Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

After action reports for Commander Europe at War.

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duncanr
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:09 pm

Re: Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by duncanr »

oh well does it really matter - the one attack we need to go right doesn't, :cry:

before shots - Jan 45

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you will see we fail to re-establish our beach head :-( 2 steps left after poor results

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one small victory though as the sharp among you would have seen Max's various scouting air in the med and west europe - no more for 4, missed just the one :cry:

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duncanr
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:09 pm

Re: Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by duncanr »

latest after shots as the game draws to its inevitable conclusion

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duncanr
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:09 pm

Re: Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by duncanr »

latest

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duncanr
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:09 pm

Re: Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by duncanr »

delay while I was away - sorry

game coming to a close (could be last played turn) the Axis get preemptive with airstrikes again but the allied airpower wins despite adverse weather zones and we finally make good head way, all to late though as Max will hold everything

fantastic fun game and lots of learnings - I think now after a few more games underway that we are going to have to think very hard about how strong the Axis are early game

after shots

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Vokt
Lieutenant Colonel - Panther D
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Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by Vokt »

I think that regardless of everything, supermax has shown again that he is an imaginative player and a good strategist. He first succeeded in luring RN in Africa, so he could launch Sealion with no opposition from British naval forces. And second, he lured the Soviets (and particularly, their air force) in the Caucasus in a not decisive front, with the aim of making the Russians not to launch any important offensive in the main front along Barbarossa borders.

Guessing that Soviets in 1942 had awful odds when trying to target xp and higher tech German units, but as Stauffenberg pointed out, there is always a weaker sector of the front where the Soviets can try and ooze through several units. For doing that you preferably launch the offensive in winter weather and with good air support of several tacs stationed in Belarus and the Ukraine. But Soviet tacs were deployed around Baku instead, so no offensive of any type was possible to be launched.

Landings in Great Britain showed the effectiveness of railing many garrisons to a spot in the very same turn , this decisively affecting the timing of the landing operation. E. g., landing in Wales was a good plan but it quickly got bogged down when 4 garrisons were railed to the coal resource hex. Had the game the limitation of 1 unit railed per city and turn, this spamming of units on a single turn wouldn't be possible.
duncanr
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:09 pm

Re: Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by duncanr »

So a few points:

1. supermax is a good player so it was always going to be tough as my first 4.0 game
2. I learn't the hard way that under 4 you can't stop the axis aligning Spain and taking Persia - you can only do a max of 1 of
3. Sealion was successful because of a simple mistake I made - if I hadn't made it the campaign in UK would have been very different
4. Staffenburg is wrong in regards to this game - the Russians could not attack in Europe, this was because of two reasons the first being that all of the Axis elite troops were there and the second was because our troops were next to useless due to appalling Russian labs - all attacking would have done was get the Russian manpower low and Axis experience up. In games with "average" Russian Lab performance I would attack in Europe - it would have been a disaster in this game.
5. I needed to draw max to a battle in the caucuses! where I could engage and reduce his PP stocks
6. this game was actually a lot closer than you might think, max had near perfect weather for the Axis at every point yet we were still very close to getting all the capitals - if we played the final few turns we would have been outside all of them
7. GAR's have always operated this way, its annoying but not new

What I have learn't plying this game and against flybird is that the axis are exceptionally strong in the early game and if they get good weather maybe to strong. What I might call the Morris strategy - which is what flybird is doing is going to take some experience to beat. When the Axis has an easy run due to weather in Poland/France they build up a massive Barbarossa which is likely unstoppable if you haven't experienced it under 4. I can't see how I can stop flybird winning our game (so yes I will be zip from 2). But the next two games I play are going to be very hard for my Axis opponents.
pk867
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Re: Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by pk867 »

What was your final Russian Organization level?

I had 3 games where the Russians reach Level 3 Organization by mid to late 1944. That was with max number of labs and focus on.
Last edited by pk867 on Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Vokt
Lieutenant Colonel - Panther D
Lieutenant Colonel - Panther D
Posts: 1222
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:11 pm

Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by Vokt »

2 Soviet Tacs hits plus the attack of a couple or three Soviet elite units, made during winter weather, should suffice for killing an Axis unit or, at least, for depleting it. Soviet fighters and VVS must take advantage of their increased efficiency in winter. If Soviet fighters are deployed in an all-year-fair weather front like the Caucasus is (at least in clear hexes), then they are playing at Luftwaffe hands and surely they will undergo more losses than German ones.

Soviet labs are also crucial. I always invest heavily (buy them first) on armoured and air labs so the Soviets can get good firepower as soon as possible. By 1942, I use to have a 3-3-3-0-2 Soviet lab composition (each digit corresponding to an area) with the general lab focused on industry. As soon as the reached industry lab level provides you with an extra lab purchase, I purchase a 4th air lab or a 4th armoured lab depending on the circumstances
duncanr
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Panzer IIIL
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:09 pm

Re: Duncan vs Supermax 4.0 charlie (no Supermax please)

Post by duncanr »

yes, I invest in Air first, but this game was just all round awful - look at the Axis FTR tech advantage

this game had a set of terrible luck, the weather went the Axis way, the Russian labs were truly terrible and actually the USA convoys were way below average - such is life

on the other hand - in the flybird game where he is destroying Russia - allied ASW is way over performing

actually Kreigsmarine is another advantage the Axis has in 4, because they don;t buy commanders they can have a very big navy and a big Barbarossa - look at how much trouble the Allies have at sea in the AAR's
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