Will95

Damn, France fell due to the collapse of morale before the enemy even reached Bordeaux. Shame, but we're still on good time. I continue to follow up bombing attacks on German industry, taking some casualties in the process. We also did some damage to a grounded bomber in occupied France. As far as I'm concerned, any British casualties taken now are just casualties that the Russians won't have to take in a year's time. Now begins a very important phase of tech and army build up, particularly for the Russians. With 2 chits in infantry tech, we hope to reach level 1 well before Barbarossa, maybe even level 2. The rest of the MPP supply will focus on building up the Russian army.

Welp, the Axis tanks could reach us at Brest after all. Probably should've moved the British HQ elswhere, but oh well. It's only Gort, after all. The British Expeditionary Force and accompanying corps made it out of France alive though, which is more than can be said for the rest of the French troops. Paris was captured after a brutal tank siege and the government moved to Bordeaux. The French may yet have another turn or two in them. French tanks managed a bit of damage to an exposed German army, but not more than that. Tech wise, the British continue to invest in heavy bombers to support their bombing campaigns. Tech focuses are: British - Air and sea power. The land army isn't insignificant but as soon as we can confirm Sealion isn't going ahead the BEF will move to North Africa to support operations there against the lackluster Italians. Bombers and naval warfare are the particular targets. Soviets - 2 chits in infantry tech, but also some love given to AA and industry. The Soviet war machine is a mean thing once it gets going but as we get closer to winter, Red Army resources will increasingly be directed to unit production. USA - For now, Intel, Production and Industrial tech. As we get closer to their entry at the end of 1941 however, we will start shifting MPPs into infantry and tank based warfare. I plan to play a very aggressive land-based campaign with the Americans so as to relieve the pressure on Stalin as quickly as possible.

France continues to take a battering into August, but it is not without a little counter-attack: a German tank group was badly damaged by our ATGs which moved into range just outside the city. The city itself is now exposed, and one of the HQs just behind took quite a beating, but we're well entrenched. The French tanks reinforced, ready for operations next turn. However, it was time for the British to make their exist. The BEF had done some damage and taken even more, so they operated, quite literally on the 'last train to Saigon'. It is said that the enemy were firing at the trains as they pulled out of the station.... The British HQ also took flak and I feared I would lose it yet again, but fortunately it was out of range of most of the army. It too was operated out of danger, and will move back to Britain next turn. One of the nicest things about the France battle so far is how well French NM has held up- more than 50% even into August is very good indeed. Our 2 extra corps were immediately enlisted in the defense of the city, now surrounded on virtually all sides. Our bombing campaign continues, although not without a few losses, but we finally knocked out one of the Ruhr industries proper. Down in Gibraltar, we've had a u-boat trapped for a few turns now. They're sturdy buggers when upgraded, even against destroyers, but it should go down next turn.

Yeeeeeeah I think I'll just stick to playing defense for now So, the Axis got really stuck in this turn, knocking out a few more armies and taking down another to 1 strength. Those within reach or Paris were evacuated to defend the city....those that weren't were left as speedbumps. Our troops at Nancy and Dijon should prevent the Maginot line getting totally cut off, and we even got a little cheeky and sent forward a French corps into unknown territory, hoping to find some undefended territory. What we found was even more interesting- the Luftwaffe! Unfortunately the corps is so low on supply now that they will probably be destroyed, but they might take a few valuable planes with them- or force them to move, meaning no bombings next turn. The French tanks and the British army hit back at an advancing German army, taking it down to 3 strength and forcing a retreat. The British corps took a hammering and the British HQ edges ever closer to the nearest port. If the British corps goes down, I'll probably evacuate the BEF. If it survives, I'll leave them there a little more. The Axis armour seems to have shifted from the north to the centre, but we needed to restrength out ATG's before moving them. Next turn will be painful for the outlying French armies, but the Paris defense corps should go unmolested yet. Even better, we have 2 fresh French corps on the way next turn!

The battle for France is now in full swing. Our defensive line is definitely much stronger this time around- the enemy destroyed 1 army holding Amiens but our main line was strong enough to prevent the Germans simply running through us. The troops at Paris are quite well dug-in. The bombing campaign continues, with one of the Ruhr industries now down to just 2 supply. With the losses we're taking though, we're going to need to take a break for a turn to reinforce- even if we only just about break even on the MPPs, it's important nonetheless to make things a little less nasty for Stalin further down the line. Speaking of Stalin, our first engineers arrived. I've marked out a few good spots, a little more intelligently this time.

Welp, here come the Panzers. We lost two corps as the German war machine seems to just roll over our forces without taking any losses. However, we have quite a strong line of French armies to be broken now, dug in and behind a river. Even for the high readiness and experience German units, it won't be easy to take them without losses.

