Slitherine

Well, this will be my second AAR and this time it will be me playing the allies against Plaid with the Axis.

I havent posted anything yet because most of the motions in and before the french campaign are plainly boring and uninteresting.

Also i have been a little bit sluggish with the french defenses because it doesnt have any effect on the outcome and also because id like my opponent to sit and enjoy, a little bit too much, his moment with the initiative. Being sluggish in the start tends to put the german player at ease with his subs, Barbarossa preperations and trivial stuff like Yougoslavia and Norway. I like the axis player to think i will be sluggish or mostly passive, where it is totally the opposite.

I believe in seizing the initiative and keep it and you win the game. In the allies case before 1943, you need to target to have local inititative where the axis cant deploy "en masse". So this is what i will intend to do. Focus on local, peripherals fronts and areas, get local superiority and grind down axis forces.

So, now, to the strategy i want to use.

Research
First of all, i maxed out english research already investing mainly there, with 2 in naval with ASW focus in case the germans decide that they want a sub kiregsmarine. Also 2 points in Air with dogfight focus. Same strategy for US and 1 tank 1 air for the Russians. I will keep investing there.

A little bit about sealion

Well, you may believe it or not, but not 1 player did try a serious attempt at Sealion since i have been players guys from this forum community... I guess its the way we all play. I attempt it most often as Axis, but i guess too many players find it risky, which it is... So i gambled again that my opponent has no intention of Invading England... This is a risk, but will be to my advantage once i get forces where i want them as early as possible.

The peripheral strategy

As you will see during this AAR, my strategy is simple. Strech the germans on every front and opportunity possible. Open fronts in Greece, Italy, France, Norway, Portugal/Spain. at first, nothing seems to be working for the allies and losses are great. But, after a while, cracks start to appear in the once mighty axis machine, as oil and manpower runs out and the Russians keep doing what they do best, that is bleed the german manpower dry.

Some players try to fend off this strategy by sending overwhelming forces on these fronts. All the better i then retreat and live to fight another day while the Axis is stuck with re-deploying its forces again. It all rather simple. I keep the France landing for 1944 there is no rush and anywya to succeed you need the germans to be weakened or you always fail. Once you can establish sure air superiority and the germans have their manpower down the drain, then its doable.

The Russian front

Again, quite simple. I usually for one of the 2 choices. A solid defensive line on the Dniepr, or a "flee to fight another day" strategy. I usually decide that once i check the first turn of the german players, because most players tends to be a little sluggish in their first 2 turns not advancing as fast as they could. Then i establish a double line and wait for the onslaught.

But in this game i will try the northern woodlands approach. The axis players will be reluctant if i retreat to a Novgorod-Moscow axis simply because tanks-mechs are inneffective in these area...

Also i shall try an finish offensive right on the first 2-3 turns to destroy the northern allie rapidly. But again thats going o depend on what the germans does. If he makes good speed and charge me thru the woods, i will postpone the offensive.

Reinforcements going to MED



Tobruk falls, amazingly!!!

Well, this is it. The first important operation of the war for the allies.

My opponent has so far been interestingly proficient in doing the obvious and the regular motions with the axis. We will now see how he react when things dont go as planned.




From the deck of Hood's task force 1


British submarine near Malta ready for action


King George the V near African coastline in task force 1


HMS resolution in task force 4 steaming towards the action


Ark Royal sailing quietly neay Sicilian coastline


Brits ready to land in Italy and put the war into the Duce country...

Well, things are now in place. Sufficient aircover, plenty troops, most of the british navy, the Italian navy landlocked into port... So far, so good. Only problem is the sub and the damned numerous fighters that the Axis already have there. But if they are there, they wont be preparing for the eastfront wont they?

I look forward to a very interesting and entertaining AAR.

Yes I would never expect the RN to be able to blockade the Sicilian ports so early in the game. But then that's Max for you.

I knew there was a reason I kept the Italian Navy out of Sicily. It will be very hard for Plaid even with the German fighters. By a quick count there are ten potential landing sites and only 8 maximum defenders (visible) including the air assets, plus the sub.

Ouch!

Brilliant play - like your style.

Very interesting on both accounts. I am going to enjoy this AAR immensly.

Landings sighted in Sicily!

Well, did not go as good as i was hoping (i am, after all, at -139 pp!!!), but i now have a solid 4 unit landing in Sicily and positionned to take the Islands rapidly. Also, the axis should rail lots of units to Italy in panic because he thinks that my next step will be to hop over on the continent. So the goal of disrupting axis preps for Barbarossa will be achieved. So a VERY costly operation for the allies, but i believe its worth it.

I had to let go of the blockaded DD in port, needing my ships for bombardments missions and other moves. Also seriously damaged a german fighter and had to evacuate the fighter from Malta it was too damaged.

Unless the german player send a lot of troops and most importantly TAC's, the Island is doomed. He he sends TACS and invest heavily in the defense of the Island, i win also, it will bother Barbarossa.

