Defeat or Victory: A French AAR

[Zorro]

My goal is to play as France and see if I can defeat Germany. Before wasting any of your time reading this you should know two things about me. First I just started to play HoI3 again since a long absence and I’m still learning. In fact I have never controlled my own units always letting the AI handle that aspect of the game. This will be my first game I control them myself.

The second thing you should know is I’m terrible with grammar and writing (you may have already noticed this!). Embarrassing considering English is my native language. Oh well we work with the tools we are given.

I chose France because it is set up to be conquered by Germany. Always nice to have a built in excuse in case I fail. I’m hoping I will be able to stop the German attack and eventually go on the offensive. Naturally I have my doubts since France always gets steamrolled in the game

I hope my game doesn’t end with this

Running TFH 4.02

Updates

A Modest Analysis of France
Last Moves/First Moves
Building a Nation
Correlation of Forces
France Becomes Stronger
Final Touches
Redo the OOB
de Gaulle to the rescue!
The Phony War Turns Real
Nickel and Dime
Set Backs
The Republic Strikes Back
Back in the Saddle
Breakthroughs
To the Pacific
Risks
An Empire Sets
Preparations for the Unthinkable
Big Bear
Phase I
Wolverines!
The Soviets are coming! The Soviets are coming!
Last Call
Conclusion

 

[oss spy]

Do you intend on making this a narrative or gameplay AAR? If it's mainly centered around gameplay, then your grammar won't bother me too much. However, if it's narrative...well, I wouldn't read it anyway because I can't stand how slow they are. In any case, I wish you luck...its' extremely difficult to play as France. You have to micromanage everything and have to focus on wearing down the Germans.

I hope you have fun with it

 

[Belgiumruler]

I have a tip for you: Build a air force with INT and CAS,

 

[Ikarases]

If it's mainly centered around gameplay, then your grammar won't bother me too much. However, if it's narrative...well, I wouldn't read it anyway because I can't stand how slow they are.

LOL, now I know you´ll always read my AARs!

I wonder how you´ll do, there aren´t too many French AARs out there.

 

[Zorro]

@oss spy: Gameplay I couldn't write a narrative if my life depended on it.

@Belgiumruler: Going to try. I want to build up my army first

@Ikarases: That is why I picked the title. I don't know if I will win or lose. Surprised there aren't many French AARs around guess its because of who France's neighbor is

 

[Ikarases]

That is why I picked the title. I don't know if I will win or lose. Surprised there aren't many French AARs around guess its because of who France's neighbor is

You don´t want to meet mnplastic - that guy which made a successful Luxemburgian AAR!

It´s just about bleeding Germany out of MP and taking Libya and Ethiopia (?) but that´s only my opinion.

 

[Belgiumruler]

You don´t want to meet mnplastic - that guy which made a successful Luxemburgian AAR!

It´s just about bleeding Germany out of MP and taking Libya and Ethiopia (?) but that´s only my opinion.

Yes a great AAR, Sadly it is dead. Also, mnplastic was online for the last time in August! Maybe he forget his password for the Forums??

 

[red_KLG]

We had more than a couple AARs when TFH was released. Admittedly, CGM can make a beastly France which can conquer Germany anytime the France player wants. Not using CGM would be a challenge, do you plan doing any alterations?

I am asking out of curiosity and not "purism"

 

[Zorro]

You don´t want to meet mnplastic - that guy which made a successful Luxemburgian AAR!

A successful game with Luxemburg, no mods or anything?

We had more than a couple AARs when TFH was released. Admittedly, CGM can make a beastly France which can conquer Germany anytime the France player wants. Not using CGM would be a challenge, do you plan doing any alterations?

I am asking out of curiosity and not "purism"

I am not going to use CGM


I will be delayed from starting my AAR unfortunately. My laptop with HoI3 on it is stuck in sleep mode (even when power is removed) I dropped it off at the repair shop today. Hopefully it will be finished soon. I will feel odd picking it up. I was getting reading to start the AAR and have two big pictures on my desktop. One is the picture of the Germans marching through Paris that I posted above and the other is a picture of Hitler standing in front of the Eiffel Tower that I almost used instead. I hope they don’t think I’m a Nazi and charge me more :unsure:

 

[Ikarases]

A successful game with Luxemburg, no mods or anything?

Just abusing the VP system; it was enough for him to have 1 VP in South Africa then Australia...

