MWiF Global War Hot-Seat (AAR)

[Orm]

If Germany or Italy declare war on Spain then that is a strong indication that there will be no German - Soviet war during the summer of 1941. And it looks likely that the war with Spain will soon arrive. And if Axis go after Gibraltar it is likely they move against Egypt as well. Maybe even try to align Iraq.

As USSR I would seriously consider declaring war on Iraq before Axis can align it. It might be a good time to declare war on Iraq around the same timne that France falls. If I played the Soviet Union I would at once send a couple of 4 move units and a HQ to the Iraqi border. Then I would begin to pester the western Allies with requests that they allow me to DOW Iraq.

[Patton_71]

As we are potentially coming to the same point in the game here as I am doing, I have a question about french production spiral after vichy is declared.

France was able to scratch enough BP together to place a factory in production. While France is doing reasonably well, I do not expect them to survive until the factory is built.

Looking into the Vichy rules (we are using RAW, not LOC vichy), I cannot definitely determine if the factory becomes vichy or free french.

I would love to hear the opinion of the forum, and I apologize if I am off-topic.

Thanks

PS...Really enjoying the AAR here...like playing MWIF vicariously[:D] IMHO, definitely go after Spain if France falles early next impulse, and a Barb 41 is still possible with good med winter weather if Spain can fall by end of 1940.

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Patton_71

As we are potentially coming to the same point in the game here as I am doing, I have a question about french production spiral after vichy is declared.

France was able to scratch enough BP together to place a factory in production. While France is doing reasonably well, I do not expect them to survive until the factory is built.

Looking into the Vichy rules (we are using RAW, not LOC vichy), I cannot definitely determine if the factory becomes vichy or free french.

I would love to hear the opinion of the forum, and I apologize if I am off-topic.

Thanks

PS...Really enjoying the AAR here...like playing MWIF vicariously[:D] IMHO, definitely go after Spain if France falles early next impulse, and a Barb 41 is still possible with good med winter weather if Spain can fall by end of 1940.

Glad you are enjoying it.

I'm not sure if that question has been asked before. And the answer I have is "I don't know". I'll repost this in the development forum, too, so some of the rules gurus will be sure to notice the question.

Also, I agree that with good weather, a '41 Barbarossa is still possible. We shall see.

[composer99]

The closest rule on factories in production I can see is from the Vichy France section (section 17), in 17.3 Units (subsection French Units):

Move all French controlled non-naval units and markers on the
production circle to Metropolitan Vichy France. If you are playing
with option 28 (pilots), you can only move an aircraft for each French
pilot on the production circle or the pilot track (Vichy player’s
choice). Any unpiloted aircraft on the production circle and reserve
pool, or unused pilots on the circle or track, are lost.

Emphasis in the quoted section is mine.

So it seems to me the extra factory would go to Metropolitan Vichy France and in essence become an extra Vichy factory.

The most recent FAQ/clarification document available for download on ADG's website offers no further clarification.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

ORIGINAL: brian brian

ahh I'm sorry man, I'm not trying to beat you up. sorry that I was repetitive on my point. I just want to move the needle on what you consider 'good' for the CW. to wit:

the BEF lost a unit on the flank of Paris. perhaps you consider that 'bad'. but that probably gained the French an extra impulse....which they just used to re-take Marseilles. a development that might result in the Germans taking an extra turn to finish off France. which might result in the Germans clearing the approaches to Gibraltar an extra turn later....just as perhaps the weather rolls become a factor ... so the BEF accomplished something.

similarly, you were disappointed a major Royal Navy task force only damaged a couple Italian cruisers in the West Med. but you did clear the zone of Italian naval units ... how would that attack on Marseilles have looked with a couple of points of Defensive Shore Bombardment? that option can be very good for the Italians too.

anyhow, the CW is the hardest country to play and to learn to play well (hint: use re-org points to keep the TRS moving more than once per turn and the Empire's troops reaching the front lines, which will be tough for the AI I think). it is best to play them thinking in terms of time, not in terms of units & losses. if you cost the Axis time, you did good. It is not completely intuitive. The real Allies sent in units thinking they could stop the Axis in places like France and Greece. With our perfect historical hindsight, and just looking at the numbers on the counters, we know that in some parts and places of the game, you can't stop the Axis. but you can slow them down, and even the defense of Russia against the terrifying 1941 Barbarossa begins in the Low Countries. but unlike the real Allies, commanders in WiF don't have to worry about losses, the pieces are just cardboard or pixels now. so they need to operate like those old Jay Leno commercials about Doritos "Don't worry, we'll make more..." as long as you have replacements on the production spiral ...

