DmitryN
Posts: 51
Joined: 5/23/2021
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KlasE (axis) lost to DmitryN (allies)
Very interesting game which went absolutely unusual way with very strong opponent.
Please find below brief AAR and some my conclusions from the game.
I. How the war went.
Allies realized “all in defending France” strategy. Actually in half of my “allies” games it allows to defend France till spring-summer 1941 and even against first class players I usually hold it till at least Sep-Oct 1940. But KlasE made a very effective offensive destroyed anglo-french defense and conquered France Jul 1940. After it he went Sealion.
UK defended long and costly for Axis. I guess if the weather did not help Germans (no single turn of rain all fall-winter 1940/41(!) UK navy could efficiently block all the ports and German supply. But because of weather Luftwaffe destroyed vast part of British fleet. Anyway UK troops fight strong and held Scotland till the moment when US troops came there. British island were the main theater of war for very long time.
It should be noted that axis invested remarkable funds in German fleet buying some subs and motor boats and making their reinforcements many times.
In order to place air force with good supply US occupied Ireland. It was the largest air battle for Britain ever. One turn US spend only on reinforcement of aircrafts about 400 MPPs. Finally spring 1943 allies had 6 carriers 4 escort carriers and about 10 air wings around England and that allowed them to kill fast all the Luftwaffe. After it US fleet blocked the ports. US land troops made few unsuccessful landings in UK during 1941-1942, but to the moment Germans finally killed all US army group including HQ in Scotland couple of ports in south England were again in US hands. After the fleet blockade of all the ports US troops finally liberated all the south England while Scotland remained in German hands till Germany surrendered.
Because of heavy fight for England there was no real Barbarossa. Russians saved even some of units deployed on border and no attempts to cross Dniepr-Pskov defensive line were ever really made by Axis. Till summer 1943 the only theater on Russian front which was active was Finland. Russian deployed in Finland all the tanks . 2 armored trains were real killing machine making strikes each turn without any loses. They went to 13 strength already beginning of 1943. Each turn at least 1 German unit was killed in Finland. Germans were forced to bring new units by the sea and had not good supply there so I guess that spending in terms of MPPs in Finland war were close to equal or anyway not so much in favor of Germans which could be on plains of Ukraine. Thus defending Finland in such situation was Axis mistake.
On the winter 1942/43 Finland surrendered and USSR army began the offensive on the whole front, having 6 (!) HQ a lot of artillery and close to maximum amount of level 3 tanks. And even at this moment Axis continued to invest tons of MPPs to reinforce aircrafts in England.
The were no chances to hold eastern front. Romania switched side Balkans were in Soviet hands. US landed both in France and northern Germany without waiting to kill big German forces in England.
On the other fronts axis were surprisingly passive. UK moved all the forces from Egypt to defend Britain fall 1940. The was only 1(!) recon in Egypt for 2 years. But Italian army came to Egypt and Middle east only end of 1942. Italy took all the East Africa but I really don’t know if African Italian units were sent somewere.
Japan did not take Vladivostok nor block it till 1943! There is no possibility to protect Vladivostok, which is so important for USSR supply! Japan war with USSR started only from the USSR attack in 1943 (Which was my mistake. Russians were defeated in Far East and those troops could be of much better use on German front).
Japans took South Africa and New Zeeland but not the Australia. It was very weak as some troops were also moved to European theater and UK morale was below 10% in 1943 so all units had 1% morale. Taking Australia could easily knock UK out of war because of morale drop with all the UK DDs and carriers so important for battle for British islands in 1943.
China was alive till the winter 1943/44. Japan attack on India was again very effective but made too late.
Instead of all the above Japan took all the islands in the Pacific including the Hawaii and also conquered Panama and even DR.
Returning to Europe. UK surrendered beginning 1944 because of morale drop to 0%. However the were US units near London, so UK returned to the game next turn.
Fights for both Germany and Italy was very tough. Italian moral was quite high as all Africa and middle east was in its hand. Finally all the 3 nations Germany, Italy and India surrendered in the same turn, guess September 1944.
