Slitherine

May 3, 1943

Spring is here, and action is heating up in the Caucuses. I might have trouble maintaining my double defensive line, but I don't have to win the battle. Kesselring's job is merely to hold the Russians and Free French off until Mainstein and co. can capture Siberia. One thing that is a little alarming is that Ronnie brought 4 fighters to the area, effectively ending my air superiority. All the bombers have been sent to the north, so the ground troops are on their own.

Speaking of the north, the massive German juggernaut moves out, capturing Kazan. From the screenshot you can see the number of air units I have, and more are on the way. All I can see are Russian corps, plus 2 air units. German effectiveness and morale are high; final victory is so close they can almost smell it!

A minor cause for concern out west: the British and Americans have deployed a massive bomber fleet in England and have renewed their bombing campaign over Germany. My 2 fighters get the better of the escorts, but they can't do anything about the bombers themselves. Depending on what kind of fighter cover Ronnie has in Siberia, I may be able to recall some of the fighters I have stationed over there. But ultimately, this isn't a huge deal. My revenue will suffer, but it is far too late for that strategy to have much of an effect. I don't need any more units in Russia, and aside from repairs I can spend everything on thwarting the Western Allies. Furthermore, all those planes means Ronnie isn't spending much on ground troops, which means no invasion of France.

June 12, 1943

The Battle of Siberia has officially begun, with the Russians losing 6 corps and 2 garrisons. You can see from the screenshots the number of infantry units Ronnie has, so it's going to be a long battle. I have plenty of units, so perhaps next turn I will start making more attacks and not being quite so conservative about this. That will mean higher casualties, but I can afford them and the Soviets really can't.

The Caucuses campaign continues to go fairly well. I pull back my damaged units for repairs, and the Allies are taking much higher losses than I am, as is to be expected when attacking in the mountains. The 2 German fighters are a major asset, as they simply repair on my turn and then beat up on the depleted Allied air units when they attack. The same thing is occurring in Germany, where the Allied bombers and fighters are slowly being worn down in strength and effectiveness. It helps that the air attack value on my infantry units was upgraded to 2, and I still have 4 corps stationed on the resource hexes. Nothing will come free for the Allies.

Oil = just dipped below 600. No longer any concern, with the Caucuses fields and 2nd Baku in my possession.

Whats your manpower looking like? Any drop in quality number yet?

I think you will win this game if you build for the west now and rail those units to France. Then you have enough firepower to deflect an Allied invasion till 1944. By that time Russia won't have time to crush your force in Siberia and get all the way to Berlin. The only way you can lose is if you don't stop an Allied invasion in 1943 (if it comes) and these units can sprint towards Hamburg and Berlin before you can get enough units to screen them.

Your biggest weakness is that your huge army is too far east and south to be railed home to Germany in case the Allies breakthrough there.

You actually don't have to take Omsk. It's enough that you use the good weather in 1943 to kill enough Russians to prevent any counter attacks in the following winter. If you fail to take Omsk then you can easily retreat in 1944 towards Berlin and Russia has no chance to engage your units and deplete them. They will be out of action for the remainder of the game. You can halt at the first river line you find and keep the Russians there for all of 1944. Russia can't teleport from Volga to Berlin in 1945.

The Caucasus front isn't dangerous right now since you defend cleverly. Ronnie made a mistake giving up the mountain hexes and not he spends too much time taking these hexes back. It means he can't engage you in the open and create a hole in the line before the winter comes.

If you continue to kill 5-6 Russian corps units per turn in the east you will remove their offensive firepower for 1944. So your only concern is the west. If the Allies land in Italy then you've won because it takes too long to get to Berlin from Italy. Landing in Italy is only good if you want to tie German units while preparing for the major invasion in France. With all your new units going to France then Ronnie won't stand a chance.

If he lands successfully in the west in 1943 even then it's not all lost. If you place corps units in time in the Siegfried fortress hexes then it's really hard to penetrate into Germany. You just need an armor reserve north of this line that can destroy any Allied spearheads crossing the Rhine in Holland. This will force the Allies to make sea invasion in Denmark or near Wilhelmshaven. This is really dangerous because these hexes can be defended by the Luftwaffe, but not covered by Allied fighters.

