Red Prince
Posts: 3686
Joined: 4/8/2011 From: Bangor, Maine, USA Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Centuur The question you have to ask yourself first is: when do you want to attack the USSR. Personally, I would aim for an attack in the J/F turn of 1941, if snow comes around. The reason for this is that, if the USSR defends the way they should, he needs to start a slow withdrawal from the border, since Germany should be able to crack the garrison rating in M/A or M/J. If the USSR forces are then on the border, they are going to be overwhelmed, so they need to start getting into better positions. This also means that the surprise impulse of the turn of DoW is going to be used by moving the Axis forces towards the enemy lines (which are probably around the river near Kiev and around the Smolensk-Minsk area. Just out of reach of the German Stuka's, of course). The USSR should preserve the main body of the army (especially the airforce and the ARM/MECH/HQ's) by withdrawing them beyond the range of the Luftwaffe. Some so called speed bumps need to be created in cities to hinder the Germans (using low factor combat units). The long summer turns can than be used by the Axis to attack the Russian army in full (without having to move a lot before getting to them, thus losing impulses in those turns). To use the offensive chit now, means that you have to rebuild one. That's expensive. However: not attacking Morocco now is also not very desirable, since you've got the opportunity in the remaining impulses of this turn and the next, to clear the area of the CW. A CW who only got 4 or 5 land units in Morocco. There is also to take into account that next turn, the weather in the Med is probably not as bad as on the rest of the map. If I take that into account, I probably would try to grab Morocco next turn, since the German airforce is already in force in the theater. This saves me the offensive chit. Also take into account that Germany and Italy will need a lot of units on garrison duty in the West against possible invasions and partisans. Offensive chits are so expensive, that I rarely build them before the map is getting full of units. Others probably disagree on that, however: the value of the offensive chit equals the costs of 2 ARM and a MECH div (or 3 LND3 with pilots...). That's an awful lot of build points to spend on something you can use only 1 time in a game. An offensive chit used wisely can have quite an effect on the game, that's true, however: you've grabbed Gibraltar without using one? And how many build point did you destroy with the first offensive chit you've used? Was that chit used in such a way that it was worth the 15 build point? Or would you rather have got that extra killstack on the map? I've come to the conclusion that in early war, the costs for building an offensive chit is to high. After the capture of Rabat next turn, in the reinforcement stage of N/D 1940, I would simply remove all planes form Morocco/Spain from the map and into the reserve pool and next turn they magically re-appear in Eastern Prussia and Germany... In N/D, you can also start to railmove the HQ's, ARM and MECH from the area towards the USSR border. So I suggest you use the rest of this turn to capture Suez with the Italians and that's all folks... That's a good plan, but has a single flaw . . . you can only remove air units from the map if they are in home country cities, so I'd have to rebase them to Germany anyway. Other than that, it really doesn't tell me what should be done with the German units for the rest of the turn. If they are going to be needed in Morocco for S/O, then I can't start moving them back from that front . . . it seems a waste of a good summer to just sit in Spain. Besides, since the BB were forced to rebase to Moroccan ports, it's a potential opportunity to capture a few CW naval units or destroy them. Yes, I know I should have rebased them farther from this dangerous front. but I didn't. I can "fix" that, if it seems necessary, and I probably should. I expect I'll send them to some Caribbean Island, perhaps. The honest reason I rebased them to Moroccan ports is that it took me 4 hours to figure out the correct course of action for the attack on Gibraltar, and I was too tired to deal with the interception bug I mentioned in an earlier post. I didn't bother to think of what Germany might do next. So, if it looks as though Germany is going to be a threat to them this turn, I can "cheat" on behalf of the CW to fix this error in judgement and all will be well in the world. I'm actually leaning toward flipping my HQs, taking a Land Action to get frontline land units reorganized, and then probably an Air Action to get my bombers flying again (though I still have several available and might not need to do this). I'd like to be able to take Rabat and Casablanca before the turn ends. Getting to Mogador is certain to require an HQ in Morocco, and the sooner all of this is taken care of, the better. One more reason why I think I should press the attack now: With the CW losing ports all the way from Plymouth to Tangier, taking the last two on Cape St. Vincent puts them in a very difficult position for convoy protection.
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Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it! -Lazarus Long, RAH
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