Slitherine

Turn 25. December 24, 1940.

Afrika Korps supported by italian mobile forces and significant Luftwaffe forces, destroyed 2 Commonwealth infantry corps. Also british armoured corps was reduced to 6 steps.

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I forget to take screenshots in my reply turn. The main thing that happened was that british subs torpedoed a german BB in Gulf of Cadiz reducing it to 5 steps (RN has been mobilized to start hunting this damaged BB) and that australian corps finally arrived to Gibraltar.

First spanish partisan spawned close to BEF Spain.

Turn 26. January 13, 1941. UK withdraws from Eastern Mediterranean sea.

Germans destroyed british armoured in the desert and reduced to 5 steps another inf corps that probably will be also destroyed on the next turn.

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In such situation british government have decided to evacuate all Commonwealth forces from Egypt and Eastern Med. Reinforcements will be sent to Irak where the allies will attempt to stop the germans. RN Mediterranean Fleet will be sent to Atlantic and UK since the british are fearing something bad for summer 1941 in their homeland...

In Spain, a partisan spawns close to BEF and joined these forces this turn.

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Sevilla garrison was reduced to 1 step because of the overwhelming german attacks and australian corps at Gibraltar was reinforced to full strength.

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Partisans in France and in Yugoslavia.

Turn 27. February 2, 1941. Greece is invaded by Wehrmacht.

The typical invasion of Greece with 2 german infantry corps landing close to Athens occurs this turn. Athens defenders were reduced to 4 steps.

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First french partisan appears near Orleans.

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Wehrmacht sent a heavy detachment to "pacify" the north of Spain. Note that units have now a number instead of a coloured dot to show the current entrenchment level. This has been made to avoid colours confussion between some coloured dots and the colours of the counters of some countries. This is particularly useful in the counter mod where the counters occupy almost all the hex and sometimes it cannot be distinguished if the unit is in a city, in forest, in clear terrain, etc.

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Incredibly australian corps was reduced to 4 steps from 10 no matter the unit was in fortress and only two attacking hexes were possible. It was reinforced to 7 steps.

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RAF made the first strategic bombings over Germany.

Turn 28. February 22, 1941. Greece surrenders.

Greece surrenders to axis forces so Mediterranean sea is becoming even more an "Axis lake".

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In the rest, to mention that more partisans spawned in Spain, and more skirmishes between british and german naval forces in the Atlantic. Gibraltar still holds.

Winter weather this turn so no progress of the Wehrmacht in northern Spain.

Turn 29. March 14, 1941. Axis forces now control Suez Canal. Gibraltar surrenders to german forces.

This turn Axis forces arrived to Port Said thus controlling this transportation loop.

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Gibraltar was also seized by the Wehrmacht and a german para was dropped in Spanish Morocco.

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Incredibly again, a british BB was reduced from 8 to 2 steps because of an attack of only 2 subs.

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A british fleet coming from eastern Med escorted Malta fighter group unit that it is going to be transported to Irak.

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Also to mention that many partisans spawned this turn (2 in Spain) and I hope that the ones spawning in the next turns will do in a city.

leridano wrote:Incredibly again, a british BB was reduced from 8 to 2 steps because of an attack of only 2 subs.

My experience has been at this stage of the game such attacks (i.e., German u-boat versus UK BB) generally shows 3:1 expected odds. So the expected loss from 2 sub attacks is 6-steps. With the outcome now based on the average of 3 sets of rolls per attack, versus the variability with just 1 set, the actual outcome should more closely approach the expected odds. Isn't this what you lobbied for? That is, reduced variability and that the actual outcome more closely matched expected odds?

rkr1958 wrote:

leridano wrote:Incredibly again, a british BB was reduced from 8 to 2 steps because of an attack of only 2 subs.

My experience has been at this stage of the game such attacks (i.e., German u-boat versus UK BB) generally shows 3:1 expected odds. So the expected loss from 2 sub attacks is 6-steps. With the outcome now based on the average of 3 sets of rolls per attack, versus the variability with just 1 set, the actual outcome should more closely approach the expected odds. Isn't this what you lobbied for? That is, reduced variability and that the actual outcome more closely matched expected odds?

Also remember that in naval battles, the attacker fires first. So it's even more likely that the attacker will actually get the projected results.

Turn 30. April 3, 1941.

Heavy air battles between RAF (supported by british CV) and Luftwaffe occur this turn: a Luftwaffe fighter air base was reduced to 3 steps. The fact is that previously Luftwaffe fighters had attacked RAF strategic bombers air bases (forcing me to withdraw them), so the german strat was rebased to spot the britisth air bases.

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Allied mediterranean naval task force sailed to UK this turn.

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Forget to take screeshots in the rest but it would have to mention that depleted british BB sailed back to Basra port for being repaired.

Meanwhile, axis forces made an approach in Palestine.

joerock22 wrote:

rkr1958 wrote:

leridano wrote:Incredibly again, a british BB was reduced from 8 to 2 steps because of an attack of only 2 subs.

My experience has been at this stage of the game such attacks (i.e., German u-boat versus UK BB) generally shows 3:1 expected odds. So the expected loss from 2 sub attacks is 6-steps. With the outcome now based on the average of 3 sets of rolls per attack, versus the variability with just 1 set, the actual outcome should more closely approach the expected odds. Isn't this what you lobbied for? That is, reduced variability and that the actual outcome more closely matched expected odds?

Also remember that in naval battles, the attacker fires first. So it's even more likely that the attacker will actually get the projected results.

Joe, Ronnie, I´m glad with the new combat system. Which surprises me much are the extremely low losses of the german subs. Keep in mind that german attacking u-boats DID NOT lose any step attacking the british BB. This is a 6:0 result favouring the german subs so that seems very bad luck. (the same happened near Halifax at the start of the game).
Note: normal odds of a german sub attacking a british BB in the exactly same situation of my game (checked by me in a hotseat game) are 3:2 and not 3:1.

Are the German subs upgraded to tech 1? Then they get +2 survivability.

I think the Allied player would do better by sending their naval units to port in 1940 and wait for tech upgrades and more DD's coming to form a strong task force that can escort ONE convoy. By doing this you get some PP's home from each convoy formed. By staying out at sea in 1940 you simply lose to many naval steps so the convoys that get home with PP's will only be used to repair naval losses.

The Allied player simply has to accept the fact that the Atlantic belongs to the Germans in 1940 and 1941 until USA joins. Don't spread your naval forces or the Germans will go after the escorts instead. If you need to stay at sea then try to stay under cover of Allied strategic bombers so these air units can attack the subs to inflict some damage.

I usually alternate the BB / DD screen around a convoy so that only one sub can attack without being attacked by other naval units. If they go after BB's then British adjacent DD's can retaliate next turn. If they go after DD's then they lose quite some steps when they attack and the BB's can retaliate.

If the Germans have built a huge wolfpack stage you simply flee to port and accept that you can't fight at the moment. Be glad that one sub wolfpack can't spot all the convoys coming in.