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Bullfilter, sorry I've been meaning to ask you about your gaming background! I think you mentioned something here in these threads about old tabletop games, and just saw you mention it in another AAR about being a punch counter game player, or something. What did you play? What's your story?
I got Avalon Hill's Bismarck as a gift (I asked for it) when I was 12, and loved it. Soon after followed Star Fleet Battles (Star Trek sim), Richtofen's War (AvHill), D-Day (Av-Hill), Berlin '85 (SPI) and dozens of other games from WW II to modern day (Airwar, Flight Leader, Harpoon, etc.). I seem to remember seeing the old Europa Universalis board game in the stores too, but didn't have the interest level in that period of history at that time.
Anyway, just curious. Thanks!
Renss
Will get back to you in detail, but a lot of 1970s SPI games (classic hex based) like WW2 (Europe theatre), Panzer Armee Africa (very simple but remarkably able to mimic the real ebb and flow), War in the East (div level, four map sized weekly turns with production lines/factories for the Russians), Global War (whole world WW2, production, once had a seven player multiplayer where Germany conquered the US, I 'helped out' the US by occupying and garrisoning the West Coast as Japan to the Rockies then later defeating the Germans in a massive armoured campaign in central US while the Russians attacked their erstwhile German ally in Europe - great fun), and a whole bunch of others. They often came in those yellow envelopes or big zip locked bags and were cheap for a skint teenager. A few Avalon Hill games, especially Kingmaker (multiplayer Wars of the Roses), Russian Civil War (by Jedko, which had a solitaire mode), Imperium (interstellar combat by Game Designers Workshop) and Seastrike (a great modern ship to ship game played with secret mission/objectives and free form counters and islands you could play on the floor or a large table). Many others: still have many of them, will take a few pics of some when RL isn't so hectic and post them, perhaps as an interlude on my Talking Turkey AAR.
Well there is no active decision where you can choose between china or japan. If you play historically, at some point japan will enter the Axis. Sometimes, weird things happen, like japan winning the war and taking their war goals and then china joins the axis as well. And then there is also the option of influencing china and not accepting japan into the axis. But in the end the US will join the allies if you don't do anything against it because as soon as their neutrality drops or japan attacks them, they are most likely in the Allies' corner anyways and will join them, however if you influence them enough and manipulate their 1940s election, anything can happen. I have never tried that though. Would be interesting. (And then people say that HOI3 is railroadedIn vanilla do you start off in alliance with Japan? Or is it forced through event? I like having options. In many respects it's a lead weight, or an albatross -- it forces you into conflict with the US, especially if things are scripted to trend historical. But if Germany were to ally with China it would end up in conflict with Japan, which could get real confusing quickly if they also end up in conflict with the US and the US still has some likelihood of also going to war with Germany. It would be an interesting game!
)
Hmm... I just discovered that HOI 3 will NOT take a 10,000th screenshot. It goes up to 9,999 and no further -- if you try the screen just sits there and looks at you funny.
So I've moved 29 gigs of screenshots from 1936 - 1941 into a folder and I'm starting over with screenshot 1. Don't worry -- you won't see 90% of these.
Welcome, Volksmarschall! Great to have you along for yet another saga! I've been looking at your stuff too - much of it is very compelling, and I want to make time to read it. Your American Vicky 2 AAR might be where I start. What you describe as its purpose is very similar to something I wanted to do but never got around to.
Good to see you!
Renss
So I've moved 29 gigs of screenshots from 1936 - 1941 into a folder and I'm starting over with screenshot 1. Don't worry -- you won't see 90% of these.
Welcome, Volksmarschall! Great to have you along for yet another saga! I've been looking at your stuff too - much of it is very compelling, and I want to make time to read it. Your American Vicky 2 AAR might be where I start. What you describe as its purpose is very similar to something I wanted to do but never got around to.
Good to see you!
Renss
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Volksmarschall, I caught you in an earlier message, in case you didn't see it...
That's what I love about Paradox games -- the chance that you can, with some degree of realism, cause really wicked twists upon the course of history.
Surt! Great to see you, Sir! Welcome! Amazing that some of us old-timers are still around, but that's a testament to the games, yes?
Yes, sometimes I'm shocked to see the number of screenshots I take, but then again I realize why i take them. For instance, I'm planning out future updates now by listing out what each screenshot shows (I'll probably forgo this once the war starts as it'll become impossible), and as the war just barely starts I'm taking pictures of every stat (i.e. imaging the tooltip) for the battles, like in one battle with 5 units I might take images of each unit's organization, strength, modifiers, leadership, etc. So one battle screen could turn into 10 screenshots. It's only if I feel these things are significant (which they often are, but mostly so I understand how to tell the tale).
Thanks everybody! I'm going to go start gathering the next update right now. Posting tonight, maybe, or tomorrow.
