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Thanks, and yeah, the little guys get hammered. I just wish I had some big guys with me firing back more often

Inspired by this AAR, I've started a Canada game myself. Turns out that if you focus pretty much single-mindedly on the navy you can get quite a decent fleet. I've pretty much swept Italy from the Med by 1942 (and sunk five Italian BBs without help), but Japan is a different kettle of fish. I've got no air force and can't bring their carriers to battle.
 
I really enjoy this AAR, but if i may inject my personal opinion:
GET OUTTA THERE
Ive played Canada and tried to take Greece and Australia to do the same
it doesnt work, the germans will send a few divisions, so will the italians and the romanians and the hungarians and then you can kiss those divisions good bye. if u really want to fight in greec you'll need the whole canadian army (in my experience)

Sounds like the script for the Shortest Horror Movie Ever! And good advice.

It's risky, but with the Soviets so close, perhaps not as foolish as it looks on paper. Either the Axis can't afford to send anything away from Bulgaria and the raid makes progress, or they do and give the Soviets a reprieve, maybe even a chance of their own to push. Canada can't realistically hope to beat the Axis on the ground here, but they *can* potentially give the Soviets a fighting chance and, if he was extra lucky, even a chance to link up with the Soviets.

The most important thing is to ensure your troops don't get totally surrounded and that you choose the right time to evac if they push you back.

That's what I was hoping for.

A very audacious raid which seems to be going rather well, even though you have been fighting the most deadly of foe; HQ units! You have little reason to worry about defeat though, with the invincible armoured cars at your side you will meet nothing but victory.

My armored cars seem almost normal since I mixed them up with Infantry. I hope they won't have to fight much.

It would be a good time to establish a proper front, because those German units left to monitor Greek territory will probably be sent to jump your troops from the South.

Actually, now that I think about it, raiding Yugoslav and Greek territory would probably be much easier if the game emulated proper partisan activity in there.
You mean that certain territories were de facto independent? (from the occupier)

Yeah, even if the Germans had something like enemy territory movement rates or some other disadvantage it would change things. Would not want a premature uprising, though, this is just a visit.

Inspired by this AAR, I've started a Canada game myself. Turns out that if you focus pretty much single-mindedly on the navy you can get quite a decent fleet. I've pretty much swept Italy from the Med by 1942 (and sunk five Italian BBs without help), but Japan is a different kettle of fish. I've got no air force and can't bring their carriers to battle.

I suspected that I should specialize, but couldn't stick to it. Hopefully we'll all be on land soon and the majors will let us have our own beach. I also feared Japan could be the end of me, though I still hope they last long enough so I can find out!
 
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Chapter Forty - Does This Bug You? I'm Not Touching You!

Last chapter we tried to help the Soviets in Greece by landing behind enemy lines and taking an Italian port. As we ended, we'd decided to grab a second, undefended port. It's all a bit of a risky scheme. Since we're not trying to hold a line, we're acting like a little kid afraid to swim into the deep end. We have one hand securely on the side of the pool at all times. Still, we are attracting the attention of the enemy now.



We did grab the second port, so all our troops should be primed for rescue when the time comes.

We lost yet another transport, and we don't seem to be changing the overall look of the battle for Greece between Germany and Russia. Maybe we're attracting the attention of the wrong enemy?



If it's Russia v Germany, and all I see is Italy, maybe that's why I'm not making much difference, even though I'm close to the front.

I'm going to start losing provinces before too long, which doesn't bother me much. Odd. This doesn't seem like the smartest thing they could do.



Italian air bombardments cost us 100 men, and we start to scoop up our forces, figuring we've done what we intended, but seem to have attracted the wrong people by doing it. I don't think Italy was manning the front lines in Greece, so hanging out longer won't win that battle.



That is a big stack of Italian units, though, so I can't say that the theory was stupid. Just the results weren't all I hoped for. I did clean up that production issue, I keep trying to reinforce as needed, but I've had bad luck using the auto-feature this game.

We win!



Five or six to one losses isn't bad, but add in our pounding by enemy air units and it's only three to one, and Italy can out Manpower Canada pretty much forever. Again, it's Germany we wanted to distract, so this Raid is called off. The Italian air force kills 30 guys by bombing the ground we were on before we boarded ships. Amazing.

We've already got our guys all loaded on boats, let's see if we can catch the Germans napping.



