Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Strategic War in Europe >> After Action Reports >> Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR

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Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/16/2012 11:54:39 PM

gwgardner

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My first attempt to play this game.

Poland was taken with little difficulty and the Wermacht was transferred to the west. During the Sitzkrieg period the Battle of the Atlantic began, with some minor success by the Kriegsmarine in hitting UK convoys, but with the loss of two sub groups in the Eastern Atlantic. So far all the action has taken place in the North and Eastern Atlantic zones. The UK AI has been aggressive against German subs there, but not in the Channel.

I also decided to see if this game was like ToW, in which sometimes the Germans take Denmark and Norway by event. That didn't happen, but I was given the option to declare war on them and did so. So next time, I'll have to make an actual attack plan against those countries. As it is, one corps is stalled across the strait from Copenhagen.

During the Sitzkrieg I purchased to mech armies. PPs are hard to come by, and there is no option for extravagent spending on reinforcing, upgrading, research, or purchases. One has to decide on which route to go. I have decided to do some steady purchases leading up to Barbarossa, but to focus on research.

May

My armor has blown through the Ardennes and is approaching the Channel. The intent is to skirt the French in the north, and encircle both Antwerp and Paris.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/16/2012 11:57:26 PM

gwgardner

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June 40

The French have counterattacked out of Maginot positions, and brought strong armored forces north in an apparent attempt to outflank my own armor. I don't think they're strong enough to do so, but they do seriously bloody the nose of one German infantry corps near Strasbourg.

German armor continues to advance, and Antwerp is encircled.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/17/2012 12:02:12 AM

gwgardner

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The French continue to thrust northwards from positions around Strasbourg, and succeed in almost destroying my reinforced infantry corps there - it has had to be withdrawn and replaced by a fresh corps. Meanwhile Antwerp/Brussells has been hammered and its defensive force has been pretty much destroyed, but exhausted German troops have not managed to enter the city yet. German armor has reached the coast, and will carry forward with the attempt to outflank French forces defending Paris.

Meanwhile, Italy has joined the war, and is advancing against Egypt and into French North Africa.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/17/2012 12:04:20 AM

gwgardner

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August 40

The French have pulled back behind the Marne, while still attempting to hold their positions along the Maginot. They have rushed forces to the Italian front also.

German armor continues its effort to invest Paris.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/17/2012 12:07:35 AM

gwgardner

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Sept 40

Paris has fallen to German armored and mechanized forces, after a steady pounding by the Luftwaffe. The French govt has capitulated and agreed to terms establishing a rump govt with a capitol in Vichy.

During the French campaign, the Luftwaffe has taken steady losses, with no reinforcements. Almost all PPs have gone into research. A balance must now be obtained between research and preparations for the inevitable attack on the Soviet Union.

While consideration was given to Operation SeaLion, it has been decided to concentrate all efforts in the East. The UK will wither against relentless sub attacks on their convoys.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/17/2012 7:07:20 PM

gwgardner

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Over the winter, British perfidy in Yugoslavia forced us to occupy that country. The focus of the winter was on positioning and building up for the invasion of the Soviet Union. One Panzer Army was purchased, due to deploy in July '41. And every month from February on, two infantry armys were purchased, each to be deployable in two months time.

By the beginning of campaigning weather in June, the Wermacht was positioned for two major thrusts:

1 Panzer Corps and 1 Mech Army north of the Pripets, 2 Panzer Corps and 1 mech army south of the Pripets.

Having never played this game against the Soviet AI before, I decided to be very aggressive, with the expectation that the AI would probably become confused by deep thrusts of my armor.

That was my first mistake, as would be come evident by the beginning of August.

June - July, every effort was made to encircle Soviet forces near the border, both north and south. That succeeded in the south, but not yet in the north.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/17/2012 7:11:00 PM

gwgardner

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July - August

Encircled Soviet forces in the south dealt with handily, with continued armored thrusts to Kiev and to the industrial/mining regions of the Ukraine.

In the north, the effort continued to strike for the Baltic coast with armor, to cut off and encircle all Soviet forces in the Baltic states.

Failure to properly recon that northern thrust soon led to complete disaster.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/17/2012 7:14:57 PM

gwgardner

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August - Sept

In late July the Soviets made a daring counter thrust south out of Estonia, successfully cutting off the German panzer corps thrust to the north. With supplies dwindling and gas reserves nil, the Panzer force was essentially isolated and unable to even retreat. A desperate attempt was made to extend the German flank and reopen a supply route to the Panzer corps, but too late.

In the south, continued success. The Panzer Army in the production/training pipeline was now ready for deployment, and the decision was made to utilize it in the South.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/17/2012 7:17:46 PM

gwgardner

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beginning of Sept.

The isolated Panzer corps was annihilated by relentless attacks in August, leaving the Northern thrust fairly stalled, our mech army now threatened with isolation as well, and Minsk retaken by the Soviets.