See you then!
Rensslaer
Well there is no active decision where you can choose between china or japan. If you play historically, at some point japan will enter the Axis. Sometimes, weird things happen, like japan winning the war and taking their war goals and then china joins the axis as well. And then there is also the option of influencing china and not accepting japan into the axis. But in the end the US will join the allies if you don't do anything against it because as soon as their neutrality drops or japan attacks them, they are most likely in the Allies' corner anyways and will join them, however if you influence them enough and manipulate their 1940s election, anything can happen. I have never tried that though. Would be interesting. (And then people say that HOI3 is railroaded
That's what I love about Paradox games -- the chance that you can, with some degree of realism, cause really wicked twists upon the course of history.
That is a remarkable amount of pictures
Surt! Great to see you, Sir!
Welcome! Amazing that some of us old-timers are still around, but that's a testament to the games, yes?Yes, sometimes I'm shocked to see the number of screenshots I take, but then again I realize why i take them. For instance, I'm planning out future updates now by listing out what each screenshot shows (I'll probably forgo this once the war starts as it'll become impossible), and as the war just barely starts I'm taking pictures of every stat (i.e. imaging the tooltip) for the battles, like in one battle with 5 units I might take images of each unit's organization, strength, modifiers, leadership, etc. So one battle screen could turn into 10 screenshots. It's only if I feel these things are significant (which they often are, but mostly so I understand how to tell the tale).
Thanks everybody! I'm going to go start gathering the next update right now. Posting tonight, maybe, or tomorrow.
See you then!
Rensslaer
As mentioned in previous updates, throughout 1936 and '37 Germany's focus was on industrial improvement and securing the western border with France. If we were to be busy in the East, it would be required that defenses along the western border be sufficient to prevent an easy French rush across the frontier.
The forces, at present, facing the Maginot Line, are typically two divisions of garrison troops, two brigades to a division, with an artillery/AA/AT support regiment. I am positioning reserves behind the lines (regular infantry, motorized infantry and light armor), along with air support. The defensive line is further fortified with Heavy AA (providing a screen against cross-border air attack, even deeper in-country), and gradually strengthening fortifications (2nd or 3rd level at this point, and that's probably as strong as they'll get).
Of course, the stated purpose of all this re-armament is to restore the German people to Germany. Now that the Ruhr and Rheinland are fully reoccupied, our next target for this very reasonable program of expansion is Austria.
I apologize in advance for how neurotic this image is -- just trying to show too many things at once.
The conditions for Anschluss (for both vanilla and HPP) require some combination of exceptionally strong diplomatic relations, strong party support for the Nationalist Socialists (the Fascists don't count -- historically they opposed Hitler, in Austria at least), and/or a political crisis (which is likely prompted by event).
Accomplishing this -- the party support at least -- requires extensive espionage and propaganda efforts. In October we had only 2 spies (or spy cells) in country, and the party support was not sufficient to smooth the way. By February the number of spy cells had increased to 5 and things were gradually improving on the political front.
I was beginning to wonder if we would ever achieve the necessary conditions! The alternative to diplomatic Anschluss, in HPP, is another decision which provokes a war with Austria.
The obvious drawback to going to war with our blood brothers in Austria would be to lose the support of their military, and all their existing military units. I'd lose troops, instead of gaining. Was it worth it? Was it even something to contemplate? I really need Austria, but.... but at what cost??!!
During this period of time Germany had approximately 22 Leadership to divide between all the diplomatic, espionage, research tracks. They were committed, more or less, at 2 for Espionage and 20 for Research (I was flush with officers for the time being -- I figured research was important early on and I could catch up on officers later). For my purposes I decided not to attempt to spend vitally needed Leadership points on diplomatic cultivation of allies.
I was working on Submarine techs to improve our early production models (not yet laid down, obviously, since you can't upgrade constructed ships with most components). My artillery saw significant improvements with training and gun size/quality, including improved anti-tank weapons. Other stuff is obvious.
So those were the typical foci... Now for the research that was most critically important!
Spearhead Research -- can't get enough of that! Heavy Fighters -- in HPP the replacement for Fighter/Bombers in vanilla -- are important because they have longer range than the short-leashed Fighters, and the Escort Fighter track is opened (is that even in vanilla??). Mechanical Computing is, of course, key to our future research (Leadership). And the Radar is very important to me. I want to be able to plan my spearhead thrusts according to accurate information on how things are disposed behind the lines. Radar (Electronic Intel, realy) is how I would get it.
I throw a series of Radar construction projects into the production queue....
Naturally, I was keeping an eye on how edgy my neighbors were getting at the prospects of increased and steadily increasing German re-armament. In August of 1937 things weren't doing so badly. I'm sure it helped that I was spending IC on defensive preparations (forts, AA, radar) instead of fully funding offensive units. I'm sure it also helped that HPP has a built-in de-escalation process that reduces Threat over time so that it must be renewed to prevent a receding of concern.
