How not to play as the Axis - Massina vs Crazygunner

[massina_nz]

Germany obtains Industry level 2


A GAR is placed in Brest. So how serious was the request about attempting Sealion?

I bomb London for 3 steps damage , and no loss to the STR, London goes yellow.



I take Lille, losing only a FTR step and a MECH step, I leave his INF alone, best to let him move as he loses 5 EFF points every time the unit moves. I’ll wait until all the isolated Brits go to red status before attacking them.

I move two Panzers in range to attack Brest next turn, and a TAC so it can attack both Brest and Bordeaux without having to move again.


Yep there’s a sub in front of the CV as mine bounces off.

With only a GAR in Malta I can stage the Luftwaffe to Libya via Sicily without him seeing the air deployments

I send another TAC & FTR to Naples whiles the RN bombard Libya.

Italians build a Gen lab (Indus) and I save the rest of my German PPs to buy my fifth TAC (and my last)

[zechi]

You should bluff him that you will try Sealion and try to destroy the RN instead. Put a few Units on transports (Perhaps even GAR disguised as attack troops) and let the RN come to you. Instead of landing troops in Britain you pull the transports back as soon as possible (or you land if there is a good opportunity, like landing in a British city)and you instead bomb the RN with the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica. Destroy and damage as much of the RN as you can. It will be very costly to replace and repair them.

Your second goal should be to close the Med and then attack Egypt and push into Iraq.

[massina_nz]

You should bluff him that you will try Sealion and try to destroy the RN instead. Put a few Units on transports (Perhaps even GAR disguised as attack troops) and let the RN come to you. Instead of landing troops in Britain you pull the transports back as soon as possible (or you land if there is a good opportunity, like landing in a British city)and you instead bomb the RN with the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica. Destroy and damage as much of the RN as you can. It will be very costly to replace and repair them.

Your second goal should be to close the Med and then attack Egypt and push into Iraq.

I attempted this once before, and the RN just stayed in port, I ended up wasting precious time & resources, so I'm a bit coy to do it again. However I have successfuly exectued a variant on your deception plan that had a similar outcome, but not quite in the theatre you expect. And yes that secondary goal is my primary goal. Stay tuned, I'm about five turns behind in my AAR postings so it should become clear in a couple of days.

[massina_nz]

Yep there's a sub on the other side of the CV as well, Luftwaffe build up in North Africa continues



Brest falls easily, and couple of INFs are headign to Bordeaux.

I place a TAC near Holland and buy another one, my last

[massina_nz]

Germans develop armour level 1


Dumb, I forgot to put the recently arrived FTR on sentry and lost 3-0 in the Allied turn, that’s really dumb of me.



The Netherlands falls to a blitzkrieg with no casualties



The remaining BEF INF corp is destroyed, and a GAR almost destroyed.



Libyan dispositons finalised, I am two points in over-supply, which is only costing 3PPs. I might wait a turn before I spring the trap.



Bordeaux about to be sieged, it will take me a few turns to get round the river, by then winter will probably hit

[massina_nz]

Bordeaux attacked this turn, I wasn’t ever going to be able to capture it this turn, but next turn should be a goer, that will be the BEF eradicated. Phew!

I get a dogfight upgrade, so I upgrade both of my Libyan-based fighters

Egyot and Iraq join the war – will he advance into Libya? I hope he does.

I buy a u-boat, Italians buy another INF lab

[massina_nz]

Operation Schlinge(Snare) is finally launched:
1. First a German FTR attacks the BB next to Tobruk
2. Which then draws out CV to interdict
3. Then the second German FTR attacks the CV
4. Then both Stuka units attack the northern-most BB
5. Follwed up by the Regina Marina destroying that BB
6. The STR on Rhodes & the Italian FTR bomb the DD
7. Lastly the Italian TAC and sub in port attack the remaining BB

So I lose 9 air steps and 2 naval steps but inflict 20 steps of damage, but more importantly I destroy a BB unit.

I hope he stays to duke-it-out. If so I expect to lose a BB at least, but then I will wipe out the RN and Iwon't be in over-supply in NA.

And look the 8th Army are coming out to play, absolutely perfect.

See the lone transport to the north of Crete, it is performing the lynchpin function of the operation

I send the Italian TANK unit to Benghazi, whilst the German ARM & MECH still wait in Naples.

