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

[zechi]

Hello,

this is my AAR of my game with Plaid. I'm a long time lurker of this forum and hope my first AAR will be entertaining for the readers. The AAR begins with Turn 4, because the frist three turns were pretty standard. Plaid conquered Poland in two turns. Surpringly he attacked the Netherlands on turn 2. I guess he hoped to conquer France as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, I got lucky and in turn 3 weather turned to mud. Plaid could not finish the Netherlands in turn 3.

Now we are in turn 4 and here is the situation from the allied point of view:



As you see I transported the British BEF Infantry Corps on turn 1 to Europe. Furthermore, Auchinleck was placed on the Mechanised Corps and transported in turn 3 to france. He will be at the front in turn 5. I take calculated risks with the BEF. I plan to withdraw them as soon as France is about to fall. In a best case scenario I will hold some of the french ports for some rounds with the British forces.



On turn 1 both Canadian Garrison were transported to europe. They arrived on turn 4 in French ports. These troops will also try to hold french ports if France is about to fall. However, they will not be transported back to the UK, because this would cost another 8 PP per garrison.



The French garrison in Syria will be the last garrison from the French colonies. I hope it will arrive in time, otherwise 8 PP ware wasted, which could have been used to buy a garrison earlier in France.

[zechi]

Turn 5 and weather is "Winter". This gives me a respite and also the Brussels is holding out for another turn. Germany als attacked Denmark and the garrison survived with 1 step.



Plaid gambled with his early DOW on Belgium and lost. Now the French effiency loss will be negated, because bad weather slows the German Blitzkrieg and the French will regain the lost effiency in a few turns. Furthermore the troops from canada and the french colonies will also be ready in time.

Situation at the western front

[zechi]

Turn 6: Weather turned to mud, which is fine for me. Brussel fell under strong German attacks (2 bombers, 3 corps, 2 armour and 1 mech to knock this 7 steps). No signs of any subs yet and two convoys (for nearly 60 PP) got through. Danish garrison still holds out and with some luck it will survive the next round.

Situation on the western front begins to stabilize. Effiency loss has been nearly regained completely. Canadian garrisons were railed at the front and a French garrison was built near Paris. The Canadian Fighter Squadron also landed in France.



The canadian mechanised infantry reached Halifax. The big question is, where should I transport it. Im not quite sure if I should further bolster the defence line in France, transport it to the UK to help if Sealion occurs or if I should sent it towards the Middle East. Any opinions would be appreciated.

[schwerpunkt]

Zechi,
With respect to the Canadian MECH, landing it in France needs to be handled carefully as it must be able to escape upon the Fall of France. You can build more INF in Britain as long as you dont burn through your PPs which is the key to stopping a Sealion.

With respect to the British STR, its best that it be sent back to Britain for anti-sub duties, as it is pretty ineffective (especially in the poor weather) and you do not want Plaid to target it with his FTRs.

Your current front line and dispositions look pretty good (keep your expensive units in the second line for as long as possible and the French ARM out of range of multiple German TACs for as long as possible as at full strength it is very good counterattacking.
Cheers

Neil

[zechi]

Zechi,
With respect to the Canadian MECH, landing it in France needs to be handled carefully as it must be able to escape upon the Fall of France. You can build more INF in Britain as long as you dont burn through your PPs which is the key to stopping a Sealion.

With respect to the British STR, its best that it be sent back to Britain for anti-sub duties, as it is pretty ineffective (especially in the poor weather) and you do not want Plaid to target it with his FTRs.

Your current front line and dispositions look pretty good (keep your expensive units in the second line for as long as possible and the French ARM out of range of multiple German TACs for as long as possible as at full strength it is very good counterattacking.
Cheers

Neil

Thank your for your opinion. I am leaning toward shipping the Canadian MECH to the UK, but I can take a final decision in about three turns.

