(oh) For a Few Panzers More –loki100 vs smokindave34 (game over

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's War in the West >> After Action Reports >> (oh) For a Few Panzers More –loki100 vs smokindave34 (game over - Allied major victory)

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(oh) For a Few Panzers More –loki100 vs smokindave34 (g... - 8/22/2015 9:45:52 AM

loki100

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From: Utlima Thule
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Table of Contents

T1-2: 3-16 July 1943 So I'm expected to defend Europe with no army?
T3: 17-23 July 1943 Still searching for an army ... well one that is prepared to risk leaving Brussels for a few weeks
T4: 24-30 July 1943 A not very successful Sicilian gambit
T5: 31 July - 6 August 1943 Bombs in Danzig, riots in Amiens, just another Saturday night in Glasgow
T6-T20: 7 August - 26 November 1943 Not really that much happens ... apart from the airwar and Italy surrendering
T21-T26: 27 November - 31 December 1943 My planned quiet Christmas is spoiled
T27: 1 - 6 January 1944 Bomber Command discovers that flying while drunk is not a good idea .. and some fighting in Italy
T28: 7 - 13 January 1944 8 Airforce gets the incompetence bug and the Wehrmacht does some sprinting exercises
T29-T30: 15 January - 4 February 1944 No significant ground operations, 15 Airforce gets beaten up, otherwise all is normal?
T31-T34: 5 February - 3 March 1944 15 Air continues to entertain my fighter squadrons
T35-T36: 4 - 17 March 1944 I invade Britain (sort of ... only at night)
T37-T39: 18 March - 14 April 1944 15 Air get the goats, a real battle happens in Italy
T40: 15 - 21 April 1944 Bomber Command gets lost, even more fighting in Italy
T41-T43 22 April - 12 May 1944 Saying Hi to 15 Air, listening to the weather forecasts
T44-T45: 13 - 26 May 1944 Trusting the BBC, trashing the RAF
T46: 27 May - 2 June 1944 Unexpected guests arrive
T47: 3 - 9 June 1944 Trying to keep order on the beaches
T48: 10 - 16 June 1944 The German tourist agency is overwhelmed but manages to maintain order in Firenze; Luftwaffe's new meet and greet strategy acknowledged as a major success
T49: 17 - 23 June 1944 Firenze protected, Le Havre defended, 15 Air not seen
T50: 24 - 30 June 1944 Firenze lost, Le Havre lost .. ahem
T51: 1 - 7 July 1944 Allies over the Seine, British bombing of the zoo
T52: 8 - 14 July 1944 Uncle Joe lumbers west
T53: 15 - 21 July 1944 The Allies smash up Normandy, Uncle Joe proves hard to control
T54: 22 - 28 July 1944 Not much happens, clearly the Allies are embarrased about what happened in Normandy
T55: 29 July - 4 August 1944 Rouen, the heroic, still having problems with Uncle Joe
T56: 5 - 11 August 1944 Lets party likes its 1939 again
T57: 12 - 18 August 1944 A reminder that it really is 1944
T58: 19 - 25 August 1944 Its time to run ... and to defend La Chouffe
T59: 26 August - 1 September 1944 The Wehrmacht runs while Uncle Joe sleeps off his latest hangover
T60: 2 - 8 September 1944 Uncle Joe stays on the vodka, the Luftwaffe fly as if they were drunk
T61: 9 - 15 September 1944 Berlin bombed but more worrying is the threat to the Belgian beer production centres
T62: 16 - 22 September 1944 Germany attacks ... twice!
T63: 23 - 29 September 1944 Allied gains in Belgium, the Italians defend Nice
T64: 30 September - 6 October 1944 Allied rampage in Belgium, Italians now have to defend Italy
T65: 7 - 13 October 1944 Antwerp falls, the beer stocks in Brussels are saved for the Reich, more light jogging practice for the Wehrmacht in Italy
T66: 14 - 20 October 1944 Brussels falls (but only after all the beer has been drunk), Uncle Joe is in a foul mood
T67 - 68: 21 October - 3 November 1944 Allies over the Maas, 15 Air has a final date with the Luftwaffe ...
T69 - 70: 4 November - 17 November 1944 Limited allied gains, big Soviet gains, 15 Air cheers me up
T71 - 72: 18 November - 1 December 1944 In which the German defence appears like marzipan or chocolate
T73 - 74: 2 - 15 December 1944 Allies over the Rhine, preparations for the decisive German offensive
T75 - 76: 16 - 29 December 1944 Ruhr surrounded, Panzers refitting for their new offensive
T77 - 78: 30 December 1944 - 12 January 1945 The Great German offensive ... and minor allied gains
T79 - T84: 13 January - 23 February 1945 Retreating to victory ... an increasingly delusional post
T85 - T92: 24 February - 5 April 1945 http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/fb.asp?m=4029163]Fall of Berlin

