Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR

[Majorball68]

When do the Chines offer to surrender? Capture of lanchow?

[Courtenay]

13.7.6.
SURRENDER
During any peace step, you can surrender a home country of a major power that controls less than half the printed factory stacks in the home country. Clarification: Factories that are completely isolated (i.e., have no friendly controlled, adjacent hexes) count as enemy controlled for the purposes of this rule. You can surrender a home country with no printed factories if there is an enemy land unit there. Clarification: The printed factories in China that start controlled by Japan are included in this calculation.

Treat the surrender of a home country as a complete conquest (see 13.7.1) of the major power if it doesn’t control any aligned minors. Otherwise it is incompletely conquered. Clarification: Halve the U.S. Entry effect of the conquest of a country that surrenders.

[joshuamnave]

Not only drawing 1's, but not drawing chits at all! I think the Japanese have only triggered a single draw for occupying a Chinese city. Although counting the chits, it must have been two.

March comes in with a whimper as bad weather continues. Germany takes a combined action to get her subs back in action. A freshly repaired sub showed up in Kiel this turn and the rest of the subs are in Brest, so it will take two combineds to get them all in play. Italy takes a naval action, and Japan takes a land.

The Axis continue their convoy smackdown, finding some unescorted convoys on the east coast and sinking 1, aborting another. As a neutral power, the US fleets must return to base each turn. This means any time the axis have the initiative, sea zones protected primarily by American naval power will be vulnerable. The good news for the allies is that most of the time Germany isn't going to use the first impulse to send out subs.

Other than that it's a fairly uneventful impulse. Germany moves more troops to surround Toulouse and Rouen and brings the new Nav bombers down to the Italian coast. Japan moves her fighters forward and slides a few units around.

Short report this time, but Sat night is my regular board game night. I'm off to play Dominant Species, or Agricola, or Concordia, or one of a dozen other games that don't occupy an entire room to play in person!

Here's the save game file, screenies to follow:

[joshuamnave]

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

When do the Chines offer to surrender? Capture of lanchow?

Your question implies that China offers to surrender, which Japan then has the option to accept or not. Actually, it's the other way around. China now has the option of surrendering, and if they do, Japan cannot refuse it. However, as long as China can still produce units, I see no reason to free up the entire Japanese military, even for the US entry hit. If China drops below 3 production, I'll consider it. If they drop below 2 production, I'll seriously consider it.

[joshuamnave]

The nationalists in full retreat and regroup mode. Pulling back behind the river.

[Majorball68]

Never bothered with surrender I always conquer so I never really looked at the requirements for surrender

[joshuamnave]

The aftermath of my blunder in the north

[Majorball68]

I've only ever seen the surrender choice once for the Chinese, it must of been coincidence it was with the capture of lanchow which must have reduced the number of factories the Chinese have to less than half.

[joshuamnave]

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

I've only ever seen the surrender choice once for the Chinese, it must of been coincidence it was with the capture of lanchow which must have reduced the number of factories the Chinese have to less than half.

I won't swear to it because I wasn't paying that much attention to the Chinese surrender, but I think it also came the turn I took Lanchow for me.

[joshuamnave]

The British temporarily abandon the western med to set up rotating convoy protection in the atlantic. Although not every sea zone has full time coverage, the key zones closer to UK should never be unguarded at the start of the turn again. The French take up a patrol in the western med, and the Aden fleet keeps an eye on things in the east. The US helps out on the east coast, but that sea lane will be unguarded at the start of each new turn, until the US enters the war.

The French in the Western Med go hunting for the Italian Fleet. Both sides fly in planes, and both sides roll a 1. A large naval air battle develops:

[AxelNL]

Cliff hanger!

[joshuamnave]

CW lost her fighter and aborted the Sunderland. The axis lost a German HE 115 and aborted the Italian fighter. In the air to sea battle, 1 French cruiser sank, 1 cruiser and 1 battleship aborted. With all of its air back on land, the allies brace for the worst, but the axis dice are not so kind, and there is no second round.

In the north atlantic, 1 German sub finds a bunch of convoys escorted by a pair of CW cruisers. The cruisers drop depth charges, sinking 3 whales and a hammerhead shark that looked like a German sub on sonar, but no germans were harmed in the making of this post. 2 more convoys sink, 1 aborts. British civilians go on emergency rations.

On the not yet in action eastern front, Russia senses opportunity and begins moving more units forward. Either the Germans will have to up their own garrison, deal with a Russian attack, or fight an understaffed Barbarossa. And the Soviets are starting with Rumania.

