Yes, it would be nice if there was something that showed you how much you were in the hole but I don't think the interface does that anywhere.
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Yes, it would be nice if there was something that showed you how much you were in the hole but I don't think the interface does that anywhere.
I did, dumped the guys for an hour and then re-loaded. If more is required to rebase infantry I did not do more, but that was the intent.
Let's hope. Things are looking better on the supply front this update.
Thanks - yeah, I see it's only 80 when I reloaded to look, and 10 are built. Adding up the red lines, I built the ten and I'm still down 60.
Chapter Thirty-one - Across Africa
When last we saw them, brave Canadians were attempting to supply the new ports of the Canadian Co-Prosperity sphere using far to few Convoys. Something had to change. We had zero available convoys and 90 needed (Ed - well, 70 anyway). About thirty would be done in the next few weeks, but long term we were going to be adding ports and we needed help quickly. So the first thing we do is jettison allies!
Now, granted, I forget how trade works, but I figure somebody ships something to somebody and if I'm the seller I probably am supplying convoys. These trades were small, and relations with allies largely meaningless except the USA (overland transport would not be affected) and the UK (who was safe from my "x" click fest). I do not know how much difference cancelling trades will make, but it can't hurt and I don't need them. I'm at +$2.50 or so and the trades should be a good deal smaller than that in total.
That's not a complete list, either of my convoys or of the deals I cancelled, but it gives you the idea. Having resources pile up is fine, well, far better than having places go without supply. I doubt that manual reduction in the one route will take since I still have AI handling, it, but we'll see.
Then we decided to try to cut off the Vichy forces from their sources of supply, which in north Africa usually means taking one province. The areas deeper into the desert have such low infrastructure they do not carry supply (iirc). The inset shows that we're in good shape, for now.
What I'm hoping for is a mini-version of the conquest of Italian Africa, only without the British and without any real battles to speak of. So far so good.
Meanwhile in Casablanca, my Conquistadors, I mean Armored Cars, are racing across the land claiming The Sahara in the name of Canada and ice Hockey.
So eventually my Convoys pile up a decent stock of supplies and even fuel, despite my shortage. I'm just going to have to be careful.
I send my Casablanca area divisions into that city for later pickup. The one two-brigade division I'd sent for a walkabout will remain there indefinitely, my Armored Cars will head for Oran. I don't need real defenses here, and can't afford them even if I do.
Meanwhile, I send a division which did not fight to bang away at the Vichy HQ I fought last chapter. Further, I try to cut off French supplies a second time further east along the coast. In Messina, the Canadians stand on their heads and have their first shutout, killing 437 Axis attackers and losing none. Of course, the Italians re-engage their air force, and by the time the "battle" is truly over we've lost 91 men, so the celebrations are cancelled.
Two more ships are lost bringing supplies to our men, but it's only escorts, so that's okay then. We then make a move from Italian Africa, to try to squeeze the Vichy forces in a pincers movement. Or catch them with their pants down, which is easier than having a meaningful pincers arm consisting of one division.
Meanwhile, our Persian Division is ordered into Soviet Territory, on the theory that using Commie supplies will reduce our troubles. And it's just the next province over from where the men were anyway. Also, our Tobruk men are sent slightly east to draw on British supplies. Go ahead, use the word Genius, you know you want to.
The epic Last March of the ATs continues, or rather begins to continue.
These guys are going to push their Anti-Tank guns clear across the mideast to get into battle.
Meanwhile, a rather embarassed phone call informs us that nearly a fifth of the Canadian army has been accidentally left in Alexandria for an unknown period of R&R. Dad was pissed, but in the end agreed to go pick the boys up "when I'm good and ready."
Near Oran, movements were being made which would produce, if not fireworks, at least the expenditure of ammunition. Two divisions were being sent into the desert, one in the east chasing the HQ, and cutting off supplies, the other to merely cut off supplies. Other divisions were being sent east to confront the Vichy forces which had happily abandoned their supply port.
The troops from Alexandria were going to be put to work cleaning up the remaining Vichy ports, of which there were still far too many.
Of course the AI takes me within range of the maximum Axis air bases, so I changed that, as shown in the inset.
Yes, I just discovered that I can easily make insets at a much smaller scale and now we're going to have far too many insets until I get tired of them.
One Adam Twelve, see the man, report of shots fired!
Next time on Five For Fighting - How Hockey Saved the Allies, actual combat!
When last we saw them, brave Canadians were attempting to supply the new ports of the Canadian Co-Prosperity sphere using far to few Convoys. Something had to change. We had zero available convoys and 90 needed (Ed - well, 70 anyway). About thirty would be done in the next few weeks, but long term we were going to be adding ports and we needed help quickly. So the first thing we do is jettison allies!
Now, granted, I forget how trade works, but I figure somebody ships something to somebody and if I'm the seller I probably am supplying convoys. These trades were small, and relations with allies largely meaningless except the USA (overland transport would not be affected) and the UK (who was safe from my "x" click fest). I do not know how much difference cancelling trades will make, but it can't hurt and I don't need them. I'm at +$2.50 or so and the trades should be a good deal smaller than that in total.
That's not a complete list, either of my convoys or of the deals I cancelled, but it gives you the idea. Having resources pile up is fine, well, far better than having places go without supply. I doubt that manual reduction in the one route will take since I still have AI handling, it, but we'll see.
Then we decided to try to cut off the Vichy forces from their sources of supply, which in north Africa usually means taking one province. The areas deeper into the desert have such low infrastructure they do not carry supply (iirc). The inset shows that we're in good shape, for now.
What I'm hoping for is a mini-version of the conquest of Italian Africa, only without the British and without any real battles to speak of. So far so good.
Meanwhile in Casablanca, my Conquistadors, I mean Armored Cars, are racing across the land claiming The Sahara in the name of Canada and ice Hockey.
So eventually my Convoys pile up a decent stock of supplies and even fuel, despite my shortage. I'm just going to have to be careful.
I send my Casablanca area divisions into that city for later pickup. The one two-brigade division I'd sent for a walkabout will remain there indefinitely, my Armored Cars will head for Oran. I don't need real defenses here, and can't afford them even if I do.
Meanwhile, I send a division which did not fight to bang away at the Vichy HQ I fought last chapter. Further, I try to cut off French supplies a second time further east along the coast. In Messina, the Canadians stand on their heads and have their first shutout, killing 437 Axis attackers and losing none. Of course, the Italians re-engage their air force, and by the time the "battle" is truly over we've lost 91 men, so the celebrations are cancelled.
Two more ships are lost bringing supplies to our men, but it's only escorts, so that's okay then. We then make a move from Italian Africa, to try to squeeze the Vichy forces in a pincers movement. Or catch them with their pants down, which is easier than having a meaningful pincers arm consisting of one division.
Meanwhile, our Persian Division is ordered into Soviet Territory, on the theory that using Commie supplies will reduce our troubles. And it's just the next province over from where the men were anyway. Also, our Tobruk men are sent slightly east to draw on British supplies. Go ahead, use the word Genius, you know you want to.
The epic Last March of the ATs continues, or rather begins to continue.
These guys are going to push their Anti-Tank guns clear across the mideast to get into battle.
Meanwhile, a rather embarassed phone call informs us that nearly a fifth of the Canadian army has been accidentally left in Alexandria for an unknown period of R&R. Dad was pissed, but in the end agreed to go pick the boys up "when I'm good and ready."
Near Oran, movements were being made which would produce, if not fireworks, at least the expenditure of ammunition. Two divisions were being sent into the desert, one in the east chasing the HQ, and cutting off supplies, the other to merely cut off supplies. Other divisions were being sent east to confront the Vichy forces which had happily abandoned their supply port.
The troops from Alexandria were going to be put to work cleaning up the remaining Vichy ports, of which there were still far too many.
Of course the AI takes me within range of the maximum Axis air bases, so I changed that, as shown in the inset.
Yes, I just discovered that I can easily make insets at a much smaller scale and now we're going to have far too many insets until I get tired of them.
One Adam Twelve, see the man, report of shots fired!
Next time on Five For Fighting - How Hockey Saved the Allies, actual combat!
Is there a reason that poor AT unit is forced to walk instead of using Strategic Movement?
Excellent stuff, there clearly is no better place for ice hockey than the desert! This obviously why so much of the Canadian army was left in Egypt.