Bordeaux falls, it wasn’t re-inforced so only needed two INF attacks

[massina_nz]

Only the RN subs attack and one of my BB survives at 3 steps, I’m still in over-supply so the BB from the Persian Gulf must have appeared in the Med.



So here's where the RN fled to. Damn his DD went to Famagusta, I suspose it had to as they only had three ports to harbour at. I can’t invade Cyprus now as he will see the transport if it gets near. So I need another way to get more supply in North Africa. Bingo! Malta! So I just hide transport behind Rhodes.

In hindsight I should have slipped the transport in when all of the RN were outside Tobruk for several turns - he wouldn’t have seen it. I just assumed it was best to move the transport when the Regia Marina got active as this would ‘hide’ it's movement. Real shame as this would have made the Middle-east push so much easier if I could base some TACs on Cyprus. I'm 99% sure Famagusta is un-garrisoned, given teh said-named garrison was destroyed in France. Damn, I would have looked so clever if it had come off.

I knock his subs down to 3 & 8 steps.

Italian ARM stays in port until I can move some of the Luftwaffe back to Italy to begin the Malta operation.

I start to move the Italians towards Egypt so I can stage the Luftwaffe forward later on.

I purchase my sixth and last u-boat. I save PPs for italians to buy commander for Malta ops, whilst Von Rundstedt has already gone to Naples to command Luftwaffe

[zechi]

I would not recommend to attack Malta. It is very hard to destroy the GAR stationed there with TAC and the Regia Marina and it does not seem that Crazygunner pulled the GAR out or did he?

Nice move in the Med, try to harass the RN in the MED as much as possible.

[schwerpunkt]

I would not recommend to attack Malta. It is very hard to destroy the GAR stationed there with TAC and the Regia Marina and it does not seem that Crazygunner pulled the GAR out or did he?

I've done the Malta option a few times successfully now, it takes 3 German TACs, all 3 It ships plus a leader in range of the ships (the higher their efficiency, the more likely they will do shore bombardment losses as the fortress does make it harder). With an ounce of luck, it falls in 4-5 turns.....

[trulster]

This game is with the new amph rules? If so Malta should take less time with a possible invasion attack after being pummeled by the Italian navy and German air.

[massina_nz]

This game is with the new amph rules? If so Malta should take less time with a possible invasion attack after being pummeled by the Italian navy and German air.

No this game is still v1.06

[massina_nz]

I would not recommend to attack Malta. It is very hard to destroy the GAR stationed there with TAC and the Regia Marina and it does not seem that Crazygunner pulled the GAR out or did he?

I've done the Malta option a few times successfully now, it takes 3 German TACs, all 3 It ships plus a leader in range of the ships (the higher their efficiency, the more likely they will do shore bombardment losses as the fortress does make it harder). With an ounce of luck, it falls in 4-5 turns.....

Neil, indeed in the hot-seat games I've done for a Malta siege it takes about 5-6 turns as long as you have a German & Italian leader within range of the Regia Marina and the TACs. So I'm willing to give it a go. Well if I want to push towards the Middle-east airfields it seems my only choice now anyway.

[massina_nz]

Looks like his subs moved and spotted my transport, the game is up! Not sure why he didn’t send more RN elements to destroy the transport. Shame the Regia Marina moved away last turn, because they could have gang-tackled the BB and given me the extra 10 supply I critically need in NA.

I retreat the transport back towards Italy, bomb a step off the BB and place my sub next to it in case it moves again

I begin to repair the Regina Marina for Malta operations, the TACs based in Libya go back to the tip of Italy, It will now take a couple of turns for them to recover their EFF before I can start. I have 4 TAC & FTR in Italy/Sicily, in case his subs turn up to annoy my Italian warships bombarding Malta.

I send a Panzer to Benghazi, it will put me in 1 over-supply so I might fly the Italian fighter back to Italy.

I intercept southern convy in the bay of Biscay

I send a couple of Hungarian INFs to France and buy an INF lab.

[massina_nz]

I start a turn early with my Malta operations than I really wanted to, but take 4 steps off Malta.

I’ve hot-seated this a few times and normally Malta falls in 4 to 5 turns. However the RN subs may turn up and annoy me so I’ve bought surplus air support just-in-case.

