Slitherine

Turn 7 – December 30, 1939

Pre-turn:



Post-turn:

The French defense line is crumbling now. The huge pocket near Strasbourg means the French can't rail some of these to the aid of Paris. The French corps in Antwerp is cut-off from the defense too. The French fighter must evacuate and so on.

I have a feeling that Paris can fall very early in this game and then England is wide open for a Sealion. What did Morris benefit from taking out Belgium in turn 1 as the Allies? In my eyes. Nothing at all. Now he will pay the price for this attack with smaller convoys, slower US PP progress etc.

If you can destroy the British corps in Lille and 2x south of Lille then the British will have a very small force in England once France falls so Sealion should have a bigger chance of success.

Stauffenberg wrote:The French defense line is crumbling now. The huge pocket near Strasbourg means the French can't rail some of these to the aid of Paris. The French corps in Antwerp is cut-off from the defense too. The French fighter must evacuate and so on.

I have a feeling that Paris can fall very early in this game and then England is wide open for a Sealion. What did Morris benefit from taking out Belgium in turn 1 as the Allies? In my eyes. Nothing at all. Now he will pay the price for this attack with smaller convoys, slower US PP progress etc.

If you can destroy the British corps in Lille and 2x south of Lille then the British will have a very small force in England once France falls so Sealion should have a bigger chance of success.

Does an insanely high Axis casualty total count? Probably the highest I've suffered since my very early days. But that I can recover from, and the early French PPs will help. It provides plenty of opportunities and options for the Axis.

Turn 8 – January 19, 1940

A relatively quiet turn from Morris, but I still lose 5 corps steps. He continues to score good hits with every single attack, even in bad weather.

Pre-turn





Post-turn



Edit - that part that got cut off talks about a 6-step French garrison that I accidentally left with rail capability. I don't think it will make a huge difference, but you will see that Morris did rail it back to Reims in the next screenshot.

Joe,

I'm wondering if the higher casualties you're taking are not largely due to the fact that Morris' attack on Belgium negated the usual -20% Effectiveness penalty? It seems to me that it might explain a lot of those unusually high losses you've been taking. What do you think?

Diplomaticus wrote:Joe,

I'm wondering if the higher casualties you're taking are not largely due to the fact that Morris' attack on Belgium negated the usual -20% Effectiveness penalty? It seems to me that it might explain a lot of those unusually high losses you've been taking. What do you think?

That explains some of it, of course. But I also think the French are doing above average too. His effectivness is only in the 50s, and mine is in the 70s and 80s. It's a combination of both.

Turn 9 – February 8, 1940

No early fair weather this turn. Beat up German forces on the northern flank rest and repair. More healthy southern forces push forward.

Pre-turn



Post-turn



The way things are shaping up, I may be able to bypass Reims altogether!

Turn 10 – February 28, 1940

At least the weather is favoring me even if combat results are not—the weather clears earlier than expected. Nevertheless, German planners are ready. After flying my strategic bomber in to scout the area, I decided to go for the brass ring, Paris itself.

Pre-turn



Post-turn



Blitzkrieg at its finest! The enemy is defeated by a deep penetrating thrust while much of their army is trapped behind. Their situation hopeless, the trapped French and British surrender.

This early fall of Paris did not come cheaply. I forgot the casualty screenshot, will take it before next turn. But the extra resources will help, and a world of options opens up for me now. Stay tuned.

**Morris is going on a trip until July 19th, so I think this game may need to be put on hiatus until then. I suppose it is a good time to pause. Rest assured it will continue as soon as he is back.

Great job Joerock. The early fall of France will hurt the Allied cause. Even worse is the lost UK units. UK must build more land units to defend against Sealion. That means a delay in the build of labs and naval units.

It was a bloody battle, but you get +3 production per turn from Belgium compared to having to invade Belgium. That's 54 PP's per year. So you will get 5 extra mech corps from this before the war is over. That's not bad.

Even better is that UK will struggle with a 25% drop on the convoy size until December 1941 and USA with 6 less war effort until the same time. So the heavy losses the Germans suffered are small compare to the losses UK and USA will suffer.