On the first few turns I used the Britisch STR for filling up the back line of the French double line, I also hoped to bomb Germany on turn 2, but Plaid put a FTR in the west on turn 1, for his offensive against the Netherlands, which meant I could not bomb German soil without fearing an interception. Now I will have enough troops and I could sent the STR back. However, at this moment Plaid seems only to have two FTR in France (I wonder whether he built a third one or not). Next turn I will have three FTR at the front. This means I should have enough FTR to protect the STR, which can be used to fill holes in the back line. Furthermore, no subs were spotted yet. Nevertheless, as soon as weather turns fair in 1940 or I spot a third or fourth German FTR I will most likely pull the STR it back to the UK.

[zechi]

Turn 7: Unfortunately Denmark fell this turn. First sub attack on convoy. Western front is quite and I expect the German offensive on the first turn with fair weather.

[schwerpunkt]

Zechi,
Your planes look beaten up or low on readiness. Best put them on sentry for a few turns.... Dont make them easy targets for Plaids FTRs...
As for Runstedt, nice if you can get at him but the German ARM is usually the best target.

[zechi]

The next turn was classic Sitzkrieg and nothing happened. German subs sink the first convoy.

The next turn is more surprising. Fair weather on the first turn of February (25 % that this happens)! Plaid got lucky and immediately attacks. One British FTR takes heavy losses (3 Steps, down to 4 steps) and he also attacks my STR (as Schwerpunkt predicted), however losses are low (2 Steps) and my FTR also inflict losses on the German airforce. Nevertheless the damaged FTR and STR are withdrawn to the UK.



I also repaired the French FTR (from 6 Steps back to ten), but this was costly. Nevertheless I produced a Corps, a Garrison and the Syrian Garrison was railed to th front to stabilize the front.

I also bombarded German INF at the coast with French BB.

The next turn (I forgot to take a screenshot) weather changed to mud and German offensive was halted again. Sitzkrieg continues, but the loss of 5 PP for France for Lorraine hurts. In UK the Canadian MECH arrived and next turn the Canadian INF will debark for UK.

Next turn will be the first turn of March, hopefully I will get lucky with the weather.

[zechi]

Turn 11 - Weather is "Fair" again and German Elite Forces advance into France. I think France will hold out until June, but not longer.

[zechi]

Turn 12 - Reims falls
The German Army takes Reims, but occupies the city with a Panzer corps.



The counterattack:



I hope my British MECH will survive the bombing and a possible counterattack. I expect the fall of France in 4-5 turns, with some luck it will take Plaid six turns.

Canadian INF will arrive in UK next turn and bolster the defense. Next turn I will have enough PP to bringt the Canadian FTR back to 10 steps.

[richardsd]

I think you have a maximum of 4 turns from here unless Plaid gets some bad results.

[zechi]

Turn 13 - French Front disintegrates

Plaid destroyed the British MECH, but I got lucky;



I just bought the sixth laboratory (2 Industry, 2 Air, 1 INF, 1 Naval).



4-5 Turns was too optimistic. My forces disintegrate quicker than expected and I will perhaps hold Paris only for 2 turns from now on.

[zechi]

Turn 14 - Last stand in Paris

Unfortunately I forgot to take a screenshot, because I was in a hurry. German Forces made contact with Paris on three sides and attacked the city. Paris INF lost 1 step, which I could repair this turn. However, most likely Paris will Fall on Plaids next turn. With some luck he will need two turns.

I also counterattacked with all French GAR left and could inflict some damage. The INF with Rundstedt took even 3 steps of damage, but unfortunately did not retreat (which would have injured Rundstedt).

The British GAR moved to Orleans and will survive the Fall of France. The British BEF INF was railed to Bordeaux and will entrench itself there. I intend to ship it to the Middle East, because I do not think that Plaid will try Sealion and I'm prepared in case he will try it.

