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Yes, there's a couple of things, previously discussed, about Japans early and easy entry that feels unlogic in Multiplayer, I think. The only drawback is of course that early war entry might give Japan resourse scarsity - but its not "enough", I think. Attacking USSR is always interesting in MP, I think, to pull at Soviets attention. Even if Japan is active against UK, I belive it's easier for them to run an off-hand war in the Far East than for a Soviet having Germany attacking them in the west.
 
daphne has to keep troops out in the east to stall the Japanese advance. There is not much in terms of resources out there but some VP provinces which might make a difference in the medium run. I still think the Soviet DOW was prematurely, considering that the Germans were just done with Poland but not yet engaged in the west.

@ daphne: did you actually put the Soviet navy to any use at all? I generally find them more a nusiance and not worth the fuel and supplies they cost in SP games, being way too outdated to actually achieve anything other than acting as target practise for any other medium to major power.

Looking forward to more comments from the other players. May be the French / UK players can be motivated to give us an insight on their thinking?
 
Yes, DOW 2 weeks later would have been perfect.
And that is 2 weeks more of production too.

Soviet navy *could* be useful in Black Sea against outdated Italian BB fleets.
Subs are always useful for spying/convoy raiding.
 
Sudden Carnage

Chapter XII – Operation Storm part III









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








Recap: The German push in the North East sector drove to a halt in August as the Red Army found perfect defensive lines in swamps, forests and behind rivers. With the Allies pressing on beyond the Maginot line Germany struggled to keep the momentum and some initiative. From this, Operation Storm was born - a push into the center of the East front. The Operation is now 1½ month into the process. The Red Army is being forced back, but no decisive victories have been won so far. The Soviet troopers, however, are showing clear signs of fatigue.











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The German research and training in combined arms warfare have paid off. Their knowledge of how to use panzers and infantry together has taken yet another important step. Now we can crush the enemy even better!











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October 10th, 1939

In the southern part of the west front, France self sacrificing attacks combined with German reinforcements has finally shifting the initiative. Wehrmacht have now launched an attack at Blomberg from where the French have been attacking savagely in various directions. It seems at least two of the French divisions are totally exhausted. It also seems like Luftwaffe’s stronger presence has bled the Allied air force enough to let some German bombing runs through.

At the same time, with a stalling attack further south east in Konstanz, the German leadership hopes to cut some enemies off – or at least force a retreat











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October 11th, 1939

The Allies saw the trap that was slowly forming and they retreated from Konstanz in time to avoid getting captured. Still, German won back two provinces and gave the Allies a rough blow.

The French attack on Donaueschlingen, the fourth or fifth in sequence, continued in the face of terrible odds for the French attackers. The Rhine River once again ran red with blood.











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October 14th, 1939

In Donaueschlingen, the situation was surreal. The French came again and again and charged with abandon. During one occasion, even though the French soldiers were tired to the brink of breakage, they still mustered an impressive seal and charged en masse over the river, overrunning the German company based there. There were, however, plenty of other German troops around and the French had to fight hard to defend the bridge head.

The Allies threw in more men, both French and Brits. The Germans did not have the same amount of reinforcements. Still, they were in no immediate danger.











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October 17th, 1939

The butchery in Donaueschlingen continues after more than a week and the Allies had launched yet another attack on Blomberg. The Germans here are numerous if not especially dug in, but the French soldiers immediately ran into some terrible cross-fire. But they did not seem to care. They did, however, manage to tie down large German formations.











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October 20th, 1939

But the successes in the south were not repeated in the north. There were more Brits here, more RAF and more power. The German defenders just could not hold on and had to retreat. It was worrying indeed, especially as the enemies numbers seemed to multiply. Germany simply had not enough men and if the Allies got across the river, then it was open lands all the way to Berlin. Worrying indeed. This was not a problem to handle lightly. Axis knew they needed to do something drastic.











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October 21st, 1939

In the south, the situation is stabilized with battles still raging in the ruin province of Donaueschlingen. In the north, the Allies are close to breaking out. Only one good defensive line, the Rhine River, stands between them and the heart of Germany.











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October 15th, 1939

The Italian forces in Tobruk realized they were inferior to the British forces. It was all due to Italy not being prepared at all for a war with UK. They tried to retreat out of the city to flee to Benghazi to consolidate with the forces there. Unfortunately, the Brits overran them and forced them to retreat to a dead end, with the endless deserts in their back. This small army corps was doomed, if not yet defeated.











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October 21st, 1939

Japan is continuing to conquer land from her enemies. In the North, Soviet Union have lost at least half their eastern army if not more and Mongolia is under attack. In the south, Hong Kong and Kuching have fallen and Vietnam is under attack.

There seem to be no real threat against Japan - and as such, the great eastern nation was the ace in the Axis deck.











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October 21st, 1939

Operation Storm, starting the last days of August, had pushed the Russians back, almost to their own border, in both the center and the south. Still, it took about two months and even if the Red Army had taken a vicious beating, the Axis were losing the momentum as the Russians once again found good defensive ground in even more forests, now red and yellow with the colors of autumn.











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Author’s note:
This is the size of the Third Reich after Operation Storm. Things are obviously not going according to plan. Some of the reasons I have explained before. My lack of resources is all due to a black hole in my planning and Italy being in war with UK due to an event we didn’t know about. The strength of both Allies and Commies was also a surprise (cred to the players). All in all, it’s all quite bad planning from my part, and I must say it annoys me. Still, Axis is not beaten yet, I still have resources to keep full production going and Japan is going really well with great victories against the Rus (Thanks Zid – its well needed!).

So, I more or less lost the momentum in the East. Soviet is not about to break in front of my forces and – to quote my favorite book series – Winter is coming! Then we have the West front… Allies are gaining ground and neutral Belgium is aligning closer and closer to the Allies in the face of my diplomatic actions. Netherland is not at all that close but still aligning towards Allies. It is a situation which is very close to get totally out of hand.

After discussions among the Axis, I decided to shift focus and try a “surprise attack” on the West. That means thinning the East and send at least a medium army to the West while continue to place all new troops in the West as well. Italy will stay in the East. This all means the East will be weak. Still, Daphne (USSR) knows I’m full of tricks and when he sees the front thinning, it could be just me shifting flank within the eastern front, preparing a new offensive on Soviet. Thus, neither Allies nor Commies can be really sure were my forces are before the blow falls.

After initiating my attack on the West I expect Soviet to start an offensive against my eastern forces and it is likely be tough as I suspect he will at least double us in numbers. Still, then Soviet have to fight against my better (if fewer) divisions in those damn woods during winter-time. That’s a lot better than the opposite. In the meantime, I hope to give the Allies a mighty blow in the west. Hopefully capturing a few units but at least re-capturing the West Wall. And then we need to do something about Belgium and Netherlands too, as I would just hate to give the initiative to them…

Comments from late August 1939
Dain - Hm, it looks like you will be forced to adjust your priorities, if you don't want your industry to collapse due to a lack of rares. You might be forced to dealy further offensives against Russia in order to (hopefully) capture the stocks of the Benelux countries.

Traks - Yes, that is only sensible call - a quest for rares. East has to wait while West is pacified, or Italy has to go for Persia/Middle East, but I doubt Italy has enough resources for anything like that.

ADEE1 - did say before about focusing almost entirely on Russia first, but you simply can't afford to press on against the Russians without a secure back, therefore it's imperative that you take back the west wall as a main priority, meaning that you won't require quite as many men over there to defend it effectively.

Cybvep - When (if) you manage to stabilise things in the West, you could consider hitting Netherlands fast and hard. More specifically, you should hit their capital. They probably have plenty of rares and you will take ALL their resources when you capture their capital.


Author’s note: Yes yes! Don’t y’all shout at once. I will go West! ;)
 
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@ daphne: did you actually put the Soviet navy to any use at all? I generally find them more a nusiance and not worth the fuel and supplies they cost in SP games, being way too outdated to actually achieve anything other than acting as target practise for any other medium to major power.

Not a lot at this stage, some convoy raiding and intelligence missions for the subs. But even an outdated fleet offers flexibility and can be useful under the right circumstances.
 
Regarding fleets - a ship is a ship. It's always useful and it doesn't consume fuel when docked, so I see no reason for disbanding it. It's better to have outdated replacements than no replacements at all. And if you create some TPs, you can surprise your overconfident enemy with amphibious invasions in strategic places.

Regarding GER's situation - it's good to see some victories in the West, even if the northern part of the front is threatened. The Allies are taking heavy losses, so maybe they will be more careful in the future.

Good progress in Asia. The JAP player is doing a good job and the Allies are probably too busy in Europe to put many troops in their colonies. From the perspective of the attrition war, lost IC and especially MP will be important. India will be the key, as the Japanese player can threaten both the Middle East and the Soviet flank from there. It's a long road ahead, though.
 
Interesting AAR.

But I do think selecting the pact is the right thing to do in MP.

I tried once to puppet Poland after refusing the pact, as mentioned earlier, but that didn't work so well due to supply issues back in 2.03 or so. That campaign ended prematurely due to bug issues so I guess we will never know.

I think with the current patch the Polish army would have helped you great deal if you had had the choice to puppet them. Its quite large if unmodern. Of course all AI nations are quite wortless so in the long run it might not be so great but should be a great short stop solution for scaring the russians.