< Message edited by loki100 -- 2/22/2016 7:56:28 PM >

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T1-2: 3 - 16 July 1943 - 8/22/2015 9:49:22 AM

loki100

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From: Utlima Thule
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Turn 2: 10-16 July 1943

First some housekeeping. 1943 full campaign, EF box is on, but clearly under .48 is something to treat with caution.

This is obviously the reverse game to our last tussle. I do think with WiTW, more than WiTE, unless one player really just wants to play the axis you have to be prepared to swap sides. In part this will improve your grasp of the other side's options but also since the game really is set up as attack vs defence its only fair to swap (I think).

Now must confess, I've not played the axis in a campaign, just in some of the shorter scenarios to test out ideas. So, as a hint, there will be mistakes ...

Note there is no German T1, so you open the game to find ...

and that the allies have been busy bombing and fighting while you were away

and not just in Italy:

There was another raid around Frankfurt.

(note these are the losses in T1, pleased to see so many destroyed level bombers as that tends to imply also a lot were damaged .. if so the squadrons need to be rested to recover morale)

So here's where we start.

First thing, as with the allies is a need for a lot of housekeeping, especially about the air organisation. What I decided to do was to sort out the axis airforce into either geographical or task/role commands for now. That makes it a bit easier to work out what I need where and setting up bases and directives.

So I used 4 of the at-start Italian air commands. Sardinian was reinforced with more naval air assets and given control over Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica. 1 Italian Air Fleet was given the units with no or few planes to see if they recover. I also scrapped a few squadrons with too many missing planes, low pools and low production. 2 Italian Air was allocated the transports. 4 Italian air got some bombers and fighters and was deployed around Rome. 3 Italian was allocated the bulk of the combat airforce and was allocated to the south.

Initially with the Germans I put almost all the useable combat aircraft into one of 4 commands.

1 Jagd was allocated day fighters to defend the Reich and 2 Jagd the night fighters. I don't intend to set directives for either of these two but can use the relative simplicity of this OOB to shift bases around and hopefully catch the allied bombers out.

In Italy, II Flieger Corps was given the units deployed to Sardinia. Luftflotte 2 was allocated transports and the bulk went to the Italian LW Command.

I'm struggling a bit with the variety of German planes and load outs, have decided to try out what I think are air to air rockets for 1 Jagd.

Apart from some recon flights, the only AD I set up were naval interdiction to hopefully damage the allies if they decided to risk a hasty invasion of Calabria or Crotone (the area around Bari and Brindisium). Since 2 TF are missing from the initial landings have to assume that something is planned.

Moving to the land segment was a shock. I've played the AI, I've done PBEM and the axis had hordes of units, stacks of 30-50 cv all over place. So the only explanation must be that the recent patch has removed them all?

Anyway, not a lot of choice as to moves, opted to defend Sicily as I think I can inflict heavy losses on any TF that tries to cut supply over the ferries. Not least the longer I can keep Sicily, the less time for a sequence of invasions of Italy.

On the mainland, move a few units south to cover the most likely beaches if the Allies are going to gamble on a quick invasion.

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RE: T1-2: 3 - 16 July 1943 - 8/22/2015 5:32:06 PM

Q-Ball

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Looking forward to AAR! A couple opening notes:

AIR: Obviously, use the Regia Aeronautica aggressively....use it or lose it. I would recommend however that you assign all the Italian air to German AIR HQs, simply because Italian Air Leadership is awful

LAND UNITS: There were no significant OOB changes; what you see is what everyone gets! Things never look as bad for the other side as they actually are.

Look around for Italian units that are not static; you may as well move them all to Sicily or Sardinia. There is a para Regt in Venice, a couple units in North Italy, look around for them. You can also move all Italian SUs to Sicily/Sardinia; you'll have to manually move them from HQs, so it will take a turn or two. You may as well, the Germans in particular are short of Artillery SUs at start, so you may as well use some Italian ones.

