Guess Who's Back?
State of the (Soviet) Union: After the surrender of Greece and Sweden in mid March we were at a crossroads. Attacking Germany and Japan seemed like the only option until Conquistador was envisioned. In preparation for war with Germany I spent the better part of April and March fixing up the OOBs, basically one giant OCDfest, but we all know how satisfying a rational OOB is. I have been building massive amount of armor, infantry and light aircraft, also infrastructure and I'm considering building airfields on the border.Both Japan and Germany have been surprisingly passive, France has still not fallen and I have played deep into 1940 (Although I had to go back in time, DAMN YOU SCREENSHOT LIMITS). The current plan is to assault Germany when either: A) They begin to properly invade France or B) It is 1941 and the weather clears up, so April/May.
On the Japan front I am finally confident in the number and disposition of troops. I am hoping Japan does not get dragged in immediately, just so I won't have to split my small air force (the air force is getting a lot better).
At this time there was only one war going on in Afghanistan and the Soviet high command were thrilled at the stunning lack of progress. The highest awards were to be lavished upon the officers in charge of this glorious unproductive "struggle", but it was discovered that was no commanding officer, or any officers at all. The entire invasion was fought by leaderless mobs of drunken privates who promptly got lost and started pillaging whatever they could find in that lousy country. Eventually they will find Kabul...
Realizing that this game is going to be a lot more than just stomping Europe I have begun to focus on the much neglected navy. I like carriers and light cruisers, so that what I'm teching toward, now with over 30 leadership I can sustain this. I will build crappy low tech stuff just to get the practicals warmed up. Hopefully in 3-4 years I will have a decent navy.
13 months to build the worst light cruisers imaginable... oh lawdy.
Operation Conquistador
There are three important things that leaders in war must always consider. Logistics, logistics, logistics. In our many previous wars the victims were always on land right beside us. Things were easy enough for our dysfunctional supply system to actually make itself look good. Now things are about to change. We are going to begin projecting power across the seas and oceans of the world. Russia is not in a particularly good position for such maritime adventures, but we will persevere, innovate and overcome these challenges. Spain and also Portugal are the ideal launch point for our later conquests, and now that we hold Greece we can finally reach the Iberian Peninsula.
Pictures are not very helpful (also I neglected to take them) so I will describe the preparations. Most of the fleet was sitting in the far east, they were immediately rebased to Athens. The transports, battleships (3) and gaggles of light and heavy cruisers can comfortably reach Spain from that city, although the destroyers and subs will have to wait for a secure port.
The land units chosen were the entire South Eastern Front, renamed Mediterranean Front. It is a fearsome force. They singlehandley subjugated Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece. They had the fullest, most organized OOB that we could provide, with some of the best generals and prioritized reinforcement and upgrades. It was a thoroughly pampered force, receiving properly filtered vodka, bread that was not infested with maggots and their wives were all hotter. I usually like to have a shock army like this in every game that is a cut above the rest.
Just as we were lamenting the lack of transports look what popped up in the deployment queue.
Stage Uno:
The First stage of Conquistador begins on May 14th, 1940. When our fleets were in position declaration of war was sent via blowing up the Spanish embassy in Moscow.The targets for the the initial landings are Barcelona and Valencia, my two mechanized units were sent to Valencia for a mad dash to Madrid, while the bulk of the infantry were sent to Barcelona. We expected the majority of the Spanish army to be in the North of the country guarding the Franco-Spanish border.
The beachheads and their objectives, note how few troops are in the first wave landing all your troops before a port is secure will burn through supply, immobilize your army and result in their annaliation better to land a few guys beside ports, capture them with land battles, then transport the main army once the ports are yours.
The two cities fall very quickly.
Those stars in the center are mountain provinces and are very important to hold as they will protect my axis of advance and connection between the two landings.
With the landings complete we send the fleet to clog up the straits, to protect our convoys and kill Spain's.
Our progress by June 1st, the landings are complete, I have moved 3 squadrons of close air support, interceptors and one squadron of tac bombers to the country. Our armor has rushed to Madrid but are temporarily cut off. Our mountain troops are trying to hold the center, but they will be smashed. Fighting continues around Barcelona, but Spain does not have enough manpower to keep their troops at full strength, even after 2 weeks of war many divisions are still at 50%, we can push in that northern sector as fast as we can march.
Our light division begins a merry jaunt across the south of the country, gunning for (hopefully)unguarded VPs.
Looks like the Swedes want to join in on the fun, that was the same naval bomber that had savaged our fleet months ago.
The northern front is just a giant confusing mess, I'm not even going to try and make sense of it, but we were winning!
Our tanks are already feeling up the suburbs of Madrid, they will wait for the infantry to make the assault.
The battle for the capital begins on June 13th, most of our planes cannot reach the city, and things don't look to good.
As the assault on Madrid flounders (can be seen sitting at 32) three enemy divisions attack our corridor to the city. Only one worn down division is available, in response we begin shifting troops from the Barcelona front to the center, in the meantime things get dicey.
Slowly but surely we gain the upper hand in Madrid. Days of vicious street fighting, indiscriminate bombings, tanks crushing people, petrol bombs burning tanks and burning tanks wildly driving into crowded orphanages, ware down the Spainish garrisons. One by one they limp out of the city, until brave Russian soldiers capture their capitol buildings and drunkenly raze them to the ground. On June 19th the city officially falls.
It was a great battle.
Immediatly after the fall of Madrid, the corridor to the city is broken by determined counter attacks.
Well I must cut this update short, going to see The Avengers, AWWWW YEAH. I'll continue later tonight.