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My guess is that they were already waiting in the Oresund province. When it became blocked, they remained inside; but if they left, they wouldn't be able to get back in.
Interesting developments. The Italian push into France may be small but highly annoying to the Allies, nonetheless! Anything that can draw troops south, away from the front facing the Panzers, is good.
Taking Denmark with these few troops was really cool. Did I see that right: 1 light panzer, 1 para and 2 inf was all that pushed north across Jylland? How many troops were dropped (by ship?) into Copenhagen?
Taking Denmark with these few troops was really cool. Did I see that right: 1 light panzer, 1 para and 2 inf was all that pushed north across Jylland? How many troops were dropped (by ship?) into Copenhagen?
Very clever in Denmark there. Reminds me how the Axis lost in Carne al Dente. Pity you didn't get the brits, but ah well.
I think there is a sea province which is next to Copenhagen but is is not a strait. In my coop game with my buddy we did a British landing on German occupied Zealand Island, so I guess it can be done the other way too.
Good update by the way!
Good update by the way!
Interesting developments. It seems that France is going to fall one way or the other but I think the Allies have realized and accepted that. It definitely seems like they are trying to drain you of as much MP as reasonably possible without losing too many divisions themselves. It also seems like you are aware of that too. The kicker is Italy; if they are able to overrun all of Southern and Western France would France's low unity trigger a surrender? Or is Paris' 30 VP too much to overcome and it has to fall?
Soviets are getting dangerous, now having wiped out two of the potential Axis members completely. Something needs to be done to ensure Romanian/Yugoslavian independence.
Soviets are getting dangerous, now having wiped out two of the potential Axis members completely. Something needs to be done to ensure Romanian/Yugoslavian independence.
Turning into a fun game. I noticed that USA neutrality went up 1 after Finland was annexed. An increase of 1 seems really insignificant or did I misread something.
Yeah, it really does seem so. How much does that put off the USA when you translate it into months?
With Soviet having the posibility to DoW me, the Baltics being open is quite a threat. Berlin is like three or four provinces away from the coast. Things can get hairy very fast. Denmark and the sound ARE crucial.
Yes, I felt it was necessary to have panzers around to back up my rather weak coastal protection.
If we would not take Paris we need to take ALL other VPs in France proper (including of course all Maginot provinces).
If I recall things right from Carnage al Dente, were the neutrality/threat ballance were studied very carfully, 1 step in difference correlated with about 1 month. So, Soviets attack on Finland would then have delayed USAs entry into the war with one month. That is not insignificant. Also, we did not want to create a game breaker but test a new idea carefully.
With a single update a big turnaround.with brits losing large forces in france and now their 'pistol aimed at the heart of germany' in copenhagen the iniative has firmly passed to the axis.
The soviet player will have to play very very well to pull this one off.I advocate a retreat to a easily defended continous riverline.
The soviet player will have to play very very well to pull this one off.I advocate a retreat to a easily defended continous riverline.
Lines can be broken, but an intact army positioned deep in Russia can never be entirely defeated. Best way to go is a fighting retreat all the way to the interior, without losing good units to encirclements.
How does the speed of updates have anything to do with the success or failure of any factions in-game? The frequency of updates is limited by the amount of sessions team carnage can observe. They will not play more or less often because Cpteasy is doing well.
Of course they do.
CptEasy and his comrades will totally get more time, out of the blue, when it's going bad. This "they play ahead a few updates" argument is total nonsense, because CptEasy obviously has time travelling capabilities, which he will not use for cheating. At all.
Alright, back to serious now... Calad, the updates aren't really slow now. IIRC, this AAR was updated last Friday or Saturday, and updates are weekly. Yes, the next update might be delayed, but I'll just wait and see what happens tomorrow.
This updates so slowly that it's painful to enjoy. It's like a 2min TV show once a week. I don't understand why they can't play more on the weekends to get out a couple of updates in a row. The pace is so bad I'm not even interested anymore.
It's probably quite hard to schedual time the seven of them to play every week. I imagine it's a little difficult to explain to your friends/family, "I can't do X with you tonight, I have to stay home and play videogames." The amount they play now is probably the maximum they're able to.
Oh, and (re)subscribed
Interesting new discussion about pace. You realize you are starting to get old when people can't wait a week for a new chapter. It was not long ago it was impossible to see a TV-series quicker than that. Anyways - you have to realize we are all full time working, have partners (yes - they need our time as well) and about half the troupe have kids. Getting the 7 or 8 of us to find an entire evening for gaming is bloody hard struggle, I tell you - not mentioning finding the time for writing AARs... So any further discussion about posting rate will be quite pointless (although I would have been sad if you though I posted too often 
)
Will hopefully post new chapter during the day.
