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Barbarossa is near impossible now.Not only is us involved allies control denmark,germany will get buried in bodies.Still nice to see a allied victory finally.
 
Very interesting developments :)

I suppose Barbarossa can still be possible, but Japan will have to do a great job of tying down US forces, and Germany will have to finish off France ASAP, so that western Europe can be held more easily before US troops arrive in numbers.

It will be extremely difficult for the German player, but he has to attempt it, simply because there will only be one result if he waits for the soviets to be strong enough to mount their own invasion, while having to face pressure in the west also.

So, we could still have an extremely exciting game on our hands, but it will take skilled play by the Axis to make it so. Great to see an AAR go in a different direction to the previous ones ;)
 
Royal Carnage

Chapter X, The Battle of France - Part VI











Human Players: Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, Soviet











Recap: It is peaceful in the world - except in the Western Europe where Germany is cutting into Belgium and France. The Allies are desperately scrambling to hold them back - but now USA is backing them. USA is, however, largely unprepared for war. There are other great powers lusting for war, however...













1-4.jpg

March 6th, 1940

The Red Army has taken the majority of Bulgaria (with a surrender process of some 95%). Italy have taken the two main cities of Greece (the only VPs) but failed to protect the southern part of former Yugoslavia (including a VP) and that victory gave the Greeks the boost of confidence they needed to keep on fighting. The Greeks even managed to take some lands from the Turks.


………………………………………………


Authors note: Now this was a tricky situation. No doubt, the Axis would attack Soviet Union when they felt they were in a suitable position. It might take a few months and maybe even half a year. With USA already in the Allies, any delays would surely be costly. Probably, Germany would attack as soon as they had mopped up in France (which would go a lot quicker now when the French player had switched to USA, meaning France was run by the AI). It that was true, wasn’t it better for Soviet to attack right away, while bother Italy and Germany had their hands more or less full? “Threat” is out of the equation with USA in the war. Only problem was to give Japan a war sooner than they’d otherwise get.

Should Soviet declare war on Axis or should they wait. Allies/Commies had discussed this at length.


…………………………………………..











2-4.jpg

March 6th, 1939

Authors note: We went for war. Germany had no troops on the border to Soviet which led to a negative value on the chances for Soviet to break the Mol-Rib pact. As we agreed this was a bug, Soviet had to DoW Italy instead, but without moving against Germany the first week.
Now hell would break lose in the world. We hoped this would capture at least Germany and Italy off guard – giving Soviet some initial land gains.












3-4.jpg

March 11th-12th, 1940

The anti-Axis had hoped that Soviet would beat Bulgaria long before Italy could take out Greece, thus giving Italy a two front war. They only got 1 day on the Italians, and both aggressors installed puppet regimes, thus keeping their respective armies intact. The stakes just popped up a few notches.












4-4.jpg

March 17th, 1940

With the Red Army attacking from the east, the Germans started to push even harder in France. The section of the front west of Paris had been fairly calm since before New Year, with Wehrmacht focusing on eastern France. Now, however, they had dared an attack on the city of Rouen. It became a terrible battle with over 10000 casualties, not included wounded and civilians. Rouen had been a corner-stone in the British front for a long time and sorrow spread across the British Isles when people read about it in the morning papers. Still, the British forces had the River Seine to retreat behind, so there was no point of getting panic.












5-2.jpg

March 20th, 1940

The Red Army blitzed right into Germany and even captured German heart-land in Preussia; land that had already be captured both by the Brits and the Poles previously. When they reached this line, however, the Red Army reported they had met and got stuck in a German defensive line. A few probing attacks, including of the city of Königsberg, proved the futility in such ventures. The Red Army settled down, dug-in and waited while their leadership focused on the Japanese and Italian frontlines.

Still, the Soviet leadership was far from content. The Germans had more troops waiting than expected and the Italians and Japanese answered with immediate pressure. Already from the start, the Soviets cried for a “third front” against Axis.












6-4.jpg

April 20st, 1940

The Brits were reluctant to open more fronts. They had invested heavily in France and wanted to keep the pressure up there - because as long the Germans had to fight in France, they could not push the Red Army back.

Now, however, Paris was cut off. Since the unexpected shift of leadership in France (from player to AI) their army had done a series of strange maneuvers ending up with huge garrison formations now being stuck in Paris and not guarding specific cities and places of strategic interest as intended. Surely, Paris would not fall quickly, but on the other hand, the effectiveness of the garrisons would be far from optimal.

The British leadership started to think about the retreat from France. Still, they really did want to keep Jerry in France as long as possible.

……

Still, hearing Soviet plea for help did affect the British leadership. They did want to attack especially Italy rather than giving that initiative over to them. Secondly, it would be good if the French navy would have the chance to bare down on Regia Marina before Germany conquered the entire country. Plans were forming and some troop formation, not active in France, were made ready for new missions.












7-4.jpg

April 21st, 1940

United Kingdom declared war on Italy after putting strong naval taskforces outside the ports were Regia Marina had big fleet concentrations. Then, an army corps made an amphibious landing north of Rome. The plan was to surround and conquer Rome and take their stockpile.

Hardly surprising, the Regia Marina sailed out in force to throw back the Royal Navy and keep their coasts free of enemy ships. Two huge sea battles were initiated and they were followed by several smaller clashes.

Authors note: Worth mentioning is that Japan was not affected by the British DoW on Italy – which was good for me but unexpected. I thought a British DoW on an Axis member would affect them all.












8-3.jpg

Late April, 1940

United Kingdom had prepared a lot for this naval confrontation. They had made costly investments in training of crews the design of modern doctrines. Clearly, the Italians more old school maritime doctrines caused them to be fooled and outmaneuvered by the Royal Navy at every turn and while the Brits lost no ship, the Italians lost 9 ships within a few days, of which two was heavy cruisers. This was a good start.

Still, the Brits heavy investment in fleet doctrines would surely be felt on other arenas…












9-2.jpg

April 26th, 1940

Rom got surrounded when half an Army Corps landed south of the city and linked up with the first landing. Also, the battle of the port would soon be over in favor to the Brits. That would force a damaged Italian task force out in the ocean where the Royal Navy awaited. Also, that would give the invasion force a well needed supply hub. So far so good.

A little bitter quicker than anticipated, the Italian managed to get three infantry divisions to the encirclement. The 7th Indian Infantry got the suicidal task of tying the Italians down and initiated a demanding offensive against Montalcino.

Still, surveillance told the Brits Italian divisions were inbound from the south and they realized that time for conquering Rome was slim. They had not even been able to maneuver in position for a powerful attack yet.












10-2.jpg

April 26th, 1940

It seemed, however, that the Axis was badly shaken by the fact that Rome was surrounded and under attack. Japan, not being satisfied with the war against the Rus, declared war on the Allies – including the USA. The entire world was now on fire.




.............................................
 
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That got out of hand really fast :) Looks like Germany got caught a bit with his pants down; I'm sure the situation will stabilize, however. Gripping stuff as always!
 
Is the german defensive line really able to hold back the soviets? I kind of were expecting more progress on that front.
How are Hungary and the italian front in Yugoslavia going?
(I would like a overview over the eastern front if possible :rolleyes:)
Any plans by Italy to move in the middle east and caucasus?

This is great, cant wait for next.
 
Looks like axis screwed itself pretty bad there. Some more intel/info on the russian/German front would be interesting. (maybe SOV can provide screens)

Leaving Italy with so few troops in the capitol area...:rolleyes:

On the other hand they were probably not prepared for the avalanche of crap they triggered when DOWing Greece.

When Italy looses its Stockpile it will just speed up the end of this game.

(Maybe that is for the best as the teams don't seem evenly matched in playing experience, especcially as in your Group Allies and Commintern are allowed to cooprate as "one faction" which they were not.)

PS
The weird HOI3 threat system allowed the US entry... (Over Greece for crying out loud - pretty unrealistic).
But you guys stuck to it.

Now when SOV can't dow GER due to the Mol-Rib pact and the threat system you considere it this a BUG and circumvent it by dowing ITA.

Seems like double standards....
-> Didn't the Axis countries protest this?!
 
Wow, tough times for the Axis. If you manage to take Rome, then it will surely be a crippling blow for the Italians. They aren't a resource-rich nation and they need fuel for their ships.

Since it looks like German and Italian navies were heavily mauled, I think that you should invest more IC and LP in land and air units and limit naval investments. Japan will be your most powerful enemy naval-wise, but at least you can count on the US help.

AI-controlled France should fall within a month. Don't bother with them and focus on the Mediterranean theatre and the defence of India.
 
I say send the bulk of the USN to hold back Japan while you attack move to berlin with the soviets
 
Wow, what an interesting (and exciting) turn of events. :) Everbody is truly at war now and the US is involved ('squeeeee!*). I hope the Axis can handle the pressure. It looks like they were quite well prepared for the Soviet attack, so I don't quite get all the doomsayers in the threat - it still could go either way. Italy and Japan on the other hand are probably going to be seriously pressed. Still, the Italian response so far doesn't look too shabby and Japan always had much too little opposition in Asia, so this might not be a complete catastrophe for them - at least for the first two years or so before the US finishes its new carriers.
 
What about that landing in Italy, won't the British run out of supplies rather soon without a port?

And why did you think that Russia should be able to break M-R pact when the game doesn't say so? You did set a player for the USA when they could join the Allies thanks to the broken threat system and thought that'd be ok.
 
I still don't see how allies are winning, it'll be years untill us will be of any significant help and months untill germany will start trashing soviets. It doesn't look like Rome's gonna happen either, unless Cpteasy has another trick up hes sleeve.

Anyway, most excellent update Captain, gj !
 
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Sov is prevented by the game to do so, Ger isn't. They just circumvented the game rule by dowing another Axis member, something the game rules can not prevent because it is not clear who will be part of the Axis by a specific point of time in a game like this.

On the other hand, they did introduce a lot of rules against Axis and specifically Japan to prevent "unrealistic" things like Japanese troops in Europe and the such while at the same time not introducing anything the like for the Allies. We've seen the rather impossible landing in eastern Prussia and Cpt Easy admitted he conducted gamey landings in continental France several times. It's difficult to follow the reasoning if it's not used for both sides equally. I can't help but feel like the Axis has to fight with both their arms tied on their backs while the Allies do not have any restrictions at all.

Balancing is one thing, but you have to chose whether you want an interesting game with realism or view it as just another game, which would mean abstracting at as a some sort of Risk.
 
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Sov is prevented by the game to do so, Ger isn't. They just circumvented the game rule by dowing another Axis member, something the game rules can not prevent because it is not clear who will be part of the Axis by a specific point of time in a game like this.
I think it wasn't exactly that. Cpt wrote sth about a buggy NEGATIVE force requirement of breaking the NAP. Apparently, Germany didn't have any troops stationed at the SOV-GER border.

Also, MP games are gamey in general. Players are constantly min-maxing and searching for exploits, because winning is the only thing that matters.
 
I'm enjoying it as presented - MP is always different to SP and has to be enjoyed on different grounds. I'm also not so sure the Axis is finished. It'll be a long time before the US can really act, they've stalled the Soviet opening moves, France will collapse and that means the Soviet forces will be on the defensive in good infra provinces where the Axis have supply advantages - it could be rather hard for them to pull back with any ease. I'm not sure about Turkey - if the Soviets can grab Istanbul et al that both shores up the south flank and gives a threat to the Balkans - if the Italians hold on in the Balkans then Turkey is a threat to both the Caucasus and the Middle East
 
I think it wasn't exactly that. Cpt wrote sth about a buggy NEGATIVE force requirement of breaking the NAP. Apparently, Germany didn't have any troops stationed at the SOV-GER border.

Also, MP games are gamey in general. Players are constantly min-maxing and searching for exploits, because winning is the only thing that matters.

Making an interesting game is the only thing that matters, otherwise the artifical restrictions for the Axis would be moot.
 
Sov is prevented by the game to do so, Ger isn't. They just circumvented the game rule by dowing another Axis member, something the game rules can not prevent because it is not clear who will be part of the Axis by a specific point of time in a game like this.

On the other hand, they did introduce a lot of rules against Axis and specifically Japan to prevent "unrealistic" things like Japanese troops in Europe and the such while at the same time not introducing anything the like for the Allies. We've seen the rather impossible landing in eastern Prussia and Cpt Easy admitted he conducted gamey landings in continental France several times. It's difficult to follow the reasoning if it's not used for both sides equally. I can't help but feel like the Axis has to fight with both their arms tied on their backs while the Allies do not have any restrictions at all.

Balancing is one thing, but you have to chose whether you want an interesting game with realism or view it as just another game, which would mean abstracting at as a some sort of Risk.


1.
I agree 100% with this impression.

The game could have become really interesting with the US entry alone. The gamey SOV dow on top of it was really not called for and screwed it.

2.
I checked the House Rules and couldn't find anything on military access between Comintern and Allies.
Historically WWII was a three block war (eg the Diplomatic triangle) with all of the three factions beeing very antagonistic. The allies were very paranoid of the Russians and vice versa. Allied material aid to SOV was not given for love of each other. And military acces into each others spheres was out of the question.

I really hope we won't see a ton of British and US troops rebased to Russia (via the naval landing/transport Baltic) together with allied air to "help" Russia on the GER front.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3.
On Italy - it is about time Italy realises that it is not a true major who can follow his own agenda!
(Mussolini didn't realize this and screwed Axis pretty bad by this. Dowing Greece on his own and failing etc., causing Spain to never join the Axis etc.)
In this game ITA appears to be a liability for Axis even more than it historically was!

To be successfull in this game ITA must follow the GER lead and complement the joint strategie!

This means:
1.
No conquests just because ITA wants its own fancy little empire (which it cant defend anyway)
2.
No fancy build an research schemes across the full Tech Spectrum for ITA. It really needs to focus it's limited tech (leadership) and limited IC on a few important things.

a.)
Infantry Tech and doctrines are a number one priority.
ITA must build decent INF divisions till the MP is low, if it starts to get low start replace the obsolete crap (Cavalry, Mountain, Militia, Garrison) by state of the art INF.
-> That way ITA can maximise the results of tech/IC input.

These boots on the ground are the biggest asset ITA can provide for Axis.
-> The tasks are not fancy though!

(Guarding ITA, guarding the french coast to free up GER trops for the east, if possible helping out a bit on a small section of the easten front)

b.)
In this game forget about anything Naval (no research and no production anymore) - I was tempted to say "scrap the useless RM" but for the subs.
But I feel the Allies will do this for ITA in short time and free of charge.
-> With US in the war no GER navy to speak of and the Med open there is no future for the RM.

c.)
Airforce - focus on two or three types of planes max to keep research diversity within reason.

INT (tech and doctrine) - priority!
Axis will be overwhelmed by Allied Air superiority over the med within the next year otherwise.

d.) And please ITA consolidate and support GER! Don't get taken out of the game because you try to keep Turkey!
Fall back and start building a proper defense - which starts by properly garrisoning ITA and creating a flexible reserve.
The rest can try to stop Russia in the Balkans - forget about Grreece too if necessary!

Tac/Nav - keep them if you have them - priority on the NAV's (tech/doctrine/ugrade) but only if there is IC/research capability available.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PS
@Allies
Why not try to take out ITA right now - with everything US and ENG can scrape together quickly? ...

It would be interesting to see who is qicker Allied naval landings or GER strat redeployment of armour divs to save ITA.

In any case GER would be hurt... (even more)

PPS
Interesting how this AAR gets so intense that I get excited - sitting on the sideline like a Tifosi - knowing everything better than the Coaches of course ;) :D

PPS
How often a week do you guys play and when is the next update?!
 
Also, MP games are gamey in general. Players are constantly min-maxing and searching for exploits, because winning is the only thing that matters.

Exactly. This makes the games so much fun but also difficult to balance. We are constantly reviewing our rules and settings in order to optimize the experience for all players. As CptEasy's dedicated readers know, the Allies have had some very difficult games in the past, and we have changed our house-rules extensively to balance that. You might call it a new patch :)

After each game, we look critically at all parameters and try to change things that don't fit in (for various reasons). We also look for inspiration in other AARs. People with MP experience are more than welcome to post their set of house-rules.

Things look dire for Italy ;) Looking forward to the next post!