British troops landing in Sicily


more pics of troops landings in the Island


HMS Valiant near blockaded italian port


Canadians fighting against Italian troops in some unamed italian country side

Messina falls and with it all hopes of axis resistance in Sicily. I might even cross next turn in the toe of Italy...


Warspite shore bombarding italian position before the fall. In fact, the Warspite and other HMS brothers were the main reason for the ITalian surrender of the City.


Italian unit had to be scuttled in port. And with it goes any hopes of italian resistance in the MED on the naval side of things


Plans are already in place to cross into the toe of Italy especially if those fighters are still there...


A picture taken from the shore of MEssina on the british lines of Hoods explosion after it being attacked by the Italian BB Impero.

Sorry about the fact that there is no screen capture this time forgot to post it!

So anyway Sicily is now history. Now i am pondering on my next step. I overheated the british ressources a little bit to be able to do this rapidly, and i think that the germans will have to permantantly post some units in the boot before Barbarossa which is and was the secondary objective of this campaign.

But now... what? I am still debating with Churchill on the next step do we go to our original objective in Greece or try to poke at Italy?

I am leaning towards a Greek adventure since anyway i dont have the air assets to be able to pound the italians... But if i let go of Italy now, i leave the axis player with lots of time to build his defense...

So i think i will be going for something in the middle. I will land in the tip of Italy as soon as possible and also on the tip of the Taranto peninsula, and establish entrenched troops there. I will produce more air units with the english and ship them to the MED. In the meantime i will also intervene in Greece and land units there as well to takeover the country, i will need their airbase to bomb Ploesti into submission.

Well, i am a little bit surprised about this early Barbarossa attack, but i realy like Plaid style. Its a bit like me, that is, reckless! However, i am a bit puzzled at his first turn, that seem to be lacking in punch. I was able to extricate many troops that should have otherwise not been able to rail out or should have been damaged. Good for him that he took the port and destroyed my sub... But ODessa is with an INF now, and the northern woodlands will rapidly fill with troops...

Also operation spring storm has started, that is the invasion of Finland. In itself it might only become a diversion, but we'lls ee, i just might be able to knock the finns out of the war.

Honestly, i am not worried about the Russian campaign... The goal is to save the Russian army from main damage before he gets to Moscow and then we'll defend like crazy.

The invasion of Italy proper as also started and we should be making good time to get good defensive position before the Axis react... These position will be the springboard for a 42 italian knockout.

Re: Italy, Wow!!

Plaid will have to react to your Italian offensive or he'll lose Italy. It'll be interesting seeing this play out.

rkr1958 wrote:Re: Italy, Wow!!

Plaid will have to react to your Italian offensive or he'll lose Italy. It'll be interesting seeing this play out.

At this point i think its too late to do anything serious about it. Even if he ultimatly defeat me, it will be with planes, oil and tanks... And all these commodities are highly needed in Russia. I may even not push too hard in this theater if i see he beefs it up too much in 41-42, content to have a large axis garrison not on the eastern front

Feisty counterattack! Nice to see the Russians can still punish overly offensive Germans in 41, even with the new extra DOW penalty.

I think this shows the danger for the Axis to attack as early as April. When they don't have enough units they're more exposed to attacks like Supermax did. E. g. the units that landed in Tallinn would probably have done a better job if they had landed in Finland, but Plaid probably couldn't anticipate that Supermax would attack Finland so hard.

I think it's a bit reckless to send units eastwards in 1941 as if the Russians aren't even there for counter attacks. Since Plaid started so early he would have been better off always trying to keep a contiguous hex line. Bulges in the front line should be occupied by corps units so counter attacks won't be as expensive.

Guderian is not lost forever, but it will be almost a year until he returns. Losing an armor unit is not the end of the world, but it means an already weak Axis attack will become even weaker. This counters the early start of Barbarossa and that means giving up Libya and Sicily to get an early start will come back and bite Plaid.

If the Germans try to grab too much terrain in 1941 to make up for the losses everywhere then they will find out the hard way that the Russian winter is devastating to their units. You need to rest and form a defensive line some time before the severe winter starts. If not even the German units will get down to orange efficiency. Supermax will for sure counter attack with all he has during the winter in such a situation.

I think one important side of playing any wargame is to analyze the playing style of your opponent and plan accordingly. Everyone knows that Supermax is a super aggressive player who will counter attack if he gets the chance. That's one of his strengths, but maybe a weakness that can be exploited by elite players who likes to set traps for their opponents. So Plaid should have known that exposing his units WILL lead to counter attacks. Against a more defensive player you can get away with exposing your units.

I'm confident that this game will end with an Allied ultimate victory.

I think Stauffenberg's right on all counts and Supermax will win by '43-early '44! The attack on Guderian was a real blow to the Axis. The attack in the north actually probably benefits Plaid in terms of PP's (as he'll destroy the Russian units and repair the panzer), but it will slow him down a bit. And you don't want the Germans to think they can just walk all over Russia!