Slitherine

Well, here is the start of axis turn.

French army continues to retreat without real fight (looks to me much like losing effectivenes, entrenchment and good positions for quite nothing) Paris is now in danger and can be captured wihtout actual destruction of French army.
No BER or RAF elements, even no RN doing shore bombardment.
Its very good to me, since I am not going for England anyway.
Anyway, unentrenched GARs were easily destroyed with panzers, supported by stukas, bridgehead is now made across the Seine.
French counter-attack now expected, since they have no more room to retreat. Fresh INF units ready to face attackers. Also another corps freed from maginot line.



In Atlantic allied escort spotted, but they are quite harmless, thanks to not having CV. Convoy destroyed.

4th fighter is now in quene. Time to build subs and after it - only Barbarossa forces.
Also i bought second lab for italians - sub one aswell, subs would be crucial part of Italy's defence.

Expected counterattack happened, destroying my INF corps and damaging another to 4 steps. Even RAF fighter showed.
.
Well, corps is not so valueable unit, thats what they were placed there for, afterall, though I expected higher French casualties while attacking.
So i grab my stukas and panzers and fixed french casualties on my own, destroying armour and 2 damaged corps units.
Also wehrmacht is now ready to start assault on Paris from south-east. City will not hold more then 2 turns.

In atlantic I redeployed my subs (some already got "seasoned" level up) to get good spotting, and now waiting for another convoy.
Saved PPs for now.

Plaid wrote: No BER or RAF elements, even no RN doing shore bombardment.

RN can´t do shore bombardments since you don´t have exposed units in the coast.

Now only some disorganised garrisons and Paris corps are all, what left from once large French army.
Assault on Paris has begun, though city holded at two steps. Next turn it will be captured, forcing France surrender.

Also, Italian entry next turn, I am going to start large evacuation from Africa, covered with availiable naval and air forces. German fighter will be ready next turn, battle for England will begin soon.
75% now at sub research, couple of turns, and I will start my sub building campaign.
Also about subs - RN DD ran into one of mine, destroyed 3 and taken only 1 step damage. But it will not affect my convoy operations for now, later I will repair it in some nice french port.

PPs stocked for now, since there is no need in any units right now. After fall of France I will repair units, precisely calculate my remaining PPs and turns and will build barbarossa force of a dream. Delaying production possibly will save me some PPs since later built units will be upgraded already for free.

Here we go. Looks like Max don't expect to hold Paris any more, french army launched massive suicidal attacks everywhere, to inflict some steps.

Anyway, Paris was easily captured from unentrenched garrison, and now its time to repait units. Few corps were already railed to future eastern front, to avoid later overuse of rail cap. Also after end of turn BEF finally spotted (marked on picture)

In atlantic I finished off convoy, since french DD is not an issue anymore.

In MED I started evacuation of italian forces from Lybia.

Next turn I am going to get sub upgrade (88% now) and build 3 more uboat flotilias.
Also purchased 3rd Italian lab - another general one. Now Italians are going to have some troubles with PPs, since transports are not free.

Britts are still in France, looks like I have to actually attack this cyties.
.
I don't mind, but better, if they retreat at very last moment, since I don't want additional casualties.
In MED, loading my italians into transports, I spotted something looking like british sub.
.
So first I sent my sub to check exactly into this hex, and then striked with DD.
Also I destroyed british Malta FTR from 4 steps (max attacked transport instead of repairing)to 0 with my Italian FTR and BB.
.
German subs are now in quene, aswell as most of units, taken part in French campaign, are now repaired to full strength.

In MED evacuation almost finished, thoug operation costed me 1 italian BB, destroyed by Max's RN force. Looks fair trade for Malta fighter and numerous RN steps.

In France I am going to destroy every single english GAR, if they don't want to flee.
One already done in Nantes. I lost 1 panzer step, but leveled up mech to 2nd lvl in return.
Damaged uboat going now to Nantes for repairs.
Also airforce deployed for battle of Britain. Next turn I am getting god fight level, then I upgrade fighters and start fun (if max will really intercept anything, in other case I would just bomb London; good aswell)

I used my german focus point for fixed defences, since +1 defence to all INF units looks best choice of what I can get pre-barbarossa.
Intense railing to the east in progress. Campaign plans and forces wishlist would arrive soon.