Your formidable sub fleet can change it's role from convoy destroyes to scouts and later transport destroyers. So I would be surprised if Ronnie can get a big Allied transport fleet across the Atlantic intact.

I'm sure you're too experienced to throw away victory now. Still, I would like to give Kudos to Ronnie for fighting like a lion in a game he probably knows he won't win in the end. If he had played the first 2 years as well as he does now then you would never have taken Baghdad and been so close to Siberia.

Kuz wrote:Whats your manpower looking like? Any drop in quality number yet?

Manpower is right around 700, still in the yellow. I'm sure I will see the survivability drop sooner rather than later, but I'm not too concerned.

Borger,

You bring up a valid point. The Italians have enough of an army to defend Italy, but the Germans do not have much out west. My revenue is so good right now that if I need to I can simply stop spending on repairs out east and recruit 4-5 new infantry corps per turn to place in the west. In an emergency, it woudn't take more than a few turns to move some armour units back to within railroad range. Two commanders are already in place; they just need some more men. Any extra resources are being devoted for this purpose. My 14-16 subs will certainly help, as you said. There is no way Ronnie can sneak a large transport fleet across, and I will launch every torpedo I have at him should he try it. So any ground troops will have to come from Britain, and the UK hasn't sniffed a convoy in years, so how many units can they possibly have at this point? Even if the Americans to make an appearance, the subs will give me advance warning and I will have plenty of time to get adequate troops in place to repulse them.

It's also true that I don't have to take Omsk to win. But I'm going for total victory here! At this point, anything less than a Russian surrender will feel like a defeat to me.

July 2, 1943

After reading Borger's comments and taking a look at my forces, I decided that I have many more units out east than the small battlefield can utilize. So Rommel and some of the extra units begin marching back to the west so they can get in rail range. Whether they are shipped to France, Italy, or the Caucuses is up to Ronnie. As it is, I have 6 German corps (List commanding) and 2 fighters in France, plus an Italian corps that will grow to a small army if all goes as planned. Another fighter is in the production queue to help provide air cover. British and American bombers and fighters continue to take heavy losses over France and Germany.

In combat this turn, I destroyed a Soviet tank and a corps in the Caucuses, plus 7 corps in Siberia. The Russian line is thinning, and with no convoys getting through I'm beginning to wonder how long Ronnie can resist. Even if I don't capture Omsk before winter, I intend to completely surround the capital so he can't place any more units in Siberia. Still no signs of Allied landings anywhere in Fortress Europe, but I am ever watchful.

Joe - I don't see how you can possibly lose this thing given the latest turn report. It would shock me to see anything less than a major victory for you. Nice job.

P.S. your sub fleet is amazingly large. I've never come close to building that many subs.

jjdenver wrote:Joe - I don't see how you can possibly lose this thing given the latest turn report. It would shock me to see anything less than a major victory for you. Nice job.

P.S. your sub fleet is amazingly large. I've never come close to building that many subs.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I love submarine warfare in the mod, though I'll admit that usually I don't get this many subs until later in the war, if at all. But when you limit casualties and take lots of Soviet territory in 1941-42, then you have the resources to commit to u-boats. And I need 15 subs because I have several convoy lanes to cover and Allied strategic bombers are costing me 3-5 steps per attack. This shows the benefits of investing in anti-sub tech and stationing strategic bombers at key locations in the Atlantic. If not for the bombers, I could probably kill every convoy with only 10 subs.

August 11, 1943

Omsk is tantalizingly close now. German troops close in from all sides, especially the south. My units have started to break into the clear terrain southwest of the capital, meaning the garrisons Ronnie cranked out are little more than cannon fodder, and can be totally destroyed with just 1 tank attack. I am able to bypass the city a few hexes directly south of Omsk on the last hex column. There is a dumb error in all versions of CEAW where air units can't attack any unit in that easternmost hex column, so it kind of hampers my efforts here. But I knew about the error going in, so I can't really complain. I have planned around it.

In the Caucauses, Ronnie broke through with 1 unit (a 3 step Russian corps) but I was able to wipe it out with a newly repaired armour and restabilize the line. The Allies are really going for broke now with the Russians getting ready to surrender. I don't think he will be able to break out of the mountains before I capture Omsk. Rommel's relief force continues to move away from Siberia, and 1 tank should have the ability to rail next turn. U-boats attack 2 convoys, including what I hope is the last Soviet convoy I will need to sink.