)Will hopefully post new chapter during the day.
Chapter VII - Cat and Mouse
Players:United Kingdom, France, Canada, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan
Recap: The Wehrmacht stand at the door step of Paris. France and her Allies have had roughly a week’s break when the German spearhead had to rest after hard battles south of Paris. Also, With Italian help, Germany launched an attack at Denmark and managed to install a puppet regime – and thus closing the Baltic Sea for the Allies. Italy lost a few divisions when French and Canadian troops stabbed southwards, but at least managed to pull forces away from Paris region. Now it is time to take Paris.
November 27th, 1939
The majority of the German forces attacked from the south where the River Seine did not bother them. Several divisions, including the one attacking from the north, had engineers to support them. As the French had fortified the city somewhat (lvl 1 fort) this was a crucial aid. Still, the sheer amount of French troops made it all very slow and bloody, and the street fights went from house to house, street for street, and sometimes back and forth. This would not become an easy battle.
November 29th, 1939
Two days into the battle of Paris and the onslaught had stalled. The men attacking out of Versailles had in turn been attacked in the back and are struggling with a two-front war. The French-Canadian southwards attack is continuing, forcing the Italians to retreat. The French manage to keep the supply-link open to all their forces, except those left at Maginot weeks ago.
Belgium is still around and the Brits have pulled back from southern France. The Brits is fighting remarkably careful – probably careful after their disaster in Holland.
December 1st, late evening, 1939
The French attack against Versailles broke off after massive casualties among the attackers. The German leadership had left the panzers to dig in and secure the rear and the French chattered against them. Nevertheless, several of the troops attacking out of Versailles showed clear signs of fatigue after more than five days of hard fighting.
Now, the French launched a new counter-attack. This time against Étampes, and this time including several divisions of light armor. Although the French armor were no match for the panzers, it was still a more distinct threat than infantry and the attack against Paris was wavering somewhat. Yes, the French front troops were in much worse shape than even the most worn down Fritz, but the French had fresh armor reinforcement in bound while German had little of the sort. And all this while the troops in Étampes fought a two front war. However, should the French fail to get their armor units through the shattered streets, up to the front line, then the battle would soon be over.
December 3rd, 1939
The French managed to get one of their armor divisions to the front line, but it was too late to do any significant difference. The French infantry who had been fighting a losing street war for almost a week fell back – exhausted. The French leadership had forced them to fight until they broke and now the remaining infantry stumbled out of the city, and not even the sight of their own armor firing away could sway them to stay. Being attacked from all sides by hordes of determined German soldiers, the French armor crews soon gave up – and with them the city – and with the city entire France.
As some kind of gesture of grandness, they released several of their colonies, granting them independence – countries such as Syria and French Indo China. Everything else now belonged to Germany.
Authors note: Releasing colonies was a clever move although in the borderland of being dodgy - But definitely allowed, although we might need to have a discussion about it in the future.
Authors note 2: We paused the minute French fell (as Daphne was kicked out of the game). This mean that on this somewhat buggy screen-shot, you can’t see the areas still held by British and Canadian forces. That will be for next picture, however
December 5th, 1939
United Kingdom’s expeditionary forces had pulled back rather close to the sea where they had the possibility to flee on board transport ships and get support by fearsome naval artillery. The Wehrmacht initiated a few stalling battles but the Brits had partly protection from the Seine and the Germans had problem to mount a powerful attack. Soon enough, Hitler realized that it was a moot race. The Brits would be able to save all their units on to the transports – although perhaps in bad shape.
What were more interesting were the Canadians. Their entire expeditionary force had lost the connection to the ocean, and the Italians had a few units fairly close. Instead of wasting to many men on the fleeing Brits, the German leadership focused on the Canadians.
Authors note: I hesitated for a while, but spurred by the fact that Daphne in his last spasm liberated his colonies I did something I don’t consider pretty, and in the borderland of abusing the game. I had just got a batch of 1brg inf in the deployment queue and I put them partly behind the northern part of the Canadian line. They have of course 0 org – but still an obstacle.
December 10th, 1939
A majority of the Canadians moved ridiculously slowy. It dawned to the Axis leaders that the Canadians probably had all been packed onto trains and when the stations turned German and were ordered to sabotage the rails, the Canadians were more or less stranded. They had to off load and then try to organize themselves although part of their equipment could be on another train.
