Decline & Fall AAR v2

[composer99]

The United States

The US flies naval air to protect its forward-deployed naval units, in the Solomons...

[composer99]

... in the Bismarck Sea...

[composer99]

... and the Marianas.

The US also flew a fighter to support the fleet in the Marshalls sea area, which I have not shown.

[composer99]

Naval Movement

Commonwealth - Pacific
In the Asia-Pacific theatre, two Royal Navy cruisers brave the South China Sea to assist the submarines in searching for vulnerable convoy lines.

[composer99]

Commonwealth - Europe
The RN sails another loaded transport, with battleship escort, into the North Sea. With only one Axis submarine in the picture and scads of Allied airpower, the British are confident that there will be no problems.

[composer99]

US Naval Moves
The only significant US naval movement is sailing a detachment of the main carrier fleet to the Marianas. The intent is to search for and hopefully destroy the Japanese fighter unit at sea here.

[composer99]

Naval Combat

The US has to decide on initiating combats. Neither the US nor the CW will initiate against the German subs - if the subs don't want to fight, they can't be forced to.

The US hasn't built up an advantage in the Bismarck Sea - it waiting to react further there if the Japanese fleet sails out, first. So it won't initiate there, either.

The Allies will thus initiate combats in the China Sea, the South China Sea, and the Marianas.

[composer99]

Naval Combat in The Marianas

The US initiates combat with a light cruiser.

Neither side sends in support from planes on land: neither side could get bombers up to the boxes where their fleets are.

In the event, neither side finds.

[composer99]

Naval Combat in the South China Sea

The CW initiates with one of the cruisers that has sailed in.

The Japanese elect not to send more planes out - the bomber in the 0 box should suffice.

The Allies commit their subs.

In the event, the search rolls are 9 (Allied) and 10 (Japan) so no combat here, either.

[composer99]

Naval Combat in China Sea

The US initiates in the China Sea and commits subs. For their part, with a naval bomber already in place the Japanese do not send more planes out.

The search rolls are 10 (US) and 5 (Japan) so nothing happens, again.

[composer99]

Naval Combat - Axis Initiates

For their part, Germany and Japan can initiate combats in the North Sea and the Bismarck Sea, if they so desire.

With only 1 German sub against the Allied carrier air, the Germans demur.

For their part, the Japanese decide they want to fly in bombers and sail in carriers before fighting here...

[composer99]

Strategic Bombing

Normally the Allies would be "all up ons" (I know what you're thinking, sooo last decade, grampa!) the strategic bombing, but with the invasion of France they will instead be ground striking more or less every single German unit that can move.

[composer99]

Ground Strikes

Lots of these coming.

USSR Ground Strikes

The USSR launches ground strikes in Belorussia with the intent of pinning down the German armour.

[composer99]

The USSR also launches some bomber and artillery strikes in or near Rumania.

[composer99]

China Ground Strikes

China bombs the city the army has surrounded.

(Normally, ground support would be sufficient, as it would change the combat by an odds level - that is, by +2 on the dice. But because (a) the Chinese have attack weakness and (b) disorganizing this unit would leave it at 1 combat factor, it's worth the ground strike attempt.)

[composer99]

Allied Ground Strikes

A sh**-ton of Allied airpower takes to the skies over France.

[composer99]

A respectably large Allied air armada also launches raids along the French Mediterranean coast and in Italy.

[composer99]

The US also bombs Truk.

While an attack on Truk is basically out of the question this turn, if the US disorganizes it, it may be able to isolate Truk, forcing the Japanese defenders to remain disorganized through to the next turn.

[composer99]

The US also bombs Rabaul. A single bomber, which happens to have combat factors matching the Japanese defenders' combat factors (3 base when out of supply and disorganized, doubled to 6 in mountains), is left in reserve for ground support.

[composer99]

This impulse's ground strikes, I think, really gives a feel for how much can go on during a turn in the late game.