Hü (Axis) vs Morris (Allies)

[_Augustus_]

Greetings Hue,

I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms from not having new updates. You established a very pleasing stream of new AAR updates during the last weeks. Hopefully you make the effort to post the remaining turns to the AAR. I know everyone reading the report appreciates the enormous effort it takes to produce an AAR of this quality and detail.

And I gotta admire and sympathize with the need to keep track of PPs, Oil, Manpower etc.

I guess you got a "lucky" brake with Casablanca. It will be very interesting to see if you can pull this off,

To my eyes the oil usage looks rather bleak towards the end of the war. I guess Morris is making sure you'll use every drop of the oil and manpower you have at this point.

Please keep on postings,

iA

[hue]

@all: Sorry for the delay ... real life occupied my time Don't worry, there will be more breaks from time to time, but I will surely finish this AAR, promised!

Pre-Turn



Red Army retreats further, it clearly seems that Morris wasn't expecting such a strong Barbarossa. Many Russian troops have been deployed for an early offensive and now they have to pull back or be destroyed.

In the North Russians leave the Finnish border and try to build up a defense of Leningrad. In the South a transport leaves Odessa with a badly hurt INF.




Not much happen here. Axis troops will advance in Sinai and Persia this turn.




American fleet spotted last turn, sails back to safe waters. But not without almost sinking our poor SUB.


Post-Turn



Axis forces on the Blitz. Four big cities captured: Odessa, Kiev, Pskov and Vitebsk.

- Finnland: Offensiv against Petrosavosk starts!
- HG Nord: on pursuit of hostile forces !
- HG Mitte: Kiew captured and all Barbarossa goals reached, but still the way to the East is open ... even Kharkov in range!
- HG Süd: Armoured spearheads deep advance deep into Ukraine, meanwhile auxiliary troops *almost* capture Kerson.




All Middle East oil is in Axis hands now! On Sinai the first American Division is destroyed.




The German SUB tries to escape, two Italian SUBs will protect it from American or British DDs!




Casualties: Russians will take first place next round!

Barbarossa Kill Counter
3rd Turn Barbarossa: 1 Mech, 3 Inf
TOTAL: 1 Pz, 4 Mech, 10 Inf

[hue]

Post Turn



Red Army still retreats, only in Leningrad area they seem to stand for a fight.




Australians received some reinforcements ...




No movement on Sinai!




And a littel BUG to report: Morris was able to land his StratB on Fuerte Ventura, though it was in Axis hands the turn before. This should'nt be possible, right? Well, in our game Morris will go back to Azores in 2 turns ... fair play!


Post Turn



More great achievements of the Wehrmacht in the East: Smolensk and Bryansk occupied, Petrosavosk, Gomel, Dnepopetrosk and Kerson on the brink of falling! Leningrad suburbs in the South are reached as well! Still the question is: where is the mighty Red Army hiding, where is Morris setting up the trap ... ?




Australians fight brave and hold the position with major losses.




On Sinai we decide to move of Rommel and get him back to Persia. Americans are no longer considered a threat on Sinai, as an Italian BB is moving in to sink the suppling DD.




Casualties: Russia in first place at land based units now.

Barbarossa KillCounter:
4th Turn Barbarossa: 1 Mech, 2 Inf
Total: 1 Pz, 5 Mech, 12 Inf (and 46 Gar!)

[avoran]

Is it just me or is the right side of the picture (map) cut off for everyone? For example, I can't see anything in Persia.

[hue]

Guess your screen resolution is to low. You need around 1600x900 pixels at minimum (better 1920x1080). May be you should try a zoom-able browser like Opera?

[avoran]

Thanks, that must be it.

[joerock22]

Still the question is: where is the mighty Red Army hiding, where is Morris setting up the trap ... ?

That's the question you always have to ask yourself against him. My guess is that if you push too far east in the center or south you will find out the hard way.

[richardsd]

Still the question is: where is the mighty Red Army hiding, where is Morris setting up the trap ... ?

That's the question you always have to ask yourself against him. My guess is that if you push too far east in the center or south you will find out the hard way.

