Germany 1936 - A beginners AAR (TFH, Custom)

Humph - seem to have lost a post some how ... plans for world domination scuppered.

Just to summarize where I am. Created a custom game, Diplomacy moved neutrality all the way to the left [not 100% sure why ...]. For technology, cleared out all the old techs and rushed equipment.

So for example for infantry techs I have



Tanks



Rushed the tech to get 5 Brigades per divisions and researched only Destroyers and Carriers [my first mistake perhaps ?]

Deployment

Disbanded everything to give me a clean slate of 119260 IC Days, built the following :

Land Forces

What do I need ?

Against France - assuming 2 divisions per region - 20 divisions - round up 1 army

Static garrison - all the ports - 10 divisions? - plus more later

Division design (5 brigades per division)

Panzer (spearhead)

ARM, ARM , MOT, SP-AT, AP-ART (5 Reserve cost 23614)

Motorized (back up the tanks)

MOT, MOT, TD, MT-AA, ENG (10 reserve cost 23308)

Infantry (hold territory, occasional attack)

INF, INF, AT, AA, ENG (25 Reserve cost 20000)

Garrison (port defence)

GAR, GAR, AT, AA, ENG (10 Reserve cost 7300)

Air Force

6 Interceptors (12000)

4 CAS (7500)

With the spare ICs I bought

More inf

INF, INF, AT, AA, ENG (10 Reserve cost 8000)

INF, INF, AT, AA, ENG (10 Reserve cost 8000)

5 MTD divs (5 MTN brigades each)

3 transports

Will build up the navy ingame ...

Ok final post for now, state of play 1 Jan 1937

I've done a few 'new' things - I just read that the AI handle small fronts better so I've added Theatres for each of my Borders. There is a large 'central' theatre which contains Germany as a whole - this will have mainly interceptors for air defence.

That brings up one of my main reason for doing this AAR - defending against strategic bombing - we'll see how I get on this time ....

Interesting about the fighter / bomber techs - thanks !

OK Aug 39 - here we go

A quick overview



And the polish front in detail :



I'll also go for Denmark at the same time...

Some comments on my position overall :

Naval - quite weak, one carrier fleet (3 carriers) which hopefully will annoy the Brits nothing more.

Air - neglected tactical bombers which may be a problem, hopefully enough interceptors in Germany however

Land - Looks good, enough forces on each Border (unless the Swiss cause trouble)

Tech - coming along nicely, I will be investing in Nuclear and Jet techs - the way of the future I'm told

Slightly ahead of schedule I issue the Order - Danzig or War

So many things to do :

Switch trade from Automatic

Cancel all non European trade

Prioritize reinforcement

Manpower looking good (800 ish)

I also order some extra 2 extra carriers and some more interceptor.

Now a question - whats the best way to handle partisans ?

Ports are fine the have bit tough Garrison divisions buts what do I do in the interior of say Poland ? Assuming of course I can beat the Poles of course ....

I've not mentioned the Diplomatic side -currently the Axis contains Italy, Japan, Hungary and Slovakia - Romania is being influenced as we speak.

Now do we invite our friends to join the war ?

In past games the Soviets have steamrollered Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria as soon as they join they war so I've tended to leave them out.

The Italians also seem to be more of a liability - the Brits seem to easily take North Africa. Hmm maybe I should send a note to Rommel asking if he has enough sunscreen ...

But we'll go all in - I invite Japan, Italy and Hungary to join me in conquering the world

Polish / Danish Front

Denmark seems to fall easily (quicker in fact that if I did it manually) so medals all round there

Poland seems slower - perhaps because I'm saving the 'Blitzkreig' event for France. The Poles have counter attacked and taken a few eastern provinces - no problem but embarrasing.

2 weeks in Denmarks falls - not bad at all.

I don't really trust the AI to guard the coasts so I keep the Garrison forces under my own control once they reach thier destination I'll assign the attack capable divisions to another front.

