Ftgcritt2 (Axis) v Joerock22 (Allies) NO JOEROCK
Moderators: rkr1958, Happycat, Slitherine Core
August 1, 1941
As promised, this turn turned out to be a big one. Last turn, I had spotted a large troop convoy headed south from England intent on hooking up with the UK Mediterranean fleet headed north from the transportation loop. Ever since Joe's last attempt to reinforce Africa I had been concentrating my subs in the southern Atlantic in order to be ready to thwart such an attempt. So when I spotted the convoy, I was able to put three subs directly in the path of the convoy and another 5 within striking range. On Joe's turn, he moved with his escorts first and bumped into my screen. I attacked with all 8 subs. The German Baltic Fleet even got in on the action, and the result was very high casualties on both sides. Total losses for the engagement were two DD's and 6 BB steps (with the other 4 soon to follow) on the British side, and 22 sub steps on the German side. Really the only thing that made this worth my while was the fact that all of my losses were spread out over 7 units or so, so I didn't lose any units. But sadly, the KM failed in it's main goal: to stop the Allied reinforcement of Africa. Despite the heavy losses on both sides, all of the troop convoys made it through unscathed. This fact has necessitated a major overhaul of the Axis strategy in the Mediterranean theater. While I once dreamed of maybe making it to the Iraq oil fields, this is no longer a possibility. I will probably take Damascus and use that as the northern anchor to a defensive line running south to the Arabian Desert. This way I may be able to bottleneck Joe and slow him down just like he did to me west of Alexandria. I would even venture to say that the defensive ground south of Damascus is far superior to that west of Alexandria. I would love to pursue the weak British forces into Iraq, but that could easily lead to disaster with his reinforcements coming up from Kuwait and the Russians very possibly moving down from the North.
And that brings us to the Russians. I FINALLY launched Barbarossa this turn and managed to kill a total of 881,300 Russians. Not too shabby, but I wish I could have done it sooner. All those subs that I built and the strong push in Africa really put a damper on my eastern buildup. Still, I feel I made a fairly strong initial push. Here is a shot of the Russian campaign.
As promised, this turn turned out to be a big one. Last turn, I had spotted a large troop convoy headed south from England intent on hooking up with the UK Mediterranean fleet headed north from the transportation loop. Ever since Joe's last attempt to reinforce Africa I had been concentrating my subs in the southern Atlantic in order to be ready to thwart such an attempt. So when I spotted the convoy, I was able to put three subs directly in the path of the convoy and another 5 within striking range. On Joe's turn, he moved with his escorts first and bumped into my screen. I attacked with all 8 subs. The German Baltic Fleet even got in on the action, and the result was very high casualties on both sides. Total losses for the engagement were two DD's and 6 BB steps (with the other 4 soon to follow) on the British side, and 22 sub steps on the German side. Really the only thing that made this worth my while was the fact that all of my losses were spread out over 7 units or so, so I didn't lose any units. But sadly, the KM failed in it's main goal: to stop the Allied reinforcement of Africa. Despite the heavy losses on both sides, all of the troop convoys made it through unscathed. This fact has necessitated a major overhaul of the Axis strategy in the Mediterranean theater. While I once dreamed of maybe making it to the Iraq oil fields, this is no longer a possibility. I will probably take Damascus and use that as the northern anchor to a defensive line running south to the Arabian Desert. This way I may be able to bottleneck Joe and slow him down just like he did to me west of Alexandria. I would even venture to say that the defensive ground south of Damascus is far superior to that west of Alexandria. I would love to pursue the weak British forces into Iraq, but that could easily lead to disaster with his reinforcements coming up from Kuwait and the Russians very possibly moving down from the North.
And that brings us to the Russians. I FINALLY launched Barbarossa this turn and managed to kill a total of 881,300 Russians. Not too shabby, but I wish I could have done it sooner. All those subs that I built and the strong push in Africa really put a damper on my eastern buildup. Still, I feel I made a fairly strong initial push. Here is a shot of the Russian campaign.
March 4, 1943
OK so I've gone long enough without an update here. If you've been reading Joe's AAR, you probably know that 1942 was about as uneventful as it gets in this game. Due to piss poor planning and heavy investment in uboats and North Africa, my Barbarossa didn't happen until the first turn of August and was fairly week. I made it to the Dneiper and captured Kiev, but then the Russian winter set in and I was caught with my pants down. This unfortunate event was made even worse by the fact that I did not fully understand the effects of the new and improved Russian winter. I thought that the only handicap on the Germans was the initial 35 point effectiveness drop at the onset of winter, so I continued to duke it out during the winter months and definitely got the worst of it. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why my tanks which had a huge tech advantage over the Russians continued to get their asses handed to them by the Russian armor. Then Joe informed me that during the Russian winter, Axis units are hit with an array of handicaps including the reduction of dog fighting capabilities to 3(regardless of tech level). Needless to say, I immediately broke off the battle. But the damage was done. I spent the rest of the 1941-42 winter and most of the summer rebuilding my line. But by the time I felt strong enough to fight again, Joe had built an incredibly thick defense behind the Dneiper.
Things got a little interesting in late 1942 when Joe tried a few landings in southern Europe. First he set up for an invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia, but I was able to rail in enough units to dissuade that endeavor. Most importantly, I flew in a large Luftwaffe force as I knew that his air force in the Med was relatively weak. On the next turn, he sent all those transports next door to Italy to try his luck there. I had been spending every last Italian PP on garrisons ever since the fall of North Africa became imminent and garrisoning the tip of the boot, so I was able to cover all but two landing hexes. To make things sweeter, the Luftwaffe was still perfectly positioned in Crimea to beat the hell out of American armored and motorized units who were at sea with no air cover at all. Since then it's been pretty quiet
So here we are in March of 1943 right where we left off a year ago. Only now we have both had a full year of very light combat to build huge fighting forces. It is only a matter of time before the Russian winter ends and Joe sends his massive, well rested mongoloid hordes crashing into my lines. If I know Joe, he'll concentrate his efforts in southern Russia. I also suspect that he will try to coordinate his Russian offensive with an operation by the western Allies against Axis controlled France. If he does attempt simultaneous offensives, then I will go with the Schlieffen Plan and try to turn back the Western Allies before railing everything east to try and stem the Russian onslaught. One thing I am very worried about, however, is Vichy France. Since Joe never invaded Algeria, Vichy France is still neutral and is the weakest point in my Fortress Europe. On the map below, I have marked the positions of the four Vichy French garrisons which comprise the entire defense of the country. On the first turn of an Allied invasion, Joe would certainly take Marseilles and could possibly take Nice as well. This cannot happen. I need to be able to destroy any amphibious landing at the water's edge, and that will be impossible if Joe takes a port on the first turn of an invasion. So as you can see, I have built up a force to reoccupy southern France and will begin doing so on my next turn. I should be able to take Toulouse, Lyons, and Nice on the first turn, and then Marseilles on on the second turn. This will give Joe the free French units in Dakar, but I think that it will be worth it to me.
On a side note, my oil is over 1000 and will not play a factor in this game
OK so I've gone long enough without an update here. If you've been reading Joe's AAR, you probably know that 1942 was about as uneventful as it gets in this game. Due to piss poor planning and heavy investment in uboats and North Africa, my Barbarossa didn't happen until the first turn of August and was fairly week. I made it to the Dneiper and captured Kiev, but then the Russian winter set in and I was caught with my pants down. This unfortunate event was made even worse by the fact that I did not fully understand the effects of the new and improved Russian winter. I thought that the only handicap on the Germans was the initial 35 point effectiveness drop at the onset of winter, so I continued to duke it out during the winter months and definitely got the worst of it. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why my tanks which had a huge tech advantage over the Russians continued to get their asses handed to them by the Russian armor. Then Joe informed me that during the Russian winter, Axis units are hit with an array of handicaps including the reduction of dog fighting capabilities to 3(regardless of tech level). Needless to say, I immediately broke off the battle. But the damage was done. I spent the rest of the 1941-42 winter and most of the summer rebuilding my line. But by the time I felt strong enough to fight again, Joe had built an incredibly thick defense behind the Dneiper.
Things got a little interesting in late 1942 when Joe tried a few landings in southern Europe. First he set up for an invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia, but I was able to rail in enough units to dissuade that endeavor. Most importantly, I flew in a large Luftwaffe force as I knew that his air force in the Med was relatively weak. On the next turn, he sent all those transports next door to Italy to try his luck there. I had been spending every last Italian PP on garrisons ever since the fall of North Africa became imminent and garrisoning the tip of the boot, so I was able to cover all but two landing hexes. To make things sweeter, the Luftwaffe was still perfectly positioned in Crimea to beat the hell out of American armored and motorized units who were at sea with no air cover at all. Since then it's been pretty quiet
So here we are in March of 1943 right where we left off a year ago. Only now we have both had a full year of very light combat to build huge fighting forces. It is only a matter of time before the Russian winter ends and Joe sends his massive, well rested mongoloid hordes crashing into my lines. If I know Joe, he'll concentrate his efforts in southern Russia. I also suspect that he will try to coordinate his Russian offensive with an operation by the western Allies against Axis controlled France. If he does attempt simultaneous offensives, then I will go with the Schlieffen Plan and try to turn back the Western Allies before railing everything east to try and stem the Russian onslaught. One thing I am very worried about, however, is Vichy France. Since Joe never invaded Algeria, Vichy France is still neutral and is the weakest point in my Fortress Europe. On the map below, I have marked the positions of the four Vichy French garrisons which comprise the entire defense of the country. On the first turn of an Allied invasion, Joe would certainly take Marseilles and could possibly take Nice as well. This cannot happen. I need to be able to destroy any amphibious landing at the water's edge, and that will be impossible if Joe takes a port on the first turn of an invasion. So as you can see, I have built up a force to reoccupy southern France and will begin doing so on my next turn. I should be able to take Toulouse, Lyons, and Nice on the first turn, and then Marseilles on on the second turn. This will give Joe the free French units in Dakar, but I think that it will be worth it to me.
On a side note, my oil is over 1000 and will not play a factor in this game
April 13 1943
HUZZAH! After the initiation of the blitz of Vichy, German code breakers intercepted messages confirming that the Allies were indeed planning on a Vichy invasion in May. There was some doubt, however, as to whether the Germans would be able to take the big prize of Marseilles before Allied help could make a difference. In an effort to reinforce the new but rapidly disappearing toehold in Europe, Allied troops in the Mediterranean were rushed onto transports and sent to the southern coast of France. If Marseilles could hold out for just one turn, it would be reinforced with well-equipped American troops and the quick blitz of Vichy would have bogged down just before the now eminent Russian offensive.
But all doubts were put to rest when the big new Tiger Tanks rumbled into town. A preliminary bombardment of just 1 TAC and 1 inf knocked the garrison in the city down to 4 steps, and the remaining defenders quickly surrendered when they heard the booming of the 88mm Tiger Tank guns.
Below is the situation in southern Europe. As you can see, the Mediterranean coast is quickly closing off for Joe. I have been cranking out 2 Italian garrisons per turn now for quite some time, and it won't be long before I can block any invasion of Italy or southern France with nothing but Italian garrisons. I now also have a sizeable German garrison in France which will not have to worry about a southern invasion and can focus on Operation Overlord when it comes.
Check out that oil!
HUZZAH! After the initiation of the blitz of Vichy, German code breakers intercepted messages confirming that the Allies were indeed planning on a Vichy invasion in May. There was some doubt, however, as to whether the Germans would be able to take the big prize of Marseilles before Allied help could make a difference. In an effort to reinforce the new but rapidly disappearing toehold in Europe, Allied troops in the Mediterranean were rushed onto transports and sent to the southern coast of France. If Marseilles could hold out for just one turn, it would be reinforced with well-equipped American troops and the quick blitz of Vichy would have bogged down just before the now eminent Russian offensive.
But all doubts were put to rest when the big new Tiger Tanks rumbled into town. A preliminary bombardment of just 1 TAC and 1 inf knocked the garrison in the city down to 4 steps, and the remaining defenders quickly surrendered when they heard the booming of the 88mm Tiger Tank guns.
Below is the situation in southern Europe. As you can see, the Mediterranean coast is quickly closing off for Joe. I have been cranking out 2 Italian garrisons per turn now for quite some time, and it won't be long before I can block any invasion of Italy or southern France with nothing but Italian garrisons. I now also have a sizeable German garrison in France which will not have to worry about a southern invasion and can focus on Operation Overlord when it comes.
Check out that oil!
May 3 1943
This is about to get ugly. I was certainly expecting a large Red Army, but this is a little over the top. I would estimate Joe has at least 20 Russian tanks and so many ground units that they run 4 deep in places. At least my air is still far superior to his and my ground units have at least a moderate advantage. I will probably fall back after the first Russian attacks and try to make limited stands only behind rivers and on good defensive ground.
In the west, the Allied transports in the Med stayed right where they were off the coast of France. That suits me fine. As long as they stay there they won't be doing anything that could hurt me, such as land. The Italians are filling up the southern coast of France just like they did in Italy, and the Germans are quickly shifting their weight to the north. It does make me suspicious, however, that Joe is up to something in that theater. He is trying to stretch my forces, and he wouldn't have kept the transports there if he didn't expect a hole to open somewhere soon..
This is about to get ugly. I was certainly expecting a large Red Army, but this is a little over the top. I would estimate Joe has at least 20 Russian tanks and so many ground units that they run 4 deep in places. At least my air is still far superior to his and my ground units have at least a moderate advantage. I will probably fall back after the first Russian attacks and try to make limited stands only behind rivers and on good defensive ground.
In the west, the Allied transports in the Med stayed right where they were off the coast of France. That suits me fine. As long as they stay there they won't be doing anything that could hurt me, such as land. The Italians are filling up the southern coast of France just like they did in Italy, and the Germans are quickly shifting their weight to the north. It does make me suspicious, however, that Joe is up to something in that theater. He is trying to stretch my forces, and he wouldn't have kept the transports there if he didn't expect a hole to open somewhere soon..
You could build some more german mech units for the eastern front. When the tech level is high these units are effective in counterattacks and they also defend well.
Last edited by gerones on Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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schwerpunkt
- Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
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Cripes, that does look scary 
- especially if Joe has a large airforce during winter to back those ground units.
Probably best to defend along the "weather line" in AG Centre and pull back mostly behind the river in the south and defend the "gap" north-west of Vinnitsa... Thats proved successful in my games, although my opponents didnt have the firepower that Joe has
- especially if Joe has a large airforce during winter to back those ground units.Probably best to defend along the "weather line" in AG Centre and pull back mostly behind the river in the south and defend the "gap" north-west of Vinnitsa... Thats proved successful in my games, although my opponents didnt have the firepower that Joe has
It looks like I am eating my words about the situation in southern France. I said with some confidence that the Americans wouldn't be able to land any time soon, but it appears that they did not get the memo. Two American corps landed last turn, but I was able to destroy one of them on my turn. I will try to destroy the other one before turning north to fend off Operation Overlord which Joe launched this turn.
The Russians got rolling this turn and killed 7 Axis front line units. Despite the distinct inferiority of the Russian fighters, air losses were about even. I do not expect that to last.
The Russians got rolling this turn and killed 7 Axis front line units. Despite the distinct inferiority of the Russian fighters, air losses were about even. I do not expect that to last.
July 2, 1943
At this point I'm really not playing for any reason other than to practice retreating. The chances of me pulling off a strategic allied victory instead of an ultimate allied victory are pretty slim. I would have to hold either Berlin or Rome for exactly one more year, and at this point I don't think that could happen. The Axis forces are in retreat everywhere except for southern France, where the Germans have completely turned over the theater to the Italians. Ironically, the Italian performance has been the one bright spot of this game. If I can take one thing from this game, it is that I have finally found an Italian strategy that provides for their independence from the Germans' oversight. If you look at the screenshot below, it's pretty obvious what I did. I just spent every last shred of Italian production on garrisons once the situation in Africa became a forgone conclusion. Since I had maxed out my industry and infantry labs, it made for a nice little combination. Italy was pulling in about 33 pp's every turn which allows for 2 garrisons and some breathing room.
At this point I'm really not playing for any reason other than to practice retreating. The chances of me pulling off a strategic allied victory instead of an ultimate allied victory are pretty slim. I would have to hold either Berlin or Rome for exactly one more year, and at this point I don't think that could happen. The Axis forces are in retreat everywhere except for southern France, where the Germans have completely turned over the theater to the Italians. Ironically, the Italian performance has been the one bright spot of this game. If I can take one thing from this game, it is that I have finally found an Italian strategy that provides for their independence from the Germans' oversight. If you look at the screenshot below, it's pretty obvious what I did. I just spent every last shred of Italian production on garrisons once the situation in Africa became a forgone conclusion. Since I had maxed out my industry and infantry labs, it made for a nice little combination. Italy was pulling in about 33 pp's every turn which allows for 2 garrisons and some breathing room.
It's 1943, don't you have two more years left?ftgcritt2 wrote:July 2, 1943
At this point I'm really not playing for any reason other than to practice retreating. The chances of me pulling off a strategic allied victory instead of an ultimate allied victory are pretty slim. I would have to hold either Berlin or Rome for exactly one more year, and at this point I don't think that could happen.
July 22, 1943
Just like the last few turns, this turn was spent mostly retreating. Below you can see my plans for the final defense of Germany. The Siegfried Line will be manned mostly by garrison troops with Holland being defended by the more powerful inf and and armored units currently retreating through France. In the east, I am planning on making one final stand at Warsaw before falling back to the eastern fortress line. As you can see, I will be throwing the full weight of the Luftwaffe into this fight which should be more than enough to keep the inferior Russian airforce at bay. I also have 8 full force tiger tank units which will make one attack a piece before falling back to Germany. I would love some input from some of the more seasoned veterans as to whether or not this counterattack is a good idea. Despite the recent setbacks, the Germans are still pulling in 140 pp's per turn. I have never had this kind of fighting force as the Axis retreating through Poland. And I have never seen this kind of Russian fighting force either. I just don't want to see it all go to waste.
Just like the last few turns, this turn was spent mostly retreating. Below you can see my plans for the final defense of Germany. The Siegfried Line will be manned mostly by garrison troops with Holland being defended by the more powerful inf and and armored units currently retreating through France. In the east, I am planning on making one final stand at Warsaw before falling back to the eastern fortress line. As you can see, I will be throwing the full weight of the Luftwaffe into this fight which should be more than enough to keep the inferior Russian airforce at bay. I also have 8 full force tiger tank units which will make one attack a piece before falling back to Germany. I would love some input from some of the more seasoned veterans as to whether or not this counterattack is a good idea. Despite the recent setbacks, the Germans are still pulling in 140 pp's per turn. I have never had this kind of fighting force as the Axis retreating through Poland. And I have never seen this kind of Russian fighting force either. I just don't want to see it all go to waste.
It's too late now but why are you pulling back so easily? With your oil level at 860 points, with the airforce you have and with 8 armor corps I would have sent what forces were necessary to crush his landing is western France and held fast on the Russian front. While you certainly have the resources to kill Russian units it's impossible to cripple them at this stage. However; you can cripple the western allies by driving them off the continent. However; I think your pull back on the eastern front is fatal now. In my opinion you're giving up too more terrain for free; especially in 1943.
Given all that, I'd still use my offensive power against the western allies and hold against the Russians.
Given all that, I'd still use my offensive power against the western allies and hold against the Russians.
