|
Centuur -> RE: A musical global war AAR... (6/26/2016 8:11:00 PM)
|
A very lucky Axis in the winter of 1939-1940 caused the early collapse of France. The Germans created Vichy and collapsed it immediately and followed with an invasion in Spain in the summer of 1940 and with an incredible lucky die, captured Gibraltar on the first attack. Also, since it was early 1940 that France went down, the CW lacked the necessary manpower to defend Egypt. Italy captured it, after which the Axis attacked Greece and aligned Yugoslavia.
The USSR grabbed Persia and Iraq on time, before those countries could be aligned on the Axis side. In 1940, the Chinese were very unlucky against the Japanese invaders (who threw the kitchen sink at them). The USSR than declared war on the Japanese, hoping to save the Chinese from getting conquered. That didn't happen, but it was a good effort. So 1940 became a year of disaster to the Chinese and the CW...
1941 therefore, started with a Barbarossa in the West, with was followed by German heavy units, aided by Italians, which liberated Iraq and slowly moved through the Iraq - Persian mountains. The CW was effectively out of the game at that point, since it lacked manpower to be a threath to the Axis, who were already very high in production, due to the closure of the Med.
The Japanese followed a strategy, which I've seen used against me sometimes. Gamble and win or die like a true Japanese. So they ignored the US totally and did their own things. Three times did the US President try to declare war on them. Three times the die roll failed (60-80% chance of succes). Since Germany did not declare war on the Netherlands (which is a good, but risky strategy) the Japanese DoW'ed the Netherlands first to get to the oil wells, before starting a war with the CW. Effectively, the Japanese were lucky with the US failing to DoW them so many times. They gambled and they got into the best positions before they ultimately decided to attack the US, to get the Phillipines into their control. At this moment, the Japanese are only advancing in the USSR and are firmly entrenched within their perimeter.
In the USSR, fierce battles seemed to put Germany in problems. It took them untill the winter of 1941 to collapse the Soviet frontlines. But with Guderian slowly moving into Persia, the USSR had to move units into the Caucasian region to defend there. At the start of 1942, Guderian reached the border of the USSR in Persia. From that moment on, all defensive lines the USSR could put into place were dealt with by the German Ostheer. Leningrad and Murmansk were ignored by the Germans, until such time as a conquest of the USSR seemed possible. The Japanese simply put more and more pressure on the Soviets, using their fleet to grab Vladivostok, before going to war with the Wallies, and slowly moved forward in eastern Siberia in 1941. The Soviets couldn't put a lot of units in their way, when at war in the west.
From the moment on that the Med was closed and China was conquered by the Axis, the economic power of the Axis at the start of 1941 became huge, making it possible for them to build a huge airforce, based on an abundance of FTR's. That's about what has happened, during this game.
Personally, I believe the Allies won't be able to turn the table if Germany conqueres the USSR. And that is only a matter of time. The forces the Germans have are huge and there is no way the Allies can outbuild them in such large numbers, that they can manage the numbers of FTR's in the air by the Axis. FTR's are by far the best defensive units any major power needs to prevent the enemy from doing much harm. If you have more than the enemy on a particular frontline, you can hold your own line and even think about taking the liberty to attack the enemy (as von Bock is showing in Morocco, without a lot of success, but he can stand to lose some units)...
|
|
|
|