4 weeks in Poland falls (Mid september), I'll honour the pact to avoid war on the East [Has anyone tried hitting the Soviets immediately ?]

A few strategic adjustments :

I switch the Polish Front to 'Defensive' and allocate all the stuka squadrons to the West, later on I plan to set up more Theatres for the war in the East - OB Leningrad and so forth.

I'll allocate the minimum to the eastern border and switch the other forces to some where more useful - but where ?

Norway ?

Yugoslavia ?

Belgium / Netherlands ? Its September so the weather should be good.

A cup of tea while I ponder ....

Ok I lied its coffee.

Scanning the map - the Italians have made no progress - I helpfully point out Alexandria and the Suez - go there Benito !

Right a decision - lets go south, gives me access to the Med so I can intervene directly. (In the past when I've done this I had horrible supply issues)

Lets look at the forces we can allocate.

OB Poland is asking for 51 Inf and 12 Arm - I give them 1 army, the rest of the Polish forces I allocate South

OB Benelux has 5 full Corps - seems a bit much, I can spare 2 Corps from there - south they go.

I have enough forces to try Norway I think but I'll concentrate on the south - hopefully we can take Yugoslavia and Greece before Spring.

3AM 28th Sep 1939

The phone rings - this wont be good news. The Netherlands have joined the allies and yes I just sent some forces south. Back north they go. I'll keep the Netherlands front 'defensive' for the moment.

8th Oct 1939

Southern front ready to attack - I'll make this a 'limited war' as I want to ensure I get the coastal provinces we'll need later.

The Dutch are being pushed back even with the limited forces assigned there - lets hope the Belgians stay quiet.

The Yugoslav front is moving nicely - the Hungarians are happily piling over the border as they have military access for some reason.

Ah now I have a run of MP units available - bit worried about uprisings - this is Poland for example



And this is after I've assigned some MP's



British forces appearing in the Netherlands ...

13th Nov - the phone rings again ..

Congratulations Sir - the Netherlands has fallen !

Splendid ! I reply - Err did I actually order that at all ?

(Using up lots of Garrison forces - need to order more to be ready for France)

Elesewhere the Yugoslav front is pushing forward wont be long now.

North Africa is a disaster - the Italians have been pushed back now to Bengazi - need to do something but what ?

The Fall Of France

After the Dutch attacked and were defeated easily I waited for the weather to clear (and forces to return from Greece) and then unleased the Panzers.

The Benelux Theatre was assigned the bulk of the Panzers. This seemed to do the trick - I expected a break thru in Maginot but the forces there remained static.

Von Schlieffen would be proud



On the 12th of June France falls.

I'll outline the state of the rest of the world and then the next steps, and a few questions.

In North Africa the Italians are going backwards ..



In the East though the Japanese and rolling thru Australia.



Next steps

The main choices seem to be Spain, Russia or Turkey - I'll try the Med - this should help the Italians and open a new line of attack into Russia.


Questions

Small Theatres - I read on the forum that the AI can handle these better - can anyone confirm that ?

Unit design

Revolt Risk

If you look at the revolt risk map of Poland its looks quite nasty - what shoud I do ?



Nothing

MP brigades scattered throughout the provinces (this is in fact what I'm trying}

Cavalry ?

AI Naval and Air Forces

The AI seems fine at handling land forces but I have problems with Air and Naval.

Let me explain what I want the AI to do - in my western threatres I'd want to sit on the defensive so all I want is my interceptors to shoot down bombers. However what they seem to do is fly across the channel into Dover and get cut to pieces by the RAF

On the Naval side its similar - I have a carrier fleet whhich I assign to the French theatre - out to see it goes and sinks convoys and hunts down the Allied Naval forces BUT it seems to not return to port when the CAGS have taken horrendous damage - is there a way to set the behaviour of the Naval and Air foreces better under the AI ?