I'm a little weirded out by how confident Poland is that Germany is not a threat. Granted, we're positioning most of our army on the French border, not by Poland. Czechoslovakia isn't quite so naive, though they're not quite grasping the import either.
Only France seems to be taking Germany's rogue-state rumblings seriously, and even they not yet realizing the enormity of the danger. By the end of 1937 it was becoming more clear to all of our neighbors that Germany's program of industrial and military expansion was out of the ordinary.
And then, in February 1938, we shock the world with a lightning stroke!
The crisis event triggered the conditions for the Anschluss, and there I go! I grab their military, their resources, their manpower and their industry. My worries about not meeting the conditions were unfounded, and I was relieved to know that I wouldn't have to waste time and resources on an actual invasion (though I had resolved that if it were necessary I would go forward with it).
In the new map of Europe, Germany begins to resemble the long-dreamed of GrossDeutschland, or a return to imperial or even Holy Roman status. The glories of old are returning, or at least are within our grasp, it seems.
Of course, that action spiked expressions of concern and alarm in France and Britain. Just wait until they see what we have planned next!
One of the HPP mechanisms I really like is the staged acquisition of increased power by countries who are expanding. Growing from a Regional power to an Intermediate power was the result of picking up all those fresh Austrian divisions, including some nice cavalry and light tank brigades and some well-trained mountain troops.
The effect of Intermediate Power status is to help our divisions with staying power (organization) and improving our research capabilities. That's something I will look forward to having, as the improvements to Leadership are few and hard-won.
Thank you all for reading! Please do leave comments or feedback if you could, so I know you're out there!
Another update, hopefully, in a few days. I'm hoping to ramp up the speed a little in coming days so I get stuff out of the way before starting a new second job. It seems I will be working 65 hours a week for a while now.
The forces, at present, facing the Maginot Line, are typically two divisions of garrison troops, two brigades to a division, with an artillery/AA/AT support regiment. I am positioning reserves behind the lines (regular infantry, motorized infantry and light armor), along with air support. The defensive line is further fortified with Heavy AA (providing a screen against cross-border air attack, even deeper in-country), and gradually strengthening fortifications (2nd or 3rd level at this point, and that's probably as strong as they'll get).
Of course, the stated purpose of all this re-armament is to restore the German people to Germany. Now that the Ruhr and Rheinland are fully reoccupied, our next target for this very reasonable program of expansion is Austria.
I apologize in advance for how neurotic this image is -- just trying to show too many things at once.
The conditions for Anschluss (for both vanilla and HPP) require some combination of exceptionally strong diplomatic relations, strong party support for the Nationalist Socialists (the Fascists don't count -- historically they opposed Hitler, in Austria at least), and/or a political crisis (which is likely prompted by event).
Accomplishing this -- the party support at least -- requires extensive espionage and propaganda efforts. In October we had only 2 spies (or spy cells) in country, and the party support was not sufficient to smooth the way. By February the number of spy cells had increased to 5 and things were gradually improving on the political front.
I was beginning to wonder if we would ever achieve the necessary conditions! The alternative to diplomatic Anschluss, in HPP, is another decision which provokes a war with Austria.
The obvious drawback to going to war with our blood brothers in Austria would be to lose the support of their military, and all their existing military units. I'd lose troops, instead of gaining. Was it worth it? Was it even something to contemplate? I really need Austria, but.... but at what cost??!!
During this period of time Germany had approximately 22 Leadership to divide between all the diplomatic, espionage, research tracks. They were committed, more or less, at 2 for Espionage and 20 for Research (I was flush with officers for the time being -- I figured research was important early on and I could catch up on officers later). For my purposes I decided not to attempt to spend vitally needed Leadership points on diplomatic cultivation of allies.
I was working on Submarine techs to improve our early production models (not yet laid down, obviously, since you can't upgrade constructed ships with most components). My artillery saw significant improvements with training and gun size/quality, including improved anti-tank weapons. Other stuff is obvious.
So those were the typical foci... Now for the research that was most critically important!
Spearhead Research -- can't get enough of that! Heavy Fighters -- in HPP the replacement for Fighter/Bombers in vanilla -- are important because they have longer range than the short-leashed Fighters, and the Escort Fighter track is opened (is that even in vanilla??). Mechanical Computing is, of course, key to our future research (Leadership). And the Radar is very important to me. I want to be able to plan my spearhead thrusts according to accurate information on how things are disposed behind the lines. Radar (Electronic Intel, realy) is how I would get it.
I throw a series of Radar construction projects into the production queue....
