika Grenadiers boarded ships in Brindisi, with the Italians having boarded a corps onto their own ambhibious landing vessels the weeks before from Durazzo. The Italian navy, having exercised stringent radio silence for 24 hours, slipped out of port. Due to the deadly Luftwaffe Umbrella, no allied ships were close to the boot of Italy, and they moved undetected. As this was going on, operation Heraclion continued. The first signs of attrition and demoralization was showing among the beleaguered British on the island.
The Italian army was under immense pressure from the British in North Africa, and from the Royal Navy that had long blockaded the port of Tobruk and bombarded its’ defenders. After leaving port, the Regia Marina struck east, heading to relieve the army in North Africa and Draw the attention of the British away from the transports approaching Greece. What followed would be known as the battle of the gulf of Bomba.
The Lanciere destroyer squadron scouted ahead of the main fleet, and soon sighted a British battleship with auxiliaries north of Derna. Meant to screen the blockading British fleet, the Battleship Valiant soon came under fire from the Conte Di Cavour and Gorizia cruiser. Listing badly, and smoking as she sank, the battleship nonetheless managed to send a warning call to the blockading fleet. Unfortunately, Admiral Alberto Da Zara was already in contact with the Italian forces around Tobruk, and the German Luftflotte IV was sent to strafe the royal navy in the bay. The Warspite failed to disengage, trying to reach the open waters for room to maneuver and the Ark Royal was forced to send intercepting fighters, attempting to hold the Germans off. The British, unaware of recent Italian naval advances, miscalculated the speed with which the Regia Marina would engage, and could not disentangle themselves in time. As a result, both the Warspite and the Ark Royal were sunk in the bay by The Andrea Doria, Guilo Cesare and the cruiser Trieste. The Cailo Duilio battleship, attempting to run down British cruiser disengaging from the battle in the Gulf, instead contacted another screening battleship, The Malaya. The aging British warship soon came under heavy fire, and barely managed to limp away from the area, with the Regia marina in hot pursuit. The battle of the Gulf of Bomba would later be considered the first Naval disaster for the British of the war, prompting redesign of battleships that would later be shown ineffective when faced with Japanese carrier air.
Around Malta, Goering was spurred to manic efforts by the Fuhrers wrath. Again, and again the Junkers heavy bombers and Stukas fell upon the British Garrison, and soon the dead littered streets and houses among fallen brickwork. When the Luftwaffe was entirely exhausted after the intense five day blitz, the 2nd fallschirmsjaeger division landed on the Island. It is said most of the British were grateful to be captured, wanting only an end to the infernal thunder of Goerings planes.
Following the battle of the Gulf of Bomba, and a formal declaration of war against Greece, the Cailo Duilio battleship escorted the grenadier army to the shores of Athens. The Battleship held up the surprised and ancient Greece cruisers, and supported the landing with shore bombardments. Athens fell, and the Italians disembarked to take control. Greece has fallen, and without compromising Barbarossa.
The situation in North Africa is still precarious. The British are here in force, and a second Italian army has been routed. A saying among the Germans is that the italians are in such a hurry to be captured and get better food and rest that they practically throw themselves unarmed at the enemy. We hope that the ones guarding Tobruk is a little more steadfast, perhaps those thick walls will give their spines some iron. Nevertheless, Guzzoni is retreating with the Centauro "tank" corps, dragging the remains of his artillery support with him. Rommel has just arrived in Benghazi, and has managed to persuade the Fuhrer to assign the Luftwaffe to North Africa instead of the Eastern front. Soon, more german units will arrive, as well as the Panzergrenadiers from Greece. The war in North Africa is yet to be decided.
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Difficult Decisions
After the fall of Yugoslavia in November 1940, OKH was faced with a difficult decision. The pressure was high from the Italians to take Greece, and Mussolini warmongered energetically through his own propaganda channels, making bombastic speeches to the Italian people. It seems plausible that the Italians will attempt to invade Greece themselves sans German aid, and in the estimation of the OKH such an attempt would not only be a disaster, but a danger to the entire Balkans, should the Brits become involved.
The Choice then, lay in whether to send the Balkan Heeresgruppe into Greece, possibly delaying the invasion of the USSR or otherwise removing the strength of its’ southern thrust. The OKH has decided that the redesignated Heeresgruppe Sud must Continue to Romania, and take part in the original plan for the East. Instead, forces slated for North Africa are being reassigned to make a daring attack on Greece, Operation Marita.
Meanwhile, operation Heraclion, the bombing campaign and subsequent invasion of Malta, is not progressing to plan. Goering promises that it will be done in time, though the collective (and silent) opinion of the OKH is that Goering is an insufferable windbag, and not to be trusted. Nevertheless, the operation will continue, if it shows significant results in enough time, a decision on whether to deploy the Luftwaffe to the east or finish the operation must be made.
