Slitherine

Hi Clark, you're doing an amazing job, I'm playing allied against the AI now, and I won't get to Berlin by Jan 1942. It's these sort of unusual games that make these AAR's such fun to read.

timhicks wrote:Hi Clark, you're doing an amazing job, I'm playing allied against the AI now, and I won't get to Berlin by Jan 1942. It's these sort of unusual games that make these AAR's such fun to read.

To be fair, the reason I've done such an amazing job is because Jim decided to get creative and conquer Sweden and Norway before attacking France. I had enough time to set a formidable wall up in northern France. Also, Jim went for a late Sealion, which crippled the UK but did little to prepare the Axis for Russia in the East. Especially since not one British city was taken.

Given all of that, I should have taken Berlin by now.

February 12, 1943. Ack!

Didn't get any screengrabs for this one (I was trying to finish my turn and head out the door to work) but Jim really launched a doozy at me. A surprise landing from Italian infantry corps on the American coast puts the American contribution to the war in huge doubt. 3 infantry corps land on the coast around DC and knock the weak British garrison guarding the capital down to 3 steps. Luckily I had placed one of my TACs that rolled off the queue last turn on NYC - otherwise the 4th Italian transport would have taken the city and caused an even bigger headache and made it almost certain that the DUCE would have taken DC next turn.

As it stands, the Brits were able to repair the garrison to 8 steps. Hopefully it will be back to orange effectiveness for next turn as well. My only troops in North America, other than the garrison on DC, are two TACs. All other units are on the other side of the Atlantic. I bought some infantry, so if I survive this next round, I have a shot at the Americans staying in the game. If they don't, it's going to be difficult for the Brits to get troops over in force fast enough to take the US back from Italy and to deny a major source of PPs to them.

Meanwhile, in Germany, the Germans destroy another Allied mech infantry and sprout a few more infantry to bog down the Russians around Berlin. I continue to build up reserves for a massive assault on Berlin while clearing out the space around Berlin one hex at a time.

In the south, the Allies take Marseilles, and drive on Genoa, while the Russians put the squeeze on the Italians in southeastern Europe. Two more assorted Axis infantry corps wiped out.

I asked Jim to send a screengrab of the Battle of Washington, DC, and he obliged here.

Clark wrote:I asked Jim to send a screengrab of the Battle of Washington, DC, and he obliged here.

You got me.

Clark wrote:3 infantry corps land on the coast around DC and knock the weak British garrison guarding the capital down to 3 steps. Luckily I had placed one of my TACs that rolled off the queue last turn on NYC - otherwise the 4th Italian transport would have taken the city and caused an even bigger headache and made it almost certain that the DUCE would have taken DC next turn.

Ouch ... With the allies already in France and controlling Gibraltar how on earth did he gets those transports pass you and all away across the Atlantic without you detecting them? Was he extremely lucky or was he really sneaky?

Suez->Dakar->USA ain't that far in this game

Bringing four (!) corps undetected though is quite impressive!

trulster wrote:Suez->Dakar->USA ain't that far in this game

Bringing four (!) corps undetected though is quite impressive!

Look at the date on which I posted this AAR, which curiously don't have screencaps. Thought the rickroll would have been a dead giveaway.

My joke relied on it being somewhat outrageous while still sort of plausible. It would be extremely unlikely that Jim could have shipped 4 corps east to the Suez then through the Red Sea and around the Cape up through the Atlantic without me catching some glimpse of his transports. But it could happen! Especially given the fact that Jim has sprung a number of surprises on me in this game.

Clark wrote:My joke relied on it being somewhat outrageous while still sort of plausible. It would be extremely unlikely that Jim could have shipped 4 corps east to the Suez then through the Red Sea and around the Cape up through the Atlantic without me catching some glimpse of his transports. But it could happen! Especially given the fact that Jim has sprung a number of surprises on me in this game.

You got me twice!!!!! Dang it!!!!

The real turn. In case you missed it, the last turn description was an April Fools' Day joke.

