Slitherine

Turn 64 - 68 - Allies secure North Africa! Axis summer offensive launched! Bombing campaign in western Europe continues!

The first turn of May is also the first turn of fair weather in the east. Meanwhile the Allies were successful in capturing all Vichy cities in North Africa. Only Casablanca holds out, but will most likely fall next turn:



The Allies also continued their bombing campaign on western Germany:



As you see the Allied airpower is impressive. He got 10 STR to bomb the hell out of me. Nevertheless, my PP income is still very good, as I got about 150 PP per round. This allowed to build slowly a reserve ground force and repair most of my air forces. The reserve force is small and consists right now of an SS MECH, 1 normal MECH which will be upgraded next turn, 1 German INF. Thanks to several upgrades the Italian INF have equal or even better tech levels then the Allied INFs and my defenses are ready:



I expect the next offensive in the Med soon, as time begins slowly to run out. His next target will probably be Sicily. Despite my defensive prepartions it will be hard to counter this invasion, especially as I moved nearly all my air force to the east. Nevertheless, all important Italian or French cities are well defended.

On the eastern front Leridano managed to destroy in average 1 INF per turn in the winter, mostly minor Axis, but also some German INF. The situation at the beginning of the first fair weather turn looks like this:







As you see my target will be Kharkov. With some luck I could take the city and encircle many Soviet units. Nevertheless, my primary target is to destroy as many Soviet units as possible, to make a strong winter offensive in east impossible. The first turn goes very well, as I destroy 5 Soviet INF and 2 GAR. The Soviet airforce also takes heavy losses:



Most likely the Soviet counteroffensive will destroy two INF, but this will give me the chance to attack some Soviet MECHs.

This is a small question but where you able to save the Vichy Navy?

Turn 69 - Soviet counterattack destroys German Panzer Corps! Luftwaffe devastates Soviet airforce! Massive Allied navy spotted near Sicily

This began with a shock, as the Soviet managed to destroy another Panzer Corps:



I do not know how this was possible, as the Panzer Corps was well protected and the Soviet needed to destroy two INF first. Nevertheless, this attack was only possible with massive air support. The Soviet airforce took heavy casualities and my technically advanced FTR destroy two Soviet FTR. A third (1 step) FTR is destroyed by a Fallschirmjäger drop:



Near Sicily the western Allies assembled a massive Fleet, searching for Italian SUBs:



The Regia Marina makes a sortie and attacks from the safety of a port with support of a SUB:



The Allies also continue bombarding western Europe.

afk_nero wrote:This is a small question but where you able to save the Vichy Navy?

Unfortunately not, the Allies made any escape impossible as they encircled both ports.

Turn 70 - Axis continue offensive in the Soviet Union and prepare their defense in Italy!

The remaining Soviet air force fled from the front and I bombed my way through several Soviet units:



The Regia Marina takes some beating but survives:



The Allied naval presence is impressive. Perhaps I should make a sortie with the Kriegsmarine? The Allied naval presence in the Atlantic should be reduced significantlly.

Turn 71 - Operation Husky launched! Soviets counterstrikes!

Despite having only one FTR escort the Soviet airforce nevertheless supports a counterattack near Rostov. 2 minor Axis INF are destroyed, and one German INF and ARM damaged. Rostov was cut off, but I could break the encirclement:



The Soviet TACs are now so depleted that I hope that no powerful Soviet counterstrike will be possible next turn.

In the Med the Allies launch Operation Husky and transports are spotted near Sicily an Calabry:



I attack the transports with a STR and two FTR. Regia Marina SUB attacks a transport near Sicily. This also inflicts significant damage on the Allied FTRs. I also rail a SS MECH near Reggion and prepare for a counterstrike against the Allied landing force. Nevertheless, this is not without risk, as I risk to be cut off. As I have two further SS MECHs ready next turn, I think I will destroy the Allied invasion force on the mainlaind. Perhaps they will even not try to land.[/b]

it would seem silly for him to land GAR's, surely its a feint?

Turn 72 - The "hell of Stalino" continues! Battle for Sicily begins!

Leridano is determined with the Soviets and attacks agains with force, but takes heavy losses. Nevertheless, my frontline begins to disintegrate:



Look at the depleted Soviet TACs! Next turn they will not give any air support.

The Axis counterattacks stabilizes the frontline agains:



The "hell of Stalino" continues!

In the Med the Allies retreated their transports from the toe of Italy, but landed two Tank Corps near Palermo, which bring the Para defending the city down to 5 steps. Nevertheless I bring it back to 10 steps and counterattack with an Italian INF (after air bombardment with STR) and get lucky with 4:1 steps (3:2 were expected) in my favour. The Allied ARM is down to 3 steps:



With these good results I see a chance to stop the invasion at the beaches and bring with the new ferry system a SS MECH to Messina. Another SS MECH is railed to Reggio.