After it the situation was the following: Japan controlled China, India, Australia, New Zeeland, South Africa, all the islands, had all it’s fleet with no loses, moral of 140% and about 800 MPPs income. On the other hand the were all the allies but with US morale of 14% droping 1-2% each turn fast no UK units (after its surrender) and USSR with no air technologies.
From the beginning of 1944 I understood that all the axis hope is in US surrender. To solve this problem allies made the following: (1) allowed USSR to plunder Germany, and invest in amphibious and naval technologies ?bought out all the USSR fleet including 3 battleships and 1 Carrier. All of this should appear end 1945. Actually USSR had more than 1100 income without any convoys; (2) as minor countries do not surrender when major country surrender because of morale drop, all US money after reinforcement were spent on buying minors troops. While using diplomacy US had all the Latin America, Belgium etc. Thus some naval, air and land units should survive US surrender ; (3) switched all the convoys in favor of UK which was buying naval troops only. (4) send all the US fleet in suiciding attack to kill as many Japan navy as it could before disappear.
Thus, even with US surrender, which was expected winter 45/46 I guess there were no real possibilities for Japan to defend till 1947.
Finally KlasE resigned beginning 1945, after loosing Hawaii, with a lot of land troops blocked in India and Middle East and no real opportunities to resist soviet hordes in China.
II. Strategically thoughts after the game
1. I doubt that Sealion strategy is at all reasonable if the players are somewhat equal. To be effective it should begin May-June 1940 and be conducted fast enough before US enters the war. And even in this case it costs quite a lot for sea transport garrison units and loses. It also increase both US and USSR mobilization. Thus even with fast and successful Sealion Barbarossa is much weaker than it could be. And killing USSR fast is much more important than taking Britain. First of all it knocks USSR out of battle while UK will not surrender second in USSR Germans receive much more constant income while taking land than in Britain.
However if axis strategy is to knock out UK and US by the morale drop it could work. Actually KlasE was very close to this result. In order to win he should either:
(i) Send Japan fleet to Britain. This could totally change the game as both UK and US fleet suffered very heavy loses from German aviation and received few investments. With Japanese fleet in the Atlantic US land forces would be blocked as it is impossible to build the fleet fast. I guess allies had nothing to oppose such axis strategy.
(ii) Attack India and Australia first. With new script taking Hawaii and all the islands can be a good way to knock out US. But UK morale droped much faster than US, so it was reasonable to knock it first. UK morale was less than 10% beginning 1943, and if UK was knocked before allies have retaken British islands it could change the game.
2. Luftwaffe should not be massively used against US air force. Such battle leads to fast equal losses in terms of MPPs while German land units fight against Americans with ½ or even1/3 loses ratio. German Bombers could give much more effect on soviet front. Also moving just 1 fighter could make all the Russian aviation out of use, while in game against KlasE Russian bombers were used all the time suppressing German land units morale before attacking it with land units. In my opinion massive investments in German air force and fleet and using all the Luftwaffe on the western front was the main axis mistake in the game described.
3. If main axis forces are used against UK and US and there is no real German offensive on the Russian front there is no sense to defend Finland as axis. One story is when you try to hold Finland just for few turns, waiting when Russians will be forced to retreat because of push on the main front. But if USSR is not under the pressure and deploys its best units in Finland it is better to fight on the main front forgetting about Finland.
4. In my opinion if Japan goes “all in” on China front, there is no real possibility to defend China later than till the winter 1942/43. Even with so strong players as Taifun and LoneRuner I was able to kill China on summer 1942. If you invest in infantry motorization, don’t afraid of loses and (if necessary) move some of special forces given to Japan in 1941 to China front there is no way China could survive. So not killing China fast is not the question of luck, weather or tactical decisions. It is only the question of Japan resources allocation and readiness to loses (which is practically the same). I really don’t see any better option for Japan as killing China fast, as it untie its hands for any other options.
Anyway it was very interesting game. Many thanks to KlasE for his excellent play!
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