Slitherine

Well they wanted a volunteer to publicly pilot 2.2. Kragdob was keen. Everyone else took a rapid step backwards. “What? Who? Me?” I said. I think that’s what I said. It may have been something a trifle stronger. So here we go. The shape of things to come and my musings on them. Kragdob has promised that he will chip in frequently.

This AAR is likely to be episodic. Partly because of lack of time. Partly because whilst there is pressure to post in near-real time, this is a competitive game and I will be keeping a lot of information out of the public eye. I expect to get soundly beaten by the much more experienced Kragdob but I intend to go down fighting.

Turn 1.

Straight off the bat there are changes:



To the action. First I took out Denmark. OK, 8 PPs, but I wouldn’t have an INF to spare for a while. No problem except that the cheeky Danish GAR took a step off me. And note the fancy new DoW announcements.





I split my forces to do an early blitz. A limited amount of hotseating had suggested that a basic turn two blitz had a good chance of success. I had, short sightedly, omitted to test the Polish consequences of this . Anyway, in we went:



It wasn’t long before I was remembering von Moltke’s words of wisdom. Somehow I fought my way into the minimum objective of Lodz. The rest of my forces looked as if they were wearing “Hit me” signs:



Turn 2 and Kragdob’s Poles had fallen on my dispositions with howls of glee:



There was a straight forward set of moves to fight my way out, but it depended on the Poles retreating on cue. Happily they did. About to launch the last panzers on a prostate Warsaw:



It wouldn’t have worked without the new compulsory retreat for air units. At that I reckon that I was lucky to get away with it.

To the western blitz.




I was entrusting the capture of Arnhem to 2 GARs. In 8 hotseat tests they always pulled it off. What was that von Molkte said? Ah yes. I had to use a FTR to help them out. Still the Luftwaffe seemed to be in fine form:



Although the Strat taking a 4 step loss against a GAR must be a bit of an outlier . In went the main assault. Like clockwork. Until Brussels. When the ghost of von Molkte reared up again. A MECH and an ARM between them could only knock 3 steps off the Brussel’s INF. Which had started with an eff of 13.



In short, I am not sure that a turn 2 blitz and a turn 1 Case White are possible. I was lucky to have taken Warsaw, I don’t see where I could have spared a unit. And to take Brussels, everything had go right. (Yes, thank you Helmuth.) Next time I will leave the Luftwaffe in the east for turn 1 and do a turn 3 Case Yellow; or 4, or 5 dependent on the weather.

And so, how will Kragdob react?

Oh yes, to end the turn the Russians did what they do best:

I usually get better results by letting the mech attack Brussels from 1x NE of Brussels (not across river) and instead let the armor attack across river. Mechs are often better than armor vs capitals and cities due to the special armor penalty when attacking cities and capitals.

In your game Brussels should be able to fall on turn 3. That means a -10 morale loss for the Allies. Since Warsaw fell on turn 2 you can quickly rail the units you need to the west. Unless you're unlucky with the weather you have 2 more fair turns before the winter.

Stauffenberg wrote:I usually get better results by letting the mech attack Brussels from 1x NE of Brussels (not across river) and instead let the armor attack across river. Mechs are often better than armor vs capitals and cities due to the special armor penalty when attacking cities and capitals.

Yes, but with my 'poor man's blitz' the mech can't physically get to NE of Brussels. EDIT: no, you are correct. I should have reversed the starting positions of the MECH and the ARM. Incompetence, not bad luck: I feel so much better.

Stauffenberg wrote:In your game Brussels should be able to fall on turn 3. That means a -10 morale loss for the Allies. Since Warsaw fell on turn 2 you can quickly rail the units you need to the west. Unless you're unlucky with the weather you have 2 more fair turns before the winter.

I was. (Unlucky.)

Did Brussels fall anyway?

Turn 3. Weather fine.

Kragdob seems to be in full retreat:



So a task force races for Lille. Sadly, instead of similarly taking Reims, the balance of Kampf Gruppe West is tidying up Brussels. But fresh panzers are railed in from their triumph in Poland.



The fall of Brussels causes panic. War is hell:



And those Defiants are 109 fodder even at full effectiveness:



Meanwhile my first 2 labs are in. Not difficult decisions.



Turns 4 & 5. Mud. The German assault slithers to a halt.

Turn 6. Snow.