To quote the Wizard "I don't know how it works. Also, I thought of this while I was away from the computer and it amused me
Strat red. uses twice the amount of supplies
and that! and that!
Yeah, those guys in Egypt came as something of a surprise. I always land in Alexandria to avoid the Scenic Route pathing the AI chooses for me.
Chapter Thirty-Two - Vichyssoise
Can Canada turn Vichy into Vichyssoise, at least in Africa? Not quickly, no, but cut off the collaborator's supply and Vichy will fade like Italy did before. So on to the ports!
But first we have to fight off the Vichy counter-attack in the areas we've already taken.
As you can see, the eastern division is tasked with cutting off supply, while the western division will have to fight outnumbered.
Let's see how our ground attack planes do against defenseless infantry.
Canadians, however, are adept at multitasking, and so the capture of ports continues.
As much as I'd like to either land troops and fight or take the port if it's empty, I have to do both at the same time, I think, because my navy has proven so vulnerable. So I send marines into an unscouted port, and regular infantry into an adjacent province in case I need to fight my way in over land.
The ongoing battle isn't going so well. Therefore I send not only my limited airforce, but I also re-direct the forces which were cutting off supplies to instead attack the French from the rear. As you can see, my division had not really gone all that far, and the supply cut-off would have been after the battle was lost.
So now we have two divisions against two divisions, technically, but mine are divided. We'll see what the air force can do.
Then my bombers kicked in. At first they were devastating, or at least worth having. Then we used up all the good bombs.
Man, I'd hate to have been that last guy, "The Canadian airforce couldn't hit the broadside of a ba--"
Perhaps not having any theoretical or training techs has something to do with it. I'm nearly certain all attacks were daytime. Still, that's a few dead Frenchies from not much manpower.
Progress continues on the ports. We pick up the men who landed in port, and send the others south to yet another Vichy-held port.
The ongoing battle is not going particularly well on either end. We've cut off supplies from the south, but as the French have lost their ports down there, all we really did was cut off what stockpiles there might have been, as well as one perhaps-uncaptured port below Casablanca.
We also move men closer to the fighting to perhaps even things up a bit later. In the long run, in this area anyway, the French have two soon-to-be-out-of-supply divisions, and Canada has a half dozen or more available to wear them down, and accept their all-but-certain surrender. Also, the last French ports will soon be falling to The Steamroller of the North.
The troops landed in the undefended port, and the ships were sent off to Casablanca to pick up the troops who were now available.
In the ongoing battle, things are going poorly and moving in the wrong direction.
Our various bombing runs have probably helped, but their certainly not decisive. Fortunately, more Canadians are on the way.
In the meantime, we've taken enough losses, and we;re down 17.5 Manpower. So both ends of the combat are called off, and the western division is withdrawn to meet with it's brothers.
We lost 750 and killed only 500. The first clear defeat of Canada in quite some time. In the east, the French still have ports, but not for long.
In the west, there will be a rematch!
Can Canada turn Vichy into Vichyssoise, at least in Africa? Not quickly, no, but cut off the collaborator's supply and Vichy will fade like Italy did before. So on to the ports!
But first we have to fight off the Vichy counter-attack in the areas we've already taken.
As you can see, the eastern division is tasked with cutting off supply, while the western division will have to fight outnumbered.
Let's see how our ground attack planes do against defenseless infantry.
Canadians, however, are adept at multitasking, and so the capture of ports continues.
As much as I'd like to either land troops and fight or take the port if it's empty, I have to do both at the same time, I think, because my navy has proven so vulnerable. So I send marines into an unscouted port, and regular infantry into an adjacent province in case I need to fight my way in over land.
The ongoing battle isn't going so well. Therefore I send not only my limited airforce, but I also re-direct the forces which were cutting off supplies to instead attack the French from the rear. As you can see, my division had not really gone all that far, and the supply cut-off would have been after the battle was lost.
So now we have two divisions against two divisions, technically, but mine are divided. We'll see what the air force can do.
Then my bombers kicked in. At first they were devastating, or at least worth having. Then we used up all the good bombs.
Man, I'd hate to have been that last guy, "The Canadian airforce couldn't hit the broadside of a ba--"
Perhaps not having any theoretical or training techs has something to do with it. I'm nearly certain all attacks were daytime. Still, that's a few dead Frenchies from not much manpower.
