Joe v. Morris Round II (Joe's AAR)

[Kragdob]

Are you for Scapa Flow? If you take it as well defending British Isles will be very easy.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

If you can take North Ireland then I think it's the better option. You deny the Brits a vital port and airbases. They will still have Scapa Flow, but it wil be hard for them there to support the liberation of Scotland.

I think that doing a 1941 Barbarossa is very important. Then you can shake the strong Russians before they become too powerful. You probably won't get very far into Russia, but you should be able to kill quite a bit of units and be able to do some damage in 1942 too.

If you wait till 1942 with Barbarossa then the Russians will only lose 10 efficiency and will have many more units. That means the offensive will run out of steam early.

If you go for a 1942 Barbarossa then you probably have time for both Scotland and Ireland and maybe even a dash towards Port Said. Since you say you can only support 1 then I feel your air forces will be sent elsewhere, i. e. a 1941 Barbarossa.

How far down is the British regarding their morale? Killing the Scottish units will drop their morale by 10. The downside is more rough hexes that can spawn partisans.

You carefully don't post the position in the east so I have a feeling you're building up there. The Axis has a very good chance to win the game if you can do a normal 1941 Barbarossa. Then you will have initiative in 1942 too.

Morris will get most of his convoys home, but he needs to build a strong navy and air force before thinking about invading Scotland. Your subs can probably focus on the Russian convoys and annihilate then when they get within range of Scotland. Axis air units there can hurt Allied escorts. 6 subs can surround the convoy and prevent it from reaching Murmansk. So Morris MUST get a strong DD force to support this crucial convoy. If you can completely deny the Russians income from convoys then they can't build up so fast after you start Barbarossa.

This is one example why the British might be better off retreating the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force from England / Scotland before they're cut-off. Losing England is a blow for the Allies, but losing the Royal Navy is maybe worse.

[Cybvep]

Morris will get most of his convoys home, but he needs to build a strong navy and air force before thinking about invading Scotland. Your subs can probably focus on the Russian convoys and annihilate then when they get within range of Scotland. Axis air units there can hurt Allied escorts. 6 subs can surround the convoy and prevent it from reaching Murmansk. So Morris MUST get a strong DD force to support this crucial convoy. If you can completely deny the Russians income from convoys then they can't build up so fast after you start Barbarossa.

Um... really? I never see the Murmansk convoy when GB falls... The northern convoy seems to be replaced by the UK one and goes to Halifax. This is logical BTW, because the Allies wouldn't be sending suicide convoys to Murmansk if GB was occupied by the Axis.

[ncali]

Yes, I don't think the Russians will be getting their convoy. I think Norway is also Axis-occupied in this game.
From the rules =
Murmansk convoy to Russia will not spawn if GB is conquered and Norway is in Axis hands. It will
instead spawn and head to the UK ports.
And from experience, I think this is correct! The Northern convoy should be heading to Canda.

[Cybvep]

Manual is inconsistent here. In one place it states that you need London, but in other place it mentions Norway, too. In my game with Peter Frigate it's 1944, I control London and Norway was never invaded, yet there is no Murmansk convoy, only British and US convoys. It should be mentioned that we have some checksum errors, though, but I don't know whether this rule was changed...

[joerock22]

Some questions to answer! By all means keep them coming!

Yes, I am doing a 1941 Barbarossa. I don't mind saying this because it's actually just started (that's how far behind I am in posting screenshots). It's not quite as strong as it would be if I had chosen to forget Sea Lion, but I think it's good enough. We'll see in a few turns, I guess.

The British are not suffering any morale loss, which is hurting me. Without giving too much away, I'll say that I was unable to deal with both Ireland and Scotland. Morris is good at being a pain in the butt with the British! (though it is expensive for him )

[joerock22]

Turn 27 – February 2, 1941

Snow forces the landings to delay, but German infantry will be ready when the weather does clear. Morris brought in 3 air units to guard the northern coast of Ireland. But critically, he did NOT put the 2 fighters on sentry. This enabled the Luftwaffe to launch a campaign against them. I had 2 of my fighters attack the port (the softest target – to avoid losses to AA guns), drawing the enemy up for interception. Then each fighter was attacked at its base. Losses were only 5:4, but that wasn’t the point. The point was to make Morris choose between repairing his fighters and attacking my transports. If he does the latter, this will make it even more likely that his fighters will be destroyed when I do land. And if he repairs them, then my transports are saved from harassment for a turn.

