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Riaelyn

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May 12, 2014
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Overview


I'm setting up this thread to chronicle the exploits of our group. This group consists of about 2/3 of us who played together last round. A few notable things set us apart from other groups. We emphasize historical dates for events. Perhaps surprisingly, this will force even some of the most veteran HOI players to think critically because they've never seen in a multiplayer game. Most groups that I've seen will keep things historical up until Danzig then let loose the flood gates of war. Not us, we use historical join dates for faction members, and for declarations of war through '42. Most of our house rules try to keep the overall situation as historical as possible (as the game allows). Beyond that, we pride ourselves on being quite laid back as a whole and not getting into verbal sparring matches. As for skill level, we have a broad spectrum. As a general rule though: as one's ability to speak English decreases, his skill increases. :p That being said, most of us are quite serious about the game and conduct several test builds for a game. However, as the saying goes, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. As a final note, Joe (complete with monocle and top hat) is the moderator of our group and thus, he is the final say on all rules and decisions.

As for group composition, about 1/3 of us are Germans, 1/3 anglophones, and the final 1/3 is from various European countries.

Here's the link to take a look at our house rules:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...quot-5-%97-Sundays-14-00-US-Eastern-20-00-CET

My summaries will mostly be an objective narrative of the course of the war. As this is a multiplayer group however, my entries will be plagued by the ever persistent problem of the need for secrecy in strategy and the fact that my opponents will be reading the thread. I will discuss strategies and my opinion on them (for what my opinion is worth) but only after the strategy is quite obvious to the both sides. As always, my fellow players are welcome to post their thoughts on the game to give a broader view of the game. Because we'll be playing in real time with few pauses, I will not be able to keep track of everything and the finer details of my posts will naturally be biased towards my theaters of war because that's where my attention will be.

And with all this build up coming to a close, let the summaries begin!

Summary of Session I
Dates: Jan 1, 1036 - Early July 1937

This will be the shortest summary of the series I'm sure. The most interesting thing to discuss would be the build ups but as this is a multiplayer group, it is generally ill advised to tell your opponents what are you building. Instead, I'll talk about strategies overall. Just because we are a historical group does not mean that we have to follow historical strategies as far as armed forces composition. That being said, a common strategy for our players is what I call the "historical but better" approach. In short, a country commits to a general historical approach for certain elements of their strategy but does it better than that country did historically by committing more resources into it and eliminating strategies that failed historically. As an example, this might look like a Germany that does build naval assets, but only builds u-boats and forsakes building any surface ships. Thus, the German player will be able to produce more and better u-boats (by game standards) than the historical Germany did.

Looking forward to the future, the Marco Polo Bridge incident will initiate the first war of the game next session as we sit on the eve of it. As our group features a player on Nat. China against a player on Japan, Japan is forced to commit more resources to the Chinese theater and cannot simply walk over the AI with the starting Japanese army. Also important to note is that should Japan force Nat. China to surrender, Japan must use the "seize the coast" option. Thus, Japan and China would go to peace for a significant period of time and a continuation war would break out on Dec 7, 1941 (along with Japan declaring war on the U.S.). Thus, all eyes will turn towards China next session and watch to see what unfolds there.
 
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As Riaelyn asked me to repost it I am hereby going to do this :) Please note, that Riaelyn is going to continue this AAR! I just wrote it this time, because... yeah I don't even really know ;D

Anyway:

Summary of Session II (4th of January 2015)
Ingame Date: Early July 1937 - Mid May 1938

Last session went, as far as I know, until the 18th of May 1938. The Sino-Japanese war has begun and China is fighting bravely against the invader. So far Japan hasn't be able to crush the Chinese resistance due to supply problems (supply concoys weren't set on auto), but it was successful on conquering the nothern part of China, including Beijing and the territories of Shanxi.



The front has stabilized along the grand river line of the Huang He. There has also been a landing on the Quingdao peninsula and Japanese forces, rushing from the east, are threatening Jinan. The world is holding its breath for the next Japanese leap forward. Will China be able to withstand the invader, once the mighty Japanese strategist Seppi-sama returns from other duties? Only time will bring the answer.

In Europe, the Anschluss and the retrocession of the Sudetenland brought a huge success to Hitler and the Nazis. In Spain the Republicans defeated their Nationalist, Castro led brothers - democracy and order has been restored.

(Edit: Now refurbished, as I finally got the opportunity to edit this post on my Computer rather than on my Smartphone. What a pain in the ass to write and post into this forum on the mobile version!)
 
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Summary of Session III
Dates: May 18, 1938- October 16, 1939

Two large events have occurred. The war in China between Japan and China has ended and war has broken out in Europe.

In China: Last session, the Japanese advance in China was rather slow and stalled at times. Japan was trying to push in on two attack routes: from Manchuria in the north and a second from an eastern naval invasion at Qingdao. At the start of this session, a corp (or two) of Japanese motorized infantry disembarked by Shang'hai and Nantong. This group immediately beat any defenses and immediately headed straight for the capital of Nanjing. Some of this force took Nanjing while other parts of it created a large encirclement of part of the Chinese defensive line. The encirclement was successfully closed by the Japanese later. After taking Nanjing, the Japanese forces continuity to push south and picked up enough VPs to force the surrender of Nat. China. Per house rules, Japan had to use the seize the coast war goal. Rough estimates are that roughly 3/7 of the Chinese army was lost through the fighting.

In Poland: Germany declared war on Sept 1, 1939 and immediately blitzed into Poland. Poland fell in just over a week and was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union per the M-R Pact.

In the skies over Europe: Heavy fighting between air forces has commenced. The Canadian and British fighters currently have the upper hand over the German fighters. British bombers were able to level the IC in Dusseldorf.

In the Atlantic: Germany has embarked on a U-boat campaign. German u-boats have sunk a considerable amount of convoys (actual number unknown but a German estimate was 200 convoys). In exchange, the UK was able to inflict the grave loss (I told you I was going to do it Joe) of 2 u-boats to Germany. From what I understand, there were no surface fleet actions between ships and the in game statistics are showing no ships sunk.

Analysis: Once again, this will be rather superficial and only contain information that is quite obvious to both sides in our game. Germany has forsaken building a surface fleet and instead has gone for a pure u-boat strategy. On top of that, Germany appears to have invested quite heavily into that u-boat strategy. The natural target of this is the UK. So far, the U-boat strategy appears to be working. The UK will need to figure out an effective strategy to deal with the u-boat menace or will forced to lose a considerable amount of IC to continually building convoys.

On the flipside, Germany appears to possibly not invested enough resources into its air force. As it appears right now, any German bombing attempts in France would likely be shot down in short order. However, it is unknown how many air assets Germany allocated to Poland and thus were not able to be used against the British and Canadians. Further, the UK has shown its willing to use its strat bombers and other bombings may follow. What remains to be seen is whether the allies can maintain control of the skies and use this to the advantage in the future.

As for China, with such a large portion of the Chinese army being captured it seems highly unlikely that China will be able to bounce back from defeat. Further, with the Chinese player moving to co-op the Soviet Union the AI will likely crumple to Japan upon the next declaration of war should Japan choose to invade.

Things to watch for next session: 1. France. All eyes will be on France for the German invasion. The million dollar question will be whether Germany can crack the French defenses or not. Both sides appear confident that they can prevail. Only time will tell who is right. In addition, Germany's timing of the invasion will be key. Germany can decide to invade whenever it wants and will likely try to use this to its advantage to attempt to catch the allies off guard. As for the invasion route, there are three obvious choices. The first is the historical route through the BeNeLux region, second is through the Maginot, and the third is through Italy into Southern France. As Switzerland is to forever remain neutral per our house rules, it is not an option. The most likely bet would be an attempt through the BeNeLux region but one never knows. Perhaps Germany has something even crazier cooked up.

