Slitherine

Sept 10th 1941 fair



This is the U turn point of this pbem . Allies begin their counterattack from Russia to Med !


In the northern Russia , while Axis main body was concentrating on attacking Leningrad , we launch a small counterattack to attack the lead panzer in Kaluga & badly hurt it !

In the southern Russia , Axis finally took Rostov . & Red Army move forward into the winter offense position !



In Med , we can not land in Sicily , but it seems made many Germany units come to Italy : one mech ,three corp & one para ! they must be transfered from Russia !

Sept 30th 1941 fair







Axis retreat ! They just leave some corps to defend the mine & city . The Red army move forward & kill them!



In Med , It is difficult to land in Sicily & we move to another target Sardinia !

Merry Xmas!

Merry Christmas.

Oct 20th 1941


Leningrad finally fall !

Besides this , Axis continue their wise retreat to their prepared winter defense position . The Red army run after them & move forward to their winter offense position !

In Med , the 8th army landed in Sardinia & will conquer it next turn ,then we will have a unsunkable huge carrier in Med !

Nov 9th 1941 winter


Our lead Mech was killed . The red army did not counterattack ,just get close & supply the units ,preparing for the offense in severe winter!

Dear readers,
now it's time to go through turns 26-41 for a second time, from Axis point of view. In our game with Morris it's turn 51 (May 28 1942) right now. I'll start with two topics.

LABS

During 1940 French campaign I felt that I'm in a hurry, so I didn't buy labs immediately they were available. Now I think that was a big mistake. Tech superiority is vital in Barbarossa, isn't it?

Here is German lab table in the beginning of 1941. I'm ready to buy the next lab right know. But why did I buy a second lab for subs? Probably I was afraid of eventual 1942 invasion by Morris. He wanted to emphasize that it's a big advantage for Axis to have a house rule that there will be no 1941 invasion in France.



ITALY IN NA

My plan was to concentrate in Barbarossa preparations. I made an unusual choice. I withdrew from NA. Because free oil I was not interested in Iraq. I was also afraid that I have inadequate tactical skills to pass the Quattara bottleneck.

What happened?

-My killing machine was sitting idle all winter and spring, and losing its relative tech advantage all the time. As a part of my Greek campaign, I should have taken Crete, and used it as airbase for NA battles.

-British army was idle too, so Morris decided to put pressure on Italy.

Here is a complete view of Axis situation in January 1941.

Italian labs

My plan was to neglect armour and air, and instead produce corps, gars and subs.




Forces and casualties

What do you think about these numbers in Jan 1941?

Because of free oil my plan was to build extra arms and tacs. Later we will see how Germany runs out of corps.



Germany and UK have equally high air casualties.



Maps

Italians were concentrated south to Brest-Litovsk.



In addition to normal objectives, I wanted to take Chisinau on first Barbarossa turn. Therefore 1 arm and 1 mec.

Jan 1941 numbers don't tell me much. Show us the numbers at the start of Barbarossa .

They will come soon.

Here are labs on turn 28. Barbarossa was intended to begin on May 13, turn 32, so I had turns 29 and 30 to get those 4 techs ready, and turn 31 for upgrade. I should have invested only 1 lab for navy and 3 for armour. Air/dog has been my priority from very beginning.

Your research does not look that bad. But you are low in infantry tech and that will be a problem as early as 42. Two tech points invested will not be enough. You need to keep pararity with the russians atleast. The russia will keep 3 points infantry tech for sure. That means they will outrun you 2

Unless i do i big naval campaign with axis, naval tech is of last priority. Because as axis you can rarely keep the initiativ in the atlantic beyond 42 anyway.

Since there is no oil in this game it might be an idea to keep the luftwaffe flying during winter? They can still cause some seroius disruption.

Turn 30, B - 2 (like D - 2)

One turn left to deploy, upgrade and repair.

BUILD QUEUE



In Jan 41 I had not a single gar in a required hex ready to apply for para training. That's why they won't make it in time.

BATTLE ORDER



The overall objective is to chase Soviet units. In north I don't have an exact plan about the first targets. I'm after Leningrad and winter defense line Petrozavodsk-Novgorod-Vitebsk-Dnepr. This is why I have so strong army group here.

Italians + Luftwaffe + Runstedt are concentrated near Warsaw. Later in game I'm not able to combine air units and generals in a disciplined way.



Any comments? What would you take away, what would you add? Are there too few German corps? Later we will see that 3 fgts was not enough, because I never could afford to buy the fourth, or this is the way I thought.

+++++++++

LABS

Labs in turn 30, still all four missing


New tech in turn 31
I have to start without arm upgrade, like many players do, because of oil consumption.


Labs in turn 31
It will be a long time before next upgrade, besides tanks.


Next post will be the B-day.

Research is acceptable. Fighters are not that crucial during Barbarossa, 4 is usually enough. PARAs are not super-important in 1941, either. Your mobile forces will outrun them quickly, it's better to save these PPs for special occasions. They make great garrison troops, though, and they can force the Allied player to guard the cities or resource hexes that are in range.

Happy new year !

Happy 1942?

Yes indeed, Morris has all reasons to be happy about 1942. It's turn 54 at the moment.

Hehehe !

Actually , Happy new year 2014 to everyone who will stay on the battleground of GS !

B-day, before turn

Now everything is in order. It's difficult to remember, when chaos took a firm hold of my army. Let's find out the timing and the reasons together.

THE FINAL BATTLE ORDER

North
German: 1 leader, 1 SS arm, 1 arm, 3 mech, 1 corps (Königsberg will provide more, but was it a mistake to count on that?), 1 tac, 1 fgt (more air available from middle)
Others: 1 mech, 1 corps (good enough for protecting flanks)

Middle
German: 1 leader (for air), 1 arm, 1 mech, 3 corps, 1 str, 1 tac, 2 fgt
Italian: 1 leader, 1 arm, 1 mech, 1 corps, 1 tac, 1 fgt



South
German: 1 leader, 2 arm, 1 mech, 2 corps, 2 tac
Italian + others: 1 mech, 8 corps, 1 tac, 3 fgt (air: none full strength)

B-turn, after moves

North



Middle and south

I didn't need non-german air units, so I repaired them during this turn.



Casualties, before turns 32 and 33

Turn 34 (B+2)

Because of free oil, I have freedom to fly my air units to forward positions.

First signs of failure: there are so few Soviet units within reach.
It looks like Morris wants to defend Leningrad?

North, end of turn



South, end of turn


Casualties before and after turn 34

I don't complain about German casualties during turns 32-34:
inf 60 > 70
arm 40 > 46
air 53 > 58