The Chinese continue to fall back, bringing their army behind the river. The front line now consists of 3 double stacked mountain hexes behind rivers. Not an easy line to crack.

Second axis impulse of the turn, and the weather roll is another 3. More rain in the N Temp and Med zones.

Germany takes another combined, both to bring out his last sub and to trigger another round of naval searches. Italy and Japan take land actions.

The subs go out, and nobody sees a thing. No naval combats this impulse. Rather than send out bombers in the rain, Germany gambles on another impulse with better weather and waits it out. The Japanese pursue the nationalists into the mountains. A Japanese cavalry peels itself off the northern group and heads southwest into the mountains. China pulled the warlords out of Chungking and Chengtu to help hold the front lines, and now Japan will make them come running home or risk the complete collapse of China. It may be a bit of a race to see who gets there first.

In Africa, the Kenyans conquer Uganda. And there was much rejoicing.

The allies would like nothing better than to pass out the turn, hoping to end it before the weather clears up, but the CW really needs another naval action to patch up the convoy net as best they can and the Chinese need to pull back into their recently vacated mountain villas. So the CW takes a naval, China takes a land, and the turn will still end on a 4.

The downside to taking a naval action, is it gives the non phasing player a chance to search again anywhere they still have faceup units to initiate. In the eastern med, thanks to some nice dice rolling, German nav bombers find a bunch of convoys and manage to dodge most of the escorts. The once proud Greek navy, now reduced to a cruiser in the service of His Majesty, the King of England, sinks, and 3 convoys are aborted. On round 2, the escorts return, but thanks to high surprise rolls, their AA gunners were training with dummy ammo when the bombers arrived. There was a great deal of sound and fury, signifying nothing, but the Germans were playing with live ammo and 2 battleships are sent scurrying back to port. On round 3 the search rolls are even more lopsided for the Germans and this time the AA gunners don't even bother firing blanks. The British make their defensive rolls, and 3 cruisers abort. The lone dive bomber rolls another 1 and once again shrugs off the feeble attempts at anti air. This time a cruiser sinks. Round 5 - for the record, the axis have rolled 5 straight 3 or under and the allies 5 straight 7 or over on searches in this fight. Once again, AA is shrugged off, and another cruiser is aborted. There is no round 6. Or rule 6, eh Bruce?

Final totals - 1 german dive bomber vs the UK's Aden fleet (minus the CV who was on temp loan to the Atlantic): 2 Cruisers sunk, 6 surface ships and 3 CP's aborted, and 1 or 2 CP's sunk.

The bad news for the allies is the turn does not end. The good news is that the weather is a 3, again (3 3's for weather). Germany takes their first land action of the turn. Italy and Japan follow suit. Here's the situation in China now - note that there are no nationalist Chinese reins due in May. Things are about to get ugly for China.

[joshuamnave]

With the turn coming to and end and lots of expendable units, the axis make a couple of low odds attacks. Against the beleaguered communist unit in the north, the Japanese attack at +1.2, needing a 14 or better to clear the hex. The roll is a natural 20. And finally, the Americans wake up, drawing a "3" chit! Against the final maginot hex, the Germans spin their wheels, flipping their units but taking (and giving) no damage. Oh, and the Japanese walk into Chengtu. The allies will have to take a hard look at US entry now and determine if there's value in surrendering the Chinese.

Sensing trouble, the Germans add their pact chits to defense this time. At this point, Spain may be reluctantly passed on, and M/J may be spent railing units east. We'll have to take a close look there shortly, after Toulouse and Rouen are taken, of course.

Desperate to get some tension in the Japanese pool, the US chooses to send resources to China. Right, like that's going to happen now. But it works, finally the US can gear up... next turn.

[joshuamnave]

As green as I am in the early game, I have even less experience going forward from here. My gut feeling is that US entry is very low, but I don't really know where it should be about now. I also have no experience playing the pacific war, so it should be entertaining to watch!

After carefully splitting the British fleet up to rotate convoy escorts, I inadvertently sent the whole lot of them home. Urgh. At least with spring coming, Germany isn't real likely to start out with a naval or combined action.

incidentally, that's the second year in a row without a clear weather impulse in M/A. In 1940 there was only 1 in M/J. Crossing fingers now.