I think it's wise to remove the 90th PzG from Sardinia, but I would recommend a defense of Corsica. I would recommend you do this with units that have withdrawl dates and/or can be airlifted out....no Panzer or PzG, they will get stuck if the Allies close the ports. Use an infantry and/or Para division, plus a Corps HQ. Send a couple SEC units to sit on the Italian stacks, so that they will disband if Italy surrenders; you don't want them in your rear. An HQ can serve the same purpose, stack on an Italian unit. All the landing beaches on Corsica are adjacent to mountain hexes, so it's easy to pin them on the beach; this is a real pain. If he tries to land on Corsica prior to clearing Sardinia, you should be able to isolate the beach via air.

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RE: T1-2: 3 - 16 July 1943 - 8/22/2015 7:52:24 PM

Seminole

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quote:

I think it's wise to remove the 90th PzG from Sardinia, but I would recommend a defense of Corsica.

I'd second removing the 90th PzG Div. But I prefer defending both islands. Every security unit you can spare from city garrison duty and some FJs can create quite a thorn in the Allies side. Force them to make a real commitment to clearing the islands. When the units weaken fly them back to Milan to refit and fly them into Corsica for round two...

quote:

An HQ can serve the same purpose, stack on an Italian unit.

Are you sure about this? I thought I recalled an HQ getting displaced by an Italian unit at surrender. I think the unit might have to have some CV, so an alternative is to spend 1 AP (as long as it isn't on the coast) to help cover units on Sardinia).

(in reply to Q-Ball)

Post #: 4

RE: T1-2: 3 - 16 July 1943 - 8/23/2015 6:34:14 AM

loki100

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From: Utlima Thule
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Looking forward to AAR! A couple opening notes:

AIR: Obviously, use the Regia Aeronautica aggressively....use it or lose it. I would recommend however that you assign all the Italian air to German AIR HQs, simply because Italian Air Leadership is awful

LAND UNITS: There were no significant OOB changes; what you see is what everyone gets! Things never look as bad for the other side as they actually are.

Look around for Italian units that are not static; you may as well move them all to Sicily or Sardinia. There is a para Regt in Venice, a couple units in North Italy, look around for them. You can also move all Italian SUs to Sicily/Sardinia; you'll have to manually move them from HQs, so it will take a turn or two. You may as well, the Germans in particular are short of Artillery SUs at start, so you may as well use some Italian ones.

I think it's wise to remove the 90th PzG from Sardinia, but I would recommend a defense of Corsica. I would recommend you do this with units that have withdrawl dates and/or can be airlifted out....no Panzer or PzG, they will get stuck if the Allies close the ports. Use an infantry and/or Para division, plus a Corps HQ. Send a couple SEC units to sit on the Italian stacks, so that they will disband if Italy surrenders; you don't want them in your rear. An HQ can serve the same purpose, stack on an Italian unit. All the landing beaches on Corsica are adjacent to mountain hexes, so it's easy to pin them on the beach; this is a real pain. If he tries to land on Corsica prior to clearing Sardinia, you should be able to isolate the beach via air.

thanks for this, for the first few turns I left the poor Italian airforce under its own command but then did shift it over to German leadership, it performed a lot better

I've been defending Sardinia fairly aggressively, from playing the allies this phase is all about time and by mid-August you become very aware that you just have a limited number of decent weather turns to achieve your goals.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Seminole

quote:

I think it's wise to remove the 90th PzG from Sardinia, but I would recommend a defense of Corsica.

I'd second removing the 90th PzG Div. But I prefer defending both islands. Every security unit you can spare from city garrison duty and some FJs can create quite a thorn in the Allies side. Force them to make a real commitment to clearing the islands. When the units weaken fly them back to Milan to refit and fly them into Corsica for round two...

quote:

An HQ can serve the same purpose, stack on an Italian unit.

Are you sure about this? I thought I recalled an HQ getting displaced by an Italian unit at surrender. I think the unit might have to have some CV, so an alternative is to spend 1 AP (as long as it isn't on the coast) to help cover units on Sardinia).

I'm not sure a HQ on its own would do it ... my expectation is that it would displace but there maybe special rules in place for the Italian surrender routine?

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RE: T1-2: 3 - 16 July 1943 - 8/23/2015 6:07:37 PM

Q-Ball

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I thought an HQ worked for me, but maybe I don't remember correctly. I guess to be safe, use a combat unit

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RE: T1-2: 3 - 16 July 1943 - 8/25/2015 9:07:41 AM

Matnjord

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An AAr with Loki as ze Fritz? Wunderbar! I will make sure to follow this. Good luck with the defense of the Fatherland, may eHitler not execute you for cowardice too early!

quote:

I'm struggling a bit with the variety of German planes and load outs, have decided to try out what I think are air to air rockets for 1 Jagd.

I see that you've decided to do a faithful impersonation of an eGoering on a normal day of drug induced leadership. Kudos for making this AAR more realistic by simulating the real life flaws of their leaders

Jokes aside, does the air warfare model allows you to simulate things like the Sturmbocke tactics? Or can you try the Adolf Galland suggested tactic of only trying to intercept a few of the Allied raids at a time allowing your pilots rest?

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RE: T1-2: 3 - 16 July 1943 - 8/25/2015 9:20:08 AM

loki100

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Matnjord

An AAr with Loki as ze Fritz? Wunderbar! I will make sure to follow this. Good luck with the defense of the Fatherland, may eHitler not execute you for cowardice too early!

quote:

I'm struggling a bit with the variety of German planes and load outs, have decided to try out what I think are air to air rockets for 1 Jagd.

I see that you've decided to do a faithful impersonation of an eGoering on a normal day of drug induced leadership. Kudos for making this AAR more realistic by simulating the real life flaws of their leaders
Jokes aside, does the air warfare model allows you to simulate things like the Sturmbocke tactics? Or can you try the Adolf Galland suggested tactic of only trying to intercept a few of the Allied raids at a time allowing your pilots rest?

well I do hope I'm better with the Germans in WiTW than in WiTE or smokindave will be in Berlin in early 1944

.

The air war in this is a brilliant bit of design. There is a lot of broadbrush decision making, or you dig down to the point of trivia, but as its based on setting up orders and then they are carried out for you, its also a case of rock/paper/scissors.

I think the air defense of the Reich is all about the placement of your squadrons. Do you spread them out hoping never to be caught out, do you concentrate around places, do you try to second guess where your opponent will bomb next turn? At this stage, if you catch an allied raid you can really cut them up, by early 1944 the allies get better escorts so you are more trying to preserve your airforce and do the occasional ambush.

Its more complex with the Allies, in reality with the Germans you are essentially reactive, which is one reason why I think its good to swap sides, unless someone really only wants to play the Germans. In WiTE, both sides get to attack, have periods of dominance and so on, so it both sides are more in control (but at different phases).

In Italy you can, and should, be a bit more aggressive. The allies outnumber you but its not the dominance they will have in France in 1944, so well used your airforce can be very effective, even if it is fragile.

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Turn 3: 17-23 July 1943 - 8/25/2015 9:57:28 AM

loki100

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Turn 3: 17-23 July 1943

Allies make predictable gains in south east Sicily. I'll basically sacrifice the west of the island and try to delay as I fall back to Messina in the east.

Bombing raids were mostly about the U-Boats. I suspect that smokindave is prioritising these as his initial targets in the hope that he can then ignore them for the rest of 1943.

He paid a fairly high price, especially in level bombers.

My logic is that while outright losses are useful, these tend to indicate a substantial number were also damaged. In turn that lowers the morale of his airforce, forcing them to rest.

My limited air campaign is still fundamentally about protecting southern Italy from naval invasions. I'd guess now that 4 TF are back in N Africa and perhaps two are aimed at Sardinia.

Still struggling with the garrison rules. The on-map aides are excellent, just it all needs a bit of anticipation. Spending my small stock of admin points on waking up the German army.

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RE: Turn 3: 17-23 July 1943 - 8/25/2015 12:54:15 PM

Devonport

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quote:

ORIGINAL: loki100

Turn 3: 17-23 July 1943

Allies make predictable gains in south east Sicily. I'll basically sacrifice the west of the island and try to delay as I fall back to Messina in the east.

Bombing raids were mostly about the U-Boats. I suspect that smokindave is prioritising these as his initial targets in the hope that he can then ignore them for the rest of 1943.

He paid a fairly high price, especially in level bombers.

My logic is that while outright losses are useful, these tend to indicate a substantial number were also damaged. In turn that lowers the morale of his airforce, forcing them to rest.

My limited air campaign is still fundamentally about protecting southern Italy from naval invasions. I'd guess now that 4 TF are back in N Africa and perhaps two are aimed at Sardinia.