Note the weather effect overlay, toggled by the W key:



We start nibbling at the outlying GARs. A stuka attack, a panzer assault, a good old fashioned forward retreat and the follow up INF finish it off:




Turn 7. Mud.

The Germans crawl forward through a Somme like landscape:




The balance sheet to date:



Coming soon: I try out the new naval rules with my subs.

It looks like the two changes - the 10 eff penalty for 2-turn Belgium conquest and 100% air retreat chance - work good .

Thank you so much for this AAR. Great to have info on 2.2. I like the new event screens very much; add some more historic flavour to the game.

AC67 wrote:. I like the new event screens very much; add some more historic flavour to the game.

So do I ! Looking forward to it !

Wow that's nice!

Turn 8. Winter.



I wonder where the "Rough Sea" in Eastern Europe is?

A precociously early partisan in Poland:



Clearly the local barber is in a German prison camp.

In France the panzers get a rush of blood to the head:



I strongly suspect that one of them won't live to regret it.

Wow, exposing your ARMs like that... bad idea. They can be attacked at least from 4 hexes and they are not even at full strength. Sure, it's winter, but the Axis should avoid high ARM losses so early on. Repairs cost too much in this case.

Cybvep wrote:Wow, exposing your ARMs like that... bad idea. They can be attacked at least from 4 hexes and they are not even at full strength. Sure, it's winter, but the Axis should avoid high ARM losses so early on. Repairs cost too much in this case.

It seems the arm with leader is in great danger ! Losing an arm unit in France usually will bring bad future for Axis . Good luck !

Why all Polish partisans are women ?

Those are Yugo. There is only one picture I will get some nicer picture to Borger if I have time (with Polish partisans of course).

We have a common image for partisans. It's not easy to have country specific partisans because you can have a lot of different combinations spawning each turn. We just decided to pick an image of women soldiers to show that even women fought in this war. Yugoslavian partisans were one of the most well renowned partisans of all. Tito organized these partisans so the Germans had a lot of problems dealing with them.

The sub-plot.

Turn 2.

A sub arrives off Halifax and goes on silent running to await events:



Turn 5.

The remaining subs are patrolling the Western approaches:




Turn 6.

A move by one sub reveals a convoy, which is swiftly attacked:



The convoy then makes an unfortunate navigational choice:



Turn 7.

The sub off Halifax notes a lot of white arrows heading south east. The Canadians one assumes. They are faster than the sub, but if one of them is lagging .... A speculative move gets lucky. I end adjacent to a transport and attack it:



It retreats, a new feature of 2.2. Which puts it in extreme range of one of the northern subs:



The transport panics yet again. This leaves Kragdob with a minor dilemma. He has DDs next to two of my subs. But if he attacks each sub has an excellent chance of evading and taking no damage at all. And either the transports will also have to halt, or sail on with a reduced escort. Frankly, without the new evade rules I wouldn’t have put my subs in this position.

Meanwhile my third sub finishes off the navigationally challenged convoy (note that convoys never retreat) and spots another:




Turn 8.

Kragdob wisely decides to keep the fleet together and sails on:



Follow the white arrows and I have a chance to have a go at a low-eff DD:



Sadly I get a 2:2 result. A sub attempts to move in on the weakened transport, but bounces off Kragdob’s sub. Sneaky.



I take a guess as to where the convoy is going and position my last sub between the transports and Saint-Nazaire:



Turn 9.

Bad guess. So it’s follow the white arrows again:



And discover the fleet safely tucked into the coast. That looks like a home run to me. So the other predators move back into convoy spotting positions, and guess what:




It heads north in the convoy movement phase, but I can count to 12, and so I have hopes of taking it out. Depending on what Kragdob does with his destroyers.

Seems like you have a lot of fun with your subs.

Turn 9. Mud.

To no one’s great surprise, least of all mine, Kragdob contemptuously chews up my exposed ARM. He doesn’t even have to engage the Brits.



The Wehrmacht continues to slosh forward through the mud:



Turn 10. Fair.

Spring has sprung early and we continue with the tried and tested hit ‘em with the stukas, assault with the panzers, hope for a forward retreat and then finish off with the INF:



Turn11. Fair.



The French line cracks:



Turn 12. Fair.

Kragdob runs for it:



Note the unhappy looking Dutch GAR.

The Germans pursue:



Turn 13. Fair.

Paris falls:

Another Europe Fortress ?

Morris wrote:Another Europe Fortress ?

Think of it more as a delayed and strengthened Barbarossa .