My defenses in the UK stand. The Canadian INF arrived in UK this turn and Auchinleck was placed on the London Homeguard GAR. I also transported the GAR from Notrhern Ireland to the British main isle. Another small convoy will come in soon and I will have enough PP to buy some GAR, INF and to repair my FTR if necessary. British Manpower also reached white levels some turns ago. The RN did not lose one step yet and is in reach of the UK isles.

It will be interesting to see what Plaid will do next, as he declared he would try some new strategies. I'm a little bit concerned about what he bought with his PP. I only spotted two subs yet. Obviously he bought a TAC and FTR.

Should he not go for Sealion, I will most likely buy a TAC with the saved British PPs and ship it to the Middle East.

[zechi]

Turn 15 - Fall of France

We are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history.... That we are in action at many points — in France and in Holland —, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean. That the air battle is continuous, and that many preparations have to be made here at home.

I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs — Victory in spite of all terror — Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

Paris Falls:





UK Defenses are ready and new convoy will arrive next turn. However, no new convoy were spawned and most convoy, save the first two, were rather small (below 20 PP).


Med


A French partisan unit spawned at the end of the turn directly besides Orleans. This means it will have supply. However, German forces will quickly destroy it.

[zechi]

Turn 17 - Silence before the storm?
Nothing happens this turn. Not even the British Force holding out in Orleans and Bordeaux are attacked. What will Plaid do next? Will he go for some small countries like Norway and Greece. Will he try something in the Med or will he try Sealion.

For now I'm saving PPs. Unfortunately this is the second turn that no convoys are spawned. Hopefully next turn 3 convoy will be spawned.

In the Med the first Italien air movement is spotted.



The initiative lies with the Axis now, but I intend to react early and attack in the Med, if Plaid is only preparing for Barbarossa.

[pk867]

What version of the game are you and your opponent playing?

There was a bug in a previous version of GS that was fixed in v1.06.

If you still have difficulty in spawning please keep track so the Dev team can determine with enough info.

[zechi]

We agreed to play with GS 1.06, which is the Version which is shown in my starting screen. I played before with GS 1.05 and installed 1.06 directly on the old version. I hope that this was not an error?

[pk867]

ok well keep watch.

pk867

[zechi]

Turn 17 - Operation Sealion begins

I will post some screenshots of this turn later, because I cannot access them right now.

Plaid really goes for Sealion. I think this is quite a gamble, because he only has 3 turns of guaranteed good weather (2 in August and one in September if I calculated correctly) and then October will begin with a 25 % chance of mud weather.

I was able to block all possible landing zones. However, I did a major mistake , because I forgot to put both FTR on sentry mode. I already forgot this the last turn and both FTR took some damage because of interceptions and if Plaid gets lucky, he will destroy one or even both FTR this turn, because they will try to intercept German Air force and can then be attacked again. This means, with some luck he will land one German unit near London or Southampton, where the FTR are used to block landing zones. However, the unit near Southhampton was damaged by one BB Squad significantly. A further German transport was damaged by my CV. This transport tried sneakily to land in a ungarrisoned British city. Probably Plaid will withdraw both transports, but perhaps I will get the chance to finish them off.

I could also damage some of the German subs with the RN.

Nevertheless, I have more then enough PPs and could buy 3 GAR this turn to block the Germans everywhere. If necessary, I will buy three new GAR next turn or one GAR and one INF.

My goal will be to avoid capture of a British city with a port at all costs. Without a port Plaid will not be able to land troops or if he does, it will cost him many PP.

My Med navy also sets sail to protect the home isles.

Regardless of the outcome of Plaids adventure, it will cost the UK many PP and resources, but also the Axis will suffer, especially oil should become a problem for Plaid soon. I will see how this will affect Barbarossa.

Three fat convoys were spawned this turn. Hopefully they arrive in time I also wonder when Egypt will join the war? Expected date was June 27 (Turn 16) according to the manual?

[zechi]

Here are the promised screenshots: