Spanish Option AAR - from two of the developers

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:53 pm

Ronnie and I have started what I thought was going to be one of our "typical" games. He had a quick Polish appetizer, greedily had a second appetizer (Denmark) , and followed up with the Low Countries and France as the main course. I assumed he would be thinking of English trifle for dessert, or possibly something yummy from the Balkans.

But no, he has thrown me a curve and invaded Spain.

For the purposes of our game, and because he and I both like to wrap our games in an aura of historical possibilities, Ronnie told me that the Axis invaded Spain only as a response to a British sponsored coup which had overthrown Franco. The idea of a pro-Allied Spain was too much for Hitler and Mussolini to take, especially after investing three years and copious amounts of money and manpower during the Spanish Civil War.

So, here we go.....

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:17 pm

The situation as of December 4, 1940

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:19 pm

From the London Daily Mirror, Dec 7th, 1940:

SECOND BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR!

The Admiralty today confirmed that a large naval battle occurred on the evening of December 4th, almost precisely in the same location south of Cadiz where Lord Nelson's victory of October 21, 1805 occurred. Reflecting the changed times however, this battle occurred between German submarines on the one side, and Spanish destroyers, Royal Navy surface vessels, and even some Swordfish from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious.

Admiral Cunningham described the action at a news conference in Tangier yesterday, and we take great pleasure in reporting it to you verbatim.

"As you all know, the situation in Spain appears grim, with two major columns of Italian and German motorized troops and armour, supported by elements of the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica, are within a couple of hundred miles of Madrid. In the disorganized atmosphere extant now in Madrid, in the wake of the coup against Franco, Spanish resistance, while bold, appears to be futile. As we have already seen in France and Poland, infantry, cavalry, and obsolete tanks and aircraft are simply no match for the modern forces of Germany. A determination had been made, well in advance of the events I am about to outline to you, that the only decision available to Britain is to defend Gibraltar, but at the same time to be realistic, and assume that when Spain falls, soon after Gibraltar will follow.

Accordingly, a decision to occupy Spanish Morocco has been implemented. It will form a springboard for future action to liberate Spain from its oppressors.

At 01:15 hrs Dec 4/40 Spanish destroyers operating in coordination with Royal Navy elements, began a sweep towards Cadiz to guard the northern flank of the deployment to Morocco. Strong resistance was encountered, in the form of numerous German u-boats. However, I am pleased to report that the damage inflicted upon the Nazi submarines outweighed the damage to Spanish forces, and Swordfish aircraft from RN carriers further damaged the German submarines.

Simultaneously, Royal Navy escorts and transports conveyed the elements of the British Army into Tangier harbour, without losses of any kind.

Regrettably, a small Spanish troop convoy proceeding from La Caruna southward along the Portuguese coast ran into another German u-boat flotilla, and suffered serious losses. A British BB squadron comprising HMS Hood and HMS Rodney, cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk, and other escorts, racing to rescue survivors, ran into yet another pack of submarines, also taking damage.

In addition to this action, British submarines operating from Malta prosecuted a moderately successful attack against Italian battleships off of the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

It appears at this time that while Spain's immediate future is bleak, but simply put: a successful defense of Madrid is simply not possible with the forces at hand.

As our Prime Minister has recently said, we must bide our time, and wait for the forces of the New World to come to the rescue of the Old."

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:10 am

Axis side of this AAR moved to: viewtopic.php?p=117298#117298

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 1:08 pm

One u-boat group was destroyed and another badly damaged in the ongoing naval struggle off of Cadiz. Additionally, a British BB coming up from the south Atlantic found yet another u-boat group. How many of these things does Germany have?

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:31 pm

Happycat wrote:One u-boat group was destroyed and another badly damaged in the ongoing naval struggle off of Cadiz. Additionally, a British BB coming up from the south Atlantic found yet another u-boat group. How many of these things does Germany have?

One less than I had last turn.

The choice to interdict the RN and Spanish navies and transports has been costly to my u-boat force of [x] flotillas. Then add in the cost of lost steps and the outright loss of one flotilla with Allied convoys sailing through to England untouched I'm beginning to second guess my decision to interdict these navies in support of my invasion of Spain. Oh well ... too late now. It's time to move on, finish off Spain, repair my u-boat fleet and go convoy hunting.

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:39 pm

Axis side of this AAR moved to: viewtopic.php?p=117298#117298

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:58 pm

So this is now the Allied side of the AAR; Ronnie will post the Axis reports separately.

It is now February of '41, and while it is clear that Spain will fall, I believe that I can hold Spanish Morocco. The larger prize yet to be won is a delay of Barbarossa. I think if Ronnie chooses to ignore the British presence on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar, he will still be able to get something going in Russia by July. But if I entice him into fighting, by being a pain in the butt with the Royal Navy, maybe I can also derail his timetable.

This turn saw severe losses inflicted upon the Italian DD squadron, and some minor damage to the Italian sub flotilla.

The real problem for the Axis now, as I see it, is that the German submarine fleet has been beaten up in the fighting around Spain, and thus has had NO effect upon British convoys.

However, Ronnie is a clever and skilled opponent, so I am not counting on anything yet

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 12:02 am

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:01 am

Just curious...where did the Nazi flag come from for Germany? My version has the German flag.