2. Italian entry into the war. Per our house rules, Italy has a wide window of time to decide when to join the war. It could join and invade alongside Germany or instead wait until just before the fall of Paris. If Germany is faltering in its invasion, its possible we might see Italy declare war to attempt to break the French. Further, the largest question remains whether Italy will be offensive or defensive in nature once it joins the war. Furthermore, the subsequent question would be where Italy will strike if it decides to go on the offensive. North Africa, East Africa, Gibraltar, and Malta all seem like possible options with varying amounts of difficulty. Furthermore, Italian entry will open up new areas for Axis convoy raiding and give the Axis ports in the Mediteranean. Finally, the Italian air force might be the needed help that Germany needs to retake the skies.

3. Initiative between Italy and the U.K. Whichever country decides to take the initiative and launch the offensives will be setting the tempo and choosing the location for their conflicts. While it seems likely that one will be the aggressor and the other the defender on all fronts, it is possible that both may launch simultaneous offensives against each other.

Final thoughts: What looked like it was going to be a dismal session with constant disconnects turned into a quite enjoyable one. The disconnects cleared up in the second half of the session. As no land forces forces between human players have been committed in Europe, a lot hangs in the balance and next session will be quite exciting for all.

As always, I encourage my fellow players to pop in and share their thoughts on the session.
 
Well since German intelligence has reviled that it is aware of the military capability of the USSR we will declassify some information.

First After the NKVD spies on Germany and defectors in the allies have reviled to us, the Soviet army with full confidence would like to state that it posses the largest army in the world, a title formally held by that of the Republic of China with well over 800 brigades including the finest tanks, infantry and artillery in the world. The USSR also posses the largest amount of aircraft in the world however exact numbers will remain classified.

We would also like to welcome members of the Chinese communist party who have fled the region of Nanjing during the siege by the Japanese. We hope our newest addition to the USSR will help us better understand the military doctrine of throwing conscripts at machine guns and evolve this tactic into throwing conscripts at tanks in the hope that their bones and organs will disable the tracks and suspension of potential invading tanks.
 
Summary of Session IV
Dates: October 16, 1939- April 2, 1940

The invasion of France has begun.

In Western Europe: Germany simultaneously declared war on the BeNeLux countries (per house rules) and began its invasion. French forces appeared to be a bit faster and took up their defenses in Belgium behind the river lines. The Netherlands and Luxembourg have fallen to Germany but Belgium remains in Allied hands due to a heavy amount of British armored and French/ British infantry. However, despite the initial fast gains of Germany, their assault has ground to a standstill with Germany currently unable to break the river line. At one point, British armored divisions pushed forward in the lowlands and captured 3 German infantry divisions. Further complicating the matter is the allied air superiority over Europe.

In the skies over Europe: The allies control the skies and German bombing campaigns are ended rather quickly. The Canadians almost single handedly are controlling the skies with their (declassified) amount of fighters being 18 interceptors. Considering that these fighters are up to date with solid air doctrines, they are proving to be an absolute menace.

In the Atlantic: The British seem to have reversed their fortunes considerably in the campaign against the U-boats. While the u-boats continued to inflict some more convoy losses, British estimates are that they sunk 8 u-boats. Further, the German high command made the decision to pull the u-boats out of the Atlantic for a period of time.

In Greece: Italy has declared war on Greece (way ahead of historical time but I guess we're going to roll with it) and conquered Greece. The campaign began with Italian mishaps as the Greeks pushed into the southern portion of Albania, but within two weeks the Italians pushed the Greeks out of Albania. The Italians then continued to conquer the rest of Greece and enforce their demands. Interestingly, as the Italians were not called to war yet in the Axis, the Greeks never rushed to join the Allies. Thus, the Greeks stood alone.

In Finland: The winter war has come and gone with the Soviets achieving victory. Thus, they have taken certain select regions from Finland (house rules prevent conquering the entire thing).

Analysis: Germany's advance has stalled out into France. Further, Germany has still not called Italy to war. Thus, Germany's only options to break through is either through the lowlands or the Maginot Line currently (Switzerland is permanently neutral to all parties via house rules). As it stands right now, The Brits have overloaded the lowlands with tons of armored divisions making any chance of a breakthrough there incredibly slim. Further complicating any breakthrough attempts is that the Germans can't use their bombers for any dedicated bombing campaigns due to the lack of air control.

Perhaps the most interesting thing next session will be the Italian entry into the war. It will open up a second front for a German invasion and allow Italy to possibly crush weak French defenses in the south. Further, what appears to be a delayed Italian entry based off the circumstances is having the beneficial effect of keeping the U.S. on full, peace time war laws. With Japan proving itself more than capable in the war against China, every day that Italy stays out of the war, the U.S. loses a huge amount of IC. This certainly will benefit Japan greatly in the Pacific as its current production is roughly the same as the U.S. is currently. As for France, Germany must breakthrough at all costs. Like the U.S. losing out on IC, every day that Germany does not own France and Belgium is more IC and resources that it is being denied. Assuredly, this will greatly impact the way that Barbarossa is managed (as in less German assets). While it is certainly far too early for anything but pure speculation, a scenario that could arise might be the Japanese pushing the Americans back far enough then rushing to help Germany in Europe if Barbarossa is faltering or perhaps using their navy to strike at the British home isles.

Further, while Germany has clearly had trouble breaking into France, once Germany is in France, it needs to strike hard at the British armored divisions. Germany's best case scenario would be to encircle a sizable portion of British divisions (especially the armored ones) and capture them. Doing so would swing things back in Germany's favor and buy them more time during Barbarossa by minimizing the threat of a second front being opened for some time. One problem being (and this is the author's pure speculation) is that the British armored divisions may actually be using more technologically advanced equipment than the Germans are. This would greatly complicate any attempt to encircle and destroy the British armored.

In any case, the next session will be very interesting to say the least as we are almost guaranteed Italian entry into the war. Further, while Canada has certainly made its presence felt with possibly the best air force in Europe, pound for pound, Australia has been rather quiet. Perhaps Australia is also fearing the Japanese might like the United States is or it is merely biding its time. Either way, Australia will likely announce its presence. As for the Axis minors, they have the double-edged sword of not going to war until Barbarossa. This has the effect of keeping them safe from British strategic bombing until then and allows them to build up peacefully. However, this does mean that they are on worse laws and can't help Germany in its current predicament. As always, time will tell where the course of this war will go.

Author's Note: What I find intriguing about multiplayer is that no two games ever play out the same from what I've seen. Even with what some may consider rather "rigid" historical dates for major events, different players are approaching the challenges of the same nation in incredibly different fashions. Last game, the Pacific theater was without a doubt the wildest ride in the game. Further, no one expected that. I'm rather intrigued by the prospect of a strong Japan (relative to other groups) facing off with a weaker U.S. (due to war laws). Further complicating this, is that its quite obvious that the UK has made almost no expenditure into its navy. This means that the U.S. may be relatively alone when it comes to facing off with the Japanese on the seas. It also has this author quite a bit worried that the Western U.S. could face the very real threat of an invasion. As such, this author will be using his personal territorial pride stat to not let that happen. :p
 
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Summary of Session V
Dates: April 2, 1940- October 3, 1940

France has fallen.

In France: Germany has managed to pierce the defensive lines in the lowlands after being hung up for a substantial period of time. France retreated from the Maginot Line but was not able conduct more than stalling actions against Germany. Upon the German capture of Paris, France surrendered. The session concluded immediately upon the fall of France. Of particular note is that 7 divisions worth of British armored units remain in France. While they have access to a port, the UK will need to make sure that it does not lose these units to German forces in France as this would constitute a sizeable portion of its armored divisions. Based on how advanced in tech the British armored is, as a last resort, it could probably fortify a position on the western coast of France and it would be incredibly hard to dislodge due to the RN lending support via shore bombardment.

