Chapter Sixty-Three - We're going to OOO-VERTIME
Let's take a look at the math - OVERVIEW - Italy has 41 VPs now per the ledger (Canada has 42, better than all but the four great powers), and has lost only 36% of its National VPs. This means total Italian VPs are 64, and 23 VPs is therefore 36%. They will surrender if they get below 82.1%, assuming that national unity doesn't fall further. That means we need 53 VPs of the 64. Not only does this mean that I must capture Rome, it also means that I must capture all remaining Italian VP cities, but one. No combination of two VP centers totals 11 or less. Rome is 15, all remaining VPs are 26! Genoa/Milan/Venice 7 each and Bologna 5 VPs.
If I do not take Rome, I cannot defeat Italy. If I do not take Bologna I cannot defeat Italy unless I take all the rest.
Well, at least this means I still have a long, hard slog ahead of me, and that there's no sense hurting myself long-term trying to smash and grab or use some other short term strategy, though I did the math
after this turn
Then there's the Cave Troll the Axis brought to the party.
I called off that battle as it was clear I stood no chance, and I need what strength I have in the Canadian pocket for later. I'm down to 535 units of supply in the pocket. Not desperate, obviousy, but low enough and dropping quickly enough that I cannot ignore supply. I had 716 then 660 in the two earlier chapters.
Then the AI decides to pressure me further.
I need those guys to hold on at least until the retreating troops reach the province.
I've been fighting garrison troops for too long, damn armor moves fast.
As does Italian progress on beating up my men on the coast.
Notice the Italian stack moving into Rome, though.
IF they move quickly enough, and
IF I still have the strength in my coastal pocket, I
MAY be able to connect up with my central highlands holdings and perhaps cut off Rome, even now. I'm not sure how long that would last against the armor, but if I were able to take Rome while the armor was beating against one province, well, that makes for an unlikely but not impossible scenario.
In any event, it is the hope I have, and my reason for not abandoning the pocket entirely, just yet. The Italians kill 60 in two bombing raids, and force one of my divisions to retreat.
Then I see a symbol which I have never seen before, that I can recall. The All-Seeing-Eye? Speculation that the Pyramids really were meant to replicate stellar formations? A really poorly written math problem? The Deathly Hallows?
Nope, proof that it's later than I'd like.
Still, losing another 60 men to three bombings, my men hold on, waiting patiently for the garrison troops to reach Rome.
Even if I cannot hold the perimeter around Rome, I'd like to hook up with my other troops and just shift east a bit. Withdrawal, transport and moving back to the front gives the Axis more opportunity to mess me up than I'd like.
Yeah, I probably should have done this sooner.
Like it would have mattered.
Time for an Evac. That infantry division looked worse up close.
The German capitol has been moved to Bittburg in the fortifications near France/Belgium. I took down the Bat Signal for Normandy. If the USA/UK decide to fight the war for a bit, and they care at all what I think, they'll drop on top of that German armor division. Too bad I can't target one guy like an MMORPG, "DPS the add, now!" ("many whelps, handle it!"). I'm guessing Crushem got feared into the German Armor area.
I think I had it in my head that this would hurry them along.
Well, that German Armored Division is pacing back and forth like Darth Maul. No sense waiting that long. I'm pulling out the guys who can't fight well, so I'll be sure to have room enough if the remainder need to evacuate mid-battle.
I've bombed the men in CC as much as I can. I make one last attempt to take the province and connect my pocket with my part of Italy.
Wish me luck!