Still struggling with the garrison rules. The on-map aides are excellent, just it all needs a bit of anticipation. Spending my small stock of admin points on waking up the German army.

How would he supply and reinforce the landing without the temporary ports?

< Message edited by Devonport -- 8/25/2015 1:56:17 PM >

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RE: Turn 3: 17-23 July 1943 - 8/25/2015 2:02:13 PM

Seminole

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quote:

How would he supply and reinforce the landing without the temporary ports?

TFs adjacent to a level 1 or level 2 port will automatically repair them, so at this stage the Allies can rely on the in place port infrastructure in Sicily (and because the threat of being trapped keeps a tight leash on German antics).

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RE: Turn 3: 17-23 July 1943 - 8/25/2015 4:16:29 PM

Devonport

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I was aware of the automatic repair function, but at this stage Gela (level 1) seems to be the only port that can have been fully repaired, Siracusa will take time. Perhaps it is a small landing not needing much by way of supplies or large follow up units? Or maybe there is still a TF supporting the landing at Noto as that is shown as having a port. If I only do two British landings on turn 1 I usually do the two to the south of Siracusa as then two ports can be supported by one TF.

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Post #: 12

RE: Turn 3: 17-23 July 1943 - 8/25/2015 5:39:48 PM

Seminole

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quote:

I was aware of the automatic repair function, but at this stage Gela (level 1) seems to be the only port that can have been fully repaired, Siracusa will take time. Perhaps it is a small landing not needing much by way of supplies or large follow up units? Or maybe there is still a TF supporting the landing at Noto as that is shown as having a port. If I only do two British landings on turn 1 I usually do the two to the south of Siracusa as then two ports can be supported by one TF.

I didn't look closely at the picture at first, but now I see a temp port SE of Gela as well, so with 2 TFs supporting the landing he has 50k+ supplies/turn and whatever is moving into Gela and Siracusa. That leaves 4 TFs for more mischief.

An advantage of keeping a TF involved is that the temp port is also considered a nation supply source for morale purposes, so even if the LW cut off the sea lanes his troops wouldn't be crippled.

In my opinion the Allies wisest course is to hold off the mainland invasion until the first week of August so that all the Italian surrender rules are in effect. Then you can see what you're facing to determine the next step.

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RE: Turn 3: 17-23 July 1943 - 8/25/2015 8:37:34 PM

loki100

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Devonport

How would he supply and reinforce the landing without the temporary ports?

...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Seminole

quote:

I was aware of the automatic repair function, but at this stage Gela (level 1) seems to be the only port that can have been fully repaired, Siracusa will take time. Perhaps it is a small landing not needing much by way of supplies or large follow up units? Or maybe there is still a TF supporting the landing at Noto as that is shown as having a port. If I only do two British landings on turn 1 I usually do the two to the south of Siracusa as then two ports can be supported by one TF.

I didn't look closely at the picture at first, but now I see a temp port SE of Gela as well, so with 2 TFs supporting the landing he has 50k+ supplies/turn and whatever is moving into Gela and Siracusa. That leaves 4 TFs for more mischief.

An advantage of keeping a TF involved is that the temp port is also considered a nation supply source for morale purposes, so even if the LW cut off the sea lanes his troops wouldn't be crippled.

In my opinion the Allies wisest course is to hold off the mainland invasion until the first week of August so that all the Italian surrender rules are in effect. Then you can see what you're facing to determine the next step.

This my suspicion, I tried an vs AI experiment of only leaving 1 TF and found it very slow to build up supply on Sicily, so I think he has 2 there, we're a bit ahead (end Aug) and I know he used 2 in Sardinia, so that is now I guess 3 for mainland Italy (depends on how he handles Corsica)

Dave, has not rushed at the mainland, which I think is sensible. most people set up the Germans to really take out any weak rushed invasion.

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Post #: 14

Turn 4: 24-30 July 1943 - 8/26/2015 10:30:08 AM

loki100

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Turn 4: 24-30 July 1943

Well I found two of the missing Task Forces along with what seems like steady Allied progress in Sicily - I think this is all pretty much as expected, the main problem for the allies is movement points not combat strength.

Seems that the Allies really don't like my U-Boats. Also they didn't lose that many bombers last turn but it looks like Bomber Command was allowed to stay at home

Here's the first sighting of the VP screen, so far so predictable?

