AAR – PanzerGeneral vs Supermax - war is over

trulster · Post by **trulster** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:21 pm

Not looking that bad

The German forces have bled a lot for their early conquest, need major repairs. With the Canadian reinforcements online the British Isles should feel a bit safer. If you have time, I would buy some infantry rather than garrison, better to have some counterattacking potential against eventual beachheads.

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:47 pm

19. March 1940, France surrenders, Britain stands alone
Spring has arrived in central Europe.

France has surrendered. Man, this is sooooo humiliating

I get the price for the moron losing France as early as March 1940. Now Supermax has plenty of time to repair his army and launch Sealion in early summer.

I pull back the RAF. Now is the time to conserve strength and save PPs.

The casualties so far in the war.

The British casualties are:
Infantry: 0
Tanks: 0
Planes: 442
Ships: 150

joerock22 · Post by **joerock22** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 9:30 pm

Aw, don't feel so bad. Supermax is REALLY good. And it's not like you did anything wrong or allowed him to capture France that early with low casualties. Supermax paid a very heavy price for those few extra turns in possession of France. Almost 1,000 armour and 1,000 air losses at this point is incredibly high, especially when the British only suffered a little less than 500 air. Plus, imagine all the extra rail PPs he must have spent railing troops out west in the first few turns.

So the only mistake I think you made is losing the RN. It's the Axis player's choice on when to attack France, and you did a good job of making the Germans pay for their aggressiveness. Keep it up! You still have a chance to earn some type of victory in this game.

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 9:34 pm

PanzerGeneral wrote:France has surrendered. Man, this is sooooo humiliating I get the price for the moron losing France as early as March 1940.

PanzerGeneral, Don't despair. There's no humiliation involved. Supermax is a tough opponent. It takes a lot of courage to post in an AAR for the world to see and criticize.

Again, my advice and 50-cents will buy you a cup of coffee. But, here it is. What's done is done. All you can do now is move forward from where you are. What is your objective now? Hold England for as long as possible? If it looks like England is about to fall then what next? Hold Northern Ireland? Fall back to Scotland? Evacuate with what forces you can? Do you risk the RN? If not; what about the RAF? One way to get the RAF out without risking the RN is to deploy it to the UK island bases within range. Of course the fighters would be stuck on these bases until you are able to reestablish a presence in Ireland, England and / or Scotland.

Peter Stauffenberg · Post by **Peter Stauffenberg** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 9:42 pm

Remember you can use your 3 air units and fly them to coastal hexes you can't cover with land units. If you see Axis transports along the coast line you just make sure you cover every landing hex. Make sure you hit the S key for sentry after you clicked on the fighter destination hex before you put focus on another hex. This way Supermax can't lure the fighters to intercept ground strikes.

Also try to place your air units outside the German fighter range. This way he can't attack your airbases.

This turn you can rail garrisons from the coastal cities in the west and north (Cardiff, Liverpool etc.) to the area near London so you can occupy
the rough hexes there (Dover area). Supermax will need 1 turn for repairs and another turn for moving the units to coastal hexes. Then a third turn to get to your shore. So you have a little time to make preparations. The air units are probably too expensive to repair right now, but if you place them on coastal hexes outside German fighter range and on sentry duty then they will still prevent units from landing in the hex.

If you keep your mobile land units (mechs and corps units) inland, but with range to get to the coastal hexes then you can hopefully keep them out of enemy bomber range. That means Supermax must go after your garrisons. Also try to make sure the Royal Navy units are in port outside enemy bomber range.

Supermax will probably soften up the coastal defenses before he commits his units. British subs can be nice to have to spy on where the German navy is assembling. If you can place it in a coastal hex then you can with luck stop a transport from going there.

You haven't lost yet and you can still build land units to make sure Supermax will pay for any landing. Remember that you can try to kill beachhead units if they succeed landing somewhere. It's when you lose a port you will get into trouble. That's a reason why corps units do better than garrisons. Supermax can only repair 1 step per turn until gets port supply.

But maybe he won't even get ashore.

joerock22 · Post by **joerock22** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 2:09 am

Stauffenberg wrote:Make sure you hit the S key for sentry after you clicked on the fighter destination hex before you put focus on another hex. This way Supermax can't lure the fighters to intercept ground strikes.

