Slitherine

Hi there

Recently there has been a lot of talk about Axis strategy. With Max "Fortress Europe Strategy" paving the way for a more defensive aproach with Axis i want to prove that the Russian campaign is not in vain and still a good option(in my opinion, a must). It is quite funny, cause i have always dreaded operation Barbarossa and thought it was boring on the eastern front. Seeking "leebensraum" in the east has now become an adventure full of difficult task and fun options with the new GS 2.1 patch

I have never played Zechi before, but from what i gather he is a worthy opponent with good tactical skills

I will put you up to speed in our game that is on the verge of operation Barbarossa

So far the game has been pretty standard, here just before "fall gelb". 2 points of research on all categories with focus on industry and sub to start, later another one was set on focus fighter. As you can see i built the standard extra fighter and bomber for the upcoming campaign in France, also additional bomber ready to support the last stretch of the french campaign.


Poland fell on 2 turns and plans where maid to take Denmark and Norway. As you can see the operation in Norway got delayed cause of bad weather and skillfull defense of Zechi. This theatre was very quite until after the fall of France, when i sent up 2 bombers to deal with the defenders in Oslo. Norway surrendered sometime around august 1940. That could have been better

After the fall of France there has been little action. Yugoslavia attacked early to get the extra oil and some more PPs, Greece soon followed after. RN intervened some in the Greece campaign and one RN BB sunk by Regina Marina. Crete was captured by the brittish though. I decided not to do anything about it, it might come back to haunt me later. London has been strategically bombed and been kept at 0 production since the end of the French campaign, Luftwaffe has now moved east.

Battle for the atlantic has been uncontested, RN has been in port during the whole game, so my golden age in sub warfare has made sure that almost no convoys come through. Pocket battleship Graf Spee also slipped out into the atlantic early, escorted by a DD to sink some convoys. She has now company of the mighty Bismark that put to see and joined her in pirating the atlantic. So far the RN has not yet started to hunt my capital ships.

Here are some losses so far in the game, we are now at the eve of operation Barbarossa


Research for the germans coming up

Crazygunner1 wrote:After the fall of France there has been little action. Yugoslavia attacked early to get the extra oil and some more PPs, Greece soon followed after. RN intervened some in the Greece campaign and one RN BB sunk by Regina Marina. Crete was captured by the brittish though. I decided not to do anything about it, it might come back to haunt me later. London has been strategically bombed and been kept at 0 production since the end of the French campaign, Luftwaffe has now moved east.

Battle for the atlantic has been uncontested, RN has been in port during the whole game, so my golden age in sub warfare has made sure that almost no convoys come through. Pocket battleship Graf Spee also slipped out into the atlantic early, escorted by a DD to sink some convoys. She has now company of the mighty Bismark that put to see and joined her in pirating the atlantic. So far the RN has not yet started to hunt my capital ships.

Here are some losses so far in the game, we are now at the eve of operation Barbarossa


Research for the germans coming up

Although it is very difficult , but a effective Babarosa is the only way to win the game as Axis . But no big mistyake allowed .

Morris wrote:Although it is very difficult , but a effective Babarosa is the only way to win the game as Axis . But no big mistyake allowed .

I don't know about Barbarossa being the only way. I definitely won't be betting against supermax's revised Fortress Europa. But you're right; a good Barbarossa goes a long way toward helping the Axis win the game.

This is the set up for Barbarossa. Northern army group will be the strongest with 5 german armours and 4 mechs, supporting infantry will be built once the campaign has started to complete the line. In addition to the Blitz i have constructed an extra strat bomber. First turn they will bomb Leningrad, the aim is to get production and supply to 0 as soon as possible. It shouldn´t take more than 2 turns.

The southern army group is combined forces with the remaining 2 german armours and 3 mech. Italy has 4 tanks with good upgrades just slightly behind the germans and with leaders to support the invasion of Russia. Initially the southern army group objectives is Kiev then continue towards Rostov and Stalingrad. Their success will greatly depend on the northern army group and how they fair.

Southern army group, mostly consisting of italian tanks. If my plan works they will encounter small resistance along the road east. Speed will be the key here but not at the expense of safety

Enforced Tobruk with a german corp, a leader is attached to it as well. If i can hold out a short time here i will be thankful

Operation Barbarossa under way. 2 turns ahead of schedule will come well in hand later this year. Panzers surge on towards their targets. Strat bombers attack Leningrad and only does 1 lvl damage??? They prove a disapointment. Hopefully they will fare better next turn.

Southern army group does pretty well...most of the troops have broken free of the first line and have got a clear view towards Kiev. I will also swing a bit south to cut of the garrison still resisting the rumanians. Looks like road towards Kiev is open.

joerock22 wrote:

Morris wrote:Although it is very difficult , but a effective Babarosa is the only way to win the game as Axis . But no big mistyake allowed .

I don't know about Barbarossa being the only way. I definitely won't be betting against supermax's revised Fortress Europa. But you're right; a good Barbarossa goes a long way toward helping the Axis win the game.

I didn´t say that it was the only way....my point was that Barbarossa is still a good option and i believe capturing Omsk is not impossible, hopefully i will show it here. I have no doubts that Max fortress europe stategy might be a good one. If max hadn´t built the navy and managed his oil a bit different i am sure the game would have turned out different.

