Ronnie (axis) vs. Neil (allies) with GS v1.10g (Game Over)

[rkr1958]

GS v1.10g Developer Notes

In our attempt to maximize historical realism we have proposed a set of changes to GS that are now going through play test. Our definition of historical realism is NOT that the historical chain of events are, or must be, followed every game but that the option to follow the historical chain of events is as least as appealing as following other non-historical, but possible, events. For example, it had become standard practice for the allied player to invade Ireland and often Portugal to establish airbases to use for ASW. Also, it was becoming standard practice in some quarters for the axis player not to invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. While these are certainly valid and historically possible strategies these did not happen historically. We didn’t want the game to evolve to where historical options would never be chosen but to a point were it’s good strategy in some games to do so and in other games not to.

general.txt file. All proposed GS v1.10e changes described below are enabled, or disabled, and controlled through the general.txt file. Players have the ability to disable all proposed changes and reconfigure their game to that for GS v1.06 is they wish.

Tension in the Balkans. Because of the tension in Balkans between German axis minors and Yugoslavia or Greece these axis minors will defend their borders against these countries unless they are pacified (i.e., invaded) by Germany or Italy. Also, axis minors will activate earlier than expected if the axis invades the Balkans prior to their normal activation times.

1. Romania and Hungary will join the Axis the turn Yugoslavia is DoW'ed and Bulgaria will join the turn Greece is DoW'ed. So it's possible to speed up the activation of these countries by an earlier DoW. This means an axis player might declare war on Yugoslavia from Austria and Italy and rail reinforcements to Hungary and Romania on that turn (e. g. in August 1940). Remember that the countries joining will NOT move on the turn they join. So the player will probably need two turns to take out Belgrade. It also becomes more attractive to take out Greece from the north since a player can take out Yugoslavia in August / September and move adjacent to Greece to march to Athens in maybe September / October. Weather is always nice down there. A seaborne invasion of Greece was the only way to secure Greece early enough because a player never got through Yugoslavia in time.

2. One Hungarian and two Romania infantry corps are removed from their initial countries setup and will be spawned on the turn that the axis player declares war on Yugoslavia. If this never happens then these three infantry corps are assumed to be assigned to home defense until released in July 1943 (see 4).

3. Two Bulgarian infantry corps are removed for Bulgaria’s initial setup and will be spawned on the turn that the axis player declares war on Greece. If this never happens then these two infantry corps are assumed to be assigned to home defense until release in July 1943 (see 4).

4. The Axis minor units that were kept for protection against Yugoslavia and Greece will be released on July 1943 if they weren't released before from activating Yugoslavia and Greece. This simulates that the threat from Russia increases so these units might do more good protecting their borders against Russia than the borders against Yugoslavia and Greece. So a player won't permanently lose these units if they decide to never DoW Yugoslavia and Greece. Also remember that the units will spawn if the ALLIES DoW Yugoslavia and Greece.

5. Greek setup. A 4-step DD is added.

6. Romania setup. The 5-step fighter was increased to 6-steps. The 10-step DD was reduced to 5-steps. A 4-step tactical bomber was added.

Allied Aggression. Because of the isolationist attitude in the USA before entry in the war certain acts of UK or French aggression have an adverse impact on USA mobilization prior to their entry in the war. Also, an allied attack on Portugal at any time has an adverse impact on their neighbor Spain. Basically, an attack on Portugal would signal danger to Spain and move them close to Germany for their own protection.

7. Every declaration of war by Britain or France on a minor neutral country (e.g., Ireland, Portugal) prior to USA entry reduces the USA war effort by 5. Since, the USA is at industry level 2 the impact of this reduction is 6 (i.e., 1.2 x 5). After US entry, Allied DoW's on neutrals won't have any effect on the US war effort. The US will mobilize because they're at war. The US will regain any lost war effort immediately when they join the Allies. The reason is that they mobilize and the US public would forget about reluctance to enter the war since they're already at war.
8. An allied declaration of war against Portugal results in the transfer of 5 PPs per turn from Spain to Germany. These are from the Spanish lead mine traded to Germany for military equipment and training. This training and equipment is represented by Spanish units immediately getting the same as German tech level -2 or keeping their current tech if it's higher. Please notice that if the Germans get more tech later then the Spanish will NOT get that until the Allies DoW Spain as well and then only if the Germans pay for an upgrade of the Spanish units. So the tech received from Germany upon an allied declaration war against Portugal is a one time FREE upgrade to the German tech -2.

