But hang on, what are the Soviets up to?….

December 1950

The Soviet Union is rapidly taking the Axis powers in Eastern Europe! Bulgaria and Romania fall quickly, and Yugoslavia is soon under Soviet control as well.

January – December 1951

Within weeks of conquering Yugoslavia, Soviet troops are starting to nip at Italy’s provinces. I can’t help but sense a wonderful opportunity here! With the Soviet Union helping out a quick war to take some of Italy’s territory seems eminently doable!

We declare war January 30. We have to declare war on Germany, Poland (an ally of Germany?!) and bits of South America and Asia. No fear! We can win this!

Our plan is simple. Rush helter-skelter to Rome and grab as much land as we can before the Soviets break Italy over their knee.

Perhaps inspired by our derring-do, the Brits invite us to join the Allies a few days later. We accept! But this doesn’t seem to automatically involve them rushing to our aid. Probably for the best right now, I think we can do fine on our own.

Within two weeks we’ve captured most of North West Italy and we’re rushing down to Rome as fast as our little legs, and wheel, and tracks, can carry us. However, I think the Soviets will beat us.

I would have provided some battle details but there’s very little to tell. The Italian forces are severely depleted and the only German resistance is a HQ unit. Has Italy been struck by a plague recently? Have all the troops gone hippy 10-and-a-bit years early? Who can say, but I’m not complaining!

Realising we’re unlikely to beat the Soviets to Rome I hatch a cunning plan. Take Italy from the bottom up! On 11 February we invade West Sicily.

By late February, Italy is close to conquered.

And on March 12, the inevitable happens. Italy surrenders to the Soviet union! But don’t worry, dear reader, we get a chunk of our very own to keep.

We hold the industrial areas of Northern Italy as well as Sicily. It’s a good haul, I just wish I’d thought of it sooner! The Soviet Union holds central Italy, and Northern Italy is held by Siankang, the Soviet allies! How strange!

With war over, it’s time to asses our position: We’re still at war with Germany and Japan and chunks of Asia and South America, we have 128 industrial capacity (due to being at war), 8.1 leadership. Overall, a good position.

By the end of the year Germany is reduced to two useless rural provinces in Poland (good work Soviet Union) and an island in the Baltic. There’s ongoing conflict in the rest of the world, but as far as Europe is concerned, WW2 is over!

At this juncture I think we’ll call it a day for this AAR. It’s conceivable that I could spend a few years moving troops to Asia and invading Japan or something crazy but I think this is a nice point at which to call the game done and Spain, victorious over the enemies of the Socialist Republic!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this little tale.

By April 24 the Germans have secured most of Northern Italy, and despite being pounded by our airforce are marching for our lines.

On May 3, German troops engage our positions, but not in strength, and are easily beaten back.

Skirmishes continue all early May and the battles go our way as the Germans haven’t moved their main body up to our position yet. On the 8th of May Rome is freed from our control and the Italians are given back their country.

By May 15 the Germans have taken positions opposite our lines and begun their assault in two positions. Although the battles go well at first, the battle on the coast quickly turns irreparably sour. Oh, the German troops have gone green as I think they’ve been given to the Italians to use as expeditionary forces.

On May 24 the Southern end of our line collapses, despite six-or-so divisions, fortifications, naval guns, dug in bonuses and air support all in our favour!

With our flank turned, and against all we could do to defend against the Krauts,  I am beginning to think we have no chance of stopping the dreaded Hun from taking all or lands and destroying our forces.

Checking the diplomacy screen we’re still months away from being able to join the Allies so it looks like we’re on our own!

In a surprising turn of events we take back the Southern province only to lose a province in the north. We have troops moving to counter attack, so with luck we should push back the Germans again and recapture our defensive line.

We capture back the lost Northern province with a swift counter attack and instead of the expected rout we have weeks of grinding battle. Monaco province (the Southern one) changes hands again and again ends up back under our control on June 15. Elsewhere on the front battles grind on and on and units are constantly being switched out and sent to the rear for rest and reorganisation before being sent back into the fray. For now, it seems to be a stalemate.