Note that axis oil and manpower supply in this beta version is totally indifferent to major action on the east

Plaid wrote:Note that axis oil and manpower supply in this beta version is totally indifferent to major action on the east

Were the manpower levels/regeneration also changed in 2.00w? I thought only oil consumption was changed in favor of the Axis? My opponent mostly concentrated on German ARM units or destroyed INF of the minor Axis powers. German Infantry losses are just beginning to hurt in the last few turns, so I thought this was the reason for my high German manpower level.

The Italians also did not lose much units yet, so there manpower level is now even higher.

Regeneration wasn't changed for manpower. All that was changed was to give a manpower discount when repairing depleted units instead of building new ones. We won't know the impact of this until we reach the end game. We might have to tweak this further though.

Stauffenberg wrote:Regeneration wasn't changed for manpower. All that was changed was to give a manpower discount when repairing depleted units instead of building new ones. We won't know the impact of this until we reach the end game. We might have to tweak this further though.

My guess is that you probably will have an increse or decrease in manpower losses around 10% maybe more...

Turn 73 - Battle for Sicily intensifies! Red Army takes heavy losses!

The Allies strike with their air and naval power and land several GAR (?) on Sicily:



The Axis counterstrike ist powerful. Allied air losses are high and SS Elite MECH destroys one of the GAR:



The Regia Marina makes a sorties despite the Allied naval superiority and manage to take down an Allied CV and damage other units. Nevertheless, the expected Allied counterstrike will most likely sink them fast.

In the east the Soviets continue their attacks and managed to take down two (damaged) German INF:



Nevertheless, the Axis counterattack destroys three INF and one MECH:



I also retreat my forces around Gomel behind the river.

In France the Axis finish the Atlantic Wall:



The Allied STR fleet is impressive. Six US and six British STR roam the skies above Europe. No chance to counter this. Nevertheless, my income was still 139 PP this turn, so I do not know if this STR fleet is so effective as it should be.

Turn 74 - Heavy battles on Sicily! Axis counterstrike near Gomel!

On Sicily the Allies manage to destroy my Italian INF with 2 steps and the SS MECH. The Allied counterstrike on sea destroys 2 Italian BB and one DD. Nevertheless, I use the Luftwaffe and my Fallschirmjäger in Rome to intervene in the battle for Sicily:



Fresh SS MECH unit als attacks and another one is ferried to Messina. A frehs Fallschirmjäger unit is railed to Rome. As long as the Allies don't get a supply source I have a chance to push them back into the sea.

In the east the Axis use their mobile forces to counterattack the Soviet advance near Gomel:



Two Soviet INF were destroyed. In the south the Axis are not as successful, but manage to destroy one MECH and INF and damage more units:



Neverhtless, the offensive potential of the Soviets is significantly reduced.

An armistice has been signed between the Axis and the Allies, as my opponent conceded this game.

From my point of view he still had a chance to win this game, but it would be difficult as the Red Army has no real offensive potential.

Was interesting to follow!

zechi wrote:An armistice has been signed between the Axis and the Allies, as my opponent conceded this game.

From my point of view he still had a chance to win this game, but it would be difficult as the Red Army has no real offensive potential.

That's dissapointing. I think he had plenty of offensive potential for a limited winter offensive. And he didn't have much territory to capture before he'd be in Poland. The final result of this game had yet to be decided, and I think it was too early for him to concede.

I agree with Joe. Maybe you could find someone to take your opponent's place and play the rest of the game out?

Feel free to contact Leridano. I would agree to continue this game, even if someone read the AAR. It is played under 2.00w4.

Cheers Zechi

We're collecting data about the game balance and since we made quite a bit of changes for GS v2.00z7 (latest version now) I guess Victor felt that the data yet to collect from this game might not be as valid. But I think it would have been very good to get this game to the end to get real facts about the game balance set in GS v2.00w.

Now we can only speculate how this game would have ended. I'm not so concerned about the ultimate victor, but more about the Allied oil and manpower levels at the game end. I think they would have been higher than we like, but Zechi has probably been saving oil and manpower well and with not a strong Allied / Russian offensive in 1943 then the Germans won't lose manpower as fast as they should have.

So every test game will give results based upon the player skills. So we can't draw too many conclusions from the result of this game. At least it's encouraging to see that the Axis player has a good chance to defend well and Zechi was nowhere near a collapse.

Since many changes in GS v2.00 have been favoring the Axis we need to look if the pendulum has moved too far and make corrections. So in GS v2.00z we will give less discount for manpower cost when repairing units and the oil consumption is changed a bit as well.

We will continue to playtest in beta until we get the levels for XP gaining, manpower consumption and oil consumption right.