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:26 am

Blathergut wrote:Just curious...where did the Nazi flag come from for Germany? My version has the German flag.

It's a custom graphics pack. I thought I had installed all of the new graphics, but apparently not. I am told I am also missing some of the new naval unit graphics. So I am going to try reinstalling.

trulster · Post by **trulster** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:33 am

Didnt consider holding those 3 mountain hexes north of Gib instead of Spanish Morocco? would slow the German a lot.... a boon for Russia.

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:55 am

trulster wrote:Didnt consider holding those 3 mountain hexes north of Gib instead of Spanish Morocco? would slow the German a lot.... a boon for Russia.

I know from considerable experience what airpower can do. I don't think I would have delayed him for long, unless I was willing to send in more fighters to counter his tactical air. That I am not willing to do.

Your idea is sound, however.

What I would like to see us do on the next GS patch is add a capital for Spain in Spanish Morocco. It should still stand after Spain falls in my opinion. Then any Spanish forces that are not annihilated by the Axis can slip across the strait into Morocco, but before doing so could fight a rear guard action north of Gibraltar.

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:17 pm

Oops, looks like a developer of the GS mod forgot one of the new features

In this instance, I left a damaged British battleship sitting in Cadiz harbour, and when Madrid fell, bye bye BB.

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:21 pm

Fortress Morocco. I hope...

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:07 pm

Gibraltar is under attack. It will be interesting to see, once it falls, if Ronnie goes after Morocco, or redeploys some units to eastern Europe. Once he takes Gibraltar, he controls the strait, but I would not be too surprised to see him go after Morocco, just so he can destroy (or try to destroy) my motorized units and air.

Meanwhile, in Egypt (see second photo below) the British can now see some Italian units staging to the west. Uh oh...

The good news for Britain is that ALL of my convoys are getting through. Meanwhile, Russia is building nothing yet, and waiting for tech incrreases in air and infantry. No point building and then upgrading if I don't have to.

1941 is going to be a looooooong year

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:23 am

A little short of time, so no screen shots. Hopefully my Axis opponent is posting lots of pics.

Spring (April) 1941 and I have decided to salvage what I can from Morocco. The fighter has sailed south to reinforce Egypt, and then I pulled what was left of the strategic bombers out and sent them back towards England. I also managed to save one mechanized corps and one infantry, now enroute to Egypt. Another mechanized corps left Halifax and is on its way to Egypt.

This turn the Italians attacked in Egypt, somewhat ineffectually. The RAF defended against air strikes, and lost one step. I have now grounded the RAF for one turn, and repaired the loss. A mech and an inf attacked the Italians, and destroyed one corps, losing only one step in the process. Good ol' Monty

--- pays to have a good commander in charge of things.

My main problem in Egypt is, and will continue to be, a lack of tactical air. Even though Britain has not suffered economic loss to u-boats, I have opted to build DD's and troops in the UK. The holiday from u-boat activity is bound to end soon, and I want to be ready for it. At the same time, I want to have a strong land force in the UK, so that I have the option of making some nuisance attacks on the French coast.

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 7:56 pm

June 22/41, and no Barbarossa. Can't say as that I'm surprised: the German tactical air was in Spain up until last turn, so if Ronnie's going to attack Russia, it probably won't be until the second July turn imo. I am trying something very different in Russia, for me.

I have saved all of the Russian pp's until now, except for what I invested in research. Now that my air tech is a bit better, I have ordered fighters this turn (two groups). I also have four of the "cheaper" generals on the building queue now, so that I can deploy them right after Ronnie attacks. Increased organization, even just a couple of points, can be very useful at times. When I see what direction the "schwerpunkt" is, then I will deploy infantry. Because he is behind schedule in Russia, I feel that I can probably defend a little farther forward than normally (perhaps even hold the Dnieper?)

Meanwhile, in Morocco, I am down to one infantry corps and one garrison. They will stand and die. I am happy that I rescued most of the other units; they will be useful in Egypt.

In Egypt, over the last couple of turns I have killed one Italian corps, and severely damaged another. This turn, the Axis destroyed a British corps, using the DAK. (CONTINUED BELOW)

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 8:01 pm

Since I always like an opportunity to kill German armour, I was happy to see the DAK sitting in the front line at the start of my turn. Two carrier groups destroyed some of his effectiveness, and a couple of steps. In addition, the air-to-air combat slightly favoured the British. My first infantry corps was able to attack at 4-3 odds, and the second one at the same (it had one step missing from the previous turn's combat).

The DAK is now down to three steps, so I suspect it will be pulling back for a couple of turns.

Now I have to decide whether I fall back onto the Nile, or hang in where I am for a turn or two more. It really depends upon where the missing German tactical air shows up. Happily, most of the Italian Navy is still farting around by Gibraltar

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:28 pm

No Barbarossa yet, which I like.

The Germans have removed the DAK from the front line, and this turn I was able to eliminate a German infantry corps at El Alamein. The price may turn out to be one of my CV groups, which is down to five steps. But I think that although that is a poor trade tactically, it pays off strategically. Ronnie will definitely need more Germans to stiffen the offense in Egypt, and that could help me in Europe when the inevitable happens.

A British sub found a German troop convoy coming into a Libyan port, and destroyed 4 pp's.

The only other news is that Morocco has fallen, although there is still one British infantry corps there.