Sudden Carnage - A CptEasy multiplayer AAR

[CptEasy]

Great work by both you and the Jap player, taking the objectives swiftly with no delay. Lets just hope that the Allies don't drop in on Amsterdam...Just another thought, what are your defences like in the area of Wilhelmshaven? A large assault there with the goal of storming Berlin and/or cutting off the Sickle would be a clever move by them, albeit risky, if your defences are on the weak side.

Probably sounds ridiculous, but trying to provide some conversation on what seems pretty straightforward and clean cut at the moment, besides the risk of an allied defence in Amsterdam, which could provide some difficulty. Keep up the good work CptEasy

For the moment, the defense of Wilhelmshaven is not too strong, but, both the city itself and the neighboring province has troops so the Brits have to fight to even gain a staging post and I have some reserves too. All in all, it is not strong enough for a decisive attack but he won’t get away with a quickie – and I didn’t think he had troops to spare to mount a strong attack. I actually don’t fear an attack there right now, but we’ll see. Maxyboy (UK) is a more careful player than I am, but it also tend to mean that he comes with great force and/or finesse when he feel the time is right.

It sounds more like a plan I would come up with

Your advance is probably too quick for the Allies to react. I doubt that they had many troops in reserve and transporting them takes time. Moreover, they probably fear your potential naval strikes on their ships (they could easily lose as much, if not more, IC-days as you would due to delay), not to mention the fact that they are probably busy with transferring troops to the French-Belgian border.

However, you should be wary of potential threats in the East. The moment when Belgium becomes your enemy, your eastern border becomes threatened. It seems that you have been forced to push for "West first" policy, as advancing on the Eastern Front will be difficult with a long western border ranging from Belgium to Switzerland. If that's the case, then we are about to witness the most crucial phase of your campaign. If you win in France, you have the chance to win this war. Otherwise, you have none.

I hope you are right. That is what I planned for. But just one or two divs would really hurt right now. And for the second part of your text – I totally agree with you. When this two front war started I told the other axis players – if we take either Moscow or Paris, its game over for the Allies. Of course, it not over ‘till the fat lady sings, and I have been wrong before. If I get stuck – then it’s game over for Axis.

The AI really outdid itself here - or it actually anticipated your plan and secretly wanted to join the Axis. A human player who wanted to be puppeted asap couldn't have done it better.

maybe the many rare deals had the ai convinced that you were not as threatening.

Maybe it didn't anticipate a paradrop so far behind the main line.. thought they could march south from Amsterdam and retreat west from the border and form a defensive line along the river. In any case great Aar

Heh, yeah, the whole war was just a huge charade... I like both your explanation. Make sense to me Story-wise it adds up quite nicely - but programming-wise I’m not impressed.

A hello from the shadows. Just wanted to thank you for this aar, it's really great and one of those that really give tention to the story, feels like every squere inch of enemy territory matters. It's very dynamic. Style is simple but well balanced beetwen the story and gameplay. The effort you bring into planning and overthinking the strategy is also, impressive. Well done, i say.

Love all your MP AAR's, great work!

Thanks guys. Like all AAR writers I’m cred-addicted – so your words inspire and give energy. Lots of more material is already produced so it will keep coming.

[TheBromgrev]

With the Netherlands taken and Belgium still neutral, you now have the perfect springboard for an attack on the UK

[CptEasy]

With the Netherlands taken and Belgium still neutral, you now have the perfect springboard for an attack on the UK

And go TheBromgrev-style? If I recall your AAR rightly you got cought in a quite nasty spot with troops stuck in the Scotish mountain and war in the west too Any way - I hope you recall what happened some chapters ago when I tried to reach the North Sea with Kriegsmarine...

[TheBromgrev]

I was kidding That tactic would never work against a human player, and if it did, the only reason would be because s/he was too distracted somewhere else or forgot to properly defend the home islands. Taking out France first is always the best course of action, followed by taking Gibraltar so Italy can finish up with the Suez then leave the med in order to help.