In the south the situation is somewhat better, but winter is coming on, so Army Group South has been ordered to go into a defensive posture also.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/17/2012 10:37:01 PM

gwgardner

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October 40

The Soviets have destroyed another of my mech armies, and have cut off my new panzer army. I have succeeded in pulling the latter back, but it is still vulnerable to counter-attack at much reduced strength due to lack of supply.

I cheated, using f12, to see what the Soviet OOB is right now - 10 tank armies!? Yes, the Soviets historically had a great number of tanks but they were not organized this effeciently in 1940. There's room for some scenario balancing here, I think. On the other hand, WHAT IF the Soviets had had better tank corps organization in '40? They had good tanks. With better org and leadership, they could have been a lot more effective, so I don't necessarily see this is a major problem in this game - it's just not totally historical. Perhaps more balance could be obtained in the game simply by reducing the Soviet War Readiness level at the start of the scenario.

Any player against the Soviet AI will be well-advised to be cautious rather than overly aggressive in this first year of the Eastern Front.

Another thing I think may need some adjusting in the game is the combat table. I really dislike it when whole armies are completely destroyed in combat. I'd like to see more retreats rather than complete losses. I'm sure this is easily moddable.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/20/2012 2:54:28 AM

gwgardner

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November '41

My Panzer Army annihilated! Almost 700 PPs down the drain. Well, along with my other losses, I'd say the AI has done me in. Now that I know it's not a silly pushover, I'll play again and do better.

< Message edited by gwgardner -- 11/20/2012 3:17:38 AM >

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/20/2012 3:33:16 AM

gwgardner

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Some observations after playing my first failed campaign.

I'm not sure that with the current scenario setup, and unit stats, it's possible to recreate the War historically. Example, It took me three months to conquer Yugoslavia, with panzers. And then to move those panzers into position to attack the Soviet Union, another two months. In real life, all that, plus the conquest of Greece, was accomplished in two months. So in order to have those panzers ready to strike East in June, I would have had to invade Yugoslavia in January. And of course, I didn't even try to take Greece or Crete. I'm thinking that the unit stats have to be drastically overhauled - right now a panzer unit has max 6 APs per month. On the scale of this map, and historically, with no Soviet defenders, that panzer unit should have at minimum 9 APs to allow it to go from the border to Smolensk, in one month. Add in the fact that combat must take place, and that unit should have about 12 APs. Historically, the battle for Smolensk started in early July - the possibility of replicating that needs to be possible in the game.

If a mod is made, to give units more APs, then the combat table is also going to have to be changed. More APs, more consecutive attacks per turn. The CRT needs to be adjusted down to make it more realistic - less losses per attack, greater possibility of retreat rather than annihilation.

To get four to five panzer armies by June '41, it would cost a min. of 2800 PPs. I managed to build only one panzer army by June 41, and I built no air units. There are many other drains on PPs - the sub war, reinforcements, research, new infantry builds. Money I spent on research was wasted, as I did not have enough PPs to upgrade units for new advances. When I play again, I will do research much slower.

Air combat seemed too costly. I lost as many as four attack strength with my bomber unit in one turn of attacks on an enemy position. That's approx. 140 PPs to reinforce back up to strength!

As stated above, ground combat seemed too costly also - I didn't see units retreating at all - only being completely destroyed - is that by design?

Something odd - while the Battle of the Atlantic seemed interesting and active early on, it seemed like after about mid '40, I saw no action in the Atlantic. No ASW. Was that because the enemy had no bombers available for ASW? Was their surface fleet used, or ineffectual in ASW?

In Africa, my Italians lost everything. I learned that use of the Italian fleet to provide 'alternative supply' to forward units was essential - I failed to do that, and the UK AI did do that, and was able to supply its forces in counterattacking all the way to Tobruk.

< Message edited by gwgardner -- 11/20/2012 5:08:38 AM >

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/22/2012 6:09:31 AM

teamgene

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Yeah historical isn't going to happen unless by very experienced players. I don't try for Norway and I hit Yugoslavia in late 1940 right after the fall of France. I am still new to this game, but you kinda have to do things like historical Germany and halt research for the war effort early or you will be overwelmed in the east. Then later use your high PP to gear up the research again.

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RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 11/22/2012 12:07:12 PM

gwgardner

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quote:

ORIGINAL: teamgene

Yeah historical isn't going to happen unless by very experienced players. I don't try for Norway and I hit Yugoslavia in late 1940 right after the fall of France. I am still new to this game, but you kinda have to do things like historical Germany and halt research for the war effort early or you will be overwelmed in the east. Then later use your high PP to gear up the research again.

The mod I'm working on right now will allow for some more historical actions.

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RED SN0W RE: Axis solo 1939 campaign AAR - 3/4/2013 9:48:40 AM

JLPOWELL

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It wasn't the AI. It was Red Sn0w. By October 41 AI gets about 14 level 2 full strength Armour armies plus about 8 full strength infantry armies (about 10x what you could build as a human player with all the cash from the game start to Aug 1941) These units are grown from magic mushroom seeds in the events file....

Totally bogus design. They can't get any I in AI so they literally bury you with units. Very disappointing.