Slitherine

My plan was to avoid parallel battles wherever possible and concentrate on the defeat of Russia latest until winter 43/44. If that is successful huge parts of the Wehrmacht can be used to win the decisive battle 1944 in the west - Overlord.

First goal was to capture Moscow and Leningrad as soon as possible and reach Rostov quickly to prepare the attack on the Caucasus and Stalingrad. The Kiev pocket will be ignored.

To concentrate as many troops as possible at the eastern front nearly all reserves in western and middle Europe will be sent to the east. The Afrika Korps will be evacuated to Italy and moves to the eastern front.

Rudel will immediately fly to Malta in the hope to defeat the fortress even before winter 41/42.

The German U-Boote and some surface vessels will try to harass the Allied convoy routes until spring 42. Then they will retreat to be available for later naval operations.

In the west the elite of the Luftwaffe will take on the fight against the RAF in France and Germany.

In March 42 (round 19) Moscow was captured. This was delayed by some weeks due to a Russian winter offensive in the Moscow area with several T34 tank divisions. The northern Russian defense of Leningrad was already broken. This was achieved mainly by three artilleries and a Flam Panzer division that were transported via sea to Finland to support the Finnish attack on Leningrad. Several of the Tank IIs were upgraded to Flam Panzer and always the Flam Panzer build the spearhead if deeply entrenched infantry covered by artillery has to be fought.
In the south of Russia the Wehrmacht had captured Kiev and was on the way to Kursk. Rostov will be captured soon to open the way to the Caucasus.
The plan for 42 was to capture Leningrad in the north quickly but then to transfer most of the offensive troops (especially the tanks) to the south to invade the Caucasus and attack Stalingrad before winter 42/43.

Capturing Malta happened in round 20. Even with Rudel the time in autumn 41 was too short to defeat the fortress already before winter.

In northern Africa the British were moving west unhindered to Tripoli.

In the west of Europe 3x Fw 190-A2 and a Bf 110f are supported by 9x AA divisions to fight the RAF bombers and fighters.

In March 42 the German Kriegsmarine finally had to leave the convoy routes to avoid being destroyed by more and more approaching Allied battleships.

In May 42 (round 23) the Wehrmacht was able to capture the second important industrial/political center of Russia: Leningrad.
From that time the focus of the German offensive in the east was moving to the south of the frontline.

In August 42 (round 30) the Wehrmacht reached Stalingrad with the best available tank forces. Also two Flam Panzer divisions were in the area to be used in the upcoming attack on the city. As there were so many immobile Russian forces the Wehrmacht decided to destroy as many of them as possible with tactical bombers and tanks before the Russian had the fuel to mobilize them.
In autumn 42 the Torch invasion started and the British immediately moved into Tunisia from the east. The Axis prepared the defense of Sicily with divisions mainly coming from the Balkan and Italy. All three elite fighter fleets from Western Europe and six strategic bomber fleets from the eastern front were ordered to Sicily and Malta to fight the expected invasion.

In round 38 the British captured Tunisia and triggered the invasion of Sicily. First I thought this was very, very early but this showed up to be an advantage. When the Allied invasion fleet appeared the strong American and British battleships were still far away making it easier for the Italian fleet to fight the transport ships and destroyers.

hmmm - now thats interesting: Brits arrived at Tunis in turn 38? I just finished a playthrough on 1.9, and for me they arrived near Tunis in turn 45, just like it was in BE1.8. I would not even be in Tunis on turn 38, besides one italian inf unit brought by air.

After my last playthrough, I was wondering if it would be possible to get a DV on Rommel difficulty. That means roughly 40.000 prestige less than on General difficulty. I know that Uhu wins BE on Rommel, but he does it doing lots of reloads if I understand right (?). Anyone else have experiences with BE on Rommel?

January 43 (round 40)
The defense in the south of Russia is well setup. A long frontline from Kursk to Stalingrad is awaiting the 42/43 winter offensive of the Red Army. I upgraded all German AT units to 7,5 PAK 40. They build the backbone of the defense combined with infantry and artillery. As long as the frontline is well setup and equipped with a lot of (infantry or PAK) reserve units that can jump in, the Stugs with their wide movement range are not really needed. So I skipped the expensive upgrades and kept my towed PAK.

The main core of the offensive German tanks was fighting around Stalingrad. Even with deeply entrenched infantry the Wehrmacht was not able to hold the city against the Red Army that was recapturing the city piece by piece. As expected the Wehrmacht came under strong pressure at this front segment against superior Russian tanks. Thus the Tiger division was on the way to Stalingrad.

In the far north a Finnish-German Korps had reached Archangelsk. The victorious troops from Leningrad slowly moved through the northern woods to Vologda. Both are two important strategic cities that have to be captured.

In March 43 (round 43) the Allied invasion of Sicily was repelled by sinking the last transport ships. 12 infantry units became free to be moved back to the Balkan or to France fighting Partisans. The Italian fleet and the Axis air force still had to fight Allied battelships and strong fighters.

