Plaid vs Vokt CEAW GS 3.2 beta AAR -- rematch

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Soviet counterattack happened near Rostov, destroying number of axis minor troops and German corps. Viking SS mech reduced to 1 step and considered unlikely to escape.



In the center on the contrary Soviets fall back across Desna, leaving Gomel area almost empty.



In the MED Mareth fortress and empty Bengazhi seized by allies. US airborne division spotted, I should guard my rear cities in Italy.
Also notable event - full strength garrison transport was sunk in Palermo port.



Axis turn:

Remaining troops fall back from Rostov and Stalino towards Dnepropetrovsk. Additional air assets and reserve mech unit called to the area. More reserves availiable next turn.



In the center Gomel changes owner one more time. We plan to man Desna river defensive line for upcoming winter. Soviet heavy units are massed in the south, winter offensive supposed to be not very strong in other areas.



Another fighter attack against Soviet TAC base was launched and Moscow reduced to 0 production one more time.
This turn Soviet air casualties finally became higher than German ones (casualties screen incoming few turns later).

58 PP Soviet convou sunk north of Canada again.



NOTE: probably units gain experiece way to slow. In all my armies I have 1 STRAT with 3 stars. Vokt is believed to have no units with 3 stars at all.
Units with 2 stars are common, but 3 are ultra rare even that late at war. I have units like 1 SS Panzerkoprs (upgrade from one of starting armour units), which fight from the start of the game and have impressive kill count, and still only 2 stars.
Subs also did reasonable damage (especially northern wolfpack which sink every single soviet convoy with only 1 break for upgrade and sustain no casualties) also gain experince way to slow.
I don't know, probably it is supposed to work like this, as units with 1-2 stars are very common (1 star is awarded for staying on the front next to enemy and doing nothing for ~10 turns, to gain second one unit should participate in 1-2 attacks on top of that).
On the other hand I don't play with maxing experience in mind (like attacking depleted units with high exp award e.g. mech with already experienced unit).

2 more corps drafted for Germany. Because of strategic bombing German productions goes down to 120 PPs. Still better than in previous game, with Berlin and Hamburg bombed into red well before current date.

[Plaid]

During allied turn Soviet troops advance in the south, but did no attacks (other than finishing off Viking mech unit).



Little happens elsewhere apart from usual strategic bombing and air/naval attack against Sicily defenders.

During axis turn retreat conducted in the north. We plan to entrench on Novgorod-Rzhev line and hold. For a while atleast.



In the center axis troops take positions alond Desna and Dnepr.



In the south small retreat towards Dnepropetrovsk and additional reserves arrived to the area. Luftwaffe launched attacks against mech unit SE of Dnepropetrovsk, but results were rather poor.



Little happens in the MED.



Another corps unit recruited for Germany. Since level 4 industry was just reached, I decided to switch focus for radar and keep it focused for the rest of the game, hoping to reach level 6 with flak bonuses.

[Plaid]

Its quite suprising, but no major attack happened in the south. Instead Soviet armour units retreated, and other troops just secured unguarded manganese mines.



No attacks in the north aswell:



Axis turn:

Units mostly stay defensive, upgrades distributed where needed and reserves arrive.

Moscow and Kharkov were bombed strategically and Soviet paratrooper in the south was killed easily after 2 TAC strikes.





Subs heading for convoy ways after upgrade in French ports spotted heavily escorted transports, which supposed to be Overlord invasion force.
Atleast with all that destroyers busy free hits on convoy are incoming hopefully.



Med is idle. Probably winter Husky will be commensed, or something exotic, like simultaniously landings in northern and southern France.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Regarding having very few XP level 3 or 4 units I think it's partly coincidental and maybe from how you attack.

Remember that you lose XP if you repair a unit below 7 steps. So if you fight aggressively with depleted units then some XP is lost when the unit is repaired back to 10 steps.

Another rule is that you don't gain XP from being adjacent to enemy units if you hit 50 XP (threshold for XP level 2). So if you want higher XP you need to attack or be attacked.

In GS v3.20 we also added a rule where you gain more or less XP based upon XP difference between attacker and defender. E. g. a ground attack vs a corps unit would normally give 4 XP to the attacker and 6 XP to the defender. Let's say the attacker has XP level 0 and the defender XP level 2. Then the XP given will be:
Attacker: 4 + 2 - 0 = 6
Defender: 6 + 0 - 2 = 4

So experienced units will gain less XP against novice units. That means it will take longer to get to XP level 3 and 4.