Progress continues on the ports. We pick up the men who landed in port, and send the others south to yet another Vichy-held port.
The ongoing battle is not going particularly well on either end. We've cut off supplies from the south, but as the French have lost their ports down there, all we really did was cut off what stockpiles there might have been, as well as one perhaps-uncaptured port below Casablanca.
We also move men closer to the fighting to perhaps even things up a bit later. In the long run, in this area anyway, the French have two soon-to-be-out-of-supply divisions, and Canada has a half dozen or more available to wear them down, and accept their all-but-certain surrender. Also, the last French ports will soon be falling to The Steamroller of the North.
The troops landed in the undefended port, and the ships were sent off to Casablanca to pick up the troops who were now available.
In the ongoing battle, things are going poorly and moving in the wrong direction.
Our various bombing runs have probably helped, but their certainly not decisive. Fortunately, more Canadians are on the way.
In the meantime, we've taken enough losses, and we;re down 17.5 Manpower. So both ends of the combat are called off, and the western division is withdrawn to meet with it's brothers.
We lost 750 and killed only 500. The first clear defeat of Canada in quite some time. In the east, the French still have ports, but not for long.
In the west, there will be a rematch!
Can you get those divisions surrounded so they simply die off instead of retreating?
Good point, I'll see what I can do. I have a fair number of units in the area.
This is quite possibly the best HoI comedic gameplay AAR about Canada I've ever read. And that's saying something. Not sure what, though.
I really get the feelilng they just started dropping rocks from the plane after running out of bombs!
Pretty tough going at present but at least you are still capturing land.
LOL Your gift for hyperbole is much appreciated.
I think rocks would have done more damage. Maybe it was pamphlets, and that one guy died of an infected paper cut.
Chapter Thirty-Three - Closing the Ring
The trouble with taking North Africa from Vichy France is not that it's well defended, or even that there are many ports. It's that the thing is freaking huge. Even with very shallow useable terrain there are a great many places that the collaborators can be hiding. Granted, the French have so far defended zero out of, what is it, eight, ten ports? But still, I need to mop up before I can move on. Plus, when else am I going to be able to use my Ground Attack Hurricanes? I want to get my money's worth out of these bad boys before we move on to truly contested arenas. Granted, also, before we're done the UK and USA out to clense the skies of enemy fighters so that our quasi-Stukas can roam at will, but between now and then I suspect that North Africa is going to be their finest nour. And if the grand alliance can't make the air safe for Canada's air force before the hinge of fate swings shut forever, then triumph will lead to tragedy and a gathering storm will something something something.
But enough of all that, we've got a river war to fight, and a great war to win! As for Marlboroughs, smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Here's a pastiche of screenshots even worse than my literary slaughter.
The rightmost screenshot is of the sea between the first two, but they are in chronological order. I've taken the northern, Tunisian, ports, and sent my Tripoli troops to grab the ones south of Tunis. Then I got antsy, and I had unused guys, so I sent ships to drop them off in the presumably abandoned supply points. One way or another, Vichy was going to lose all sources of supply.
Meanwhile, in the far west of the North African theatre of combat, Canadian troops were trying to cut off whatever supply there might be still, and corral the Vichy troops into a pocket for capture.
Oddly, the Algerian provinces are not quite as constricted as I would have liked. On offense, I'd rather have had just one coastal province to worry about from Oran all the way to Tunis. Still, it's much better than if the Sahara was traversible by military units. In between the two areas shown above, one division was sent on a limited walkabout to cut off Tunis from the area east of Oran. I am not sure that there's much in the line of supplies stockpiled in the areas I have not yet captured, but I don't want the enemy moving what he has from where supplies are to where troops are.
The 27th of May saw us lose two more Convoys in two attacks, and the province of Tenes which we had abandoned east of Oran. Tenes we'll get back, the Convoys remain a trouble spot. Granted, for the most part it is only the shipping of resources to Canada which is being held up, and we have ample stockpiles, but new conquests aren't going to be supplied quickly anywhere so long as we're down 50+ Convoys. On the other hand, Convoys use IC but not manpower, so we should probably be building them anyway.
On the 28th we lose another Convoy, and early on the 9th we land troops to try to break up the Vichy holdings even further, and to identify any hidden units.
Found some! By the way, these were the guys who were going to land at the Tunisian port. Change of plans and all that.
In Tenes, our fresh troops attack the Vichy we recently fought, and bring our handy dandy air force to the party. I can't tell you how nice it is to be on the other side of undefended air bombings.
Speaking of which, our Messina mountain men win a rematch 70-0, and no Italian planes are seen, making this our first true shutout across the straits. Here's an overview of Africa as it stands now.
In about the center of the map is Oran, where I'm chasing one HQ unit to the west toward Republican Spain's african holdings. East of that is Tenes which we're fighting over now. To the far east is Tunis and the one remaining Vichy supply point south of Tunis. South of my ships, between Tunis and Tenes, is a pair of Vichy divisions which currently outnumber the Canadians in the immediate vicinity, but more men are on the way. The key is for me to outnumber each pocket of Vichy by enough to defeat them without many losses. I have a feeling that the first combats will be more even than I'd like. Still, I need to spread out some to find the enemy, I should outnumber them everywhere before much time passes, and best of all, I have supplies and they do not. Not for long anyway. Insets FTW!
We won the battle of Tenes pretty quickly, and as you can see, we're chasing the French inland, where I don't think they're planning to film the Last Remake of Beau Geste.
We'll listen for the theme song, though (starts about 1:20).
By the end of the 20th Canada had taken Gabes, and the last vestiges of the old Vichy supply system had been swept away. Since we weren't going to be attacking by sea anymore, and since it was nighttime, we decided to move our somewhat tattered Canadian Navy to safety in Syracusa. I did not choose the far west of Sicily only because I had ships recuperating there already, and I want to distinguish my battered ships from my badly battered ships. Why do I mention this? Hmm, have I mentioned recently how useless the British Navy is?
There's probably a few guys on Malta who agree with us. On the other hand, the Brits would probably - politely - suggest that we not sail past an invasion in progress next time we head to safety. The worst thing is that running away just means going where we were going anyway, so I let time pass slowly and take screenshots of what used to be a damned fine bunch of boats.
What matters here is that nothing sank. I was especially worried about the Ontario. We did give an account of ourselves, but we're not going to be using those ships for weeks to come. Next time Italy invades Malta, don't expect Canada to come running. They didn't even thank us (Italy lost). One of these days I'm gonna post a screenshot that is 100% insets. Don't say I didn't warn you.
In the area around Tenes, the noose is tightening, though I can't recall offhand why I thought I needed a division to defend Algier. Yes, it's where my planes are, but still. I doubt the Italians are coming after that spanking we gave that destroyer flotilla, the one near the bottom of the list 34a. It will be limping home well behind the other dozen untouched Italian ships, you can be sure of that!
In the east of what remains of the African Theatre of combat, Canadian forces sweep on. The Steamroller of the North cannot be stopped.
The trouble with taking North Africa from Vichy France is not that it's well defended, or even that there are many ports. It's that the thing is freaking huge. Even with very shallow useable terrain there are a great many places that the collaborators can be hiding. Granted, the French have so far defended zero out of, what is it, eight, ten ports? But still, I need to mop up before I can move on. Plus, when else am I going to be able to use my Ground Attack Hurricanes? I want to get my money's worth out of these bad boys before we move on to truly contested arenas. Granted, also, before we're done the UK and USA out to clense the skies of enemy fighters so that our quasi-Stukas can roam at will, but between now and then I suspect that North Africa is going to be their finest nour. And if the grand alliance can't make the air safe for Canada's air force before the hinge of fate swings shut forever, then triumph will lead to tragedy and a gathering storm will something something something.
But enough of all that, we've got a river war to fight, and a great war to win! As for Marlboroughs, smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Here's a pastiche of screenshots even worse than my literary slaughter.
The rightmost screenshot is of the sea between the first two, but they are in chronological order. I've taken the northern, Tunisian, ports, and sent my Tripoli troops to grab the ones south of Tunis. Then I got antsy, and I had unused guys, so I sent ships to drop them off in the presumably abandoned supply points. One way or another, Vichy was going to lose all sources of supply.
Meanwhile, in the far west of the North African theatre of combat, Canadian troops were trying to cut off whatever supply there might be still, and corral the Vichy troops into a pocket for capture.
Oddly, the Algerian provinces are not quite as constricted as I would have liked. On offense, I'd rather have had just one coastal province to worry about from Oran all the way to Tunis. Still, it's much better than if the Sahara was traversible by military units. In between the two areas shown above, one division was sent on a limited walkabout to cut off Tunis from the area east of Oran. I am not sure that there's much in the line of supplies stockpiled in the areas I have not yet captured, but I don't want the enemy moving what he has from where supplies are to where troops are.
The 27th of May saw us lose two more Convoys in two attacks, and the province of Tenes which we had abandoned east of Oran. Tenes we'll get back, the Convoys remain a trouble spot. Granted, for the most part it is only the shipping of resources to Canada which is being held up, and we have ample stockpiles, but new conquests aren't going to be supplied quickly anywhere so long as we're down 50+ Convoys. On the other hand, Convoys use IC but not manpower, so we should probably be building them anyway.
On the 28th we lose another Convoy, and early on the 9th we land troops to try to break up the Vichy holdings even further, and to identify any hidden units.
Found some! By the way, these were the guys who were going to land at the Tunisian port. Change of plans and all that.
In Tenes, our fresh troops attack the Vichy we recently fought, and bring our handy dandy air force to the party. I can't tell you how nice it is to be on the other side of undefended air bombings.
Speaking of which, our Messina mountain men win a rematch 70-0, and no Italian planes are seen, making this our first true shutout across the straits. Here's an overview of Africa as it stands now.
In about the center of the map is Oran, where I'm chasing one HQ unit to the west toward Republican Spain's african holdings. East of that is Tenes which we're fighting over now. To the far east is Tunis and the one remaining Vichy supply point south of Tunis. South of my ships, between Tunis and Tenes, is a pair of Vichy divisions which currently outnumber the Canadians in the immediate vicinity, but more men are on the way. The key is for me to outnumber each pocket of Vichy by enough to defeat them without many losses. I have a feeling that the first combats will be more even than I'd like. Still, I need to spread out some to find the enemy, I should outnumber them everywhere before much time passes, and best of all, I have supplies and they do not. Not for long anyway. Insets FTW!
We won the battle of Tenes pretty quickly, and as you can see, we're chasing the French inland, where I don't think they're planning to film the Last Remake of Beau Geste.
We'll listen for the theme song, though (starts about 1:20).
By the end of the 20th Canada had taken Gabes, and the last vestiges of the old Vichy supply system had been swept away. Since we weren't going to be attacking by sea anymore, and since it was nighttime, we decided to move our somewhat tattered Canadian Navy to safety in Syracusa. I did not choose the far west of Sicily only because I had ships recuperating there already, and I want to distinguish my battered ships from my badly battered ships. Why do I mention this? Hmm, have I mentioned recently how useless the British Navy is?
There's probably a few guys on Malta who agree with us. On the other hand, the Brits would probably - politely - suggest that we not sail past an invasion in progress next time we head to safety. The worst thing is that running away just means going where we were going anyway, so I let time pass slowly and take screenshots of what used to be a damned fine bunch of boats.
What matters here is that nothing sank. I was especially worried about the Ontario. We did give an account of ourselves, but we're not going to be using those ships for weeks to come. Next time Italy invades Malta, don't expect Canada to come running. They didn't even thank us (Italy lost). One of these days I'm gonna post a screenshot that is 100% insets. Don't say I didn't warn you.
In the area around Tenes, the noose is tightening, though I can't recall offhand why I thought I needed a division to defend Algier. Yes, it's where my planes are, but still. I doubt the Italians are coming after that spanking we gave that destroyer flotilla, the one near the bottom of the list 34a. It will be limping home well behind the other dozen untouched Italian ships, you can be sure of that!
In the east of what remains of the African Theatre of combat, Canadian forces sweep on. The Steamroller of the North cannot be stopped.
Bad break with the ships there... do you have a port in the Med that is large enough to get them all repaired in a reasonable time-frame?
You have the Vichy supplies for yourself now, just some bitter fighting to win before you gain your lands. Annoying regarding your ships, I'd leave the British navy alone from now on, let the victory stealing blaggards suffer without Canada's navy providing aid!