February 12, 1943.

The Western Allies streak across the central fields of Germany while the Russians continue the bloody struggle around Berlin. A huge hole is left for German infantry to drive directly at Allied aircraft on the ground, but no matter. Once the Allies connect on the ground, the Western Allies will get full supply and begin fighting on a more even level. Besides, if Germany pushes west, they'll give space to the Russian advance.

The Russians also continue to rail new builds and units from other other fronts into Poland.



The struggle continues in the South, with the Russians still holding the upper hand despite railing armor to the north.



Not pictured - the Italian mech infantry has bugged out of Port Said, which is now under British control along with Cairo. Smart move, as he would have been pulverized this turn without loss to my side.

March 4, 1943.

The Allies meet along the Elbe as more German infantry corps are wiped out.



Marseilles is captured and the Americans bear down on Genoa. The Russians move to cut off the entirety of the Axis Balkan forces from railing back to Italy.

March 24, 1942.

The Germans break the Allied "bridge" between their Russians and the West along the Elbe, but the Allies restore it at the end of the turn. The Russians bring in more firepower in the reserves.



In the south, the Russians take Belgrade and reach the Adriatic. Any forces to the south on the east side of the Adriatic will no longer be able to rail out to defend the Italian peninsula.

April 13, 1943. The Thousand Year Reich meets a very early end.

The Allies brought their overwhelming air superiority to bear on Berlin, which crumbled under a steady barrage of bombs from Russian, American, and British tactical bombers and fighters. The Luftwaffe managed to intervene on an early attack, inflicting 6 steps of damage to a British fighter wing, but overwhelming numbers in the air and on the ground spelled doom for the German defenders.



In the south, the Russians take Sofia. The Americans march on Milan and reduce the infantry there to 3 steps. The Americans have also landed on Sicily and waylaid the garrison in Palermo. It should fall next turn.

May 3, 1943. No pics! (I hit the end turn button before I remembered to get some screengrabs.)

It's just as well, because there's not much to report. I repaired as much as I could and upgraded everything that was full strength. Anything that was upgraded and at full strength was railed to Munich.

May 23, 1943.

First look at the Axis after the fall of Germany. You can actually hardly call it an Axis in Europe anymore, as Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, and this turn Hungary have all fallen to the Russians. (A nice side benefit of taking Budapest is that the forces defending Zagreb are Hungarian and will vanish next turn along with their regime.) And now the first Italian cities fall to the Americans - Milan in the north and Palermo in the south. Amphibious landings put American mechanized infantry on the Italian peninsula. I'll attempt to slice across Italy from coast to coast and cut off troops from railing to defend the northern cities before the Allies can arrive there in force.

June 12, 1943.

The slaughter continues, now with only Finland standing by Italy. The Russians take Zagreb and Tirana this turn, and a combined Allied air assault destroys the 2 step fighter and the full strength infantry defending Venice. Unfortunately I did my attacks out of order, so that the only ground unit in range attacked before much of the air barrage. So Venice is still in Italian hands.



Elsewhere the Allies work on taking all of Scandinavia back. The British have taken Copenhagen and Narvik, and are working on Oslo. The Russians have taken Stockholm and are working on the iron ore deposits. Also, the Finns should fall soon to a renewed Russian assault. Don't know if Jim can even afford to spend much on repairing Finnish troops, since he needs all the PP he can get for defending Rome.

July 2, 1943.

The Italians traditionally go on vacation in August, and I'd like to help make that a reality. With the slaughter that Allied bobers are raining down on the Italians, I do think that Rome could go next turn. It's down to 4 steps from 10 on naval and air bombardment alone, and I've brought in more bombers. (In vanilla, you can bombard a hex as many times as you have the planes or ships to do so.)



P.S. One problem with some screen capture programs, such as the one I'm using, is that it won't capture all the units in the picture. I actually have several units waiting to ship out from Tirana, and a Russian armored corps and infantry corps off the coast of Taranto. I should be able to take it as well next turn with a massive air bombardment and shore landings.