[Plaid]

Quiet allied turn - no ground attacks. Only strategic bombing and air attack against Italian garrison on Sardinia.

Now during axis turn mud rolled in the East, so there was no action at all - only repairs/upgrades and railing of reserves.





We plan to hold current positions in the east (mostly along Dnepr and Desna) as long as possible without sustaining huge casualties.

Southern wolfpack heading for convoy ways spotted another 2 heavily escorted transports. More Overlord troops.



Northern wolfpack patrol Canadian shore, waiting for next Soviet convoy (spawned after axis turn).



Situation in France:



I need to deploy additional forces to this scenario, aswell as garrison cities in western Germany, because they are in paradrop range.

Italy:



Italians still have their armour, both air units and all 3 battleships, aswell as reasonable ammount of Infantry. They also have good tech and morale bonus for controling Athens.
No single German ground unit was sent to this scenario so far.

Landing on Sardinia is incoming probably, but I can't do much about it.



Now it is the end of 1943 summer campaign and here is casualties picture:



And technology progress:





As I mentioned above Italy is well ahead of what progress it had with older rules. As Vokt messaged me, he was also surprised with USSR discovering level 6 artillery in August 1943.

Builds for this turn included 2 corps and 1 garrison for Germany and 1 corps 1 garrison for Italy.

[Plaid]

During allied turn paratroopers drop on Sardinia. Transports with ground troops and escort warships also spotted.



Axis turn:

Rare weather combination rolled with fair in the East and mud in Central Europe.

Fair turn was used to harass Soviet ground and air units by Luftwaffe. Soviet forward STRAT airbase near Moscow and fighter in the south were attacked directly for good results.







German and axis minor infantry units receive massive upgrades (survivability and anti tank), spent entire German PP reserve on those upgrades, and still it was not enough for entire army.

Since Sardinia is going to be captured by allies soon and Vokt have paratrooper there, now I will have to buy garrison for every single Italian city and rail depot. Started, purchasing two of them this turn.
Garnison in Cagliari was reinforced back to 10 strenght, but effecitveness is red. Might hold for additional turn.



And another 59 PP convoy sunk in the north.



Sentral and southern convoys seem escorted, but we can get a hit or two on them while large part of DDs escort troops to Britain.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Time is running out for the Allies in this game. Only the Russians can save the day for them.

[Cybvep]

I still think that you are using your units are a bit too aggressively (especially air units), which doesn't give you enough time to replenish your oil reserve. I don't think that Vokt realizes how little oil you have. Hopefully, you won't deplete your oil reserves in 1944. While you have the advantage and it may be too late for Vokt to win, a successful Allied Overlord in 1944 and a quick Axis collapse in 1944 are not unheard of in CEAW. Moreover, in some games Rome is taken as late as 1945. Stay alert .

[Plaid]

I still think that you are using your units are a bit too aggressively (especially air units), which doesn't give you enough time to replenish your oil reserve. I don't think that Vokt realizes how little oil you have. Hopefully, you won't deplete your oil reserves in 1944. While you have the advantage and it may be too late for Vokt to win, a successful Allied Overlord in 1944 and a quick Axis collapse in 1944 are not unheard of in CEAW. Moreover, in some games Rome is taken as late as 1945. Stay alert .

I am fine with current ammount of oil (though it is lower than usual, probably because of skipping Yugoslavia) and don't save it for now. Main reason I don't do much attacking with tanks is not saving oil, but poor odds without airstrikes. And I have enough oil to move everything on the board and still have little net gain. If Vokt bomb Ploesti oil supply can become scarce, but USSR have only 1 strategic bomber and busy with different things. Western allies also don't like to bomb synth. oil because of huge flak value of that hexes.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Eastern fron stays quiet, but looks like Soviet heavy units are amassed east of Smolensk. Likely to be main winter offensive here.





Landing on Sardinia commensed, garrison holds for now.



Strategic bombing campaign over Germany and France contiues even at mud weather (last allied turn).

Also there are many partisans in France, some of them even got supply of some sort.



Axis turn:

In the east axis troops receive more upgrades. Spent most of my PPs this turn on upgrades, but now like 90% of troops are upgraded to highest tech level avaliable at the moment.

Only minor unit movement, repairs and attacks against partisans apart from upgrading.