The German-Italian hunters were starting to catch up and the Italians had already initiated a few weak but perfectly stalling battles. The Germans had fast panzers moving in to cut off the Canadians from the coast.
The important port of Nantes housed the Canadian transport navy with escorting destroyers. They were now attacked by stukas. The port itself was damaged and several transports were hit. The Canadian high command based in the city must realize their perilous position.
December 14th, 1939
11 days after the fall of France, the Canadians had managed to link up with Nantes, although a significant part of their stranded army is well behind the line. A division of brave, self sacrificing Canadians in Angers are attacking Model’s light panzers in Chateaubriant while being attacked themselves by Italian mountaineers. Their effects on the Panzers are minimal although the stalling tactic is successful. It cannot last long – and after that, the Canadians in Angers will be completely exhausted.
An attacked from a not properly organized German brigade drove the Canadian supreme HQ out of Nantes. The Canadian navy also fled from port after being constantly hit by Milch’s Stukas. It is unknown in how bad shape they were before the retreated or if any were sunk. Trying to save the Canadians, the Brits came in with a transport detachment and offloaded three fresh divisions into Nantes. They quickly deflected the German brigade trying to secure the ports and continued by setting up defensive perimeters. They were immediately welcomed by Italian bombing- and strafing missions, and the port was bombed once again by Stukas. Nantes was burning.
In the south, a Canadian division got overrun by Italians and surrendered.
December 19th, 1939
The Canadian debacle seemed more and more to turn into another Allied disaster. One more Canadian division was overrun south of Nantes. In Angers, the lone Canadian’s sacrifice had been for naught and half of their army was trapped with no connection to the sea. The surrounded soldiers had been in many battles and they lacked force to be able to fight their way through the siege.
The other part of the Canadian army had managed to move to Challans, directly south of Nantes, and now retreated northwards after being attacked by Italians. The British fleet in Nantes had been forced out of the port by Luftwaffe, but several air battles had taken place over the city, mostly between German interceptors and British CAGs. Many of the planes had crashed down into the city an added to the carnage.
Model attacked the city the 16th of December, with light panzers and armor cars. It was a far from optimal attack force and they had huge problems fighting in the city against infantry. Many panzers were lost, but it was crucial to lock the troops here in battle until a more powerful attack could be mounted.
December 21st, 1939
Model’s attack broke before the Axis could mount a proper attack. The Allies must have waited for the break. Their transports moved in, picked up the British division and a lone Canadian division and moved out. When the German reconnaissance reported the city empty, an attack was launched once again.
This time, Model and his panzers and armor cars was not stopped and they could move into the partly destroyed city unopposed. This was done so fast that the second half of the Canadian army, except a single division previously shipped out, was caught in land.
More or less the entire Canadian Expeditionary Force, which is believed to be the majority of the entire Canadian army, was wiped out – the majority marching away through France as prisoners of war.
This was another great Axis victory. The Allies did not seem to grasp and adapt to the ferocity of the German Blitz.
January 4th-6th, 1940
Already when the battles raged around Nantes, Germany moved up infantry around the three provinces that remained of European Belgium. They had been continuously bombed since the fall of France and when the Germans moved in, there were not much fighting spirit left. Only in Bruxelles did the Belgians offer a real fight. Still, they had air superiority with continuous bombing raids against them, as well as veteran German infantry with engineers and heavy artillery. They did not last long.
With that, the War of the West was over. The lower countries and France was crushed and United Kingdom and Canada had been delivered severe blows, losing significant amounts of troops. Canada was not even believed to have anything left than a few stray division without the possibility to act on their own. United Kingdom was still very much a threat, but they would need some time to replace what they had lost. Hitler was very optimistic.
Still, Italy had lost some 4-6 division during the campaign and Germany 1 paratroop division. Also, it had been far from a fast operation. Poland fell in the end of May and Holland was attacked in the beginning of August. Now it was a new year. Germany had, however, little rush. They would not be able to break the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact in quite a while yet.
Early January, 1940
The convoy war on the Allies had been constant but not very intensive. Germany had lacked bases with proper range as well as the proper time to really organize optimal raiding patterns. This would change. Kriegsmarine had only lost one pack and had a few more in production, so United Kingdom would soon start to hurt a lot more. Italy had several packs roaming the Atlantic too.
With huge parts of Northern and Western Africa in German hands, at least for a time, convoys were send to try and gather as much of the valuable resources and bring them to Germany. This route offered both metal and rare materials, which Germany could not have too much of. A few convoys were sunk, but not enough to be a worry.