Not much to report.
British garrison from Bordeux left on their own, but one from Brest was destroyed (another step of armour and mech away ).
Regular convoy spotted near USA and is now being destructed, while another one randomly ran into my uboat, heading for repairs.
Airforce in France is now ready, next turn I will have my fun with RAF.
Also I spent my PPs on TAC, since 2 are deffinetely not enough.

Plaid,
I'm surprised that you didnt leave a GAR in Tobruk as a speed-bump? That fortress takes a few turns to reduce and you only lose 7 PP's in the process (costs 8 to ship out the GAR back to Italy).

I'm surprised too that Max was quite defensive in France and only counter-attacked at the last moment. He sems to have limited British involvement so far in the war. Which would leave him plenty of spare PPs. Not that I've actually played Max before.

Why are you evacuating Libya? When Supermax finds out then he will be all over you in the Med. Prepare to have the Allies land in Sicily and Sardinia in 1941.

One thing is to not reinforce Libya with German units, but keeping the Italians there as speed bumps is probably a good idea. It costs 8 PP's to send garrisons back to Italy and it costs 15 PP's to build new ones.

I started London bombing camapign.

For now I lost 5 fighter steps and 1 bomber step, and Max lost 2 fighter steps and 7 CV steps, aswell as 2 PPs from London.
Another CV step taken by italian sub in the Med.
Now barbarossa force wishlist - I want 20 +- german corps (or slightly less, they can be build during soviet campaign aswell and railed into fresh captured cyties; now I have 10 corps and I want one to hunt partisans in France and another - in reserve, to counter allied invasion, if happens), 2 mechs (already have, time of mechs didn't come yet, I will build more and more when I get good tech, for now 3 inf will do better, then 2 mechs ),
6 panzers (3 ready, 1 in quene) 3-4 fighters (ready) and 3-5 bombers (2 ready, 1 in quene). I want Guderian at least to command this panzer strikeforce, while Rundstedt will command second, infantry-based AG. Also both surface ships and probably 1 sub will be used.
Also, I am going to deploy Italian Expedition Force - armour, mech, 3 corps, both planes + italian garrison for some little amphibious operation.
A want to minimize axis minor forces use in soviet campaign (besides garrisoning, anti-partisan duties, 2nd lines and stuff like that), so ideally I would use actively only mechs and plains.
Barbarossa will be started on April turn, if I get fair in Russia, other side - in May.
Only possible operation before Barbarossa can be Yugoslavia. Goal - to connect Albania with axis railroad net, since allied invasion is possible. From other side, Korsika and Sardinia are just as good for allied airfiels, so probably pointless campaign. But Yugoslavia is great training place for wehrmacht units, so we will see.
P.S. I totally don't fear allies invading France/Italy/Germany early. I actually can't do anything to prevent them from landing, but once they land, they are in trouble.
Tech inferiority + 1-3 supply + terrain features (if we talk about Italy) + poor air support (especially now, when malta fighters gone) + they pay for transports and landings afterall...Nothing good for allies, as I see.

Plaid wrote:Not much to report.
British garrison from Bordeux left on their own, but one from Brest was destroyed (another step of armour and mech away ).
]

A tip might be to not use armour to finish off the Brit stragglers in French cities. You lose expensive steps and more importantly, oil, by moving them (as well as mechs) around to to attack these cities.

trulster wrote:

Plaid wrote:Not much to report.
British garrison from Bordeux left on their own, but one from Brest was destroyed (another step of armour and mech away ).
]

A tip might be to not use armour to finish off the Brit stragglers in French cities. You lose expensive steps and more importantly, oil, by moving them (as well as mechs) around to to attack these cities.

Inf can loose far more, then 1 step, seiging city. Tanks have awesome shock and surv at least.
Oil...its only 2 for early panzer, and 1 for mech. I don't think that 10-20 or even 50 oil saved in early game (i have seen people always railing tanks, planes even mechs in 1939-1940 instead of normal move; they loose effectivenes for it, fights worse, can result in additional step looses or even some strategic failure like 1 step opponent's units surviving somewhere you don't want) can help later. You either balance your oil pool later in the game, when units actually starts to consume it, or burn this 50 for less then 1 turn, to face all the same 0.