Naturally, I was keeping an eye on how edgy my neighbors were getting at the prospects of increased and steadily increasing German re-armament. In August of 1937 things weren't doing so badly. I'm sure it helped that I was spending IC on defensive preparations (forts, AA, radar) instead of fully funding offensive units. I'm sure it also helped that HPP has a built-in de-escalation process that reduces Threat over time so that it must be renewed to prevent a receding of concern.
I'm a little weirded out by how confident Poland is that Germany is not a threat. Granted, we're positioning most of our army on the French border, not by Poland. Czechoslovakia isn't quite so naive, though they're not quite grasping the import either.
Only France seems to be taking Germany's rogue-state rumblings seriously, and even they not yet realizing the enormity of the danger. By the end of 1937 it was becoming more clear to all of our neighbors that Germany's program of industrial and military expansion was out of the ordinary.
And then, in February 1938, we shock the world with a lightning stroke!
The crisis event triggered the conditions for the Anschluss, and there I go! I grab their military, their resources, their manpower and their industry. My worries about not meeting the conditions were unfounded, and I was relieved to know that I wouldn't have to waste time and resources on an actual invasion (though I had resolved that if it were necessary I would go forward with it).
In the new map of Europe, Germany begins to resemble the long-dreamed of GrossDeutschland, or a return to imperial or even Holy Roman status. The glories of old are returning, or at least are within our grasp, it seems.
Of course, that action spiked expressions of concern and alarm in France and Britain. Just wait until they see what we have planned next!
One of the HPP mechanisms I really like is the staged acquisition of increased power by countries who are expanding. Growing from a Regional power to an Intermediate power was the result of picking up all those fresh Austrian divisions, including some nice cavalry and light tank brigades and some well-trained mountain troops.
The effect of Intermediate Power status is to help our divisions with staying power (organization) and improving our research capabilities. That's something I will look forward to having, as the improvements to Leadership are few and hard-won.
Thank you all for reading! Please do leave comments or feedback if you could, so I know you're out there!
Another update, hopefully, in a few days. I'm hoping to ramp up the speed a little in coming days so I get stuff out of the way before starting a new second job. It seems I will be working 65 hours a week for a while now.
Thanks for the update - interesting to see some of the little (?) differences to Vanilla. Looking forward to how it affects combat.
Good that Austria ultimately fell peacefully, so that you won't be forced to sacrifice manpower. Am I right that Austria needs to be annexed for the demand of the Sudetenland to be available? I don't believe escort fighters exist in Vanilla, but instead are simply interceptors.
In HPP, the Escort Fighters tech can be researched to simulate the addition of long-range fighter wings to medium and heavy bomber groups, with the effect of increasing the air combat ability of your bombers at a cost of a few hundred km worth of range. There is no separate "escort fighter" unit though. Personally, I often avoid that tech because I don't appreciate the fairly big reduction in range for my bombers, but for Germany it could be worthwhile.
Interesting update all around...but the crowd wants blood! BLOOD!!
I see, so they're not a standalone unit. But I still think that tech doesn't exist in Vanilla, although I'm not certain.
I love that the Anschluss is not some kind of done deal in HPP, unlike in Vanilla, where it's really easy to get, even without really putting in any effort. Would have loved to see you conquer Austria the Wehrmacht way... Interesting how any country can get major power leadership by building up a big army and a big IC base, the bonus to organisation is also interesting. Like Bullfilter said:
We're out here, reading along as you write. Keep up the good work.
Yeah it is interesting. I always try to accelerate the events through fully investing in espionage for Austria. But I still only seem to be able to hit the button at the beginning of '38. Has anyone managed to do it earlier, like in 1937? (In vanilla
)
Indeed! You may notice more of the differences than I do, since I haven't played vanilla actively in so long.
I think you're right about the interceptors. There was a game I played once where I had to invade Austria to bring it into the fold. It was irritating.
Correct, so in HPP they treat escort fighters as if they're an extension to medium/heavy bombers which improves their survivability (defensiveness).
You want BLOOD!!??
Tell you what... I've just planned out the next update, and it will be the last pre-war update.Thank you! I really appreciate that. I enjoy giving a good show, but it's always helpful to get feedback from folks so I know you're enjoying it.
Yeah, vanilla, as I recall, set a condition that would necessarily take a while to achieve. In HPP, at least, I think you could bum-rush the Austrians with an invasion in '36 or '37 and not disrupt the triggers for Munich.
Like I told Nuclearslurpee above, yes, I've planned out the next update, and have a good idea what the screenshots will look like.
It is to be a long one, but will be the last update before the war starts (early to war!). Hope to have it complete early this week, if not this weekend (doubtful on the weekend -- only so many hours).
Thanks again for posting and commenting! Is there someone out there lurking who hasn't said hello?