Aw, I didn't know you could do that! I thought you could only put fighters on sentry before you move them. In fact, I think I wrote the manual section on the sentry function to that effect. Maybe we should think about changing that.

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:16 pm

8. April1940, England awaits Sealion
The summer weather has arrived in all theatres.

England has a regular income of 22 PPs. This turn they are used for sub repairs and repairs of a RAF fighter. From the sound advice of Borger, two garrisons are being deployed towards Dover.
I want to repair my fighters before I place my bomber closer to the coast in order to spy on what is happening on the continent. My assumption is that Supermax is using all his PPs for unit repairs.

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:51 am

28. April 1940, SEALION!!!
The weather.

Man, Supermax sure is bold. He has launched Sealion in late April 1940. He is also one lucky axis commander. His Kriegsmarine spots one of my BBs which is relocating and sinks it!

The Brits rush to the beaches in order to stop the German landing party.

Two convoys (26 PPs + 14 PPs) are inbound and will reach England next turn.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:56 am

Trying a Sealion in CEAW GS with the new amphibious restrictions is a risky operation even in the current game with the RN half-halved. The germans were historically right when they first attempted to finish off first the RAF after launching a disembark in England...

schwerpunkt · Post by **schwerpunkt** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:15 pm

joerock22 wrote:
Stauffenberg wrote:Make sure you hit the S key for sentry after you clicked on the fighter destination hex before you put focus on another hex. This way Supermax can't lure the fighters to intercept ground strikes.
Aw, I didn't know you could do that! I thought you could only put fighters on sentry before you move them. In fact, I think I wrote the manual section on the sentry function to that effect. Maybe we should think about changing that.

Yep, the word "strategically" should be added in front of the word "move" and a note added that a FTR can be placed into Sentry mode immediately after it moves (ie before another unit is selected, terrain is clicked on or a menu (eg Production, Research, etc) opened.

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:41 pm

18. May 1940, The Germans have landed, counterattack near Dover
The weather.

Britain gets a 14PPs convoy. I buy a garrison and redeploy my garrisons in Norfolk in order to free up the RAF and my army (motorized and infantry corps). The rest of the PPs are used to repair the RAF.

Supermax has destroyed two of my garrisons in Dover and surrounded my infantry along with its commander. This is it. I cannot wait for his next move. I move in my motorized infantry and attack the German infantry in Dover. It scores a couple of kills. Next my surrounded infantry attacks in an attempt to break free. The result is a much decimated German infantry korps.

I do not dare to move in my Royal navy yet. I suspect uboat traps near the landing zones, and the Luftwaffe is ready to sink my navy. I move in my sub and separate the invasion fleet.

Peter Stauffenberg · Post by **Peter Stauffenberg** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:00 pm

Remember that Supermax has now spent his invasion capability and will only recover one every 3 turns. He will pay 35 PP's for the first overuse and 70 PP's for the second.

You now need to contain the beachhead so he can't expand from there. So you need a double defense line so he can't attack your units forcing them to retreat, thus freeing up room for another invader.

Also be prepared for having depleted units at the front line. He might bombard then with 2 tac bombers and if the're destroyed he has a free hex to move into and expand the invasion area. It's better to withdraw depleted units and send in fresh full strength troops to the front line and attack the invaders. Focus upon one unit at a time so you kill one asap. Then the other will have problems being attacked from many sides.

Even if you eventually lose control you have to take into consideration that Supermax will spend so much time mopping up all the cities in Britain that his Barbarossa offensive will be less powerful. It will also affect his possibility to strike in Egypt. The key is to make sure the Luftwaffe has to remain in Britain to finish off every unit. So make sure you build as many land units you can before you lose London. When London falls you can't place new units in Britain. You also lose rail movement in Britain when London falls. So rail your units to e. g. Glasgow and Edinburg and use the rough hexes there to keep the Germans busy.

But you haven't lost London yet.

schwerpunkt · Post by **schwerpunkt** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:08 pm

My advice is to continue to hold the fleet back unless you can see an opportunity to strike and to put his land forces out of naval supply. Any other commitment is purely tactical and not worth the risk to your ships.

My guess is that Max will destroy your 8 pt Motorised corps (shorebombardment + 2 TACs) and advance his PzG unit creating a space to land another corp. He'll probably also take the opportunity to destroy your sub if it is visible to him. Otherwise he'll just use a TAC and STR to pound your OOS Inf corp at Dover (and possibly attack it with the new unit he lands). As a result, he will manage to establish a good beachhead and is probably only 2 turns from attacking London. Unless you are expecting a large convoy next turn, you will not be able to throw him back into the sea (German airpower is a killer). You will need to therefore start to think about how you will wage the campaign in the interior of the UK which means you must avoid losing too many units around London (to his TACs). In this scenario you need to conserve your fleet to make it difficult for him to make additional landings behind your lines. You might want to consider rebasing your STR to the Hebrides to get it out of harms way and to provide spotting up that way.

PS: As Stauffenberg has indicated, when winter arrives it will slow the rate at which Max can mop up your forces in northern UK.

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:53 am

7. June 1940, The Germans have a beachhead in Dover
The weather.

Britain gets another 26PPs convoy. I buy three garrisons and deploy them around London. The plan is to clog it up with units and deny Supermax any room for manoeuvre. I consider England lost as he has gained foothold in Dover. The plan is to delay him as much as possible and make him burn a lot of oil with his tac bombers.

The Royal navy waits for an opportunity to attack the Kriegsmarine. The Royal navy is activated in the Mediterranean. I will swap a BB from England with a DD in the Med. I need units to hunt uboats in the Atlantic.

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:01 am

27. June 1940, London has fallen to the Wehrmacht!
The weather.

Sob, London has been captured. Curse his mighty Luftwaffe and Panzerwaffe. It is time to start a fighting withdrawal. I pull back my troops from the front line. The RAF is redeployed in the north of England. Here I spot a transport craft ready to land in a undefended Scottish city. The transport craft is attacked but survives with 3 steps left. My Scottish city will fall next turn.

Supermax have trapped my DD which is in port. My DD attacks, better to inflict some damage before it is scuttled when the port falls into enemy hands. I suspect that my BB in the port in the English Channel is trapped by a BB and two hidden subs. I order it to attack the BB.

The Royal navy in the Mediterranean sails from port. The mission is to try to stop reinforcements being sent from the continent to North Africa. An Italian motorized korps near Tobruk is shelled by one of my BBs.

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:02 am

I wish all the readers of my AAR a merry X-mas

schwerpunkt · Post by **schwerpunkt** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:02 pm

Merry christmas Panzergeneral !

Just wondering why you didnt strat move someone into Aberdeen? even if it cost PPs to do so

Cheers

Schwerpunkt

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:03 pm

PanzerGeneral wrote:I wish all the readers of my AAR a merry X-mas

Merry Christmas!

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 5:48 pm

schwerpunkt wrote:Merry christmas Panzergeneral !

Just wondering why you didnt strat move someone into Aberdeen? even if it cost PPs to do so

Cheers

Schwerpunkt

England had lost rail capability when London was captured. But I could have deployed a fighter or strategic bomber to the city. I remembered this just 10 minutes after I had sent my turn to Supermax.

I have been over analyzing why I did not do such an obvious thing

I think the reason is that I still have the BJR house rules in mind and one of these rules were:
- thou shall not place planes in cities

I think that is why I did not see/think about this a possibility when I did my move, but remembered it after I had done my move ...

PanzerGeneral · Post by **PanzerGeneral** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 5:50 pm

17. July 1940, Resistance in England is collapsing
The weather.

Supermax has overrun both ports with ships of the Royal navy. The remnants of the British army are fleeing north. I will try to set up a defensive line in the rough terrain in Scotland.

The RAF has been redeployed to the north of Scotland. I have not decided if I want to ship my fighters to North Africa straight away, or if should I let them stay here in order to force Supermax to divert some of his Luftwaffe in England.

British intelligence has picked up the following German radio transmission:
The german ministry of armaments is getting worried about the axis oil situation… Half of the Luftwaffe air fleets were grounded last turn because of it, rationing has started…

Is this a trick or has Supermax spent to much oil in the quick defeat of England and France?

In the Mediterranean the Royal navy continues to shell the Italian defenders.