World Conquest - A Germany Hearts of Iron IV AAR

This book will chronicle my attempts to recreate a somewhat historical German course through the war from 1936 - 1946. I always like to "stick to the plan" in initial playthroughs, so the path toward European conquest will move along a timeline similar to the "real" one. A few key German mistakes will be consciously avoided:

• Every attempt will be made to avoid involvement in southern Europe and Africa
• Every attempt will be made to avoid conflict with the USA
• Preparations for the invasion of Russia will be much more extensive and planning will focus on a two-year campaign (not the historical 8-week one). German logistic planning for that campaign was awful and we will do better.
• There will be no concentrated offensive air campaign against the British mainland until the run-up to Sealion. Air operations against the Allies in the West, post-France, will be purely defensive in nature early on.
• The navy will be basically ignored until Eastern victory is imminent.

Note that I will not be taking the "invade England first" approach however. I think England can wait, but if we wait too long to go into Russia, it will be impossible to do so and we'll be overwhelmed by the Soviets.

If Europe is a resounding success and enough time is left, we will get super-ambitious and attempt to cross the Atlantic. This will depend on (1) how much magic we can work with the Kriegsmarine in the late-war years, and (2) Japan's success against the USA in the Pacific.

Disclaimer

I would like to make clear that this is purely a creative exercise and an attempt to have fun with the game. I obviously have no love for the monstrosity that was the German state between 1933 - 1945 and consider it a dark stain on the history of the human endeavor. Please do not misconstrue any of these writings as anything other than a fun attempt to lend an authentic feel to the nature of the AAR. Part of the appeal, for me, of historical Paradox games is the encouragement of indulgence in detailed historical fantasy; these writings are simply a manifestation of that indulgence and should not be considered consistent with any of my personal beliefs.

You will not find the word "Nazi" anywhere in this AAR other than in this sentence. However other words associated with that regime may appear in documents intended to sound "official" in nature; I have taken care to keep them clean, but if you find anything you consider to be offensive, please let me know and I will remove it.