German Volunteers. There was a history of units composed of foreign volunteers that fought for Germany during WW-II.

9. Germany will get 1 free garrison in 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1944 and a mechanized corps in 1943. The mechanized corps consists of the SS Wiking panzergrenadier division, SS Nordland panzergrenadier division, the Estonian infantry division and some support troops from the Nordic countries. The corps was actually called III Germanic panzer corps, but mechanized corps is a better unit since the divisions were mechanized and not pure armor.

Port Damage. Ports that were captured were often damaged and had to be repaired before they became usable.

10. Captured ports are reduced to 0-stength, which means that they won’t be able to repair or upgrade naval units with red damage (0-1 strength).

Scorched Earth. The fighting in the east was brutal and without mercy. Both the Germans and Russians in retreat destroyed as much usable materials as they could over leaving them behind for the enemy to use.

11. Any Russian core city captured, or recaptured, will lose an additional 5-steps if above 5-steps or be reduced to 0-steps if at 5-steps or less. Damaged cities and ports regenerate at the rate of 1-step per turn.

Initial Setups

12. Spain. Changed the 10-step Spanish fighter to 6-steps. Added a 4-step tactical bomber. Reduced the two 10-step DDs to 5-steps. One is deployed in the Atlantic and the other is in the Med.

13. USA. Added the leader Devers.

14. France. Included the ability to add a tactical bomber to France’s initial setup. However; this is NOT currently implemented in the GS v1.10e changes.

Transport Fog of War

15. You will no longer be able to know what unit is loaded on your opponent’s transport and vise a versa. This adds a more realistic element to the fog of war and makes transport protection and interdiction more realistic. Player’s are no longer required to rename their transports to hidden the unit type for their opponent.

Contested Invasions

16. Transports carrying infantry, mechanized or armor corps can now attack occupied coastal hexes. These attacks consume one amphibious invasion point and if the attacked unit retreats the invasion transport can land its parent unit. The attack strength of the invasion transport is independent of its parent unit and is weaker than the attack strength of a normal infantry corps. This attack strength represents brigade size marines and airborne units that make up the first wave of a seaborne invasion. The parent unit represents the second, third and subsequence waves that come ashore over the remaining 19 days of the turn assuming that the initial wave was successful in securing the beach (i.e., destroying the enemy unit or forcing it to retreat). Note however if the transport takes damage during the invasion attack it is the parent unit that suffers this damage.

17. An invasion transport that successfully clears a hex advances into it the same way a ground unit would. It does NOT unload and if you click off the unit before advancing you cannot advance or unload that turn. Note that an invasion transport could clear a hex and choose not to advance leaving that hex open for another invasion transport to land and attack. This action would use two amphibious invasion points. One for the transport that attacked and the second for the second transport that landed in an enemy controlled hex.

18. For those into equations here they are for how technology impacts transports:

a. attack strength = attackVal + max(0,floor((techSurfaceShips + 1) / 2))
b. shock = shockVal + max(0,floor((techSurfaceShips + 3) / 4))
c. quality = qualityVal + max(0,floor(techSurfaceShips / 4))
d. flak = flakVal + max(0, techRadar - 4)

attackVal, shockVal, qualityVal and flakVal are the current values for these variables and are passed to the methods in which the above equations are added.

19. The coefficients of these functions are controlled through the general.txt file in order to be able to tweak these functions as necessary. The general form for equations (a-c) is: val + (A*techSurfaceShips + B) / C and for equation d is: val + (A*techRadar + B) / C. The coefficients A, B & C are set separately for each of the four areas in the general.txt file.

The Atlantic Wall

20. Strasbourg on the Maginot is changed to city when France falls. This represents that material from the dismantling of this fort being is used in the construction of The Atlantic Wall. Brest and Nantes will be changed to fortresses in July 1942. Rouen, Calais (clear hex on the map) and Antwerp will be changed in July 1943. Rouen and Antwerp will be changed in July 1944. Cherbourg and Bordeaux will be in July 1944.

Map and Scenario Changes

21. Fredericton in Canada has been renamed to Saint John.

22. All units starting in Canada has Canadian in their name. Therefore; they will “unlock” the Canadian specific unit graphics.