So far so good. But, garrison troops fight about as well as infantry, they just move slowly, and we have no intention of fighting even, offensive battles here on our raid. So our accidental attack is called off right away.



Oops, we did it again. We were not going for a Brittany Spears impression.



So we're surrounded by Garrison troops who were guarding crap instead of ports. Perhaps we had gotten Germany's attention, but only the stationary units moved, not the front-line troops like we'd hoped. In north Africa, our landings in one place pulled all kinds of defenders from down the coast. I suppose troops mid-combat wouldn't be moved unless the threat was much bigger. Still, I'm taking ports not too far from the front, that ought to matter a little. Cutting off supply by trying to meet up with the Russians would have helped a good deal more, but involved far more troops and far more risk. Well, it's a long war.

Hey, one German division starts off even as to four Canadian divisions? That seems odd. Or really, really scary.



We won, but if you add in the 140 men we lost to air attacks, we're not even inflicting 2-1 losses, and while German manpower will run out in a couple years, Canada's will run out in a couple weeks if we try to reduce Germany through straight fights.

Overall, we're not really altering the picture. I can't say I was expecting a huge difference in the area after or during our raid, but I was hoping for more than this.



Plus, a big part of what I was hoping for was to accomplish something reasonably meaningful, while replenishing our Manpower. I don't know that I've lost more than what's come in, but it's closer than I wanted. Or, maybe not, we're at negative 23.0 (on the other hand this number jumps around like crazy, it seems to me).



And we do seem to have gotten the attention of the Germans. That's eight divisions, mostly if not all German, remember that many Italian-flagged divisions are Germans on loan from Satan, with half their brains tied behind their backs. Many divisions are non-Garrison forces, too. Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome, time for these ones to come home!



In the end, perhaps the most we did was slow down a German advance which seemed to be going on in Greece. We certainly got the attention of some divisions, but not for long, and not so far from the front that it took too long for them to get back to where they were. In the long run, we might pull some troops from other fronts if the AI shifts men to the Balkans, which would be good, if true. It's a sideshow, really. It's the Eastern Front that matters, and after the second intermission, we're going to have to find a way to have a bigger impact, even if it means taking losses. It's Halloween 1942, and the Germans never got very far into Russia.

This war won't last forever!
 
A bold plan that is within Canada's slim resources is to do what I did in my UK AAR; a quick invasion of Romania. If you land at their southern port and don't see any immediate defenders, then rush right for the capital. Once Romania loses their northern VP to Hungary in the 2nd Vienna Award, they are easy to knock out with a quick hit on Bucharest & Ploesti. Force their surrender and then head for the hills (err, Transports).
 
Now, land behind their backs in Athens and do some damage? :) Be careful though, the Germans are very much superior with their doctrines and can quickly finish your troops, so keep your transports at bay.
 
Now, land behind their backs in Athens and do some damage? :) Be careful though, the Germans are very much superior with their doctrines and can quickly finish your troops, so keep your transports at bay.

Landing in Athens could be questionable, we have no idea as to what the Germans are hiding in there. If the Canadian Raiders run into a large unit stack guarding the place they could suffer massive losses.
 
I think that you've done all you can for the time being, unless you want to go fight Japan there's not much you can do in Europe ATM.
 
Athens is definitely worth scouting but if it's too heavily defended, then it's probably no go. Canada also doesn't have unlimited manpower and if it turns into a grind that favours Germany (although I imagine German manpower is going to start hurting before too long.)
 
A bold plan that is within Canada's slim resources is to do what I did in my UK AAR; a quick invasion of Romania. If you land at their southern port and don't see any immediate defenders, then rush right for the capital. Once Romania loses their northern VP to Hungary in the 2nd Vienna Award, they are easy to knock out with a quick hit on Bucharest & Ploesti. Force their surrender and then head for the hills (err, Transports).
Now, land behind their backs in Athens and do some damage? :) Be careful though, the Germans are very much superior with their doctrines and can quickly finish your troops, so keep your transports at bay.

They both sound risky, but if I had enough men involved I don't see myself being wiped out. I'll have to consider what to do next.

Landing in Athens could be questionable, we have no idea as to what the Germans are hiding in there. If the Canadian Raiders run into a large unit stack guarding the place they could suffer massive losses.