I agree - I think Morris wants you to keep coming in the South, you gain very little and your effectiveness decreases

[Peter Stauffenberg]

You can send air units to all islands without a port since the supply level there is 2. Air units can land in hexes with supply level 2 or lower even if they are enemy controlled. So it is certainly possible to land a US bomber in the Canaries

[Cybvep]

Destroy some more units and dig in. Advancing too far when playing against Morris is suicide, especially in case of 1942 Barbarossa.

Your income must be quite nice...

[Kragdob]

Destroy some more units and dig in. Advancing too far when playing against Morris is suicide, especially in case of 1942 Barbarossa.

Your income must be quite nice...

More than 200 I don't see a way Morris can win this Russia alone is to weak to handle Germany when they have no threat in the West.

[hue]

Pre-turn



Next frontline seems to be at Moskau. Some cities are empty ... did we kill so many GARs already?




Next round against the Australians here.




Americans attack.




From a gamey position at Fuerteventura our Spanish DD is bombed. At the same time our StratB in Portugal can not fly to the Azores ... :/ ... maybe the island should be taken out of game!


Post-Turn



Finnland: Further on the offensive, unfortunately Petrosavodsk holds at one step.
HG Nord: Orel occupied and Leningrad encircled. Our troops safe oil and get some reinforcements.
HG Mitte: Kharkow occupied. Surprisingly also Kursk is not defended as well, if it is the same next turn we'll grab it.
HG Süd: We decide to attack Krim peninsula. Romanian cavalry ride into empty Stalino and start to destroy all Stalin monuments! This should be the most Eastern point of our journey.

Another good turn: Soviets lost a lot of PP producing places: Orel, Kharkow, Dnepopetrovsk, Stalino and the Magnesium-mine.




Blitz is over ... so close to Moskau the Panzers have to stop their engines and safe oil...




just an overview ...




Australians destroyed and moving towards Teheran.




Italian BB should be here next round... Rommel received some upgrades for his Panzers.




We follow the Pre-Turn arrows and find a lonely British DD at the Azores.




Casulties and BarbarossaKillCounter:

Turn five Barbarossa: 2 Inf
Total: 1 Pz, 5 Mech, 14 Inf, 52 Gar


@All: Nice to have you watching, and yes income is very nice: Germany: 215 PP; Italy: 47 PP

[hue]

Pre-Turn


In the North further retreating of Red Army, not much more to report elsewhere. Our strongest enemy -in the moment- is the fuel gauge.




But a lot of movement in Persia. Russians seem to build up a serious defense here.




At Sinai the suppling DD flees to the Atlantic afters sighting the Italian BB. American land forces are without supply now!




Again fleet movements on the American coast.


Post-Turn



Axis troops advance in the North, Petrosavodsk and Novgorod occupied. Leningrad under heavy fire, but defenders have almost no losses. In the middle Kaluga and Kursk fall in Axis hands, in the South the storm on Sevastopol starts.




Sevastopol zoooomed in...




In Persia our troops advance slowly, but the Russian INF stays and defends well. At the Eastern railpoint two MECH arrive, those are troops to liberate Tehran.




British DD sunk.




... and Bismarck waits for the American DD from the Red Sea.




Casualties and BarbarossaKillCounter:

Turn six Barbarossa: 1 Mech, 3 Inf, 8 Gar
Total: 1 Pz, 6 Mech, 17 Inf, 60 Gar

[laramieela]

You make the game appear to be a game of logic and rational play. For me, there is a bit more mystery in why battles have the outcomes they do and how to tackle my opponent's play.
The casualties list is especially interesting.

[GogTheMild]

Hi Durk. I don't know if this suggestion, picked from a different thread, might help you.

What I did was do a lot of hotseating against the AI and save a game immediately before each 'interesting' combat situation and then reload it 10 or 12 times, re-fighting the same combat each time. This gave me a chance to spot my mistakes, experiment with attacking with units in different orders (air first; air only after all the entrenchment is gone; strongest unit first; ARM first; units from furthest away first (so that if the enemy retreats this doesn't take him out of their reach) etc), understand the normal variation of combat results, learn when it is good and not so good to follow up on a destruct or retreat and generally get a 'feel' for how things work.