IMHO MECHs are far better at attacking cities as they don't suffer the extra -35% attack penalty (vs cities) that ARMs do. And they burn less oil, and they cost less to repair.

Axis turn 20.
Nothing worthy screen, this time no RAF elements opposed me, so I just bombed London, reducing it to 5 PPs.
Redeployment to the Ostfront is in progress.
My uboats are ready now, while damaged one finally reached Brest. And I placed another panzer into quene.

If you are just building for Barbarossa - dont build all of your units as you get the production to do so.

I instead wait until I have the tech upgrades and then build them in time to place them for the front line. If you build to early then you need to upgrade them which costs produciton.

If you are not doing anything for a year then this may be the best tactic to go for. Every little helps with the Axis.

I continue to bomb London with no RAF opposition, while more and more troops railed to the east.
Hungary joined the axis, hungarian units are deploying for barbarossa now aswell.

New uboats are heading to the atlantic.
This turn i built nothing, saving PPs.
Also in med I spotted british GAR, going to land in Tripoli. I blocked landing hex with Italian fighter.

afk_nero wrote:If you are just building for Barbarossa - dont build all of your units as you get the production to do so.

I instead wait until I have the tech upgrades and then build them in time to place them for the front line. If you build to early then you need to upgrade them which costs produciton.

If you are not doing anything for a year then this may be the best tactic to go for. Every little helps with the Axis.

Its good from one side, indeed. But from other side building many units in short time leads to rail cap overuse and lost PPs aswell.

Because of muddy weather in the Europe, London bombing campaign canceled (now it really looks like wasting fuel and bombers to the London's flack, my SAC have only 2 strat attack at such a weather). So Rundstedt and some fighters were railed to the east, while bomber was repaired.
I stopped building units, because upgrades incoming really soon (2-3 turns). Anyway I want 1 more TAC, 1 more panzer , 2 labs as soon as 1941 comes, and as much infantry, as I can build for rest PPs.

Precise barbarossa campaign plans are not ready yet, but I want to go for south, to get soviet oil. Also, its exploit in Dnepr-Dvina defencive line near Krivoi Rog/Stalino. It can easily be penetrated here, forcing entire soviet front's retreatment (or encirclement , but I am not expecting Max to be this sort of stubborn defender ).
So I would like to have some advice. First, I am unsure, is it worthy to give few tanks to AGN and AGC, or shall I use all 6 in the south. Argument for giving tanks to this groups is clear - tank is strongenst ground unit. Argument agains is that if I give 1-2 tanks, they can't fully benefit from their mobility and will be used just in same manner, as very strong infantry corps, so it can be better to just give this groups more infantry for same effect. While 6 panzers in one single spearhead with good leader looks to me like force, that can break through soviet formations on their own, destroying lots of units, bringing chaos and pocketing troops.
Second question follow the first - either I deploy 4 or 6 armour in the south, I can't see very good place to deploy them. Probably i will deploy them in rocky romanian terrain just south of where hungarian units can be seen on the screen, or much more to the south, slightly north of Odessa.
Anyway I want infantry to force soviet garrisons to retreat al least, to advance tanks deeply into clear ukraine terrain at very first turn.

And to the MED.

All italian forces but single fighter in tripoli left lybia, while this fighter will provide some reconing information and some RN step loss (2 DD steps this turn).
Looks like max have to march all the way to the Tripoli by land, its few more PPs for Italians.
Also about speed bumps - I preffer to use Sicily for this purpose. English troops with 1 fighter air support and 1 supply (or 0, if RM and luftwaffe will do good ) can have some real problems here, from my experience.
On the second, I have some good positions in Italy to defend, never seen front there broken, its often stagnant during all the war, unless something really bad happens (allies from southern France or Red Army from balkans attacks Italy, for example).
P.S. If Italy surrenders, cyties with german units become german. They provide nominal, or 1/2 PP income?

My advice regarding the split of your tank forces is always to keep 2 units north of the pripet marshes.

This is not so much for offensive purposes but more to keep them there for defensive counterthrusts or to exploit an opportune weakness. If you have 0 tanks then you do lack some ability for a counterpunch or for any major exploitation of opportunity.

Personal choice of course - That said if the Russians throw all of there early armour in the North and you have none then it does hurt. This is of course only personal choice.

Sometimes the threat of just being around makes the other player wary of doing something crazy.