Rensslaer
As it was fully my intention to go to war sometime in 1938 or 1939, my production queue became part of my timeline considerations. When would I have a sufficient air force? When would I have sufficient armored divisions to push through my spearheads? When would I have RADAR? When would my fortresses be sufficient to hold off an assault? When would I have enough infantry to hold the lines, and to defend the spearheads once the armor had rushed through?
Practically everyone in Europe, at this point, had tanks of some sort. The Czechs had some of the best in the world (ironically so did Sweden). So we would need a solid armored force to go up against theirs. Fortunately we expected we were better than the Czechs in both numbers and in training. A diplomatic solution was possible -- perhaps even likely -- but we could not count upon it.
In February 1937 I was already expecting to have a 5th light armored division and Germany's first medium panzer division, with Panzer IIIs. A newly trained mountain division might be useful in portions of the Czech landscape, such as the Sudetenland. Our navy was beginning to expand. We had paratroopers -- two divisions of two brigades apiece -- expected in April and May, respectively.
Our defensive forts along the French border would be complete around summertime. That's when I planned to make a diplomatic shove -- just in case the French shoved back, militarily.
Meanwhile, the Japanese continue to push south slowly through China. Would China be doing any better if we'd chosen to allow them to be an ally? I doubt it -- there's nothing, really, we could have done for them. We have our own problems.
The only problem that might have been better on our side, had I chosen to stay with the Chinese, was our Rare Materials situation. Earlier in the AAR, I'm sure I mentioned how critical the resource stockpile issue is for Germany, especially (because of it's huge, hungry industrial economy). And HPP complicates this issue by artificially punishing large stockpiles (that's the "storing problems" negatives in the tooltips).
Having 32,000 Rares is pretty cool - that's where I want to be. But the Metal stockpile is pitifully low from where it needs to be to support my economy. My IC is nowhere near where I want it to be, yet even at this level my usage (see the -24/day) means that's only a 3 year supply, and empty after that. Fortunately, Germany produces alot of her own Metal supply, and we can seize more, and trade for yet more. I'm not overly concerned about this -- just keeping an eye on it.
In late winter and spring we're moving units into place north and south of Czechoslovakia in an attempt to pressure her to hand over her stolen German-populated territories, unjustly granted them in the postwar treaties.
Here, you'll notice my typical composition for my panzer divisions. I don't know how typical this is, but it works for me in HPP. Medium panzer divisions have 2 medium panzer brigades, supported by one motorized and one support regiment.(actually, probably 2 or 3 regiments, abstracted as one for game purposes). The light panzer divisions have either 1 or 2 light panzer brigades with 1 or 2 motorized and the support regiments. Notice, also, we're still producing reserve divisions, so they're understrength. For now, that shouldn't be an issue -- I expect to find the Czech divisions similarly understaffed.
My philosophy for deploying Radar(SIGINT) is to have one strategically placed location from which to observe the enemy. Saarlouis serves our purposes on the French border, and by mid-summer, after 5 levels of Radar, a 6th under construction, and two Radar tech advances, I can see quite far into the French frontier, and can see almost all of the Lowlands deployments.
Our fort, there at Saarlouis, as well as in all the border provinces to the south, is either up to level 3 already, or will be there by Fall 1938. These provinces typically have 2 or 3 heavy AA batteries, and at least 4 brigades of garrison troops, along with support regiments (artillery, AA, AT) and reserves of foot- and motorized infantry just behind the lines. North of Saarlouis, along the Dutch and Belgian borders, we have lower level forts, and coastal forts being completed up to the 2nd level along all of Germany's exposed North Sea coastal provinces. Several airwings of fighters and bombers are lined up along the French border, to assist if it comes to war. We're not going to need our air forces so badly in the east.
We notice some French light armored divisions, placed to rush into Belgium should the need arise. In other news, Italy joins in alliance with us, and Stalin is rumored to have purged his military of thousands of experienced officers. This gives us heart (roleplaying here -- we all knew this was coming, right?), and makes us re-evaluate our global strategy.
Could we get away with a quick war in the West, before having to worry about the Russians??? The Schlieffen Plan failed Germany once, but primarily because of the inertia of period warfare. With modern mobile warfare tactics (and modern logistics transportation strategy!) -- and even before, had it been implemented properly -- the Schlieffen Plan wasn't a bad idea.
We also sited some Radar stations in Breslau, with the intent of keeping an eye on both Czechoslovakia and Poland. They aren't sufficiently developed, yet, to give us full intelligence on Czech defenses, but what we can see, along the borders, is helpful. Their defense is not sufficient to stop us.
We're ready to go, by the end of July 1938. But, in the event, our worries were for naught. On July 31, the Czechs' "Western Allies" convinced them not to trouble with keeping the Sudetenland. Even the French and British felt the prior treaties were overly harsh, and understood completely why we should want these lands back. The Czechs were less understanding, but they had hardly a choice. They retreated from their borders, giving up most of their protective forts and mountain ranges.