I still wish there was some negative effect to SOV annexing Finland instead of 'settling what we claimed'.

Also I think its vital to include Italy in the 6 months enforced NAP of the MR-pact. I know most MP groups have a HR against this or considers it gamey or game breaking but without restriction there is really nothing to prevent Russia from marching through the Balkans unopposed and stab Italy in the back. I feel something is seriously flawed with this diplomatic model. I suppose that attack would prevent the USA from entering for a long time so maybe that is the balancing factor...
 
Author, you can go East instead. Just your economy may collapse soon.
Lucky that Netherlands and Belgium are not at war with you, so you can trade with them for rares.
Probably they don't have enough rares for sale to fulfill all rare needs, but it is stopgap solution.
Other resources should be fine.
If Italy can spend resources, they should go for Yugo/Greece for rares and manpower.
They should have done it already to be honest. Unless there are special rules about Italy not taking Yugo.
 
actually USSR annexing finland is mostly just a positive effect for soviet. They gain the Finnish gulf strategic event with extra boosted resources and leadership. I dont quite remember if ther's any strategically speaking negative threat impact, towards the USA for example, can't remember at the moment.
 
Now that you've retreated to a defensive line along the Rhine river, crossing it back towards the other side will prove to be a challenge. I wish you good luck in pushing the Allies out of Germany. They certainly seem to be unafraid to waste large amounts of manpower.

If you are thinning out your lines in the East, I'd be wary about a potential Soviet offensive through the Baltics. Lithuania cannot offer much resistance. That already looks like a disaster waiting to happen. What works for the Germans in the west, will also work for the Soviets in the east. ;(
 
actually USSR annexing finland is mostly just a positive effect for soviet. They gain the Finnish gulf strategic event with extra boosted resources and leadership. I dont quite remember if ther's any strategically speaking negative threat impact, towards the USA for example, can't remember at the moment.

Yes of course. Who said anything else? There is therefore no incentive for a human player to ever pick the "settle what we asked for" alternative, which renders the choice of the event meaningless, which is a bad thing for the game where choices should be hard to make, not no-brainers.

I think annexing Finland actually brings the USA closer to the Allies and the war, which imo feels wrong. If it were the other way around it would be better. I'd love to be corrected on this one but I'm pretty sure this is the case.

Otoh attacking Italy as SOV has a penalty in pushing the USA away so I guess that could be considered kind of balanced...
 
All this looks perfectly like WWI. Remember 2-front war for Germany, right? :)
Surely, we shall see how it works out. But I doubt you could reach success now in the West (because of a many cap-a-pie armed Allied troops galore :) )
 
Otoh attacking Italy as SOV has a penalty in pushing the USA away so I guess that could be considered kind of balanced...

Pushing USA away from what? Communist International?
 
The French/British are attacking with abandon, seemingly wasting manpower. You know, so far we have really only seen this from the Axis perspective. It could be that this is the Allies plan to go for a quick victory. The French player knows that if you send a few more troops to the West and a armor division or two, the tables could easily turn. If France looses the initiative and is pushed back, he could be wiped out in weeks. This is especially true so long as Netherlands/Belgium stay out of the war.

Defeated France = Soon-To-Be Defeated SU

My guess is that this will be a quick war, one way or another.
 
Pushing USA away from what? Communist International?

Pushing USA away from the allies making it take longer to invite them into their faction so Russia has to fight alone with only UK.
 
Sadly, all of these diplomatic considerations only seem to have a Axis vs Allies and Commies in mind, never a Commies vs Allies, Axis vs Commies only etc.
 
Sadly, all of these diplomatic considerations only seem to have a Axis vs Allies and Commies in mind, never a Commies vs Allies, Axis vs Commies only etc.

Yes, we (any most others?) play "Axis against the World" style. For out next game, I have been thinking about putting the stronger players in the Allies/Commies and have only one faction winning the war. May be a difficult setup, but also very interesting. We have seen Axis victories in our last three games. Axis players have played well in all, no doubt about that, but the game might also still be a bit tilted in Axis favour so balancing the human players might help. I would love to see a "real world" WWII ending with diplomatic and strategic games between the Allies and the Comintern regarding the invasion of Germany etc.

But this is all to be discussed with the other players after this round of carnage :)
 
Commies and Allies were ... allies, until axis fell, and never were in actual war against each other, and as the balance of the game is as is... Well, it's not reasonable to expect Allies and Comintern to go to war against each other, at least until Germany surrenders, and few MP games go on to that point, and even fewer go beyond, sadly.

And juv, I still don't understand how it'd push US away from allies? Soviets are not member of allies, their attacking someone only pushes USA away from Comintern (which it won't since US won't be so close to commie corner as to be affected by their threath anyways)