In April 43 (round 45) the battle of Stalingrad was won and the Wehrmacht started the final act. Rushing with a strong tank force north at the eastern Volga River bank to capture Saratov, Kuybyshev (Stalin’s bunker) and Ulyanovsk. In the meantime another army was invading the Caucasus and moved to Astrakhan. And then only Gorky was missing to force a Russian surrender. And Gorky could easily be attacked from the troops that have defended Moscow in the last winter.

Strong Russian forces were still trying to recapture Kursk but many Russian units were already destroyed near Stalingrad. The city of Kursk changed its owner nearly every round.
In July 43 the pincer movement at the eastern Volga River shore was ongoing. Spearheaded by the Tigers and a brand new Panther division the invasion force was quickly moving north. In the west the armies were well protected by the Volga River that couldn’t be crossed by the Red Army. The open flank in the east was guarded by tanks and infantry. Two Stuka fleets (including Rudel) and a Romanian tactical bomber fleet bombed every Red Army division that tried to stop the German tanks before the Tigers and Panthers did the rest to make the way free again.

In September 43 the three German Fw 190-A5 fleets finally flew back from Sicily to Western Europe where in the meantime continuously heavy bombardment was hitting French and German cities that were protected by 10 Flak batteries.

In November 43 (round 59) with the capturing of Ulyanovsk Russia surrendered. Without having super weapons like the IS-2 or at least a mass of T34 tank divisions on the eastern side of the Volga River the Red Army had no chance to stop the German Tigers and Panthers on the march north. The first troops were moved by rail to Western Europe to repel the expected Allied landing in France in 44 and to Italy to prepare the recapturing of North Africa for the Axis.

In the Caucasus region Groznyy and the oil field were in German hands and the troops started to move south to Baku to save the second oil field for the Reich. To reach this will be hard work because a British expedition army was waiting south of the Groznyy mountains. Together with remaining Russian renegade units more than 10 tank divisions stood between the Wehrmacht and the capturing of the whole Caucasus.

As now the winter was coming and the Russian Airforce was completely disbanded the whole Luftwaffe in the east could move to the west, repair and upgrade. And also all anti air units will be moved west to support the Axis in the titanic air battle of Western Europe that will start with the first good weather in spring 1944.
In June 44 (round 73) the Allies landed in the Normandy. But the German bombers hit them hard and the German tanks were waiting already west of Paris. An immense air battle was going on since March 44. The Axis had 25 anti air batteries in operation, 10 fighter fleets (Italian Veltro, German Bf 109-G6 and Fw 190-A5, most of them 3 stars) all radars and Würzburg radars in operation and still the Allied Airforce was by far not defeated due to their sheer number of overstrengthed units. 9 Axis strategic bombers fleets and 7 tactical bomber fleets attacked the Allied sea vessels. From the French western Atlantic coast two U-Boot fleets and three German battleships the Scharnhost, the Gneisenau and the Prinz Eugen also fought the Allied naval forces (and even survived the war).

In the Atlantic the last attempt was made by the German Kriegsmarine to harass the convoy routes with two battleships Admiral Scheer and Nürnberg and 5 U-Boot fleets. Useless. They were immediately destroyed by American destroyers and battleships after they were detected near the convoy route.

In the Caucasus the Wehrmacht had captured Baku and was moving south with Tigers, Panthers, Stug Vs to reach the border to Iraq.

In December 44 (round 85) the Allied troops in the Normandy were pressed back to Brest by the Wehrmacht. In Iraq Baghdad and the oil field were captured. The British troops there were chanceless against the modern German tanks. And west of Tunis near Annaba the new Afrika Korps was landing to start the recapturing of Tunisia and North Africa. Tunisia was held only by British troops. The American troops that landed with Torch stayed far in the west near Casablanca. But it was expected they will move east after the landing of the Axis was detected by the Allies.

Swimming in prestige (this message especially going to my comrade JimmyC ). Even after upgrading Panzer IIIs to a Tiger and a Tiger II division plus upgrading fighters to the Me 262A over winter 44/45 I gathered another 3000 points prestige that were in principle not needed anymore. Thus in spring 45 I made the last attempt to defeat the Allied Airforce by spamming Me262 As and Ta 152Hs.

Last stand in round 99, victory:
A) France. Overlord repelled but Allied Airforce still not defeated.
B) Tunisia, Tripoli and Algiers again in German hands. American troops stopped near Algiers by German JagdPz IV/48 and Jagdpanther plus Italian fleet and Axis tactical bombers
C) Iraq in German hands. The German tanks reached the Mediterranean coast near Aleppo and Homs
D) The British surprised me with a counter attack in round 97 at Basra where I had only one Brückenpioniere left. Thanks to enough prestige and after disbanding Volkssturm to get some free core slots by buying some Hetzers and a Jagdpanther the situation got under control.

What went well:
Flamm Panzer forever! In many games before I ignored them but now I rediscovered them as the perfect weapon to attack entrenched infantry in cities covered by artillery. I had five of them in operation always as spearheads.

The 7,5 PAK 40s made a good defense job in the time when prestige was low.