Yeah, Syracuse can handle quite a few, or maybe it was Trapani? Apparently I sailed between the Italian fleet and Malta, there's no way the Axis would ignore a contested landing to come chase me, right?
Very true, it's all mopping up now, trying to minimize losses though I've divided my own guys up into as many groups as Vichy has, just about. True on the Brits as well, they can't find the Italian fleet to bring it to a decisive battle? I've done that eight or ten times already! It'll be 1944 and Italy will still rule the Med I bet.
So Canada is liberating North Africa now ... how did the Mp and convoy situation improve?
The old fashioned way - I ignore them! Well, the Convoy problem is still serious, but it just means that resources are piling up in ports I'm not likely to lose. The supplies are getting through okay. Manpower, well, that works well with a Convoy shortage. I have free IC, negative 19 manpower and I need a hundred or more Convoys, which require no manpower to build. So voila! Canada builds Convoys now, and not much else.
Funny thing is, I grew up and still live a few miles from what I believe to be an old Liberty Ship factory on Lake Ontario. Huge building, not sure it's done much of anything since 1946.
EDIT - Flickr, which I use for images, is having problems atm, and I'm off to my daughter's play (she had a big role last year, soso this year, but they're still fun). So this chapter, while written, and damned exciting if I do say so myself, might be delayed.
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Chapter Thirty-Four - Closing the Other Ring
Canada is choking off the Vichy forces in North Africa, but it has not been a quick process, and since we're fighting each Axis division with a few of our own, we're not likely to win awards for speed going forward. Recall that around the Tunis area we're moving men forward over land, since the Mediteranean is an Italian pond when Canada ventures out (Ed - or ventures through a landing zone).
We'll tidy up the map by passing through all the empty spaces which military forces can enter [Ed - hmm, that looks familiar]. In the west (no image) we brush aside the Vichy HQ unit, but apparently that HQ cannot win but can never truly be defeated. There are no losses on either side. I want an army of those ghost forces, they capture territory, instantly retreat, and must be surrounded to be eliminated. We lose another convoy as well.
We then begin an attack in Jijel, where Vichy has two divisions, one apparently moving to an adjacent Vichy province, so I was surprised to see them in the combat. Perhaps the AI deliberately stops movement to even up the fight?
Apparently, I was right the first time, and the 17,000 enemy initially reported are really half that, and over the course of just a few hours we make decent progress.
Meanwhile, west of Jijel we have a family reunion in Medea, feaquring half our marines, our re-directed airforce and some random enemy.
This is what I wanted those ground attack planes for. They are making me happy. As I said quite some time ago, for a bigger country, controlling ground attack planes like this (or naval attack planes) would feel like micromanagement. For Canada, they feel like really cool toys. Yeah, the skateboard gets old eventually and so does the Gameboy, but right now they're new and exciting and the enemy is defenseless. That won't always be true. Enjoy them while you can, eventually they grow up and they're out on their own having little ground attacks of their own.
Subsequent attacks kill 27 then 38 soldiers. Even in smaller battles like these, air attacks are not going to be decisive, but it's far better to give than to receive.
The Jijel battle moves to 85% then 94%, but before we can post a victory screen, remember that empty area west of Tunis? Well, we've run into that hidden army bug again, Vichy had forces there.
The battle in Jijel ends with victory. We lost 325 men but killed over 800, which unfortunately represents less than 5% of the enemy. Still, we're driving them onward, and I don't see the French being able to recover the Org they lose in these fights. The final battles will hopefully be near insta-wins against surrounded armies. The Medea battle continues, with a couple more ground attacks thrown in for good measure.
We kill yet another 40 men in two additional ground attacks, but lose yet another Convoy. I need those convoys more than Vichy needs their doomed soldiers.
Now, these combats might start to blend too much together as they're all small units and pretty similar. Where our two Canadian divisions had fought two Axis divisions - but one Axis unit was moving to adjacent Axis territory - well, that moving division arrived, and tried to break through the other side. It looks from the number as though they've got a shot.
Further west, however, we get welcome news when we remember to check the little battle icons. Remember that Vichy unit hiding in the fog of war? Well, he's out of supply, and what ought to be an even battle is actually going pretty well for the good guys.