On the 19th of June a wild diplomatic stab (ok, begging and grovelling) sees this happen!

Spain collectively crosses its fingers and hopes and prays that the Austrians send some troops in to help us out some how!

By early July it’s clear that Austria can’t do much. As far as I can tell they only have a couple of divisions and there’s no sign of them crossing the border to join our struggle. We also lose two border provinces after fierce battles where around 20,000 men are lost on both sides (per battle!).

The rest of July sees battle slow down and a sort-of quiet descends across the front. I take the opportunity in August to try to wear down the German salient in the middle of our line. With attacks from four neighbouring provinces I’m hoping we can take it. Grinding battle goes on for days and days.

We’ve also sent the strategic and tactical bombers in to destroy logistics behind enemy lines in an attempt to wear down the supplies of these forward units. It seems to be working – I am seeing the ‘out of supplies’ battle condition o the bad guys pop up a few times. Not sure it will be enough to turn the tide of the battle though.

We let the battle run until the 4th of September, and despite running the enemy divisions down to only a slither of strength (a few men left only) we don’t make a dent in their organizational strength – and knocking that down is required to force the retreat.

Both sides lose a lot of men but no progress is made. On the bright side, we’ve deployed a heavy armored division!

Looking at the bombing run attacks it’s clear that the German forces are extremely depleted. Between the grinding battles, constant bombing and the logistic losses the enemy can’t seem to make headway. But on the other hand, we can’t push the bad guys off the provinces they’ve captured. Stalemate. After months of battle I’m sure we’re both weary and our poor troops must think they’re fighting WW1 again!

On the 8th of September I politely suggest to the Germans that we call it a day and consider a rematch at a later date. And, perhaps worn down as much as we have been, they agree!

Finally! The war is over! Thank god! We’ve lost Italy, but we’ve probably saved the country. There’s no way we could have kept up that war for another six months. Time to regroup, rebuild, and think about our options (and try to figure out when, if ever, this game will end!

Read on here: HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #15

This map explains it best. The Soviet Union is re-constituted!

There’s nothing in the activity log to indicate what is going on, but this screenshot tells me that the world has declared WW2 over and that what is left of Germany sits there in Poland and it, and all its buddies, are pretty much solely at war with Republican Spain!

Eastern Europe is still at war with the Allies, but they’re a long, long way away from helping me, so we’re going to have to take on what’s left of the Axis powers on our own!

First task – reinforce our beachhead in Yugoslavia. To that end another armored corps is shipped that way and I’m starting to look at what I can stabilize in the North to free up troops for a great end-rush through Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavian forces are substantial and we make good progress, but the world receives some good news on the 24th when Poland is fully restored and Nazi Germany reduced to just a few provinces in what’s left of Prussia.

February 1950

In February, things start going very badly in Yugoslavia. It seems that Germany has a lot of troops stationed in the Balkans and it is sending all of them against my beachhead. Battles only last a few hours before my boys are turned back and sent running for the rear. I’m sending my transport fleet to try to shuttle out as many troops as possible, but I’m expecting we’ll lose a divisions!

I finally find a use for the port we built and deploy it to the bottom-most province we control as trying to evacuate from the existing port during battle has proven fruitless. This saves us a few divisions, but we lose more than we save. The final tally is 5 armored divisions (and a couple of HQs) lost and about 6 rescued. All up around 80,000 Spaniards enter German captivity. Not good.

But it gets worse.

March – April 1950

Early March everything goes wrong in the North as well.

It seems the entire German army is pushing back our huge Northern force without hardly batting an eyelid. The battles often feature two or three German divisions squared off against six to ten of our divisions and the Germans winning within a day or two.

The effect of the aggressive German moves and their supremely superior troops is that my lads can’t catch a breach to retreat and regroup somewhere else. Across the north I’m seeing Spaniards pinned by German attack and then sent falling to the rear in full-blown retreat, their organisation shattered and strength knocked back.