Around the Mediterranean: Italy has entered the war. Australian ground troops have taken Sardinia and most of Greece from Italy. British armored divisions have taken Sicily and began pushing up the boot. Submarine hunting has continued with the sunk ships tab revealing 9 Italian subs sunk. Of surprising note, Italian naval bombers have accounting for a rather astonishing amount of ships sunk. 12 ships have been sunk by Italian medium bombers, however, all twelve of those ships did belong to France. A potentially decisive battle off the shore of Taranto was avoided by the allies overstacking the sea province with British and French ships. As such, Italy still has its fleet intact and was able to rebase to Venice. Its fleet includes 2-3 carriers according to allied intelligence sources. This means that Italy could stand to wreak some havoc with its fleet if it able to fight on its terms.

Elsewhere in the Balkans: In the most hilarious and unexpected moment of the session, Bulgaria (AI-controlled) has declared war on Romania (player controlled). This is obviously not historical at all but it shocked both the allies and the axis. As it caught the entire world off guard, Bulgaria seized three provinces off the bat of Romania. However, Romania's defenses have caught traction and thrown back the invaders. Romania now stands poised to conquer all of Bulgaria.

In Africa: Australia has taken the western portion of Italian North Africa. The British have taken the eastern half of North Africa. Italy has taken the British holdings in East Africa.

In the Atlantic: Germany has lost 8 subs to date since the start of the war. Unknown is the amount of u-boats that Germany still has at its command. The UK still continues to lose convoys but the rate at which they are falling seems to have drastically decreased due better Allied subhunting strategy.

In Norway: In 2-3 brief scuffles between the German and British navies, a few small ships were sunk. Perhaps one German heavy cruiser too. However, Germany was finally able to invade and conquer Norway. This brings Germany up to its historical conquests in Western Europe having captured Denmark earlier.

In the skies over Europe: Again, the Canadians appear to be the best pound for pound fighters in the skies. With the addition of the Italian fighters, the numbers seem to have stabilized a bit as to how many fighters are being fielded, however, the allies appear to have the better quality planes. Of particular note though is the presence of the Italian bombing wings. They have shown their effectiveness against the French navy and I'm sure are looking to do the same against the British navy.

Analysis: Germany has cleared its first major hurdle and taken France. If it can force the remaining Brits in France into a Dunkirk scenario it would certainly help to counter what appears to be the unstoppable British armored now. As such, it may be quite difficult to throw the British out of Italy also. As the balance of power at sea in the Mediterranean currently resides with the Brits, it would certainly behoove Italy to find a decisive engagement in which to use its fleet (which is sporting some carriers, and newly built ships) against the Brits. Further, if Italy is careful in its selection and able to use its naval bombers a decisive victory for Italy in the Mediterranean is not far-fetched at all. Of course though, the danger of the Canadian air threat is always present in the skies...

As Germany has just about 1/2 of a year to prepare for Barbarossa, any chance of a Sea Lion is certainly out of the picture. It will need to quickly produce what it needs for Barbarossa to face down the hordes of Russians. The threat of a second front is incredibly real in this game with the British sporting the best armored divisions in the world currently (and quite a few of them). It will be a delicate act for Germany to figure out how many divisions to send to Russia with the British threat. Perhaps the development of heavy armored divisions could help neutralize the threat of the British medium armor. (House rules forbid all countries from starting to build heavy armor until '41. A great help to Germany will be when it can take Hungary and Romania into the Axis. Only time will tell what these two countries have built.

As far as the Pacific goes, Japan and the U.S. continue to eye each other. U.S. war production have finally stepped up greatly due to Italian entry to the war. As such, the U.S. will get this extra production for about 1 and 1/2 years before its entry to the war. Japan will retain its 30% reserach buff speed due to various gulf modifiers suggesting that it is possible that the U.S. will field more numerous amounts of assets while the Japanese focus on quality. Nat. China also continues to rebuild and the Soviets prepare the inevitable war with Germany.

Keys for next session:
1. The battle for Italy. If Germany leaves a significant British threat in Italy, it would certainly not bode well while its trying to invade Russia. If a combined, air, land, and sea campaign could dislodge the Brits from Italy, it would help bring the Axis back into a better position. As the Uk has done a rather limited naval build, it is not entirely impossible for the Italians to string some victories together to alter the balance in the Mediterranean. However, this will still be quick a difficult feat as the starting British navy is still quite good and the Canadians have a solid presence in the skies.

2. British divisions in France: The fate of these decisions is quite unknown at this time. It is possible that they will be rescued in good order. Another possibility would be to bring them into a defensive position along the coast and use naval bombardment as cover. However, with these divisions strung out throughout several provinces, the UK will almost certainly form them into a better defensive formation. In a possibly quite crazy scenario, it might be possible for the Brits to continue to hold out in Caen and Cherbourg. If they are able to do this, it would nullify the need for a D-day amphibious assault. The UK could simply sail in extra divisions when it wanted to open up a true western front in France.

Beyond that, we shall see what the next session has in store for us. There might be a bit of a lull in the fighting with Germany focusing on preparing for war with Russia. As always, feel free to comment and expand upon what I have laid out above.
 
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I'd just like to point out some interesting things that happened in session.

1) The invasion of norway cost Germany one division of infantry and some damaged planes. Britain lost at least 1 1/2th divisions worth of armour material strength. High end estimate at 2 1/2th. Without air support for much of the time, air units dealt devastating damage to the unprotected armour.

2) Germany has lost the majority of its sub fleet to a dedicated allied sub hunting campaign.
 
Summary of Session VI
Dates: October 3, 1940- March 3, 1941

Sorry for the delay. I've been sick continually for the past week and a half and frankly I just haven't had the willpower to do much. However, I'm manning up today and will spit out the two summaries of the past sessions (VI and VII).

In Scandinavia: Germany continues to own Norway. (Joe's summary above deals with session VII, spoiler alert :p) Sweden is neutral and Finland is reduced in size due to the winter war (Soviets can't take entire thing per house rules) and a member of the Axis.

In Europe overall: Europe is relatively quiet except for Italy. German infantry divisions have a sizable presence in the Northern ports of France. Romania (player) has laid down the law and annexed the uppity Bulgarians (AI) after the Bulgarians pulled a gutsy move and tried to invade them. Australia continues to own Greece.

In North Africa: The Allies completely control North Africa with Australia having half and the British the other half.

In East Africa: Italy continues to own all of East Africa which is providing some key naval bases for submarines to operate out of into the Indian Ocean.

In Italy: The Italian theater was home to all of the real fighting for the session. In a daring move, a joint German and Italian offensive operation caught the British off guard. The British were forced to evacuate their troops onto transports and lost an approximate three infantry divisions in the process. However, the British were able to redeploy these troops to Sicily, repair them up, and cross again into the Italian boot without opposition. And this time, they came back with a vengeance. An approximate 8-9 Italian and German divisions were encircled in the boot and captured by the British armored spearhead. Further, an estimated two of these captured divisions were armored. The session ended with British troops controlling almost up to the Monte Cassino Line. In the skies over Italy, British and Canadian fighters continued to duke it out with Italian and German fighters. Further, the Canadian dive bomber core is able to carry out a sizeable number of missions freely from air support.

In the seas: The British continue to lose conveys but the Germans continue to lose subs. As Germany needs to invest its IC for the upcoming Barbarossa it is highly unlikely that the Germans can win the U-boat campaign at this point. They will force the British to continue to hunt for them, but outside of that they just don't have the numbers to be a game changer currently.

Analysis: The Allies have the clear advantage in Italy. The British armor is still pound for pound better than the German. Further, while Germany certainly has far greater numbers of land divisions in comparison to the UK, a narrow front such as Italy doesn't give the Germans the chance to use this numerical superiority to their advantage. Combine this with the mostly allied controlled skies and any sort of sustained bombing campaigns from the Germans to try to destroy allied armor in Italy is impossible.

Normally I would write about things to watch for next session. However, as Session VII has already been played, I shall not bother and jump immediately into that summary.
 
Summary of Session VII

Dates: March 3, 1941- June 22, 1941
Morning of Barbarossa edition

This session was plagued by a bit of instability at the start which helped account for why it was so short. This session was rather a lull as all nations were looking forward to Barbarossa.

