GS 2.00z beta AAR (no Zechi)

[gerones]

This will be my first AAR and it all will be played with counters from my mod.

Zechi and I have decided to start a new game with 2.00z so here we go!

It´s september 1, 1939 and germans have invaded Poland and they have completely overrun polish forces in Lodz sector.

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Polish have launched some ineffective counterattacks both in Krakow and Posen, whilst the rest of the polish forces mainly have retreated to defend Warsaw. German armoured attacking forces are really impressive.

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[Blathergut]

So is this a mod (atleast counter-wise) to the mod??

[gerones]

So is this a mod (atleast counter-wise) to the mod??

No, this game is being played with GS 2.00 expansion (beta).

The only different thing is about the counters since I´m not using the default ones but others edited by me.

The rest of the things are exactly the same.

[gerones]

Turn 2. Denmark and Poland surrenders to Germany

Denmark was DOWed and surrendered to Germany this turn. A particular change to mention in this scenario is about the strength of the danish forces: division unit in Copenhagen has been reduced to 4 steps of strength and another division has been added in Aalborg.

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Poland surrenders to Wehrmacht that almost suffered no significant losses in this campaign.

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[gerones]

Turn 3. October 11, 1939. Mud in Central Europe

This turn it was mud weather in Central Europe so only to mention RN escorting convoys duties in the Atlantic.

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[gerones]

Turn 4. October 31, 1939. Germany invades Holland.

Wehrmacht invaded Holland seizing Arhem and reducing dutch infantry corps in The Hague to 6 steps. I reinforced this unit to 9 steps.

British bought 1st infantry lab this turn as the third lab bought by them: previously they have bought first naval and air labs. I don´t usually buy a general lab for the british but this time I´m gonna do it.

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[Peter Stauffenberg]

I think getting general labs is important for EVERY major power except France.

One reason is that max number of labs you can have is the same as your industry level. You need to get to industry 3 to get 13 labs. With more industry tech levels you get a higher max war effort and that means more PP's every turn.

The Allies use industry with surface ships to determine max transports, amphs and the strength of amph units. So the Allies definitely need to put effort into the general labs.

Getting better radar tech is also important for BB shock damage, sub combat and air defense.

Organization is certainly very important to get higher because it will give you better max efficiency. Germany starts with 3 so you need to boost it trying to reduce the German advantage.

I usually go with 2 general labs for each power, but I can boost it to 3 if I need certain techs before a major operation (like Overlord).

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Boosting the industry is very important for the Allies because you need to get tech 3 to get 13 labs. With 13 labs you can e. g. do the following as the Russians. Infantry: 3, Armor: 4, air: 3, general: 3. Or general 2 and infantry 4

So putting an effort in industry won't reduce the max in other areas after awhile because you get a higher max.

I usually let my first labs be general and focus on industry for UK and Germany and balanced for the other powers. Even Italy can benefit from the general techs. They certainly need better organization and industry. Still, they might not have enough PP's to spare 2 labs, but if you can it's always good.

[Blathergut]

Interesting. Thanks for the info/suggestions.

Are you guys at all anywhere close to release?

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Functionality wise we are. GS v2.00 is pretty much bug free, but we still have to tweak the game balance. So far GS v2.0 is balanced through the fall of France. We have changed some values for oil consumption, manpower use and XP and will see how that will turn out.

We want to get to the end game so that with "normal" play the Germans will face shortage of both manpower and oil, but not too early. Problem with GS v1.07 was that when the Germans crumbled they crumbled fast. So you had to prepare for going on defense already in 1942 if you wanted to have a chance to keep the Allies at bay. If you pushed hard in 1942 and tried in 1943 then you didn't have enough units to hold once your defense line cracked.

We want the change of initiative to happen late 1942 / early 1943 with the Germans still quite dangerous in 1943. From 1944 they should be fighting an uphill battle unless they did better than normal before 1944.

So it's all up to collecting data and make minor tweaks. It takes awhile to get the data because each game takes more than 100 turns.

[gerones]

Turn 5. November 20, 1939.

Mud saves the dutch for a while: dutch corps was reduced to 3 steps after being attacked by superior german forces. I decided not to reinforce it because of its very low effectiveness.

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[gerones]

Turn 6. December 10, 1939. Holland surrenders to Germany.

It was winter weather this turn in Central Europe and, as expected, Holland falls.

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I buy an armour british lab, an american air lab and a soviet air lab. I usually buy first an american general lab but this time I´m going to test this early american air lab and its influence in the air allied campaign over Germany in mid war years. And, as I pointed above, soon I will buy a british general lab.

[gerones]

Turn 10. February 28, 1940. Wehrmacht launchs Case Yelow.

No posts were made in sitzkrieg turns so I have waited until Case Yelow was launched for resuming this AAR.

