Sealion 41! Barbarossa 42? - GS 2.00.11 - WAR IS OVER!

[zechi]

Turn 73 - Axis withdraw from center of eastern front! Allied advance deeper into northern Italy!

The Wehrmacht and Hungarian Army retreat:



Red Army quickly follows and destroys one Hungarian INF and damages another one:



In the southern sector I did not manage to advance as the Romanian INF survived my attacks.

In Italy the western Allies cut off the Gustav line and Rome and advance deeper into northern Italy and towards the Alps:



Next turn another Fortress of the Gustav line should fall and then the way to Rome is open!

In Spain and North Africa the Allies are not challenged by the Axis and capture more cities and resources:



In France not much is happening as the Allies take Liege and strategically bomb Germany:



Soon I will challenge the Axis defense line.

[leridano]

I think that despite of the fully defensive strategy planned by @massina in Eastern front he should have at least attacked soviet border forces in spring 1942. He would have destroyed some soviet mechs and he would have at least made a feint of a real Barbarossa thus forcing you to build defensive positions. Instead of this, you have been able to go on the offensive from the beginning of the war in the East with an incredible (I suppose) soviet PP´s income.

What I mean is that now with the new rules about russian entry at war there are many strategies that can be followed in Eastern front scenario but may be @massina has been excessively passive in the East.

[richardsd]

in this type of game killing a few Russians doesn't really help

having played against a couple of these, they rely on good defence positions and high effectiveness - offence doesn't help them

it can be suprisingly difficult to breakdown an Axis that just defends from the outset in the East, you can't really attack them in 42 as they are tecnologically too superior and don't suffer a winter penalty

you have a lot of troops to assault with in 43, but need them as you are going to lose a lot grinding through the defence lines, all it takes is a bit of favourable weather for the Aixs (i.e. a few extra Mud turns and some early winters) and you can find yourself running out of time

[Schnurri]

Agree with Richard. I've done the passive defense in the East at least 6 times and it has failed twice (my first early attempts) and been successful 4x. With this strategy you don't burn any oil and manpower levels are high til the very end. By the time the Russians get sufficient tech to make any headway the Axis can just retreat and build GAR walls in the homeland. This strategy has to be combined with a successful Med strategy that seals off the Med at least long enough to delay a southern invasion and ties up some Allies in the Med and hopefully delays Overlord. You also have time to build a strong Atlantic Wall and when the inevitable comes in 44 and things start collapsing you retreat and hang on.

[Plaid]

From my experience german army can place defences at soviet border, DoWing USSR autumn 1941 (to inflict some real surprise penalty) and take some key cities on the first turn, so soviets will need lots of time to rail their troops and prepare offencive. And then they will be stopped by effeciency penalty and poor weather, so you probably will not see any offencive by spring 1942. And in 1942 germans may even repel this offencive and start their own, if they perform well and suffer low casualties.

Massina's problem, I think, is not giving up eastern front, but the fact that he didn't achieve major success elsewhere. He executed only sealion, without finishing off british empire with good middle east campaign, so soon enough he found himself surrounded by allies from all sides with none allied powers really crippled. At this situation axis collaps very fast, what can be seen in this game.

[leridano]

IMO if you are able to destroy 5-6 soviet mechs, 5-6 inf, and 20-25 garrisons this would not affect at all axis defensive strategy. Soviet player will think that he will be facing a real Barbarossa but this would be only a feint. You could go back to your defensive positions again with some more xp on your attacking units, and with enough time to wait for the russians and to gain effectiveness. So you will have the same situation than @massina has in this game but having destroyed some russian units.

[Plaid]

Its quite a surprise to me, why in late 1943 soviet tanks still have KV skin and even more surprising, why german's are PZ III.
Did you and your opponent simultaneously put little effort into armour research? Or is it only some random unupgraded pieces on the map?

[eveready321]

How do you keep the USSR from automatically joining the Axis in late 1941, if your playing AI anyways?

[zechi]

Turn 74 - Way to Rome is open! Antwerp under pressure! German counterattack in southern Poland!

In Italy the Allied offensive continues and the second fortress of the Gustav line falls:



This will free my forces in southern Italy soon and they can help in the drive through the Alps. In the north Florence is captured and advance towards the Alps continues.

In France Antwerp is encircled and the defenders are down to 1 step:



Next turn it should fall and I could perhaps try to launch an attack against the German defense line near The Hague.

In the east things are slow as always:



A German counterattacks stops my offensive in southern Poland.

In the south the Romanian INF still survives:



And the losses so far:

[zechi]

Its quite a surprise to me, why in late 1943 soviet tanks still have KV skin and even more surprising, why german's are PZ III.
Did you and your opponent simultaneously put little effort into armour research? Or is it only some random unupgraded pieces on the map?

No, I got three Labs for research in Armour. I also have three in General, INF and four labs in Air. The problem is the late activation of the Soviets. until the activation in May 1942 I only got up to 5 labs (I had three in Air and 2 in INF). I then began to fast in Armour but you only slowly get a few more labs. I think its perhaps to slow as my forces really have a significant disadvantage against the German units in the east. It even feels that the Axis minor units are about equal. This could be a balance problem, because would Massina not mess up with Sealion he would have a very good chance to win this game.