And yes, I do remember your attempted breakout. Then again, you can't show us everything because the game is still ongoing, so we don't know what your navy really looks like.

[CptEasy]

Chaper XX – Operation Hammer Sickle, Part VIII








Countries played by humans: UK, France, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan









Recap: The “Hammer” in Operation Hammer Sickle was a stunning success. Now it is time for “Sickle” – making the Netherlands an Axis puppet. Sickle is now one week in progress and already the Dutch peoples fighting spirit has gone down considerably. Will the Allies intervene? Will the Operation proceed with stunning success? Will the thin German line hold?












January 26th, 1940

Japan has reached all their primary targets within 6 days. The Dutch have no forces available in the area to be of any significant threat to the Japanese forces and only some staff personnel with some fairly old British equipment had tried, but failed, to hold the line. The operation is unfolding smoothly in the East Indies.












January 28th, 1940

Roughly a week into the war with Netherlands, the Germans had consolidated the lands which the Panzers and paratroopers had conquered. Von Arnim continued his attack on the weak defenders of Amsterdam. The 2nd Paras was ordered to leave Hertogenbosch and headed towards Amsterdam. They would not take part of the assault but simply be ready for a new combat jump with Amsterdam as starting point. The Allies still showed no sign of trying to rescue the Dutch. Not even RAF showed up.

But the clock was ticking. The stores of Rare Materials were almost out and a trace of panic could be seen amongst the industry. When Germany was out of Rares, several of them would have to shut down and they dreaded the day – both from their own perspective, but also from Germany’s perspective. The loss of industrial capacity would be devastating for the production. The entire German leadership, and the rest of the Axis, was mighty nervous as well.












January 29th, 1940

Von Arnim and his 6th Panzer pressed on relentlessly with the backup of the Japanese paratroopers. The onslaught was just too much for the Dutch defenders who buckled under the strain. Part of their defensive line had been broken and the Dutch defenders become clusters of hedgehog resistance. Still, as they failed to deliver any significant damaged to the attackers their hope started to fade away. The Brits, who had guaranteed their independence, seemed to have abandoned them.

Germany had rare minerals for another 3 days...












January 31st, 1940

11 days after the attack on the Netherlands, Amsterdam fell. At that moment, Germany had exactly 1 day of stockpiled Rare Materials left. In the Dutch capital, Germany managed to secure over 7000 units of Rare Materials which was more than they had had… ever. It was more than they had hoped for. Now, they could continue the war for a long time before lacking resources again. A ripple of joy travelled through the entire Großdeutsches Reich. It was a victory well needed. Now, the people, who had experienced the first sensations of doubt could happily throw that aside and give their praise to Der Führer.

The question that they Axis leadership nervously asked themselves was – would the Dutch leadership give up or fight on in exile. The latter would prohibit a puppet government which the Axis hoped for.












February 1st, 1940

The Dutch leadership, apparently, was frustrated with the lack of Allied response, and as German troops had been mighty careful at not killing more Dutch than necessary, they stayed put and chosen to meet with the German diplomats. They were mighty surprised about the generous offer they got. They would get their country back, as long as they joined the Axis and accepted some suggestions for ministerial posts asked for by the Germans. The Netherlands joined the Axis as German puppets. The whole war against the Netherlands was over after little less than two weeks.

Authors note: The choice to puppet them was due to several factors. Wehrmacht is strained and need the extra divisions. As the war will continue, Wehrmacht can’t afford to leave like an army corps behind to protect The Netherlands. The Dutch can even help in coming offensives. Also, by continue being a nation, they will ship Rare Materials from the East Indies for Germany to buy – instead of the Japanese getting the surplus which they not really are in desperate need of.

Piktoonis Jan after 6th:
I think i found a flaw in your Operation Sickle. Once you take netherland teritory in europe, capital will be relocated to indonesia, then it is very likely that dutch would surrender to japan. If they surrender to you and you puppet them, they should join war right away, and that would put their convoys on constant risk, thus reducing resource flow.