In Italy: The Monte Cassino line has held with the Germans and Italians on the North and the British on the south. The Canadians continue to have a heavy presence in Italy. It is unknown how many (if any) German fighters have been shifted away for Barbarossa.

In Scandanavia: A few of the main cities have been retaken by the British including Oslo. One German infantry division was lost and the British suffered from repeated German bombings but were still able to obtain their objectives. Sweden remains neutral and Finland is part of the Axis.

In East Africa: Australia has launched an offensive operation to take Ethiopia. As they are in the initial stages still, it remains to be seen how this will play out.

In the Balkans: Germany, Hungary, and Italy each own a share of the former Yugoslavia. Australia still controls Greece. Romania owns Bulgaria.

In North Africa: Britain and Australia each still own a part of the land here.

Analysis: Right now, the entire world awaits with bated breath to see how Barbarossa will proceed. While Germany has been outclassed pound for pound by the experienced British armor, it awaits to be seen what they can do against the Soviets. As we purposely ended right on the start date of Barbarossa, this will give the commanders of both sides a chance to assess the situation and plan for the upcoming invasion. Without a doubt, Germany must strike hard and fast to get as many large encirclements as possible. The Destiny modifier will be key for Germany. If its offensive gets bogged down even before Destiny is over, Germany will probably have little prospect for the future. Japan would be left alone as the only Axis member able to carry out offensive operations should this occur. Further, Germany's threat of a two front war is already present. Due to Britain's control of the Mediterranean and technologically advanced medium armor, it seems highly unlikely that the Brits could be forced out of Italy. While Britain could likely open up a third front on its own in France, all it would take to assure this would be the U.S. sending over a few basic infantry to help to create a full line.

As it seems right now, a scenario where the Allies are pushing through France and Italy in an attempt to race to Berlin against the Germans racing to Moscow might be possible. It is almost guaranteed that the Soviets will have more ground forces than Germany but exact numbers are unknown. However, if the Soviets pull everything from the far east, then Japan will certainly backstab the Soviets in order to pick up key provinces in the far east. With the destiny modifier, the German forces will be faster than normal making encirclements far easier to obtain. If there was ever a time for Germany to surprise the world it is now. Also aiding Germany will be Hungary and Romania. Both countries have seen a bit of war. Hungary was part of the invasion of Yugoslavia and the Romanians beat down the uppity Bulgarians in decisive fashion. Hopefully these two tiny wars have helped prepare the both of them for what lays ahead.

As the Soviets are defending on the border in most parts of their line, they must either hold or retreat in good order if they lose battles. While some may have held their forces back on the interior lines and not engaged until the GPW modifier is active, our soviet player is going full man mode and will fight Germany for every inch of ground. This will give Germany the chance it needs for those groß Kessels. Luckily for the Germans, there is a German player on the team. And if there is one thing I have learned about Germans since playing this game, it's that they love groß Kessels. So now Germany must go forth and make the größten Kessel or likely suffer defeat.

If Barbarossa doesn't pan out well for the Axis, their only real chance of victory will lie with Japan beating back the Americans and then taking on the Russians and British directly. Right now, the world can only watch with eager eyes.
 
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Be prepared for a especially RED report for the next session covering the Eastern front, we will be disclosing information that is currently classified so stay tuned!
 
Summary of Session VIII

Dates: June 22, 1941 - October 17, 1941
Beginning of Barbarossa Edition

The moment that often determines the fate of the entire game has arrived: Germany has invaded the USSR. The session was delayed a bit due to attendance issues but once we got rolling we didn't stop.

On the Eastern Front: Barbarossa began on its historical date of June 22, 1941. True to historical fashion, The Russians were unmobilized upon the beginning of the invasion. Both Destiny and For the Motherland were popped instantly by both factions. The German invasion consists of two main forces (one northern group and one southern). The northern group has been more successful. It has taken Riga and advanced to the Volga river in some parts. Russian forces had been impenetrable in the north until a general collapse occurred. While the exact amount of how many Russian divisions were eliminated is unknown, it was sizable and consisted of some elite units including red guards. Further, the northern push is still not over. It appears that Germany might be able to follow up this success and keep driving onwards. The Russians in the north are in full retreat in parts of the line and need to form a new line.

In the Ukraine portion of the line, the Russians have been holding strong and even pushing the German, Romanian, and Hungarian forces back. The Soviets have concentrated the vast amount of their armored divisions here. Germany has been responding to this by placing their heavy armored divisions here. That being said, it is clear that the Russians are fielding far more armored divisions in the region of the Ukraine than the Germans. Further, Allied intelligence indicates that Germany is continuing to produce heavy armored divisions to hope to counter the Russian armored juggernaut. Both Romania and Hungary seem to be fielding very standard infantry based armies. Kiev remains in German hands and the front is divided along the Dneiper river (the river that Kiev is on). It is clear that the Germans have the air superiority in Russia. Thus, they are able to conduct repeated bombing attacks on ground targets. As always, supplies remain a problem for the Axis in the east.

In the Balkans: Things have been rather quiet and Australia still controls Greece and Albania. The Axis continues to hold Yugoslavia. In a daring move, an Australian tactical bomber wing seems to have pulled off repeated strategic bombings of Bucharest.

In Italy: The Italians continue to fight the Canadians for the control of the skies. The Canadians continue to hold the upper hand but Italy does force the Canadian to leave and repair from time to time. On the ground in Italy, there were two attacks from the British armored holding at the Monte Cassino line. One attack in particular seemed very close to succeeding but the appearance of German armored reinforcements seems to have forced the Brits to halt the attack. The British continue to have a good foothold in Italy.

In Scandinavia: The UK continues to control Norway after liberating it from the Germans, Finland is a member of the Axis but NOT at war with the USSR. Sweden remains neutral.

In Ethiopia: Australian forces continue to push in against the Italians. Supplies have been a big issue here as Axis submarines have been hitting the Australian convoys. The British continued their anti-submarine efforts and seem to have eased up some breathing room for the Australians to make steady progress.

In the Atlantic: A few German u-boats have raided American shipping lanes. A series of small u-boat hunting flotillas were launched to deal with the U-boats. Currently, the U.S. have sunk two u-boats.

Analysis: The first and most important thing to discuss is Barbarossa. As the current date of the game stands at October 17, 1941, Germany is running out of time with its destiny modifier. At the beginning of the session, not much was stirring for Germany. It had the small encirclement in the south but only basic infantry was lost. The encirclement up north and capture of Riga has thrown the Russian lines there into disarray for the time being. The Russians will be seeking to stabilize this sector of the line while the Germans will need to see if they can continue to push and encircle more units.

The Southern sector by Kiev is appearing quite dire for the Germans, Hungarians and Romanians. They are having an incredibly hard time dealing with the Russian hordes of armor there and that is with the aid of the destiny modifier. When destiny runs out, the south will really be in trouble. Germany appears to be trying to rectify this by placing the all newly made heavy armored divisions there, but there just doesn't seem to be enough of them to turn the tide against the Russians as things stand right now. A game of chicken could develop between the Russians and Germans as to who is willing to risk the heavier losses in the north and south. The Russians could lose Leningrad or Moscow from a chicken standoff while the Germans would be risking their allied support in Romania and Hungary if they can't stop the Russians. More than likely, both sides will commit all newly created land units to try to shore up their weakest parts. Perhaps the scariest part for the Germans right now is that GPW still hasn't been activated by the Soviets yet. Once Destiny is gone and GPW is active, the Germans need to have secured a large advantage in the east or will likely be beaten back.

Further, the UK has been biding its time and amassing forces. The threat of a landing in France or a push succeeding in breaking through Italy is a real threat. Thus, the UK might have been okay sitting back and waiting for things in the east to develop. The instability in the northern front of the Russians might prompt UK into some action to try to ease the pressure. That being said, the Germans have maintained what appears to be a sizable garrison in France. If the UK can get a foothold in France, its armored divisions will have no problems with the German infantry. Securing a beachhead could be another matter. If Germany succeeds in forcing Italy out of the war, it would free up lots of British and Canadian air assets for other locations. Also, German territory itself could begin to be threatened by British and Canadian bombing. Finally, if Italy falls, its rear will be exposed. The British could threaten an invasion of the Balkans or through Austria into Germany itself.