Meanwhile, the family reunion in Medea is winding down, though Canada's ORG losses look to be awfully close to Vichy's. We bomb them again, because we can.
We're wrapping up North Africa, but minimizing losses makes it slower, trying to hit every French division at the same makes minimizing losses harder, and Vichy is counter-attacking where it can, while it can. There are too many pockets, I ought to have concentrated my forces more. Although Vichy would have done the same, maybe there would be fewer combats that way. All I need is to wear them down, take away space, and beat each division one last time when they have no escape.
I'm in no huge hurry to move on, either. Vichy is out of supply, so this beats the crap out of trying to fight Germans in Europe in June of 1942.
Canada is choking off the Vichy forces in North Africa, but it has not been a quick process, and since we're fighting each Axis division with a few of our own, we're not likely to win awards for speed going forward. Recall that around the Tunis area we're moving men forward over land, since the Mediteranean is an Italian pond when Canada ventures out (Ed - or ventures through a landing zone).
We'll tidy up the map by passing through all the empty spaces which military forces can enter [Ed - hmm, that looks familiar]. In the west (no image) we brush aside the Vichy HQ unit, but apparently that HQ cannot win but can never truly be defeated. There are no losses on either side. I want an army of those ghost forces, they capture territory, instantly retreat, and must be surrounded to be eliminated. We lose another convoy as well.
We then begin an attack in Jijel, where Vichy has two divisions, one apparently moving to an adjacent Vichy province, so I was surprised to see them in the combat. Perhaps the AI deliberately stops movement to even up the fight?
Apparently, I was right the first time, and the 17,000 enemy initially reported are really half that, and over the course of just a few hours we make decent progress.
Meanwhile, west of Jijel we have a family reunion in Medea, feaquring half our marines, our re-directed airforce and some random enemy.
This is what I wanted those ground attack planes for. They are making me happy. As I said quite some time ago, for a bigger country, controlling ground attack planes like this (or naval attack planes) would feel like micromanagement. For Canada, they feel like really cool toys. Yeah, the skateboard gets old eventually and so does the Gameboy, but right now they're new and exciting and the enemy is defenseless. That won't always be true. Enjoy them while you can, eventually they grow up and they're out on their own having little ground attacks of their own.
Subsequent attacks kill 27 then 38 soldiers. Even in smaller battles like these, air attacks are not going to be decisive, but it's far better to give than to receive.
The Jijel battle moves to 85% then 94%, but before we can post a victory screen, remember that empty area west of Tunis? Well, we've run into that hidden army bug again, Vichy had forces there.
The battle in Jijel ends with victory. We lost 325 men but killed over 800, which unfortunately represents less than 5% of the enemy. Still, we're driving them onward, and I don't see the French being able to recover the Org they lose in these fights. The final battles will hopefully be near insta-wins against surrounded armies. The Medea battle continues, with a couple more ground attacks thrown in for good measure.
We kill yet another 40 men in two additional ground attacks, but lose yet another Convoy. I need those convoys more than Vichy needs their doomed soldiers.
Now, these combats might start to blend too much together as they're all small units and pretty similar. Where our two Canadian divisions had fought two Axis divisions - but one Axis unit was moving to adjacent Axis territory - well, that moving division arrived, and tried to break through the other side. It looks from the number as though they've got a shot.
Further west, however, we get welcome news when we remember to check the little battle icons. Remember that Vichy unit hiding in the fog of war? Well, he's out of supply, and what ought to be an even battle is actually going pretty well for the good guys.
Meanwhile, the family reunion in Medea is winding down, though Canada's ORG losses look to be awfully close to Vichy's. We bomb them again, because we can.
We're wrapping up North Africa, but minimizing losses makes it slower, trying to hit every French division at the same makes minimizing losses harder, and Vichy is counter-attacking where it can, while it can. There are too many pockets, I ought to have concentrated my forces more. Although Vichy would have done the same, maybe there would be fewer combats that way. All I need is to wear them down, take away space, and beat each division one last time when they have no escape.
I'm in no huge hurry to move on, either. Vichy is out of supply, so this beats the crap out of trying to fight Germans in Europe in June of 1942.