………………………………..
Next chapter: United Kingdom goes on offensive!
Players:United Kingdom, France, Canada, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan
Recap: The Wehrmacht stand at the door step of Paris. France and her Allies have had roughly a week’s break when the German spearhead had to rest after hard battles south of Paris. Also, With Italian help, Germany launched an attack at Denmark and managed to install a puppet regime – and thus closing the Baltic Sea for the Allies. Italy lost a few divisions when French and Canadian troops stabbed southwards, but at least managed to pull forces away from Paris region. Now it is time to take Paris.
November 27th, 1939
The majority of the German forces attacked from the south where the River Seine did not bother them. Several divisions, including the one attacking from the north, had engineers to support them. As the French had fortified the city somewhat (lvl 1 fort) this was a crucial aid. Still, the sheer amount of French troops made it all very slow and bloody, and the street fights went from house to house, street for street, and sometimes back and forth. This would not become an easy battle.
November 29th, 1939
Two days into the battle of Paris and the onslaught had stalled. The men attacking out of Versailles had in turn been attacked in the back and are struggling with a two-front war. The French-Canadian southwards attack is continuing, forcing the Italians to retreat. The French manage to keep the supply-link open to all their forces, except those left at Maginot weeks ago.
Belgium is still around and the Brits have pulled back from southern France. The Brits is fighting remarkably careful – probably careful after their disaster in Holland.
December 1st, late evening, 1939
The French attack against Versailles broke off after massive casualties among the attackers. The German leadership had left the panzers to dig in and secure the rear and the French chattered against them. Nevertheless, several of the troops attacking out of Versailles showed clear signs of fatigue after more than five days of hard fighting.
Now, the French launched a new counter-attack. This time against Étampes, and this time including several divisions of light armor. Although the French armor were no match for the panzers, it was still a more distinct threat than infantry and the attack against Paris was wavering somewhat. Yes, the French front troops were in much worse shape than even the most worn down Fritz, but the French had fresh armor reinforcement in bound while German had little of the sort. And all this while the troops in Étampes fought a two front war. However, should the French fail to get their armor units through the shattered streets, up to the front line, then the battle would soon be over.
December 3rd, 1939
The French managed to get one of their armor divisions to the front line, but it was too late to do any significant difference. The French infantry who had been fighting a losing street war for almost a week fell back – exhausted. The French leadership had forced them to fight until they broke and now the remaining infantry stumbled out of the city, and not even the sight of their own armor firing away could sway them to stay. Being attacked from all sides by hordes of determined German soldiers, the French armor crews soon gave up – and with them the city – and with the city entire France.
As some kind of gesture of grandness, they released several of their colonies, granting them independence – countries such as Syria and French Indo China. Everything else now belonged to Germany.
Authors note: Releasing colonies was a clever move although in the borderland of being dodgy - But definitely allowed, although we might need to have a discussion about it in the future.
Authors note 2: We paused the minute French fell (as Daphne was kicked out of the game). This mean that on this somewhat buggy screen-shot, you can’t see the areas still held by British and Canadian forces. That will be for next picture, however
December 5th, 1939
United Kingdom’s expeditionary forces had pulled back rather close to the sea where they had the possibility to flee on board transport ships and get support by fearsome naval artillery. The Wehrmacht initiated a few stalling battles but the Brits had partly protection from the Seine and the Germans had problem to mount a powerful attack. Soon enough, Hitler realized that it was a moot race. The Brits would be able to save all their units on to the transports – although perhaps in bad shape.
What were more interesting were the Canadians. Their entire expeditionary force had lost the connection to the ocean, and the Italians had a few units fairly close. Instead of wasting to many men on the fleeing Brits, the German leadership focused on the Canadians.
Authors note: I hesitated for a while, but spurred by the fact that Daphne in his last spasm liberated his colonies I did something I don’t consider pretty, and in the borderland of abusing the game. I had just got a batch of 1brg inf in the deployment queue and I put them partly behind the northern part of the Canadian line. They have of course 0 org – but still an obstacle.
December 10th, 1939
A majority of the Canadians moved ridiculously slowy. It dawned to the Axis leaders that the Canadians probably had all been packed onto trains and when the stations turned German and were ordered to sabotage the rails, the Canadians were more or less stranded. They had to off load and then try to organize themselves although part of their equipment could be on another train.
The German-Italian hunters were starting to catch up and the Italians had already initiated a few weak but perfectly stalling battles. The Germans had fast panzers moving in to cut off the Canadians from the coast.