July 22, 1943. V-E Day!

After a massive air bombardment of Rome and Taranto, Rome falls to a ground assault led by Patton's armored corps. Attacks on Helsinki fail to produce the desired results, but as the last remaining country tied to the Axis powers, Finland sues for peace after receiving news that Mussolini has been marched out of the Palazzio Venezia in shackles by American GIs.



In retrospect, the stage was set for an overwhelming Allied victory once the Germans failed to attack the Low Countries in the spring of 1940. If France has time to set up a good double defense line along the Meuse and add some more offensive punch with mech infantry, Germany will either face a protracted slog or heavy casualties or both before they can reach Paris. And the longer that France is denied to Germany, the fewer PPs will be available for facing Russia in 1941. Jim's approach was to attack Sweden and Norway as a replacement, but this cost quite a few PP in shipping an invasion force into Scandinavia. Once Scandinavia was occupied, it was still not a full replacement for PPs that would have come from conquering France.

Still, to his credit, he did not give up and gave me all I could handle for a year of fighting. The attack on England sapped the UK's ability to contribute to the war on the Continent until much later than I would have liked. And overall, Italy performed very well in the war, taking all of North Africa and tying up millions of Russian troops in Southeast Europe. In retrospect, I should have gone all out after Berlin, which would have crumbled a lot faster if I had done so, and then railed everything to Munich to push through the Brenner Pass on into northern Italy. I got a little too cute press everywhere at once.

Casualties:



UK Tech:



US Tech:



Soviet Tech:

Jim here. That was a nice AAR, Clark. Talk about a trip down memory lane -- or is it nightmare lane? I've been playing CEAW via pbem (Mac platform) for about 18 months now, but as the Axis side I had never invaded Sweden nor had I ever launched a Sea Lion. So I thought I would do both in this game to see what happens. Now we know. In truth I did not think that France would take as long as it did, even with the late start. There was one point in the game where I thought I had a chance -- albeit a small one -- to take London. With that tantalizing prospect in mind I imagined that the Germans could conquer all of Britain, get those British Isles PPs, and combined with their hold on Scandinavian PPs the Germans then would have enough to put up a spirited defense against the Russians. But soon it was clear that London would not capitulate, so the game for me became a contest to see how long the Axis could hold out.

Great rickroll on April Fool's Day. With the Duce in charge there never is a shortage of April Fools.

I suppose that most of us will now graduate to the GS mod -- Windows only unless and until someone has mercy on the loyal Mac contingent.

JimR wrote:Jim here. That was a nice AAR, Clark. Talk about a trip down memory lane -- or is it nightmare lane? I've been playing CEAW via pbem (Mac platform) for about 18 months now, but as the Axis side I had never invaded Sweden nor had I ever launched a Sea Lion. So I thought I would do both in this game to see what happens. Now we know. In truth I did not think that France would take as long as it did, even with the late start. There was one point in the game where I thought I had a chance -- albeit a small one -- to take London. With that tantalizing prospect in mind I imagined that the Germans could conquer all of Britain, get those British Isles PPs, and combined with their hold on Scandinavian PPs the Germans then would have enough to put up a spirited defense against the Russians. But soon it was clear that London would not capitulate, so the game for me became a contest to see how long the Axis could hold out.

Great rickroll on April Fool's Day. With the Duce in charge there never is a shortage of April Fools.

I suppose that most of us will now graduate to the GS mod -- Windows only unless and until someone has mercy on the loyal Mac contingent.

That invasion of England gave me quite a scare. It was so unexpected that I started playing my turn before realizing that a bunch of transports were ready to land, which didn't help matters. It's almost as if the generals were bunkered up and giving out orders based on plans that were weeks and months old, while a persistent officer keeps knocking on the door to let them know that an invasion is underway.

I also imagine that you were a little surprised to see the summary of the surprise invasion of the US, since you didn't actually land any Italian infantry on the East Coast! Can't remember if I told you about the April Fool's Day joke at the time.