Decided on an aggressive air response. I have a lot of bombers in Sardinia, so set up an overlapping naval interdiction pattern off the island. If the Allies have been careless about AS or leaving unallocated long range fighters, that just might catch them out.

On Sicily, decide to launch an attack on their airbases. From playing the allies, I struggle with supply/support at the start so its possible that a lot of their planes are stuck on the ground.

Well the Sicily gambit was not one to be enshrined in the chess books. Seems as if the allies expected something of that type:

None of the others exactly worked either (though that was the worst, I did destroy about 8 planes on the ground in total). Still the Sardinian operation worked out a lot better.

That should harm their supply lines.

On both islands, decide to keep on fighting and make them use up time.

< Message edited by loki100 -- 8/27/2015 8:45:43 AM >

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RE: Turn 4: 24-30 July 194 - 8/26/2015 1:45:03 PM

Seminole

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Those are neutral-contested, not under your control (Allied value of 3, Axis 2).

Supplies will flow, but his cargo (and troop) ships will face higher attrition for the route that takes them through where you have naval interdiction values on the map.
I find that since the patch that made TFs more stout in projecting naval interdiction that it is better to operate 20 or 30 miles away from them to create a cordon. They really disrupt efforts in their immediate vicinity now. Putting naval interdiction in hexes with TFs is good though because it helps chew up their attached troop and cargo ships.

(in reply to loki100)

Post #: 16

RE: Turn 4: 24-30 July 194 - 8/27/2015 7:41:44 AM

loki100

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ah, yes, this is why it actually helps your own game play to take images and refer back. I'd just assumed the welcome break in the sea of red was really good news (as opposed to being ok news).

from an email comment, even that was enough to limit the arrival of supplies but unfortunately I didn't open the next turn to be faced with the sight of all those allied divisions trying to surrender

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Post #: 17

Turn 5: 31 July – 6 August 1943 - 8/27/2015 7:44:01 AM

loki100

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Turn 5: 31 July – 6 August 1943

So lets see where the bombers have been. Raids on the U-Boats at Danzig, around Braunschweig and at Erfurt.

Bit frustrating as I'd been thinking of moving some fighters to cover Danzig as at some stage the Allies have to make that gamble.

Overall the allies have done a good job on my U-Boats without suffering too many heavy losses.

Generally those raids caught me out of position as my basic approach is to heavily concentrate and hope to guess the right target, in that case I should inflict a lot of losses. My logic is that damaged planes are really what matters as they feed into lost morale and grounded air units.

Still that is two turns of relatively heavy losses for US 8 Air but Bomber Command is not being used very heavily (or is hiding from my aircraft?)

Now I did say there would be mistakes, well last turn I made a big one.

Still struggling a bit with the garrison rules and pre-planning. The in-game aides and manual are clear but actually organising what you have to do is a bit of a challenge.

However, here is my key tip to all aspiring axis players. If the little tool tip says not to push the end of turn button as your garrisons are wrong its not trolling you. Take it seriously, and double check both the geographical demands and the specific cities.

Here I'd forgotten to stack a unit in Amiens, even more frustrating is I had an infantry division a few hexes away not doing very much.

In my air phase not much happened. I set up defensive naval air boxes around Italy. Despite my best attempts failed to really challenge allied control off Sardinia (but apparently last turn did make the allies go hungry)

Steady allied progress in Sicily and I'm building up a couple of clusters of strong units in Italy.

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Post #: 18

Turns 6-21: 7 August – 26 November 1943 - 9/7/2015 8:39:15 PM

loki100

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Turns 6-21: 7 August – 26 November 1943

This is a huge time conflation but I've been finding it hard to work out how to write this up from the German perspective. It maybe that I am missing essential preparations for 1944, but in general its very reactive, so while its interesting to play its hard to capture that in text, without going into massive levels of detail.

In the air I have been using AD to set up naval patrols off Italy but in Germany I've simply allocated fighters to bases and let the interception rules work. This has generally been successful, especially as I've been swapping bases around in an attempt to double guess where the Allies will bomb next. Some turns I've guessed wrong and they have had a relatively free turn, others I've concentrated almost exactly where the bombers are going to be.

The Allies have mostly bombed by sending 8 Air and BC over a single hex target per turn. The net result is I've lost 42 vp for bombing which I think is fine for this stage.

