A musical global war AAR...

[Centuur]

And the Luftwaffe hits the strategic valuable factories in Hull, so a production point is lost. This victory means it is time for the official march of the Luftwaffe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZZGPO4w ... 1390501051

The defenses of the Belgian Army gets bombed by the BF 110's of the Luftwaffe, to soften up the defenders. After they've dropped their bombs, a huge artilley barrage goes down on the defenders:

[Centuur]

In the Alps, another artillery barrage is aimed at the French guarding the frontier on the railroad to Lyons. However the aim of the guns is off, so they miss....

And in China, the D3A2's dive unto the Chinese first Inf. Corps but the core of the Nationalists army doesn't get hit. Guns also open up on the city of Chengchow, disorganising the 20th. GAR.
During the Japanese movement phase comes the question: is a +5 attack on Chengchow a good one? The answer is no. And with all units capable of reaching that area next impulse, the Japanese decide to wait another impulse, to avoid high risks...

[Centuur]

In Poland, the city of Lods get surrounded and is surely going to be under attack. Will the Poles continue the heroic defense of their country? And Belgium gets the crème de la crème of the German army at the doorstep. And that with the forces of King Leopold being disorganised...

[Centuur]

The Italians are reinforcing in the Alps, entering Tunis and Djibouti. An Italian MTN crosses the mountain passes into France itself...

[Centuur]

The Algerian port of Oran is still sleeping, while an Italian division enters it and takes it without a shot fired...

Attacks are declared on Brussels (+9), Lodz (+13) and Djibouti (+3)... The last one is a huge gamble, but with the French TERR in the place, the Italians can't do anything in the area and will get crushed slowly. So it is better to take the risk and see if there is anything to be gained around Italian East Africa. If not, well, it is dead anyway, with the draw of the French and CW TERR around the place. Let's see if the Ethiopians can at least restore the supply to the place as long as the CW will not DoW the Italians...

Now comes the question: to give HQ support with Gort or not. I will do so, since the French can close the front if Brussels is lost. If not, than it is even better. In response, the Luftwaffe puts all FTR bombers and an obsolete Stuka into action. The Dyle have to be crossed this impulse, so all that is left between the German Panzer and Paris is Tank terrain. The Royal Air Force doesn't provide ground support, due to a ME 109 waiting for any allied planes. The Hurricanes and Spitfires can't fly far enough...

Meanwhile, in Lodz, the fighting starts on the assault table...

[Centuur]

The Polish forces are done for, for the moment, that is...

Here is “Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino, Red poppies on Monte Cassino” written in 1944, to honour the Polish who fought there on the Allied side...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2jDIDNR ... re=related

At Djibouti, the Ethiopians, to their own astonishment, get a complete victory on the assault table. The city and harbour is taken.

[Centuur]

And now it comes, the most important battle. Will the German army take the Belgian King as a prisoner of war? Or will this have to be postponed. The assault table is chosen by Leopold and here it comes:

[Centuur]

The German army moves into Brussels, sealing the fate of the Belgians. Leopold is put under house arrest in the Royal Palace and will later be transported to a castle to spend the rest of the war under German guards...

Now, in Belgian there was "Stan Benders en zijn dansorkest" (and his dance orchestra). Here is "Fascination":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWkp9_tayw0

After rebasing some aircraft, the turn doesn't end...

[Centuur]

If all allied powers will pass, there is a 40% chanche that the turn will end. However, there is a hole in the front line in Belgium and if the turn doesn't end, this might mean disaster for the French. Also, large portions of the German forces are now disorganised, which makes it doubtful that they can get a good attack next impulse. The Chinese however would like the turn to end... Now, given all things which has to be done, allies decide not to pass. Time will tell if they were right:

In the DoW phase, the USSR decides to claim Bessarabia. With the Red Air Force within reach of Ploesti, the Germans decide to allow the claim. Now, if the USSR air force wasn't capable of reducing the oil fields to fire pits, things would be different. Van Ribbentrop himself flies to Bucharest and visits both the King and the Prime minister and an secret agreement between the two countries is signed...

And here is the Bessarabian marsh (Semeon Tchernetsky) Band of the Soviet People's Commissariat of Defense recorded in 1940:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMKa06sto54

[Centuur]

The USSR, US, France and the Commonwealth take combined actions, the Chinese choose a land action.
A small naval taskforce consisting of the Furious, a BB and two cruisers loaded with a division sails into the Faroes Gap. The French BB fleet sails into the Western Med, hoping to crush the Italian presence there. The US sails the Yorktown and the Arizona from Long Beach to Norfolk, thus making sure those ships won't become targets for the Japanese in the future. The US sub's have all left the harbour and are all in the Pacific...

