Something is coming from the North: A Swedish AAR [Finished]

[Lonfield]

Hello,

I've just bought HoI III and i'm loving it, i already played some other Paradox games and i can't wait for HoI IV. If my mind was right Sweeden was a decent power some centuries before WWII took part. Let's see if we can make that work again.

I hadn't still played a major power in this game and sadly i'm still learning how to play even small ones. I've said this because it can be common that i make some weird divisions or similar, please, be kind with me.

This is my first AAR. I've considered a lot making one of EU IV but never found a game fun enough to deserve to be told. I'll try my best with this one.

I want to apologize for my english, i'm spanish, so no native speaker, and my current level is decent, but i still don't feel comfortable making stories with it, by the way, i'm not even good making them in spanish

I'll try to keep the AAR updated, i think it will be quite short, it's weekend!!!. Updating ratio recomended?

And now, let's start with what really matters. The AAR.

Rules:

I'm fan of playing without mod, so first rule. No Mods.
I didn't even know officers limit could be at its max lvl. 200%, so i'll set it max. at 150%
There will be monthly saves, game had been crashing a lot so i don't wanna lose all my progress but i'll play it as in Ironman mode, no refight, or reload if something goes wrong.
Game will be played in normal, and all manually controled, maybe, if i get stunned by trade i'll set it to auto.

Goals:

The first and most important Goal of this AAR is try to get a decent mobile tank force with a minor (i know they're regional power, but they're still a minor) and probably join the Axis and clear the North of Soviets or, not join anybody and clear the north of Soviets and Germans, it will depend on how game developes. After that, move forward with my tank divisions until we run out of fuel.

Since this is my first AAR and i think my first post in the forum i hope you can tell me if i'm missing something or i made something wrong, i checked all the rules before, i think.

"Happy New Year!!!!, I got my cup and drank all the champagne, i don't really like how it tastes but it's the only alcohol i can take, i'm 16 and my parents are reestrictive according to this i can't drink untill i'm 18. If they could, it would be until i die. Letting alcohol apart it was a good night, with good people. All my close family had came to my house, well, my parents house being honest. This time, the meeting was at my house, last year was in uncle Ragnar's one, yes, like that viking long time ago, and next year it would be on aunt Cilla's. Uncle Vilhelm died two years ago and since that moment his wife and sons rejected our tradicional new year family's night so we're just three families in rotation now. Christmas night is with mom's family. Oh! I almost forget it, today it's Jan, 1st, 1936, or if you, like me consider that days last as much as you before going to bed, we're still at December in 1935"

 

[Lonfield]

King Gustav got his newspaper "let's see what press have for us in this January 1st" .

Sweeden is not ready for the new years challenges!! "Sensationalist headline" King Gustav, like all kings in current times had no power, it was sad because he, like that newspaper said thought the same. His beloved country had a problem with resources. Mineral ones were fine, but in energetic terms Sweeden needed from his neightbours to not getting its stockpiles empty, later than sooner, but empty anyway.

The same way, even when press headline had nothing to be according to this, World is not a quiet place in our times. Spies were being moved back home, Sweeden must be a clean country, and counterspionage is a must. In this line, and with Finish government talking with German one it's definetly needed to realize what are they planning. "It will be surely something concerning the Sovietic border of Finland but who knows" . "Neutrality, we've been neutrals since Napoleonic wars and now, i don't know what will happen but surely neutrality won't be an option, I must talk to my government and let's see what we can get."


Per Albin Hansson got amazed when he heard what King Gustav had to tel him, he couldn't believe what he was suggesting, but what really got him amazed is that some ministers got the same feelings about neutrality. He couldn't forget he was ruling in coalition and that without the other parties support country would be lost without a proper government, unable to take any laws or measures without months of senseless talk. By that way he decided to aprove some little measures to prepare a highly neutral population for some possible disturb of "our" beloved peace. Preparatios for war were called by some, it was just some unit movements across our borders, Germany is always a power to take into account and danish government is weak, we can't consider Malmo nor Göteborg safe until we've garrisoned them, with this führer on charge Germany is unpredictable. "Oh, Weimar republic times, those were good times"

 

[Lonfield]

King Gustav asked for a whole government meeting, wars were appearing here and there. As he thought World was changing, evolving into a darkest time and he wanted to discuss that with his equipment. Maybe not his equipment as he thought while he was entering the meeting room.

-Gentlemen-

-Your grace-

“It’s fun, all of them, even by their own have more power than me, anyway, they call me your grace. Politicians and social laws are amazing, each one by their own, and even more together”.

-It’s pretty clear to me that this Spanish Civil War will not be one more of their wars, Spain have been in civil wars since Napoleonic invasion, they spent last century changing governments, liberalism or old tradicionalist and oligarchy governments, I know Gentlemen you all know this, it’s just an overall review to get to the point I am aiming to. THIS WAR!, will not be like the others. In this one major powers will be involved.