3 experienced fighter units rebased to Danzig area to intercept some unescorted allied bombers.



In Italy Cagliari defenders reinforced, but city is likely to fall anyway. 2 more garrison deployed, now only Trieste rail depot is ungarrisoned.



Escorted US convoy attacked by uboats and reduced from 75 to only 15 PPs.



SW starts at the end of axis turn, now lets see how this lines are going to hold.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Soviet winter offensive launched with major push at Bryansk-Kaluga area and secondary attack north of Kiev, where Soviet guards crossed Dnepr river.

We lost mech and Model HQ infantry unit, few other units receive serious damage.



Vokt reported, that his bombers suffer heavy casualties from German fighter over Germany, as you can see no single fighter step was lost. Fighters are upgraded and additional one redeployed to this area from Mogilev.



DD hit our sub, scoring 5:0 result. Luckily no bomber or somethign in range to finish off the unit.



In Med Cagliari still holds. Additional Free French transport spotted aproaching Sardinia. USN carrier sailed out to harass our airbases in Foggia.



Axis turn:

Frontline reformed slightly near Bryansk-Smolensk. We still can hold there for a turn or two. Also exhaused Soviet armoured formations can be vulnerable to our own armour counterattacks.



Mostly nothing happens in the south:



More upgrades distributed to armour and fighter units. Now I have some techs maxed out as Germany (armour, artillery, dog fight) and Italy (artillery only if I remember correctly).

In Italian front Cagliari defenders reinforced again just in case. Sub was sent to check USN carrier - it is protected by allied subs, just as it was supposed.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Red Army push hard in the center, several German units were destroyer or heavily damaged.



In Italy allied carriers keep harassing Italian air units:



Strategic bombing campaign suddenly stopped. Probably repair/upgrade break.

Axis turn:

Small counterattack was launched NW of Bryansk, destroying Soviet armoured unit by TAC strike followed by single infantry attack.
Escorting German fighter taken heavy loses and was reduced to 4 from 7 strength.

Units are also being repaired/ungraded, swapped across the front. In case of retreat many units will be caught up because of ZoCs and high terrain movement cost in SW, so we will try to hold for several more turns.







In MED Italian air and naval units retreat to the north from harassing carriers.



Builds this turn included corps and garrison for Germany and garrison for Italy.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Soviet winter offesnvie goes on in central sector of the front with heavy air support.





Transpots which are supposed to be Free French armour and US mech are spotted near Sicily.



Axis turn:

We launch retreat in the center finally, to avoid troops between Bryansk and Gomel being trapped.No need to retreat in the south for now





Troops on Sicily were upgraded and ready to face allied invasion. Reserve mech was railed to Reggio, ready to be ferried to the island if needed.



Sitaution in France:



Northern convoy was attacked and reduced from 70 PPs to only 9. Central one (escorted) was also attacked near Norfolk port, though I don't have picture. But it gone from 136 to 65 after 2 subs attacked it.



Two more garrisons recruited for Germany and 1 for Italy.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Soviet winter offensive continues, though it was not as intensive, as before. Looks like most air units made a break for repairs/upgrades.
Many ground units also were repaired instead of moving forward.



Allied units landed on Sicily. Probably a fient of some sort, as it is not enough troops and no other transports are visible.



In Atlantic our sub was hit hard by DD, while convoy receive large escort, making further attacks impossible. Looks like our 6 step uboat near convoy luckily escaped sweep.



After Luftwaffe was rebased to cover central Germany allied strategic bombing campaign became rather limited, leaving alone targets beyond escort range.

Germany recoverd quite a bit of PP production, going from ~105 to ~125.

Axis turn:

In the east retreat continues. Troops in the south stand still alond Dnepr defensive line for now.







Beachhead on Sicily was counterattacked, Free French armour unit got its strength halved.



Two more corps recruited for Germany.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Usual Soviet winter offensive in the same area, as before:





Transports spotted at French coast. Not many of them for now. Lets see what happens, as this turn is fair and they will be able to land.



On Sicily Italian troops suffer serious damage from allied air and naval firepower.



Axis turn:

Retreat in the east continues. Now Dnepropetrovsk area was also abandoned. There is no Soviet shock units in the south, so I want to keep things slow and organized here.





Airpower amassed in Poland, ready to strike leading Soviet troops as soon, as they enter range.

German troops stay back in France. We are not going to contest landing at this area.



