German revenge - a German AAR

[Gormytorysh]

To start off
After the frustration and the abrupt ending of the previous AAR, I decided to put my "anger" into a new edition and hopefully with no problems this time. Meanwhile I (re-)installed TFH and updated it to v4.02. I haven't really played with TFH yet so perhaps I will be surprised with horrible events . Anyhow, in short: I want my revenge!

Starting Year: 1936
Game: TFH 4.02
Mod: No mod used
Difficulty: Normal
Style: gameplay (I just don't have the time to write full/ fantasized stories)
Country: Germany

Description: So, I actually don't have much to add here, except that again I will not invite anyone into the Axis, nor will I have any other alliances or puppets (mental note to self: select the right conquest for USSR).

Main goals in the following sequence:
1. Conquer France, UK, Italy and Russia before 1940
2. Conquer USA before 1942
3. Conquer Japan before 1944
4. Conquer the rest of the world before end of 1945
5. Enjoy playing the game!

Any questions? Let me know .

 

[Gormytorysh]

1. Preparing for war

Januari 1936 to June 1936

The first few steps are pretty much basic and for any player just "common sense", although I can imagine that some would do things differently. When playing Germany, the first thing I do is put trade on automatic. I tend to be fully focused on tech., production and war, that I do not want to interfered with who wants to trade what with me. Also, with an AI that can perfectly handle the trade issue for me and I do not have to worry about stocks running low. I am not sure about how this works with TFH, but I am pretty confident this has not changed after FTM.

So, after the automated trade, I want to ensure Austria is annexed as soon as possible and therefor I start with "Diplomatic influence on Austria" and set leadership (almost) fully on training spies, which I put to work on supporting our party. Next to that, I give my spies the task of increasing France's threat.

Next step is my government and (not long after that) laws that go along with it.

The current 1936 cabinet looks like this:

And the laws that are up for change first (which is actually on the 5th of January):

Great, getting close to start the clock. First I have some ideas about production. With the early war I am planning, I need to have a lot of convoys and escorts as they will go rapidly down while the soldiers are off fighting the war. I just set one of each on producing 99 and don't have to worry about that till the war actually starts (then I will set another sequence of 99 for both). Usually I order infantry, loads and loads of infantry, but this time I decided to get some extra LARM in first and ART, AT and AA Brigades to fill the existing divisions. Last thing in production is the rocket test site.

As you can see, production is on the bottom of my list as soon enough, the upgrades will be done and after that I will need reinforcements first before I can put most IC on production. Then I can order more infantry.

Just one more thing to do, before I unpause: My army. I tend to use a lot of risks, hence why I would suck playing in MP and the best way to describe my army positioning is with underneath standing picture. I also do a full restructure of the army officers with a lot of promotions and demotions as I seem fit.

Now that's done, it's unpause time! Soon enough I get the occupation of the Rhineland event, which is no surprise. Also some other events from other countries come along which is hardly of any interest. More interesting is the declaration of war on Lithuania, or at least, I hoped it to be. As it seems they fixed this gamey trick to get some better laws. Disappointed on one hand, but also happy to see it changed, it only means I have to work harder on getting things done.



A few months pass by that only provide research updates and some production finished. Obviously I plan my invasion of France, who will be the first major to attack. Hopefully, this will be a fast and decisive victory so I can take a small breather before expanding in a few directions. By July, my troops are ready.... enough to carry out the planned invasion. One thing I absolutely love about TFH: the strategy planner! So this is what the invasion of France looks like:

And Lithuania is on the table too:

Next update: The fall of France

 

[KyrionMyrthar]

Interesting! I'll be following along to see how this works for you.

 

[Beagá]

Hmmm so you plan to assault the Maginot? And in 1936, nonetheless? Interesting.

 

[Gormytorysh]

2. The Fall of France

July 1936 - December 1936

Now where did we leave off? Ah right, I was about to declare war on France, the long hated enemy and while at it (and for future planning), let's invade Lithuania as well. As an ancient wise man once said "In war, truth is the first victim", I'd say, "In war, Luxemburg is the first victim". I need the small Duchy for my invasion of France as I would like to punch a hole in the Maginot line. Why not use the Netherlands and Belgium for that purpose? Simply said, I do not have the amount of soliers/ divisions yet to keep some stationed in both countries and to defend the coastline.

Luxemburg is the first victim indeed!

Lithuania is the second one for a change.

Now that war on France is declared (on July 24th 1936), I have the ability to change 3 laws for the better of production and more men availability:

Usually it took me at least a month before my troops punched the Maginot line and even then I had a struggle with taking the rest. I'm not sure, but perhaps the smaller size of the divisions gave me the ability to be more effective (width?) or just dumb luck. Anyway, this time progress made was very fast and the French army seemed to have no response this time to any of the attacks. After little over a month, my forces were at the gates of the French capital. And less then 2 months after declaring war, the French surrendered!

One unfortunate note though, the USA recognizes the German threat and embargoed us.

A lot sooner than expected and with forces so close to the Swiss border, I planned the attack on Switzerland. Assuming this would only be a brief war, not a lot was needed. And after two weeks fighting, Switzerland was annexed into the German Reich.

After much faster then expected expansion of the borders it was time for a breather. 1937 Will be the year of expansion to the south and east, which means more units are needed, especially on the eastern border. One of the 2 armies that invaded France and was used to invade Switzerland was positioned along the Italo-Swiss border. They will have the difficult task of getting the Italians on their knees, which will be a huge gamble as I am not sure about the strength of the Italian army.

Next update: Expansions in Europe

 

[Gormytorysh]

Interesting! I'll be following along to see how this works for you.

Welcome and thanks. I have no idea if it will work for me in the long run, but time will tell .

Hmmm so you plan to assault the Maginot? And in 1936, nonetheless? Interesting.

Also welcome . Assaulting the Maginot line in 1936 is kind of my thing . However, I have never really played TFH (had a problem with the 1 year ahead of time tech. opposed to 2 years in FTM), and when playing FTM it was quite doable. As you can see with the second update, I managed much better than expected, I was seriously surprised how relatively easy it was.

Now I am almost up to date with my game and need to play just a little more before I can do the next update.

 

[sunsterson]

nice.

 

[Avindian]

Impressive stuff!

 

[Belgiumruler]

Let's go!

 

[KyrionMyrthar]

Well, that was quick!

 

[Derahan]

Wow, never seen this in an AAR, steamroll the world as the glorious German Reich!

 

[Gormytorysh]

nice.

Thanks .

Impressive stuff!

Also thanks, and you would not believe how happy I was about 24 hours ago. My "record" of taking France was beginning of December!

Let's go!

On it sir!

Well, that was quick!

Considering my previous statement about my record, I was actually amazed that it was that easy. Let's just say I got lucky and draw a conclusion when I'm done .

Wow, never seen this in an AAR, steamroll the world as the glorious German Reich!

Well.... it is the plan . Having said that, I think I may have been a bit too fast for my production. Nothing bad happened so far, I just fear that somewhere one or more nations a just waiting around the corner to kick my #%@. I just hope that my fears won't come true .

 

[Gormytorysh]

3. Expansions in Europe Part I

January 1937 - June 1937

As can be seen in the map below, I concentrated almost all my troops on the invasion of France. The forces along the Poland border are new builds and lack practical experience. The plan was to take Czechoslovakia first before declaring war on Poland which leaves me with a nice opportunity to punch in from the south. It is probably not needed for the conquest of Poland in itself, but more to have forces close to the unpredictable Soviets' border.

It took almost 5 months before the borders in the east were covered for about 80-85% with corps consisting of 3 infantry divisions. It was late May when war on Czechoslovakia was declared and the planned invasion was carried out.

With only new fresh troops that were send in, it took much longer then I had hoped for. Luckily when Prague was captured and the forces were moving towards Bratislava, the new capital, the efforts by diplomats and spies in Austria paid out: the Anschluss was a fact and only a few troops were gained and immediately deployed close to the Czech border. More importantly, more men that wanted to fight for the Greater German Reich! After little over a month fighting, the Czech army gave up and Czechoslovakia was put under German rule.

However, the Czechs were not the only ones that were absorbt into the Reich, Denmark was also the victim of my expansions:

The only response from the UK was 1 invasion in the western France city of Brest. The expeditionary force was able to land, but were kicked out very fast by closely stationed troops, veteran troops!

The next major that should be put out of business was Italy. One army filled with veteran divisions and one borrowed corps from the army defending the Hungarian border was put to the task to carry out the plans. The invasion will start in July 1937.

Next update: Expansions in Europe Part II

 

[Derahan]

How do you intend to patrol all these conquered territories? Just the normal CAV/ARMC (Armored Car) divs or?

 

[Gormytorysh]

This last update was a bit small, but the next 6 months will be action packed. It already is and I've only played a month . Which reminds me, does anyone know how to get these "spoiler" buttons to work? If so, please PM me .

How do you intend to patrol all these conquered territories? Just the normal CAV/ARMC (Armored Car) divs or?

That and also MP/GAR divs for suppression.

 

[Beagá]

How do you intend to patrol all these conquered territories? Just the normal CAV/ARMC (Armored Car) divs or?

Partisans in HOI 3 are quite a joke, he won´t have much trouble.

Besides apparently he will be able to knock down UK before 1938. I wonder when the US will become pissed?

I wonder when your world conquest will be complete

 

[Gormytorysh]

Partisans in HOI 3 are quite a joke, he won´t have much trouble.

Besides apparently he will be able to knock down UK before 1938. I wonder when the US will become pissed?

I wonder when your world conquest will be complete

Partisans will be more a problem after taking down the USSR. Within Europe it usually is not much of a problem, especially with fast moving units. Let's hope the US will remain calm for now .

 

[Avindian]

Why did you use "Acquire Territory" instead of "Conquer" for Denmark?

 

[Gormytorysh]

Why did you use "Acquire Territory" instead of "Conquer" for Denmark?

Good question, to which I have no answer :huh:. Been playing the game for 5 months now, so still learning a lot and I thought there was no difference. But since you ask this question, there must be a difference .

 

[Ikarases]

A page after a day. Nice rolling