On the other hand, massive losses are a real possibility. I need to take risks, it's just a question now of which ones to take. I need something I can invest in heavily while still being able to run away.

I think that you've done all you can for the time being, unless you want to go fight Japan there's not much you can do in Europe ATM.

Possibly, possibly. Working on it, though!

Athens is definitely worth scouting but if it's too heavily defended, then it's probably no go. Canada also doesn't have unlimited manpower and if it turns into a grind that favours Germany (although I imagine German manpower is going to start hurting before too long.)

I agree on German manpower, but I counted my units today, and I need to find someplace meaningful, but not so meaningful that the enemy puts up much of a fight.
 
Chapter Forty-One - Second Intermission

Well, this second intermission is more of an "it's that time" than me having a dozen things I want to discuss about Canada. Looking back at the first intermission I'd say there were some things I feel less sure of now, but I'll leave correcting them until the end. or at least admitting more uncertainty. Still, now is a good time to take a look at the rest of the world, and how the war is going. I have an important choice to make, and I can tell you that I have only up to my last Chapter, it's still October 31, 1942. I have decisions to make which I have not made yet. So a look around the world should help.

In general, it looks as though the Axis are well behind where they should be historically. As we saw in Russia, it looks as though Germany never hit the historic high water mark, and probably never got close. In Asia, I have no idea what normally happens, but it looks as though Japan is also behind where you'd expect them to be. It may be that rumors of Canada's power have made Japan hesitate.

Let's go with that.



The Allies have three Victory conditions, one of which - Operation Torch - is largely Canada's doing, and one of which Canada might have contributed to a bit, the continued independence of Norway.



The Americans have not yet reached the Japanese Home Islands, but they're close. Lucian Truscott is within striking distance.



Burma seems to be the site of modest fighting. I tried to figure out where that huge British Task Force had gone, but could not locate them.



The Eastern Front is stable, the Germans have Riga, but not much past there.



The front extends down to Odessa. The Germans have clearly not come close to wiping out the Russians. The counter punch is coming.



Jumping back to the Phillipines, the USA is well in control, and we've spotted Mark Clark, and some guy named Patton.



I think it's safe to say that Guadalcanal won't be the scene of much fighting with the USA holding everything north of New Guinea.



Looking at the overview of the Pacific doesn't fill me with confidence that we will be able to help with the conquest of Japan, since Canada is taking a Germany-first attitude, though I admit we have not fought Germany on purpose very often so far. Call it Europe first.



Northern China - just a bunch of guys screwing around. Mostly it looks to me as though Republican China is doing fine, though I have no experience on this end of the world. I know what the general order is in China however: "I don't want to see anyone digging in! Got that?"



Admiral King has more power just sitting around than I've even dreamed of having.



My build queue contains what could be my last real boat and my last real plane, given all the Convoys and Escorts I need to make. Well, since I won't have the manpower for land units, maybe I'll be making more of each. I think I could affect the war with just three B-17 squadrons given how powerful the anti-infrastructure missions appeared to me when I used them before in my USA game. Even one, if protected, might do a significant amount of damage.

A review of my own current land forces reveals I have a good number of troops who need to be put to use. I have 37 Infantry brigades, two anti-tank brigades, eleven artillery, eight Mountain, one AA, three Armored Car, and four Marine Brigades. That's 49 infantry of all kinds for roughly 150,000 men, and less than twenty thousand additional men. Not enough to take Fortress Europe, but perhaps enough to do some damage while waiting for the Allies to show up.

Let's find out.
 
After seeing the East Front images, you can up the risk and the reward on the proposed Romania operation. I had assumed that the Germans had gotten much farther into Russia, since the USSR has actually advanced a bit from Bessarabia the Axis response would be very swift to a sudden Canadian incursion. But if successful, it could easily allow the Soviet Union to break the Axis lines and press into the Balkans.
 
You've got a fairly substantial force available, but without manpower you will indeed have to pick your battles carefully. Romania's not a bad shout, since it directly contributes to Soviet war efforts without being directly in the path of Germany's toughest formations.

Gotta love how the US sits there squandering its unlimited potential!
 
After seeing the East Front images, you can up the risk and the reward on the proposed Romania operation. I had assumed that the Germans had gotten much farther into Russia, since the USSR has actually advanced a bit from Bessarabia the Axis response would be very swift to a sudden Canadian incursion. But if successful, it could easily allow the Soviet Union to break the Axis lines and press into the Balkans.