I've been tracking losses of Lancasters and B-17s. Mainly as from playing the Allies I find its the impact of damaged planes on morale that is the main constraint on keeping the airwar going.

Industrially I am doing ok, the main pools seem to be fine for the moment. Could do with more manpower but it doesn't seem to be critical.

For the East Front, I've sent some units that way to balance the mountain divisions I pulled at the start. Trying to judge this, but so far it seems to be under control?

The ground war has been quiet. Again from playing the Allies I've decided on a combination of defending key supply lines/strong points and letting fatigue and problems with supply weaken their efforts.

Sicily fell in T8

Italy surrendered on T10. I managed to hold onto Bastia till T17, mainly as I deployed a relatively strong brigade to hold the port.

The last turn, the Allies have forced the Bufanto so I've pulled back to a shorter defensive line.

The amount of fighting since the fall of Sicily has been minimal. But not surprisingly the Allies have put a lot of effort into bombing my airbases (I can't complain as I did this to Dave) and have very helpfully been ploughing the artichoke fields around Rome. Hopefully I will still be occupying the city in spring and can enjoy the resulting crops.

I'm now not sure if they are going to try to land around Rome or have pulled back to the UK to set up the invasion of France.

Depending on what happens, I'll carry on conflating relatively long time periods at least till the invasion of France (or central Italy).

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Post #: 19

Turns 22-26: 27 November – 31 December 1943 - 9/22/2015 9:31:41 PM

loki100

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Turns 22-26: 27 November – 31 December 1943

First block of these turns were the usual cat and mouse stuff over Germany. On T-24, the US 8 Airforce kindly flew to where I'd concentrated my fighters (they also had a bad time of it on T-25)

So there was I, christmas restaurant booked in Trastevere, plans to wash the Tigers in a fountain as a new year celebration ... sort of things you can do in Rome.

When I opened up T26, and found I couldn't find much of my army:

Shock, horror an invasion.

Before I could do much, here is the end of year VP situation.

So far game seems heading for a draw, but now there might be some fighting I'm hoping to gain VP from combat.

First thing, time to use all those bombers that have been hiding in Italy.

(its actually rather fun to have to make up an air directive with the Germans)

Managed quite decent damage but not much interdiction for my side.

And then time to let my Panzers show off their hard won driving skills. Months of coping with the Roman traffic means they should be able to dodge a few shells?

(I hate naval guns and the beach-head defensive bonus ... and attacking under air interdiction)

Well at least that cost the Allies a lot of men.

Goal now is to keep the Allies pinned down till my units in the south can manage to escape.

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Post #: 20

RE: Turns 22-26: 27 November – 31 December 1943 - 9/23/2015 3:56:44 AM

LiquidSky

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That's rather gutsey parking divisions on the coast. They won't defend as a division unless they are in a port. And if he does hit that hex, they will lose all their movement, so wont be able to help repel the hordes...and may end up isolated as they cant move.

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Post #: 21

RE: Turns 22-26: 27 November – 31 December 1943 - 9/23/2015 6:45:45 AM

loki100

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quote:

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky

That's rather gutsey parking divisions on the coast. They won't defend as a division unless they are in a port. And if he does hit that hex, they will lose all their movement, so wont be able to help repel the hordes...and may end up isolated as they cant move.

ah, at the time he landed there was only a single regiment in the landing zone (the mtn reg at Civitavecchia), the final image is after I'd tried to counterattack and seal off his landing. Given he has 3 TF committed, and its the end of 1943, I'm not afraid of a follow up invasion in the Med for some time. The other 3 (? I forget if the allies have 6 or 7 at this stage), must be in the UK preparing to invade France?

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Post #: 22

RE: Turns 22-26: 27 November – 31 December 1943 - 9/23/2015 3:02:57 PM

Q-Ball

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I think it pays to build a line of fortifications one hex off the coast from Lido to Piombino. It's not expensive at 1 AP ea, and then you have a line of level 3 forts to step into. If you break up a couple Panzer Divisions and leave a regiment in some of the forts, you can even potentially defeat a para drop. The result could delay him. Too late now, but for next time.

Looking at the situation around Rome, you probably will have to delay him long enough to extract everyone out of Southern Italy, and form a new line at the Gothic Line. You're almost at 1944 anyway, when the VPs for Rome will drop. Rome is the only thing left south of Florence worth fighting for, since you've already lost the airfields around Foggia and the heel.