Second turn of Barbarossa, we start in Libya. Zechi moved his DD up to Crete, i was lucky there to avoid it....so close



I couldn´t reach the last mech just outside Kherson, maybe i will have a chance to destroy it next turn. German Panzers on the ouskirt of Kiev. Romanians are having trouble breaking through, they will have to catch up later. We have to push on.



In the north however to my surprise Zechi is at the Dnepr river. Doubt that he will stand and fight here so i press on as much and far as possible. This time strat bombers fairs a bit better over Leningrad, city now yellow. 1-2 more runs and then we switch to tactical bombers to cause havoc. If all goes well i can perhaps capture Smolensk next turn. That would be good speed

We also engage the RN causing minor damage to BBs, at first i was aiming to sink one of the BBs towards east in the convoy but one of my subs bounce of his lurking sub(step 10 sub still not detected). Bismark and Graf Spee is around but a little to far away to join the battle. Also i don´t have enough power to engage fully

A quick question about convoys, aren´t unescorted convoys suppose to suffer more damage from sub attack? I keep getting the same results as before the upgrade to version 2.1

Crazygunner1 wrote:A quick question about convoys, aren´t unescorted convoys suppose to suffer more damage from sub attack? I keep getting the same results as before the upgrade to version 2.1

I think that this was never implemented. However, convoy damage is affected by tech levels AFAIK.

Turn 3 out of Barbarossa. The RN seems to be retreating or protecting the convoy that just passed through



Same here on the eastern front, Kiev is mine for the taking



In the northern part Russians stand ground, but not at the Dnepr river heading east, only in the north. My plan is originally to head for Moscow in full speed but the Russians will be trouble here if i advance without covering my flank.



Moscow can wait....ha ha ha. Feels like i am taking the same slippery slope as the germans did in real life. Anyway, tanks divert and head up north to support the attack, this might not be such a bad idea after all since i will hopefully destroy a lot of troops. We nibble of the frontline troops and also continue to push for Smolensk. It will not be captured this turn since forces are diverted elsewhere. Leningrad is down to red atlast and 1 production.



Kiev falls and we continue to push on....it seems that Zechi is favouring a forward defense. Originally the plan was here to divert panzers up to the center to capture Kursk and support army group north on advance towards Moscow. But the massive troop concentration here in the south forces me to keep a compact fronline and not divert my forces. This does not look promising since i was hoping that my southern group could advance unapposed.



6th army on the march



We spot the RN, it didn´t escort the convoy witch surprises me some.....i think Zechi might be worried about the german BBs roaming in the atlantic. Also all 3 of his BBs where damaged in previous engagement with subs. So we go after the convoy instead with poor results though....need to get those upgrades for sub tech!!!

I like the idea of using German surface vessels in the Atlantic. I've never done it, but when combined with subs, they should be a serious concern for the RN and the USA won't join until late 1941.

Destroying the Soviet units is good, Russian territory is not that impressive. It looks like you won't need to capture Leningrad, which may give you a shot at Moscow either in 1941 or (more realistically) in 1942.

Cybvep wrote:I like the idea of using German surface vessels in the Atlantic. I've never done it, but when combined with subs, they should be a serious concern for the RN and the USA won't join until late 1941.

Destroying the Soviet units is good, Russian territory is not that impressive. It looks like you won't need to capture Leningrad, which may give you a shot at Moscow either in 1941 or (more realistically) in 1942.

Well there are some advantages with it...the allies must concentrate on sinking them witch is usually not a problem when US enters the war. But still there is and effort to be made and i figured that it would be more fun to do some pirating instead of just rotting in some port.

Well he will succeed in delaying me probably so much i won´t be able to take Moscow or perhaps even Leningrad

You can always try to move your surface vessels back to France/Germany in 1941.

Cybvep wrote:You can always try to move your surface vessels back to France/Germany in 1941.

Yeah...true. I am not sure what i want to do

Turn 4 in Barbarossa

Russians do not hold the Dnepr line and retreats in full speed. Hopefully i will catch up...



Italian Arm encicled but no major problems i think, we will continue to advamce in this theatre



RN seems to flee or escort a northern convoy....while on the run a DD runs into my sub and does little damage



I went for the left behind DD, but it turned out to be a hard nut to crack. 5 attacks later and i think 6-7 steps lost it was sunk...



Brace for impact!!!



We make contact with the fleeing russian army....destroy a couple more units but not so many. I am beginning to think this was a bad idea, my tanks are now rolling slowly in the forrest instead of open terrain. So i won´t be able to push on Moscow with proper strenght. We also take Gomel to seal the pripet marshes surounding 1 corp and a mech. Leningrad kept on 0pp and red, strat bomber move on towards Moscow.



In the south i have hit a meat wall....lot´s of gar and some corps and mechs. I feel that my southern army group is a bit weak, it will be able to push forward and destroy some of theese units but n order to have a breakthrough we would have to send reinforcements. Supply restablished again to italian tank and some units destroyed. Putting out 3-4 corps every turn so the line will look a bit better soon.