[richardsd]

on the up side the Axis has very few losses in this game so far, on the down side the Russian have effectively lost nothing

interesting turns to come

[hue]

Pre-Turn



No counter-attack on the Finns. Luckily! First sights of the Southern Army at Rostov? Lots of Russian air anyway.




In Persia Russians try to build up a frontline.




Third Atlantic battle begins ...




and the DD from the Red Sea arrived. Bismarck will take care of it.


Post-Turn



We start to construct defense lines, now Morris has the initiative. We will have to react. But another big victory this turn too: Sevastopol fortress occupied! Red Army troops there were not dugged in at all ... an easy battle for Wehrmacht. Different at Leningrad: Rugged defense by the Russian Guards! Romanians leave Stalino, nothing to gain there.





Slow approach on Tehran, Russian INF goes back after Italian attack.




Let's hope its moving... ... the third battle of the Atlantic in moving pictures. Battleships Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, Roma and Vittorio Vennetto in fight. Additional supporting vessels from different nations help them to sink two DDs and a third one almost. More hostile ships moving in from the West!




DD sunk!




Overview ... more axis ships incoming from all directions.




Casualties ...

[hue]

Pre-Turn



Finaly: Red Army comes in sight in the South! Also around Moskow more Soviets arrive.




The group at Leningrad close up.




And in Persia the final show-down between Rommel and Montgomery seems to happen. This time there is no place left for Monty to go!




Also the Battle in the Atlantics goes on ... surprisingly only two hostile SUBs hit 7 steps of our BB Scharnhorst.




And the same picture without arrows...


Post-Turn



In the South we decide to execute an counter-attack and kill 7 hostile units: 3 MECH and 4 INF. Awaiting a hart counterstrike now! Rest of the frontline diggs in, at Leningrad the defenders were reduced to 4 steps.




Monty survives the concentrated attack with one step :/ ... but next turn Persia should fall.




Overview: Scharnhorst flees to the North and hops for no further SUB attacks. From the South Bismarck and Littorio sail closer to the Battle next turn they are in fighting distance.




1BB and 2DDs are the hostile losses this turn. Also: to manage escaping will be difficult for the remaining vessels.




Close observers might have noticed in the Russia-picture: we move troops to Agadir to crash the Free French as they spawn. In total 2 TACs, 1 MECH and 2 INF will be there at the exact date in November.




Since the fall of the Irak twelve turns ago the first Partisan spawned in England. We kill him instantly to keep the British moral down.



and: Casualties...

BarbarossaKillCounter:
Turn Eight Barbarossa: 3 Mech, 4 Inf
Total: 1 Pz, 9 Mech, 22 Inf, 62 Gar

[richardsd]

a good turns business, hopefully the Russians aren't in a position to counter strongly in the south

though I still fear the lack of Russian casualties a little given how far forward you are

do you have enough fuel to escape?

[hue]

Pre-Turn



Close-up in the North: Russian Baltic fleet sinks itself by a suicide attack against the Gneisenau.




Middle: Morris moves forward and tries to get pressure high.
South: A hard counterattack kills in total 4 axis units. More hostile tanks and a giant red air force in sight!




In Persia Russians try to escape...




Battle in the Atlantic goes on, Morris managed to sink a Spanish DD this turn.


Post-Turn


Not mentioned yet: but we are lucky and have good weather: Herbstoffensive! Time for a counter-counter-attack in the South and some easy kills in the North: in total 10 Russian units killed, among them 2 tank divisions. Morris now under pressure in the North and Middle. In the South it will be hard for the Red Army to attack: almost all FTRs below 5 steps!

And by the way: Leningrad fortress surrendered !!




In Persia Monty surrenders and Tehran liberated! Persia will fall this turn and our troops move forward on the whole front!




In the Atlantic our newly arrived Ships Bismarck & Littorio decide the Battle: two American DDs sunk, rest of the fleet has no chance to escape. Some of our badly damaged ships move to the harbor...




... and also Scharnhorst seems to arrive in a French or English harbor safely!




Casualties...

BarbarossaKillCounter:
Turn Nine Barbarossa: 2 Pz, 1 Mech, 8 Inf
Total: 3 Pz, 10 Mech, 30 Inf, 62 Gar

@Richard: Yes, fuel is not a problem anymore. Still low but production covers the expenses of a turn.