We do manage to catch a few breaks and freshly routed troops are able to board trains for the west while we also empty the rest of Italy, having given it up for a lost cause. Our only hope, I believe, is holding the French/Italian border which the French kindly fortified for us years before the war. If our troops get enough time to reorganize we might have a chance of holding the Germans back. Or we might not. I’m not counting on it.

Does anyone know anywhere nice in South America we might invade and set up Spain-in-Exile?

In a grim piece of good news the Austrians grant us military access and so two corps are saved by retreating across the Austrian border and then plotting to move on through friendly Switzerland back to the Spanish lines.

By April 11 Italy is free of Spanish troops (no one tell the Italians, ok?! I still want their industry and resources!) and we’re regrouping at the Maginot line.

In another piece of good news I found out how to fix my flying problem. Turns out it’s a scripting problem that Paradox has yet to patch. The game is supposed to end in 1948 (no idea why this one hasn’t!) and thus all plane missions are due to not continue post-1948. A quick script edit later and I have planes up and attacking the advancing Germans while my troops dig in.

I really wish I had these guys earlier. They might not have turned the tide, but they might have slowed the Germans down a bit.

I’ve set the Strat bombers to trying to knock out infrastructure in the hope that this might slow the Germans down (almost certainly won’t, but I have no other good ideas) and every other piece of tin we can fire into the sky is told to hit any and every German possible, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s not pretty, it’s not efficient, but if we can whittle down their numbers we might stand a chance in the long run.

We’ll find out next time in HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #14

October 12 sees grinding conflict in the North.

The Italian unit fleeing north is actually a large stack and it has taken weeks to beat at the cost of half a dozen divisions quite disorganized and in needing of some wine and beach time. To the East, the port of Trieste is fairly well defended and also contains unfriendly Germans who have thrown back an attack on the port town. We are regrouping and preparing for another try.

Meanwhile, in the South…

The battles in Italy’s boot are safe, but no longer particularly quick. Reducing the cities never would be I suppose. From there we’ll have to clear Sicily, and judging by the Italian’s National Unity we’ll also have to capture a bit of Greece. Probably not too hard, but I’m worried about those damn Germans in the North. Hurry up America!

On the 15th, Rome and then Salerno falls and the Toe of the Boot is also ours. We also, finally, run out of spare convoys – but capturing Rome nets us 20,000 (!) energy, enough to last us a month or two, and our industrial capacity soars to over 100IC. We also have surpluses in everything else so other than concerns about overseas Garrisons going out of supply I’m not so worried about the convoy situation right now.

November – December 1949

The German and Italian counter-attack is fairly fierce. The German troops are skilled and tough and are able to grind down our troops fairly quickly. In a couple of weeks we’ve lost over 7,000 troops trying to take Trieste, easily our most deadly battles to date.

I plan to give up on frontal attacks on the Germans and instead I will try to suck them into a pocket. Might also deploy an Armored corps back up North to give them a hand.

By the 5th of December Palermo is close to surrender and we’re holding our own in the North.

The German troops are far better and more experienced than ours, but we have a lot more men and we’re cycling them in and out of combat to keep them fresh.

Palermo falls a few hours later and this is enough to force Italy to throw in the towel! But, instead of surrendering, they “vow to continue the fight” (I think this is a special Axis power). I’m not sure quite what to do with all this terrain.

It looks like Spain now owns Greece, but we’ve got enough on our plate just trying to deal with Italy, so I think I’ll liberate them. Italy is set as occupied with a Collaborator government, but I’ll switch it to a Military government and eat the revolt risk in exchange for more IC.

We’ve now got 12-or-so leadership, significantly boosting our research – which I put into infantry technologies and theories.

January 1950

By early January we’re fighting in Yugoslavia against… hell, I’ve got no idea! I know there are some Germans in there, but other than that? Doesn’t matter, our heavy armor and motorized troops are holding off the bad guys and expanding what was left of our territory.

Oh bugger. The dates in the below images should be 1950, of course.

The very next day, January 11, it appears that the US has won the war in Europe! The Federal Republic of Germany has been created, along with Czechoslovakia and Austria! Hmmm.. then how come we’re still at war? I think the Nazis are fighting on in the East and it looks like we’re going to be part of the cleanup crew!

Poland even exists again, although half of it is owned by what is left of the Nazis.

Since it looks like I’m still at war with what’s left of the Nazi empire along with all of Eastern Europe, I guess I’ll be seeing you all again next time!

Read on here – HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #13

By August it is clear that we have an Opportunity. The opportunity to take Italy out of the picture and to put us in favour with the Allies – who look like they’re going to win this war! The Yanks have made it nearly up to Germany’s border (keeping us safe in the process) and the Soviets, although unchanged in position since February, are also obviously soaking up some German power, leaving us free to take on Italy!

This could be a tough battle – Italy is not to be underestimated. I expect to suffer particularly egregious losses on my convoys, but since I have about 60-70 free (due to my mistaking how the whole convoy thing works) I should be able to soak the losses for a fair while (but I’ll have to be careful about the National Unity loss this would incur). I also think I’ll lose control of the sea, and maybe the air. Although I have battleships and heavy cruisers they are old, and my air wings, although capable enough, are not particularly large.

The key to winning this war, then, will be speed, speed speed! Just as well I have armored, mechanized and motorized corps along with bran new Heavy Armor brigades leading the way! I also have a ton of troops poised and ready to go.

All up we have 33 divisions ready to storm across the border and down the peninsula to Rome.

The plan is simple. Rush the Armor down the coast to Rome and fan the Infantry out behind them. It’s not fancy, but it doesn’t need to be. We have surprise and superior numbers (I hope!) on our side. Our rear will be covered by various reserve units, but no more than about four divisions. I hope the rest of the Axis powers (or Italy, for that matter) don’t get any funny ideas!

War is declared at 8am on August 6.

The plan is simple. As described above, a Mechanized corps will head south, as fast as possible. Four infantry Corps will bracket the rivers and storm across Northern Spain. Other, unmoved corps will follow a day or two behind. The fastest, closest Infantry corps will almost certainly follow the leading Mechanized corps towards the south with the others joining as soon as they are able.

A week later and things are progressing well. But I also realise I’ve made a really stupid mistake, which can be summed up with the maxim SEND YOUR FAST UNITS AROUND ENEMY STRONG POINTS! I have, instead, slammed my mechanized might into on, and they are now falling behind the progress of my infantry! I should have used my infantry to pin the Italian Garrisons and used my fast units to zip around, encircling and moving on. Oh, I also get a rather odd offer from the supposedly neutral Swiss! I accept!

….but I guess that’s why I have TWO armored/motorized corps sitting in strategic reserve! Haha, had you worried I’d screwed this war up, didn’t I?

I order them to strategic-redeploy to the front lines and then continue the race down the Italian boot!

By the first of September we’re on the outskirts of Rome!

By mid-September we’ve bypassed Rome and continue to march down Italy. We’re losing  a lot of convoys, but there are still plenty left over. Despite my fleets actively hunting for Italian ships we have singularly failed to pin any down – sinking only a stray destroyer group.

The north is proving tricky. Limited avenues of approach and a minor attack from the Germans (pushed off by the Yanks! Go Team USA!) has slowed things down somewhat. Still, victory is inevitable – I pushed a reserve Infantry corps into the area and they will hurry things along.

Oddly, my aircraft are refusing to fly against the enemy. Cause – unknown. Possible bug? They say “returning to base” as soon as I try and order a mission. I really miss their impact on the war.

More battle? Read on! HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #12

Yes, those are German divisions on ever single province bordering our territory! You’ll note none of our troops other than Garrison divisions are in France any more – yes, we fled France as quickly as possible and set a defensive line behind a river in Spain in case those nasty Germans decided to cause mischief.

October – December 1945

We’ve also discovered that we own a chunk of South America! How did I find out? Well, there was a small revolution there. Fortunately we also own a small chunk of the Caribbean so forces have rebased there and are ready to recapture our lost lands. That reminds me – I guess I’m going to have to build more Garrison/MP divisions to keep these pesky rebels under control.

January – May 1946

1946 is tense, but quiet. A couple of small uprisings in Portugal and France are put down but nothing much else of interest happens. We pick up technologies such as Night Fighting equipment (very handy), Heavy Tanks (just in case) and some doctrine stuff. We also look closely at our shipping and it looks like we have some 40-odd free transport freighters and yet still red supply lines. I’m figuring that perhaps there just isn’t anything worth shipping from those locations as when I ran the supply lines manually and populated those lines with ships I didn’t get a resource boost. Hmm.

We also had another Armored division complete – this one with infantry (it was going to be a defensive armored division – yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking either). I’m going to upgrade the infantry to newly invented Mechanised Infantry!

Speaking of divisions, I’m thinking a good defensive division might be two brigades of infantry with rocket artillery and anti-tank guns attached. Alternately, a couple of Tank Destroyer brigades would at least give a combined arms bonus… but how that weighs up when compared to the cheaper and more explosivey Rockets and Anti-Tank, I’ll never know…

Anyway, if you’ve been wondering what the Allies have been up to – well – I can tell you! They’ve gone and defeated that dangerous Axis member – Peru!

June – December 1946

It turns out Spain has a bit of turf in the South Pacific! How did I find out? Rebels, of course!

In addition to Papeete (which will soon be entirely lost to rebels, I fear) we’ve also picked up New Caledonia (north of New Zealand there). None of these territories produce anything of use so I’m inclined to let them go native and forget about them. They deserve their freedom!

January – December 1947

It’s quiet. Very quiet. We still haven’t solved our energy crisis, the Germans haven’t moved and the Allies are messing about in South America and East Asia. When will something happen? Ideally, I’d like to jump on the Germans while everyone else is doing the same, but there’s no way I’m going first!

The UK's Asian holdings.

Meanwhile, it seems half the world has taken a size in this war – except for Spain, of course!

And since we’re here, here’s how my production screen is currently looking.

In September we get an uprising in a rather peculiar place…

Turns out it’s a province in North Africa. Yet another place to go squish the bad guys in. We’ve had a few rebels pop up here and there. So annoying.

January – December 1948

A Very Quiet Year. We manage to create two new Infantry corps and continue to pump out infantry divisions and in August we decide to puppet Syria and Lebanon in a pique of Solidarity with the Oppressed of the Middle East. Welcome to the World of Nations! Please don’t mind the horrendous global conflict!

Meanwhile, Spain waits. And waits. For someone, anyone, to take on the Germans!

Read on! HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #11

January 1944

Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead! On January 13th the order is given to send an Infantry Corps in to the Azores. I want the islands and I want Portugal to surrender! Our two tactical bomber wings and our strategic bomber wing are put on ground attack duties over the Azores, but they don’t find it easy to keep the pressure up due to organization and some strength loss in their attacks. Still, they will be some help. The Battleships are also parked nearby to provide some assistance from their big guns.

The fleet get there on the 18th and then, surprise of surprises, the battle is won by the 20th! I imagine the units there were under strength, out of supply, and facing a lack of national will to keep fighting. In the end, I don’t care what the reasons are, we have won!

And with that, Portugal is done (er, I got the date wrong, obviously)!

February – April 1944

The rest of the first months of 1944 are spent moving Garrisons around to our new Spanish lands, trying to ensure our convoys are organised to ship the resources from Africa and watching a couple of medium tank technologies complete. We’ve also got the energy crisis well under control with some great trades with South Africa.

Early in April two more Garrison divisions are complete and we ship them off to East Timor and Macau. We now hold pretty much all of the important former-Spanish provinces and I am hoping these troops and military police can keep the risk of revolt down.

May – June 1944

In early May rebels pop up in East Africa and 9,000 Portuguese loyalists fight 7,500 of our brave sons. Of course, we win, but this is a stark reminder of the issues we may face with rebels if we don’t carefully station our Garrisons and Military Police units. Speaking of which, several weeks are spent shuffling our military around and preparing for taking on Vichy France! We can declare war on them at any time and they appear ripe for the plucking!

In June we welcome the arrival of a new Garrison division (shipped to Africa) and a shiny new Armored division (squee!) and we’re almost ready to take on the Fascist Vichy!

July – October 1944

I’d like to say that I engaged in a lot of cut throat battles in the summer of ’44, but I’d be lying. Mostly I moved units around and prepared for war against Vichy France. I was thinking about waiting until Spring before kicking off the offensive, but screw it – I think we outnumber and out-skill them, so lets sink our teeth in! November 1 will be the kick-off day and we’ll bring the French back into the arms of  Social Democracy!

Here’s the situation:

• Vichy France itself is relatively small, but Vichy France owns a LOT of Africa.
• The main value in Vichy France is in Europe. If I get around to being able to take the African provinces, so be it, but I’m in no rush.
• I don’t expect to face much opposition on the sea (thanks Royal Navy for finishing the French fleet off at the start of the war!) or in the air, but just in case the main theme of this war is going to be SPEED. We need to conquer the French quickly.

Here’s the operational plan:

The two corps at the Eastern end of the border (Yes, those are stacks of four divisions and a HQ) are armored, featuring medium armor, two motorized units and then either a tank destroyer brigade, a light armor brigade or an armored car brigade. Their job will be to sweep along the coast to capture the ports and to dive into the Vichy heartland, cutting off any troops they find along the way.

Behind them is an infantry corp reserve which will do the mopping up and securing the flanks of the attack. West of the armored corps is an infantry corps which will be bypassing Toulouse and marching into the French heartland, looking for trouble. These four corps comprise the Second Army.

North of them is the first army, all infantry divisions (with one armored division, just in case) and their job will be to cut off Toulouse and to storm into the North of France. Again, an infantry corps will be hanging back to secure the flanks and pin any enemy forces.

Fingers crossed!

November 1944

The first week of the war goes well. No units encountered so far except for a lone HQ unit. We don’t even face any opposition in the air and have had free rein to bomb the logistics and supplies in the Vichy capital, which we’ll now bypass!

We’ve faced almost no opposition and by late November, we’re deep into Vichy France. And then we notice something. What, I hear you ask? Germans! Yes, the Germans have pushed the Allies right back past Paris! I’m feeling very glad I didn’t join the Allies, despite their frequent recent offers.

By the December 1, there’s almost nothing left of the Vichy and I decide it’s also time to capture their capital, Toulouse (I need the energy resources, we’ve still not kept a decent supply and it is inhibiting our industry still!). It really does look like the war will be over by Christmas!

On December 16 Toulouse and the remaining Vichy territories in Europe fall to our forces. We capture 7,500 units of energy in Toulouse, which will greatly help our industry for many weeks (we’re spending 70 more a day than we have coming in, but we do have our industry running at max capacity – 88IC – which is great!).

We order units to redeploy to the ports in preparation for an invasion of North Africa! Step 1, invade Corsica (handy base for aircraft and ships).

Next – Tunis, where we meet no resistance. Hmm. So much for a war!

With the capture of Algiers, the broken French nation collapses and offers their surrender. We decide to annex them with a promise to return their lands to the rightful French rulers once the Germans are defeated!

That reminds me, with all of this industrial capacity I better hurry up and produce a ton more transport ships for the convoy routes a well as Garrison units to keep the Vichy from revolting!

Heck, we now own vast tracts of Africa and even some of the middle east! I honestly have no idea how we’ll keep these holdings. I imagine we’ll see rebels popping up here and there, but as long as we can keep the main centers and their resources I’ll be happy.

Meanwhile, the Allies are getting hammered – they only own a few small provinces in South West France. Damn, I really hope I’m not next. Time to move the armies into more defensible positions.

At the start of April the Allies are reduced to a tiny pocket up against our border, and my offer of safe passage was refused!

By the end of April the pockets are closed and thousands of American troops look forward to spending the rest of the war in Prisoner of War camps.

Meanwhile, Spain is busy building – building many transports. We’re building transports and researching energy production technologies in oder to stave off our energy bottleneck (which we’ve hit again). The transports should help a lot – I really should have built a lot more months ago.

For now, peace in our time!

Read on! HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #10

June 1943

In addition to worrying about the Portuguese I’m also adjusting technology to include Advanced Construction III so I can, if need be, improve the infrastructure in my new African holdings in a vain attempt to aid my troops crossing the continent (well, if the first attempt fails maybe a subsequent one would be helped by good infrastructure).

I’ve also added more convoys to my production queue. We’re running a little low and the Portuguese sunk a couple as well (although we sank many more of theirs). These new provinces in Africa will require transport ships to get their resources back home, so ships it is!

In other news I’ve also discovered that Portugal still holds Macau, in China (I sunk a convoy headed there) and that it seems D-Day has occurred! The US is currently freeing Belgium and the Netherlands from the Hun scourge!

Bad news in the Azores, I’m afraid. 13,000 Portuguese troops have managed to escape to the islands and without Marines we’re very unlikely to capture them. When we capture Lisbon we can probably bomb the islands, but that is unlikely to give us the edge we need. Hmmm. Annoying. Our fleets will have to patrol more diligently to prevent them escaping or reinforcing.

July 1943

On July  we begin the Battle for Lisbon. In total, we have 140,000 troops vs Portugal’s 35,000. Our air support is pounding enemy troops, but it will still be a tough, bloody battle. I’ve also just heard that if I can lower Portugal’s national unity while also taking provinces I’ll force a surrender quicker. We currently occupy 55% of their important terrain and their national unity is at 80%. We’ve got a bit to go, but I think we can make it happen if we try hard!

Only July 21, we get some great news!

Portugal’s capital moves to East Africa and I get to choose an occupation policy. I switch to Military Government. It may slightly increase the chance of rebels popping up, but it provides us with more resources as well as industrial capacity, so it’s worth the risk.

August 1943

By the start of August two things are clear. Firstly, I may need to take at least one more province to force Portugal’s surrender (I’m thinking an invasion of Guinea-Bissau – it will be costly, but we have to do it) and the Soviets are not coming back any time soon from their current position.

Meanwhile, the US and Allies are making great inroads into Europe and perhaps we should think about being on the winning team! I really don’t see us having any other options and so, with that in mind, I cancel our alignment to the Soviets and instead switch to aligning with the Allies. I won’t join just yet – I need to prepare the military first – but I think it’s clear who is going to win this war and so it’s time to pick a side!

As for Portugal, I have everything devoted towards spying on Portugal and decreasing their national unity, but progress seems extremely slow. We’ll have to take somewhere, thus we load an Infantry Corps onto a fleet and send them off towards Guinea-Bissau.

By the 17th of August a fairly desperate battle is taking place on Guinea-Bissau and in its skies. We’ve got Tactical Bomber and Strategic Bomber support, but the bad guys have three wings of interceptors and a good number of troops defending. The troops defending are mostly HQs, but our troops are not trained or equipped for amphibious warfare and the fight is slow going.

September 1943

The battle for Guinea-Bissau rages the rest of the month and into September. Then, on September 8, we get a small rebel uprising in Portugal. Damn, time to send in the lads to put the rebel down!

Three days later the battle is won, but it’s clear we’re going to have to station some garrison troops around Portugal, perhaps backed up by Military Police as well. And, speak of the devil, the first of our Garrison/MP divisions rolls off the production lines and is deployed to the troublesome area.

On September 30 the Portuguese send their fleet out of Guinea Bissau’s harbor and attack our invading fleet. Their attack doesn’t go well for them, but I applaud their pluck.

Finally, on September 14 we take Guinea-Bissau! It’s our most bloody battle ever, with 2,100 losses to me and 2,400 loses to the Portuguese. We also have another Garrison/MP division come off the production line as well as our first port. Unfortunately, we don’t have much use for it, but the freed up Industrial Capacity is appreciated and I order an entire armored corps and another Interceptor wing! Time to think big!