The important port of Nantes housed the Canadian transport navy with escorting destroyers. They were now attacked by stukas. The port itself was damaged and several transports were hit. The Canadian high command based in the city must realize their perilous position.
December 14th, 1939
11 days after the fall of France, the Canadians had managed to link up with Nantes, although a significant part of their stranded army is well behind the line. A division of brave, self sacrificing Canadians in Angers are attacking Model’s light panzers in Chateaubriant while being attacked themselves by Italian mountaineers. Their effects on the Panzers are minimal although the stalling tactic is successful. It cannot last long – and after that, the Canadians in Angers will be completely exhausted.
An attacked from a not properly organized German brigade drove the Canadian supreme HQ out of Nantes. The Canadian navy also fled from port after being constantly hit by Milch’s Stukas. It is unknown in how bad shape they were before the retreated or if any were sunk. Trying to save the Canadians, the Brits came in with a transport detachment and offloaded three fresh divisions into Nantes. They quickly deflected the German brigade trying to secure the ports and continued by setting up defensive perimeters. They were immediately welcomed by Italian bombing- and strafing missions, and the port was bombed once again by Stukas. Nantes was burning.
In the south, a Canadian division got overrun by Italians and surrendered.
December 19th, 1939
The Canadian debacle seemed more and more to turn into another Allied disaster. One more Canadian division was overrun south of Nantes. In Angers, the lone Canadian’s sacrifice had been for naught and half of their army was trapped with no connection to the sea. The surrounded soldiers had been in many battles and they lacked force to be able to fight their way through the siege.
The other part of the Canadian army had managed to move to Challans, directly south of Nantes, and now retreated northwards after being attacked by Italians. The British fleet in Nantes had been forced out of the port by Luftwaffe, but several air battles had taken place over the city, mostly between German interceptors and British CAGs. Many of the planes had crashed down into the city an added to the carnage.
Model attacked the city the 16th of December, with light panzers and armor cars. It was a far from optimal attack force and they had huge problems fighting in the city against infantry. Many panzers were lost, but it was crucial to lock the troops here in battle until a more powerful attack could be mounted.
December 21st, 1939
Model’s attack broke before the Axis could mount a proper attack. The Allies must have waited for the break. Their transports moved in, picked up the British division and a lone Canadian division and moved out. When the German reconnaissance reported the city empty, an attack was launched once again.
This time, Model and his panzers and armor cars was not stopped and they could move into the partly destroyed city unopposed. This was done so fast that the second half of the Canadian army, except a single division previously shipped out, was caught in land.
More or less the entire Canadian Expeditionary Force, which is believed to be the majority of the entire Canadian army, was wiped out – the majority marching away through France as prisoners of war.
This was another great Axis victory. The Allies did not seem to grasp and adapt to the ferocity of the German Blitz.
January 4th-6th, 1940
Already when the battles raged around Nantes, Germany moved up infantry around the three provinces that remained of European Belgium. They had been continuously bombed since the fall of France and when the Germans moved in, there were not much fighting spirit left. Only in Bruxelles did the Belgians offer a real fight. Still, they had air superiority with continuous bombing raids against them, as well as veteran German infantry with engineers and heavy artillery. They did not last long.
With that, the War of the West was over. The lower countries and France was crushed and United Kingdom and Canada had been delivered severe blows, losing significant amounts of troops. Canada was not even believed to have anything left than a few stray division without the possibility to act on their own. United Kingdom was still very much a threat, but they would need some time to replace what they had lost. Hitler was very optimistic.
Still, Italy had lost some 4-6 division during the campaign and Germany 1 paratroop division. Also, it had been far from a fast operation. Poland fell in the end of May and Holland was attacked in the beginning of August. Now it was a new year. Germany had, however, little rush. They would not be able to break the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact in quite a while yet.
Early January, 1940
The convoy war on the Allies had been constant but not very intensive. Germany had lacked bases with proper range as well as the proper time to really organize optimal raiding patterns. This would change. Kriegsmarine had only lost one pack and had a few more in production, so United Kingdom would soon start to hurt a lot more. Italy had several packs roaming the Atlantic too.
With huge parts of Northern and Western Africa in German hands, at least for a time, convoys were send to try and gather as much of the valuable resources and bring them to Germany. This route offered both metal and rare materials, which Germany could not have too much of. A few convoys were sunk, but not enough to be a worry.
………………………………..
Next chapter: United Kingdom goes on offensive!
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