Slitherine

As Ike99 is going to do an AAR from the axis point of view, I thought it would be nice to share the Allied view of this conflict.

This is my first AAR ever!

Some irrelevant background information on PanzerGeneral
- live in Norway
- 36 years old, married and have a 7 month old son
- first computer game I ever saw and played was "Space invaders" in 1981
- my first strategy games were "Tigers in the snow" (SSI) and "Russia" (SSG) on my good old C64 in 1987

- strategy games I have played the last couple of years:
- Hearts of Iron (Paradox)
- Hearts of Iron II (Paradox)
- Panzer General (SSI), thanks to DOSBox I could reuse my old PG CD
- War in Russia (SSI), again DOSBox does miracles, when I want to play old DOS games on my Windows XP computer
- CEAW, got it in May and have played through a couple of times as Axis and Allies

I have played a number of strategy games but only against an AI. It is usually fairly easy to adapt my playing style to the AI and exploit its weak points and beat it.

I will probably make a lot of mistakes when playing against a human, but will be a lot of fun.

Well enough talk! Let the battle commence.
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I am finally ready to start posting my AAR. Had some inital troubles in getting the screenshots to be displayed.

A big thanks to Ike99 who tipped me about "Photobucket" website.

Now to do some copy and paste from my AAR word file.

20. November, 1939 – Phoney War

We play a vanilla game. The start parameters for this game:
- fog of war
- random research
- oil consumption
- no house rules
- disabled ending in 1945, which means that we can fight to the bitter end

The priorities for the Allies.
Britain:
- build one research lab for each technology, I like to get the research started on techs
- redeploy the motorised corps in Britain to North Africa
- redeploy the corps in Canada to Britain
- build two leaders, one for England and one for North Africa
- build up the RAF, I need more fighters
- build destroyers in order to defeat the subs
- build more labs
- build up the army

The later goals are rather vague as I most probably need to change my priorities as the war goes on.

Poland: was defeated after three turns. Not really much I could do.

France:
- have built a leader which was placed in the corps in Paris
- move the French battleships to the North Sea
- build as many garrisons as possible before the German attack
- hold out as long as possible!

USA and Russia, the only thing I have planned so far is to build labs before they enter the war. Haven’t planned that far ahead yet.

The current research status for Britian.


Deployment of the French army.


I have deployed the British navy in the North Sea, and the strategic bomber on the coast and will move the French navy there as well. If I am lucky the navy might stumble upon a sub and take some pot shots at it. If Norway is invaded I have the opportunity to rapidly make some sort of counter attack.


Waiting for the next German move

10. December, 1939 – The Netherlands is attacked

The attack in the west has started.

I am going to sacrifice the Dutch army and try to make the German army spend some time there.

I have moved the Dutch corps south of Hague to the coast. This will force the Germans to move next to it before attacking it. Hopefully they will use the next turn to defeat it before attacking Hague.

30. December 1939 – The Dutch are defending themselves, convoy sunk, Norway attacked
The Germans have become very active this turn. A lousy end to 1939

I now have one lab for each tech, and have built a leader. The leader O’Connor (ground attack 1, and leadership 6) will be sent to serve the army in North Africa.


A convoy north of Canada has been sunk!


The only comfort is that if the subs are there I will move the Candian corps rapidly across the Atlantic along with a destroyer for escort. I assume there are no other subs in the area.
Other deployment news. The motorised corps has reached the Red Sea, and the french navy has reached the North Sea.

The Dutch army made a sacrifice and have postponed the attack on Hague until next turn. The French army is deploying its new garrisons along a second defence line.


Norway is attacked. This was sooner than I expected!


I have devised a cunning plan. I will commence operation “Certain Death”. I will use the French BBs to attack and try to sink the German BB outside Oslo. If I manage to sink it, the chances for a Sealion should become smaller. This will also keep the German planes in Denmark busy fighting the French BBs, which means that they cannot assist in the attack in the west. The attack went fairly well, both ships losing 2 steps each.

19. January 1940 – The Dutch are still holding Hague, Norway defeated, German BB surrounded
Norway has been defeated. I just noticed from the Norway screenshot from last turn that there was no army in Oslo! Ike99 did a good of defeating it in only one turn. Personally I need at least two turns. Hmm, another lesson learned.

Operation “Certain Death” certainly is living up to its name! One French BB has been sunk. But the German BB is still outside Oslo. I move in the last French BB and attack it. With any luck I might defeat it next turn, if Ike99 doesn’t bomb my last French BB to the bottom of the sea.


The Dutch army is performing well Hague are still in Dutch hands, but with only 3 steps left it will be defeated next turn.

8. February 1940 – The Dutch have capitulated, German BB sunk
The Dutch army in Hague has been defeated and they are out of the war.

I guess that next turn Belgium will be attacked.

A second defence line is coming up nicely in France. If the defence will hold stall the Germans, time will tell.