Very true, but as we'll see, I decided to go in a different direction with the next offensive.

You've got a fairly substantial force available, but without manpower you will indeed have to pick your battles carefully. Romania's not a bad shout, since it directly contributes to Soviet war efforts without being directly in the path of Germany's toughest formations.

Gotta love how the US sits there squandering its unlimited potential!

What I could do with all that! There should be a request task force button :D
 
Things are looking OK for the Allies, although unless they can open a second front in Europe it might become a communist-dominated continent.

From my experiences as Canada, you should be able to make a positive contribution in Indochina and can clean up any Japanese bases in the Pacific. It's going to be tough going up against Japanese carriers, but at least you have an airforce to help out.
 
Your daring raid upon the Balkans met some reasonable success. The Allies seem to be doing rather well on the whole, mainly due to Canada's brilliance in the war thus far it must be said. Where next then for the Streamroller of the North?
 
Things are looking OK for the Allies, although unless they can open a second front in Europe it might become a communist-dominated continent.

From my experiences as Canada, you should be able to make a positive contribution in Indochina and can clean up any Japanese bases in the Pacific. It's going to be tough going up against Japanese carriers, but at least you have an airforce to help out.

I'm definitely hoping there's still something for me to do in Japan, but I want to try to get the party started in Europe.

Your daring raid upon the Balkans met some reasonable success. The Allies seem to be doing rather well on the whole, mainly due to Canada's brilliance in the war thus far it must be said. Where next then for the Streamroller of the North?

We're driving by Tim Horton's for a Danish (available at participating Tim Horton's only)!
 
Chapter Forty-Two - Dipping Our Toe Into Fortress Europe

Alright, technically you don't dip your toe into a fortress, but you get the idea.

Looking at the victory conditions from last chapter, Canada's completion of the conquest of Northwest Africa scored an all-important Point in this year's House Cup. Canada's Gryffindor now leads with 3, Slytherine has one and ... Slytherine has two. Good thing those other guys didn't stick together, thank you, Adolf!

Canada tried raiding the Balkans, and as much fun as it would be to do the same thing with greater force, I'd really like the Allies to do something other than wait for historical D-Day, or worse, "Enforce Conquer" on Japan. So what to do?

I have to say that I really like defending across a strait. There's nothing like turning away 1.3 million-ish enemy forces with an army one tenth that size to make someone think "let's do that again!" So, we look around Europe for another island. England's taken. The Irish can't tell Hitler and Churchill apart, to their everlasting shame. Anyway, they aren't separated by a strait which the Germans can spectacularly fail to cross, which is what I want.

Why did we want to do this, again? Nothing like a quick reminder to help us recall.



Granted, eight to one is not as good as we could do or have done, considering 28,000 attackers fought 25,000 defenders. Also, it was more like 5-1 when you factor in air assaults, but it's far far better than we'd do across open ground. I don't want a fair fight. I want to win.

In reminders of our current troubles, We lost another two transports, and our Manpower is almost negative 22. Still, we decided that we're moving on up, to the eastside, to some de-luxe apartments in the England. If the Allies aren't willing to launch D-Day, we'll go on without them.



What do we want? A STRAIT! When do we want it? NOW!!! (unfortunately our chant then degraded into incoherence when we got thrown out of the park)

Frankly, I never paid that much attention to the contiguous-provinces list in Paradox games, and was seriously thinking I'd need to fire up HoI3 as Denmark to be absolutely certain of where I wanted to land. I'll have to remember these, as they tell me exactly what I wanted to know.



So if we set up in Slagelse, the Germans and other Axis must attack across a strait, and only one strait, if they forget they own transports, which I'm counting on. I'm also assuming the Danish capitol has decent port facilities, and non-massive defenses. While we were shipping men to England, our convoys lost eight transports and an escort. Sheesh.

But we did discover Coal Processing mark2, and completed our second fighter squadron.

Let's review the plusses and minuses of Denmark as an invasion point. Or should I say, allow me to show you that my plan is not as stupid as those of you who've played before might know that it is and I'm not a complete fool for trying it. What do we know?

1 - I cannot land on Europe to stay. So I could try a huge raid, but I'm risking all my forces for something I know I'm going to vacate later. Plus, it kind of depends on the USSR behaving sensibly, and it's just a semi-allied AI.