I will be delayed from starting my AAR unfortunately. My laptop with HoI3 on it is stuck in sleep mode (even when power is removed) I dropped it off at the repair shop today. Hopefully it will be finished soon. I will feel odd picking it up. I was getting reading to start the AAR and have two big pictures on my desktop. One is the picture of the Germans marching through Paris that I posted above and the other is a picture of Hitler standing in front of the Eiffel Tower that I almost used instead. I hope they don’t think I’m a Nazi and charge me more :unsure:

:rofl:

Btw. Why is your English what it is? I mean, howcome you don´t master your native language. I suppose you´re already older than some schoolkid. It just interests me, I don´t want to shame & blame you

 

[sprites]

Not only the VP system , the building system too ...

 

[Zorro]

A Modest Analysis of France

So things look pretty bleak as France at first glance. A mere 66 IC to start with and my resource base can’t even cover that. Manpower is low and I suspect this will hamper my plans the entire game. 95% for Offices isn’t bad I can get that up easy enough. National unity at 34% is awful this will kill any real chance to get France to full strength before the war.


The diplomacy tab doesn’t seem very interesting. I will let Great Britain do the heavy lifting for influencing nations I don’t have the leadership to spare. It is far from encouraging that of the three available decisions I have two of them have to do with if France gets overrun.

My only real diplomatic decision will be if I have to deal with Nationalist Spain. Naturally I hope the Republicans can carry the day as this will make things much easier for me. Get more into that after we see who prevails in the civil war. If the Republicans win that is one less thing. The last thing I want is to fight Germany, Italy, and Spain all at once. I don’t know how many divisions it would take to kick my army’s teeth in but I know how many they are going to use.

The production screen isn’t interesting either yet. There is one CA in production that will be done in May. Not sure if I want to delete it or not. It is taking up valuable IC and the Allied navy should be able to handle anything the Axis can throw at us at its current strength. It will be a game time decision.

Finally get to an interesting tab, technology. Only sixteen leadership to start out with. I will be hard pressed to keep pace in the tech race. France has good starting practical and theory for infantry and artillery. Light aircraft doesn’t look bad but I won’t make much use of that in the early game. I need to bolster my ground forces before the German onslaught. Another bright ray of hope is France has excellent tanks already built and not bad theory and practical at the start. This will be the key to my hopeful defense of France. I’ll need enough tanks to stop the vaunted panzers before they break through my defenses and run wild throughout France.

I won’t deal with the intelligence tab much but it will be play a very important role in my victory or defeat. I will use my spies to raise my terrible national unity and to increase the threat of Germany. In the long term this should give me much more valuable IC.


Now for a quick observation on my starting military. I was pleased with the Navy even more so when I saw it has an aircraft carrier! It should be enough for me to dominate the Mediterranean and allow me to move at will. The battleships could come in very handy indeed with shore bombardment. It will however be less effective with time as I doubt I will have any leadership to spare to keep it current.

I could use some more planes but who can’t say that in 1936? Three interceptors and 5 tactical bombers are scattered across French territory. I will try and get some more interceptors before the war starts but will see how it goes. The bulk of my LS will go to keeping the Army current I won’t be able to spend much for interceptors and they only seem to be effective if they are kept up to date.

France’s starting army is more solid than I realized. Already having some medium armor helps a lot and gives me the backbone of my armored force which I am relying on to blunt the German attack. Decent amount of infantry divisions to start out with as well but we’ll need more for sure.

The real weakness is in the military leaders there aren’t many to begin with let alone skilled ones. Even if I could field a large enough army it will be very difficult to stock it with quality leaders.

 

[misterbean]

I only played France once and this was in vanilla SF. So I don't know if it's helpful, but I just wanted to relay what I know about the reasons behind France's defeat. The military ones anyway.
The 2 primary reasons were the fact that the French tanks were too dispersed and unable to pack any sort of punch, coupled with a lack of reinforcements and aerial defense against Stuka and tac bomber attacks.
Further they relied on the Dyle plan (a line of defense from the in-game provinces of Antwerpen to Liège/Namur), but they didn't assign any sort of strategic reserve.
The Dyle plan does work, by the way. (or at least it did back then), provided you have a reserve of at least 5 divisions behind the planned frontline. And don't forget that they CAN come from the Netherlands as well.
Good luck. it would be very refreshing to see a succeful French AAR.

 

[sprites]

34% NU ? they weackened it further? that's insane!

 

[Ikarases]

I wonder how you´ll manage to defend yourself. It´s certainly a challenge, which AI fails even if you´re helping it a lot

34% NU ? they weackened it further? that's insane!