Our divisions move forward, into positions meant to threaten the remainder of Czechoslovakia. Historically, there is debate as to whether Hitler intended to take the rest of these lands -- some historians believe the Munich Pact provoked a government crisis, causing instability in Prague, and Germany moved in to fill the vacuum and restore stability. It's a likely story, but one which may have elements of truth. In any case, I'm not roleplaying in this particular instance -- I'm intending to remove the obstacle posed by the rest of the strangely shaped rump Czech lands.
The Treaty is not without cost, however. Relations and trust levels between the major powers are the main casualty of this bloodless takeover, as you will see in a minute.
But first, let's look at the new face of Europe (I own an atlas, btw, which shows Europe in exactly this state -- it's quite a fascinating historical artifact!). We've gained a slight advantage in any planned assault into Poland -- slight. But perhaps one of the main benefits of the takeover is the occupation of the uranium-producing province of Karlovy Vary. German scientists are eager to rush into work on nuclear power and bombs, though the German government, at this point, seems to have other priorities.
As you can see, the Anschluss put Europe on alert as to the resurgence of Germany. Munich made them realize Germany was serious about reacquiring her lost territories and reunifying the German people. The French, having already been rather alarmed, due to historically bad blood, only seemed a little more hysterical. The Dutch and Belgians remembered how much honor Germany had given to pronouncements of neutrality in the past.
Only Poland, oddly, seemed to ignore the German threat. They were fixated on the Soviet Union. And perhaps, somehow, they clung to a notion that anti-communist Germany might be their counterbalance against the Soviets.
As you can imagine, technological research continued apace, as part of Germany's absolute priority to become more advanced than all of its potential opponents.
There's alot here that's obvious. Defensive Support Weapons and Steel Production, naturally! Light Small Arms and Special Forces both help our paratroopers and mountain soldiers, along with the Assault regiments (engineers) which we have several of in key locations where they are anticipated to be needed to either hold redoubts or cross rivers.
The anti-tank guns are important -- leads to tank destroyer development. The Airframe Advance will allow us to improve our pathetically weak and short-ranged fighters in time to be better than their opponents. And please note that's the 2nd advance in Spearhead Theory in 2 updates, so you know we're pushing it hard.
We also continue to improve our panzer forces. Earlier you saw the gun and engine advances. Now we're improving organization (staying power) and morale (recovery speed), both of which are going to be critical for keeping our spearhead thrusts moving as fast as they must to fully implement Guderian's theories on mobile warfare.
We are ready to implement the next stage in our conquest of Czechoslovakia...
... when cooler heads realize that, perhaps, we're going about things the wrong way. Why feed the monster? Why do what's expected? Such an invasion is only going to aggravate tensions, put the Western Allies more fully on alert, give them more time to prepare.
Doing what's expected was how the last war was fought... The one we lost. Doing the unexpected is the essence of mobile warfare. Surprise -- hitting where you're not expected, else the defenders would have been there in force.
Ever since Germany cemented itself together in the wake of two lightning-shock wars -- the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars of the 1860s and '70s -- Germany's military philosophy has been to skirmish and infiltrate, to probe until weaknesses are found and then scrabble out the advantage by exploiting it. Our generals forgot that lesson in the Great War, leading to Germany's utter devastation. But even then -- too late to do any good -- our generals remembered the old lessons and implemented them with storm troops.
Germany, this time, will NOT do what's expected. We will jump the gun. We will steal a march. The General Staff ordered a massive rail transport of our most important units across the breadth of our country to the other frontier.
If war with the Western Allies was inevitable -- and it was -- it would be fought on OUR terms. Germany ordered a full mobilization for war. But not in the East. Only Germany had been preparing, researching, fortifying her borders, honing her swords to a razor sharpness for 3 years. Western Europe was still waking up to the threat. They were concerned, but certainly not ready.
Germany was ready. The might of our armies was instead assembled along the Dutch border at the end of September, with a tentative launch date of October 1, 1938.
Practically everyone in Europe, at this point, had tanks of some sort. The Czechs had some of the best in the world (ironically so did Sweden). So we would need a solid armored force to go up against theirs. Fortunately we expected we were better than the Czechs in both numbers and in training. A diplomatic solution was possible -- perhaps even likely -- but we could not count upon it.
In February 1937 I was already expecting to have a 5th light armored division and Germany's first medium panzer division, with Panzer IIIs. A newly trained mountain division might be useful in portions of the Czech landscape, such as the Sudetenland. Our navy was beginning to expand. We had paratroopers -- two divisions of two brigades apiece -- expected in April and May, respectively.
