Blood, toil, tears and sweat - The war is over!

[zechi]

Turn 50 - German Panzer attack

Some action on the southern front. German Panzer attack on the northern part of the southern front and two Soviet INF with support of the Luftwaffe are destorye. Plaid moved one ARM into the swamp which is attacked immediately by two INF an two TAC. This results in heavy damage.



Preparations for Operation Husky continue. Next turn UK and US units will be loaded on transports for an attack on Sicily:

[zechi]

Turn 51 - Axis offensive begins, Operation Husky starts

Finally Plaid makes a serious attempt of attacking:



Axis take the city of Vinnitsa. The city is quite important, because it is a supply source and without it my units risk to be encircled. However, I rail some MECH to Kiev and I still have an ARM in reserve. Furthermore, I place two INF near the front. I did this after I spied with my STR on the northern front:



In the Med Operation Husky begins:



I move one STR on my airbase in Scapa Flow to spy on the forces in Britain:



My building queue:

[zechi]

Turn 52 - Heavy battle on the eastern front, Operation Husky succesfull

Now the battle in the east is on:



Operation Husky is succesful:



Landings on the mainland are prepared:



Near Britain my STR is pulled back after attacks by Kriegsmarine and a FTR stationed in Britain, I did not expect that! Nevertheless, US STR is brought into the Polar Front:

[joerock22]

Did you actually rename those garrison transports to disguise them as infantry and armour? If so, I think that's dishonest. A better and fairer solution is to rename them by number and write down what number corresponds to which unit for your own reference. That way, your opponent doesn't know what unit is on which transport, but you're also not actively lying to him.

If I were you, I would make sure your opponent is ok with you doing this. If you were playing me and I found out, I would ask you to stop.

[zechi]

Did you actually rename those garrison transports to disguise them as infantry and armour? If so, I think that's dishonest. A better and fairer solution is to rename them by number and write down what number corresponds to which unit for your own reference. That way, your opponent doesn't know what unit is on which transport, but you're also not actively lying to him.

If I were you, I would make sure your opponent is ok with you doing this. If you were playing me and I found out, I would ask you to stop.

Oh, I did not know that this is against the Game etiquette. I thought this was some kind of war ruse (like Operation Fortitude), which is acceptable. I noticed that Plaid gave numbers to the transports, so I thought it is OK to rename them with deceiving names. I will give them numbers next turn.

[afk_nero]

I personally don't think that this is a problem. Anyway in GS 2.0 this will not be possible.

In war deception is a big element - all the best generals used deception and this enabled them to win by effectively cheating.
Wars are not fought by to hounerable opponents - I think this small deception is acceptable. Although I have never done this it's only through lack of imagination.

I can imagine that the opponent would feel uncomfortable with this but it's like montogomery complaining in war that Rommel is cheating and he should alter his tactics to make the battles more fair.

Things that I think are cheating is if someone replays a turn in a pbem game or such like.

[ncali]

Renaming convoys is something I just think players should discuss and agree about. It was discussed in the prior thread (and there were some differences of opinion about it) =

viewtopic.php?t=17316

Personally, i wish they'd get rid of this "feature" that crept up (and of which many players were unaware) when the original designers added the ability to rename all units. That said, there is nothing wrong with using it in this way if both players agree. By the way, I think you're doing a good job in Russia so far, Zechi!

[zechi]

Turn 53 - High Soviet casualities, Invasion of Italy begins

On the southern front the battle rages on. No real breakthrough by the Axis, but nevertheless my losses are higher then the losses of the Axis in the last few turns. My counterattacks damages a Panzer Corps (brought down to 4 steps) and destroys a German INF. Soviet Airforce is repaired and put on sentry to avoid losses next turn, but next the Luftwaffe will rule the skies.



The northern front line becomes a little by thinner as I removed/exchanged some units. Nevertheless it is still a double line. I can also replace my losses quite good, as you will see on my building queue:



However, I wonder how long Plaid will be able to attack. German Luftwaffe takes at least some losses and also his frontline units have to be repaired. I also wonder how the oil and manpower situation is.

In Italy the first British Corps land on the toe of Italy. Heavy naval bombardment near Taranto:



I also move my air units in range. However, I did a mistake last turn. The ARM with Patton was attacked by the remnants of the Regia Marina from the port near Naples. I have to retreat the transport to safety. I will try to put pressure on Taranto and Naples next turn.

[zechi]

Turn 54 - Red Army retakes Vinnitsa, Invasion of Italy continues

I got some nice upgrades this turn:



On the southern front the Axis attack loses momentum and this turn I only lost a MECH, but my counterattack destroys two German INF. For the upcoming winter offensive I begin to produce an ARM.



The Invasion of Italy continues as I play out my naval and air superiority:



It seems that Plaid is low on units. I wonder why he does not bring in some more units from the northern part of the Eastern front.

[Clark]

Does the defense of Italy seem rather lackadaisical to you?

[gerones]

This game is showing us how flawed strategy is Sealion for the axis. It´s much more worthy to prepare a really strong Barbarossa which gives you options to really punish the russians. This is the key of the game for the germans: to weaken the russians as much as possible. With a 160 PP´s russian income each turn, the germans have nothing to do...

[ncali]

I disagree with leridano. Both Barbarossa and Sealion are valid strategies.

I played a recent game that started out very similar to this one in terms of the difficulty of the conquest of England and ended up winning as the Axis. I think Plaid made some decisions that have made life tough for him at this point. Essentially, Zechi has just played a better strategic game (no offense when you later read this Plaid - I think you're a very good player)! I could go into detail why I think this is the case, but it don't want to hijack the thread. I'll just quickly mention one thing here and that is that I don't think Plaid could spare the resources to devote to North Africa that he did in this game. This includes the PP's he spent committing air support to North Africa and repairing those planes.

Again, so far good job Zechi in this one!

[schwerpunkt]

I disagree with leridano. Both Barbarossa and Sealion are valid strategies.

I played a recent game that started out very similar to this one in terms of the difficulty of the conquest of England and ended up winning as the Axis. I think Plaid made some decisions that have made life tough for him at this point. Essentially, Zechi has just played a better strategic game (no offense when you later read this Plaid - I think you're a very good player)! I could go into detail why I think this is the case, but it don't want to hijack the thread. I'll just quickly mention one thing here and that is that I don't think Plaid could spare the resources to devote to North Africa that he did in this game. This includes the PP's he spent committing air support to North Africa and repairing those planes.

Again, so far good job Zechi in this one!

I agree. Each time I have undertaken Sea Lion I have managed an axis victory. It isnt easy and how you deal with russia and protect Italy are critical but knocking out air base britain yields huge benefits.

[zechi]

Turn 55 - Red Army takes heavy casualities and prepares for winter offensive, Invasion of Italy continues

Last turn Plaid destroyed two MECH, INF and FTR. Nevertheless, he did not take Vinnitsa back and will not break my line, as I have more than enough reinforcements:



On the northern front everything is quiet. I do not understand why Plaid did not try an attack here. There are mostly GAR and INF stationed there. My reserve force for this front is on the south and he has mostly high quality German units in this sector. Even without Air support he would have had some success



On the polar front my US STR succesfully attacks a SUB:



The Invasion of Italy continues. However, one of my FTR was badly mauled by the Luftwaffe and I could lose it next turn. However, I did manage to inflict heavy casualities and Taranto could fall soon:



Reinforcements for the Med (hopefully no SUB near):



Allied scientist were also very succesful this turn:

[zechi]

Does the defense of Italy seem rather lackadaisical to you?

Yes, there are mostly Italian units and only one FTR to defend Italy. That's not too much. I wonder why he did not use the Italian FTRs and TAC for defending Italy. I have naval and aerial superiority. At least in the air he could challenge me more. Even a second German FTR would change the situation significantly.

[gerones]

I agree. Each time I have undertaken Sea Lion I have managed an axis victory. It isnt easy and how you deal with russia and protect Italy are critical but knocking out air base britain yields huge benefits.

I assume that in the games you have mentioned you went much more further east in Russia than Plaid is doing in this game. You surely went east enough for reducing russian PP´s income the way in which your german production was bigger than the russian. In the current game the russians have more or less the same production than Germany: this will result in overwhelming russian forces in 1943-1944.

What I mean is that if the germans do not weaken much more the russians than Plaid is doing in this game then the axis has few possibilities to win the game even having taken UK.

[schwerpunkt]

I agree. Each time I have undertaken Sea Lion I have managed an axis victory. It isnt easy and how you deal with russia and protect Italy are critical but knocking out air base britain yields huge benefits.

I assume that in the games you have mentioned you went much more further east in Russia than Plaid is doing in this game. You surely went east enough for reducing russian PP´s income the way in which your german production was bigger than the russian. In the current game the russians have more or less the same production than Germany: this will result in overwhelming russian forces in 1943-1944.

What I mean is that if the germans do not weaken much more the russians than Plaid is doing in this game then the axis has few possibilities to win the game even having taken UK.

I agree - you have to get across the Dnepr river and stay there for a few years....

[zechi]

Turn 56 - Axis attack northern front, Zhukov Panzer Corps destroyed, Invasion of Italy continues

Finally there is some action on the northern front. German strike force take out Zhukov Tank Corps My counterattack is less effective, only one German INF destroyed, ARM damaged.



In Italy my offensive continues:

[zechi]

Turn 57 - Axis reinforces Italy

Unfortunately I forgot to take screenshots. On the eastern front I upgrade most units, place my first new ARM.

In Italy Plaid reinforced the defenders with another German INF, MECH and a TAC. I attack the TAC with the US CV and with two DD (however, one DD takes heavy losses and the other does no damage). I also destroy a retreating German INF with air strikes and reinforce most of my Units. Pattons ARM corps lands.

It will be interesting how this will play out. I assume that Plaid will bring in more German forces in the Med, because of the upcoming winter in Russia, but this is exactly what I want. However, he could achieve a stand off in Italy.

[gerones]

If you achieve to take the 3rd italian city so you force an italian surrender plus an early severe winter in Russia you could break through axis positions in southern Russia since the italian units there would disappear and the rest are minor axis units. On the other hand, in southern Russia axis units are in russian territory and the will be affected by severe winter penalty whilst axis units on russian northern front are in eastern Poland and they will not suffer winter penalty.