Finally, next session will include the introduction of the war in the Pacific. Nat. China, Japan, and the US will all be entering (or re-entering) the war. The seas will certainly feature BBCBs (Big Booty Carrier Battles) between the U.S. and Japan. Japanese technology, doctrines, and leaders, will all likely be better but the U.S. will definitely field more forces due to its higher IC. While the U.S. IC will be a bit stunted compared to most groups due to rules on IC building and the late entry of Italy into the war, its production capabilities are certainly formidable. Japan very likely may go after Nat. China seeking to finish it off. Once China is conquered, it would free up a huge amount of land divisions to begin a march into India if Japan wants to. At the same time, Japan could decide to begin an island hopping campaign or drive south to Australia. Another unknown is how heavily the UK will commit to the defense of its colonies in the area. This will likely depend on how much the British command feels it needs to open up a second front if it goes that route. At the same time, if the Brits think the Russians can hold, they could invest heavily into trying to contain Japanese expansion. The Australians would also be likely candidates to defend in the Pacific. Losing their homeland would likely be an ill-advised move Australia. Finally, the Americans will almost certainly field assets to both the European and Pacific theaters. The exact composition and the amounts it sends to both remains to be seen.

With Barbarossa still hanging in a perilous balance and beginning of the Pacific war slated for next week the action and excitement is only continuing to grow.

As always, feel free to give more details on the session. There was certainly a lot of action in the Eastern front this session.

Final note: The east is a complete meatgrinder. Battles are easily racking up five digit casualty counts.
 
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Now that operation Barbarossa has begun I will be posting more in depth segments on the Eastern front.

Part I: Pre-war

In 1939 the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact solidified German-Soviet relations with a none aggression pact and and the division of Eastern Europe which would be solidified in January of 1940 with the surrender of Finland. However both Hitler and Stalin new it was only a matter of time before the 2 Super powers would turn on each other. With the War in France raging the Soviet Union decided to act on further expansion in the East this time Romanian would be the target of the Soviets. With the German forces tied up on the Western front Romania was left alone and in may of 1940 Bessarabia was ceded to the USSR without a shot fired, this would however solidify the Romanians as a member of the Axis Camp.

At the onset of Spring of 1941 Germany held the position of the Strongest Land army in Western Europe, while it did suffer set backs by the British and French forces in France and again with the allied invasion of Italy. With the British armor contained in the South the Germans seemed poised to Strike in the East with its full might.

For the Majority of 1940 the Soviet army had held positions farther back in reserve, this was that in the case of an attack the red army had the time to react effectively and to ensure it held defensive positions along the river lines. However in January STAVKA received increasing reports of German and Romanian build up along and close to the Soviet border. However Stalin was of the opinion that the Germans would never attack the Soviet Union in the Winter especially with the lack of any Panzer divisions.

In throughout Febuary and March the STAVKA received increasingly large reports of German units and significant amounts of Panzers being redeployed to Southern Poland and the Soviet Border. In April a Soviet Spy delievered information regarding the invasion of the USSR. Over the next few months the Soviet army was re-positioned in secret into new defensive positions closer to the Western Border, this was mostly done during the night to keep most of the movements hidden from German intelligence. Of course it was impossible to mask such massive military movements hidden but events would prove that the Soviets made the right decision.

In May of 1941 Stalin new the Soviet Army wasn't ready to attack the Germans army this was largely due to the lack of trained officers in the Soviet Army as well as a lack of modern aircraft. On may 21st 1941 the Kremlin sent a telegram to the German embassy in Moscow, It read: With the British Invasion of Italy the Soviet Union requests a meeting in regards to Soviet support against the Allied forces in Italy. Stalin hoped that this would delay a war with Germany and give STAVKA more time to prepare for war however they this telegram and all further attempts at communication with Germany were met with Deafening silence. Contrary to the belief of Stalin, War in the summer of 1941 was inevitable.
 
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Part 2: Plan and Force composition

Part 2: Plan and Force composition

Thanks to Soviet intelligence the Soviet Union knew that the main German offensive would come in Poland and the Western Ukraine, as a response the vast majority of the Soviet Armored Corps were deployed to the plains of Eastern Poland in an attempted to halt any German advances. The Soviet Tanks made 2 lines across 5 provinces, One Soviet Officer Wrote:"We have more tanks deployed on the planes of Poland than All the rest of the World combined".

German The First German Panzer Army was positioned across the river from the Soviet border, German high command had received reports of Soviet forces moving into new defensive positions close to the border this brought some doubt into the initial invasion plans as their was only supposed to be small amounts of Soviet troops near the border which would be quickly cut off an mercilessly annihilated. The Germans new that there was significant Soviet armored units but underestimated just how many their were.

The German plan code named, Operation Barbarossa was to advance into Ukraine with the majority of its tanks and encircle and destroy large portions of the Soviet army on the plains . They would in turn be supported by Romanian and Hungarian troops which had the job of taking the port city of Odessa and advance along the South. In the North and center German infantry under the cover of Stukas and He-111 bombers with the goal of taking the capital cities of the former Baltic states and prepare for the eventual Siege of Leningrad.

In June of 1941 the Soviet Army had 4 division structures, The infantry was organized into Rifle divisions and Shock Rifle divisions. The idea was that rather than spreading all the artillery and firepower along a long line the soviets would use large formations of infantry to fortify the majority of the line and the areas least likely to be attacked such as river lines and the marches. While the Rifle divisions would hold the line Shock rifle divisions where given large amounts of Artillery and often comprised of the most experienced infantry or guards. Their job was to defend or support the rifle divisions in the most important and decisive battles or to support in counter attacks with the Soviet armor. Soviet Armor was largely in small divisions of T-34/85 or T-34/76 tanks often supported by motorized infantry and the powerful SU-122 tank destroyer. However the Soviet army didn't have enough Tank destroyers or motorized infantry so almost 1/3 of the Soviet Armor were supported by infantry and anti tank guns making them more suited to defense and infantry operations rather than the more mobile armored warfare of the Germans and other Soviet tank divisions.

In contrast the Germans had fewer tanks and infantry but more support vehicles in the form of assault engineers, tank destroyers, self propelled artillery batteries and additional motorized units. This made it so not only was a German Panzer division larger and packed more firepower but it also made them more maneuverable. German infantry while being more experienced having fought in France, Poland and Italy also had access to larger amounts of artillery and anti tank guns which further tipped the balance of infantry combat in favor against the Soviets. In addition to this the German air force was also much larger force of bombers and fighters, not only did they have the numerical superiority but German pilots where confident in the speed and maneuverability of the BF-109 F4 and the FW190-A5 against the outdated Soviet I-16 Fighter aircraft.
 
Part 3: Poland, Moldova and Ukraine. June 1941-August1941

Under the cover of night, Henrici's 2nd Panzer division crossed the border at Switaz. 2 hours after he crossed the bridge he came under attack by the first Soviet counter attack of the War. Henrici's Panzers reported contact with Soviet tanks, German tanks noted that they were unable to penetrate the front armor of Soviet tanks with the 75mm gun on the Panzer 4 luckily his division was equipped with Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyers which were able to make short work of the Soviet T-34/85's. After an inspection the German officer noted that the Soviet medium tank was superior to most of his own an it required superior tactics and the use of assault guns in order to deal with modern Soviet tanks. Henrici quickly released that he was under attack by more than just 1 or 2 divisions but an entire 10 Soviet tank divisions! 2nd Panzer division had taken massive loses to the sheer size of the Soviet attack, the soviets had made a minor victory on the first day but it would be over shadowed by the next coming weeks.

