Slitherine

Turn 21 - Operation Felix launched, Southampton taken, Action in the Med

Very interesting turn. Firstly, the Germans get Dog Fight Level 1 and I buy another FTR. Secondly, the weather stays fair and I launch Operation Felix and attack Spain. Unfortunately I did forget to take a screenshot, but everything worked as planned. The GAR guarding the Pyrenees retreated after an attack and my Army begins rolling into Spain.

In the Battle of Britain this is a succesful turn:



With the Fall of Southampton the Battle for Britain should be decided. I will try to cut London off as fast as possible, which will not allow King Hunter to place new units in Britain.

My SUBs pursue and engages them in their ports:



Everything seems fine and my Plan Z seems to work. However, my oil reserve begins to suffer and the Luftwaffe units are all depleted and down some steps, which will cost me a lot of PPs to repair them. The weather in Central Europe on the next turn will be very important. If it stays fair (75 %) Britain will fall more quickly and my Army in Spain will reach the "fair" weather border of the Med-Weather zone. However, if the weather is "mud" then my offensive in Spain will be significantly slowed and hampered and the Battle for Britain will also be affected. Furthermore, a surprise landing in Aberdeen will not be possible.

Last but not least, King Hunter begins an offensive in the Med:



If the transport is actually the Maltese FTR then this was not a smart move. He could flown the FTR to Lybia when the British Army reaches Tobruk. This theater will be very interesting. I did not reinforce the Italian army in Lybia at all. This means he could overhelm me. This would be very bad indeed, because my "Grand Strategy" was to open the Med for the Kriegsmarine through the conquest of Spain and attack the Middle East. My Plan Z was to crush the British as much as possible and close the Med as soon as I reach the Suez channel. With Britain in my hands and the closed Med an offensive of the Western Allies in Europe would be very difficult and if the Kriegsmarine survives more or leass unscathed, perhaps even impossible. If Lybia fals, my plan will be difficult to realise. Nevertheless, at this early stage of the game it will be very difficult for the British be offensive in Lybia and try to hold up a defense in Britain.

We will see how this actually plays out.

Turn 22 - Weather stays fair, London encircled, Panzer push on Madrid

The weather stays fair, which allows me to continue my offensives in Britain and Spain. This turn London is encircled and cut off from the rest of Britain. King Hunter will not be able to place new units in Britain.



Overview of Operation Sealion:



Next turn there is still a 25 % chance of good weather. If weather will be good, then there is a good chance that London will fall. Otherwise it will be more difficult.

In Spain KingHunter gambled for bad weather as he retreated the GAR from Zaragoza. As weather was fair my ARM could take the city and destroy the retreating GAR. Now I will be able to rail my units to Zaragoza, which should be at the border of the always fair weather zone.



In the Med preparations for the expected British offensive continue:



As soon as Spain and Gibraltar falls, I will reinforce Lybia and the Kriegsmarine will move into the Med. This will result in an interesting sea battle, with about equal forces.

I did similar succesful sealion against KH, would advise sending some naval forces to US coast to slaughter undefended convoys rather than sending all to North Africa. Luftwaffe can take care of RN there, but if you let convoys flow unimpeded into Canada the Brits will build up fast. Until the US enters the war you now have a free hand against those convoys, a chance not to be missed.

trulster wrote:I did similar succesful sealion against KH, would advise sending some naval forces to US coast to slaughter undefended convoys rather than sending all to North Africa. Luftwaffe can take care of RN there, but if you let convoys flow unimpeded into Canada the Brits will build up fast. Until the US enters the war you now have a free hand against those convoys, a chance not to be missed.

This is my intention. I will move the German surface navy into the Med with 1-2 SUBs. Six SUBs will remain in the Atlantic and hunt for the convoys after the Fall of Britain. After I hopefully defeat the RN completely in the MED, both the Regia Marina and the Kriegsmarine will go back to the Atlantic to engage the US navy and any RN remnants.

Turn 23 - London holds out, British move toward Tobruk

The weather gods are with me, another turn of fair weather (only 25 % chance in November). Offensive in Britain continues and London GAR is reduced to 1 step:



In the Med-Theater the British Army moves towards Tobruk:


I will hopefully be able to reinforce Libya soon.

In Spain the Axis Army advances towards Madrid:

I think that heavy British counter attacking in Britain is not a smart idea if the Germans do a strong Sealion. That means you lose the units you have in Britain and the Germans can fan out to take most of the cities.

I guess it's smarter to withdraw to the center and north so the Germans will have to fight from city to city to take all of Britain. The point is to make the British spend so much time so it becomes impossible to do a decent Barbarossa. If the British units go down in flames in the fall of 1940 then the Germans can send units back to the continent for the upcoming Barbarossa. If you fight in land you can at least force him to remain a bit longer.

Staying in clear hexes is asking for being destroyed so retreating garrisons to cities and rough hexes is the way for Britain I believe.

UK can afford to lose Britain, but not if the RN and RAF are both seriously hurt as well. So knowing when to disengage from a Sealion is important to master for the Allied player.

Germany will spend time in Libya and Spain so I can't foresee a strong Barbarossa. That means the Russians can go for a more offensive build and already now get a healthy armor and air force that can be placed near the Dvina / Dnepr line.

It's interesting to see how Sealion works with GS 2.0 and particularly how the para and amphs are working. The para is valuable against Norway and even in France.

Turn 24 - London falls, Axis Army advances on Madrid

Winter arrives in Central Europe, but London falls neverless:



In the always Fair-Weather Zone my forces advance on Madrid as some Luiftwaffe units arrive on the scene to support the final push on Madrid:



In the Med the British Army reaches Tobruk, but did not attack yet. My Italian SUB attacks the CV, but takes 2 steps and inflicts only 1 step.



I also brought up the Hungarian and Romanian Airforce and Navy to 10 steps. I placed a German FTR which will most likely brought to Libya.

Stauffenberg wrote: I guess it's smarter to withdraw to the center and north so the Germans will have to fight from city to city to take all of Britain. The point is to make the British spend so much time so it becomes impossible to do a decent Barbarossa. If the British units go down in flames in the fall of 1940 then the Germans can send units back to the continent for the upcoming Barbarossa. If you fight in land you can at least force him to remain a bit longer.

Interesting idea. Where would you recommend to place the British inland defense line? The main problem should be London. If London falls, the Allied will not be able to place new units in Britain, which make the invasion a lot easier for the Axis.

I suggest you stay away from the clear hexes and dig in your units in rough and city hexes. That means the Germans will spend more time clearing Britain. That time is valuable for Russia.

Wales, Cornwall and Pennines plus cities like Liverpool, Plymouth and Cardiff are good places to defend before making a last stand in Scotland using Scapa Flow as the final supply source.

A clever Allied player will save a lot of PP's (100+) before Sealion starts so it's possible to buy 3-4 land units and place them before the Germans get ashore. You simply need to wait with a few of the labs and not commit too much to the defense of France.

The Canadian land units can be sent towards the Spanish coast and be kept there while protected by some naval units waiting on the German build-up after the fall of France. If Sealion looks like it's coming then you send the units to England. If not they're sent to Egypt. The point is to make key decisions as late as possible so you can use the units where they're needed the most. If you send them to the Red Sea it's a bit too late to bring them back. If you know for sure you will be faced with Sealion then you send all land units to England.

Most Allied players who struggle after Sealion make the mistake of committing the Royal Navy and Airforce to stopping the invasion. That means the Germans can wait with the transports and first crush the British air and naval presence. Don't give the German tac bombers a chance to crush your units for several turns.

If you defend inland out of range of the bombers (except in cities) then you can move the units to the coast when you see the transports appear. This means the Luftwaffe can only deplete a few of the units at the coast line. With the amphs these units will most likely retreat or be destroyed so the Germans will get ashore. If you have a decent reserve you can always try to crush the German units that got ashore or at least deplete them so much so they can't attack further.

Regardless of your defense you have to accept that a German player going all out will get ashore and eventually take London. You just have to make it so costly in PP's, oil and time that Barbarossa will suffer. Many Allied players defend for too long in the south and lose most of the UK units in Britain. That makes life so much harder afterwards. E. g. it's not easy to destroy enemy corps units in rough terrain unless you have serious air support. So British corps units in the rough will keep the tac bombers in Britain for quite some time. That means a lower chance of losing Egypt and Spain.

The Axis player needs to use his strength superiority in 1939-1941 to maximize losses so the Allies won't be able to grab initiative in 1942. Then you can win the game. so a clever Allied player trades space for time so the units suffer fewer losses. That's as true in the west as in the east.

Stauffenberg wrote:Wales, Cornwall and Pennines plus cities like Liverpool, Plymouth and Cardiff are good places to defend before making a last stand in Scotland using Scapa Flow as the final supply source.

How does one capture Scapa Flow? You can bombard it but with one hex (before amphs) it can't be invaded from the sea?

Turn 25 - Panzer Corps reaches Madrid, British Army moves into position for strike on Tobruk

Unfortunately I forgot to take screenshots this turn. It is still mud in Central Europe, so the offensive in Britain is only slowly advancing. I repair some of the more damaged units there. However, I destroy 2 RN BB which tried to make a breakout. British CV is still trapped in port.