I also am not sure leaving a division in Naples is a great idea. That's a better strategy in France at some point.

I've also found the same thing as you: Beachheads are almost impossible to take, even with big odds. You can inflict alot of casualties though, as you found out. I have only taken one by using like 3 full stacks on a single division. Even isolated, they aren't easy.

< Message edited by Q-Ball -- 9/23/2015 4:06:37 PM >

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Post #: 23

RE: Turns 22-26: 27 November – 31 December 1943 - 9/25/2015 7:29:41 PM

loki100

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you are right about pre-building etc. Its just that in addition to the lack of hordes of orcs, I'm a bit surprised at the lack of admin pts on the Axis side.

I get everything out, make him pay with casualties and if I can bring the war in Italy to an end with a defense of the Appenine crinalle that will be ok for me.

Found playing the AI that not getting Naples for a while is actually a real problem ... those ports in central Italy are not enough for decent supply ... so again may help close off this theatre?

But still learning a lot about the axis side, its not always obvious what choices to make when the consequences are 10+ turns away

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Post #: 24

Turn 26: 1- 6 January 1944 1943 - 9/25/2015 7:31:58 PM

loki100

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Turn 26: 1- 6 January 1944

So lets see what happened on New Years Eve, some more allied units arrived in Italy

8 Airforce bombed near the Ruhr and Bomber Command hit Dresden [1]

VP situation for the new year, shifts a little in my direction. To be expected given the losses I inflicted last turn.

My pools seem to be ok.

And the East Front seems to be stable.

I've sent some infantry divisions, spare corps and a Pzr division, plus a number of bomber squadrons.

On the ground, my Pzrs had resisted most attempts to break out. In turn I attack those rather inviting Paras

That is at least one unit dispatched back to N Ireland.

Good thing is I can set up to contain the landings for another turn which should allow me to complete my redeployment.

[1] By hit I mean they seem to have used their planes as bombs ... clearly sending very drunk aircrews into action is a mistake.

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Post #: 25

RE: Turn 26: 1- 6 January 1944 1943 - 10/1/2015 6:12:03 AM

IslandInland

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None of the screenshots posted by Loki show up for me. I've tried in Chrome and Firefox. Is anyone else having the same issue?

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Post #: 26

RE: Turn 26: 1- 6 January 1944 1943 - 10/1/2015 7:55:39 AM

LiquidSky

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I can see them. Is it only Loki's screenshots you can't see, or is it everyone?

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Post #: 27

RE: Turn 26: 1- 6 January 1944 1943 - 10/1/2015 7:56:01 AM

loki100

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quote:

ORIGINAL: XXXCorps

None of the screenshots posted by Loki show up for me. I've tried in Chrome and Firefox. Is anyone else having the same issue?

I've got the same issue - seems to be a problem with imageshack. But I'm away with no easy IT access so it'll be a week or so before I can chase it up

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Post #: 28

RE: Turn 26: 1- 6 January 1944 1943 - 10/1/2015 8:14:43 AM

IslandInland

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quote:

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky

I can see them. Is it only Loki's screenshots you can't see, or is it everyone?

Just Loki's. I've checked other AAR's and threads on the main forum where screenshots are posted and they are fine.

Thanks for your reply, Loki. I thought it was just me.

< Message edited by XXXCorps -- 10/1/2015 9:15:45 AM >

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Post #: 29

RE: Turn 26: 1- 6 January 1944 1943 - 10/8/2015 7:59:42 PM

loki100

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quote:

ORIGINAL: XXXCorps

quote:

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky

I can see them. Is it only Loki's screenshots you can't see, or is it everyone?

Just Loki's. I've checked other AAR's and threads on the main forum where screenshots are posted and they are fine.

Thanks for your reply, Loki. I thought it was just me.

still seems to be some problems with a few images .. imageshack used to be pretty bad for this when it was effectively free but got better once they charged a small annual fee.

anyway, apols at the slow pace of updates. We are moving a bit more slowly than in our last game as we're both away a bit more (and I can't play WiTW on my older laptop), I want to keep a few turns behind. More, I'm finding it hard to write up as the Axis, its either incredibly detailed ... where I moved my fighters to etc ... or very schematic and in that case best to conflate a number of turns where really only small variations of the same thing happened.

think this reflects playing the Axis side in WiTW, its interesting, certainly a challenge, and you need to plan well ahead but it is essentially re-active.

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Post #: 30