After defeating the 2nd Panzer division the Soviet tanks found themselves over extended and making a slow retreat through the mud which almost resulted in them being encircled and destroyed. German Forces around Lwow began assaulting the city with the support of Hungarian troops almost as soon as the war started, the Soviet Garrison managed to hold for 4 days and inflicted heavy loses on the German and Hungarian troops, however due to battles north of the city German Panzer divisions under Model smashed Soviet tank divisions and forced the Red army to abandon Lwow. Just north of Lwow raised the first large tank battles of the War. Even with Superior tanks the Red army suffered massive loses against the tried and tested tactics of the Wehrmacht and the Red army was forces into a fighting retreat. The battles raged in the plains and forests of East Poland despite its heavy loses the Red army managed to destroy hundreds of Panzers over the first few weeks of the war. over the First month of the War in Poland Alone over 300,000 Soviet soldiers were killed, wounded or captured among them several tank divisions luckily they were mostly equipped with T-34/76's and supported by infantry and AT guns, regular armor was able to escape encirclement.

In Moldova and South Ukraine Romania Advanced and occupied Bessarabia and made an assault on the city of Odessa, this was the First and so far only successful attack in which the entire attacking army was comprised only of Romanians. At the Same time German Panzer divisions lead by General Hoth Charged across the lines in an attempt to capture Soviet Rifle divisions attempting to retreat to the next river line. a force of 10 Rifle divisions were on the brink of capture by German and Romanian forces however, General Zhuokovs Tanks a force of 5 newly reorganized Armored divisions crossed the river and smashed the thin German Line of Panzers, The Germans caught unaware were nearly cut off by Soviet tanks had it not been for the Romanian infantry supporting them and luckily all Red army divisions managed to cross the river safely. Romanian divisions supported by the Romanian air force began a bombing campaign against Soviet Forces that had arrived from Sevastopol. Romanian forces consisting of 4 infantry divisions backed up by P(t)48 Tanks managed to cross the river however, the Romanians where repulsed by a single Soviet armored division, this would be the last offensive made by Romania thus far.
 
Part 4: Kiev, Ukraine Late July - mid October

After several major defeats by the German Panzerwaffe the Red army had been forced to retreat into Ukraine, just 200km from Kiev second massive tank battle raged, Soviet forces has been recieing new tank brigades to reinforce their divisions and by the end of July the Soviet Army had managed to replace all of its lost armored brigades it had lost in the last month. The first few weeks of the war where a huge shock STAVKA as a result Soviet tank, artillery and SPG was dramatically ramped up in an attempt to halt the German tanks. However the Germans had deployed a new toy, the new Tiger heavy tank began to slowly trickle onto the Front.

Soviet tanks engaged once against attacked by a large German Panzer Army now equipped with a limited amount of Heavy tanks, both sides once against suffered massive loses however the German attack hadn't routed the Soviets like it had the month before, instead both sides seemed exhausted and about 15 armored divisions withdrew from their positions behind the river line and Kiev. German infantry began to Siege Kiev, large amounts of bombs and Artillery were dropped on the city, the fighting raged on the streets for 10 days but due to a lack of reserve divisions the Soviets were forced out of the city in shame at the loss of the Ukrainian SSR's capital.

By this point the Soviet Army held the positions past Kiev firmly and prepared for the next major German assault.

With Winter only a few months away Field Marshall Von Mannstein has had failed to deliever the "Gross Kessel ;)" he had promised he could deliver to Hitler. As a result he was forced to Hastily formulate an offensive. The Plan was for the Bulk of the German Panzerwaffe to once against assault the Red army positions in Cherkasy, they would break the Soviet Armored divisions and force them into a retreat then General Steiner with a few Panzer divisions supported by Romanian and Hungarian troops would support them across the river and encircle the majority of the Red armies tanks, this would be the "Gross Kessel" he was looking for.

September 15th 1941, the Soviets heard the familiar roar of German tanks approaching, they had spent the last few weeks preparing the the German assault, the soviets deployed large amounts of tanks and infantry in the defense as well as minefield and fortifications, It would be here that the Red Army would have its First major Victory of the war, on the plains of Ukraine.

The first German tanks charged the Soviet positions, almost like an amnesia of the last few months, however this time things were different. For one the Soviets had been reinforced by large amounts of artillery and SU-122's, the number of SU-122's was about 50% more than the Germans had faced at the start of the campaign, in addition to this the Soviets had gained experience fighting the Germans and managed to inflict heavy loses on the German tanks. The Germans pushed about 70km into the Soviet lines however the German advance began to quickly slow down, in the North The German Heavy armor was actually stopped by Soviet tanks. Steiners attack managed to cross the river with Romanian tanks but came under fire from a massive artillery assault by Soviet tanks and Shock Rifle divisions, the Steiner was forced to retreat. However the battle wasnt over, General Zhuokov's 15 tank divisions arrived from Homyel and Kiev with addition SU-122's and smashed the German heavy armor in Cherkasy. Zhuokovs tanks quickly reinforced the Red army positions in Korsun-Cherkasy and quickly turned a fighting retreat into a full on counter offensive, The over the next week the entire German Panzer army was forced back 180km past their positions they held at the beginning of the offensive and it is now the Germans desperately trying to hold off the Red Armies counter offensive. With additional fighters redeployed from the Baltic and Belorussian Fronts the Soviets managed to shoot down many bombers and lessen the damage done by the German Army. The Fuhrer commented: "There is no reason to worry Steiners counter attack will surely drive the Soviets back" However he was unable to mobilize enough men for a counter attack, Generals Heinz, Jodl,Krebs und Burgdorf were nearly sacked as a result.

I will write about the Baltic, Air war and Belorussian front soon!

EDIT: Grammar can wait, i'm tired
 
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I will sum up my experiences as the leader of Germany and commander of the northern and centre fronts.

The initial invasion began by a simple move of all troops up to the Soviet positions. Due to the deployment of the Soviets behind river lines, they effectively gave a huge amount of land for free to Germany. Once at the river line, forces halted.

In the north, Germany had a bridgehead across the Neman river due to its control of Memel. The forces in this bridgehead were attacked immediately by the Soviet forces. The attacks failed against superior German infantry, surprise surprise. Infantry then pushed back against the weaker enemy units. Enemy armour in the area meant a slow push was necessary, I had only infantry and airpower. With initial positions taken I made a push to Kaunas. The fighting was tough and fierce but eventually I managed to overwhelm the enemy resistance. In the air, stukas and he-111 bombers rained hell upon all enemy forces throughout the campaign start to finish. The airforce had achieved crushing air superiority in the skies and multiroles were pressed into ground attack missions while interceptors kept the skies clear. The overwhelming power of the luftwaffe caused enormous losses in the enemy ranks. In particular a corps of tanks in the baltics was targeted strongly, this corps took countless losses among its support brigades. The tanks themselves were difficult to kill. A slow push to capture Kaunas led to a back and forth of the lines in the baltics, little ground was gained and Germany was on more than one occasion pushed back to its starting positions. After considerable fighting, panzer divisions newly produced were deployed to the northern front. The deployment was quick and conducted in secret with the plan to drive to Riga in order to encircle forces near the sea. The panzers rolled forward while infantry tied down enemy forces. The panzers managed to get to Riga with considerable difficulty and the infantry mopped up a pocket with more than 10 divisions, of which there were considerable numbers of guards. With the enemy broken in open battle and the Soviets poorly reinforced and lacking organisation, a general breakthrough has taken place in the north. Whether more forces will be captured is uncertain, however the north is now going well for Germany. The Soviet commander was indeed a tough nut to crack but like any hard defence, once broken it was broken entirely. Soviet forces have little place to resist the German advance in the coming weeks and a withdrawal is likely to prevent a more serious Grosskessel.

Also in the north was a considerable river line, the Neman line. Attempts were made with high casualties to take the opposing banks but forces that breached over the line could not hold. After 3 significant pushes across rivers have failed, I have halted all future attempts and focused on pushing in the north. Now the north is broken, the forces across the river will be encircled and destroyed if they do not retreat.