Our defensive forts along the French border would be complete around summertime. That's when I planned to make a diplomatic shove -- just in case the French shoved back, militarily.
Meanwhile, the Japanese continue to push south slowly through China. Would China be doing any better if we'd chosen to allow them to be an ally? I doubt it -- there's nothing, really, we could have done for them. We have our own problems.
The only problem that might have been better on our side, had I chosen to stay with the Chinese, was our Rare Materials situation. Earlier in the AAR, I'm sure I mentioned how critical the resource stockpile issue is for Germany, especially (because of it's huge, hungry industrial economy). And HPP complicates this issue by artificially punishing large stockpiles (that's the "storing problems" negatives in the tooltips).
Having 32,000 Rares is pretty cool - that's where I want to be. But the Metal stockpile is pitifully low from where it needs to be to support my economy. My IC is nowhere near where I want it to be, yet even at this level my usage (see the -24/day) means that's only a 3 year supply, and empty after that. Fortunately, Germany produces alot of her own Metal supply, and we can seize more, and trade for yet more. I'm not overly concerned about this -- just keeping an eye on it.
In late winter and spring we're moving units into place north and south of Czechoslovakia in an attempt to pressure her to hand over her stolen German-populated territories, unjustly granted them in the postwar treaties.
Here, you'll notice my typical composition for my panzer divisions. I don't know how typical this is, but it works for me in HPP. Medium panzer divisions have 2 medium panzer brigades, supported by one motorized and one support regiment.(actually, probably 2 or 3 regiments, abstracted as one for game purposes). The light panzer divisions have either 1 or 2 light panzer brigades with 1 or 2 motorized and the support regiments. Notice, also, we're still producing reserve divisions, so they're understrength. For now, that shouldn't be an issue -- I expect to find the Czech divisions similarly understaffed.
My philosophy for deploying Radar(SIGINT) is to have one strategically placed location from which to observe the enemy. Saarlouis serves our purposes on the French border, and by mid-summer, after 5 levels of Radar, a 6th under construction, and two Radar tech advances, I can see quite far into the French frontier, and can see almost all of the Lowlands deployments.
Our fort, there at Saarlouis, as well as in all the border provinces to the south, is either up to level 3 already, or will be there by Fall 1938. These provinces typically have 2 or 3 heavy AA batteries, and at least 4 brigades of garrison troops, along with support regiments (artillery, AA, AT) and reserves of foot- and motorized infantry just behind the lines. North of Saarlouis, along the Dutch and Belgian borders, we have lower level forts, and coastal forts being completed up to the 2nd level along all of Germany's exposed North Sea coastal provinces. Several airwings of fighters and bombers are lined up along the French border, to assist if it comes to war. We're not going to need our air forces so badly in the east.
We notice some French light armored divisions, placed to rush into Belgium should the need arise. In other news, Italy joins in alliance with us, and Stalin is rumored to have purged his military of thousands of experienced officers. This gives us heart (roleplaying here -- we all knew this was coming, right?), and makes us re-evaluate our global strategy.
Could we get away with a quick war in the West, before having to worry about the Russians??? The Schlieffen Plan failed Germany once, but primarily because of the inertia of period warfare. With modern mobile warfare tactics (and modern logistics transportation strategy!) -- and even before, had it been implemented properly -- the Schlieffen Plan wasn't a bad idea.
We also sited some Radar stations in Breslau, with the intent of keeping an eye on both Czechoslovakia and Poland. They aren't sufficiently developed, yet, to give us full intelligence on Czech defenses, but what we can see, along the borders, is helpful. Their defense is not sufficient to stop us.
We're ready to go, by the end of July 1938. But, in the event, our worries were for naught. On July 31, the Czechs' "Western Allies" convinced them not to trouble with keeping the Sudetenland. Even the French and British felt the prior treaties were overly harsh, and understood completely why we should want these lands back. The Czechs were less understanding, but they had hardly a choice. They retreated from their borders, giving up most of their protective forts and mountain ranges.
Our divisions move forward, into positions meant to threaten the remainder of Czechoslovakia. Historically, there is debate as to whether Hitler intended to take the rest of these lands -- some historians believe the Munich Pact provoked a government crisis, causing instability in Prague, and Germany moved in to fill the vacuum and restore stability. It's a likely story, but one which may have elements of truth. In any case, I'm not roleplaying in this particular instance -- I'm intending to remove the obstacle posed by the rest of the strangely shaped rump Czech lands.
The Treaty is not without cost, however. Relations and trust levels between the major powers are the main casualty of this bloodless takeover, as you will see in a minute.
But first, let's look at the new face of Europe (I own an atlas, btw, which shows Europe in exactly this state -- it's quite a fascinating historical artifact!). We've gained a slight advantage in any planned assault into Poland -- slight. But perhaps one of the main benefits of the takeover is the occupation of the uranium-producing province of Karlovy Vary. German scientists are eager to rush into work on nuclear power and bombs, though the German government, at this point, seems to have other priorities.
