Will95

Well, we managed to evacuate 1 corps from the French mainland, with the possibility of getting another out, given the panzers are almost entirely out of supply. The Soviets continue to mobilize, slowly, and we're building up a wall of AT guns...

Ah yes, didn't think of that. It's a horrific loss for the Brits this early, but at least with things in France dragging on for another turn or two (Bordeaux has become the alternate capital) Barbarossa should be quite delayed. Early anti-sub tech for the British fleet ought to keep Sealion at bay too, but now most spare MPP is going to have to go on rebuilding the BEF. Also, I looked in my production tab and realised I couldn't rebuild Alexander (I mean I could, but only for full price), any reason for this?

Meh, horrible turn. Lost the HQ and will shortly lose probably the entire expeditionary force. They say the war isn't decided on the western front in 1940, but.... 1 HQ down, 1 army about to go down, but 2 corps might make it out...yay.

Gah, those tanks advance so quickly.... Alexander's HQ was hit badly, and the rest of the British troops have been mustered to defend his retreat. Losing an HQ now would definitely be a blow. As for the French....well, we're leaving them to their doom. Paris is under direct attack but stands for one more turn. The delayed German advance does at least mean that Paris won't fall until August, and the drive towards the capital without stopping to mop up the isolated French troops means less experience for the Axis commanders. Every cloud... Soviets got a quick hit off of Industrial technology while the US continue to advance in just about every way possible, so there is yet light at the end of the tunnel. Right now the priority is evacuating the BEF + HQ out of the country.

Well, large chunk of the French armies were destroyed somewhat abruptly. Besides the as-standard molestation of most corps, a combined attack from the British and French forces managed to take out a German special forces unit, a nice win this early on. We also continue to refit our destroyers and cruisers with the latest in anti-submarine technology, before making the trek over the Atlantic to find those dastardly u-boats causing havoc on the Canadian coast.

No anti-tank, except the French tanks themselves. Also good point about stocking MPPs! I was kinda unsure of how to approach the French tbh. I kinda see their vaporization as inevitable, so they just seem like expensive doorstops in the way of the great Reich invasion D:

Well, I basically had about 180 spare MPPs for France and nothing to spend them on- research wouldn't have the time to kick in before Paris is blitzed, new units wouldn't arrive fast enough...I figured why not spend a little on diplomacy? Iraq seemed like a sensible enough choice at the time as they were already at 20% and with what seems to be the entire Italian army in North Africa, I reckon any support I can get down there is worth it. This turn, I pushed for ANZAC troops to arrive early in Egypt in case of early Italian aggression. Aaaaaaand.... The blitz began! German troops wiped out Belgium, Holland and Luxeumbourg all in one turn The French and scant British presence quaked in their boots at the sound of the awesome power being fielded by the Germans, and dug a little further into their foxholes... British air and sea power started hitting Belgian supply ports in what may prove to be a fruitful attempt at slowing the Blitzkrieg, and the first French tanks arrived.

Now into May, and still no sign of the Germans- have they all packed up and gone home? I was almost tempted to invest into research for the French, but came to my sense and instead put their spare MPPs into persuading Iraq to see our side of things. It will no doubt prove useful if Italy launches major offensives in North Africa. We skirmished with the Italian navy but no major clashes yet....I feel this is the calm before the storm!

The snow is gone, and replaced with rain....but the sounds of the Panzers are no closer to Paris than they were months ago... However, we reached level 1 anti-sub for the Brits, a major break this early and will really help to clamp down on the damn sub raiders. Italy now joined the Axis and continue to transport their troops to North Africa.

Turn 6, and still no sign of the Germans. To give you an idea of the kind of defense prepared for the Panzers when they eventually arrive: It's not much, but along the line at Lille troops are getting heavily entrenched. There was a slightly bizzare tactical bombing of one of the armies on the Maginot Line which achieved little, but may possible signal an attack straight into the French fortresses- if that is indeed the German plan, it is an unusual one... We continue to invest into anti-sub warfare for the Brits, and we replaced the dire level 4 HQ with Alexander (7) who promises to bring a little more fight to the table.

Italian transports still on the move, but we're now in December and Hitler has yet to turn his sights to Belgium or the Netherlands- could he be trying to smash his way through the Maginot Line?! At any rate, the French armies are in somewhat of a better position than they were in September. The first elements of the BEF have now landed in France to bolster morale.

Thanks Strategic, your advice is always highly useful, although I now fear that our current campaign will be even bloodier than the last because of it...

The main development this turn was the spotting of Italian transports en route to North Africa. With Italy still not in the war, and the Anglo-French alliance not quite ready to sour US relations by declaring war, we wait for Mussolini's warmongering to lead him into war for us so we can start attacking transports. For now, we blockaded the African/Italian ports in preparation.

Turn 3 and we continue to shore up the Belgian line with French forces. With Poland out of the picture (although their destroyers still in active duty) the French leaders now wait with bated breath for the blitzkrieg. The BEF is getting ready for frontline service, and we are attempting to entice Italy into the war by evacuating the French/African holdings so that we can inflict some damage on their navy with the doomed French ships.

Haha cool Well, into turn 2 and Poland fell. A little early for my taste but we took a few strength points out of the panzers in return for their swift advance. The Brits invested a point into anti-sub warfare and the French prepare for the coming onslaught. The Maginot Line armies are being thinned out to hold the Belgian line.

