A Newbie's AAR and Strategy Tips

[Joisey]

First off, let me say that I've read many other AAR's posted here. I hereby salute all the talented and aspiring novelists, and give notice right at the outset that I have neither the time nor the energy to do an AAR in that style.

What I do want to do, is give a narrative of my first campaign experience in game terms, rather than as a novelization, mostly because I didn't see any written in that style, and I would have appreciated the tips. So, for all that are about to follow me, here goes. Think of this as my guide to blundering around in the dark and on what NOT to do:

Campaign as Germany, start 1936. All settings normal. Fog of War is on. In hindsight this is a mistake for your first game, since it would be nice to see what else is going on in the world. This is the disc right out of the box, which I'm pretty sure means it's not ver. 1.03. While it seems most of the enthusiasts here have already downloaded that patch, I think there are a significant number of players like myself who won't get around to doing that for quite awhile, or not at all.

Starting O.B.:

(I know most may be aware of this, but I include it here to discuss what needs to be done in terms of builds, and what you can expect to realistically do with this O.B. and when)

3 armor divs, basic PzrI
37 infantry divs, scattered around Germany in 11 corps.
A Luftwaffe consisting of 4 fighter sqdr, 2 tac bomber, one dive bomber (the HS-123, not even a Stuka) and two air transports. Your Kriegsmarine includes 9 cruisers and 6 sub flotillas.

Based on my first attack in 1938, do yourself a favor and don't try attacking anyone in the Spring of 1936 with this pitiful force, except maybe Austria.

Let's talk about research for a moment. I made the mistake of researching out of the box alot of artillery gun upgrades, in terms of mm size. This gets you no new units, which I didn't start paying attention to until later. Research at this point in the game should be your primary concern, as no one is going to attack you and you can pretty much decide when to go to war during the '30's.

My Research tips: Start with industry research, like mass assembly and vehicle and aircraft assembly. These will pay huge dividends right away after completion, cutting production times and costs for units. Don't bother with ship production yet, if at all, as your not going to build anything other than subs, which are already pretty cheap and quick. Next is the mechanical computation machine upgrade, which will speed your research efforts. Obviously the sooner you do this, the greater the benefits for the rest of the game. I also started researching under rocketry early, with visions of jet fighters coming soon. Don't do this in the first two years, as it is a long process and there are other things you will need first. You need to research air doctrines to get your air unit organisational caps up. They only start at 40, which is too low for repeated sorties. Check out land doctrines for any you don't have yet, and under infantry improvements and armor improvements. Target things like Mechanized HQ, improved comand and control, signal corps, offensive artillery maneourve, and concentration of force doctrines. If you look at their benefits, they will all add serious increases to your land unit organisational caps, meaning your units will have a qualitative edge and more staying power in combat. Do the research necessary to start adding brigades to your units. Being able to add an artillery brigade to an armor div, for instance, roughly doubles it's offensive power. It also seriously increases cost and time to complete, which is why you need the mass assembly industry research done first.

These research items all have the advantage and purpose of improving your units for the first attack you make. You also want to do research on air units as soon as possible, to get to the first basic dive bomber so that you can upgrade your HS-123's to Stukas. The HS-123 has a tac bombing strength of 1, and the Stuka has 2. Don't count on your air units to help you out much early on. They are going to require alot of tech upgrades before they start making much of a contribution to battle.

Economics: You are going to have an excess of steel. you will not be able to trade it for rubber on the world market because there probably won't be any available. Make sure you look at the top to see what the relative amounts of available commodites there are. Some people recommend a 3 to 1 ratio but I have found that if the world market surplus for steel and oil are both 9999, then I consistently get 1 to 1 trades of the max 100 units. This is the best trade you can do at this time. It will goose your IC's from the low 200's (say 205 to 215), up to as high as the 380's. Don't go crazy putting alot of things in queue if you want them right away, since that high total will inevitably fall to around 280 or so. There will be no explanation for this drop. When you go to page 3 of the stat sheet, you will see you are still getting 100 oil from your trade. It just drops, and you have to get used to constantly adjusting your sliders.

1936

During all of 1936, I did nothing but build things and do research. My first builds, which I do not regret, were for 35 infantry divisions. I considered a 3 div corp a minimum to protect my frontiers, and as I looked at the map, I saw alot of open frontier provinces. I tried improving the infrastucture in Hanover to see if oil production improved. It takes a year to complete. Result: No improvement. My advice: Your IC cap is already higher than you have resources for, and all your provinces have high infrastructure ratings (79). You don't have to worry about increasing these.

Invisioning an eventual Democratic Ally response to my conquests in the East, I ordered the production of 4 more sub flotillas. Why 4? Well, because the Kriegsmarine starts in two large flotillas, one of which is 5 sub flotillas on the German Atlantic coast. The commander has a Wolf Pack advantage, which is good, and a max flotilla command rating of 9. So I ordered 4 sub flotillas not realizing that the surface fleet also had a sub flotilla attached. I finally organized my subs into 2 groups, one with 9 in Whilemshaven, and one with 1 sub in the port by Kiel. This will be expanded later to a full 9, for the expected sub war against the Brits. The surface fleet was moved to the Baltic base at Rostock, so the Allies wouldn't have such a tempting target sitting so close by on the Atlantic coast.

I also ordered one naval bomber sqd, which I also posted in Whilemshaven under a commander with a fleet buster adv. Again, the idea was to start work on an eventual full sized Luftflotte group, and having one naval air unit was thought to be useful on the odd chance the allies blind side me, for recon or targets of opportunity.

Lastly in 1936, I ordered up 4 more armor divs and 2 mech divs, and a dive bomber. The mech divs were ordered because at the exact moment I didn't have the builds for armor (mechs only cost 8) and my strategic thinking is that I'll need some infantry to keep up with the armor that will then detach to occupy conquered provinces and guard the supply line for the armor.

At the outset I willy nilly spent all but 2 of my diplomatic points, which was a mistake. My first move was to "influence" Hungary, followed by a serious of "hardly influenced" on Finland, Romania, Hungary, Japan and Italy. I also did a series of tech transfers to Italy and Japan, including all my naval research and some land doctrines and armor research. I also had several failed attempts to bring Italy into the Axis (they start fascist, but not in alliance with Germany). My hope was the tech transfers would help the Italians finish off the Eithiopians quickly, but alas, you can never underestimate Italian incompetence.

My biggest mistake was to refuse to intervene when the Spainish Civil War event came up. When it did, I was caught flat footed, having run down my reserve of supplies. The window said that if you chose to intervene, it would cost you 50 manpower and 200 supplies. What it didn't tell you was if that was a one-time cost, or every month, or what. As my supply reserve was down in around 35 (due to poor slider management) I was concerned about what would happen if I chose to intervene. Would some of my units disappear from lack of supply? With a 170 point difference, that could be alot of units! The consequence of choosing not to intervene was to take a 5% increase in dissent. As I had it at 0 and at least that was a consequence I was fairly sure about what would happen, I chose it. I still don't know what would have happened over the supply issue, but I do know that I haven't been able to reduce that 5% level since. And the Spainish Civil War is still going two years later.

Regarding economics, I blundered about and probably traded away 10,000 units of steel to the Global Market for absolutely nothing in return. This was because I kept trying to trade for rubber, and didn't notice that the world reserve was at 2! I spent most of my time adjusting my sliders every minute, and cursing the game coders for such an obnoxious bug of sliders that dont lock right (except for domestic needs, this is the only slider lock that does work, the rest you have to watch constantly)

1937

I researched all the things I mentioned above that I should have done earlier. I built 7 new armor divs, and 3 more mech divs, and was able to upgrade my 2 dive bomber sqd to Stukas. I also spent alot of time trying to find leaders suitable for the units they were leading. All the frontier provinces got infantry corps with 3 divs, except the one down by Switzerland with no economic value, and the Baltic coast of Rostock and the adjacent province got corps with 2 divs, since I ran out of inf divs, and the threat there was less. The air transports were moved to Berlin, which remained with a corps of 2 infantry divs.

I decided to strike at the Czechs first, and moved the 1.Panzergruppe to Breslau under Manstein. After reading elsewhere on this board that attempts to diplomatically influence depends on how many points you have in the bank in the first place, I stopped all diplomatic efforts. I stopped all tech transfers too, to help build up my diplomatic points and because the more successful the Italians are, the more provinces they will have instead of me (not that they seem to be doing anything. They still haven't finished off the Eithopians)

I did better with economics, finally figuring out to do trades of steel for oil instead of rubber. First this was at 3 to 1, and then I found I could get away with 1 to 1. This put a nice turbo boost on my production, but the totals still fluctuated around alot.

Based on a tip I read elsewhere on this board, I built one AA factor in all my western provinces that didn't have one (but not the coast provinces, I didn't want to do too much at once). Principally, I wanted provinces like Hanover with high industry, coal, or oil values to have at least a minumum AA defence in case of an unexpected Allied reaction.

1938

I settled on May to attack the Czechs. From January on I tried to finish up as many org boosting techs or combat value inhancing techs as I could.

By February my last builds that would be ready for May were done. I settled on a 13 armor div corp under Rommel to invade Tropau from Breslau. I chose Rommel because of his high skill level and his Trickster advantage, which I hoped would combine with armor shock to quickly subdue the Czechs. Manstein had a 5 mech div corp, plus acting as a headquarters, to follow up Rommel. The HQ tech is really cool, doubling an adjacent leaders max div rating, allowing Rommel, in this case, to command 18 divs. I moved 2 fighter groups of 2 squadrons each to cover the Rhur valley. I put 2 tac bombers, 2 dive bombers, and 2 fighters under Kesslering out of Breslau to support Rommel. A final single fighter squadron under a leader with the tactical genius adv was also based here just to fly patrol.

By the end of April, I had two more org techs done. Offensive artillery maneouver won't be ready till June. I have only one item in the build queue, an armor div with an attached artillery brigade, the first of its kind. Unfortunately, it won't be ready till August. I was not able to upgrade any armor divs to the 20mm armed cannon, realizing far too late that since I had skipped over the "amphibious tank" tech, that research remained forclosed. Its in the queue now, and I plan to upgrade all the armor in time to invade Poland.

In April the Anschluss event came up, which I elected to press for, not that it did any good. Austria is aligned far into the democratic camp now, although I never saw any message windows indicating that the Allies had been working on influencing her. Interestingly, I noticed that Ireland was drifting toward the commie pole, but I don't know why. Also in April I demanded territory from the Czechs. I wasn't sure if doing so would give me a casus belli, or make the Allies think I had a better excuse than sheer bloody mindedness for attacking Austria, so I gave it a try. I swear the refusal window came up before I had even pushed the button, it was so quickly denied!

May 1, 1938, I declare war. I tried to first set my guys to moving, but forget it, you have to declare war first and then move, the game won't let you do a pearl harbor, apparently. Upon declaring war my global trade goes from 100 oil for 100 steel to 9 oil for 100 steel. Oh well, that was not unexpected.

May 1, 1938, I order up my first attack. Oh Boy! I start with Kesselring's group. A dialogue box comes up allowing me to set the day and time. The game is paused at 8:00, and the box says 9:00, meaning, I guess, that the flight time is at least an hour. I'd like it to coincide with Rommel, so I set 12:00 noon. How long could it possibly take to drive accross the border, after all? When I get to Rommel, I set in the same time, and unpause the game. I set my single fighter sqd to patrol, and then get Manstein moving after Rommel. But wait! Because the sliders don't let you build up an oil reserve, I've run out of oil and have to wait. Manstein ends up being two days behind Rommel as a result. The air org cap has been increased, btw, from a starting 40 to 50. The land units had their caps moved up by 3 points. 3 infantry divs remain behind to guard Breslau.

Rommel takes an entire day to get to Tropau. I fly two sorties with Kesslering in the interim, to no discernable effect. The Czechs one biplane fighter squadron in Tropau is intercepted by my single fighter sqd on patrol. Amazingly, the patrol squadron proceeds to chase the Czech across the Suedaten, defeating it in battle after battle, refusing to let go, like some kind of aerial pit bull! He finally destroyed the Czech squadron, and then inexplicably landed in Plizen with 15 org strength. Luckily no Czech ground units were there, and I quickly directed my worn out patrol fighters back to Breslau before any nearby Czechs could pounce.

Meanwhile, Rommel gets to Tropau and starts fighting 5 inf divs. I have time to get in two more bombing sorties, all to no visible effect. The Czechs break and run to the Suedaten mountains. Manstein is way behind schedule, he won't get to Trapau for another day. I decide to send Rommel on to Prau(gue) There he meets 26 divisions! 4 are armor and the rest motorized. Because he is now two provinces away from Manstein, he loses the HQ benefit. In fact, the battle window says he's only controlling 5 of 13 divs effectively. His stat says he can handle 9 by himself, so WTF?! The opposing Czech general can control 13 out of his 26 divs. Strength wise the Czechs are 100 points stronger than Rommel, organization wise, the Czechs top out per div at 15, while my guys are in the 90's. Nevertheless, they do not break easily, and Rommel fights a five day battle, all the way to May 7th. In the meantime, Manstein got to Traupau and bumped Rommel's div cap up to 18, meaning he finally starting using all his 13 divs. I get in 4 air sorties with Kesselring at Prague, all to no dicernable effect. Lesson learned: Either I need to do some serious air combat research (likely) or I need alot more tac air (also likely). On the plus side, none of the squadrons in this luftflotte have lost much org strength, 5 points at most. On May 7th the Czechs broke and I paused the game to recheck the manual on what I have to do to capture the country. I believe I just have to capture Bratislau. The Czechs 26 divs are all running to Plizen. There seem to be no Czechs to the east of Prau and Tropau, while the Suedaten fortifications hold 3-5 inf divs dug into the fortresses there. At this point I'm realizing that not having more infantry around to secure the Czech provinces is going to be a problem. I avoided building any motorized inf because their defense values were so much lower than regular infantry. I forgot the need to have speedy cheap infantry to hold won provinces.

No reaction on the diplomatic front to this invasion, btw. Austria, Poland, and the low countries have remained neutral, and UK and France are shrugging over this.

TO BE CONTINUED.....

[Doc Holliday]

An auspicious start indeed!

I happen to like this style of narrative AAR when it employs the right balance of details. IMHO, you have thus far achieved exactly that. Also, the inclusion of thought process (showing both things that work and things that don't) is always a plus in my book.

I'll be following this AAR...keep up the good work!

[Underground]

I agree.

A great start it is!

[Jythier]

I've been waiting for an AAR like this, as I have no idea how to play HOI and I wanted a run through of someone else in game terms, without all the hoopla. Thank you, now I can learn from someone else's experience!

What does O.B. mean?

I've found I'm pretty fluent with the economics end, just not the war end... doh... the IC drop may have been due to lack of resources. Or because of an increase in dissent. Even if the world market has no rubber, that doesn't mean there's no rubber being traded through it, so you still might be getting rubber. If your trade is red, it's not going through. If it's white, you're golden. Enough color for you?

Thanks for the research tips! I stared at that screen for half an hour when I first opened it, trying to figure out what it was doing. :P

Good luck with the remainder, hope I helped, and hope I'm not encroaching too much on your AAR.

[Norgesvenn]

Nice AAR so far.

I suppose O.B. means Order Of Battle?

[Joisey]

Thanks for the replys guys! It's nice to know this labor of love is appreciated and of use to my fellow gamers.

Yes, O.B. stands for Order of Battle. I'm a military history buff, so if I break into any jargon or unfamiliar acronyms, let me know.

Now that I've started this AAR, I'm keeping notes as I go, so the following chapters will be more detailed.

In response to a specific question, no, my dissent has not changed from the 5% imposed in failing to intervene in Spain, so that's not what's causing the income fluctuations. Income in commodities has also been fairly constant, so I'm baffled. One thing I forgot to mention: Trading 100 steel for 100 oil, before you have conquered anyone, cannot be kept up indefinitely. I have preferred to save up my steel till I've got 6000 banked, and then "turboboost" my economy for the next 60 days. Once at war, you may want to consider suspending global trade, since the return will be drastically reduced, in my case from 100 oil to 9. I did not, feeling that every drop was needed.

Important: I neglected to mention a problem I solved early on with the German economy. East Prussia produces 5 oil for Germany. You must set up a convoy between Stettin and Elba? to transfer this to Germany proper to be used. Otherwise it just piles up on the docks in East Prussia. Note too that the computer automatically will transfer this commodity towards Berlin as far as possible, so that the convoy must be from the province adjacent to Danzig, even though the oil is actually from the province furtherest away! (Konigsberg?) When you go to the Set Up Convoys window, follow the box to set a convoy up going from East Prussia to Stettin (the direction is important!). Once the convoy is set up, then add transports until the window indicates that enough are present to ship the oil there (I think a minimum of 5, and I put in 10 in case of transports getting sunk in the future) plus escorts to taste.

We now return to our story....

May 8, 1938

Prague fell. I let the Czechs go and order Rommel to stand his ground. I do this because if I can force an annexation, all these units are going to go poof, so why further the wear and tear on my own guys? I then have to get someone to Bratislava. I fly a recon with a fighter group to see what's there. Nothing. Then I send a detachment of 3 panzers from Rommel's group to secure Bratslava, because they are the fatest units. I also set infantry from the Polish border marching South to Breslau, and the infantry corp in Breslau to Troppau. In Troppau, I split up Manstein's Mech Divs one a piece to go through the Czech Eastern Provinces. They don't get anywhere though, due to a lack of oil.

May 12, 1938

The Panzer detachment gets to Bratislava, but when I try to annex Czechland the option is not available. I don't want a puppet. I suspect that in addition to the "key provinces" you also need a certain minimum of total provinces captured as well. My Mech detachments finally start moving and when I've got another province under my belt (Neuhaus), I'm able to annex Czechoslovakia. Woohoo!! All Czech units disappear and the country is mine. 1 down, 20 to go.

Note: When at war, domestic needs drops like a stone. In my case, from around 80 to 20. So once at war, look to managing your sliders cause you need that 60 IC's elsewhere. Once back at peace, make sure to check it again.

Also: After battle make sure you click on the little fist icon for your units. This brings them up to strength, though not up to full org levels. If the icon is dark, your units don't need replenishment. The cost is relatively cheap, IMHO, at least relative to what it cost to do the same thing in SSI's Panzer General (ah, some fond memories there). In practice, this is more useful for the air units, as their combats go quickly. Land unit combat takes alot longer but once you've got a province, don't forget to "high five" a unit's fist icon before sending them on to the next province!

May 16, 1938

I now start reorganizing my units, remerging the armor and mechanized divisions. Since it is still early in the campaign season, I decide to next take out Austria, one way or another.

May 18, 1938

Rommel is replaced by Von Bock by me. The Trickster adv didn't seem to be worth much to me, and the Panzer Leader adv is probably more useful on subsequent rounds. I position 1.Panzergruppe at Nuehaus to attack into Horn, with it's 13 armor divs. I move 3 infantry corps to cover the Polish border. I don't have enough to cover the Czech Eastern Provinces and don't even try to. I also move the 6th Korps (3 inf divs) to Konstanz, the 7th Korps to Winterburg (3 inf divs) and the XI Armeekorps (7 inf divs) to Munchen.

Absorbing Czechslovkia and getting back to peace shot my economy sky high, up to 404 IC's out of a total of 484. This occured after my Global trades went back to 100 steel for 100 oil. While it could be possible to get more oil at one time by multiple trades, I have never chose to, since unit production and research all involve steady expenditures over long periods of time. Therefore, I have found it more advantageous to raise my income a little, for a longer period of time, since that is the way things are purchased in this game. I also notice that the Czech's steel added to mine is keeping my 5,000+ stockpile pretty steady.

I proceed to go on a spending binge like a lotter winner with a compulsive buying habit: 8 armor divs w/ artillery brigades attached, 1 mot inf div w/ AA brig attached and 1 mot inf div w/ AT brig attached. The motorized divs are a departure for me. I envision using them in pairs as fast moving (well, faster than foot infantry anyway. Armor is the fastest, but I'm not using it for this mission due to cost) detachments to take and hold open or lightly defended provinces. The AT and AA brigades are for helping them resist counter attacks from similar light forces. A slightly beefed up attachment could include another motorized or mech with artillery. Anyway, these will be the first of many. While they aren't really needes for the small countries, I'm sure they'll be useful in Poland or Russia.

While these are only 10 divs they are expensive ones. The armor is 16 IC's, and the mot are 10 (AT) and 9 (AA). You do the math.

In research, I've been working on amph tanks to upgrade the armor. It will be ready mid Sept. Next I dial up Improved Plastics. This is a key one because it allows you to make Nylon. Check out all the things you can do with Nylon! Alot of specialy units like paratroops, arctic, desert, etc. get unlocked with this. Basic Tac Bomber will give me an improved Ju-88. Basic Nav Bomber an improved version of that. Force Concentration Doctrine and Early air war experience round out the list, which will boost my land and air unit org caps. The air units need it the most as they top out at 50 for dive bombers, 45 for my tac air, and a measly 35 for my Nav bomber. Hope I don't have to use any time soon

May 20, 1938

I decide to see if I can subdue Austria bloodlessly first. I've got 40 diplomatic points built up and I try the coup option. It fails spectacularly and costs me 25 points. Well, that's it, no more Mr. Niceguy.

June 11, 1938

I waited awhile for two reasons. First, on this day my Improved Offensive Artillery Maneovre tech was done, giving the land units a final org boost. Secondly, it was a rainy Spring. Don't forget to pay attention to weather and time of day. There are seriously bad modifiers if you try to fight in mud or at night-time, so I advise to avoid it unless you are really pressed for time.

June 12, 1938

Declared war on Austria. I'm expecting a cakewalk. Incidentally, the news ticker reports on this date that Japan, China, and the USA all rape Nanking. Bizarre, n'est pas? And please, no gang bang jokes

The economy goes into the dumper again, right on schedule, in the low 200's. My new divisions won't see the light of day now till January and February of '39.

June 14, 1938

My 3 inf div corps at Konstanz attacks Bergenz one Austrian inf div. 3 of my inf divs from Winterberg take on a single Austrian at Linz. The 7 corps at Munchen sit pat as a reserve and wait to see if any other corps need help. My 1.Panzergruppe attacks from Nuehaus into Horn and meets an Austrian corp of 3 inf divs and 1 armor div. 2.Panzergruppe trys to sneak into the Austrian capital at Wein from Bratislava. 3 of my fighter squadrons start a series of battles to wipe out Austria's single squadron of biplanes.
I send Kesselring's (tank buster) 2 tacs and 2 dive bombers twice to the battle at Horn. No discernable effect.

June 15, 1938

Victories at Bregenz and Horn. The 2.Panzergruppe (5 mech divs) under Von Manstein run into 5 inf divs in Wein and start slugging it out.

June 16, 1938

1.Panzergruppe chases Austrians to Wein. That pits my 13 armor and 5 mech against the Austrian's 8 inf divs and 1 armor. Austrian strengths vary, some of the infantry divs from Horn in the 20's, the armor at 97, and other infantry in the 60's to 80's. Org cap is in the mid teens for the Austrians.

June 19, 1938

No progress being made in Linz, so I detach 3 divs from the reserve in Munchen and march them to Linz. That's 6 to 1, and Linz falls.

June 22, 1938

The battle of Wein has been going 8 days. I have not managed to put any kind of dent into the Austrians here. My land units have lost a few strength and org apiece, not much to worry about. Still, this is a dangerous trend. Repeated sorties by Kesselring has managed to reduce the armor div stats by 1 point! I have a corps of 3 inf divs in Horn and send them into Wein.
I also send the remaining 4 inf divs at Munchen to attack Salzburg.

June 26, 1938

Still no progress taking Wein. I send in another 3 inf divs from Horn and have several corps from the Polish frontier marching down to help out, if need be. Repeated air sorties continue to be futile.

June 29, 1938

The Austrians in Wein seem to be invulnerable! I send 6 more inf divs from Bratislava which arrived from the Polish frontier into Wein. I'm starting to wonder if I've made a mistake and thoughts of a cakewalk are long forgotten.

June 30, 1938

3 inf div corps attack Klagenfurt and Innsbruck. At least my infantry is rolling up the Austrian countryside. Meanwhile, my guys in Wein keep knocking their heads against a brick wall.

July 2, 1938

I take Innsbruck from 4 Austrian inf divs, the extras having straggled in from other provinces I took from the Austrians.

July 4, 1938

I send another 3 inf div corps from Bratislava into Wein. I remain stumped as to why I'm not doing any damage to the Austrians here.

July 6, 1938

I send another 3 inf divs to Klagenfurt. It falls the following day.

July 10, 1938

The Austrians have all been wiped out except for Wein. I send a single inf div to occupy Graz, the only other Austrian province remaining uncaptured. Since I don't have the capital, the only thing diplomatically I can get for my efforts is to sue for peace, which is not acceptable. Oh well, in for a penny, in for pound. The situation in Wein has my guys ever so slowly being ground down, while I have only scratched the Austrians superficially in return. Amazing.

July 11, 1938

I get Basic electromechanical computer. That ought to help my research. I send my last 9 inf divs that had been taking out the Austrian countryside (my last units anywhere near Austria) into Wein and wait to see if it will make any difference. I now have 42 divisions in Wein, being held at bay by 9 Austrian divisions and the Austrians don't seem to be breaking a sweat yet

July 12, 1938

Took Graz. I've got single infantry divs in Graz, Linz, Horn and Bratislava just to guard against the Austrians getting cute. A funny thing now does happen. The battle window in Wein indicates that the Austrians are now surrounded. the pop up box dutifully informs me that the Austrians are now severely disadvantaged in defending themselves. Lo and beyold, the immovable stat figures on the Austrian units start moving downward. Finally. Even Kesselring's attacks start doing noticeable damage. Yahoo!

July 14, 1938

After 30 solid days of fighting over Wein, the Austrians finally break and I'm able to annex Austria. Pwhew!!!

Lesson Learned: If you find yourself with a tough nut to crack, surround the bastards and then take them out. I now know I would never have been able to take on the Austrians in 1936, unless they had alot fewer units too. I vow not to underestimate any future opponents.

As my diplomatic efforts have been useless, I'm thinking of just conquering everything outright. I'm checking the map to see what else I could pick off before winter sets in. Think I'm going to take Hungary next. That should situate me nicely to take Poland and Romania in '39.

Till next time, Happy Valentine's Day...

[Doc Holliday]

Great update to your AAR and good job in the Austrian campaign! Two countries down...

[Dan Cook]

Nice AAR so far. Any chance of a screen shot?

[Joisey]

I've got a digital camera and have always loved AAR's with screen shots. However, having just turned 40, I've now tripped over into that part of the demographic that is technologically clueless.

Seriously, if you want to give me detailed step by step directions, I'd be willing to give it a try. Right now, that's quite beyond me.

[Dan Cook]

Press F11 in game to take one.

[Joisey]

This chapter is going to be short, timewise, due to the President's Day Blizzard, which left yours truly with little time (not to mention aching arms) for play after shoveling 18 inches of snow off my driveway.

The first thing I did was decide to click off Fog of War, just to see what's doing around the globe. It was quite an eye opener!

Italy has long conquered Eithiopia, but I never heard about it. Likewise, the Fascists won in Spain without my help, and that civil war is over. Japan is deeply engaged in China, with 4 inf divs in Qiqihar attacking 3 nat. chinese inf divs in hohhot. Commie Chinese hold Yanan and Xianyang. Datos holds 21 Nat. chinese divs (must be militia). The Japanese are up to and holding Taiyan, Beijing, and Jungjakor with 5 cav divs, 10 inf, and 2 mot. Japan holds all coastal provinces except Fuzhoi, where the Nat. Chinese have a strong salient (relatively equal strengths to Japanese) going back inland. Nowhere do I see a formation among the Japanese bigger than 6 divs.

The Russians have 12 armor divs, 5 mech, 65 inf divs and 12 squadrons, nearly all deployed on their Western border. the U.K. has in the home isles 6 inf divs, 7 fighter wings, and 16 strat bomber wings. 4 inf divs are in Scapa Flow, while 1 inf div is in Manchester and 1 in Portsmouth. The French have 7 inf divs in Colmar, 7 inf divs in Strasbourg, 13 divs of unknown type in Metz, 3 motorized and 3 inf along Belgium border, 3 inf divs in Paris, and 6 inf divs along the Italian border. They have 6 tac bomber wings and maybe 3 biplane fighter wings. The U.S. has a couple of armor divs and a few inf divs. The navies of the U.K and Japan are huge, of course.

Compared to the rest of the world, other than Russia, I'm HUGE! Even compared to the Soviets, their numbers only equal mine. Cool!


August 12, 1938

I've moved my forces into position to attack Hungary. Although I'd like to try a last ditch diplomatic effort, I'd have to wait another month to declare war if that fails, and I don't want to start this campaign in September. So, I declare war. Ominously, my dissent level jumps from 6 to 8%.

August 13, 1938

Von Bock and the 13 armor divs of 1.Panzergruppe attack 5 Hungarian inf divs in Budapest from Lucenec. Manstein's 5 mech divs in 2.Panzergruppe attack 2 inf divs in Debrecen from Kosice.
Debrecen falls the same day, before Kesselring's tac bombers can even get there.
Meanwhile, 12 inf divs under List attack 2 Hungarian inf divs in Veszprem from Bratislava. 3 fighter sqdrons designated JG-1 by me attack a Hungarian air group of 2 tac bombers lurking in Debrecen. Go get em, boys, and don't let go! Debrecen falls the same day. Budapest falls in a day. I try to annex but since I only declared war a day ago, it's too early to get any new diplomatic options.

August 14, 1938

And then the world crashed down around me! Like a bolt out of the clear blue sky, the Allies France and U.K, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, declare War on Me! AGGGGH! I'm not ready for this yet! Now I'm screwed!

Okay. Catch a breath. The first thing to do in an emergency is not to panic. A look over at the French side of the border shows 3 inf divs moving South from Chaumont, and 3 mot moving South from Sedan. The Froggies are also stripping their border with Italy, wiht 3 inf divs moving North from Grenoble and another 3 from Toulon. The good news is the 13 French divs in Metz aren't doing anything, likewise for the combined 14 inf divs in Colmar and Strasbourg.

A snapshot of my economic situation at this point shows Domestic: 53, Supply: 107, Science: 193/77 (193 budgeted, only 77 actually available), Builds: 192.

Back in Hungary, 2.Panzergruppe go on from Debrecen to seize Szeged. I still can't annex Hungary. In fact, I'll probably have to take every province because it's so soon after declaring war. Wrapping up Hungary quickly and rushing forces West is now a priority.

After calming down, I methodically start stripping divisions to strategically deploy to the French border. Since the U.K. only has 2 inf divs in Southern England, and the 4 in Scapa Flow are guarding an empty port, I reason that for the time being, I can get away with a single inf div along the Baltic and Atlantic coast. Likewise Poland is unlikely to join the fray, since their border provinces all have a mere 2 inf div each, and no appreciable reserves inland. So, I do the following:

3 inf divs in Landesburg are split up, with one going to Stettin, and one going to Oppelin. Those three inf divs will have to serve to contain Poland (or at least throw up a trip wire).

The 3 inf divs currently in Stettin are all strategically redeployed. One inf div in Rostock and Lubeck are S.R.'d, leaving 1 inf div behind in each province.

2 out of 3 inf. divs are S.R.'d in Kiel, Wilhaushaven, and Munster. I'm just going to have to count on the Allies not going through Belgium. I don't think the good guys will invade Belgium to get to me (French troop movements indicate they are heading for the Maginot Line) and if Belgium joins the Allies, I should at least have a little notice.

3 out of 4 inf divs in Essex march to Saarbrucken (where I expect the French to attack, since this is not mountainous terrain) and 2 out of 3 inf divs in Koln do the same.

I also send my fighter group (2 sqd) in Munster to Freiburg and 2 other fighter sqd in Mannheim to Freiburg. Across the border are 6 French tac bomber wings, which I intend to attack.

I also redeploy 10 armor divs from Budapest. These and all the afore mentioned infantry will be eligible to put back down on the map at 1:00 August 17th. So, my present border troops will have to hold till then. Darn good thing I built that extra infantry at the beginning of the game!

August 15, 1938

I strat redeploy 6 out of 8 inf divs in Szombathy. In Hungary, 4 of my inf divs engage 6 Hungarian cav in Pecs. I redeploy an inf div doing nothing in Graz and the 3 armor left in Budapest. These will all be ready for redeployment on August 18. Kesselring's squadrons are also sent West.

August 16, 1938

Pecs, the last Hungarian province, falls and Hungary is annexed. The bulk of the left over infantry still in Hungary are redeployed, 17 inf divs under List. My 3 fighter sqds in Hungary are also dispatched to the Western Front. Budapest ceases to be a capital province, or even a "key province". I'm getting the distinct impression the game does not like me invading other Fascist countries. Needless to say, wrapping up Hungary does NOTHING to lower my dissent level, holding at 8%.

I leave 1 inf div in Wein, Prau, Bratislava, and Budapest (I don't care what the map says) and have sent everything else West under Strat redeployment.

The Brits are filling up the Channel with a big naval presence, 8 capital ships and 6 smaller flotillas. As this force includes at least one carrier, I leave my Nav Sqd on the ground. I do order Donitz out of Wilhelmshaven with 9 u-boat flotillas, scheduled to attack the Brit fleet just after nightfall. My u-boats defeat the Brits, forcing them to retreat North. They don't appear to have sunk anything, even though the org strengths of several capital ships, including the carrier, reached 0. At least I don't have to worry about any invasions anytime soon.

My fighters have been winning battle after battle against French air squadrons, without having actually killed any of their units. Now their org caps are way down and I have to stand them down for rest.

Looks like I'm going to get my troops redeployed before a French offensive, and I start considering where to plan my own.

To be continued...

[Joisey]

Originally posted by Dan Cook
Press F11 in game to take one.

Okay, that sounds like step one. Now, how do I find the file and post it into a post here on this thread?

[Doc Holliday]

Originally posted by Joisey
Okay, that sounds like step one. Now, how do I find the file and post it into a post here on this thread?

The files should be somewhere in your HoI main directory, saved as bitmap images. To post them in your thread, you'll have to find somewhere on the web to upload those images --- a free webhosting service like GeoCities*, or many ISPs which may provide space on the web for uploading things are some possibilities.

Converting the files from bitmap (.bmp) files to jpegs (.jpg) are also a nice way of saving a lot of space and making the uploads quicker.

--------------------------------------------
* GeoCities is finicky about having people link directly to images on their pages, but it works just fine if you save your screenshots as .txt files.

[Joisey]

August 17-19, 1938

So, I've made it to August 17th, and start dropping troops down. Since 13 French divisions have massed opposite Freiburg, I put down 13 of my own, with 7 each in Stuttgart and Saarbrucken. I make the discovery that Von Veitinghoff has the Defensive Doctrine bonus, so he goes with the troops in Freiburg facing the biggest threat. Von Bock goes to Stuttgart to supply HQ support and because he now has the most experience of my non-panzer generals. Von Kluge gets the forces in the Saar, for similar reasons. 1. Panzergruppe under Manstein gets the 13 armor divisions plus 3 infantry, as I noticed the manual says that 4 armor or mech divs can "carry" a foot division without movement penalty. 2. Panzergruppe's 5 mech divs are led by Von Kleist with an extra inf div. These all go in the next province up from the Saar on the Belgian border, which name escapes me right now. I also pour all the spare infantry, 16 divisions worth in two corps, headed by Von Rundstedt and Von Leeb. A total of 38 divisions to blow through Belgium and lunge for a quick taking of Paris to knock the French out of the war!

Then I notice an awful little detail: Strat redeployment reduces a unit's org cap to ZERO! And the org caps go up a few points A DAY! What a blunder! Better had I marched from Hungary, the org caps wouldn't have gone down this much. Now these units are not only useless to attack France, they are actually vulnerable on the front line, and a danger to the original border units they have been merged with should they be engaged in combat, as they will break quickly into headong retreat!

I resolve to leave them where they are, as the AI is not supposed to know the org strength of my units, and the larger numbers of troops has up till now put off the French from attacking. The French forces start shifting up to threaten Stuttgart and the Saar, so I shift 8 inf divs to the Saar, hoping my bluff will keep the French ground forces at bay. My 7 fighter squadrons are regaining org cap SLOWLY, massed in Stuttgart. I'm in for a long wait before I'll be in a position to do anything on the ground.

August 20, 1938

I notice the Brit's return with an even larger surface fleet to the channel. I decide to sortie with my subs. I click on Donitz' 9 sub fleet in Wilhelmshaven, and decide to click on the fist icon to "top off the tanks" for the strength total of the fleet. What happens is unbelievable. The whole freaking 9 sub flotilla fleet disappears from the map, and appears on the deployment schedule. When they come back on, they are at org strength 0 and useless. Even worse, they were put back on one at a time, and now I can't get them to merge because there is a land unit in the province. Now I either have to move the infantry out exposing the coast to invasion, or sortie with 0 org strength units and hope the brits don't notice while I get the units merged. I now am unable to do anything on land, sea, or air. Things couldn't get much worse.

August 21-24, 1938

Then things got worse. That which I had been privately dreading finally happened: The Brits started strategic bombing all over Germany proper, in Wilhelmshaven (making my weak Nav Bomber wing retreat), Munster, Essen, Frankfurt, etc. The sorties were one or two bomber groups apiece, and they have been coming one after the other every two hours. At the same time (I have to give the AI credit here) the French struck with their fighter groups at my recuperating fighter groups in Stuttgart, doing to me what I had done to them, chasing and defeating my fighters in province after province. I end up having to pull the entire Luftwaffe back onto Berlin out of the Allies' reach. Meanwhile, the strat bombing of Germany's industrial hearland continues unabated, and I'm helpless to stop it. My one point of AA in a province has not done diddly squat to deter the bombers. A typical bombing attack robs a province of 2-5 IC's, a similiar amount of whatever resources are in the province (for the turn, I believe, not permanently) and damaging the infrastructure by 1-3 points. This is permament, and would have to be rebuilt (unrealistic, given the time required). With 6-8 attacks like this PER DAY, it won't be long until my economy is irretrievably crippled.

My only option is to send one or two of the most well rested fighters to try to intercept the bombers, and hope that is enough.

To be Continued...

[Joisey]

I've been talking to my sister-in-law about setting up a website on geocities, but my "playtime" is limited, what with a business, a wife, and two kids all demanding my time, so I don't think I'm going to get any screen shots up anytime soon. But I'll definitely get that together if I do a second AAR.

And now, back to our story...

August 25, 1938

Looking over my 7 fighter squadrons in Berlin, I pick the one with the highest org cap (35) and send it to Wilhelmshaven. At the same time U.K. bombs Hamburg? (the one between Wilhelmshaven and Kiel). It proceeds south and then tries to bomb Wilhelmshaven, but my fighter defeats it! Yahoo! I quickly pick another fighter with an org cap in the midthirties and post it at Hamburg?

August 26, 1938

That worked rather well. U.K. stops sending bombers to the German coast. Instead, the AI sends a force of 8 bomber wings to the French mainland (adjacent to Brussels). From there it starts flying 4 bomber wings on regular rotation down to Nancy and then up to attack the Saar. I get a fighter sqd (low 30's org cap) to the Saar just before U.K. gets there. It stops the bombers from bombing, but runs it's own org cap down to zero. I send it back away from the front to Mannheim and send another 2 fighters from Berlin (high 20's low 30's org cap) from Berlin to cover the Saar.

Here I must say that the AI, that had me on the verge of collapse a moment ago, now shows grave weakness via an idiotic fixation on attacking one point. Rather than try to probe another province or fly around my fighters in the Saar, the U.K. keeps sending a bomber flight of 4 wings once a day (in daylight) at the same point, making it easy for me to rotate my fighter wings in once they are rested. Another downfall of the AI, it fails to use French fighter groups to wear down my fighters first, or in conjunction with the English bombers, as it had done so well before. Too bad, as I now take advantage of the AI and "game the system"

August 27-30, 1938

Well, the game is kind of boring right now, but I'm not complaining. I've completely stemmed the British bombing campaign. The brits keep throwing 4 bomber wings (that are exhausted with org caps of 0 or 1) against 2 fighter wings of mine in the Saar with org caps of 50. The AI does not try to bomb anywhere else, or to challenge the fighters I have holding down the German coast (1 sqd per province) I don't even have anything in Kiel, but apparently the AI doesn't think its worth flying over Kiel to get at Germany proper. I should probably fix that and not get too cocky.

Should the AI start flying French (or God forbid British) fighters at my fighters it could probably collapse my air defense, so it's a little disappointing that it doesn't, especially since it did before.

On the ground, I have equalized my ground troops at 16 divisions each in the Saar, Stuttgart, and Frieburg. The French keep marching around on their side, at one point massing 21 divisions, but they have not dared to try to attack me. Meanwhile my org caps are rising, with the armor now in the low 60's. If weather permits, I may be able to launch an attack in late September through Belgium. One problem is that that will enlarge the "hole" in the "dyke" that my fighters have to cover against those pesky U.K. strat bombers, so I haven't decided for sure if I'll attack in the fall or wait for new builds to come on the map. If I wait till March '39 I'll have 8 more armor divisions and 4 more inf divs, all with attached brigades.

My economy keeps bumping along in the high 200's. This has allowed me to pretty much keep my builds on schedule, but only a quarter of what I need to do the research currently in queue. Oh well, c'est la guerre!

To Be Continued....

[Riboflavin]

Since you seem to be getting stuck on some places:

for your 1936 writeup:
On the research tips, another thing to do is to get the prereqs out of the way early. Keep researching the techs that enable a bunch of other techs early on, but save the ones that give a bonus until later. You want to get the improved infantry weapons tech out of the way, but you don't need to research all of those 3 month techs like submachine gun and effective land mines until you're close to going to war (if you're going to start warring in '38, start them all in January, bump them to the top of the queue, and they'll be done by the time you're fighting). Obviously you have to be careful about unexpected wars (especially if you're not Germany), but you can get much further along the tech tree than with a broad approach.

Economics and your worries about supply: Running out of supplies doesn't wipe out any units, so if you get an event that lowers supplies and don't have a stockpile, it doesn't matter. Your units might lose some org, but that's no big deal since it doesn't cost you anything unless you're actually fighting. And don't forget this trick: if you're not at war, who cares if your armies have ORG 0? You can knock the supplies slider down to 0 and won't have any units disappear, and something between 1/3 and 1/2 of needed supplies will let your units stay organized if they don't do anything. This wipes out your supply stockpile, and you have to remember to adjust when you go to war, but it can save you a bunch of resources. I don't consider it an exploit, I think it simulates partially funding the army in peacetime and demobilizing parts of units; your men will be less ready, and it will be some time before you have a good stockpile, but you don't spend as much on the army. I find that a little rockiness at the outbreak of war is worth the extra peactime production.

As far as purchasing units goes, there's no reason to try to exactly match what's in the queue with your total production; something that's partially covered will just take proportionally longer to build, and something that isn't covered will just wait until you've finished other units. I tend to keep about twice as much stuff in the pipe as my industry can actually build to avoid having to rush in and adjust stuff every time one unit gets finished.

1938

Yeah, there are some 'gotchas' in the research prereqs. For example, you always want to research 'Improved light tank prototype' even if you've abandoned light tanks for medium tanks because it opens up all of the tank destroyer and assault gun techs (which really boost your armor units and don't require upgrades). Also, remember that you only get to put one gun on a particular type of tank, so you might want to go all the way to 40mm tank gun before building better light tanks.

'38 May

I don't think it's needing extra non-VP provinces that gets you, it's that some things don't get refreshed by the engine until the next day. Whenever you're wondering why you can't annex (or any action), wait until the next day before thinking you need to do something else.

As far as reinforcing your units goes, remember that it reduces your organization. If you've only lost a little strength then it's no big deal, but when you're launching big, sweeping advances and need to keep moving you want to be careful about reinforcing since you can render your units ineffective in combat.

While it's clearly personal preference, I strongly prefer not to mess with splitting units once they're active. Going and finding a general for that new unit every time you pop into a new province can be a real PITA, and I think you'd run into trouble in MP since you can't pause like you do in SP. Also, while the 'ridealong' infantry sounds neat in the manual, I found that infantry tend to get chewed up too much compared to hard units and I'd keep ending up with a bunch of good-condition armor with a low org infantry div tagging along.

Also, a general note on your Austria-Chzeck campaign: Germany gets some events that help with Austria and the Chzecks in 1938 that you acted before, if you want to be optimal you want to wait until those events fire before deciding to solve your Southern Issue by war.

June 38

A big reason why your attack at Wein took a month was armor in the mountains; armor units are near-useless in mountain provinces, you need infantry (or mountain) troops to take down those defenders. Since Austria is mostly mountain, you'd be better off swapping most of your armor with border-guard inf for an attack on them. The only time I use armor in the mountains is to catch retreaters or to seal a pass while my infantry catch up; they are pathetic at driving out real defenders. Encirclement also works wonders, as you found out.

August 38

You can always merge units even when there's mixed stuff in the province. What you need to do is click through your stack until a sub is showing, then hold down shift and drag the box across the stack. You'll find all of your naval units selected, and you can merge them as you see fit. The same thing works for air, and remember that holding down shift and clicking on something in the list taks it out of the list.

[Joisey]

Thanks for the tips, Riboflavin!

I especially like your strategy with supply, although I doubt I'll be able to use it for the rest of this game, since I don't expect to get back to peacetime.

Regarding waiting until 1938, note that I did wait until the Anchluss event, but it didn't help. I think it is Czechoslovkia that is the most important acquisition early on due to the boost it gives the German economy--enough to be worth taking it by force of arms early.

When I redo a campaign with Germany again, I think I'd like to try not building any land units at all until I can attach brigades.

[Joisey]

Another annoying quirk in the game engine, which has persisted since the first EU, is how the game economy when you reload starts at some ridiculously low number, say 25 when it should be 350, until the next game day trips over. Obviously, to avoid this quirk, try to remember to stop playing at the end of a day, say at 2300 hours. I still forget to do this sometimes, and boy is it annoying.

September 1, 1938 Economy total at 332

Let me pause to give the reader a situation update, so you can have an accurate picture in your head, via TextPicture(tm):

Koln: 1.Panzergruppe with 13 armor divs at org strength of 60-67, with 3 inf divs at 54 org, under Manstein (Pzr Ldr, 30 exp points), all at full combat strengths. 1.PanzerGrenadier (formerly known as 2.PanzerGruppe) with 5 mech divs and 1 inf div under Von Arnim (Pzr Ldr) with 54-58 org strengths, max combat strength.

Saarbrucken: IX Armeekorps under Reichenau (Off Doc, 25 exp) with 8 inf divs, 5 with max org cap of 82, 3 at 54-61 org, max combat st. 3rd Korps under Rundestedt (Off Doc, 20 exp) with 8 inf divs, 7 of which are at 50 org, max combat st. 2 fighter divs.

Stuttgart: V Armeekorps under Von Bock (Off Doc, 15 exp) with 8 inf divs, 3 at full strength org and 5 at 54-61 org caps, max combat st. 12th Korps under Von Kluge (Off Doc) with 8 inf divs, all at 35 org caps, max combat st.

Freiburg: 4th Korps under Von Veitinghoff (Def Doc) with 16 inf divs, all 100 combat strength, 3 at 82 org, 9 at 61 org, 4 at 50ish org.

The remainder of my fighters are covering the atlantic coast or building org strength safely out of harms way. The rest of the Luftwaffe cowers in Berlin. One inf div covering Baltic and Atlantic coast, Polish frontier, and frontier provinces with the Low Countries.

Opposing me in France are:

Strasbourg: 18 French divs, some armor, 4 inf divs marching to Nancy.

Colmar: 17 French divs, apparently all inf. 1 marching to Strasbourg.

Grenoble: zip

Toulon: zip

Nancy: 9 divs. Something there is British. Some are armor. 6 divs marching to Strasbourg.

Metz: 4 Fr Ftr divs

Chaumont: 4 Br Strat Bombers

Paris: 2 inf divs

Lille: 1 Fr ftr div

Channel: at the moment each zone covered by squadrons averaging ten to 16 ships.

9/2/38

One bomber attack on Wilhelmshaven (hereafter Wlshvn). I win easily, my fighter at 100/26 vs. 99/9 for Baldwin leading the bomber raid.

Baldwin attacks again 7 more times in one day, but my scrappy fighter rebuffs him each time with no loss.

9/3/38

My economy drops to 271, I maintain builds at expense of research (only 38/193) and zero out supply and draw on stockpile.

Another attack on Wlshvn, yawn. Baldwin at 93/0. Unless specified here on out, Baldwin with his single bomber div will always lose.

Brit bombers leave Chaumont. 22 Fr divs in Colmar doing nothing. 8 divs in Nancy, 3 marching to Strasbourg. 6 Fr air divs here doing nothing. Fr divs in Strasbourg drops to 14.

3 more attacks on Wlshvn. Baldwin now down to 86/0

9/4/38

Now 7 brit bombers in Chaumont, and 1 Br inf div.

1 lone Br inf div attacks the Saar from Strasbourg, while the French watch on the sidelines. He's sent packing at 62/0. Since the Allies show an interest in the Saar, I switch Veitinghoff to command here.

4 single bomber raids on Wlshvn. Also 2 single bomber raids on Munster. How'd they get in there? Luckily I had a fighter there.

9/5/38

The Sitzkrieg continues on the ground. Br bombers rebase from Chaumont to Sedan. One more Br inf div spotted marching thru Chaumont.

Baldwin's single bomber attacks Wlshvn 3 times. He's down to 79/0 now.

4 Fr tac air take off from Nancy and attack Freiburg. 3 ANF Les Mureaux and 1 MB.210. There org caps are 12-17. No effect. Here I commit a mistake, I try to intercept with 1 ftr from Saar at 100/50 and it gets intercepted by 6 Fr bombers and Strasbourg and is defeated. The 6 Fr bombers go to Saar and beat both my ftrs there.

My 2 ftrs flee from Saar to Koln and are bounced by 4 Fr ftrs. Now begins the French Yo-Yo, as my fighters go back and forth between Saar and Koln, battered by 2 french air groups. Bravo for the AI, this is a little better. Can't have this!

9/6/38

I use a fighter from Essen to break up the French yo yo and send my damaged fighters to the rear. I remove a ftr from Kiel to cover Essen.

3 air attacks on Wlshvn, 1 on Munster. Baldwin's bomber div is down to 74/0

7 Br bombers in Sedan still doing nothing. Meanwhile 10 of my armor divs in Koln are up to 92 org cap. I hope to start rolling soon.

9/7/38

4 attacks on Wlshvn, 2 on Munster. Baldwin leaves at 71/0. I'm starting to imagine Baldwin as some deranged drunk who keeps flying his single squadron until it is no more.

To be Continued...

[Joisey]

September 8, 1938

The weather has been nonexistent. My armor, inf, and mech in Koln have finally recovered their org caps.

The French disposition:

17 inf divs and 1 ftr in Strasbourg.

17 Fr. in divs in Colmar

10 divs and 6 air divs in Nancy.

1 Br inf div in Metz.

Nothing in Chaumont.

I decide to Declare War on Luxembourg. My reasoning is that Metz can quickly be over-run, while going through Belgium would take on alot more forces and expand my front with the English bombers to a length I can't cover.

I order 1.PanzerGruppe and 1.PanzerGrenadier from Koln to Lux. They promptly run out of oil! Figures

2 simultaneous attacks on Wlmshvn and Munster, a bomber apiece, are defeated easily. Baldwin is down to 68/0.

2 Br bombers fly from Sedan to Koln. I send a ftr from Essen to intercept. Brits are at 100/21 and 100/30 while my guy is at 100/41. I lose! But the bombers do not bomb Koln, at least.

September 9, 1938

My forces finally get to Lux and take it in two hours. I order 1.Panzergruppe to Metz and 1.PanzerGrenadier to Chaumont. I order 8 div corps in Stuttgart and Saar to feint on Strasbourg, hoping to keep them pinned in a pocket. The French do not stir themselves. I also start shifting 8 div corps over from Freiburg to Stuttgart, Stuttgart to Saar, and Saar to Lux to cover supply line to my armor.

Meanwhile the air war heats up, with single bomber raids on Wlshvn, Koln and Essen. I lose in Essen but prevent bombing.

A second wave involves 2 bomber divs on Koln, which I meet with 2 ftrs and defeat.

A third attack on Wlshvn and Munster leaves Baldwin going home at 66/0.

I put Donitz 9 sub group, now recuperated, out to sea to intercept an allied fleet in the North Sea.

Back on the ground, the French start to respond. 6 inf divs start marching from Nancy to Troyers, leaving 6 air divs by themselves in Nancy. 3 Fr armor divs appear out of nowhere in Dijon. 18 divs in Strasbourg and 17 divs in Colmar continue to sit on their hands.

The day sees my air deployment as follows: 1 ftr in Hamburg, Wlshvn, Munster, Saar, 2 ftr in Essen and Koln.

To Be Continued...

[Maddogg1178]

good aar, i cant wait to see your pictures, but whats ur Manpower situation like? also what are your resources at?