In addition, I shifted another transport to the northern beaches and brought in an Italian corps to fill the vacated position to the south. I really do hope he leaves those air units there…it will be an excellent chance to destroy them! (fair weather next turn would help too)

[Morris]

Some questions to answer! By all means keep them coming!

Yes, I am doing a 1941 Barbarossa. I don't mind saying this because it's actually just started (that's how far behind I am in posting screenshots). It's not quite as strong as it would be if I had chosen to forget Sea Lion, but I think it's good enough. We'll see in a few turns, I guess.

The British are not suffering any morale loss, which is hurting me. Without giving too much away, I'll say that I was unable to deal with both Ireland and Scotland. Morris is good at being a pain in the butt with the British! (though it is expensive for him )

I have to enjoy to be a pain in the butt with British , because before USA & USSR ,there are only British fight with Axis from 1940-1941 !

Anyway , Babarosa made the story come to the exciting part , let's enjoy it !

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Oops, I forgot about the re-routing of the north convoy. Then the subs can probably lurk in the south dealing with the southern convoy so they stay out of the Allied air range.

[Cybvep]

@up

One of the devs forgot how the game functions. Is it a sign that CEAW has become an another WiF? <rotfl>

Just joking .

[Kragdob]

The British are not suffering any morale loss, which is hurting me. Without giving too much away, I'll say that I was unable to deal with both Ireland and Scotland. Morris is good at being a pain in the butt with the British! (though it is expensive for him )

This means he still have 8 units in Scotland/Irleand.

Now you activated Russia. I am impatient to see how you manage defending the West while UK is not completely smashed.

[Morris]

The British are not suffering any morale loss, which is hurting me. Without giving too much away, I'll say that I was unable to deal with both Ireland and Scotland. Morris is good at being a pain in the butt with the British! (though it is expensive for him )

This means he still have 8 units in Scotland/Irleand.

Now you activated Russia. I am impatient to see how you manage defending the West while UK is not completely smashed.

For Joe ,there must be a priciple after Babarosa that : east first ! West will only be something after Apr 1942 ,but then the Babarosa's progress will decide his strategy .

[joerock22]

A couple uneventful turns in one post:


Turn 28 – February 22, 1941

More snow. This turn the Lufwaffe makes necessary upgrades to stay on schedule for Barbarossa. My new BB gets a 1:0 hit on an enemy fighter in the bad weather, but that is the only action. I need fair next turn!



Turn 29 – March 14, 1941

I am not happy. My fortune with the weather takes a dramatic turn. I couldn’t even get 1 fair turn in 3. This means that my troops will only get 1 turn of Luftwaffe support before my air units have to leave for Barbarossa (target date June 2).

The only action was Morris attacking my BB with a sub for 2:1 on his turn, and my bombers and BB responding for 4:0 on my turn.

[joerock22]

Turn 30 – April 3, 1941

At last, the invasion of Northern Ireland can get underway. Morris left his fighters where they were, so my primary goal will be the destruction of one of them. I need to make the RAF pay for this interference.

Pre-turn



Post-turn

[Morris]

Since Uk lost all British city but Scapa , the fighter had no where to go but die there . I had thought to transport the fighter away ,but if they met subs ,they will also dead & UK pay 8 more pp . 8 pp is very expensive for UK now !

[rkr1958]

8 pp is very expensive for UK now !

Wow, this UK must be in very bad economic shape then.

[joerock22]

Turn 31 – April 23, 1941

An added bonus! Morris tells me in his reply email that his fighter has no choice but to “wait for death.” I am happy to oblige! Two UK fighters are a nice prize!

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Post-turn



On a sour note, this is the most pathetic Iraqi revolt I’ve ever seen. Only 4 units and 7 total steps? I didn’t know it could even be that weak. What are the odds? (seriously, I have no idea)

[richardsd]

It varies widly I am affraid, I am on the recieveing end of something like 9 units with nearly half over 5 steps

[joerock22]

It varies widly I am affraid, I am on the recieveing end of something like 9 units with nearly half over 5 steps

Yes, I've seen that before, but never something like this. What's the point of even revolting if you only have 7 steps worth of troops? Those rebels could have just hung themselves and saved the government the trouble.

Ah, well, it won't have any real impact on the game. I just thought it was a little odd.

[joerock22]

Turn 32 – May 13, 1941

The British did expand their beachhead, but I decided to just try to contain them for the moment. My fighters are beat up, and I need to bring reinforcements in. I was able to isolate Belfast; hopefully Northern Ireland will be in my possession in a couple turns. Still on schedule for June 2nd Barbarossa.

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Post-turn