October – December 1943

The rest of the year is spent tidying. I have managed to pick up some energy import deals from various locations – mostly South America, and so my IC is steadily climbing as I have the energy available to fuel the factories.

I have also moved Garrisons around – one division to the Guinea-Bissau and one to the Cape Verde Islands – to ensure they remain mine. I still haven’t removed the invasion forces from Guinea-Bissau as the Portuguese are sitting next door in Vichy territory waiting for me to give them a chance, I expect.

Our slide towards the Allies is progressing as expected and if we wanted to we could probably join the Allies some time in 1944. We might not need to though, the Allies have captured all of France that isn’t Vichy France, and will probably soon be pressing towards the German heartland. But… how about Vichy France? It’s time they taste some justice for joining the damn Axis powers!

As for Portugal, we’re only 1% away from seeing them surrender! I plan to do this through pressure from our spies rather than through invasion – we’ve run out of targets except for the heavily defended Azores anyway. We’ll just have to be patient.

Read on! HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #9

]]> http://afteractionreporter.com/2010/09/05/hoi3-aar-viva-el-socialismo-%e2%80%93-8/feed/ 2 TinyPirate HOI3-Commie-Spain-Title HoI3_43 HoI3_46 HoI3_47 HoI3_48 HoI3_49 HoI3_50 HoI3_52 HoI3_53 http://afteractionreporter.com/2010/09/04/hoi3-aar-viva-el-socialismo-%e2%80%93-7/ http://afteractionreporter.com/2010/09/04/hoi3-aar-viva-el-socialismo-%e2%80%93-7/#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 12:31:07 +0000 TinyPirate http://afteractionreporter.com/?p=947 ]]> War! Huh! Wha is it good for?

Well, firstly, it’s great for CONQUERING PORTUGAL! Lets see if we can.

March 1943

On the 6th of March the weather continues to look good.

This is it then, war will be declared at midnight and our troops will cross the border at dawn!

First up – exploitation troops are ordered to cross the border. Those adjacent to the exploitation are ordered to attack and support attack at dawn to ensure our advances proceed unmolested.

By March 12 our plan is progressing well. The Portuguese haven’t been able to respond to our rapid advance and are soon going to face encirclement. Our airforce has met tough competition in the skies, but we outnumber the Portuguese air force and the numbers are starting to tell on the enemy’s performance.

The only downside to our great success is that we’ve run out of energy. Our industrial capacity has dropped due to this and, unfortunately, I can’t find anyone who is willing to trade me energy. Damn.

By the 15th we’ve captured the Azores without facing any resistance and Lisbon is almost surrounded, the bulk of Portuguese forces cut off.

Five days later and the Portuguese main body are trapped in a slim pocket.

On March 25, all but a small pocket of Portuguese troops remain, along with those stuck in Lisbon, which are fighting a desperate and doomed break-out battle.

The pocket is closed

The pocket finally collapses on April 4th after a long and deadly battle.

We’ve also picked up all of Portugal’s island territories, hurrah! Our troop ships are now on their way to West Africa to look for vulnerable targets.

April 1943

Our troops are slowly picking up Portugal’s African provinces. On April 27 we order our motorized infantry and armored car scout corps to ship to west Africa to help speed up the process.

Capturing Angola is easy enough, and pleasingly, it has a province which produces energy, which has resulted in a boost to my economic output. The problem I have now is that my fleets don’ t have the range to reach Easy Africa for an invasion there. The solution? Simple, we’ll send our units in Angola walking across Africa! Thankfully, with the English still providing military access I have a direct land route – I just hope the trip doesn’t exhaust my troops to the point of uselessness.

I have now been made aware of another, concerning problem. The Portuguese own East Timor (and a small piece of West Timor), an Island north of Australia. I am sure it wouldn’t be hard to take – I just have no idea how I’m going to reach there!

Meanwhile, I also have Lisbon to conquer. There is a good stack of troops there, matched by my equally large stack of troops, and at some point soon I really should bite the bullet and knock their capital out. Perhaps the loss of this victory point territory and the ones I am picking up in Africa will be enough to convince them to surrender.

Read on! HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #8