So I saw the contest for making an AAR, and I thought to myself "Hey, I'm playing HOI, and I can write well...". Let's try making an AAR out of this.
I started this game primarily to test out CGM originally, but it's been interesting to play through to date. I'm playing USSR in the Barbarossa scenario. Difficulty is set to Hard, because I want a challenge without making things so brutal that I can't judge the new patch. My primary change from the default setup was to entirely delete my navy - down to the point where I can't even build a T1 destroyer - and then to rebuild my forces from the ground up in my preferred style.
For technology, my primary investment at first was to get the important units(Inf, Arm, Int primarily) up to 1941 tech levels, and to unlock SHArm for the purposes of building a couple elite corps. I also got level 1 radar.
For production, my new OOB is as follows:
Western Theatre(Germany/Hungary/Romania):
7 infantry armies of 5 corps each(1 corps per province along a 35-province front)
3 armored corps(deployed primarily for a thrust north towards Koingsburg/Danzig, to cut off East Prussia)
1 SHArm corps(same)
8 interceptor wings
4 bomber wings
Northern Theatre(Finland/Norway)
2 infantry armies(1 corps per province in the south, 4 corps split to cover every deployable province north of Vartsila)
2 armored corps(deployed along the southern border outside Leningrad)
3 interceptor wings
2 bomber wings
Level 10 radar in Leningrad, giving vision of most of Finland(and much of Prussia/Northern Poland)
Central Theatre(Turkey/Persia/Afghanistan/West China)
1 infantry corps(east of Caspian)
1 mountain corps(west of Caspian)
1 multi-role wing
Eastern Theatre(Manchuria/Japan)
3 infantry corps(2 outside Vladivostok, 1 covering north of Manchuria)
1 multi-role wing
Each infantry corps has 3 Inf/Inf/Inf/Art/AT and 2 Inf/Inf/Inf/Art/AA(chosen for 10% CA bonus, utility against a range of targets, and relative cheapness). Armored divisions are all Arm/Arm/Mot/SPArt/SPAA. SHArm divisions are Guards/Guards/Guards/Art/SHArm. All air wings are 4 planes per - fighter/interceptor wings are pure fighters, bomber wings are 2 Tac/2 Ftr.
The battle plan in the short term is to hold the south end of the western line, with a thrust northwest to cut off and pocket East Prussia. The primary initial push will be against Finland, though, as you can tell from the deployment of sixty divisions with strong air support. The northern theatre's goal is to knock Finland out of the war, and then redeploy some of the force southwards as a generic reserve.
In the long term, my goal is basically the same as Stalin's - world conquest for the Comintern. I'm willing to milk the Allies for lend-lease, but they are not my friends. I will not feasibly be able to compete with the Allies on the sea for some time, so Eurasia will be the first stage, but I do intend to use all the extra resources from conquering Europe to establish a world-class navy by 1950, along with building nuclear-tipped ICBMs by 1945.
So, there's the setup. The next post will cover up to Aug 1941(i.e., what I've played before making this post - don't expect much in the way of screenshots for this one)
Edit: Whenever I finish setting up the order of battle to my liking, I always make an "OOB" save, to save myself the work of doing it again. I made one for this campaign when I finished CGM setup, and I just realized that someone might want to play with it. Here's the savegame, for anyone who wants it.
View attachment USSR 1941 OOB.rar
Also, here's the list of updates to date:
June 22-Aug 16, 1941
Aug 17-Sep 30, 1941
Oct 1-Nov 30, 1941
Dec 1-Dec 31, 1941
Jan 1-Feb 28, 1942
Mar 1-Apr 30, 1942
May 1-Jun 30, 1942
Jul 1-Aug 31, 1942
Sep 1-Oct 31, 1942
Nov 1-Dec 31, 1942
Jan 1-Mar 31, 1943
Apr 1-Jun 30, 1943
Jul 1-Sep 30, 1943
Oct 1-Nov 30, 1943
Dec 1-Dec 31, 1943
Jan 1-Apr 30, 1944
May 1-Aug 31, 1944
Sep 1-Dec 31, 1944
Jan 1-Dec 31, 1945
Jan 1-Dec 31, 1946
I started this game primarily to test out CGM originally, but it's been interesting to play through to date. I'm playing USSR in the Barbarossa scenario. Difficulty is set to Hard, because I want a challenge without making things so brutal that I can't judge the new patch. My primary change from the default setup was to entirely delete my navy - down to the point where I can't even build a T1 destroyer - and then to rebuild my forces from the ground up in my preferred style.
For technology, my primary investment at first was to get the important units(Inf, Arm, Int primarily) up to 1941 tech levels, and to unlock SHArm for the purposes of building a couple elite corps. I also got level 1 radar.
For production, my new OOB is as follows:
Western Theatre(Germany/Hungary/Romania):
7 infantry armies of 5 corps each(1 corps per province along a 35-province front)
3 armored corps(deployed primarily for a thrust north towards Koingsburg/Danzig, to cut off East Prussia)
1 SHArm corps(same)
8 interceptor wings
4 bomber wings
Northern Theatre(Finland/Norway)
2 infantry armies(1 corps per province in the south, 4 corps split to cover every deployable province north of Vartsila)
2 armored corps(deployed along the southern border outside Leningrad)
3 interceptor wings
2 bomber wings
Level 10 radar in Leningrad, giving vision of most of Finland(and much of Prussia/Northern Poland)
Central Theatre(Turkey/Persia/Afghanistan/West China)
1 infantry corps(east of Caspian)
1 mountain corps(west of Caspian)
1 multi-role wing
Eastern Theatre(Manchuria/Japan)
3 infantry corps(2 outside Vladivostok, 1 covering north of Manchuria)
1 multi-role wing
Each infantry corps has 3 Inf/Inf/Inf/Art/AT and 2 Inf/Inf/Inf/Art/AA(chosen for 10% CA bonus, utility against a range of targets, and relative cheapness). Armored divisions are all Arm/Arm/Mot/SPArt/SPAA. SHArm divisions are Guards/Guards/Guards/Art/SHArm. All air wings are 4 planes per - fighter/interceptor wings are pure fighters, bomber wings are 2 Tac/2 Ftr.
The battle plan in the short term is to hold the south end of the western line, with a thrust northwest to cut off and pocket East Prussia. The primary initial push will be against Finland, though, as you can tell from the deployment of sixty divisions with strong air support. The northern theatre's goal is to knock Finland out of the war, and then redeploy some of the force southwards as a generic reserve.
In the long term, my goal is basically the same as Stalin's - world conquest for the Comintern. I'm willing to milk the Allies for lend-lease, but they are not my friends. I will not feasibly be able to compete with the Allies on the sea for some time, so Eurasia will be the first stage, but I do intend to use all the extra resources from conquering Europe to establish a world-class navy by 1950, along with building nuclear-tipped ICBMs by 1945.
So, there's the setup. The next post will cover up to Aug 1941(i.e., what I've played before making this post - don't expect much in the way of screenshots for this one)
Edit: Whenever I finish setting up the order of battle to my liking, I always make an "OOB" save, to save myself the work of doing it again. I made one for this campaign when I finished CGM setup, and I just realized that someone might want to play with it. Here's the savegame, for anyone who wants it.
View attachment USSR 1941 OOB.rar
Also, here's the list of updates to date:
June 22-Aug 16, 1941
Aug 17-Sep 30, 1941
Oct 1-Nov 30, 1941
Dec 1-Dec 31, 1941
Jan 1-Feb 28, 1942
Mar 1-Apr 30, 1942
May 1-Jun 30, 1942
Jul 1-Aug 31, 1942
Sep 1-Oct 31, 1942
Nov 1-Dec 31, 1942
Jan 1-Mar 31, 1943
Apr 1-Jun 30, 1943
Jul 1-Sep 30, 1943
Oct 1-Nov 30, 1943
Dec 1-Dec 31, 1943
Jan 1-Apr 30, 1944
May 1-Aug 31, 1944
Sep 1-Dec 31, 1944
Jan 1-Dec 31, 1945
Jan 1-Dec 31, 1946
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