Some noise came from the room. Some ministers were talking about League of Nations, that organism created after WWI to prevent more wars at rule a peaceful world.

-Gentlemen, please. I know that you expect League of Nations will handle it. I expect French and British government follow their advice, instructions, maybe recommendations. The same way I hardly doubt German, Italy or Soviet Union let that war develop by its own. First ones are expansionists, we have Italy at war currently, Soviet Union will support any communist party all around the world wherever it is!-

“My voice was too loud there”

-Your grace, what’s your opinion, your suggestions maybe-

“This Per, he’s still leaving in our pink world, poor Per”

-Dear Per, there is a sentence, said long time ago, “Si vis pacem, para bellum”. It means that if you want to leave in peace, you must be ready for war. It’s a quite interesting idea. But in these times we have to leave in, it’s a proper sentence. What do the rest of you think?.

-The Headquarter of Stockholm had requested some more units to take care of all our borders- said Oscar Nygren, chief of the army.

-Our Industry can’t afford it!!!- Scream one of the Social Demokratena ministers.

-They asked for some air wings and ground units, I know we can’t currently afford it. But I think we have to let military decide what they need and try to provide what we can. This is why I suggest creating some artillery brigades. It’s true that we can not currently equip more air wings without compromising our people’s need. But we can’t decrease the output of cars, radios, filming equipment, cameras and take a little care of our army.

-My King- Foreign Office Minister went towards King Gustav and showed him some papers. Armament Minister was around there too and went to have a look, he knew what was taht about and wanted to see the effect on King Gustav.

-Oh!, THIS, this is so good Richard- King Gustav forgot about beeing too polite, he was honestly too happy for that.

-Thanks your grace- Politicians can't be so relaxed when standing in front of a King.

If his previous smile was discrete and unseen, this one was clear to everybody, his country won't run out of resources, Sweeden factories, citiciens, everybody would have energy, supplies, and even cameras were still under production, not as many as before, but more than enough.

 

[Lonfield]

Chief of army, Nygren, were active in the last days of May, he stablished contact with production companies and got a bunch of possible offers to Sweedish government in case they wanted to get new equipment for their armed forces.


Companies production managers and their people in strategic research knew as well as the rest of the people in the country that something was moving on. Since Spanish Civil War and the fall of Ethiopia new laws have been approved, three years-draft and there was a rework on the industry, it was being focused in a more heavy industry. In the same direction propaganda all around the major cities and newspaper were preparing country for these measures.

After theese six first months i'll make some explanation of what i've been thinkng and planning for this AAR.

I'll try to make an update for each year. Or quite important events. I've been making this small updates just to test how i feel about them and i think they're not "important enough", i mean, nothing needs to be explaint that much so i think one year per update is decent ratio.

I'll keep characters working when their lifes enter with events of the game.

And now it's time for some game. I find quite hard having an easy control of my units so this is the structure of the army.

Stockholm HQ

1st Army Group

1st Army

1st Corp

1 Infantry division. Still being built, It'll follow the usual template. 3INF/1ART
2 Infantry divisions. 4INF​

2nd Army

2nd Corp

3 Infantry division. Still being built, they'll follow the usual template. 3INF/1ART

​

Currently i'm building some LARM brigades and some INF brigades to create some light pushing force with full LARM divisions and some more slow stronghold with some 3INF/1LARM divisions or 2INF/2LARM.

In the technologicall part of the game im researching education, agriculture, research boosters, at least unlock all and then i'll decide if i upgrade them more. And light tank parts to level two to "rush" medium tanks. At the same time, Operational level organisation to get less delay between attacks and some Org. for my armoured and infantry divisions. Naval part of the game will be "ignored", i don't know how fleets are but mine being decent in Baltic sea, can't contest anything and my research options are not too big so i'll let the Navy behind. For the Air force i'll try to keep them usefull but i won't focus my research on them, i think i'll try to buy licensess.

 

[Lonfield]

December is not a good month to be at the streets, not even in the south of Europe. Winter at Stockholm wasn't a pleasure, and having to go to the last meeting of the government before Christmas was a real pain. "I'm king, this is part of the pack". King Gustav was moving from his personal residence to the government palace. While he's driver was parking, new driver, it was taking ages to park. Royal House was getting new staff, with new conscription laws a part of the current members of the staff would ahve to go serve the army this new year so they needed trained staff before that or Kungliga palace would be a mess for months.