Production
Germany, 28 BP's - 2 Pilots, sub, BB, Lnd (3), Lnd (2), Nav (3), Ftr (2), Arm, Mot
Italy, 11 BP's - Pilot, BB repair, BB, Ftr (2), Terr
Japan, 17 BP's - 2 Pilot, amph, trans, Shinano, cvp (1)
China, 2 BP's - Cav
CW, 21 BP's - 2 Pilot, terr, 4 cps, Ftr (2), Lnd (4), Anson, Amph
US, 10 BP's - Iowa, Alabama, CVP (1)
USSR, 16 BP's - Pilot, Ftr (2), 2 Inf, Arm

Another big turn for reins:

[joshuamnave]

After thinking it over, I decide that tying up the Japanese army in Central China is worth more than the US entry hits for surrendering China. If Japan takes Chungking, then China will surrender.

The Axis have the initiative, the weather has turned, and it is fine weather in the N Temp and Med zones. Germany takes a Land. Italy takes a combined, sails out into the Western med with divisions sitting on BB's, planning to invade Spain (or Gibraltar should the UK empty it to defend Spain). Japan takes a land.

It occurs to me I didn't leave a saved game for the end of MA 41, so here's one for the start of MJ.

[joshuamnave]

The Axis powers launch ground strikes in three separate theaters. In France, the last French fighter rises to meet 3 incoming Stukas escorted by a pair of BF 109's. It doesn't last long, and all 3 bombers clear through. Chinese bombers fare only slightly better, aborting instead of being shot out of the sky, but Japanese bombers clear through anyway. Toulouse is disorganized. 2 of the 3 units in the lead Chinese mtn hex are disorganized. South Africans defending Algiers are not.

The Japanese northern army leaves garrisons in the ChiCom cities, and beings marching south through the mountains. Supply will be an issue until they can link up with Terauchi.

Here's a screenshot of my attacks. Not the kind of odds you really want to see at the start of a summer turn, but waiting isn't going to improve them any. For any new players following this AAR - in a long turn, which May/June should be, you want to do nothing but high odds attacks early on so you don't flip your units and watch summer dribble by while you're stuck in the mud. Save your big assaults for the end of the turn. But in my case, all I really have are big assaults, and waiting isn't going to make them any better.

[joshuamnave]

The Germans clear the French units with barely a scratch but the Chinese hold the line, trading a division for a militia, and the attackers flip. France will be incompletely conquered at the end of the turn, and now the axis can either rail east, or attack spain. Heading East is almost certainly the smart play at this point, but attacking spain is the fun move.

On the allied half of the impulse, the British take a naval. They need to get escorts out, but they also want to have some units on transports ready to land in spain if the axis goes that route. France takes a Naval, and comes out to challenge the Italians in the Med, hoping to head off an invasion of Barcelona.

The British manage to patch all the holes in their convoy chain, for the moment at least. In the E Med, we have a repeat of last turn with a lone German Nav finding the Aden fleet (this time with the Ark Royal). The AR is carrying a nav bomber however, and no axis ships are present. Britain flies it as a 1 point fighter against the 1 air to air factor on the nav bomber. Bad news for the CW - first the swordfish is shot down, then Germany uses surprise points to pick the Ark Royal, and it fails it's defense roll. It limps back home for repairs. Round 2, both sides find each other, but only the Nav bomber is found. This time Germany doesn't have buckets of surprise points to spend, and the AA fire neuters the bomber (but doesn't abort it). Round 3, both sides roll a 1. It looks like a repeat of the previous round, but the AA is less on target and 1 point of air to sea gets through, sending a BB home after it fails its defense roll on an abort. Round 4, only the allies find their target, and the Italians lose their CP in the zone.

In the western med, two navies both with transports full of troops blacken the skies with naval air and fighters, looking to score some cheap wins.

This does not look good for the Allies...

[joshuamnave]

Perhaps I exaggerated about blackening the skies. There were some british nav bombers in the 3 box that had dropped from the 4 box at the end of the turn. The axis air was all flown as reaction after the search was declared.

AA fire reduces the attack by 3 points. The Axis decide to max out their own attack values, using their picks on transports.

[joshuamnave]

This is a complete disaster for the UK. For those not familiar with naval combat yet - in a surface combat, the player taking the damage chooses which ships are hit. In a naval air combat, the players alternate choosing. In this case, 3 destroy results meant Italy got to nail both transports, and both of them missed their defense rolls. The units on board sink with the ships.

[joshuamnave]

With so much of the fleet torn up, the allies elect to vacate the sea zone. Mussolini declares it a national holiday. Italian souvenir stands sell commemorative pins. The Italian post office issues stamps to memorialize the battle of Barcelona Bay.

The impulse ends with a whimper, and a light rain begins to fall over the north temperate. Here's a save game file for anyone playing along: