UK Campaign - April 1, 1940 - A War with Multiple Fronts
Sometimes I worry that frequent saves and loads messes with the AI and its plans. From early EU I remember that troop positions were set to their listed positions and nothing was recorded of their movement and ETA. A load was kind of like starting the scenario from that exact position and it took the AI an entire day to decide a plan for each unit. Combat also appeared to get reset.
It looks like the AI decides once per day on midnight what to do with each unit. That is usually when I see units begin to move or suddenly decide their objective is no longer winnable and they either stop marching or move somewhere else. They do appear to be pretty good at setting up a coordinated attack on a location and making units show up exactly at dawn on a bright sunny day.
However, then the action is intense like it was in the last session, it takes me a very long time to play out just a few days. So this session was 27 days. Maybe it works out almost even, because I have an entire day to think of a plan and suddenly my plans change, as can be seen in the text below.
March 4 - We took an inventory of our current situation and what we can do. This war has at least 3 fronts, depending on how we count them.
Poland is one or two fronts. There is a border with Germany and we have about 12 motor and 9 armor divisions there.
There is a South Poland front. We have 9 motor and 15 infantry divisions in Krakow.
Then there is the Hamburglar Front, where we have 30 Infantry divisions trying to cause some kind of distraction and steal some kind of victory.
Finally we have the Japanese Front, where suddenly (I am guessing) Japan joined in an alliance with Germany and that put us as war with Japan and that made it convenient for Nationalist China to join our alliance.
The Germans have a big advantage in divisions and technology. The Japanese have a big pond to play in. We will be making some decisions right here and moving some forces around. We might even be losing some outposts, depending how fast we move and how much faster the Japanese move.
Land Divisions:
Since we listed the locations of 75 out of 75 land divisions, it is simplest to give a plan for each:
Crack Cow Command will remain in Poland to defend territories as well as they can.
The 12 Motor and 9 Armor will move over to the Hamburger Command to try making something happen. I know making something happen is not exactly a plan. From the picture in the previous post above, we can see the Germans are sending about 29 divisions to dislodge Hamburger Command. As for Hamburger Command itself, they have to brace for impact and wait for reinforcements.
Air Divisions:
Our Spitfire Squadrons were resting in England and we will send them over to help Hamburger Command. There is only so much we can do against a 12-stack of bombers, but we will put up some distraction.
Our Bomber Squadrons will also move over there, using the Carriers as a floating base in between. Based on this, it appears we are abandoning Crack Cow Command. However, we will try to keep our Bombers close to where the biggest action will be.
Our Torpedo Bombers will make a long journey to French Indo-China and Singapore, making stops in France, French Algeria, Malta, Egypt, Jerusalem, Iraq, and all across India. It took us a few days but we got there. Then we rested up where it appeared we had some safety. We stopped short of Hong Kong because our foresight said we were going to lose it. We want to be able to find ships before we commit to an air base in an undefended territory.
Naval Divisions:
We have 21 outdated destroyers. We sent 9 of them in squadrons of 3 back to our home island, just in case they were needed for sub hunting. 6 of them remained in the Mediterranean. Finally the last 6 joined Singapore Command in an effort to patrol the waters between Singapore and Australia so that one day we might be able to reopen a supply convoy.
Some of our 13 basic destroyers were damaged in recent fighting with the Germans, so we sent them to port for repairs. The undamaged destroyers we sent towards Singapore. We have 17 basic cruisers and they are staying with the home island defense. 5 of them are with our carrier task force and the other 12 are monitoring the German coast. Our 21 outdated cruisers are in 7 groups of 3 in various bases in Bermuda, Freetown Africa, Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, Ceylon, and Singapore.
Two of our 17 modern cruisers are damaged and went to port for repairs. The other 15 moved to join Singapore Command, where we will try to provide some united line of defense against the Japanese.
Our Battleships are coming back to the German coast. It appears their job is to provide fire support. We have 15 of them and it appears they give a 30 point penalty in a coastal province, which seems to make absolutely no sense. It should either reduce a naval invasion penalty or provide a penalty in a naval invasion.
March 7 was when Hamburger Command came under attack. We seemed to have a small edge at the start of the battle and a massive edge when our reinforcements arrived. We attempted a counterattack across the river, but that failed. One of the best naval powers the world has seen is struggling to cross a river.
March 11 the Japanese capture Hong Kong. Hindsight says we were wise to keep our torpedo planes recovering in French Indochina. Crack Cow Command came under attack in Bydgoczazy, but were able to drive them off a couple days later.
March 14 The Japanese started their invasion of the Malayan Peninsula. They have decided to focus their naval and amphibious attacks on us. It will not be that much longer before they reach Singapore. At least this tells us where we can find some of our ships - and find them we did! It looks like we were dealing with a stack of 34 ships including a bunch of transports. Our 15 cruisers were already there, but we decided to leave the battle early in an effort to save the HMS Cornwall to fight another day.
March 15 we captured Hannover, but we were just not winning in Lubeck. We had another naval engagement with that Japanese superstack and left to save the HMS Suffolk at 15%. March 16 we captured Munster and wasted a Stuka, leaving the Germans with their superstack of 3 tac and 9 dive bombers.
March 20 marked a long bloody battle with Crack Cow Command defending Lodz. This battle lasted 4 days, but appeared to be a very solid and bloody victory.
March 23 we captured Rostock. We chanced upon the territory with our armor while it was completely undefended. This finally gives us a chance to encircle some divisions. Crack Cow Command came under attack again in Radom March 26 and Warsaw in March 27 and was victorious everywhere. Hamburger Command came under attack in Hannover and we bloodied them as well. Finally, our counterattack encircled the enemy in Kiel and we were able to eliminate 21 divisions.
Capture Kiel drove out the remnants of the Kreigsmarine and we were able to completely eliminate it. Our torpedo planes and cruisers seemed to do a lot of damage to the Japanese fleet. We sent 3 divisions towards Singapore in an effort to save it. They are in Egypt now and if they cannot make it in time, then we will need a different island base.
Technology:
13UK Improved Rocket Design
14UK Basic Centimetric Radar
15UK Improved Optical Sights
16UK Vehicle Radio Intercomm
Current Forces:
Germany:
180 Land - 153 Infantry 5 Motor 1 Armor 1 Mountain 20 Militia
No Navy
12 Air - 3 Tac 9 Dive (and will check if we have 12 air or 12 dive later)
Japan:
82 Land - 67 Infantry 8 Cavalry 4 Motor 1 Marine 2 Militia
98 Navy - 8 Battleship 36 Cruiser 8 Destroyer 4 Carrier 9 Submarine 33 Transport
43 Air - 16 Fighter 5 Tac 10 Dive 12 Naval
Poland:
46 Land - 35 Infantry 2 Cavalry 5 Motor 2 Mountain 2 Militia
2 Naval - 1 Destroyer 1 Submarine
5 Air - 4 Fighter 1 Tac
UK:
84 Land - 45 Infantry 21 Motor 9 Armor 9 Militia
159 Naval - 15 Battleship 55 Cruiser 34 Destroyer 7 Carrier 8 Submarine 40 Transport
38 Air - 13 Fighter 3 Bomber 5 Tac 6 Dive 11 Torpedo
Poland is compressing and feeling the pressure, especially after opening and expanding the Hamburger Front.
Edit: Added Pictures.