23. The US Lend Lease destroyer has been renamed to include Canadian in the name and will also “unlock” the Canadian specific unit graphics.

Softer Air Bases when Used in a Ground Defense Role

It was becoming common practice to use air units in ground defense roles. Because of the movement range of these units they were at times being deployed at speeds and distances that modern airmobile forces would envy. Also, they were often times holding up just as well or even better against ground attacks than normal ground units. While air units do have a significant number of ground troops that were historically used in infantry roles they had no where near the ability to hold as did regular infantry.

24. The survivability for air units attacked by ground units or invasion transports is halved (rounded up) and caped at 5 (i.e., cannot exceed 5).
a. defenderSurv = min(ceil(A*defenderSurv/B), C)
b. A=1, B=2 & C=5 and are set in the general.txt file.

25. The survivability for air units attacked by destroyers or battleships is NOT halved but is caped at 5.
a. defenderSurv = min(defenderSurv,C)
b. C=5 and is set through the general.txt file (the same C as in 24).

Commonwealth Units and Leaders

26. The following British, or Commonwealth, units that are name or renamed will have their own country specific unit graphics. This allows players all over the world to easily customize their British forces by just including the following “key” in a unit’s name to “unlock” the country’s specific unit graphic for that country.
a. Canada or Canadian
b. Australia or Australian
c. India or Indian
d. New Zealand
e. South Africa or South African
f. Poland or Polish

27. Now players can also command UK/CW forces with a leader from their favorite CW country. Added the following CW leaders to the UK faction.
a. Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg (New Zealand) (1889 - 1963).
b. Guy Granville Simonds (Canadian) (1903 - 1974).
c. Sir Thomas Blamey (Australian) (1884 – 1951)
d. Harry D.G. Crerar (Canadian) (1888 - 1965)
e. Field-Marshal, Jan Christian Smuts (South African) (1870-1950)
f. Captain Kodandera "Kipper" Madappa Cariappa (Indian) (1899 - 1993)
g. Boleslaw Bronislaw Duch (Polish) (1885-1980)

28. Both CW units/ leaders are “chrome” and are functionally UK units/leaders. However; players can now customize the look and feel of the UK/CW forces to add a bit more flair, historical realism and / or national pride to their GS gaming experience.

Elite Units

German SS units were “elite” because they were both composed by more fanatical troops than regular army units and because they got priority on equipment, manpower and training. It was often the later that contributed to their “eliteness”.

Russian “Guards” units were the elite units in the Russian army. They achieved their elite status through extraordinary performance on the battlefield.

29. German units can be “upgraded” to SS units by renaming them to include SS, which a space either before or after, in their new name. This upgrade follows the rules of a technology upgrade where the unit cannot be adjacent to an enemy unit and will not be able to move the turn of the upgrade. The cost of the upgrade, however, is 15 PPs for armor, mechanized and infantry corps and 10 PP garrisons and is quite a bit more than a technology upgraded. The upgrade results in an increase of 1 in attack, defense, shock, quality and survivability. Also, the image or counter for the upgraded unit will change to a SS version of the image or counter. There is a limit on the maximum number of SS units in play at any one time, which is 0 (1939 – 1940), 1 (1941), 3 (1942), 5 (1943), 8 (1944) and 10 (1945).

30. Soviet units that achieve an experience level of 75 (i.e., level 3), or higher, are promoted to a “Guards” unit. Once promoted they will never lose that status unless completely destroyed. There is no cost for this promotion; however Guards units do get an increase of 1 in attack, defense, shock, quality and survivability. Also, the image or counter for the promoted unit will change to a Guards version of the image or counter. There is a limit on the maximum number of Guards units in play at any one time, which is 0 (1939 – 1940), 2 (1941), 5 (1942), 8 (1943), 12 (1944) and 16 (1945). When at this limit no more units will be promoted until the limit increases or a Guards unit is destroyed.

31. A German, or Russian, unit must be in supply level 4 (or higher) to be converted, or promoted, to an elite unit.

32. The 1942, 1943 and 1944 scenarios were slightly updated by adding some, but not many, Guards and SS units.

Experience Level

There have been extensive changes to how experience is lost and gained in order that units don’t lose experience so easily and that units attacking secondary and, usually, easy targets (e.g., naval bombardment) don’t gain experience at the same rate as if attacking their primary target (e.g., other ships).