but yeah, if you were commenting on the job from hell I have running right now (blown estimate), I would respond like my favorite blues singer (Pigpen) does on one of my favorite records ("Bear's Choice") "let me make my mistakes on my own, I don't need your help"

Two comments:

1. The Marseilles thing actually won't slow Germany down going after Gibraltar. There's no reason it can't do both at the same time. It does act as a pain in the butt, but not a major obstruction. In fact, it might be "good" for Germany in the long run, if the USA fails to make the Gear Up Production choice a second turn in a row.

2. Italian shore bombardment wasn't actually an option. Those units were in very low sea boxes, so they didn't have anything to contribute.

Actually, there's a third comment, too:

3. Sometimes, playing both sides of this game, it's strange how often I can actually "surprise" myself. All it takes is looking at things from a different angle . . . say offensively vs. defensively, or what can be done vs. what is likely to be done. I'd go nuts if I tried to plan all of it at the same time, so I generally only think about one side at a time. This gets strange results, like the French attack on Marseilles.

When playing war games over the board, I learned rather early on that simply sitting in a different chair and viewing the board from another angle could make a vast difference in me identifying possibilities. Not quite the same when playing on the computer, but there is a tendency to not explore "your opponent's" unit stacks, especially those in the rear areas, as much as you do your 'own'.

[Red Prince]

When playing war games over the board, I learned rather early on that simply sitting in a different chair and viewing the board from another angle could make a vast difference in me identifying possibilities. Not quite the same when playing on the computer, but there is a tendency to not explore "your opponent's" unit stacks, especially those in the rear areas, as much as you do your 'own'.

Even though I've owned WiF FE for about 15 years and have been a beta-tester for about 8 months now, I still consider this to be "early on" in my education. [:)] And I completely agree with you, particularly about the rear areas. It does seem that it is more important (at the time) to make sure the front lines are "secure" when playing this game. That does lead to a lot of missed opportunities and/or unexpected possibilities that do not get considered.

Another thing I'm learning "early on" is the compound interest effect. That's something I understood would be the case, but understanding and experiencing are two very different things. A perfect example of this is the very poor deployment of CW naval forces at the very start of the game. Everything seemed to be in the wrong place to be useful, and the fact compounds the error for each impulse that goes by -- because there are things that must be done in some impulses which prevent me from correcting the errors at times, due to Action limits.

For example, a primary reason I have the wrong fleet in the wrong place (the CV fleet in the North Sea) was that I started with a very poor selection of CVP, and I wanted to be able to begin correcting that problem as soon as 1940 rolled around. As it is, I still have 2 CV that have no CVP on them, and no TRS available to send some overseas. So, with the setup completely screwed up, close to a year of the game has already passed, and I'm still trying to "fix it".

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: composer99

The closest rule on factories in production I can see is from the Vichy France section (section 17), in 17.3 Units (subsection French Units):

Move all French controlled non-naval units and markers on the
production circle to Metropolitan Vichy France. If you are playing
with option 28 (pilots), you can only move an aircraft for each French
pilot on the production circle or the pilot track (Vichy player’s
choice). Any unpiloted aircraft on the production circle and reserve
pool, or unused pilots on the circle or track, are lost.

Emphasis in the quoted section is mine.

So it seems to me the extra factory would go to Metropolitan Vichy France and in essence become an extra Vichy factory.

The most recent FAQ/clarification document available for download on ADG's website offers no further clarification.

The consensus in the development forum pretty much agrees with you:

If a factory is on the "spiral" as a factory that is being built by the French, it becomes Vichy French. If it is being repaired or moved, then it goes to the designated city -- if repaired it stays in its original city, if moved it goes to the city to which it was being moved -- and either of these cases might placed it in aiether Vichy France or Occupied Metropolitan France (German controlled) when it arrives.

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Orm

If Germany or Italy declare war on Spain then that is a strong indication that there will be no German - Soviet war during the summer of 1941. And it looks likely that the war with Spain will soon arrive. And if Axis go after Gibraltar it is likely they move against Egypt as well. Maybe even try to align Iraq.

As USSR I would seriously consider declaring war on Iraq before Axis can align it. It might be a good time to declare war on Iraq around the same timne that France falls. If I played the Soviet Union I would at once send a couple of 4 move units and a HQ to the Iraqi border. Then I would begin to pester the western Allies with requests that they allow me to DOW Iraq.

It is already obvious (or should be) to the Soviet player that the Germans intend to go after Spain and probably will try to close the Med, too. Unfortunately, I've started moving units up to threaten Finland, which has put the current Garrison Value at a dangerously low level. That claim needs to be made, and the Baltic States need to be occupied early next turn. The expected response by Germany will be capitulation in Finland, letting it go without a fight.

After that happens, Germany still doesn't need to align Finland instantly. That means I might not be able to afford taking Zhukov and 4 units off the main border in order to send them to prepare an invasion of Iraq. I think it might be best to wait to see how the war in Spain goes before making that decision. If the Germans aren't able to keep up with Russian additions to the Garrison, then it is time to go for Iraq, but until then doing so might risk an early Barbarossa. Also, this means another unit will have to remain there -- Siberia is already almost completely depleted, and Persia has only a single unit to prevent Partisans from showing up. Iraq will need another.

If Japan should eliminate Nationalist China in the next few turns, a DOW on the Soviets would leave both of these new acquisitions pretty much defenseless against an attack by Japan, as well as the Siberian outposts. Unless another Allied power then DOWs Japan, the Soviets will find a 2-front war even before the Germans get involved. That would also potentially reduce the anti-German Garrison Values.

Like the CW, the USSR has only a limited number of land units available for the first year. Unlike the CW, this has more to do with "maintaining the line" than it has to do with trying to cover so many places at once.

[Orm]

I see no point in USSR keeping the garrison up during 1940 to prevent Germany from breaking the pact when Germany has commited to an assault on Gibraltar. In fact I would then want Germany to break the pact in 1940. Less oil for Germany then and that is an advantage for the Allies.

So I would ignore the fact that Germany might be able to break the pact and send the units to Iraq. The faster the better since it is nice to have them back before Germany is in a position to DOW USSR. And USSR might be able to garrison the border later if Germany do not break the pact when (if) it gets the opportunity during the 1940 summer.

[Red Prince]

Not much happened during the Axis impulse. It was mostly repositioning troops. The one "interesting" thing I did was to have HQ-I von Bock reorganize 3 oil-dependent units. This had nothing to do with needing them this turn, but was purely a matter of economics. The 3 units he reorganized need a total of .5 Oil Points at the end of the turn, but he only needs .4 Oil Points. That saves a tiny bit of Oil, but might make a difference.

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Orm

I see no point in USSR keeping the garrison up during 1940 to prevent Germany from breaking the pact when Germany has commited to an assault on Gibraltar. In fact I would then want Germany to break the pact in 1940. Less oil for Germany then and that is an advantage for the Allies.

So I would ignore the fact that Germany might be able to break the pact and send the units to Iraq. The faster the better since it is nice to have them back before Germany is in a position to DOW USSR. And USSR might be able to garrison the border later if Germany do not break the pact when (if) it gets the opportunity during the 1940 summer.

Even though they are going through Spain, Germany still has 17 Land Units on the Nazi-Soviet Pact border at the moment. This doesn't include potential Finnish units or (minimal) air forces. I know that the USSR gets some very nice reserve units to help out once the DOW is made, but if they move a total of 5 units off the border to take Iraq, Germany can still start doing some damage in Russia in '40.

Also, Germany has HQ-A Guderian, 3 other land units, and 2 very nice LND coming in at the start of the next turn. The Soviets have a GARR and a LND. With Germany able to rail 3 units per Land impulse, and the USSR only able to rail 1 per Combined, it will take all of M/J '40 just to get the troops in place to take Iraq, most of J/A '40 to actually get the job done because of the mountains between Persia and Iraq, and then 4 more impulses to get the troops back to the Nazi-Soviet Pact border. And there are still 2 units from Siberia that need to finish the journey across the massive Asian continent.