Sorry, no screenshots this time. I forgot to take them.

August 31, 1943

I close to within 2 hexes of Omsk, and the Russians now have only 9 units defending the capital. In the Caucuses, I destroyed a Free French corps. The line is really solid; this defensive campaign has worked absolutely perfectly. The Allies have no hope of breaking through, and once the Soviet units dissolve, I can go on the offensive and push the Allies out of Russia permanently.

In the Atlantic, my subs spot a massive Allied naval force escorting 8 American transports (mostly infantry) across the ocean. A British DD ran into a u-boat last turn, and this turn I finished it off. A sortie by an Italian BB allowed me to sink an American DD with few losses as well. The northern wolfpack steams southwards as quickly as it can to be in position to challenge the Allied fleet next turn. The Americans lag behind their British brothers in sub tech (8 sub attack vs. 11 or 12), and hopefully that can be exploited. In the coming turns I will look for opportunities to pick off vulnerable ships. I am not worried in the slightest about the transports. The Italians have 5 corps in France and more on the way, plus a fighter and bomber. The Germans have 6 corps and 3 fighters in the area as well, plus 2 mech corps in the production queue. In addition, at least 7-10 units are approaching rail range from Siberia. A tank has already been railed to Berlin en route to France next turn. Overall, this effort by the Western Allies appears to be too little, too late.

I am spending massive amounts of oil per turn with all this bomber and armour movement, but my stores are still at 248. My manpower is 675, and will probably go into orange soon. I have almost developed Fixed Defenses Lv. 4 (+1 surviveability), so that will help negate the manpower penalty.

And yes, I remembered the screenshots this time. Here they are:

October 10, 1943

Omsk has fallen, and the Soviet Union formally surrenders.

Screenshots coming next turn, as the Western Allies prepare to land in France. My subs have taken tons of damage in the naval and air battle in the Atlantic, and will need many months to repair. The relatively undamaged ones will resume convoy hunting. I'm producing subs, carriers, and fighters now in preparation for an assault on the British Isles, if Ronnie decides to continue this game for that long.

October 30, 1943

I almost feel bad. The Western Allies have landed in France, and you can see from the screenshot that they don't stand much of a chance. I don't expect this game to continue too much longer.

November 19, 1943

The war is over. The Allies have offered a ceasefire and the Axis have accepted. All borders shall remain where they are now. So I took the Axis to victory, and I'm pleased. I look forward to future games with Ronnie on version 2.00. He is a much better opponent than someone just looking at the result of this game would assume. Everything went right for me this game; all the major turning points swung in my favor. Version 2.00 will make things harder on the Axis early in the game, and an easy conquest of France was a major advantage for me this game. I will embrace the challenges when the new version comes out.

joerock22 wrote:November 19, 1943

The war is over. The Allies have offered a ceasefire and the Axis have accepted. All borders shall remain where they are now. So I took the Axis to victory, and I'm pleased. I look forward to future games with Ronnie on version 2.00. He is a much better opponent than someone just looking at the result of this game would assume. Everything went right for me this game; all the major turning points swung in my favor. Version 2.00 will make things harder on the Axis early in the game, and an easy conquest of France was a major advantage for me this game. I will embrace the challenges when the new version comes out.

Joe, Thanks! I really enjoyed our game. Your "crushing" victory is even more impressive (if that's possible) after skimming through your AAR and seeing your oil levels! What little hope I though I had in 1942 and 1943 I see now that there was no hope!

rkr1958 wrote:Joe, Thanks! I really enjoyed our game. Your "crushing" victory is even more impressive (if that's possible) after skimming through your AAR and seeing your oil levels! What little hope I though I had in 1942 and 1943 I see now that there was no hope!

Yes, it's been my experience that Allied players tend to underestimate the amount of oil I have. But I do so enjoy proving them wrong.

...Thank you very much for a truly GREAT AAR!
The most amazing thing the Germans did was to have so many oil-based units (armor and air) and to be able to keep them fed. NOW I believe in magic!