On Sicily FF armour unit was destroyed, but 4 step mech now can be lost to allied air and naval attacks.



82 strength US convoy spotted, but it was left alone because no spare uboat in range.



2 more corps and 2 garrisons purchased for Germany and 1 garrison for Italy.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

In the east SW changes into normal winter, but Soviet offensive continues anyway. Vokt reported that his fighters sustained massive casualties from Luftwaffe in Poland.
Retreat goes mostly OK. We lose infantry units and axis minor troops here and there, but all 6 armour units are safe and mostly intact.





Sicily - allied air and naval attacks inflicted major damage, but failed to kill any units:



France - landings in Normandy and Brittany commensed. Counterattacking with my thin forces against this overwhelming allied air support will be waste of troops. We will retreat to Belgium, performing some delaying action on the way.



Axis turn:

Retreat continues in the east. Winter weather still slow troops down, but its not SW atleast.

Airforce in Poland repaired and ready to intercept. Bombers also upgraded and await for targets.





In Sicily only repairs this turn. Probably we can't counterattack any more, but it will take forever for allies to clear the island with only 2 units.



In France minor retreats aswell. SS mech railed away to Liege and garrison from Rennes evacuated to western wall fort. Allies have many strategic bombers, but somewhat low on tactical ones.



2 additional infantry units purchased for Germany.

[mineral]

Quite a difference from the previous match, where the allied jump on bombing swamped things for the axis early. This time around, the ability to place your fighters (heavily upgraded ones) to both protect against bombing and counterattack the soviets seems to be the winning point, though the allied slow start in north in africa was an issue as well. I guess that's why you beta things. The slower experience accumulation doesn't seem to be as big a problem.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Soviets push forward in Belarus and follow retreating Wehrmacht in Ukraine. Pskov was liberated.





France - American troops enter empty Rennes getting some supply for beachhead. Cherbourgh bombed strategically and suffers from low supply now.



Sicily - more air and naval attacks, no Italian units destroyed.



With little strategic bombing German income keep increasing and reached 133 this turn.

Axis turn:

Mud weather in the east, so we are relatively safe. Retreat continues, Heinrici HQ corps left Kiev.





In France also retreats, Ziegfried line is slowly manned by garrisons. I want corps units in hexes which can be attacked from 3 directions though.



Sicily - only repairs and unit movement.



Another 66 PP Soviet convoy sunk.



This turn Radar level 6 was finally reached, so I sold both general labs. Now German capitals and oil field have solid 7 flak value.

Pictures with research progress and casualties incoming next turn.

Mech and 3 corps puchased for Germany.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Soviets move forward, but no attacks, probably thanks to mud.





More of the same on Sicily. This time infantry SW of Palermo was hit hard.



In France allies slowly advance, I don't have picture for it, but allied movements can be seen on axis turn screen.

Axis turn:

Eastern front situation.

In the north finns and some German units are cut off from main supply, but it looks like there are no assault Soviet units in the area, so they can hold for long.



In the center axis plan to take defensive positions at Kaunas - Brest line and make a stand here for tew turns. One more turn of retrea needed before this position is reached.



In the south our troops will make a stand at Southern Bug defensive line.



France situation.

Western wall is completely manned. Now rear German cities should be also garrisoned in case of paradrop.
Model HQ assigned to corps north of Strasbourg, covering entire frontline from Antwerp to Swiss border.



Sicily - only repairs again. Italian airpower rebased to Ancona. Probably we can repair those units and use them offensively after few turns.



Casualties:



German research:



Italian research:



Purchased 1 infantry for Germany, saved remaining PPs.

[Plaid]

Allied turn:

Eastern front - no attacks here, so we have time to prepare better defensive lines.





France - Paris was liberated by allies. Depleted uboat in the channel was occasionally swept and destroyed completely.



Italy - more air and naval harassment, Italian infantry survives at 1 step.



Axis turn:

In the east planned defensive lines are manned both in the north and in the south.

Luftwaffe launched attacks against Soviet armour unit, reducing it to 2 steps. Escorting fighters scored reasonable results aswell.

Almost all German troops left France and ready to defend along Albert canal.



In Italy repairs again. Third allied unit is about to land. Soon they will be able to start actually attacking.



This turn German naval labs were sold, as I realised there will be no time to upgrade subs anyway.
PPs were used to upgrade 1 German corps into SS and purchase 3 more infantry.

Italy went into -21 PP after repairing fighter back to full strength.