"Well what happent this year, we're fighting against our stockpiles of resources, right now it's a tie" He smiled for himself. "Our industry is right now working at full capacity, i can't stop remembering camera's production can't stop or Karl Schylter will complain untill we make our camera's stockpile big enough" He smiled again. For someone from outthere, almost hundred percent of the Sweedish population King Gustav was a serious person, that's how a king must be to his people, serious so they respect him. For his family, his close staff, and some ministers he used to let his real "me" appear. He thought it was good to be himself sometimes. "There have been some political troubles in the last time, this Nygren... he's a really capable minister but we, government and me, can't afford the inestability for the country that he brought heading two ministeries, we had to get him out of Staff. I can't lose him from the Army. I really like his idea of focusing all our national power in few military doctrines and push them to the top. What i don't like that much is that we're rejecting two of the three dimensions of war. But sadly, this is what minor powers do. We have to fix that before the World collapse, becasue it will. Fascists are spread all around. Spain, Italy, Germnay. Most of the Balkan governments are having contacts with German government....Versalles is too recent, and Germans don't forget, neither Frenchies did, what happent at Sedan and after that let a deep hate on them that i think will last forever. Japan is moving too, right now it's too far, but everything nowadays is too close. Some spies say, in my humble opinion suspect that Germans are having contact with Japanese government. Stalin by the way is quite calm, he's keeping the bear chained, but for how long?"

"Elections went well, we kept the same government, comunists are still far from being a problem in our government but we need to keep an eye on the, in the end, they have the real control of industry. We need to improve our propaganda. According to propaganda, that peace demostration proved that we're not doing well enough, so i'll have to keep Propaganda minister, oh!, we don't have, i'll talk to Per, we really need a new one"

Political situation​

Production is at full speed, or what we can afford​

One question according to ImageShack. After free trial expires, i can keep uploading pics right?, first time i use that host.

 

[Lonfield]

I'd apreciate some coments if somebody is reading this because it's quite a hard job prepare pics ( i know quality of the AAR is not too good, there are amazing ones here) i'm creating folders with pics per age, and in war, per month, i don't know if the rythim of the AAR is good, play the game taking care of the rules, and trying to aprove laws according to the AAR philosophy, i feel a bit lost in this project. It's just, reading something to get strengh to carry theese swedish to the victory, or at least a fun game.

Update coming tonight, i hope, or maybe i can reach Moscow and then there won't be more updates, i'll be drinking vodka at red square

 

[Lonfield]

King Gustav lied at his chair, in front of him, his ministers and their staff. Situation was critical. After losing an entire army at Helsinki suburbs morale was terribly low in the country. If that wasn't enough, Germany and their allied were pushing Soviet Union, Moscow was still garrisoned and protected by the unending soviet union forces, but none of their divisions came to help us. At North, 2nd Army was fleeing from Kola, it was an ordered retreat, but a retreat, and without our presence at Finland now nothing could stop comunists from attacking our home land.

"Ah..., all efforts made to contact the Germans, ah... that feeling when we took Leningrad"

Our stockpiles were prefectly, we had coal, oil, supplies, but we lacked rare materials, and our industry would have to stop working soon.

King Gustav realized that researchs and industry investment were wrong, our medium tanks, the main objective were not a reliable force to fight she soviets, in the mean time, not even infantry forces we're well equiped and we couldn't stop their armoured division. Our manpower was low, soon, kid with less than 18 years would have to join the army in a senseless effort, they'd lose their lifes for nothing. If we just could surrender...

Eastern Front

Last Sweedish line of defense on the old Sweedish border

Parts of the Sweedish army, rout, after battle of Helsinki



My forces when war with Soviet Union started

I hadn't time to reorganize my army after finishing the Finish, during Finish War, and seeing the date, i let 1/3 of my army covering the few roads and railways, it prooved it wasn't enough. The rest of the army was getting ready to garrison and entrench at the borders when war popped up. This way i got cutted, i let myself got cut, hopping Germans would help me. In a previous experience Germany sent some units to help me through national Sweedish lands, then Finish and finally arrived at Kola, they even sent me expeditionary forces. In this game they didn't even try to hold their Northern front and just pushed to Moscow.

It was a fun game to play. I wanna play something with a lil more manpower and a better industry, but still not a major in my next game. I thought Italy, but they have too many fronts and i can't manage AI properly. I'd apreciate if you can tell me where i can find a guide about managing AI.

Thanks for reading and i'll try to give more info between 1937-1941 in my next AAR. I hope it ends better!.

 

[sebas379]

Whoa I did not see that last chapter coming!
I understand the difficulty with Sweden, it is not a powerful nation at all and in quite a precarious position. I've played them both in the Allies and the Axis, and both worked. But you are at the mercy of German/Soviet performance. Minor an regional powers just don't have the strenght to carry a front if their major ally fails.

A few tips I'd give you:
-Do not limit your officer ratio artificially. If you play the base game and the limit is 200%, shoot for it. In later expansions it is set at 140%, hit it. The higher that ratio the better your troops will perform. It is at least as important as having up to date technology.