33. Ground units. Ground units per attack gain 6 XP points for attacks on other ground units and 3 for attacks on air units. On defense they gain 4 XP points versus defense against other ground units, 4 XP versus defense against air and 2 XP version defense against naval. Ground units lose no experience for repair (i.e., reinforcement) at 8-steps or 9-steps and lose a flat 5 XP points per step; otherwise. For example, a ground unit is at 5-steps and repairs back to 10-steps. They would lose 5 + 5 + 5 + 0 + 0 = 15 XP points. The same unit at 3-steps, which repaired 5-steps back to 8, would lose 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 25 XP points.
a. GROUND_VS_GROUND_ATTACK_XP 6
b. GROUND_VS_GROUND_DEFENSE_XP 4
c. GROUND_VS_AIR_ATTACK_XP 3
d. GROUND_VS_AIR_DEFENSE_XP 4
e. GROUND_VS_NAVAL_DEFENSE_XP 2

34. Air units. Air units lose a flat 5 XP points per step repaired even at 8- or 9-steps.
a. FIGHTER_VS_AIR_ATTACK_XP 6
b. FIGHTER_VS_AIR_DEFENSE_XP 6
c. BOMBER_VS_AIR_ATTACK_XP 3
d. BOMBER_VS_AIR_DEFENSE_XP 3
e. FIGHTER_VS_NAVAL_ATTACK_XP 3
f. TAC_BOMBER_VS_NAVAL_ATTACK_XP 6
g. STRAT_BOMBER_VS_NAVAL_ATTACK_XP 6
h. AIR_VS_NAVAL_DEFENSE_XP 2
i. FIGHTER_VS_GROUND_ATTACK_XP 3
j. TAC_BOMBER_VS_GROUND_ATTACK_XP 6
k. STRAT_BOMBER_VS_GROUND_ATTACK_XP 3
l. AIR_VS_GROUND_DEFENSE_XP 2
m. FIGHTER_VS_RESOURCE_ATTACK_XP 3
n. TAC_BOMBER_VS_RESOURCE_ATTACK_XP 3
o. STRAT_BOMBER_VS_RESOURCE_ATTACK_XP 6

35. Naval units. Naval units lose a flat 5 XP points per step repaired even at 8- or 9-steps.
a. NAVAL_VS_NAVAL_ATTACK_XP 6
b. NAVAL_VS_NAVAL_DEFENSE_XP 4
c. NAVAL_VS_AIR_ATTACK_XP 0
d. NAVAL_VS_AIR_DEFENSE_XP 4
e. NAVAL_VS_GROUND_ATTACK_XP 0

36. NATO images for all countries at zoom level 3 will show a number of dots equal to the experience level for each unit.

Garrisons as Headquarter Units

37. A leader attached to a garrison increase the movement of that garrison by 1 as long as the leader is attached.

[rkr1958]

Ronnie (axis) vs Neil (allies) playing GS v1.10e (Beta).



Basic Strategy.

1. Turn 1 invasion of Poland and a turn 2 invasion of Denmark. An expected conquest of Poland on turn 2 and of Denmark on turn 3.

2. October invasion of Holland.

3. Spring 1940 invasion of Belgium and France (Sietzkrieg). Conquest of France by Summer 1940.

4. Mid Summer 1940 invasion and conquest of Norway.

5. Fall 1940 invasion and conquest of Yugoslavia (2-turns).

6. Fall / Winter 1940 invasion of Greece primarily overland (2 to 3-turns).

7. Holding action in North Africa.

8. Barbarossa on or before June 22, 1941.

[rkr1958]

Turn 1. September 1, 1939 Axis.

A fairly typical opening attack against Poland for me. I'm not trying anything fancy by railing any units west. I used them all for the attack on Poland. One thing I like to do is to clear a path for an armor corps to attack the Polish fighter. I was able to do that, knocked the fighter down to 3-steps and forced it to retreat.

Two infantry corps in western Germany were railed in position for next turn's invasion of Denmark.

U-boat flotilla 1 (already at sea) moved to interdict the north Atlantic convoy. It will be on station next turn. U-boat flotillas 2 and 3 moved through the Kiel Canal and will try to break out next turn. The German BB moved north of Copenhagen and along with the DD will bombard the city in support of the Denmark invasion planned for turn 2.

