JimR (Axis) vs. Clark (Allies) - War is Over!

[Clark]

May 28, 1942.

The Allies have now isolated Brest and press on toward Cherbourg and Paris. The main purpose of the western Allies advance is to capture as many occupied cities as possible before Berlin falls, so that Italy has as few PPs flowing in as possible at that time.



Russia advances on Berlin and nearly has Ploesti. Germany will not survive the summer.

[Clark]

June 17, 1942.

The Allies continue the struggle in France and in the waters off Brittany. Unless he rails in a garrison, Cherbourg is mine next turn. And Brest is probably mine next turn regardless. Next stop - Paris.



The Russians bring in lots of air units for the final assault on Berlin.



And the struggle continues in Romania, emphasis on struggle.

[Clark]

July 7 1942.

German resistance in France has vanished for now. The German invasion of England was eliminated last turn, and ground forces on the British Isles have now been restored to full strength and white effectiveness.



The Russians begin skirmishing along the Oder, taking an Italian corps down to 5 steps. The Russian air attacks are blunted by Luftwaffe fighter cover; the German planes and pilots far outclass their Russian counterparts at this point. The Russians also begin making their way over the mountains into Hungary; hopefully I can remove some German satellites by the time Berlin falls.



Speaking of which, it has been really difficult going in Romania. I'm still only marginally closer to Ploesti.

[Clark]

July 27 1942.

Allies close in on Paris.



The Russians can't manage to cross the Oder, mainly because of a weak contribution from the air force.



And it's still rough going in the south. Again, should have put more effort into air support down here.

[Clark]

August 16, 1942.

The Germans are breaking down on all fronts. The Brits bomb a German U-boat into oblivion, and work over Paris while the Americans attack the German city defenses from all sides. The German infantry is down to 3 steps and won't last another turn.



The Russians finally makes some gains in all sectors. In the north, the German line north of Berlin along the Oder is obliterated, and several units bust through to threaten the Luftwaffe on the ground. Other units close in on Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. More Luftwaffe units are discovered on the ground and will be forced to evacuate or die.



In the south, Russian units push across the Dambovita and repair elsewhere. I've noticed that Jim has a lot of Italian units directly on the front or defending a key city or capital. I'll be sure to keep contact with these units so that they can't rail back to Italy once Germany falls. I've also begun purchasing tactical bombers as much as possible to help with the slog through several sets of mountains to Rome.

[Clark]

September 5, 1942.

Paris is liberated! The rest of the meager Allied expeditionary forces spread out throughout France to take cities as quickly as possible.



Heavy fighting west of Berlin as the the Russians grapple with the German counterattack.



The Russians also surround Budapest and nearly take Ploesti.



I've tried as the Russians to push hard everywhere to stretch the Axis powers thin. Problem is, I've stretched myself thin along the way, because I've had to spend much of my PPs on repairing damaged units every single turn. I've made great progress, but I probably would have been a little better off with some patience earlier on.

[JyriErik]

Right now it's not a major risk to you to go a bit thin. The loss of any single group will hurt you, but with your production it will be replaced before it becomes a disaster. He loses any force, he doesn't have much depth left to allow him to get something rebuilt before you reach the assembly points. If you can't take Berlin, you CAN take Kiel & Hamburg to get you into a better position for next turn. Right now it's the stage where you need to take some chances, just make sure they're calculated chances & you have a fallback plan if it goes wrong. His army is like a rubber band stretched to its limit. One more pull & SNAP! it's over.

Jyri

[Clark]

September 25, 1942.

The Allies are now close enough to Berlin on both sides that a single screencapture gets both the Western and Eastern Front:



In the south, the Italians could probably take out a Russian mech infantry if they wanted at Budapest, but they will still lose that capital very soon. Bucharest is also surrounded, so no more Axis reinforcements will come to this sector, at least not via rail.



Jyri, you're right. I'm not in any real danger of losing even a whole army group, but I lack the punch I might have if I had been more patient, especially with my airplanes. Still, I'm only a few more attacks from taking out Germany.

[Clark]

October 15, 1942.

The situation in France - all is calm. A weak garrison clings to Lyon, which will soon be overrun by Patton. Otherwise my units are streaking westward unopposed to Germany.



I'm finally playing it a bit cautious around Berlin. I'm content to slowly peel away and destroy the infantry guarding the outskirts while repairing damaged units to full strength.



In the south, the Russians restore the cordon around Budapest and maul the Italian interlopers. Not much could be done this turn here, because all of my corps were in such bad shape that several of them needed rest and repair. I also attack Bucharest with all available forces, but only knock it down to two steps. I expect to lose an infantry and an armored corps here next turn.



Not pictured - I finally have gained the upper hand in the Middle East. After a loooong string of defeats, the British dug in on the high rough ground of Transjordan with three infantry corps and a fighter wing, enough to hold off 3 Italian mech infantry and one Italian corps. Now only 2 British infantry remain, and they've just sent Messe back to Italy with an attack on the last remaining Italian mech infantry in the region.

Also, the Russians are now at the gates of Helsinki. Alas, without enough force to take it quickly.

[Clark]

November 4, 1942.

The end is near for Germany. The noose is nearly complete around Berlin, and the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht in the vicinity are weakened by repeated air and ground attacks. The British land in the Hague and take Essen and Frankfurt, while the Ruhr mines resist being totally overrun. Patton takes Lyons and American infantry begin crossing the Massif Central toward Marseilles. British and American air wings are now in range of going after Luftwaffe bombers and even bombing German ground units around Berlin.



Repair is the order of the day around Budapest, while the Russian army group around Bucharest restores communications with Konev, who had been cut off by the loss of an armor and infantry corps to the southwest and southeast of him, respectively.

[Clark]

November 24, 1942.

The heart of Germany's industry has now been ripped out, as I have taken Essen, the Ruhr mines, and Frankfurt. The PP advantage has grown astronomical for the Allies. The Russians are now able to attack, repair worn out units, and build new ones each turn, while the British and Americans each approach Germany in incoming PPs each turn.

Berlin has been surrounded, which Jim will probably break next turn. Still, he can't place new units next turn. Which is good, because he keeps churning infantry out, and they're a distraction to say the least. I wonder what other effects come into play when Berlin is cut off.



In the south, the long battle for Bucharest is over, and the Romanian regime has fallen. I don't say the entire country, however, because Jim has a long line of assorted Axis units stretching from the Bulgarian border almost all the way across the country to Hungary and Yugoslavia. So unfortunately I was a turn too late to strand many of his troops in a newly occupied country. My goal remains to trap as many of his units here as possible and keep them from railing back to the Italian peninsula. It would be a lot easier to fight them here in the plains of Hungary and Romania than in the rocky hills of central Italy.



Also, one helpful thing about putting in the work of doing AARs is that sometimes you notice that one or two red dots in the picture that you forgot to check on while playing your turn. So before I clicked next turn, I went back and saw that I had a Russian armor sitting outside of Minsk, placed last turn but forgotten this turn. I railed it in to Bucharest, to the only empty hex available there.

[Clark]

November 24, 1942.

The heart of Germany's industry has now been ripped out, as I have taken Essen, the Ruhr mines, and Frankfurt. The PP advantage has grown astronomical for the Allies. The Russians are now able to attack, repair worn out units, and build new ones each turn, while the British and Americans each approach Germany in incoming PPs each turn.

Berlin has been surrounded, which Jim will probably break next turn. Still, he can't place new units next turn. Which is good, because he keeps churning infantry out, and they're a distraction to say the least. I wonder what other effects come into play when Berlin is cut off.



In the south, the long battle for Bucharest is over, and the Romanian regime has fallen. I don't say the entire country, however, because Jim has a long line of assorted Axis units stretching from the Bulgarian border almost all the way across the country to Hungary and Yugoslavia. So unfortunately I was a turn too late to strand many of his troops in a newly occupied country. My goal remains to trap as many of his units here as possible and keep them from railing back to the Italian peninsula. It would be a lot easier to fight them here in the plains of Hungary and Romania than in the rocky hills of central Italy.



Also, one helpful thing about putting in the work of doing AARs is that sometimes you notice that one or two red dots in the picture that you forgot to check on while playing your turn. So before I clicked next turn, I went back and saw that I had a Russian armor sitting outside of Minsk, placed last turn but forgotten this turn. I railed it in to Bucharest, to the only empty hex available there.

[Clark]

December 14, 1942. Hubris!

The invasion of Germany has been dealt a huge setback. Not only did I lose my noose around Berlin, I lost half the units comprising that rope! One of them is cut off by the sea and will likely be destroyed next turn. I had thought that perhaps those units would be roughed up a little but would easily weather the storm. Looking at the Luftwaffe at the beginning of the turn, I believe he went all out from the air at those westernmost units, which were outside of fighter cover, and then hit them with multiple infantry. Ironically, I've been trying to shore up the southern sector for so long because of poor performance there that I neglected my main goal of Berlin, so now I have very little reserves to counterattack from the Russian side.

The western Allies also lost an armored corp south of Wilhelmshavn. I counterattack and destroy a German infantry. Around Berlin, I also destroy two infantry. And between the last turn and my attacks this turn, the Luftwaffe are very nearly finished.



In the south, I mostly repair units, save for a couple attacks around Bucharest. Ploesti will definitely fall next turn.



And in southern France, I'm approaching Marseilles now. You can see pictured here the remnants of an abortive surprise attack on Italy. With so many Italian troops in the East, I thought I might catch Jim off guard with surprise amphibious landings on Rome or Genoa, but unfortunately he spotted them before I could land, bringing in troops and BBs to stop them. He didn't want to risk facing my bomber once it landed on Sardinia, though, so my transports have survived for several turns hanging out off the coast near Barcelona.

[Clark]

January 3, 1943.

Both sides are settling in for a bit of a grind in Germany. I'm going to have to rail a couple of stronger offensive units up from the southern sector to Warsaw and add some newly created infantry corps. I need more offensive punch and infantry to hold my flanks so that I don't have a repeat of the last time I surged forward around Berlin. In the meantime, I grind away at his infantry and kill two of them. I'm going to have to stop my advance from the West as well, because my forces are just too thin and poorly supplied right now. More infantry will be bought in the next few turns and sent to Germany.





In southern France I creep closer to Marseilles. Once I secure this area with more air cover, or if I take Berlin, I'll land my transports and begin resting and repairing those units near Marseilles. In Egypt, British forces have moved to surround Port Said, which is in bad shape now defended by an Italian mech infantry that's bleeding effectiveness. In Finland, I continue to press on Helsinki, but it seems as though it will be awhile until it falls. I should probably rail those infantry out of Finland and down toward Poland, as they'll help more on the German front than plinking away at the Finnish defenses.

[timhicks]

Hi , thanks for posting this AAR, but there's something that I don't understand. Isn't the game over when you take Berlin ?, you have massive forces on the south of your front, why not send them into Germany to take Berlin ?

[Clark]

Hi , thanks for posting this AAR, but there's something that I don't understand. Isn't the game over when you take Berlin ?, you have massive forces on the south of your front, why not send them into Germany to take Berlin ?

No, it's over when you take Berlin AND Rome. I miscalculated on how hard Germany could fight back against Russian armor and infantry. I definitely should have focused more on Berlin before I put so much effort into the south. Trying to be clever has cost me probably an extra year of fighting.

And yes, I plan on railing some of those southern forces up to Poland to march on Berlin ASAP.

[Clark]

And thanks for reading, Tim! I know by the pageview count that people are checking in on this AAR now and again, but it's always nice to get feedback.

[JyriErik]

Hi , thanks for posting this AAR, but there's something that I don't understand. Isn't the game over when you take Berlin ?, you have massive forces on the south of your front, why not send them into Germany to take Berlin ?

Germany is gone, but then everything left in German hands outside Germany itself goes over to Italy. Admittedly, Italy isn't going to be able to last long from that point on, but the game isn't (officially) over until Rome also falls.

Jyri

[Clark]

Hi , thanks for posting this AAR, but there's something that I don't understand. Isn't the game over when you take Berlin ?, you have massive forces on the south of your front, why not send them into Germany to take Berlin ?

Germany is gone, but then everything left in German hands outside Germany itself goes over to Italy. Admittedly, Italy isn't going to be able to last long from that point on, but the game isn't (officially) over until Rome also falls.

Jyri

Also worth noting that in vanilla, Italy goes deep into negative oil the moment that Berlin falls. So all mechanized forces (air, sea, mech infantry, armor) are all paralyzed unless Italy managed to hang onto significant sources of oil.

[Clark]

January 23, 1942.

The end is in sight. The Russians destroy two more infantry around Berlin and maul another. Looking at the quality of newly repaired German infantry, it seems that casualties have taken quite a toll on their manpower pool and reinforcements have been rushed to the front without much training. I also did some railing in of infantry after this pic was taken, so I'm starting to build up a reserve for when my frontline wears down.

The western Allies have performed very poorly in the ground campaign in Germany, but at least they are forcing Jim to reckon with them and pull away from their focus on the invading Russians. More British infantry are on the way to this front every turn, as well.



In the south of France, the Americans close in on Genoa and cut Marseilles off from full supply and reinforcement by rail. With my combined air and ground forces in the area, it should fall next turn.



And in southeastern Europe, even as I return my focus to its proper place in Berlin, I destroy several infantry and cut two more off from supply.



Not pictured - American troops continue inbound across the Atlantic, Russian forces disengage in Finland to be refit and sent south, and the British are in position to take both Port Said and Cairo next turn.