Authors note: In any case, the capital is still in Amsterdam – probably because the fall of Amsterdam was the last VP needed for the Dutch surrender.













The events in the Netherlands affected several other political arenas and three more nations entered the war. The German leadership was not worried at all about the new Allies as they did not pose any significant threat. Yunnan joining Axis, however, was strategically important as it opened up a front towards the Brits in Burma. The Brits now had a ridiculous amount of fronts to tend to and it was hoped that their presence in France would weakened.

This also opened up several options for Japan – which was very timely after the end of Operation Hammer Sickle. The Axis discussed this eagerly.

Authors note: What do you think Japan should do next, dear readers?




........



Sorry for short post - but it was a good place to stop. I'll make a new post soon enough. This post, seen to what it contains, was mighty important. Operation Hammer Sickle is now over and it actually went far better than I ever could imagine. My mood was extremely low after the first sessions (as you might remeber from my posts) and this Operation was do or die for Axis. Well... we did not die.

Still... next chapter will give us action on the East Front as well as Allied aggression in Africa. The world war is just warming up...

[Cybvep]

This operation was a major success. You have secured your resource base at least for some months and a weak AI puppet is better than nothing. Moreover, capturing Brussels will improve your resource situation even further. The "West first" policy seems inevitable, with Belgium being so close to the Allies in the diplomatic triangle and all.

About Japan - since the JAP player doesn't have to fight with the USA and the Chinese threat is gone, he probably has enough troops to fight on several fronts at once. I doubt that the British have enough troops to properly cover India, not to mention Australia, which is not very important in this game. The IJN is probably strong enough to take on the RN in the Indian Ocean, too. All things considered, the prospects for the Japanese expansionism are good.

[Traks]

Yes, Japan can roam free.
Only thing to remember is that every DOW pushes USA closer to Allied corner. Besides USA can align to Allies for free, while Germany has to spend points.
But without USA in picture, puppet can easily send hoards of resources to their master.

7000 rares is not much, but if you have daily plus (or very small minus), it will be sufficient for all goals.
I am just slightly wondering about SU being so quiet. Bad move, they should be constantly attacking in 1-2 places, burning manpower and rotating troops.

So yes, Axis prospects at moment are better than month before. Now Germany can think about France.

[ADEE1]

Indeed, couldn't possibly have hoped for more than that at the start of the operation, so well done! Resources are secure, the Wehrmacht does not have to cover any more ground than before, and the threat of Belgium has been nullified to a large extent.

As for Japan, it seems logical for them to keep chipping away at the islands, then moving onto India, all whilst moving west towards the important parts of Russia. They should also be trying to engage the RN at every opportunity; the more ships they can sink the easier a Seelowe in the future would be.

Be prepared in the east though as they are likely to initiate their mass assault when they see most of your forces tied up in the West. However, I think you should have sufficient forces to hold them in the east now with the Netherlands puppeted. Those Jap paras should come in very handy too if you get caught in a tough spot

[Cybvep]

Be prepared in the east though as they are likely to initiate their mass assault when they see most of your forces tied up in the West. However, I think you should have sufficient forces to hold them in the east now with the Netherlands puppeted. Those Jap paras should come in very handy too if you get caught in a tough spot

You are too optimistic. IMO Germany's position would be very difficult if the Soviets DOWed Lithuania.

[Baltasar]

Not sure if Japan can do really that much versus Russia. The provices do have very low infrastructure and the Soviet player won't have many more troops out there anyways. Japan can't gain much from attacking the bear. Instead they should mob up the remainin Allied Pacific holdings in the vincinity, then move south-west bound, using Sri Lanka to jump further west. India in itself won't contain many Allied units but the Japanese can tackle those with 2-3 corps. I'd advocate a South-Africa strategy, using the islands in between as spring boards, occupying Madagascar and finally South Africa. That'd really be a blow for the Allies.
If that's too far, the Japanese can try and knock out the Allied presence in Arabia.

