Slitherine

Sub plotting, continued.

We left the subs in predator mode and with targets sighted:



They enjoyed this:




Next turn Kragdob sent in some escorts:



So we reverted to hunter mode:



Next turn an apparently unescorted convoy:



We ended up having a crack at the solitary escort and bouncing off a blocking sub :



Next turn more targets:



But also a call from the Wehrmacht. A French MECH had retreated to Saint Nazaire. Possibly it would head for Casablanca. A sub was despatched to a blocking position:



Two more transports. Heading to or from the UK? All subs, including a reinforcement just arriving, were put into potential blocking positions:



And next turn:



So a couple of subs pursue the southward bound transports and the others move into positions to block what I think are the MECHs most likely moves:



Somehow the MECH had moved right up to the sub and then stopped! I will let Kragdob tell you how that happened. I rolled my eyes and decided to have a go at the BB. After the second attack it had had enough and retreated. (Note that naval units get the option to follow up after forcing an opponent to retreat, but not if they destroy it.) So I got one hit in at the transport.




The last sub moved to block the convoy’s obvious next move (to the south). I could barely believe it:



I wasn’t sure why the single DD was left there, but I didn’t fancy attacking it with tech level 0 subs; especially as in 2.2 DDs get +2 to defence when attacked by subs. So revert to default mode. And pick up a pair of convoys:



White arrows all over the place:



An educated guess got lucky off Northern Ireland:



And a couple of free hits:



To be continued.

Looks like a fun game . Interesting results.

Turn 14. Fair.

Paris taken we turn to mopping up. The approaches to the Hague are cleared and the city softened up:



Mobile corps spread out over France and units position themselves to attack Strasbourg:



Turn 15. Fair.

The Hague falls:



The Luftwaffe hammers Strasbourg:



And the army takes it:

To be an Allies sailor in 2.2 is really a dangerous job !

Whilst the above was taking place, a quiet shifting of forces south was taking place. The Italians coming in when Paris fell helped with this.

Turn 14.



Turn 15.



Turn 16.



Turn 17.



Turn 18.

And in we go. Note Kragdob's battered FTR has abandoned Malta.



Turn 19.

Kragdob railed out the GAR and sent in a pair of FF BBs – one of which hit a sub – and an unknown number of subs – one found a gap .



We stuka the exposed BB, land a pair of units, set up a supply ship, continue the bombing campaign against Malta, rail some more units south and then have a go at the sub. I am not convinced that bombing subs is worth the cost of the oil to the Axis, but I thought that it would give me a chance to show the new evade feature. Instead an Italian TAC and a German FTR took 3 steps off it. (The adjacent BB resisted temptation.)



Turn 20.

We are up and running. Casablanca or bust.

GogTheMild wrote:Somehow the MECH had moved right up to the sub and then stopped! I will let Kragdob tell you how that happened. I rolled my eyes and decided to have a go at the BB. After the second attack it had had enough and retreated. (Note that naval units get the option to follow up after forcing an opponent to retreat, but not if they destroy it.) So I got one hit in at the transport.

Here how it went.

Transport is to be moved and the spot is selected (NW of La Coruna). But using new DD's ability we want to scan the place first.

Here we go. Sub is found!

But it evades....

Funny thing is that to make below picture I needed to reload like 5 times because every time Gog's SUB was hit...

So we place the transport one hex back. Risk is taken that sub will attack, BUT single sub is no threat for the transport and we will retaliate from 3 DDs.

So that's how it happened. Good forethought.

Kragdob wrote:Funny thing is that to make below picture I needed to reload like 5 times because every time Gog's SUB was hit...

Just call me Lucky Gog . Makes up for your unentrenched Dutch GAR taking 4 steps off my Strat .

The subs continue to plot

Subs into hunt mode:



Note the reinforcement heading down Channel. And they pick up Kragdob sending yet more troops south:




Clearly he isn’t worried about a Sealion. I headed south with all ships and placed the two in reach as stoppers:



This time it worked:



So, chase the transport, attack the convoy or go for the DD? I went for the DD – I would probably never get a better chance. It turned out to be quite vulnerable; only four subs required to sink it. The +2 to defence against subs clearly didn’t do the trick. So I placed the fifth sub to try and intercept the second DD:



But Kragdob sent it south. Clearly he wants to keep his DDs together. I shall have to remember that.



So I went for the convoy. And discovered that whilst 5 subs can take out a DD, they are not enough to sink a 33PP convoy:



So I ported half the fleet for some much needed R&R and to upgrade to level 1:



This didn’t prevent Kragdob from running into a stray sub. The rest of his DDs moved into escort position, abandoning the nearby convoy. He clearly didn’t trust me.



Only having two subs to spare I took the free hits:



Plenty of attacks going in against convoys, but the number of transports getting through, presumably to Casablanca, is starting to be worrying.

Meanwhile, having driven off the FTR, we had been bombing Malta. With a level 0 Strat this is an excruciatingly slow business. But eventually it turned red and in went the Fallschirmjäger:



Happily drop losses were light. Even more happily Kragdob made little effort to put up a serious defence. Easiest capture of Malta I have done - 4 turns.



The supply line to North Africa was now secure.

Remember to get all the French North African ports before USA joins the Allies. Otherwise Spain won't join the Axis.

Stauffenberg wrote:Remember to get all the French North African ports before USA joins the Allies. Otherwise Spain won't join the Axis.

According to the manual I only need Casablanca, Oran, Algiers and Tunis. Has this changed, or is that what you meant?

True. You don't need Agadir.

It's nice to see that the big operations messages appear as intended (e. g. Operation Hercules).

A triumphant message when Malta is captured would be nice .

Kragdob says that I am giving him too much intelligence by running this in near real time. So, as I think that the main changes have been communicated I will go on silent running for a while.

Kragdob doesn't have to read this thread.

Kragdob is now officially banned from this thread.

Cybvep wrote:Kragdob is now officially banned from this thread.

Since this AAR is the first AAR of 3.0 , it is important to read the comments from both sides .I believe this AAR must be many turns delay from their pbem , so it is not necessary to forbid Kragdob to have his comment here .

The easiest could have been for Kragdob and God to have separate threads.

Stauffenberg wrote:The easiest could have been for Kragdob and God to have separate threads.

I've been promoted!

Sneak preview: Kragdob's intelligence officers have probably spotted this one.

"So, chase the transport, attack the convoy or go for the DD? I went for the DD – I would probably never get a better chance. It turned out to be quite vulnerable; only four subs required to sink it. The +2 to defence against subs clearly didn’t do the trick. ... So I went for the convoy. And discovered that whilst 5 subs can take out a DD, they are not enough to sink a 33PP convoy "

And this confirms my worst fears about the new sub rules.

You can see the warped incentives that these rules have caused, that it's more lucrative for the Germans to target a lightly wounded DD (worth 50 PP) than an unprotected fat merchant convoy.

Is there anything that can stop the Germans from ganging up on every British naval unit, and sinking it 4 or 5 to 1, that dares sail out of port? As far as I can tell, no. Especially now with the dodging thing going on.

Imagine what would happen if the Germans expanded their U-Boat fleet from 5 to 8-10. That gives the Germans the power to sink any 2 DDs (or BBs or CVs) that get within reach. And when that happens, for all intents and purposes the Atlantic becomes a German lake.