I spent Germany's 20 PPs on an air lab with no focus. I will keep it at no focus until strategic operations level 1 is reached at which time I will switch to a focus on dog fighting.

Note: You can see the direct result of one of the v1.10e changes and that's the reduction of the port Gdynia to 0-steps (i.e., it's red).

[rkr1958]

Turn 2. 9/21/39 Axis.

Poland is easily conquered and Denmark is invaded. Denmark almost falls too but the Copenhagen defenders hold at 1-step. All air assets, except for the strategic bomber, were used for attacks against Poland or Denmark. The fighter in the south was required to finish off a 1-step Polish fighter. I railed 2 armors corps back to the west for an invasion of Holland next turn if it's fair weather in Central Europe. The first turn of this invasion will only have air support from the strategic bomber, which will be used to attack the Danish unit south of The Hague. The attack on Arnhem will have to be conducted without air support and by 2 or 3 garrisons and an armor corps. I'll need to transfer infantry units next turn for the final attack on The Hague the turn after. Again, all of this is predicated on fair weather next turn.

U-boat flotilla 1 arrives on station and sights it's quarry.

The Germans built an armor and infantry lab.

[massina_nz]

Going to enjoy this AAR as I got thrashed by Neil the time I played as Axis against him.

[rkr1958]

Going to enjoy this AAR as I got thrashed by Neil the time I played as Axis against him.

Now you tell me.

[massina_nz]

Going to enjoy this AAR as I got thrashed by Neil the time I played as Axis against him.

Now you tell me.

Well I hope to provide you some useful advice if I can. The first piece is that Neil will go for your panzers in the low countries whenever he can, and he will probably use his warships to bombard the coastal hexes, so put GARs on coastal hexes if possible. Oh and keep your TACs away from the British fighters.

I managed to hold Neil out of Italy until 1944 using a 3 INF, 2 FTR and 1 defensive bonus Leader in Libya. He might have wised up to that strategy. Would you like a screen dump of the Libyan defensive positions?

[rkr1958]

Going to enjoy this AAR as I got thrashed by Neil the time I played as Axis against him.

Now you tell me.

Well I hope to provide you some useful advice if I can. The first piece is that Neil will go for your panzers in the low countries whenever he can, and he will probably use his warships to bombard the coastal hexes, so put GARs on coastal hexes if possible. Oh and keep your TACs away from the British fighters.

I managed to hold Neil out of Italy until 1944 using a 3 INF, 2 FTR and 1 defensive bonus Leader in Libya. He might have wised up to that strategy. Would you like a screen dump of the Libyan defensive positions?

Sure. Feel free to post it in this AAR.

Actually, I've played and lost to Neil before but as the allies. I never ever really got close. I guess I'm really asking for it. One thing about my play is that I can lose to the best of them. Borger, Neil, Joe and Max! I've lost to them all and never have I come close to beating them. I must be crazy doing an AAR against Neil. And to top that, I'm planning to do one against Borger too. Ouch ...

[massina_nz]

Here you go. The aim is to let the Allies advance into the Desert hexes so their supply and movement is lessened. The hex directly to the south of Tobruk can easily become a killing zone.

[Plaid]

This one should be grea, both game and expansion...
By the way, Romanian TAC has german model, or unique one ?

[rkr1958]

This one should be grea, both game and expansion...
By the way, Romanian TAC has german model, or unique one ?

Their own thanks to Paul. Check it out!

[Plaid]

This one should be grea, both game and expansion...
By the way, Romanian TAC has german model, or unique one ?

Their own thanks to Paul. Check it out!

Looks great

[rkr1958]

This one should be grea, both game and expansion...
By the way, Romanian TAC has german model, or unique one ?

Their own thanks to Paul. Check it out!

Looks great

Paul is definitely a wizard when it comes to graphics. I'm constantly amazed at what he can do.

[Plaid]

Ronnie, I see your fighter left near Prague without any orders (at least looks like there is no targets in range).
Why not to redeploy it to the west, where it can provide some CAP and air support.
Now you are likely to receive allied bomber attack and maybe CV for your western panzer, when you invade Holland.

[rkr1958]

Ronnie, I see your fighter left near Prague without any orders (at least looks like there is no targets in range).
Why not to redeploy it to the west, where it can provide some CAP and air support.
Now you are likely to receive allied bomber attack and maybe CV for your western panzer, when you invade Holland.