As you can see, the Anschluss put Europe on alert as to the resurgence of Germany. Munich made them realize Germany was serious about reacquiring her lost territories and reunifying the German people. The French, having already been rather alarmed, due to historically bad blood, only seemed a little more hysterical. The Dutch and Belgians remembered how much honor Germany had given to pronouncements of neutrality in the past.
Only Poland, oddly, seemed to ignore the German threat. They were fixated on the Soviet Union. And perhaps, somehow, they clung to a notion that anti-communist Germany might be their counterbalance against the Soviets.
As you can imagine, technological research continued apace, as part of Germany's absolute priority to become more advanced than all of its potential opponents.
There's alot here that's obvious. Defensive Support Weapons and Steel Production, naturally! Light Small Arms and Special Forces both help our paratroopers and mountain soldiers, along with the Assault regiments (engineers) which we have several of in key locations where they are anticipated to be needed to either hold redoubts or cross rivers.
The anti-tank guns are important -- leads to tank destroyer development. The Airframe Advance will allow us to improve our pathetically weak and short-ranged fighters in time to be better than their opponents. And please note that's the 2nd advance in Spearhead Theory in 2 updates, so you know we're pushing it hard.
We also continue to improve our panzer forces. Earlier you saw the gun and engine advances. Now we're improving organization (staying power) and morale (recovery speed), both of which are going to be critical for keeping our spearhead thrusts moving as fast as they must to fully implement Guderian's theories on mobile warfare.
We are ready to implement the next stage in our conquest of Czechoslovakia...
... when cooler heads realize that, perhaps, we're going about things the wrong way. Why feed the monster? Why do what's expected? Such an invasion is only going to aggravate tensions, put the Western Allies more fully on alert, give them more time to prepare.
Doing what's expected was how the last war was fought... The one we lost. Doing the unexpected is the essence of mobile warfare. Surprise -- hitting where you're not expected, else the defenders would have been there in force.
Ever since Germany cemented itself together in the wake of two lightning-shock wars -- the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars of the 1860s and '70s -- Germany's military philosophy has been to skirmish and infiltrate, to probe until weaknesses are found and then scrabble out the advantage by exploiting it. Our generals forgot that lesson in the Great War, leading to Germany's utter devastation. But even then -- too late to do any good -- our generals remembered the old lessons and implemented them with storm troops.
Germany, this time, will NOT do what's expected. We will jump the gun. We will steal a march. The General Staff ordered a massive rail transport of our most important units across the breadth of our country to the other frontier.
If war with the Western Allies was inevitable -- and it was -- it would be fought on OUR terms. Germany ordered a full mobilization for war. But not in the East. Only Germany had been preparing, researching, fortifying her borders, honing her swords to a razor sharpness for 3 years. Western Europe was still waking up to the threat. They were concerned, but certainly not ready.
Germany was ready. The might of our armies was instead assembled along the Dutch border at the end of September, with a tentative launch date of October 1, 1938.
Very interesting!
Not only will you not follow history, but leave the path of the game entirely.
Very innovative idea to strike in the west first. The big question is, if the East is secure. Will the Czechs and Poles stay put, or will they join the struggle?
Not only will you not follow history, but leave the path of the game entirely.
Very innovative idea to strike in the west first. The big question is, if the East is secure. Will the Czechs and Poles stay put, or will they join the struggle?
The itchy trigger fingers got itchy enough, eh? This is where things start to get good.
This is it, the deep breath before the plunge.
It's been quite a while since I've played HOI3, and I've never tried HPP, so I have no idea what sort of preparedness to expect from France and Britain late '38. The uncertainty makes for some prime suspense! I suspect that you will, indeed, steal a march on the Western Allies but anything is possible. The potential for a stab in the back by Poland and/or Czechoslovakia is another factor thrown into the mix that could make things substantially more complicated. Having played as the Czech's into '38 before, I know how dearly I would've loved to see Germany go West - so I could drive north straight into Berlin! Whether the AI will be as cutthroat remains to be seen.
Good stuff, Renss!
It's been quite a while since I've played HOI3, and I've never tried HPP, so I have no idea what sort of preparedness to expect from France and Britain late '38. The uncertainty makes for some prime suspense! I suspect that you will, indeed, steal a march on the Western Allies but anything is possible. The potential for a stab in the back by Poland and/or Czechoslovakia is another factor thrown into the mix that could make things substantially more complicated. Having played as the Czech's into '38 before, I know how dearly I would've loved to see Germany go West - so I could drive north straight into Berlin! Whether the AI will be as cutthroat remains to be seen.
Good stuff, Renss!