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schwerpunkt
- Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
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Agree entirely. The western allies can be severely affected by opportune counterattacks whereas in the east, counterattacks should now be restricted to simply picking off overextended or damaged units. Also, withdrawals in the east should be paced so that your units use their ZOCs to slow the advance of pursuing unts. The Carpathian mountains in the east really do slow the russians down so throw in some ZOCs and you can reduce their advance to just to two hexes a turn in the clear and one in the poor weather.rkr1958 wrote:It's too late now but why are you pulling back so easily? With your oil level at 860 points, with the airforce you have and with 8 armor corps I would have sent what forces were necessary to crush his landing is western France and held fast on the Russian front. While you certainly have the resources to kill Russian units it's impossible to cripple them at this stage. However; you can cripple the western allies by driving them off the continent. However; I think your pull back on the eastern front is fatal now. In my opinion you're giving up too more terrain for free; especially in 1943.
Given all that, I'd still use my offensive power against the western allies and hold against the Russians.
Well that was the plan originally until Joe's eastern campaign got rolling. It was easy for me to plan on simply delaying the Russians and crushing the western Allies until Joe started killing 7 to 10 units per turn in Russia. It's not like I gave up the land for FREE. There were many instances when I could have (and maybe should have) counter attacked with my armor, but that would have left them out in the open. And with Joe's overwhelming superiority on the ground, he would have picked off the armor units without fear of reprisal. At this point, even if I do launch a crippling counter attack against the western Allies (which I most certainly could pull off before the end of the war) it wouldnt do anything to prolong the game. The Russians are going to steamroll me regardless. THEY are the ones I need to slow down. And If i throw the full weight of the Luftwaffe against them, I think that I may be able to slow them down.[/i]rkr1958 wrote:It's too late now but why are you pulling back so easily? With your oil level at 860 points, with the airforce you have and with 8 armor corps I would have sent what forces were necessary to crush his landing is western France and held fast on the Russian front. While you certainly have the resources to kill Russian units it's impossible to cripple them at this stage. However; you can cripple the western allies by driving them off the continent. However; I think your pull back on the eastern front is fatal now. In my opinion you're giving up too more terrain for free; especially in 1943.
Given all that, I'd still use my offensive power against the western allies and hold against the Russians.
I've been following this AAR but I guess not in that detail. I didn't realize that Joe was killing 7 to 10 axis units per turn in Russia. That's amazing. Even the Russians can't sustain those kind of losses for long. For the axis, one turn with those kinds of losses on the Russia front is a disaster; but two turns or more is a collapse. Joe is definitely one of the GS elites along with Borger, Neil and Max. Of course that's my opinion and I'm sure there are others but these are the four I have personal experience playing against. Anyway, back to Joe, in our AAR playing with the old BJR mod he started off the axis 1942 summer offensive by killing 35 Russian corps in three turns. See: viewtopic.php?p=102054#102054 I still don't know how he did that and now I have a rematch going against him. Hopefully I can at least keep him from knocking Russia out this time around.ftgcritt2 wrote:Well that was the plan originally until Joe's eastern campaign got rolling. It was easy for me to plan on simply delaying the Russians and crushing the western Allies until Joe started killing 7 to 10 units per turn in Russia.
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Peter Stauffenberg
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There's not a whole lot to report now. The line has finally stabilized in Poland, but the Balkan Peninsula is being quickly gobbled up by the Russians. I am trying to throw together a defense for Vienna, because it would be a shame to let Joe get into Germany without having to fight through the eastern fortress hexes. The way I was finally able to stop the Russian Juggernaut through Poland was by sending every single plane I had at them. On the first turn of my "aggressive defense strategy", I used all of my tactical bombers to pummel the Russian tanks in front of Warsaw. The Luftwaffe suffered moderate casualties, but I managed to knock off about 20 steps worth of Russian armor. Since so few of his tanks were untouched, he had to spend the next two turns repairing units instead of attacking. I spent that time repairing units and upgrading my air force so that on this turn when he looked poised to attack again, I sent the Luftwaffe at him again and knocked off another 20 or so armored steps. I can't go on like this forever, but it has definitely bought me some time. He is starting to move around the southern flank of my Polish line, and I am sending units to slow him down. Almost all of his armor, however, is still concentrated in front of Warsaw.