The BB that harassed my lone transport last turn returns back to port. My Panzer korp arrives unharmed and the Italians crawl forward.



I start training troops to eastern europe in readiness for Barbarossa. This may be one of my weakest Barbarossas ever, but if all goes well in the Desert then the Russians will have to decide whether to defend both the Motherland and the Persian oil-fields

I purchase Rommel for the Middle-eastern campaign.

[massina_nz]

RN seems to mobilise again, I will try Cyprus again this time with a GAR transport instead, as the INF transport is still only at 5 steps and would be vulnerable.



I get some good results and Malta is knocked down to 3 steps, it had been re-inforced to 9 steps. Looks like four turns may be enough to capture Malta.



I got strat ops lev 1, so all German aircraft are upgraded in the Med theatre, except those that attacked Malta. Rommel is placed on the Panzer korp, Grazini is reassigned of one of the leading INF corps. The UK front lines are spotted, hmm they may attack, I could be vulnerable here. Maybe I've gone a bit early, and will be too thin-and-stretched.

I buy final naval lab (well that’s late on the timetable)

[massina_nz]

Wow! The Regia Marina inflict 4 step losses, totally unexpected, I didn't even have a transport unit to exploit the fact that Malta is now unoccupied. I decide to send an INF corps to Malta, I’ve spent enough effort capturing it, I may as well garrison it properly. And the INF will get defensive upgrades that a GAR won’t

I need the single invasion pont to take Malta, so I send the wandering GAR transport back to Albania, I forgot I only had 1 invasion point.



Axis advance slowly towards the Nile – the next turn two TACs can fly in. So do I target the RN so I can even get more TACs in NA? It will make the campaign easier, but will take longer. However the RN weak-point is that they now only have three ports in the Med. So I think I will keep the Regia Marina handy as a deterrent against the RN getting active and focus on the land based UK troops, first blunting his ARM & MECH units to reduce their effectiveness for any counter-attacks, then I will pound the front line troops and destroy them. It's not like I have a hordes of Axis troops to feed into the Fray, I need to keep all my troops intact. My biggest advantage I now have in this thearte is the 3 TACS I can place, that will quickly maul the UK forces.



Where is this convoy going, I suspect it'll head to the Red Sea, as I doubt he will go near Malta now.

[zechi]

Good work with Malta!

Perhaps the transports are not headed to the MED, but he intends to attack Portugal?

[rkr1958]

Axis advance slowly towards the Nile – the next turn two TACs can fly in. So do I target the RN so I can even get more TACs in NA? It will make the campaign easier, but will take longer. However the RN weak-point is that they now only have three ports in the Med. So I think I will keep the Regia Marina handy as a deterrent against the RN getting active and focus on the land based UK troops, first blunting his ARM & MECH units to reduce their effectiveness for any counter-attacks, then I will pound the front line troops and destroy them. It's not like I have a hordes of Axis troops to feed into the Fray, I need to keep all my troops intact. My biggest advantage I now have in this thearte is the 3 TACS I can place, that will quickly maul the UK forces.

Personally, I'd target the RN. Ships are much more expensive for the allies to repair and / or replace. Also, for every RN ship you sink in the Med means less ships available for convoy or transport escort in the Atlantic. If you can cripple the RN then your subs and the KM can rule the Atlantic and force the allies to invest a lot of PP's in strategic bombers and more naval units to regain it back. Thus, significantly setting back his invasion of Europe.

Given the small size of your land forces in Libya/Egypt it doesn't look to me that you have the strength to really take the canal; especially now that it looks like two transports are headed to reinforce Egypt. In fact, I'd wager that CG is bringing in the RN in an attempt to counterattack and take North Africa. Beware of a flanking invasion, which could put your entire ground force that's just advance into Egypt in jeopardy.

[massina_nz]

Convoy escaped, there's just too many escorts, looks like it is heading for the Red Sea with a couple of INF units. The RN losses to the surprise attacks are minimal.



Given I can't really stop the convoy, I just attack the BB instead, knocking 4 steps off versus 1 of mine.



Malta taken, Regia Marina moves into Tobruk (and in range of a leader), two TACs moved to Libya. Oh look an Iraqi Garrison. There can't be that many Allied troops in Egypt.