Plaid vs Vokt CEAW GS 3.2 beta AAR -- rematch

[Plaid]

Only British sub shows to contest landing at Greece.



Note that unit in Athens was not repaired, which allowed quite easy conquest here. RN sub evades attack from fighter on Rhodes.



Strategic bombing continues with London being finally reduced to 0 production. Luftwaffe also needs repairs with both bombers at 6 steps.



Northern convoy is spotted unescorted.



During convoy phase central one (16 PP worth) also shows up. Egypt and Iraq join allies.


Italy purchase Aosta leader for Africa, Germany purchase another couple of garrisons for occupation duties.

[Plaid]

No offensive action from allies. Only partisan spawned north of Salonika, forcing me to rail German corps to the fortress.



Luftwaffe skips turn for repairs and restoring effectiveness, but battle for Atlantic continues.

Here is calculated position of 36 PP convoy seen last turn.



In fact it was slightly in different spot, but still both subs were able to attack.
Another convoy was also attacked, even if it is escorted.



Since 1940 campaign now is closed, here is a picture with casualties:



Air unit casualties are rather high, but half of them are coming from strategic bombing campaign.

[Plaid]

Its late October and still fair weather.

London reduced to 0 production one more time. Escorting fighter lost to RAF interceptor 3:2 though.



Uboat which attacked escorted convoy last turn successfully evaded destroyer attack. Since no new contacts are made, subs are heading to Western France ports for upgrade.

During convoy phase convoy spotted West of Ireland. Probably will go for it next turn.

Purchased mech unit for Italy. Germany saving PPs for now.

Hungary join axis at the end of the turn.

[Plaid]

During allied turn our uboats were swept with more or less even results.



In axis turn Kriegsmarine found and sunk convoy. (It will be ambushed and finished off during convoy phase).



Weather is mud, so Luftwaffe stays grounded for now.

Germany purchased 2 armour unit for a total of 5.

[Plaid]

Allies occupie Syria.



No action this turn at all. Messe recruited for Italy to lead Italian expedition force into USSR.

Romania joins the Axis.

[Plaid]

Another quiet turn.

Partisans keep appearing in Greece, had to rebase my TAC from Athens area - wanted to rail it after Bulgaria activation.



Spotted convoy during LL phase:



2 mech corps and garrison (will be converted into paratrooper) were purchased for Germany this turn.

Here is picture with state of German research for now.



Still missing focus points for infantry and general branches - want artillery and industry focus.

Forgotten to take picture with Italian research, this one will come next turn.

[Plaid]

Convoy near Brest turned out to be escorted.



Still uboats sunk it. We might be able to sink escort next turn, if it will take some damage counterattacking sub.
Luftwaffe assets stay in France and will bomb London again as soon as fair weather arrive.

Kriegsmarine surface units are ready to deploy for Atlantic aswell. It is relatively safe to raid convoy ways before USA enters the war.



And here is announced picture of Italian research - purchased air lab just this turn.



Apart from Italian air lab also purchased air lab for Germany (for a total 2 2 3 2 2), upgraded one of veteran armour units into SS, upgraded garrison into paratrooper.

Pictures of Barbarossa build up soon to follow

[Plaid]

No action this turn

German surface ships deploy for convoy ways:



Plan is to detect and sink together with uboats 1-2 convoys west of Ireland (prefferably escorted) and return to French ports.

Purchased mechanized and tactical bomber for Germany. From now on will produce only infantry and leaders for Barbarossa.

[Plaid]

Weather stays muddy, so Kriegsmarine surface ships sail north of Scapa Flow supposedly unspotted.



First convoy contact made during LL phase. We are going to hunt down and sink it.



Luftwaffe assets in France rebase to operate against convoys and escorts passing by Brest (London is still in range).

Barbarossa build up pictures and production queue:

North:



South:



Southern sector will be reinforced shortly with few German units (like 3-4 infantry and a leader), but major offensive will be conducted in the north.

In Africa RAF fighter spotted. Probably just a recon:



We have only Italian units in Lybia, but they are numerous and augmented by morale bonus from controlling Athens.

This turn axis purchases include 3 infantry for Germany and mech for Italy.

[Plaid]

29 PP convoy was tracked down and sunk by uboats, without revealing our surface ships yet. Weather is still mud, so probably Kriegsmarine units are still unspotted.



Another one (41 PP this time) was spotted west of Ireland. This one supposed to be escorted - worthy target for our battleships.



British troops advance towards Lybian border. This area might require additional reinforcements.



Purchased Manstein HQ and infantry corps for Germany. Bulgaria joins the Axis.

[Plaid]

During allied turn air units tryed to attacks subs, but they evaded. Convoy is escorted by 2 DDs, as we hoped.



Kriegsmarine go for convoy and escorts, sinking one DD and halving strength of another one. Convoy itself also got hit.



Meanwhile another convoy is spotted during LL phase.



Strategic bombing campaign over London is also resumed, with city reduced back to 4 PPs. Escorting Luftwaffe fighters also won 5:4.



Idea behind all this pressure on UK is to delay DD and Air unit builds, forcing Vokt to repair instead. And delayed DD builds mean more uboat hits vs convoys, so it all supposed to add up nicely. In theory.

German PPs were spent on massive upgrades and Reichenau HQ to lead German units in the South.

[Cybvep]

Will you have enough time to rebase the air units from France to Poland before Barbarossa? If you want to attack in May, you certainly won't have the time to repair the FTRs. Efficiency of recently rebased TACs will be lower than usual, too.

Good move in the Atlantic. I seriously doubt that Vokt can afford to make a counter-attack at this stage, because it would be too risky. I think that when the operation is finished, you may try to move your naval units back to Norway instead of France. Otherwise it will be too easy to block them in French ports, where they will be useless.

[Plaid]

Will you have enough time to rebase the air units from France to Poland before Barbarossa? If you want to attack in May, you certainly won't have the time to repair the FTRs. Efficiency of recently rebased TACs will be lower than usual, too.

Good move in the Atlantic. I seriously doubt that Vokt can afford to make a counter-attack at this stage, because it would be too risky. I think that when the operation is finished, you may try to move your naval units back to Norway instead of France. Otherwise it will be too easy to block them in French ports, where they will be useless.

This airpower is planned to stay in France for most of 1941. I have TACs for Barbarossa support, little use for STRATs and FTRs there.

[Plaid]

No RN intervention, only attack from strategic bomber takes one step off our BB.



Britsh BB from Portsmouth is even rebased somewhere to eastern coast of Britain. Looks like full scale naval intervention next turn is also unlikely.

In our turn we finish off DD and hit both convoys hard

Luftwaffe in France skip turn for repairs and bomber upgrades, but they will strike again next turn.



Rebellion starts in Iraq - nothing spectacular, only one rail depot is occupied by partisan.



Barbarossa is going to be launched next turn, if weather in the East will be fair (5% chance for mud with new rules).

[Plaid]

No Soviet Union invasion this turn - 5% mud weather rolled. Probably not very bad thing - another turn to build unit effectiveness will mean less casualties.



Now to the Atlantic front - my estimations of RN naval power in the region turned out to be inaccurate.

Britts have 4 battleships instead of expected 3 and one of them came from unexpected direction.



As a result one German BB was sunk. Atleast ambush uboat worked as intended and hit carrier.

In axis turn surface units retreat to French ports, while uboats finished off both convoy and reduced CV to 6 steps.

Strategic bombing campaign resumed. No interceptions this time. One of German fighters rebased to attack RAF strategic bomber airbase directly.



Purchased one more fighter (I have only 3 on the field) and corps for Germany and 2nd air lab for Italy.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I see that the Russian corps unit images aren't drawn. Is this just a glitch when you took the screen shot or does it happen regularly.

Did you install the updated unit.class file with fixes to the image bugs that you discovered in the other game against Vokt.

[Plaid]

I see that the Russian corps unit images aren't drawn. Is this just a glitch when you took the screen shot or does it happen regularly.

Did you install the updated unit.class file with fixes to the image bugs that you discovered in the other game against Vokt.

Thats screenshot artefact. They are drawn properly in game.

[Plaid]

RN surface units also retreat to ports, but RAF scored couple of hits on my subs this time:



All availiable uboats go for two unescorted convoys, reducing them to 10 and 12 steps, which reached UK during LL phase.

Londong is bombed into 0 production again and direct attack against RAF SAC airbase score great result (2 damage to bomber and 3 to interceptor at cost of only 1 fighter step).



Now to the East, since Barbarossa time is finally came.

Here are pre-attack pictures:

North



South



Final pre-Barbarossa casualties screen (casualties from mentioned above combats during this turn also included):



And Barbarossa execution.

In Northern sector progress is good. Lost couple of air and infantry steps, but not a single tank or mech one.

Airborne operation near Minsk failed to drive Soviet mech unit to the swamps though.



In the South progress is not so spectacular. Italians failed to secure Lvov, but German infantry units managed to capture Chisinau. Soviet mechs are going to escape our slow moving infantry army.



Purchased sub and corps for Germany and 3rd Infantry lab for Italy. Since subs are maxed out for now (6/6) its time to build more fighters and corps units for Germany.

[Plaid]

Barbarossa keep going, this time Finnish units also participated:







Soviet units retreat, where they can, so mostly we deal with city garrisons and few stray troops.

In the West subs are heading to ports for repairs and upgrades. Luftwaffe elements rebased to Brest to engage next southern convoy. No strategic bombing this turn.



3 infantry corps purchased for Germany.

[Plaid]

Soviet troops retreat all over Eastern front:





8th Army in Africa makes a step forward, but only a step. We are ready to face them if needed.



During axis turn Barbarossa continues:

In the North garrison near Leningrad was almost destroyed and troops approach Petrozavodsk:



In the center German panzers roll over some retreating units and capture Smolensk.



In the South finally some progress achieved aswell



Western front:

Combined air naval operation reduce convoy from 38 PPs to 11. Uboats did not participate in attack because they were repaired/upgraded. Sub near convoy was used to detect it.

Supposedly only RN unit which has enough movement range to engage Kriegsmarine is blocked in Cardiff port.

London reduced to 0 production again.



Purchased 1 infantry and 1 leader for each Germany and Italy.