In HPP they have 70% I think. Play HPP, not vanilla!

 

[adam_grif]

We had more than a couple AARs when TFH was released. Admittedly, CGM can make a beastly France which can conquer Germany anytime the France player wants.

Could you elaborate? I'd be very interested in trying such a game but I wouldn't know what to invest into tech/what units to build to do such a thing.

 

[oss spy]

LOL, now I know you´ll always read my AARs!

I wonder how you´ll do, there aren´t too many French AARs out there.

How could I not read your AARs?

Anyways, to keep myself from going off-topic, I can't wait to see how this all pans out. Tech is generally terrible for France because you have to focus your efforts on one doctrine or face the consequences, so it'll be interesting to see how you compare to Germany when the time comes.

 

[Marshall18]

Awesome. I'll follow your AAR. I prefer reading an AAR from a not so good player than a pro (pros conquer everything, that's not fun ) Good luck

 

[red_KLG]

Could you elaborate? I'd be very interested in trying such a game but I wouldn't know what to invest into tech/what units to build to do such a thing.

In terms of construction you would consolidate all your useless level 1-2 airfields and ports into 3-4 big bases in the west. Even scrap the fortifications/ AA to gain more points. You can also slightly boost your IC, although you will have trouble with resources, specially if you lower your neutrality in diplomacy CGM which will allow better laws faster. Also move your IC towards the east so you don't suffer from reduced IC if Germany occupies your border territories.

In terms of techs you can get rid of useless navy techs and consolidate to one doctrine i.e. carriers (although BBs are better since you will fight the Italian ones immediately), that will also give you back construction points (from deleting useless naval units), boost army/air doctrines etc. France may have less than needed LPs, but there are more than plenty initial points to spend in CGM. Arm and Inf techs I would put to 1938 level and then scrap all existing units and re-create them so there is no upgrade IC cost in game (i think there should not be any problems with practicals).

Needless to say, you will upset the game balance and you may end up not getting much of a challenge.

 

[Zorro]

Last Moves/First Moves

Here is what I did before I unpaused the game.

My priority is to free up as much IC as I can as fast as I can. To do this I will need to reorganize the army, increase intelligence, and get some productive techs researching.

First I will deal with the OOB. The biggest challenge to the French OOB is the sheer lack of leaders. I should get more leaders as we get closer to 1939 (hopefully) so I’m not worried about combat effectiveness yet. Their skill level isn’t good either the highest skill level is 3.

I eliminated the central theatre on mainland France and gave its land to the Paris HQ henceforth known as Northern France HQ. I shuffled all units into this command to save on supplies. Theatre commander is a skill level 3 and a Logistic Wizard trait. I placed a skill level 3 Field Marshal in charge of Army Group A directly under Northern France HQ. All units are placed under this command until I get more leaders available or we get closer to war and I need to man the boarder. As soon as I get some higher skilled leaders the Army Group commander will be replaced.

I’ve moved all the fleets to Marseille and all air forces to Pairs for reorganization. The French fleet will be limited to the Mediterranean. Great Britain can take care of the rest for me and later the United States. The Italian navy will be my primary concern.

I will be moving all troops abroad back to mainland France to further bolster the army. I don’t see a huge problem with this. The axis can have Africa for all I care. If I’m able to hold back the Germans I will send what I can to Northern Africa and see if I can throw the Italians out. My only real concern about pulling troops out would be in the Far East. The province of My Tho right next to Saigon gives the black soil strategic resource. This helps out with manpower which France needs.
I’m gambling I will have plenty of time to get troops back here if needed. Japan usually joins the war later and I’m guessing it is not hard coded to take Saigon. Most games they just get it via Vichy. By the time they get around to it I hope to have some troops in place to hold it.

I’ve set my internal spies to maximum priority. Once I get ten spies in place I will go counterespionage to get foreign spies out then I will make the switch to raise unity.

Lastly I changed two of the starting ministers. France really has some awful ministers and not very good replacements either. I will have to wait and see if anyone better ever becomes available. I replaced the Chief of the Army to get a -10% on supply consumption to free up IC. The Minister of Security negatively affected national unity so I got him out of there and replaced him with the “best” remaining minister. He will help out with party support with a 15% bonus and the +10% to partisan efficiency won’t affect me much till I go to war and invade someone.

Lastly here is my tech queue

Next update I will finally unpause and get into the thick of it.