In Spain I destroy the INF which was cut off near Barcelona. I also attack the INF and MECH near Madrid which both take heavy casualities. Next turn I could be able to attack Madrid with 2 German ARM and 1 Italian ARM. I also brought in another German TAC. Spain will probably fall in 2 turns.

Regia Marina moves near Gibraltar an begins shore bombardment. On the Atlantic side a German BB moves in the same direction.

Near Tobruk the British Army moves into positions to strike at the Italians from multiple positions. I began moving to German FTR to Italy, but I do not know if they arrive in time.

Turn 26 - Madrid under attack, British reinforce Spain, heavy battles around Tobruk

The year turns to 1941 and I get my first SS unit slot:



As soon as possible my ARM with Guderian will be upgraded into a SS Panzer Corps

In England the remnants of the British resistance are dealt with:



KH did not repair any of his units in Britain, it seems he has given up any resistance. I wonder where the RAF fled? Ireland?

The battle around Madrid is succesful for the Axis and most likely Madrid will fall next turn:



But there is a surprise waiting for me. It seems that KH brought at least 3 British GAR from the Med to Spain. And there is a RN BB!!! Perhaps he even sent more RN Elements from the Med to the Atlantic. This will be interesting. One of my BB is a little bit exposed, but there are another BB, the DD and some SUBs not so far away.

The Battle for Tobruk begun. My counterstrikes inflict some casualities, but without air support and no reinforcements, it will be difficult to resist.



I also bought my 11th Lab for the German. Both Italy and Germany have maxed out their Labs at this moment.

Turn 27 - Spain surrenders

Madrid is conquered and Spain surrenders at the end of my turn:



Now I will have to handle these British GAR. I think KH did a mistake not entrenching a GAR in Gibraltar to its maximum. He seems to prefer to build are broader front.

In Britain business as usual:


The Battle for Tobruk rages on and I get bad results with my MECH:



I lack the ground units to quickly reinforce this theater and if I reinforce North Africa my build up for Barbarossa will suffer. Difficult decision, especially as my Barbarossa will be relative weak and not start before August.

Won't you be late now for a decent Barbarossa? Especially if you're going after Gibraltar, reinforcing Libya.

Stauffenberg wrote:Won't you be late now for a decent Barbarossa? Especially if you're going after Gibraltar, reinforcing Libya.

Depends on your definition of a "decent" Barbarossa

It's for sure that I will not be able to pull off a powerful or even moderate Barbarossa. Nevertheless, I do not think that it will be very difficult to take Gibraltar now. My units are already there and the British are not strong and do not have any air support there. Then the KM will be able to move into the Med. The combined fleets of the Kriegsmarine and Regia Marina are hopefully able to destroy the remnants of the RN in the Med.

But I'm unsure if I should reinforce Libya to finish off the British in the Med-Theater and then make a move for the Middle East or if I should ignore North Africa altogether and concentrate all my forces on Barbarossa. It will hurt my already weak Barbarossa even more if I reinforce Libya, but if I crush the British there and get the Suez channel the Med is closed. Italy will not be in danger from this front and with the RN defeated the KM and Regia Marina could challenge the US navy and last remnants of the RN (this was my original plan) and anticipate any attempts to open a front in the west.

However, my other option is to neglect Libya and only try to destroy the RN there. Then I could leave a strong naval presence (especially SUBs) in the Med. It will then be very difficult for the Allies to try an invasion of Italy, but I will lose my naval superiority in the Atlantic.

Go for the Med and forget about Barbarossa! The Russians will not be ready for major operations until mid 1942, in the meantime you can finnish the Brits in the Med and get to the oilfields

There are a couple of advantages about finishing up in africa and going for mid-east oil, UK won´t be ready for war again until 2020. US can do some operations but the heavy naval prescence you have in the atlantic should keep em at bay for a long time. Also russian income is pretty weak in 1941, they can´t really do that much to interfere in the mid-east so the road there should be easy once you take egypt. Just make sure you station a part of your fleet to cut of the americans from ever reaching the mid-east.

Oil is really what you need now to keep your vast reich together. If you get that you won´t have any problems with the russians either.

You could also do a rush in Barbarossa towards the Caucasus to secure that oil. That would put pressure on the russians at the same time as you weaken them. Giving your current operations and forces spread out i think that option will be difficult.

It´s a very enjoyable AAr, good job so far....just make sure you don´t run out of oil, that is so boring.....

Crazyg

Thank you for your opinion and advice, I think I will go for a reinforcement of the MED-Theater and try to finish the British off.

Crazygunner1 wrote:It´s a very enjoyable AAr, good job so far....just make sure you don´t run out of oil, that is so boring.....

Not for the allies.