At least you got a good start to get an Axis victory in the end. A lot can still happen, but at least you're not in a bad position.

I agree with everything that Borger said. Those casualties may have been high, but on the strategic scale it's a huge victory.

The final strike was textbook perfection--a double-envelopment. Wow! First sneaking those korps to breach the river lines, then going straight for a decapitation and encircling his entire army. I wonder, are there any openings for faculty positions at West Point?

As my friend SuperMax would say, you've gained the most important thing for Axis: Time! Given M's terrific losses of UK units, this seems like a golden opportunity to pull off Sea Lion. With such an early fall of France you have the entire 1940 campaign season before you. Not only will M be having serious PP problems, as Borger pointed out, but his MP at this point--even if he's built/repaired nothing--should be only about 73% +/-. If you continue to press the UK hard, that -1 to Quality will begin to tilt the scales more and more in your favor.

Let me finally add that I really love the techniques you're using to do this AAR. The before/after shots with the arrows, etc. are a great feature.

Agreed about the arrows - a great way to teach tactics!

Diplomaticus wrote:Let me finally add that I really love the techniques you're using to do this AAR. The before/after shots with the arrows, etc. are a great feature.

I like it too. It took me a few turns to figure out the best way to do the screenshots, but I think I'm going to stick with this one.

Joe,

I am constantly amazed by your efficiency and tactical execution. I would dare say that you are top player in these two areas. And, this coupled with the fact that you are also among the best when it comes to strategy; makes you in my opinion one of the best GS players.

I still shutter when I think of as the allied player bracing myself for your '42 summer offensive in Russia. Expecting to lose 4, but no more than 5, infantry corps on the first turn and then seeing on the receipt of my turn that I lost 12! Then there's summer '43 outside of Omsk when I think your offensive power is all gone. Silly me, I'm preparing for a little offensive myself when you roll up my front line killing 3 infantry, 2 mech and an armor corps and send my Russians running back in panic to hold Omsk and keep their country in the game. For those that say it's a piece of cake to win as the allies and they know the formula ... I wish they'd give it to me.

rkr1958 wrote:Joe,

I am constantly amazed by your efficiency and tactical execution. I would dare say that you are top player in these two areas. And, this coupled with the fact that you are also among the best when it comes to strategy; makes you in my opinion one of the best GS players.

I still shutter when I think of as the allied player bracing myself for your '42 summer offensive in Russia. Expecting to lose 4, but no more than 5, infantry corps on the first turn and then seeing on the receipt of my turn that I lost 12! Then there's summer '43 outside of Omsk when I think your offensive power is all gone. Silly me, I'm preparing for a little offensive myself when you roll up my front line killing 3 infantry, 2 mech and an armor corps and send my Russians running back in panic to hold Omsk and keep their country in the game. For those that say it's a piece of cake to win as the allies and they know the formula ... I wish they'd give it to me.

Thank you for the praise. I'm not so great at inventing grand new strategies, so I don't consider myself very creative in the overall strategy sense. But I do love the little details involved in planning and executing a turn's moves. This is where I get creative sometimes.

Casualty Screen:



**note - that 1 naval unit destroyed for UK is wrong; I haven't destroyed any yet. Everything else looks correct as far as I can tell

With Morris going away on a trip until July 19th, this is the last update you will get from me for a few weeks. I'll use the time off to hopefully play my other games faster, and maybe ruminate about what I should do now in this one.

joerock22 wrote: **note - that 1 naval unit destroyed for UK is wrong; I haven't destroyed any yet. Everything else looks correct as far as I can tell

I think it is the transport with a GAR you sank a few turns ago.

zechi wrote:

joerock22 wrote: **note - that 1 naval unit destroyed for UK is wrong; I haven't destroyed any yet. Everything else looks correct as far as I can tell

I think it is the transport with a GAR you sank a few turns ago.

So then it should show (3) infantry units lost and (0) naval units lost?

Nice going Joe, fun to see Blitzkrieg at it´s finest hour. Did you accept the armistice? I couldn´t find it anywhere...

Also with the UK naval unit, that happen to me as well and i could never figure out what it was....

Yes he did