I used it last turn to finish off a 1-step Polish fighter. Neil had moved the 3-step fighter to the hex directly south of Warsaw and put it on sentry. I attacked it was a 10-step infantry corps, which I thought would destroy it, but it only knocked off 2-steps and forced it to retreat to the hex southwest of Warsaw. Instead of using another ground unit to finish it off and clogging up my access to Warsaw I finished it off with the German fighter east of Prague. So there it sits basking in it's glory after finishing off the Polish fighter at it's airbase.

[rkr1958]

Turn 3. October 11, 1939 Axis.

Well the decision to invade Holland with little air support was made easier by the fact that the weather in Central Europe was mud/rain. The only real decision was whether or not to use any of my air to finish off Denmark. Neil had repaired the Copenhagen defenders back to 4-steps. I didn't want to attack with the Germany BB because of its exposed position to attack from the French Atlantic BB squadron and / or UK Atlantic sub group. So I hit the 4-step defenders with the German DD, which didn't knock any steps off but lowered effectiveness some. The eastern German infantry corps had 3:1 odds and the western one, which was attacking across a "river" had 1:1 odds. I attacked with the one with 3:1 odds and it knocked the defender down to 1-step. The odds for the remaining infantry corps was 1:1. I decided to chance it and it was successful. Even if it had failed I could have finished off the defenders with a tactical bomber attack; but Denmark would have still be unconquered for one more turn. But, that wasn't necessary and I was able to redeploy all my air along with railing 3 infantry corps to the west in the reasonable expectation of fair weather next turn. If that's the case then I should be able to take out Holland.

The only other decision was whether or not I would try to guess at which route the convoy would take and position UF-1 to "surprise" it and stop it. That was a 50/50 proposition. I decided to take the bird in the hand and attack it. The attack knocked of 7PPs and reduced the convoy to 5 PPs.

[TotalerKrieg]

Nice! I like the idea of implementing a scorched earth eastern front system. Why do you limit the deduction to 5 pp's though? Scorched earth implies completely destroyed resources so it might make sense to make the pp deduction 100%.

[rkr1958]

Nice! I like the idea of implementing a scorched earth eastern front system. Why do you limit the deduction to 5 pp's though? Scorched earth implies completely destroyed resources so it might make sense to make the pp deduction 100%.

It's not 5 PP's but 5-steps. So for a full strength city that's abandoned then you would initially get half the PPs that you would have previously. For cities that are damaged by attacks (each ground and air attack knocks off 1-step) then you get less. Cities recovered at the rate of 1-step per turn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. October 31, 1939 Axis.

Does anyone have a goat? Apparently that's what I need to sacrifice to the weather gods in order to get fair weather on turns that have a 75% chance of fair weather

As you can probably tell it was mud again in Central Europe so the invasion of Holland was delayed again. There's a 25% chance of fair weather next turn. If I get that or winter (25% chance) then the invasion is a go. If mud, then I will wait for the first winter turn to go.

I built the 5th German lab, which was a general lab with a focus on industry. Germany had 38 PPs left and they're getting 70 per turn. Next turn I will buy a third German fighter. Two turns after that, I will buy a third tactical bomber. Note, that I haven't transfer or repaired the two mechanized corps and the one armor corps still left in Poland. Also, I haven't repaired 4 infantry corps in Poland and east Germany. The reason is that I wanted to build a lab in each first, followed by a 3rd fighter and a 3rd tactical bomber build. After that I will spend PPs on repairs in preparation for Case Yellow. The reason I haven't moved the two mechanized or one armor corps is that I will rail them in order to save oil. It's never too early as the axis to save oil.

I also posted a screenshot of the track of the north Atlantic convoy that I missed this turn. I posted the track primary as a tool for me to help me guess where to move my u-boats next turn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 5. November 20, 1939 Axis.

Well the goat sacrifice didn't work!!! Mud/rain again in Central Europe so no invasion of Holland. This will go on the first winter turn I get. Out of the first 5 turns of the game I have gotten mud/rain on 3 of them. This bites if you're the axis; especially against a very tough opponent like Neil.

On the up side German u-boats found and finished off the 5 PP North Atlantic convoy. Also, Germany paid for a third fighter, which will be ready in 3 turns.