The German BB outside Oslo has been sunk by my French BB! I suspect that the German planes in Denmark have moved to facilitate the attack on Belgium/France. That is the only reason why it is still alive.

28. February 1940 – Belgium attacked, more sub attacks on convoys in the Atlantic
Belgium has been attacked. I think Ike99 has done a good job of defeating the Belgian army with few losses. The army Brussels will definitely be defeated next turn.
I am beginning to wonder how long my French army will hold out


The German subs have been busy this turn.

A convoy outside Canada has been attacked.


Another convoy outside Ireland has been attacked. But intelligence seems to have picked up that the sub has moved outside Glasgow for another attack.


I move in the British navy in attempt to trap and sink that annoying sub. I need my PPs from the convoys.


I was saving up to buy a fighter, but have bought a destroyer a need some convoy escorts! Another lessoned learned from playing against a human.

The corps from Canada has arrived in England.

19. March 1940 – Belgium surrendered, France under attack, more sub attacks on convoy in the Atlantic
Belgium surrendered as I expected. France is now under attack. Ike99 has tried to breach a hole in the centre of my first defensive line. Perhaps he is trying to evade my superior French armour


I repair one unit and withdraw the most damaged unit (2 steps left) and place a newly built garrison in front of Paris.


The subs attacking the convoy north of Canada still 5 more turns until my new destroyer is finished. With two destroyers I might feel bold enough to try to go for some sub hunting in that area.

That's a very interesting strategy for the defense of France: preparing 2 infantry lines along the rivers at the outset. I'm curious to see how long you can hold. My guess is that your opponent will try to avoid the units on the far flanks and just focus on getting hexes adjacent to Paris. So make sure your line is at least 2 rows deep around the city when the Germans get close

8. April 1940 –France under attack, counter attack into Germany
The breach in the front is getting larger.


I have enough PPs to repair all the French units. I withdraw my armour to Paris so it can assist in the defence there. I do not want it to be surrounded and rendered completely useless.

I start a diversionary attack from the Maginot line. The garrisons move into Germany, in a desperate hope that Ike99 will have to spend some energy in order to contain them. There is no point in letting them rot in their places before France surrenders.

That's a very interesting strategy for the defense of France: preparing 2 infantry lines along the rivers at the outset. I'm curious to see how long you can hold. My guess is that your opponent will try to avoid the units on the far flanks and just focus on getting hexes adjacent to Paris. So make sure your line is at least 2 rows deep around the city when the Germans get close

My French army is at a disadvantage. One method to get attack penalties for the German is to make them attack across rivers. This is my strategy with the second defense line.

I agree that he will probably avoid my flanks. Perhaps it is time to consider to draw all the garrisons towards Paris in order for Ike99 to have fight his way through them.

28. April 1940 – France under attack, counter attack into Germany continues
The first line of defence has crumbled away.


In order to slow the Germans down a bit I move the tank back to the front line behind the river next to Paris. In retrospect this should have been its original position. Then it would have had more time to entrench. I move the other garrisons closer to Paris in order to force the Germans to fight their way through.

It still have enough PPs to repair everything as much as possible I think it will become harder the next turns as my losses will continue to mount.

The diversionary attack is still progressing.

18. May 1940 – France under attack, counter attack into Germany continues, another convoy attack in the Atlantic
The Germans attack without making any progress! Heavy French losses which I repair with all PPs I have left. I pull out damaged units that I cannot repair and insert fresh ones. The attack into Germany and Belgium continues unopposed.


The British finally have enough PPs to buy a fighter. The build queue for Britain:


Another convoy is attacked in the Atlantic. These attacks are hurting British effort to collect as many PPs as possible. My wish list for units is long


USA and Russia buy their first lab (General tech, focus on industry)

7. June 1940 – France under attack, counter attack into Germany continues, convoy sunk in the Atlantic
The second line of defence is close to being breached. Judging from the German losses Ike99 has to fight hard in order to cross the river. I do not have enough PPs to repair all units. I make a big mistake when moving a damaged garrison from the front line. The fresh garrison I intended to move into that spot will not move there! The result is that there is a hole in my river defence. I don’t understand why I can’t move a garrison unit into it. Arghhh, a newbie mistake. Ike99 must think I am a moron abandoning such a nice defensive position.

The diversionary attack is still progressing. One garrison has taken a tour into the Netherlands. If it reaches the channel, the Germans are cut off from their main supply. The supply level should fall from 5 to 4 as Brussels will become their supply base. The other garrisons have Berlin as their goal. Who knows, I might get lucky


The army in Paris is well entrenched and is ready for the German attack.


A convoy is sunk in the Atlantic

You could have railed into that hex

You could have railed into that hex

You are absolutely correct. This proves the point! I am a newbie at this game.

hi looks great with news reports and pic are cool

hi looks great with news reports and pic are cool

Thanks, I am glad you enjoy it!

any tip on using axis?