The final outcome was decisive victory. All cities except Scotland and N. Ireland are in Axis hands (the game ended on turn 86). The endgame map:
Below is my battle plan, based on history lessons. One might argue that it is partially Monday morning QB using the historical facts, but I do not think so, because the scenario is tough even with the historical knowledge, and it is fun to play the "what if" scenario. Furthermore, it rewards a player who did his homework.
1) Blitzkrieg in the East so that 3 objectives are achieved by end of 1941 / early 1942: (A) Capture Moscow for prestige and favorable terrain defending the winter counterattack; (B) Blockade of Leningrad; (C) surround Kiev for surrender. The first objective is key, as it is widely recognized that halting/slowing the march on Moscow to divert troops towards the Kiev pocket was Germany's big blunder. This is modeled very nicely here.
2) Play Afrika more or less historically, but send some reinforcements to Rommel early - imagine if he had had a couple of panzer divisions at El Alamein! Destroy British offensives Battleaxe and Crusader at Halfaya Pass leveraging the bottleneck and the deadly anti-tank trait of the 88mm AA gun. Bring the rebuilt Regia Marina between Malta and Tobruk, try to clear the seas in the Eastern Med. as much as possible (beware of subs!), while keeping an eye on Malta to search and destroy reinforcements. Then capture Tobruk, followed by Mersa Maruth and the trenches at El Alamein, so that you can await, repel and destroy the 3rd and the strongest wave of Brits.
3) Transfer strong bunker-busting air capabilities to Malta (I used two stukas - Rudel and a str. 13 unit from the previous core) as soon as weather worsens on the Eastern front. I've also seen a suggestion of a range 4 arty in Sicily, but I did not use this. Malta should fall by late summer of 1942, so that one can concentrate on Operation Torch at the end of '42. Begin transferring Italian units with some German support to Sardinia and along the N. Afrikan coast.
4) On the Western front try to maintain air superiority over the Continent by upgrading all air units in a timely fashion and networking AA units. Use a protected tac bomber and destroyers (if necessary) to clear mines that impede the transfer of ships to the Atlantic and later landing craft. This is important. After rebuilding the fleet, make opportunistic forays into the shipping lanes of the N. Atlantic to collect prestige, but withdraw in a timely fashion to: (A) avoid unnecessary casualties; (B) transfer the fleet to the S. Atlantic for a showdown with the British Gibraltar fleet and later US invasion force for Operation Torch (yes, history tells us it's coming, but it was not rocket science to anticipate it even back in early 1942 after USA entered the war).
5) Execute defensive maneuvers, repel and destroy the Soviet winter offensive in '41/42. Hold the line Moscow-Kaluga-Orel-Kursk-Belgorod-Harkov-Dnepropetrovs-Zaporozhye.
6) Eastern Front: Spring/summer/early fall 1942 - play more or less historically, except of course avoid the blunder of pushing into Stalingrad. Another deviation from history is that you can push East of Moscow and if an opportunity arises capture Leningrad to free up forces for 1943 battles on other fronts. A strong infantry-mountaineer force to capture Grozny and the first oil field by end of 1942. Prepare for countering Operation Uranus.
7) Afrika '42/'43: In Egypt the priority is defense against a big armored offensive, hold the trenches at El Alamein and advance towards Suez only slowly and opportunistically. Finish the naval battle in Eastern Med. Big naval battle in the West. Med. and S. Atlantic - the goal is to prevent as many US landing craft from reaching the shore. I succeeded in eliminating them all, so that no ground battles took place. By end of '43 occupy Cairo and Alexandria and start transferring troops to the Near East over Suez (heavy armor only due to the fort fire on the other side) and via Alexandria port in transports.
Execute defensive maneuvers, repel and destroy the Soviet winter offensive in '42/'43. The tactics are a bit different here then in the winter of '41/'42 as the Soviet push is more forceful and the front line rather stretched. One can call it a flexible defense that combines inf. entrenchment in cities and forests with orderly withdrawal to stretch the Soviet line of advance. The goal is to separate their mobile units from infantry and arty. Let the armor blindly crash into a wall on the first wave, then withdraw to secondary positions, where the 2nd blind crash in snowy weather will occur, while the slow moving Soviet inf/arty will be left behind and not able to engage, so that they will be an easy prey in the 3 phase of offensive crushing.9) Finish Soviets by the end of '43
10) West '42/'43: Transfer the Atlantic fleet after the victory in the South to England and start preparing for invasion with naval bombardment. If time allows, go back to N. Atlantic to gather some prestige and destroy enemy ships (this is clearly a secondary goal, and I'm not even sure it's worth it, but I did it anyways). As you transport troops from the East prepare for Operation Seeloewe. Good time to land is during the winter snowy weather.
11) After the victory against Soviets assemble and army group to go South and conquer Iraqi oil fields.
12) '44: Invasion and finishing of the UK and mopping up the Middle East. For the UK invasion, here are the key considerations: (A) clear the landing area and the surroundings with naval and arty bombardment as much as possible (I used range 4 heavy guns from Calais/Dunkirk in addition to ships) (B) plan first landings in snowy weather to avoid air attacks and reduce vision (C) select carefully a good mix of units for the 1st wave - a tiger, str. 12-13 grenadiere or pioniere, 88m AA, StuH 42 is a nice start.
I will post a more detailed account with pics in subsequent posts.