In the centre, a cautious push was made. I did not want the risk of a large scale soviet armour push into my land and so advanced carefully. Standard infantry with some marines were used. Over the next few months the area before the river lines was taken entirely and their objective complete. The centre must wait for the north or south to be complete before pushing further.
 
Summary of Session IX (and Final?)

Dates: October 17, 1941 - April 12, 1942

The reason for the massive delay in my post is that we were quite unsure whether we would continue the series or not or declare an allied victory. It appears that we are going to possibly play on for one more session and might incorporate a bit of Operation Unthinkable into it. For all basic purposes though, this series appears to be done.

On the Eastern Front: My post will simply not do enough justice for the mess that was the Northern part of the Eastern front. At one time, both Germans and Soviets had pockets around each other troops simultaneously. The Russians front is just outside of Konigsberg in the north and their line runs through the former Poland. In the south, the Soviets have formed a line just outside of Romania and Hungary. As was the most likely prediction, once Destiny ran out fate turned against Germany. The Soviet Union clearly has the upper hand in the conflict.

Elsewhere in the East: Hungary and Romania both live and hold all of their territory and even a bit of gains currently. The Russians appear to have stopped their advances on this front to focus their efforts to push through Poland against the Germans.

In Italy: The UK began a concerted effort and Italy capitulated shortly after. The Uk fleet finally met the Italian fleet and destroyed it (including their carriers).

In Germany: The UK followed up its effort by continuing their offense into Germany through Austria. The British staged an invasion in the North of Germany around Kiel. Currently, Berlin sits surrounded (still with a decent sized garrison) by a lot of angry British armored divisions. Likely, it is only a matter of time before Berlin falls to the British.

In France: The Canadians have liberated Paris. Baguettes, wine and cheese for all!

In Ethiopia: Ethiopia has fallen to the Australians after an arduous campaign.

In China: Chinese forces appeared to be faltering but appear to have found traction. Japan holds the upper hand in the skies over China. Terrain is assuredly playing a huge factor here in the defense of China. For more on this theater, see below.

In the Pacific: This will be the meat of my post as I'm the U.S. player. Further, I'll flip over all of my cards and strategical thinking because this was the last serious session has been played in the series. I'll look through my successes, mistakes, and things to change for next time.

Overall strategy: First, the match up. I knew I would be playing Seppi as the main Japanese player. I have never faced off with Seppi before. However, Karsten (who is an excellent player) said that he thought Seppi was better than him. Now I didn't know if Karsten was being humble or Seppi was just that awesome, but either way, I knew I'd be likely playing against the best or second best player in the group. This influenced my strategy heavily. I went for a war of production and attrition, (as what happened historically). My goal was to strangle the Japanese economy and outproduce them. I knew he would have superior leaders and technologies compared to me in a few key areas.

Main focuses: Navy and air force. In my strategy, the army was completely hosed. My infantry weapons are still at the 1938 levels in 1942. I really shifted a massive amount of resources (IC and leadership) into the the navy and air force. As for my build up, I made the off-colored choice of choosing not to produce IC. I know right now, you're probably flabbergasted at such a choice, but I'll explain why I made this decision. In our group, we have an extremely restrictive IC building rule. To save you the math, the U.S. would only be allowed to build 5 factors initially at the 1936 start. Most other multiplayer groups allow for considerably more (such as 10% of base IC). when I analyzed this, I just throught it wouldn't really be worth it in the long run when I factor in the loss practicals from not building fighting assets. Also, those same practicals that I'd be missing out on would help fuel my tech speed which I would be lagging behind Japan (because of their modifiers for owning various straits). In hindsight, was this the right choice? I don't know. If the game had gone longer, probably not. But at this point, I do think I made the right call or at least one that didn't shape the outcome.

Production Numbers as of Dec. 7, 1941 for things I produced beyond starting number levels:
Subs: 39
Carriers: 27
Light Cruisers: 29
Destroyers: 39

Cag: 54
Int: 18
Tac: 8
Nav: 6
Strat: 7

Land: 2 Cav upgraded into Larm

That's correct, I did not have a single land unit produced for all of the game up until Dec. 7th. Why this choice? I knew that I wouldn't be needed in Europe early. Initially I had planned to make 1940 and 1941 my years to spam land units but as the game progressed and the UK's land army was clearly superior to Germany's I knew I wouldn't be needed in Europe early. Thus, the only threat to America at the time was Japan. This meant that the fight would be on the seas and in the skies mainly. Other places my IC went was 1. supporting the crap out of Nat China, and 2. fortifying the islands of wake, midway, and hawaii with radar stations, coastal fortresses, air fields, and infrastructure. These three positions I earmarked as my hold at all cost and do not lose territories.

Initially, Mr. B was slated to be my co-op. The initial plan was that I would control the subs and he would control the carrier fleets. This would stretch the Japanese navy thin because they couldn't be fighting huge carrier battles and hunting subs at the same time. Most of the ints, and all of the tacs were slated to do battle in the skies over Nat. China against the Japanese. The strats were originally to be sent to Europe and bomb the Germans but they were never needed there. The naval bombers were to hopefully follow home a defeated fleet and finish it off in port. As we all know what they say about plans, many things ended up changed.

The things that remained the same were that most of my ints and all of the tacs went to help Nat. China. My strats weren't needed in Europe with Germany appearing to be close to capitulating. Thus, I sent them to Indonesia. As I was not in a position to strike the home Japanese isles with them without having them shredded I made no attempt. Instead they did runs and hit some IC in Indochina. Perhaps most importantly, Mr. B was transferred from the Allies to the Axis. Thus, I no longer had the co-op I had planned on. While Ib was gracious enough to agree to help me out, I didn't want to put him in the high pressure situation of managing the naval assets. Thus, I had to control the 5 carrier fleets and 13 sub fleets simultaneously. This is the time to also mention that that we play on speed 2. Luckily, I was pretty good at Starcraft and other RTS games. As Japan opened initially by taking the Philippines and pursuing the war in Nat. China, I had plenty of time to get the subs out and convoy raiding. I could tell that the Japanese players had their attention elsewhere because the subs were uncontested for quite some time and scoring great results. I kept my carriers in port to finish up some critical upgrades. I had decided to concede the Phillippines to Japan to buy me time and to respect Seppi's skill as a player. I knew that I didn't have to win my fights against Japan; I just had to make sure that I didn't lose them. My IC and strategy would allow me to outproduce Japan in the long term as long as I didn't take catastrophic losses in decisive encounters. I also hoped that the convoy losses (in a best case scenario) would eventually result in Japan being unable to supply their troops in China and allow the Chinese to push back the Japanese on the ground.

Summary of naval actions:
1. Convoy raiding: Overall, I would term it a success but I haven't been inside the save game as Japan to confirm what magnitude it was. What I do know from spy intel was that I forced him to throw a shitton of convoys into the queue and build. This feeds into my strategy of keeping Japan fighting and burning up resources. If he's forced to produce almost nothing but convoys, it means that he can't produce far more useful things. Once they went dry, I would be able to deliver a killing blow through superior amounts of forces.

2. Dealing with sub hunters: As I was convoy raiding Japan heavily, he would naturally have to respond. Overall, the results are mixed here. I currently have 19 subs remaining. That means that 50% of the fleet was lost. Now, naturally these are disproportionally the worst subs, I did lose some nicer ones due to mis-microing. Two incidents of mis-microing cost me 2 1940 subs and 2 1937 subs. That being said, I was able to micro some subs to safety. However, twice I got subs to safety to only have them bombed away in ports. While this focuses on the controlling of units rather than the strategy necessarily, it clearly shows me where I can improve my play. From the downside though, there were successes. First, I used a battleship fleet to engage a group of 6 destroyers that were sub hunting (I'm sure they were older ones though). My battleship fleet came in, killed all six destroyers, got engaged by a Japanese carrier fleet, and was able to run away to Ceylon without losing any ships. Beyond that though, as my sub placement for convoy raiding is extremely aggressive (encircling the Japanese home isles and just off the coast of the Philippines and Indochina) it means that I didn't send carrier fleets in to engage for risk of losing them that far from home.