@eveready321
It is a new feature of the GS 2.00 Mod that the Soviets activate in May 1942 and not in October 1941 as in the first mod and in the Vanilla game.

[zechi]

Turn 75 - Antwerp and Strasbourg liberated! Offensive against Rome begins!

In France the western Allies capture Antwerp and Strasbourg:



In Italy the Allies capture Venice and attack the Gustav line and Rome:



On the Iberian peninsula the Partisans capture more resources and another city:



In the east not much combat, only a Romanian INF is destroyed and a small bridgehead secured:



Red Army mostly repairs air units and upgrades ground forces.

[Crazygunner1]

How do i interpid the new casualties figures? What does the number with (1) mean?

Nice progress in the game, i see that Massina left the backdoor open to Yugoslavia, might be an idea to send some britts there to quicken the fall of the eastern axis front.

Axis will crumble pretty soon and when they do it will go quickly...nice job

Crazyg

[leridano]

How do i interpid the new casualties figures? What does the number with (1) mean?
Crazyg

Number in parentheses means number of units destroyed. Number without parentheses means number of steps lost.

[Crazygunner1]

How do i interpid the new casualties figures? What does the number with (1) mean?
Crazyg

Number in parentheses means number of units destroyed. Number without parentheses means number of steps lost.

ofcourse it is....thanks

[zechi]

Turn 76 -78 - Mud stops Allied offensives! Red Army breaks into Romania!

On turn 76-77 (bot October turns) we got muddy weather in central Europe. Therefore, the Allies could not really continue their advance and the Axis got time to form a defense line in the Alps and in western Yugoslavia. However, in November the weather changed in central Europe to fair, which allowed the Luftwaffe to destroy a Soviet airbase. Nevertheless, the Allied offensives could also continue at least for another turn before winter:



As you see the Germans quickly formed a defensive line. It will not be so easy to get through the Alps as hoped. However, I manage to destroy an airbase in Munich and capture the city with a British Paradivision. However, they take heavy losses in doing so.

In western Europe the Allies begin their offensive in the Netherlands and destroy a German INF and reach the outskirts of the Hague:



I hope to expand this bridgehead and force the defense line of the Axis to collapse here in 1944.

In the east the Soviets finally manage to make a breakthrough in Romania:



However, I fear a counterattack as a German ARM has been spotted.

At the end of my turn a British partisan unit appears in Gibraltar:

[zechi]

Turn 79 - Axis counteroffensive in Romania repelled! Rome liberated!

The Axis launched a counteroffensive against my armoured breakthrough in Romania:



But the counterattack failed to cut my force off and therefore the Red Army continues their offensive and the winter weather is helping me:



A German MECH cut off and a Panzer Corps destroyed. Finally some success at this front. It now hurts the Axis that they abandoned any research in ARM and are still operating with Panzer III.

Near Warsaw the Red Army forms another bridgehead:



Slowly I will wear the defenders down. I also got finally a first Guard unit which survived more then one turn;)

In the west the German were succesfull in repelling my MECH near the Hague:



The British Paradivision capturing Munich was also destroyed. However my counteroffensive destroys German HQ near the Hague:



In Italy Rome is finally liberated!



I will sent some units to capture Tirana as it is in the fair weather zone and then move into Yugoslavia/Bulgaria.

[zechi]

Turn 80 - Red Army advances deeper into Romania! Offensive against Warsaw prepared!

The Red Army advances in the north and south:





Romania should fall soon.

In the West the Allies prepare to attack the Hague, but fail to finish off a German INF:

[zechi]

Turn 81 - Eastern defense line begins to disintegrate! Encirclement of the Hague begins!

In the east the Axis lose ground as the Red Army stabs more and more holes into the Axis defense line:





It seems that Massina cannot afford to repair all of the Luftwaffe and other Axis airforce units. I also got Dog Fight level 6 with the Soviets.

The western Allies also push forward:





The encirclemen of the Hague begins and last Axis bastion in Italy is attacked.

[zechi]

Turn 82 - Massive Axis retreat in the east! Allies continue to press forward! Romania changes sides!

Finally some movement in the east as the Axis Army retreats:





Without the help of the German the Romanian Army is doomed and the Red Army overruns Bucharest:



This forces Romania to change sides:



As only one Romanian Partisan unit survived the Soviet advance I do not gain much from this change.

In the West the Allies press forward more slowly:



The Hague is encircled and Warsaw attacked. A paradivision helps to finish off a German INF near the Alps.

[zechi]

Turn 92 - Berlin is captured! Germany surrender! Allied Major Victory!


I did not had the time to present you the last few turns as I was moving in a new appartment. After the fall of Romania it was a pretty easy advance for the Allies from both sides. The German defenses disintegrated rather quickly and Massina could not repair his air units anymore. We just finished the game and this is the final turn:



And the losses:



Allied Major Victory:



Massina played a good game and its great that he played until the end, despite his fialed Operation Sealion. The game would have been a close thing if he would had succeeded with Sealion. Then both sides would have had the chance to win the game. I still can't fully understand why his Sealion failed. It seems it was an error to concentrate on London.

I think I played a very good game with the western Allies and consider myself a good player with UK/US, but I still find it hard to master the Soviets, even in favorable circumstances like in this game. You can easily lose many units quickly if you do not play very cautious.