-Regarding image uploading: I'm not sure about how Imageshack works these days. I tend to use either Imgur or Photobucket. Imgur doesn't require an account and you can upload unlimited. PB does have accounts and limits, I only use it when I have trouble with Imgur, which is very rarely.

Italy is a good nation to get to grips with all kinds of combat, especially naval, and to learn to manage many fronts with limited resources.
If you want something a bit smaller than Italy but with a bit more options than Sweden, I think you should give Hungary a try. Hungary can join the Axis easily and has claims on Yugoslavia and Romania. With their reasonably low neutrality you can try to build an empire in the Balkans before joining Germany in the showdown. Its a great way to get to grips with land combat. From there take another step up and play Italy, learning to manage multiple fronts and balancing army, airforce and navy etc. But that would be my suggestion.

Still a very nice first attempt at an AAR, hoping to see another one from your hand later! It is a great way to get to grips with the game. Last thing I would advice is to slow down the amount of updates you post just a bit. An update a day or every other day gives people a chance to notice the AAR, read it and comment before its over
Oh and do not worry about your English, it is fine

 

[Lonfield]

Hello!!!, Thanks for posting!.

i'd like to say that this was a try to see if i could manage the effort of making an AAR. Problem here is that i like to play this game a lot. And i tend to have only one game running at a time. I mean, it's quite hard to manage Sweeden, i can't try to manage a decent country and after keep another AAR on going. I think i'll get a Word, play, prepare post, save it. This is what i wanted to do with this one, but sad part is that this morning i got crushed. And, with 0 post, working on a defeat AAR was senseless . Sorry for the sudden end.

I thought on playing some Balkan country, and continue towards the east, and ignore Europe. Maybe i'll do that one of theese days. Right now, I'm starting a Japan game, seems easier than Italy, at least to me. Pretty decent in tech, Pacific seems a quiet theatre, i'll try to keep Muricans calm. I won't join the axis, i don't need it, i can build my own equipment, and let's see what happens.

I have played until 1937 in 1hour. And i've divided all the info i got in 4 periods of 3 months. What do you recomend me, 4 chapters?, 1 chaper?, 2 chapers?. And i think i'll get to 1940 before week ends , in fact i think i'll get to a further date. I think i'll get the idea i exposed here, create AAR files on Word and then post like a tv program.

Thanks for the tips!.

 

[sebas379]

Hmm. japan is actually in a bit of a similar situation as Italy in that you need to balance your army and navy etc with limited resources whilst fighting more powerful foes. you do not have the border with France, but you are faced with the USA, which can easily produce twice or three times as much stuff as you. In my opinion Italy is easier to defend once Germany has overrun France. But it wil require good management of the various branches of your army.

Hmm a neutral Japan? That is possible I think. By not attacking the USA you can probably delay their entry into teh war, though I suspect they will join at some point if you attack enough nations.

Good idea with Word, if you are really in the flow of things indeed. Throw up an episode every day or every other day would be my recommendation. About how many posts per year I really can't tell you that. It depends on your style. I prefer to get through the prewar period fast, which means my first chapters might cover an entire year at a time. If you look at my Hochseeflotte AAR (see signature) I think I carved through an entire prewar year in one post, then slowed down significantly once war broke out. But in the end it comes down to whatever you prefer. Don't worry, we'll read it anyways

 

[Lonfield]

I've seen your Hochseeflotte AAR , it's quite good. The only think i don't like (it happens in all games like this) is that when you destroy all fronts game becomes too easy. It happens in EU IV, that's why i choosed Japan, while being a decent power it's still small enough so i don't need to carry my faction. In EU IV i've started to play Nepal and countries like that. I don't like the blobs, those are boring (that's why i won't play USA for a long time, evenwhile i think it's a quite good country for learning).

Well, Germany overruning France is not a 100%, i've played 3 games, in 2 that has happent. In the other one, They got stopped at Maginot line (yeah!, it worked) and then when Italy entered the war, Italy got destroyed and Germany was wiped out, that was at 1944. I was an Axis Sweeden (I think it's a decent country to learn, you can beat Norway and Finland, and then you'll have to fight the soviets) I managed to get al Kola, and Finish lands until their defensive line close to Leningrad. And in that game medium tanks worked soooooo well so i decided to retry that getting good tanks.

Going back to that neutral Japan, i just want to delay USA as much as i can. Main objective is having a "quiet" theatre to test an strong country without the pressure of being at Europe, and not controlling the clock.

 

[Solfall]

I would really recommend trying out Black Ice. I had been playing Norway for over a year in both DH, AoD and HoI3 just trying to survive the German invasion. I always felt that Norway was underdeveloped, and I was right. Black Ice restored Norway's 100.000 men strong army in all its glory. I was blown away. I believe Sweden get a good amount of improvements too so you should have a better time as Sweden if you try it out. Black Ice claims that you won't go back to vanilla HoI3 and I agree.