I am playtesting my new scenario 'Europe1994' with 'Lizard' (who's playing the Allies). Kurt is an experienced player/tester so this is going to be an interesting game. I will report every few turns and post a few screen captures. Kurt and I are discussing the details of the
scenario design as we play, so the AAR will hopefully provide a good 'behind the scenes' look at how some of the new features of TOAWIII have been implemented. Please feel free to chime in!
TURN 1
Turn one opens with Allies offensives on all three fronts: Normandy, Italy and Bielorussia, the so called 'Operation Bagration'. That is the fornt that gets me worried as the Whermacht risks most of its losses there through encirclements. I plan an orderly retreat.
However, the scenario constraints me somewhat as AGN and Narwa activate only a few turns later, close to historical.
In Normandy the Allies liberate Cherbourg and Le Havre. I try to counterattack with infantry, artillery and a couple of tank battallions from 7th Army, while the Panzer Divisions are waiting to be released (the scenario follows the historical schedule). I quickly realize that the
Allies' Air Superiority is just overwhelming in good weather. I lose a lot of planes on Air Superiority and gain no ground. Basically every hex the Allies gain close the coast it will be almost impossible to retake. I better dig, be patient and wait for the strong 2ns SS Panzer
Korps units to arrive at the front. The Axis has a unit of anti-ship planes in Normandy. I use it to hit one of the naval units... but it gets shot down in flames. When it reconstitutes I will keep it in the wings and wait for a better opportunity.
In Poland I feel the Red Army was a bit cautious with its opening moves. In testing the German divisions get usually obliterated, but at a high cost in Soviet casualties. This time I am able to pull out most of the Corps, using the parent HQs to disengage and leaving
behind some low proficiency Luftwaffe divisions to hold the lines. I lose almost no tanks.
My goal is to assemble a strong Panzer force in the next few turns while the infrantry makes an 'orderly' retreat away from the 'Balcony' and back to the Dvina. Grosseduescthland will arrive a on turn 3 and I entrain the Hermann Goering Panzer Division from the Italian front and send it to Warsaw. (it's all mountains anyway in Italy anyway). Hopefully I will get an opportunity to hit at the Red Army Tank Corps as their supply lines get extended. The Axis has a lot of units in France and Rumania that are (as historically) waiting for the 'real'
offensives to happen. They get released a month or two later. In Italy I lose Ancona to a well prepared attack from UKs troops.
Learned trick: Lizard, who is on the offensive, digs his units with remaining movement points at the end of every turn, whichis a good idea with TOAWIII. That makes my counterattacks harder. I quickly adopt the same strategy.
Decoy Units: Lizard asks me what to do with them: these are a handful of Corp sized units Historically the decoys were part of Operation a deception plan to convince OKW that Patton was preparing to land in Calais. Those units only existed on paper. The bummer is that even
with the Axis at very low recon value of 5% I can still see that the decoys combat values are negligible. It seems their best use is to keep them still near Dover (not moving units are much harder to identify) and then use them to flip hexagons in Southern France after the Allies
breakout. Also I will mention them in the doc file, for clarity. I assume that reading the scenario briefing is the equivalent to have good intelligence on the ground, so.
scenario design as we play, so the AAR will hopefully provide a good 'behind the scenes' look at how some of the new features of TOAWIII have been implemented. Please feel free to chime in!
TURN 1
Turn one opens with Allies offensives on all three fronts: Normandy, Italy and Bielorussia, the so called 'Operation Bagration'. That is the fornt that gets me worried as the Whermacht risks most of its losses there through encirclements. I plan an orderly retreat.
However, the scenario constraints me somewhat as AGN and Narwa activate only a few turns later, close to historical.
In Normandy the Allies liberate Cherbourg and Le Havre. I try to counterattack with infantry, artillery and a couple of tank battallions from 7th Army, while the Panzer Divisions are waiting to be released (the scenario follows the historical schedule). I quickly realize that the
Allies' Air Superiority is just overwhelming in good weather. I lose a lot of planes on Air Superiority and gain no ground. Basically every hex the Allies gain close the coast it will be almost impossible to retake. I better dig, be patient and wait for the strong 2ns SS Panzer
Korps units to arrive at the front. The Axis has a unit of anti-ship planes in Normandy. I use it to hit one of the naval units... but it gets shot down in flames. When it reconstitutes I will keep it in the wings and wait for a better opportunity.
In Poland I feel the Red Army was a bit cautious with its opening moves. In testing the German divisions get usually obliterated, but at a high cost in Soviet casualties. This time I am able to pull out most of the Corps, using the parent HQs to disengage and leaving
behind some low proficiency Luftwaffe divisions to hold the lines. I lose almost no tanks.
My goal is to assemble a strong Panzer force in the next few turns while the infrantry makes an 'orderly' retreat away from the 'Balcony' and back to the Dvina. Grosseduescthland will arrive a on turn 3 and I entrain the Hermann Goering Panzer Division from the Italian front and send it to Warsaw. (it's all mountains anyway in Italy anyway). Hopefully I will get an opportunity to hit at the Red Army Tank Corps as their supply lines get extended. The Axis has a lot of units in France and Rumania that are (as historically) waiting for the 'real'
offensives to happen. They get released a month or two later. In Italy I lose Ancona to a well prepared attack from UKs troops.
Learned trick: Lizard, who is on the offensive, digs his units with remaining movement points at the end of every turn, whichis a good idea with TOAWIII. That makes my counterattacks harder. I quickly adopt the same strategy.
Decoy Units: Lizard asks me what to do with them: these are a handful of Corp sized units Historically the decoys were part of Operation a deception plan to convince OKW that Patton was preparing to land in Calais. Those units only existed on paper. The bummer is that even
with the Axis at very low recon value of 5% I can still see that the decoys combat values are negligible. It seems their best use is to keep them still near Dover (not moving units are much harder to identify) and then use them to flip hexagons in Southern France after the Allies
breakout. Also I will mention them in the doc file, for clarity. I assume that reading the scenario briefing is the equivalent to have good intelligence on the ground, so.
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