I just don't see how it can be done at this point without a great risk of being completely out of position. If I had begun planning this 2 turns ago, maybe, but now? I don't know. To this point I've only been looking at a '41 Barb at the earliest, so I haven't been positioning the Soviets to maximum defensive advantage -- the Communists have been using up a lot of the Soviet land moves. If the USSR tempted Germany into an early DOW, it could be as disastrous as the situation in WWII reality.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

ORIGINAL: Orm

I see no point in USSR keeping the garrison up during 1940 to prevent Germany from breaking the pact when Germany has commited to an assault on Gibraltar. In fact I would then want Germany to break the pact in 1940. Less oil for Germany then and that is an advantage for the Allies.

So I would ignore the fact that Germany might be able to break the pact and send the units to Iraq. The faster the better since it is nice to have them back before Germany is in a position to DOW USSR. And USSR might be able to garrison the border later if Germany do not break the pact when (if) it gets the opportunity during the 1940 summer.

Even though they are going through Spain, Germany still has 17 Land Units on the Nazi-Soviet Pact border at the moment. This doesn't include potential Finnish units or (minimal) air forces. I know that the USSR gets some very nice reserve units to help out once the DOW is made, but if they move a total of 5 units off the border to take Iraq, Germany can still start doing some damage in Russia in '40.

Also, Germany has HQ-A Guderian, 3 other land units, and 2 very nice LND coming in at the start of the next turn. The Soviets have a GARR and a LND. With Germany able to rail 3 units per Land impulse, and the USSR only able to rail 1 per Combined, it will take all of M/J '40 just to get the troops in place to take Iraq, most of J/A '40 to actually get the job done because of the mountains between Persia and Iraq, and then 4 more impulses to get the troops back to the Nazi-Soviet Pact border. And there are still 2 units from Siberia that need to finish the journey across the massive Asian continent.

I just don't see how it can be done at this point without a great risk of being completely out of position. If I had begun planning this 2 turns ago, maybe, but now? I don't know. To this point I've only been looking at a '41 Barb at the earliest, so I haven't been positioning the Soviets to maximum defensive advantage -- the Communists have been using up a lot of the Soviet land moves. If the USSR tempted Germany into an early DOW, it could be as disastrous as the situation in WWII reality.

Not much to argue against but will it not be even more trouble for USSR if Germany gets hold of Iraq?

I think I rather would secure Iraq than put presure on Finland if that is an option.

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

ORIGINAL: Orm

I see no point in USSR keeping the garrison up during 1940 to prevent Germany from breaking the pact when Germany has commited to an assault on Gibraltar. In fact I would then want Germany to break the pact in 1940. Less oil for Germany then and that is an advantage for the Allies.

So I would ignore the fact that Germany might be able to break the pact and send the units to Iraq. The faster the better since it is nice to have them back before Germany is in a position to DOW USSR. And USSR might be able to garrison the border later if Germany do not break the pact when (if) it gets the opportunity during the 1940 summer.

Even though they are going through Spain, Germany still has 17 Land Units on the Nazi-Soviet Pact border at the moment. This doesn't include potential Finnish units or (minimal) air forces. I know that the USSR gets some very nice reserve units to help out once the DOW is made, but if they move a total of 5 units off the border to take Iraq, Germany can still start doing some damage in Russia in '40.

Also, Germany has HQ-A Guderian, 3 other land units, and 2 very nice LND coming in at the start of the next turn. The Soviets have a GARR and a LND. With Germany able to rail 3 units per Land impulse, and the USSR only able to rail 1 per Combined, it will take all of M/J '40 just to get the troops in place to take Iraq, most of J/A '40 to actually get the job done because of the mountains between Persia and Iraq, and then 4 more impulses to get the troops back to the Nazi-Soviet Pact border. And there are still 2 units from Siberia that need to finish the journey across the massive Asian continent.

I just don't see how it can be done at this point without a great risk of being completely out of position. If I had begun planning this 2 turns ago, maybe, but now? I don't know. To this point I've only been looking at a '41 Barb at the earliest, so I haven't been positioning the Soviets to maximum defensive advantage -- the Communists have been using up a lot of the Soviet land moves. If the USSR tempted Germany into an early DOW, it could be as disastrous as the situation in WWII reality.

Not much to argue against but will it not be even more trouble for USSR if Germany gets hold of Iraq?

I think I rather would secure Iraq than put presure on Finland if that is an option.

It would have been an option, but I already started the buildup against Finland. Right now, there is little that can be done against Iraq with the Euro Axis. I have 2 Corps, MOT and MECH heading to Libya, but still will need to get an HQ there for Italy to make any headway in Egypt. An invasion of the Middle-East is now difficult (no AMPH) and so Egypt will have to be finished off first (if possible) before they can make a bid for Iraq.

[Centuur]

Without the Dutch TRS and the loss of one of them this turn, things aren't looking good for the CW. The CW hasn't got the sealift available to get defenses in place at all the threathened area's.
"He who tries to defend everything, defends nothing". This is a very important thing to take into account. If you can't get a reasonable defense in an area: get out of the place. You can't defend Egypt properly, because it can be put out of supply by the Italians (if he flies a NAV into the Red Sea). To counter this, the CW has to get FTR's into Egypt, however: he also needs to sea lift land units to Morocco and Spain...
Since you are short of TRS, I would suggest to empty Egypt. You are not able to get reïnforcements to that area in time, when you have to defend in Spain too. Try to get Wavell out of the place and into Spain or Morocco (with a large fleet covering you're TRS against the Italians). This gives you another HQ in an area where the CW is capable to reïnforce, because of the small distance between the UK and Spain/Morocco. Defend Gibraltar with all you've got and let the Italians grab Suez (that's good for US entry, also...).

Of course you can say that the CW has to defend the place, to prevent the Italians from capturing Suez and aligning Iraq, because of the USSR and so on. However: when the CW is short of TRS, he cannot reinforce all area's under attack. If he had 5 TRS available, things were looking different. However, he's only got three around...

The USSR should take the Finnish Borderlands, because he is now in the position to do so. The thing the USSR cannot afford to do is to constantly react on Axis movements towards one place or another. With only combined impulses it takes far to long for uncle Joe to build up the forces needed to get something done. Of course, when the USSR grabs Persia, he should always kill Iraq immediately after taking Persia. That's is also another reason why I would wait with a DoW on Persia. Simply because it takes so long to gather forces on a particular place to put pressure on accepting claims and you have US entry to take into consideration. So first I would rail Zhukov to the Rumanian Border, claim Bessarabia, together with the European army. Than I would rail him to the Persian border, see how the war in France is going and start grabbing both Persia and Iraq. 1940 is far better for this than 1939, since US entry values are much lower in 1940...

[Centuur]

Oops. Wrong button pressed...[:-]

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

Without the Dutch TRS and the loss of one of them this turn, things aren't looking good for the CW. The CW hasn't got the sealift available to get defenses in place at all the threathened area's.
"He who tries to defend everything, defends nothing". This is a very important thing to take into account. If you can't get a reasonable defense in an area: get out of the place. You can't defend Egypt properly, because it can be put out of supply by the Italians (if he flies a NAV into the Red Sea). To counter this, the CW has to get FTR's into Egypt, however: he also needs to sea lift land units to Morocco and Spain...
Since you are short of TRS, I would suggest to empty Egypt. You are not able to get reïnforcements to that area in time, when you have to defend in Spain too. Try to get Wavell out of the place and into Spain or Morocco (with a large fleet covering you're TRS against the Italians). This gives you another HQ in an area where the CW is capable to reïnforce, because of the small distance between the UK and Spain/Morocco. Defend Gibraltar with all you've got and let the Italians grab Suez (that's good for US entry, also...).

Of course you can say that the CW has to defend the place, to prevent the Italians from capturing Suez and aligning Iraq, because of the USSR and so on. However: when the CW is short of TRS, he cannot reinforce all area's under attack. If he had 5 TRS available, things were looking different. However, he's only got three around...

The USSR should take the Finnish Borderlands, because he is now in the position to do so. The thing the USSR cannot afford to do is to constantly react on Axis movements towards one place or another. With only combined impulses it takes far to long for uncle Joe to build up the forces needed to get something done. Of course, when the USSR grabs Persia, he should always kill Iraq immediately after taking Persia. That's is also another reason why I would wait with a DoW on Persia. Simply because it takes so long to gather forces on a particular place to put pressure on accepting claims and you have US entry to take into consideration. So first I would rail Zhukov to the Rumanian Border, claim Bessarabia, together with the European army. Than I would rail him to the Persian border, see how the war in France is going and start grabbing both Persia and Iraq. 1940 is far better for this than 1939, since US entry values are much lower in 1940...

I should be able to get Wavell out of egypt within 2 turns. Then the 2 Egyptian TERR can "defend it". The TRS available to him at the moment is the Liner, which is why it'll take 2 turns. The Liner can't carry him, so I've got to get one of the TRS from Morocco to the Red Sea, at least (I'd rather not send it through the Med).

[Red Prince]

As expected, the turn ended after the Allied impulse. I'll post the full End-of-Turn report later, but for now, here's where US Entry stands after choosing to Gear Up Production this turn.

[Red Prince]

The following units were destroyed during M/A '40:

[Red Prince]

And here it is, my End of Turn Report for M/A '40:

Partisans
None

Entry Markers
USSR placed 1 marker on Defense (284 [3])
Germany placed 2 markers on Offense (210 [2], 78 [1])

US Entry
USA drew 1 marker to the Ge/It Entry Pool (229 [2])
USA chooses to Gear Up Production (All); USE-8 (1 chit moved, 5 of 5 [4]) (Ge/It)

Ge/It Entry: 17
Ge/It Tension: 19
Chance of DOW: None
Japan Entry: 22
Japan Tension: 13
Chance of DOW: None

Pre-Build Scrapping
Germany scrapped 1 x INF, 1 x FTR-2
Japan scrapped 1 x FTR-2

Builds:
China (5): 1 x INF, 1 x MIL
CW (19): 1 x INF, 1 x GARR, 1 x CV(1st), 2 x TRS(1st), 2 x FTR-2, 2 x Pilot
France (0): Nothing
USA (21): 1 x MAR, 1 x HQ-A, 2 x CVP-1, 3 x Pilot
USSR (17): 2 x INF, 1 x INF Division, 1 x MOT Division, 1 x MECH Division, 2 x Pilot
Germany (17): 2 x INF, 1 x MECH, 1 x FTR-3, 1 x SUB(2nd), 1 x Pilot
Italy (8): 2 x MIL, 2 x Pilot
Japan (16): 1 x GARR 1 x ARM, 2 x CVP-1, 1 x TRS(1st), 2 x Pilot

M/J '40 Gearing Limits (above 1):
China: 3 x Infantry
CW: 3 x Infantry, 4 x Ship, 3 x Air, 3 x Pilot
France: None
USA: 2 x Infantry, 2 x Armor, 3 x Air, 4 x Pilot
USSR: 5 x Infantry, 2 x Armor, 3 x Pilot
Germany: 3 x Infantry, 2 x Armor, 2 x Submarine, 2 x Air, 2 x Pilot
Italy: 3 x Infantry, 3 x Pilot
Japan: 2 x Infantry, 2 x Armor, 2 x Ship, 3 x Air, 3 x Pilot

Conquest:
Greece cc by Italy
Tanganyika cc by Italy

Crete converted to a Neutral Minor

Germany declines to establich a Vichy government
France declines to Surrender to Germany

Factory Destruction:
Germany destroys Blue Factories in Toulouse, Paris (x2), Vichy, and Lyons
Japan destroys Blue Factory in Peking

Reinforcements:
China places its MIL in Kunming
CW places Indian GARR in Calcutta, fleet (CV, BB, CA, CL) in Plymouth
France assigns a Pilot to NAV
France places NAV and INF in Marseilles
USA assigns Pilot to CVP
USA places CVP on CV in Norfolk, INF and GARR in Long Beach
USSR assigns Pilot to LND-4
USSR places LND and GARR in Leningrad, Communist Chinese GARR in Sian
Germany assigns 2 of 3 Pilots to LND-2
Germany places CA in Kiel, 2 x LND, HQ-A Guderian, MTN and MECH Divisions in Karlsruhe, GARR in Konigsberg
Italy places its MIL in Naples and Turin, INF in Genoa, BB in La Spezia
Japan assigns Pilot to NAV
Japan places NAV in Yokohama, CL and GARR in Fukuoka