Roger that. Well, the invasion continues, this time with Lux and Belgium going down. The Germans are now at the gate, I hope we can do a little damage! The British HQ has been stationed...defensively. I won't show it but rest assured that he's getting out of dodge at the first sign of trouble We upgraded our bombers this turn, and recieved a new fighter wing. With 2 fighters and a carrier in the Channel, we should be in a good position to start bombing the crap out of the Ruhr, even earlier than before- let's hurt them for Stalin!

That it was! Also, my cheeky taking of the mines has led to said mines staying in French control for several months now, and the artillery has done several steps worth of damage to the German armies and corps that tried to steal it back. So, the phoney war? Well, a little. But we've gotten a few crucial little hits here and there, and it all adds up. The bombing campaign against the Ruhr industries has begun in earnest, although heavy fighter support is now making the situation almost intolerable. 1 question- how is escorting worked out? Does the fighter need to be near the bomber land tile, or the target of the bombing? At any rate, we've hit both improved bombers and long ranged aircraft in the last few turns, and with the Canadian bombers now in England, we can really start hammering the Hun! Here's High Command's ariel photograph of the French defense. The Germans have now invaded, and forced a surrender from, the people of the Netherlands. Belgium is no doubt the next target, and we have prepared a short line staggered defense, with some AT backing. The British have been enlisted in the immediate defense of Paris, ready to sally forth if a counter-attack opportunity presents itself while the French take most of the flak.

Woohoo! Back again....and this time, I am determined to beat Ash. I'll throw the kitchen sink at him to make sure I can pull this one through, using every dirty trick (that I can think of) in the book. So, I'll be taking on the Allies once again after our brief (practise) game where a poor defense of....just about everything, and I'll be trying to make things right again. Ash isn't going to do an AAR this time (he puts a lot of time into his writing and it's quite time consuming), so you'll have to put up with me... Opening turn summary (we're now on New Years Eve 1939): - Poland wiped out within 2 turns as per normale, but we did 1 strength damage apiece to 2 separate German HQ's and several steps of damage to the Panzers. The Poles are good for something! - The French sallied out from the Maginot Line to seize the German mines in no-mans land, muhaha! (thanks Strategiclayabout ) - Meanwhile, the French are creating a strong(ish) defense based around rivers and crucial towns. We've got some nasty surprises in store for the Panzers.... - First MPPs for Soviets went into Industry, but after that the plan is to invest in some extra engineers to fortify the crucial areas (I'll show you guys my plans at a later date), and after that, army time. Let the Red Army grow!

A fountain of knowledge once again, Strategic. I think I might to play a game against you one of these days, just so I can learn a few of your tricks first hand!

Ash and I had a long discussion on Skype today and came to the conclusion that (bear in mind you guys have missed a couple of turns not shown in the AAR) that although the game isn't past a forgone conclusion, I've made several categorical mistakes with the usage of the Russians which are going to lead to a pretty quick game, in all likelihood. We discussed a variety of things, like strategies for defending Russia, naval warfare, the defense of France, supply, bombings and a ton of various strategic stuff and, for myself at least, am now feeling a lot more comfortable with the scenario. Therefore, we're going to restart, from the same positions. I don't believe Ash is going to do an AAR for this one but I might, depending on if people want to see one or not, although it'll probably be quite 'informal' as it was here. As with everything in SC we're constantly learning new stuff, but in particular was the way that I managed to defend Russia so poorly- ie leaving massive gaps in the north and south. The conclusion we came to was basically that rather than trying to hold the line at the geographical lines, it'd be much more important to fortify around important cities and supply/rail hubs. Any other thoughts would be appreciated, and thanks for reading!

Right, Barbarossa has begun. High Command immediately issued a ton of fighters and tanks to the front line, under-strength and un-upgraded...which were rapidly run over by the German Panzers. In the far north and far south two weak German and Hungarian thrusts respectively are pushing through Soviet territory, but in the center at the hardpoint of the Red Army defense, the Germans met stiff resistance. We destroyed a Panzer group and brought another to a single strength. Brest is being left as a speedbump while the rest of our forces retreat to Minsk to avoid being encircled. Down in North Africa, we have surrounded Tobruk on all sides and now proceed to bombard it with our artillery. We should be able to take it down within 2 turns. Back in Europe, both Ruhr mines have now been destroyed utterly. The battleship Bismark along with 2 accompanying subs attacking a cruiser, but we hit back, damaging one of the subs badly and destroying the battleship. We are breaking new ground in production technology for the Americans- more and more research is going to gradually be pumped into this area so that over the 41-42 winter we can start building a large army to send to Europe. If and when Tobruk falls and the Barbarossa position has stabilised, I will show off some of my long term plans.

Ok, good and bad this turn. First, the bad- we lost Malta. Over the past few months German and Italian bombers have been incessantly hitting the fortress until eventually this turn, combined with a German paratroop drop, we lost the island. Now the question I pose to you fine folks- is this _that_ bad? Also, bearing in mind that it did damage to the bombers with every attack, as the fortress was upgraded with level 1 AA, which, given it was hit about 5-6 times per turn and must've done a minimum of 1 strength damage each, would mean about 20-25 strength damage done for the German + Italians. On the plus side, we continue to press Tobruk and destroyed another Italian army, before extending right into the center of the former Italian defensive line, striking the artillery there. With our own artillery now in range of the fortress, it should only be a matter of time unless German help arrives. That, of course, would not be such a bad thing, as it would mean less force for Barbarossa, as I'm sure I could effectively tie up quite a large German force with the units I have given the desert terrain and my defenses at El Alamein. However, in the Med we lost 2 battleships and a carrier to a nasty surprise attack by the Italian navy. Churchill promises revenge, and sends more reinforcements to the Red Sea... Our bombing campaign continues to do nasty damage to German industry, with both Ruhr mines knocked out in their entirety. We now turn our attentions to other German industry, where we hope the damage will begin to stack up...

I think the bombing game is now my most favourite part of this game. That may or may not be because I've been getting brutalised all game long and this is the only way for me to get back at the bastard D: I just worked out, if I can just knock out both Ruhr industries entirely, then that's 480 MPPs drained minimum, within 15 turns! And with 4 bombers, I can knock out both, then have a single bomber on 'keep-them-at-0-supply' duty then that's an awful lot of lost resources for the German player...

Phew, Barbarossa hasn't quite started yet. However, despite the massive build up of German troops, Stalin stubbornly fails to heed British warnings of an impending invasion, citing some 2 year old non-aggression pact... Luckily, this turn we were able to roll out the new and improved infantry weapons, and were relieved to see that the Germans are packing weapons of the same tech level, at least for now. The next few months will be crucial- I need to spot where he pushes hardest and reinforce. I will have to make some concessions, but without getting flanked- it's a balancing act. (also, just visible in the top right are the entrenchments at Minsk which we will fall back to when the pressure becomes too much to bear at Brest- we can shield a lot more units there than we can at the fortress, but we will try and give ground slowly) Down in Africa, we destroyed an Italian army while the rest of Mussolini's forces retreat back past the fortress. In Europe, the British bombing campaign began in earnest, blowing to smithereens one of the Ruhr valley mine complexes. It seems our bombers have caused something of a headache for Hitler, who is using his fighters to shield his industry- good good, that's 1 less unit on the eastern front!! The Americans got another hit on Intel this turn, all the better for keeping Hitler frustrated.

Wow awesome, is that info displayed in game or do you just have an encyclopedic knowledge? :cool: Brilliant info at any rate, I'll start knocking out those Ruhr valley oil wells! Speaking of which, this turn.... Well, Lille was reduced to rubble out of my noobishness (also the weather was bad and it was the best available target) In other news, some interesting (and/or scary) developments. On the eastern front, German armies have moved up to the Russian border. Uh-oh. We aren't ready for Barbarossa yet- 1 more turn would give us enough time not to get totally blown away though, as infantry level 1 finally hit, at long last, at the end of this turn. I also need a turn to get extra HQ's down here to keep troops fighting fit. If we are given another turn, at least, before the Germans invade, we should be in an ok position- anything less and we will be in trouble. Partially out of a need to draw troops and attention away from Russia and partially out of fear, I moved the British troops up to Tobruk...only to be pleasantly surprised by a bunch of weak, leaderless and half-strength Italian troops! The British army, along with the ANZAC corps and the tank group, have moved up to start putting the hurt on the Italians. If we can keep the Italian draining his MPPs into reinforcements in Africa, that means no tech- and even now, Mussolini has yet to fit his troops with the most basic of infantry equipment (level 1). We must strike while the iron is hot! Out in the Atlantic, we discovered 2 u-boats raiding out trade lines. The cruiser that found them was badly hurt, but 2 destroyers moved in to do nice damage to the sub there. British reached a new industry level at the end of this turn, which might finally get the MPP flowing a little looser to allow for more aggressive operations (see NA!).

The Germans have brought some fighters to North Africa- not good! However, that didn't stop our tactical bombers getting a hit on the Italian tanks just south of Tobruk. If the British can at least give a pretense that they have a stronger force there than they really do, it might just be enough to persuade Hitler to go all out in Russia instead. On the plus side, the Soviets reached level 2 tanks, a great win so early on, and will help give us parity over the German armour. Now, if only we could get some infantry tech, we might make it through this war...