2 - I can land on Europe to stay so long as it's a part of Europe which isn't technically connected to the rest of Europe. Hmm, it just now occurred to me, is Denmark separated by a river rather than a strait, or are they the same thing? I mean, Messina to Italy proper in reality is a bit of open sea. Crossing a river sucks, but maybe it's less bad for the attackers? Hmm, too late now!

[I looked it up, crossing a river is definitely different and less bad than crossing a strait, but Messina is a strait and so are the relevant spots in Denmark]

Those are good reasons to attack Denmark, or at least the bits right around Copenhagen. I seriously thought about taking the neck of the country instead, but it's all flatland and riverless. I don't see a good defensive spot, nothing like a strait or river line. Still, what are the downsides?

3 - You thought air attacks by Italy were bad? How do you think attacking Germany a few hundred miles from the center of the country is going to go? Nevermind crossing the straits, what about flying over them?

4 - You thought fighting the Italian fleet was bad? How do you think attacking Germany a few hundred miles from the center of the country is going to go? Nevermind crossing the straits, what about sailing to them in the first place?

I'm kind of counting on being able to evacuate if things go south. I don't want Canada to become even more of a mere observer than she's destined to be when the US/UK land in Europe because I got my army wiped out in an ill-advised raid. I don't plan on my ships being there for long, dump and run, I've learned that much. I don't mind looking stupid, but I do try to avoid it. Hey, what's this?



SPOLIER ALERT - Admiral King is on a scenic trip around the Pacific Ocean. He takes everyone back to California in the end. In other news:



This will help, we put that back in the working part of the queue.



The Contentin peninsula. Not exactly original, but I figure I'll give the Allies a chance to get things started, then go on my own if they don't. If they do, well, I'll adjust as needed. Hey, what's this?



Apparently Nimitz accidentally ran aground while taking his scenic tour, and had to leave some soldiers behind! Meanwhile, the much more capable Admiral King safely arrived back in Disneyland.

We discover Operation Level Advance 3, reducing time between attacks by 72 hours. Obviously, God wants us to invade Denmark. Deus Vult!

The Italians are seen bombing a still-undefended Malta. Sorry guys, we're going to where we will not be able to hear you sing. Actually, we can hear them sing just fine: the defenders of Malta are in England, and so are we.



The upper left inset is all we've left on Sicily, and Africa is bare as well. The Persian division is strategically moving there. Our manpower, I'll sum up briefly instead of showing you, drops to negative ten, then jumps back to around nineteen. I still don't get this number. Meh. I guess the only number that I really need to know is Zero, which is how much manpower I can spend. I'm stocking up on Convoys and I put in an order for another spare port. We have one port and one airfield pre-built.

Our completion of the Light Cruiser British Columbia (British British Columbia? No! Canadian British Columbia!) is greeted by the sinking of seven more convoys and one escort. December 1942 is not a good month for Canadian shipping. Well, except all the ships being made now. In related news, we resume dumping on the British Navy.

Christmas 1942 brings serious plans in Canada (I think that this AAR is about to get seriously interesting or permanently boring), not a nibble in Normandy, and, could it be, Admiral King is on the attack?

 
Did you happen to toggle the priority reinforcement mode for those Mountain troops defending the straits of Messina for you? I seldom use that feature myself, but when you're at negative manpower it becomes very important to help keep your most vital troops fully staffed up.
 
Yay, Admiral King is doing something!

I look forward to the daring plans you've set in motion in Britain. Sicily continues to hold well, but hopefully a serious offensive can draw attention away from the Soviet front.
 
Re your convoy losses: I had an awful time with sinkings until I decided to bite the bullet and take control of them myself. Turns out the AI is fond of shipping supplies to any overseas port you hold, regardless of whether it's actually garrisoned or not. I was able to gain back a fair few ships and reduce my exposure to Axis subs just by switching off convoys to North Africa and the Mediterranean islands I wasn't planning on defending.

The corollary of this is that you need to remember to manually create convoys if you're operating out of a captured port. I haven't forgotten to do this yet, but the risk is always that I'll forget and see my entire army go OoS after a month.

Good luck against Denmark. I think it's a logical progression from your activities in the Med, and you should be able to hold out against attempts to cross the straits. However, German airpower is going to be a serious headache.