Trade Agreements:
France cancels its Trade Agreement with China
USA cancels its Trade Agreement with France

Victory Totals
Axis: 24.5
Allies: 42.5

Initiative:
Axis wins the Initiative 8-7

Turn 5 M/J '40

Axis wins the Initiative 8-7
Axis chooses to move first in M/J '40
Axis Initiative +1

Impulse: 1
Weather: 10
(That's Fine weather everywhere)
-----
Also, here's the Chit Summary for Turn #4:

Impulse: 11
Japan enters Ankang; USE-4 (no chit)

End of Turn:
USA drew 1 marker to the Ge/It Entry Pool (229 [2])
USA chooses to Gear Up Production (All); USE-8 (1 chit moved, 5 of 5 [4]) (Ge/It)
-----
Constantly there seem to be extremes in weather this game. Once again, it's Fine weather everywhere to start the turn. This time, however, it favors the side that chose to go first, the Axis.

The USA did manage to Gear Up Production, a turn later than hoped for, and losing the highest available chit to the Tension Pool sure isn't something to be happy about. It looked like there might be a chance to Pass War Appropriations before the end of 1940, and with a few lucky rolls when the Axis gets things moving against Spain & Portugal that chance might still be there. However, the USSR needs to claim the Baltic States, and that might be costly.

France still exists. That's about all that can be said for them -- except that they can now evacuate the CAV from Nice, as well as the rest of the fleet (all of 3 ships) to the anticipated new homeland of Senegal.

China, amazingly, lost no Land units last turn. They aren't in very good shape, and extended good weather this turn could be very difficult on the Nationalist Chinese. The Communists are doing fine for the moment, but if the Nationalists fall, that won't last long. Japan might have China conquered before the end of the year. That's not a pleasant prospect for the Allies.

The USSR isn't going to be wasting much time making its claims this turn. They have the forces in place to be a serious threat to Finland, and the sooner the deed is done, the sooner they can start creating the kind of defense that will be useful against Germany.

As for the Commonwealth, Egypt probably isn't worth saving -- or trying to save, that is. Wavell is all alone there (not counting 2 TERR units), and there isn't any extra support to send to him. However, Morocco is looking good right now, with Gort and 3 or 4 land units already there. With 2 units in Malaya, Singapore will be tough for the Japanese to crack if they head that way, too. Might as well let Italy take the Suez and defend the side the Americans are going to need (Gibraltar).

On the flip side, Italy is looking good, building a nice cozy little empire for itself, Japan is slowly pushing the Chinese back to the heartland, and Germany is almost ready to take on the troops of Spain (and finish off the French, of course). The only real choices to be made are what to prepare to do next. Japan probably won't be ready to take on the Soviets until '41, and neither will Germany, so things are actually timed pretty well for both of them. In the meantime, Italy can strut around the Med and try to take over the Middle-East while it waits to add its assistance to an anti-Gibraltar campaign.
-----
So, at the beginning of May, 1940, here is what the world looks like:

[Centuur]

Why did the CW build a CV? I would never build CW CV's from cratch. The USA ones are far better and before that CV is finished, the USA is in the war. I would prefer building land units with the CW. 2 of them a turn is not enough. Look at the world and see how things are going now. In Africa, the CW is loosing far to many countries. What is happening there? There aren't that much Italians land units around there, aren't they? So the CW should have TERR by now in that area. But if he's not building them, he is going to get problems in Africa. Where is the Belgian TERR? He should have been set up at the border in Kongo and than moved into Uganda (but that's Italian too?). That the Italians are capable of grabbing Somaliland, Soedan and Kenya, is clear. However: he shouldn't be able to grab more countries, provided the CW gets a unit into Tanganyika and one into Uganda (the last country gets usually the Belgian TERR).

Also: why isn't the USA building ships? That MAR can wait a turn. The USA needs a nice gearing limit on ships so it an build the CV's the moment they arrive in the force pools.

Now: "it's summertime, and the living is easy"... Time for some really, really good German Blitzkrieg around Spain. 4 German HQ's in that region is going to wreck havoc on the remaining French and the forces of Franco. He should have listened to Adolf, before declining to go to war with the French...