(I effed this one up a bit. I should have moved all three tacs into the operation right away, but used one to bumble about in Yugoslavia where it did zero and zip in the way of good. An unlucky turn of extra bad weather delayed it further)
All is not bad however, the Regia Marina is strong and upgraded to modern German standards. The same unfortunately cannot be said of the Italian army in North Africa.
To complicate matters further, the British have woken up and moved against Tobruk, where the Italian army is both badly organized, outdated, and understrength. After months of harassment from both sea and air they struck from bardia and destroyed an Italian army on the Outskirts of Tobruk. The Italians badly need German help, the help that has at least partly been reallocated to invade Greece. It is, then, a tense and difficult situation in the Mediterranean overall.
(It’s very funny actually, this part going as historical. It truly was not my intention, but the Italians finally got that hit in naval tech and the british fleet was being the bastard that it is, and I had to upgrade. Suddenly, there were no funds for the large Italian army group I so laboriously moved to North Africa. The Brits were quiet, and I was happy with that. Now I’ll pay for this oversight. Will the desert fox arrive to save the bumbling Italians in time?)
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Interesting . Since I'm reading both AARs, the different styles makes me think I'm not watching the same events twice and if you have less work to do to put it together, even better
. It also probably allows you to focus on main action spots !Thank you! I'm getting no comments, so I was afraid that it was just really bad or something
.I wanted to stay very close to history in this game, so I thought "why not use the historical operations". So far I think I've done a good job of it, implementing Fall Gelb and Rot/weserbung etc pretty much the way they were planned in history.
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So, what do you guys think of this different style of AAR? Is it interesting? Any thoughts?
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Axis preparations and interim operations
The war of the Atlantic does not go particularly well. Admiral Raeder has resigned in shame, and Dönitz is now chief of the Kriegsmarine. Despite a significant investment, our scientists reach no conclusions as to the betterment of neither out Infantry warfare techniques and weaponry, not our submarine arm. This is most disappointing. We believe that Allied interference and sabotage may be to blame. Nevertheless, our Submarines are currently refitting in port, new ones being brought up to the technological standard of today (lvl 1) and those brave captains who have raided the Atlantic for the past year brought to port to receive repairs and shore leave. With allied countermeasures in effect (they seem to have reached Anti sub tech 1 much sooner than I did) it would be unwise to roam the Atlantic at anything less than full capacity.
The Fuhrers’ Directive 25, the order to invade and subjugate Yugoslavia at the behest of our Italian allies, has been put into effect. Plans for a continued invasion into Greece in concert with Comando Supremo are in the making. Negotiations between the axis parters, of which Japan can now count itself a member, is ongoing regarding the division of our conquests. While Germany needs every available resource to combat the threats we will face in the coming years, Italian resources are nothing short of abysmal. Letting Italy conquer Greece could well give them the boost they need to be anything but a dead weight. This assessment of the situation is, of course, one made behind closed doors at the OKH.
Meanwhile, every possible preparation is being made for a future war in the East. Significant forces are being commissioned, and the OKH have begun planning. The operation has no name as of yet, but I am sure it will be inspired by our… imperial ambitions.
Just throwing some ideas out here.
Negate all of these bonuses as a combined number. In this example, you would gain 2% From your int, and 1 % from disparity, but the enemy int tech reduces these total 3% of bonuses by 2% to just the 1%. 
. It also probably allows you to focus on main action spots !
SoE Rebooted - Axis (Ash vs Will)
in Strategic Command - World War 1: The Great War 1914-1918
Posted
The game continues. Supply in russia is terrible. I realized way too late (since we havent played to this point before) just how terrible it really is. You need at least 2 HQ's for each army to make any progress at all, and even then it's slow. Oh well.
There is something odd with supply too. These are screens from october with rain and other unpleasantness. The supply mode is active. See how the HQ that is receiving supply from another HQ isnt giving out full supply? Since he's getting at least 1, it should be 8 right? Not sure why this is, I've been suffering a lot from it.
These are the positions in october, rain is here, and soon it will be snowing. My barbarossa has been something of a failure, as I havent reached very far at all, screwed up war declaration so that I got attacked instead, and soon there will be oodles of soviets everywhere again due to cheap rebuilds of STAVKA forces and others. I did manage an encirclement or two, destroyed some units and so on, but not enough I dont think. The one area which is positive is that I havent lost any units (but plenty of str points) and I still have one more tech in both inf and armor warfare. odly enough, in this game it often seems the soviet achieves parity even in 41 with the germans actually investing into their research. Is that common, or just in our games?
All in all, the germans have 74 land units and the soviets 25, this is the losses screen;
Unfortunately, looking at the units "lost" and "collected income" for the soviet he's lost 4659 MPP's worth, and collected 7646, spending 5056 on units. So basically, since most of those units are half price, I can expect 1.5 times the units I've killed to appear soon (since the soviets lost some 23 land units, some 30 units then), not counting the damned Siberians. On the opposite side, despite not losing any full "units" per se, the germans have lost 8190MPP worth, and spent 6892, so losing more than I'm getting. Things are about to get tough.