Explorations in Strategy - Italy at War

[Enewald]

Don't you have any spare forces you could throw against the bear?
12 divisions in Illyria, and 5 in Hellas, that is hilariously low, except what is more hilarious is that you can still roll the soviet lines backwards. o

To Moscow!!!


And how have the Russo-German frontlines reacted to your offensive?

 

[frodokb]

Another short but sweet update. Italy marches on...

Keeping up the pressure will certainly play havoc with SU manpower and org. values in the units you are up against.

Considering the response to the rebels, a quick hit-and-run someplace away from the main action, or even a landing at one of the ports between your two main fronts (tho' you may already be past that) could create confusion in the soviet rear and pull off some units that they need to stop your main thrust.

Any chance of pinching off that russian group trapped against the Hungarian border and the rebel provinces? That would be a nice haul.

 

[frodokb]

Oh, for a Corps or even a Division of LARM-AC to amphib land in Albania.

Might as well ask for a drop of Mobile Infantry in power suits! A few "I am a 30-second bomb"-s dropped in the right place would create suitable panic!

 

[unmerged(201662)]

SFCShadow: I can definitely afford these casualties. My manpower cushion is at over 800 despite my army expansion program. Given that the Soviet Union has a massive commitment to countering Germany's armies, it may even be arguable to say that I can afford these casualties more than the Soviet Union can. Maybe.

Ah then I feel much better, good info to know and now I am encouraged and even more thrilled with your successes! How soon will your new troops be ready, because I still see your lines becoming to stretched here soon without an infusion of more men on the line.

Shadow

 

[unmerged(201662)]

Oh one more question, what are being trained, any paratroopers? You could use those aged and so far unused transports! A few para's dropped behind the Russians while they're reeling to cut off supply in key points may just allow you to keep the pressure up as you leapfrog them ahead and cut off the resources to keep the "quantity" of the red tide from being effective. They might prove more useful then Armor at least in regards to the immediate front and fighting and any enhanced training you've researched for your infantry will still apply.

Shadow

 

[unmerged(149861)]

Might as well ask for a drop of Mobile Infantry in power suits! A few "I am a 30-second bomb"-s dropped in the right place would create suitable panic!

Yeah, the poor skinnies would run like hell. But there wont be no Roger Young to save Myth if it all goes wrong, alot of Russian 'Bugs' could swarm out of that red land.

 

[Forster]

Strategy is all well and good, but you still need good tactics and troops to carry it out. Your tactics have been superb so far. What is your IC status now? Had to hurt losing all that territory.
I assume you are trying to pump out infantry as fast as you can. You really ought to produce some armor and motorized, if you have any techs at all, so at least your practicals will start building. You also should be able to shift some of you naval research into armor, motorized and artillery now.
Time to quit playing cowboys and indians and focus on getting your army some backbone.
So, when is Il Duce going to give his "never have so many owed so few..." speech?

 

[unmerged(169228)]

Well, a nice part of the Balkans is under your control again. Good job.

Perhaps now its time again for a bit of an 'indirect approach' of Liddell Hart? Even if the man probably detested it that your last operation was based on the idea's of the 'Mahdi of Mass-Destruction' (got to love Liddel Hart and his antics).

 

[unmerged(87183)]

Let's hope you succeed in encircling the Soviet Front in Greece.

 

[jaxpac]

I just thought I would chime in to say the formatting of this AAR is the best I have ever seen in any game. The first post being linked up to subsequent post is ideal for people like me who come way after the fact and want to read the AAR without wading through dozens of forum pages. This AAR should be an example for everyone else, because for readability the format here is excellent.

 

[unmerged(52507)]

That is good news on the manpower front. I was wondering about the casualties being incurred as well.

 

[Surt]

You got 800 manpower ... that should be enough for 2 new armies and still got some leftover for reinforcement, maybe buy some licenses for heavy armour from Germany.

 

[Myth]

Juan_de_Marco: No, never played it. My supply situation is okay, yeah. Dunno about the Soviets'.

Enewald: Your counting is terrible. I have far more than that committed! Vercellino's army is 7 combat divisions, and the three armies in Illyria together are probably almost 30.

FrodoB: That's why one of my armies is trying to wheel northward.

FrodoB:

SFCShadow: Troops will be ready in a long time.

SFCShadow: No paras, no. Haven't even researched them.