Wehrmacht invaded and forced the surrender of Belgium in such an early date like february 1940 is.

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One of the added features of GS 2.00z is that after Belgium surrenders Canada mobilizes its forces resulting in one fighter unit at 8 steps directly deployed in UK and 1 mech and 1 corps deployed in Canada mainland. Although Canada was at war with Germany from september 1939, the canadians were not able to deploy a significant force in Europe until mid 1940, so GS team wanted to simulate this in the game.

German invasion of Belgium catch the allies building their defensive positions and the only thing they could do to reply this invasion was to make some shore bombardments of german units: this way a french BB plus the british carrier, executing ground attack missions, targeted a panzer korps in the coast, reducing it 2 steps.

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As you can see, the allies were very busy building their positions against a german invasion: BEF finished its deployment this turn. On the other hand, another change introduced in GS 2.00z is regarding to french OOB: now the french have 2 mechs corps at the start and they don´t have any armoured corps unit. This have been done to simulate better french doctrine about the use of tanks in 1940. They mainly deployed their tanks in no separate corps units but attached to infantry or mechanized corps units. The change has consisted in replacing 1 french inf corps plus the french armoured corps (115 PP´s) by 2 french mechs and 1 additional french garrison unit (115 PP´s).


It would be nice for the allies if the germans get mud weather on the next turn: the allies they will have more time to rest and recover from efficiency loss and they could reinforce even more their defensive line.

[gerones]

Turn 11. March 19, 1940. Wehrmacht makes first approach to allied positions.

Fair weather this turn so no pauses for the germans: they seized Lille and Lorraine with almost no losses.

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Allies made some air strikes over enemy infantry units with minor damage and they are waiting for the main german assault.

[gerones]

Turn 12. April 8, 1940. Wehrmacht crossed in force allied positions in Somme river.

Main german assault was in Somme river sector. As a result it was destroyed 1 french mech and a 1 french garrison and the british BEF resulted severely damaged. Other secundary attacks were done around the city of Reims, that the germans were not able to capture. Air combats favoured the Luftwaffe.

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Allies decided to launch a counterattack were the main threat was: german armoured bridgehead in the Somme. They almost achieved to destroy a german panzer corps that was reduced to 1 step! Futhermore, air combats results turned slightly favouring the british this turn. Maginot line was definitely abandoned. BEF mech left front line and probably will be evacuated to England on next turns.

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[gerones]

Turn 13. April 28, 1940. Germans expand their bridgehead in Somme river.

This turn the germans were lucky destroying 2 french corps with only 1 possible attack by land per unit (since damaged german armoured corps did not retreat but it was repaired to 6 steps) and only one tactical bomber air strike was possible.

Meanwhile, Wehrmacht seized Reims and Strasbourg advancing through the forests.

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Allies in such situation decided to reinforce as much as possible their positions around Paris. A british BB run into a german "spy" sub in English Channel that, after being attacked by RAF forces was finally reduced to 6 steps. Another ambush happens in Canada near Halifax port. British mech went to Cherbourg port for being embarked back to England.

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[Peter Stauffenberg]

I think you're opening up Britain for Sealion by accepting such heavy UK losses and losing the corps and mech there. The Germans are now getting through. I wonder why you didn't retreat the British corps behind the river so it could escape. Repairing it means it will be destroyed next turn.

The Germans can accept such high losses while the British can't.

[Plaid]

I don't think that this couple of corps is really high casualties. Also this unit at full strength and entrenched, its not 100% guarantee that it will be destroyed, and if it will, most of german effort (panzers, air support) will be used instead of pushing towards Paris.
How 2 more corps may prevent Sealion if axis are serious about it? While if axis will not do Sealion delaying fall of France by couple of turns sacrifising some british units is just a good option. This britts simple have many PPs later, because of all this convoys, few corps is nothign for them.

[gerones]

Turn 14. 18 may, 1940. Wehrmacht forces reach the outskirts of Paris.

French defensive line in Seine rive was overrun by the germans and a german armoured corps reached the outskirts of Paris. Meanwhile, Wehrmacht forces from the east also increased their pressure and advanced significantly.

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French launched what can be their last offensive action: with some RAF air support they tried to kill the german armoured corps that have crossed Seine river last turn. It was reduced to 2 steps. BEF mech in Cherbourg and british garrison in Rouen were evacuated to England.

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Ambush incident in Halifax turned in a major naval battle with a massive german sub wolfpack attack to a british BB that was badly depleted.

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British BB run away to USA coast waters taking advantage of the slower sub german movement and she was escorted by canadian DD.

[massina_nz]

That's one thing I'm noticing about v2.0, Allied warships are very prone to u-boat attack, as I think the initial ASW values for the Allies have been reduced.