On the other hand, the Allies's lack of response to the Axis operations lately may also indicate that they, or at least the Soviets, are up to something. A concerted effort versus Japan?

[ADEE1]

You are too optimistic. IMO Germany's position would be very difficult if the Soviets DOWed Lithuania.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be difficult, I'm stating that Germany is now in a strong enough position not to collapse immediately under a sustained assault in the east, meaning that forces could then be shifted to deal with a major offensive. Things would be tricky yes, very, but not catastrophic as things were looking when Germany was about to run out of rares.

@Baltasar - If they have the troops, why shouldn't Japan keep up the pressure pushing west? Even if it has no immediate gain, it means that land loss must be a consideration over time for the USSR - Just another thing for the player to think about

[Cybvep]

@Baltasar - If they have the troops, why shouldn't Japan keep up the pressure pushing west?

Exactly. The SOV player will have his hands full in Europe. Anything Japan can do to help the Germans against the Soviets is good.

[Redandwhite]

Absolutely brilliant stuff! The expression in English for picking up 7000 units of rares with only 1 days supply left in your stockpile is "Jammy"

[Baltasar]

Exactly. The SOV player will have his hands full in Europe. Anything Japan can do to help the Germans against the Soviets is good.

The Soviet player can as well give up the areas he doesn't need, settling in a defensive eastern perimeter whil concentrating on the west. A Japanese push to south west would most likely take the Allies by surprise. Moreover, it would massively endager their foothold in the Indian Ocean and the Middle east.

[ADEE1]

The Soviet player can as well give up the areas he doesn't need, settling in a defensive eastern perimeter whil concentrating on the west. A Japanese push to south west would most likely take the Allies by surprise. Moreover, it would massively endager their foothold in the Indian Ocean and the Middle east.

My point is, why not do both if the player has the spare troops? Japan should easily have enough troops to both overwhelm any British garrison, and push into the weak Russian resistance, with plenty to spare.

[Masta_Mark]

It seems to me that it is a total stalemate, and only one that will slowly tip away from the Germans. In the end India is not vital to the British war effort, and Africa is already secure, taking South Africa would merely be a waste of threat, annexing or puppeting will push the US closer to war and for such a weak nation that is most likely not contributing anything to the war in Europe.

Time is really not on the Axis side whereas the Allies have plenty of it. Halting a japanese advance would be as easy as logistic bombing the one province giving them supplies, then holding the line. With the lack of airbases in Central Asia it would be unlikely that at this stage INT's would have the range to cover the front line from airbase to airbase so there isnt much that Japan could do about it.

The Allies need to balance keeping up with land doctrines and improving officer ratio in order to keep up with German standards while churning out more and more troops with the vast industrial advantage they have. A build up followed by a concerted effort by all 3 powers to land and knock Italy out of the war would break the stalemate in the East and create a German collapse.
Landing at the top of the boot to stop reinforcements from helping will allow you to crush the little resistance that there seems to be in Italy (as I understand it most of the Italian military is in Poland/Russia)

However, you are one lucky guy. You actually got the chance to puppet the Dutch. Bravo!

*Edit* Something that I would have possibly done was (as the Soviets) draw troops away from the West and 'pretend' to be diverting them East to stop the Japanese, while instead amassing them well out of bomber range and using them to push through Hungary or Lithuania into the German flank.

[FinnishFish]

How does rares affect your industry like aren't they just diamonds and stuff o_O ???

[TheBromgrev]

No, rares are things like rubber and antimony (used in electronics, lubricants, batteries). That's why Southeast Asia has so many rares - the world's supply of rubber came from there.

[CptEasy]

How does rares affect your industry like aren't they just diamonds and stuff o_O ???

In previous HoI (HoI 2 I think), Rubber was actually a resourse of its own.

[Cybvep]

In previous HoI (HoI 2 I think), Rubber was actually a resourse of its own.

Definitely not in HOI2.