MajorMayhem: Hah.

Forster: As one strategic theorist said, good strategy can make up for bad tactics, but good tactics cannot make up for bad strategy. And I can't give industry numbers off the top of my head. As for armor and motorized, nahh. I've not done any research for them at all so they'd be relatively useless.

FlyingDutchie: This is indirect! Remember, according to Liddell Hart's definition, as long as it hits them psychologically then it's indirect. What I'm doing is ruining them psychologically, as much as you can to an AI.

Maj. von Mauser: Yeah that would be nice.

jaxpac: Yeah, a table of contents is always a welcome thing.

Jemisi: Hehe, a good strategist connects will his ends and means. If I couldn't afford this, I wouldn't be pushing so far.

Surt: Two new armies wouldn't be bad. As for armor, nahh.

Okay so I may actually try to update tonight if I can. This is because theoretically tomorrow I'll be flying back to Europe, but with that Icelandic volcano giving the rest of the NATO countries a good cassus belli on that awful country I'm not sure if I actually will or not, and my first exam is on Tuesday! So what I'm saying is that if I don't update tonight in the best circumstances there won't be another update until Wednesday after I take my exam. In the worst circumstances I may update tomorrow instead as I'm not flying anywhere. It's all very annoying and complicated. Can't we just nuke that volcano now?

 

[frodokb]

The first post being linked up to subsequent post is ideal for people like me who come way after the fact and want to read the AAR without wading through dozens of forum pages.

But you miss all the incisive commentary if you skip all the kibitzing in the middle.

This AAR should be an example for everyone else, because for readability the format here is excellent.

Yes to that!

Can't we just nuke that volcano now?

Il Duce needs to plan an invasion of Iceland. Indirectly, of course...

 

[Lordban]

The idea of having 2k+ posts to read can be quite intimidating


What do you mean, casus belli against Iceland? Casus belli against Mother Earth it is, and settling accounts properly requires a direct approach: Nuke the whole damned thing!

 

[unmerged(43594)]

great thread

awesome work in yugo/greece.

how does eastern front look like now and scandinavia?

any possibility to start invading turkey again?

 

[Baltasar]

What do you mean, casus belli against Iceland? Casus belli against Mother Earth it is, and settling accounts properly requires a direct approach: Nuke the whole damned thing!

I hear that Mr Putin and Mr Obama would be the persons to talk to on that matter, they would have the ammunition required to turn earth upside down a couple of times.

Apart from that, the Vulcano would indeed be a good casus belli, if only to do some target practise on higher managment bankers.

 

[womble]

FrodoB: At least the Italians could build LARM. I think a marauder suit is jsut a little beyond them Or even ACs would do. They're not there to fight, they're there to draw lines on maps to make the next or next but one retreat impossible, and to cut supply to make those retreats easier to force.

Paras' best use is to eliminate retreating units by being dropped into the target retreat province. Huge holes can be opened this way.

 

[unmerged(201662)]

FrodoB: At least the Italians could build LARM. I think a marauder suit is jsut a little beyond them Or even ACs would do. They're not there to fight, they're there to draw lines on maps to make the next or next but one retreat impossible, and to cut supply to make those retreats easier to force.

Paras' best use is to eliminate retreating units by being dropped into the target retreat province. Huge holes can be opened this way.

Yes that's one possible (and most likely use) however, I knew he had no or extremely little armor research done and after all these years I'm sure any points he may have had for research/production are long drained away, so they'd be pretty expensive to gear up for. However anything he's done with is infantry would cross over to the para's, though not having them researched (triggered) is a problem, between research and training them, it would take him a year and that's not useful for now. :/ I hope his lack of development and flexibility for his ground forces isn't coming to haunt him now, time will tell. Though it sounds like any new troops of what he can train is several months away. :/

Shadow

 

[frodokb]

FrodoB: At least the Italians could build LARM. I think a marauder suit is jsut a little beyond them Or even ACs would do.

Quite right, but Il Duce has shown little interest in diverting any steel production from his ship-building efforts, I think. If I remember, he has little in the way of mobile units except for the 2cav and 1mot inf currently in Greece.
If you're going to dream, dream big.

That's why one of my armies is trying to wheel northward.

Any chance of peeling off the afformentioned cav/mot units to dash to Hungary's border? They could probably get there as quickly as the infantry on the Adriatic coast, and do some recon as well.