Attacking Leningrad with artillery and Flamm Panzer from the north was much quicker than attacking with tanks/infantry from the south.

The pincer movement from Stalingrad north worked much better than the pincer movement I tried in all my last games from Gorky east and then south.

I could not defeat the Allied Airforce in Overlord but they also could not defeat mine. So it was possible to bomb the Allied invasion fleet and I guess that half of the transport ships did not reach the beaches of the Normandy. A good feeling after being punished by the Allied Airforce in France in so many games before.

I like the idea of moving some troops to Berlin for automatic upgrade.

What could be improved:
I have sent too many troops to the Normandy. I could have built another army and land near Tobruk to capture it. But after the defeat of Russia I got a little bit lazy.

Spamming green fighters in the Normandy is not effective. They can shoot once but next round two Mustangs hunt them down. Next time I would upgrade my many 2cm AA units in time to 2cm Flak Vierling. This Vierling was my best AA unit. Where the 2cm Flak only made 1 damage and the 8,8er Flak made 2 damage (with larger range) the Flak Vierling often made 3 damage. Having 10 of this Vierlings and some mobile Ostwinds could have been the clue to defeat the Allied Airforce in France before round 99.

@McGuba. It is nice that you give the Ferdinand as a gift to the Axis player. But only with strength 5 and even not repairable. I always was proud if I could afford it to buy one of this beasts before V1.9 (and this happened not often due to its high price). I guarded my 5er Ferdinand on the Ostfront so well always with fighter support and then in the Normandy I moved him by chance too early to one of the coast hex fields and Bumm … I had only a 2 strength Ferdinand left So I would ask you to make it buyable and repairable again like it was in earlier versions of the mod. Again thanks for maintaining this mod!

Well done! What were your difficulty settings?

I'm hoping to be able to invade and conquer UK after repelling Overlord. Just need time to get those pesky sea mines out of the way!

Congrats on a very solid performance. You seem to really be mastering this mod now. Indeed i am envious of your massive prestige pile. I got carried away last game and made many expensive upgrades. A costly mistake!

I also completely disregarded the Flampanzer in the past, but will give it another go after reading your report. I guess the key is not overextending with them and making sure they are protected from counterattack. And if upgrading from PzII its relatively inexpensive.

I can see the benefit of just letting Torch happen so that you can defeat Husky and then retaking North Africa later in the war with superior tanks. For my current playthrough I am invading England early so that Torch doesn’t happen. Any tips on the best way to invade, as the mines are a massive pain?

@Werner, we seem to like the same units - Flammpanzers and Flakvierlings I'm perhaps overly focused on achieving zero-loss combat, but I found the Flammpanzer to be useful only in a limited time window. They become too vulnerable once there are many overstrength T-34s around. But they were vital in securing Leningrad early. As for the flak: the firepower and mobility combination of the Sdkfz flakvierling is astounding. I'm june '43 and the units are(at a guess) averaging 20+ kills, waay more than the static guns. And their ability to move and fire means every kill can be put where most needed.

general werner: I too am surprised at your enthusiasm for flammpanzers. I never used then as I though in the grand campaign they were too vulnerable in the later dlc's being easily destroyed by one hit of a medium russian tank or antitank. How do you keep them alive? how often do they get hit? and if they do dont they lose all thier experience?.

Hallo JimmyC,
you could select this point to invade in 41/42.
You are not blocked by mines (in the east and west there are much more). And you can prevent the strong British battleships to reach this area with their guns (range 4) for some time. Trying it from the Irish side did not work but is a good idea if you want to prevent Overlord and get a lot of prestige out of the convoy routes. And from Norway I think it is to near to Scapa Flow.

Bunker destroyer units can defeat the bunkers quickly to make more place for the following units. You could test 8,8er Flak in Pak mode. I look forward to read about your experience with version V1.9

Hello hugh2711,
I treat the Flamm Panzers like mounted infantry. So spearhead does not mean that they build the first line of attack. They build the second line and are always protected by infantry and tanks.

@oladelmar
I am playing on "General" level.

In the meantime I restarted my play at round 60 (surrender of Russia) to see whether I could do it better with a different strategy, Especially to defeat the Allied Airforce in Western Europe by upgrading my Flak batteries.

Thanks for the tip GW. Its been a long time since I invaded Britain and I had previously invaded around Plymouth, but that was in an old version (1.05?) with much less mines. Will try proceeding as you suggest although I wonder that it will be hard holding such a small beachhead to begin with...

In my new playthrough I am avoiding capturing any Russian victory objectives and instead focusing on invading Britain and taking Tobruk. This will make it easier early on the eastern front and avoid costly losses due to the winter weather. I also found I could still close the Bryansk pocket whilst doing this.

@ Oladelmar – Did you upgrade one of your AA’s to the Sdkfz flakvierling, as I don’t think you are given one in this scenario? You only get a SdKfz 10/4 from memory. The only weaknesses of the SdKfz series are when attacked by ground forces / tactical bombers. I really love the Ostwind and Wirbelwind which negate these weaknesses, but they arrive very late in the war…