Well, here we are again. Hope we aren't cluttering up these forums too much but making these AAR's is not only good fun for us but we're also getting really valuable feedback from you guys reading, so thanks for that. So, after a relatively short game where I stood in Hitler's shoes, I will now be commanding the Allies, while Ash takes command over the Whermacht- let the games begin! Each time we've done a campaign, I've tried to add a bit more planning to the mix. I've been reading a lot of AAR's dotted around the place for various SC games and scenarios and planning is everything- this is nothing new (just generally) of course, but SC planning is a little new to me. Last time I had a rough plan compromised by a lack of knowledge of the scenario, but now I have a better idea of what to expect. So.... Aims 1. To invest in anti-sub technology ASAP for the British to fight off raiding on my trade and dissuade Sealion after France. 2. Refit all French armies and position them to slow the Axis advance as much as possible (duh) although with as much British support as I can muster. I figure any casualties inflicted now, even if I take some in return, will pay dividends in the future to weaken or delay Barbarossa. 3. Invest in infantry/armour/air power for the Soviets to fight off Barbarossa. 4. Invest in navy/infantry power for the USA so as to get a handle on the Kriegsmarine and prepare for an assault on the Normandy beaches Partially, things depend on what Ash decides to do after France- my guess is straight into Barbarossa, as that was the conclusion we came to after a debrief from our last campaign as the best way to go about things. This will mean I move a bunch of British troops to North Africa and set about making gains down there, while the US starts preparing for a European invasion. So, to turn 1. Poland takes massive losses but the Germans haven't yet reached Warsaw. I expect it to fall next turn so anything extra is just gravy. The French start bringing their troops up to full strength and their navy is mobilized for an attack on the Italian navy. No point showing images at this point, so far so standard invasion of Poland.

For my side of things, I know I made some categorical mistakes; - Committed way too much to Sealion. I should've conserved a little more so Barbarossa wasn't quite so delayed. - Basically forgot about North Africa where I should've been using more Italians. - Didn't really use the Axis minors to good effect All that said though, I felt extremely overwhelmed shortly after Barbarossa. The Russian army is just...huge. Taking into account that Germany basically needs to single-handedly (because lets face it, Italian troops past 1942 seem to be expensive doorstops ) attack Russia while defending western Europe, I just didn't have enough troops. I mean, even if I had used absolutely everything against Russia and just gambled against an invasion of europe by Brits/US (and that would've only meant another couple of corps and some garrisons), I still wouldn't have been able to crack the force I found myself up against. Once the US start landing, then it all goes downhill. I have this feeling that by the time the US invade, I ought to have had about twice the army size than I really did, but besides the waste of 500MPPs in Russian-focused diplomacy, I don't know how I could've accomplished that- but I'm sure some of you fine folks will be able to tell me! Thanks for any and all feedback guys, we're having a blast with the game so far and learning more about it just makes it even better.

- see other thread

Well, I haven't updated in a while as I've been kinda unwell, but I'll give a quick recap sans pictures to cover the latest developments. The eastern front, once a juggernaught of German air and land-power, has all but crumbled. Although the south is now strong, the north has essentially collapsed and with reserves still months away, we expect the Red Army to go halfway to Berlin before we can halt their momentum. At sea the US navy has shown itself to be a frightening beast, sinking a good chunk of the Kriegsmarine with their level 4 anti-submarine warfare. This then facilitated the US invasion of mainland Europe, starting in Spain and now into the UK as well, with a tank force that will surely blow away the meagre garrisons and the odd Spanish army that are the only lines of defence. The British conquered most of North Africa and have now declared war on Vichy and continue to plunder. All in all? The German army is done for. I'll let Ash grind me down a little more but I'll soon be waving the white flag. A sad day? No- a good learning experience! Next time- back to WW1!

When this is out....jesus, it looks so epic. Take your time guys, but be warned, I'm foaming for it

^^ Important to note that Ash is talking about the WW2 scenario here, they are very different in WW1! (far from useless but require considerable upgrading to be useful at destroying units as far as I can tell)

Actually, Turkey and Spain _did_ mobilize heavily after Sealion, but after the invasion of Yugoslavia, Turkey slid away again citing nervousness about Hitler's expansion!

Damn warping arrows But yeah, I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head there. I'm going to keep slugging on, but as you'll see from Turn 54, things are beginning to turn against the Fuhrer...

I honestly don't know. I think my plan to give concessions to Stalin and commit to Sealion really screwed me over- then again, I'm not sure how things would've gone if I'd followed history closer either! Once the American invasion starts, either coming up through the Med or across to France, I'm basically screwed. The Soviet army is just too massive for me to go through it all at once, and even though I'm killing far more than I'm losing, his armour, HQ's and fighters are getting a lot of experience and upgrades. Add to that a potential British invasion into Italy and my Reich is about to get ripped apart six ways from Sunday. As there's no AAR to kinda 'mimick' (which is how I approached our 1914 campaign) I've been playing this one by ear, and made quite a few categorical errors, like neglecting Africa almost entirely, spending 500 useless MPPs on trying to appease Stalin diplomatically and losing virtually all the Axis minors in the south. I'll slug it out with the Red Army and hope for a breakthrough, but I imagine that when the invasion into mainland Europe starts I'm gonna start crumbling.

Turn 52 Northern and Central Sectors Nothing interesting to speak of. Southern Sector Oh boy. Rommel's staff was completely and utterly destroyed. Having evacuated by plane just minutes before the T34s rolled through the camp, he will reach the front later this year once again, but his loss is mourned. Soviet reserves arrived to pound our forces here, but we struck back- both Soviet tank battalions were destroyed. In the moutains around Bucharest we advanced, destroying an army and hitting the soft artillery behind. It is now imperative that we smash through Bucharest to link up with the army on the other side of the mountains or further Soviet reserves could make our lives miserable. General Staff Partisans have been very active over the recent months, taking out supply depots in France, Greece and Britain, but otherwise no changes.