Fortifications in Italian alps

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's War in the West >> Fortifications in Italian alps

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Fortifications in Italian alps - 11/27/2016 5:44:02 AM

Vadrus

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Is there any reason while playing as the Axis I shouldn't disband the fortifications on the French border of the Italian Alps?

Seems like a lot of manpower I could be using elsewhere.

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RE: Fortifications in Italian alps - 11/27/2016 11:38:04 AM

loki100

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couple of reasons.

One is that they hinder any Allied invasion of Italy if they go into S France. Its not that the forts will stop the allies but more it will make them expend supply etc in clearing a route - for an operation that is going to be marginal to their priorities.

Other is that each disband costs you admin pts that you really need to unlock formations etc ... and you are really very short of admin pts.

You can put them all onto 50% ToE which reduces the drain on your manpower etc.

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RE: Fortifications in Italian alps - 11/27/2016 3:31:27 PM

Vadrus

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Joined: 11/25/2016
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Hmm, ok makes sense. Thanks for the response.

I am new to the game and frankly it is somewhat overwhelming at this stage. I saw that APs are rare for the Germans. I've played War in the East as both sides and am finding this game a very different experience. I also feel that I have more possible errors to make early game that will affect late game so am trying to be as careful as possible.

So what did you mean by needing the APs to unlock units?

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RE: Fortifications in Italian alps - 11/27/2016 4:41:19 PM

loki100

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you'll find you have a lot of frozen units all around France and the Benelux area. Between the game start and the allied invasion of France you need to get most unfrozen so they can redeploy (and escape encirclement etc) - you can leave a few frozen as they may be in a port that you can cling onto (there is a trade off in sacrificing a few stay behind units to delay the Allies opening up more and more ports in NW Europe). If I recall each regiment costs 5 APs (been a while since I played the axis so maybe wrong), so that will give you an idea how many admin pts you have to commit to that bit of organisation.

With the Germans in this compared to WiTE you simply have to defend, counterattacks are a luxury to be chosen when you can really gain - sort of time you can risk a straight fight is when the Allies pull off a landing near Rome - its worth expending hard to replace resources for that - but most of the time you need to be cautious.

Have a look at the various AARs by LiquidSky, he is probably the most creative German player I've seen and is good at finding ways to delay or upset the allied timetable.

For the defense vs allied bombers you can rely on the deployment of your fighters rather than set air directives for them - this saves fuel and operational losses and is effective. You can try to catch out the AI/your opponent by stripping some areas and reinforcing others etc.

The most likely way you will win is by causing casualties - so the key question each turn is how can I cause the most?

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RE: Fortifications in Italian alps - 11/27/2016 10:07:31 PM

Vadrus

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Thanks for that, it helps. If you or anyone else have some hints for the Axis let me know. I read all the ones I could find on the forums already.

One thing I was considering was moving a lot of infantry down to Italy and basically moving as much armour and mech out as possible, possibly the entire 5th Pz Army and putting it in France to replace the Infantry I take out. I figure the armour will be way more useful in France than Inf and in Italy vice versa. Anyone try that?

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RE: Fortifications in Italian alps - 11/27/2016 10:31:19 PM

loki100

Posts: 10920
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From: Utlima Thule
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I've only played the axis in the GC once (there is an AAR of this - for a few pzrs more) and lost badly - so not that sure of all the options. There are AARs by some very good German players and worth the reading.

Yes at some stage you just need to go over to the defensive in Italy and at that stage you might as well strip out the Pzr/PzrGr formations

but you want to catch the allies off guard if you can, and northern France in spring-summer 1944 is going to be full of allied airpower which may limit the effectiveness of your armour. Moving through high interdiction can wreck very strong armoured units even before you come into contact.

You basically have a series of very hard to replace powerful assets and the key to good Axis play is to use those for best effect.

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RE: Fortifications in Italian alps - 11/27/2016 11:41:35 PM

Vadrus

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Thanks for the tips. If you have any more keep the coming!

Something I'm trying now is to defend the area around Etna on Sicily and funnel Italian forces in to support the German units and try a fighting retreat back to Messina. Anyone try that?

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