3. Carrier battles: There was only one large carrier engagement and it was off the coast of Saipan. I had just lost Guam (as I had planned to) and I realized that Germany was about to fall to the British. I had originally intended to not use my carriers in a decisive battle until Japan tried to assault Wake, Midway, or Honolulu. I knew that as our time for the session was drawing to a close and that there might not be a next session, I decided to give battle with the Japanese fleet to see how my fleet would hold up because it wouldn't matter in the long run. I believe that Japan fielded 3 carrier fleets (possible four, but probably only three) against my 5 carrier fleets of 5 carriers each. As for how many carriers are in a carrier fleet of Japan, I can't remember. I didn't have time to go inside the battle and look. I would estimate it is roughly the same as my fleets though. One difference is that my fleets tend to use light cruisers as escorts while the Japanese fleets use destroyers.

In the battle, I sunk 2 carriers and 2 destroyers of Japan. In return, the Japanese sunk 4 carriers, 3 destroyers, and 3 light cruisers. As I predicted and feared, the Japanese carriers would be better pound for pound. Knowing this, I knew that I would have to engage a carrier fleet of Japan twice to score any kills. The first engagement would certainly take some losses but would de-org the Japanese fleet. The second engagement would allow a fresh fleet to fight a weakened Japanese fleet and sink some ships. The true question in regards to the losses is whether both sides can sustain them or would they be fighting sub-optimally afterwards. Personally, I have spare escort ships to make up the losses there. Further, I had two carriers in reserve that will replace two of the four losses. Thus, the true loss for me is 2 carriers. As Japan lost relatively few ships as well, I highly doubt it will put a huge dent in Japan. As such, I consider the battle a draw.

Summary of Air actions:
1. The skies of China. It was rather brutal. The Japanese had the advantage of having their planes there with full org and ready for the battle. The American planes were forced to fly in (and fight immediately) on Dec. 7th. Thus, while most of the interceptors were in decent shape, they have very little org. The tacs on the other hand got cut up pretty badly and would need a decent amount of repair time before they would be serviceable. Also, Japan has religiously bombed Chinese air fields further complicating the matter. As it stands right now, Japan definitely has most of the power in the skies over China.

2. Strat bombing. As part of the goal to strangle Japan economically, the strats were intended to see action against Japan far later in the war. They were supposed to first be used against Germany to ensure that Germany would fall. As they were not needed in Europe, I sent them to the Pacific and have only had them bomb Indochina. As it stands right now, they have not paid for themselves investment wise because the war has been so short.

3. Naval bombing. This is always rather tricky because the goal is to sink the enemy's ships and not level up their admirals while doing minimal damage. We had one bombing run with them against Saipan before Guam fell. I did this because I knew that I would lose Guam and thus bombing range of the Japanese fleet in port before I could fight them otherwise. Optimally, I would have had the carrier battle and then sent the bombers after the damaged fleets in port. However, this opportunity has not presented itself yet.

Land Action: Right now, I have currently only produced 5 divisions of marines that were shipped to Europe under Ib's command. He dutifully has led them in the European fight against Hungarian troops. The object of this was to get some combat experience and provide minor assistance to the British advance in Germany.

Overall thoughts of my strategy and critiques: Right now, my strategy seems to have done well enough overall but realistically, its far too early to tell. Only 5 months and 1 week of combat has elapsed. Further, I have gone for a long term strategy and we are still in the relative short term. One thing I should clarify is why I chose to go for a long term strategy. Our previous game lasted until Dec. 1943 and easily could have gone into 44 or 45 at the rate it was going. Thus, I planned accordingly expecting a game to go that long. That being said, my strategy has clearly not hit its stride yet and is still in its holding back Japan phase. A few key technological choices haven't yet shown their full power (as in none yet). I have literally just completed acoustic torpedoes. I made this choice because I wanted my subs to be as beefy as possible. With acoustic torpedoes, I hoped that they would have enough power to fight off (and possibly even kill) any small fleets of old destroyers that were hunting for them. Thus, I hoped this would lure the Japanese carrier fleets into being forced to hunt for subs and allow my carriers the chance to jump the Japanese fleets. However, I have just finished it and none of my subs have upgraded them yet. As I spent a lot of leadership points on tech rushing this very far ahead of time, it's a bit painful that these effects have not been seen yet. I also set myself up to begin researching radar guided bombs and radar guided missiles short but haven't had the chance yet. Also, I question whether I should have defended Guam. While I basically sent my fleet in just for the hell of it because I feared the game would be over soon, a better strategy would have been to defend Guam (because I basically fought in the same locations). This would have allowed my naval bombers to follow home the Japanese fleet and possibly score some more kills. At a minimum, it would have slowed down the repairing rate of the Japanese fleet by forcing them to flee or take more damage.

As for the skies over China, I'm not sure what could have been done better besides being more careful with the rebasing of planes. While Nat. China is currently holding, the situation in Nat. China seemed rather dire forcing my planes into action immediately. Some tech rushing of the fighter planes may have helped.

Final thoughts: Overall, I'm relatively happy with the strategy. As so much of it was centered around convoy raiding and I can't confirm how much IC is being forced into building new convoys, it's a bit hard to judge how successful it was. Further, I made a heavy leadership commitment into tech rushing for my submarines. However, as it was pop up hell for periods involving all the notifications of convoys we sunk, I think it will be decent at a minimum. Further, acoustic torpedoes, continued sub production, and forcing the Japanese carrier flee to fight instead of sub hunt would have contributed to the continued success. However, the most obvious and accurate assessment of the war in the Pacific was that it was incredibly far from being decided. A catastrophe for either player involving large numbers of carriers being sunk could have swung the balance in either direction. Japan hasn't yet hit the defensive areas that I set up and I haven't gone on the offense yet outside of convoy raiding, one carrier battle, and air force actions.

As always, I encourage my fellow players to add their thoughts on the session and game. Further, if you have any questions about my strategy or wish me to elaborate on certain parts, feel free to ask and I'll give you my reasoning.
 
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To give a short summary from a canadian perspective:

Despite airforce being really weak in HoI3 (compared to HoI2 standards) i decided to go full air.

Canada is really weak in terms of leadership and IC, so the focus was on light-aircraft only to profit from the joint practicals of interceptors and CAS. Expecting huge masses of enemy tanks the CAS seemed like a good idea.
Research was focused solely on the 4 interceptor techs and "light bomb". With the remaining 3 leadership points basic industry research and later on doctrines were covered.
Buildup was interceptors only until about 1939 and then mixed with some CAS.
During the game only 2 CAS got lost/destroyed when my planes flew missions for 1 month while i was disconnected.
It is a really funny strategy for a minor, as you have something to do at all times and are active on all fronts.

Due to the continuous research, the techs were really advanced compared to the other majors in our game. I finished drop bomb in April 1942. The bottom two 1945 interceptor techs would have been finished in January 1943.

Some numbers (careful americans, its written in DDMMYYYY):

01.09.1939:
Interceptors: 15
CAS: 7

14.07.1940:
Interceptors: 20
CAS: 8

22.07.1941:
Interceptors: 26
CAS: 8 (2 lost)

16.08.1942:
Interceptors: 29
CAS: 10 (2 lost)


The increase is not linear due to the upgrading (and loss of production IC because of that) at certain ingame dates.
The numbers could have been higher, but i had nearly 10IC in reinforcement the whole war through. I think it was worth it though, because the axis must have had a similar amount in reinforcement.


In gameplay aspects i think it was quite successfull. The allies had air superiority throughout the whole game. The main reason is, that without IC buildup the german airforce is much smaller than in other builds. The air strategy is also very flexible, as i could have supported the US later in the war without any problems and with a small reaction time.