Carriers revealed a significant build up of Italian troops around Tobruk this turn, could Mussolini be planning to test his mettle against the British forces? Luckily, we're ready. If left to our own devices however, the plan is to wait until Barbarossa has been committed to by German forces, which will mean it's just the British and the Italians- and that's a much fairer fight than the nastiness of 1940. Furthermore, by delaying until the US intervenes, we can pull off the much more effective Operation Torch and hit North Africa from both sides at once. Making advances right now before the US is here to help us could be potentially disastrous, so we're playing defense for now. We can always fall back to El Alamein if we run into problems. We started upgrading our British bombers and brought over another Canadian bomber, to a total of 3. Now upgraded, we can really start hammering the Axis economy!! - Some questions about bombing: * How much damage does bombing actually do to the side getting bombed (as in the turn-by-turn MPP loss rather than the little flash-up notification of 2 MPP lost or whatever)? * What are the best targets for bombing, when the bombers aren't on the front line (as in, economy targets)?

It's on the to-do list I know I need it, but I (think) just getting more boots on the ground is more important right now, particularly given the time (heading into winter, so troops ordered now should arrive well before Barbarossa and give me time to dig in). Also, I'm not totally without AA- 2 units of actual AA guns have already been deployed, and I think there's more on the way iirc. AT guns and AA, that's what I'm all about!

It was a fun one for experimentation and getting to grips with the scenario as a whole But my overall strategy was quite flawed, hence the relatively short game

To give you guys something to look at while we wait for the USSR to get taken over a barrel in about 8 months time, here are the tech screens for the allies so far, with a bit of reasoning given behind the choices... UK Attentions for the cash-strapped UK are turned squarely at the two areas they excel at; bombing stuff and killing stuff at sea. The powerful part of the German navy lies in its u-boats, and good investment into anti-sub tech is a core part of my strategy to keep raiders off my trading lines (so far, quite successfully- haven't had a single raid in months). Other investments go into industry (duh) and heavy bombing, which paid off this turn and rewarded us with level 1 heavy bombers- crucial for hammering the hun's economy while he's busy in Russia! USA The USA is even more abstract- their infantry based intervention is probably another year away at minimum, and even then their target will likely only be the relatively low-tech Italians. Therefore, we are pushing for more industry as a long term investment to power the expensive but powerful troops that we will start producing in '42-'45 and into Intelligence so as to keep the Germans from getting too much of a hand over the Soviets too early (indirectly forcing them to invest in Intel themselves to keep pace). USSR The Soviets are going to be in direct combat in less than a year, so all attentions are turned into the purely practical elements of war- Infantry and Tanks. We started off with an Intel chit that paid off at the end of this turn and Industry is, of course, always useful. We've been unlucky so far in that our Infantry tech has yet to kick in, and between now and '41 our MPP use is being turned more and more away from tech and into raw manpower. We expect the Germans to be at level 2 by the time they invade, so we need to have at a bare minimum level 1 if we're going to avoid too many casualties too early. The defenses at Minsk should be completed by early next year, at which point we will start reinforcing other frontline cities. Fun times ahead!

The last couple of turns have been pretty dry combat wise, but crucial for technology. I'll post my tech screens for the US, Brits and Soviets next turn to show you the advancements being made- but sufficed to say, we are steaming ahead with Intelligence across the board, although the tech gods have yet to grant us a hit with infantry or tanks for the Soviets, which they sorely need as we head into the closing months of 1940. The Germans span their globe and pointed at Yugoslavia, which is currently being conquered, and Hungary has joined the Axis (Churchill wiped the sweat from his brow, London is safe for now). I expect the next few turns to be a fairly standard blitz of the Axis minors over the winter and early spring of 1941, before Barbarossa begins in earnest as soon as the good weather arrives. This turn also saw some Canadian bombers being operated over to the UK, and their job for the forseeable future will be the focused and consistent bombing of key Axis targets in Germany. In Egypt, we are mounting for an offensive on Torbuk now that we have hit a new level of artillery tech, and the British tanks have arrived, although to ensure that the nasty Nazi's don't arrive, we will wait for Barbarossa to mount the offensive in full. All in all, a crucial 'build-up' stage from now until the war season of 1941. Soviets are pretty much maxed out on tech right now, so we will focus on building up our armies, AT weapons and anti-air.

We are now into an interesting naval-based phase of the war. We chased the damaged cruiser to the Axis base in Iceland and continued to shell the docks. Elsewhere, our ships flood the channel to keep an eye out for any untoward activity that might suggest Sealion. We continue to pump research chits into the Soviets and Americans, the former of which should soon be reaching new levels of infantry and armour superiority. When Barbarossa begins, whenever that may be, we hope to take a stand at Brest-Litovsk before falling back to fortifications at Minsk- engineers are working on the barricades now.

Well, we managed to evac a second corps from the mainland, leaving us with a grand total of 3 corps and the home guard to defend against a possible invasion.... On the plus side, we did heavy damage to a cruiser in the North Atlantic, and continue to make technological advances with the Brits and Americans with advanced aircraft and infrastructure respectively.

Hey hey, AT guns for the SOVIETS bastard...