The French want to fight those despicable Italians! “Vive la France, vive La Republique...” and here is the “Hymne de l'Infanterie de Marine”...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7JdlK2M3NE

[Centuur]

They find the enemy and surprise the Italians. They decide to fight a surface battle against both sea boxes, since they have a far superior force available:

[Centuur]

They send the Italians to the bottom of the seas, with no losses on their side...

In Great-Britain, Bomber Command is ordered to retaliated for the German bombardment on Hull. The Hampdens take off and fly towards Essen, which hasn't got FTR cover...

[Centuur]

Again, only residential area's are hit, the German Radio accuses the British of targeting innocent citizens and talk about a war crime against the citizens of Essen, since the old center of the city has been destroyed, while the factories and railstation are unharmed... The propaganda machine is heating up...

In China, trains transport the Peking MIL to General Chang, since there doesn't seem to be any threath in the southern part of China. The catch me if you can strategy is continuing:

[Centuur]

In France, trains are transporting the V infantry corps towards the Belgian-French border and units move out of Lille to close the gap in the frontline which occured when the German captured Brussels. The French general staff isn't worried about anything at this moment. Only that pesky Italian MTN can become a problem, but it is OOS and will get disorganised if it moves...

Time for Django Reinhardt et Stephany Grapelly and the Quintette du Hot Club de France, Swing 39, recorded in Paris in march 1939:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0kPGGKiUlw

[Centuur]

In the USSR, trains are transporting Timoshenko towards the Persian border. Rumours in the area are claiming that the independence Persian empire won't be independent much longer. The Bessarabian front start moving towards Eastern Poland and the Red air force rebaces fleets of bombers towards Persia...

The CW disembarks the division in Thorshavn and moves a TERR in Egypt to guard the ports of Damietta and Port Said. And rebases a bomber towards Derby to be used to protect the Faroes Gap.

After this there was much rejoicing in the Allied Camp:

Therefore here is Spike Jones: “Der Führers Face”...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZlFBSRrSR0

[Centuur]

A partisan appears in China and is put unto the Japanese controlled resource in the North. I hate partisans, nevertheless, they have a function in the game by making sure conquered coutries and area's are garrisoned...

Next comes the entry phase, in which markers are drawn by Germany and the USSR to strengthen the garrison ratio on the common border.

[Centuur]

Defensive markers are used to increase the defensive value of the garrison and offensive ones for the offensive value. Defensive values are secret for the other side...
Germany puts one marker as offensive and one as defensive (the question: Blitzkrieg or Sitzkrieg remains unknown for the USSR at this time) and the USSR puts one marker as defensive. Let there be known to you (since you are Axis) there is a 3 in Offense and a 2 in defense. The USSR marker, well that one I will keep secret to you.

I've drawn a US entry chit into the Ger/It pool, since the USSR wants to DoW Persia (and maybe do something with regards to the Baltics and Finland too in the future) and it doesn't look like the Germans and Italians will generate chits in the next couple of turns...

Also, I choose options. I decide to give the Chinese the opportunity to build aircraft. If no chit is removed, I will than occupy Greenland and Iceland.
The first option doesn't generate tension, the second one does (die rolls 4 and 6) as was to be expected.
Therefore there are now: 2 entry chits and 1 tension chit in the Ge/It pools and 1 entry chit in the Japanese pool. Remember: you decide when I need to have the Japanese forces up and ready for the attack on the US. If you are to late, it's your fault (not mine...).

Next comes the preliminary production phase. That will take some time to sort out (because the interface isn't what I call userfriendly) in the first turn (because I need to make sure all resources are routed the way I want them to...).

In the meanwhile: give me something to work with: Barbarossa or Close the Med. Sealion is out at the moment. I would like you to choose which strategic plan I'll adopt for the Germans. Of course, Mussolini is on board a train towards Berlin to convince the Führer to go for a Close the Med strategy, but you decide...

Oh, by the way: I stumbled upon this. Watch this nice piece of US wartime propaganda:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpgSYbrw09g

Here is the destroyed pool of this turn:

[Courtenay]

Defensive markers are used to increase the defensive value of the garrison and offensive ones for the offensive value. Defensive values are secret for the other side...
Germany puts one marker as offensive and one as defensive (the question: Blitzkrieg or Sitzkrieg remains unknown for the USSR at this time) and the USSR puts one marker as defensive. Let there be known to you (since you are Axis) there is a 3 in Offense and a 2 in defense. The USSR marker, well that one I will keep secret to you.

13.2.ENTRY MARKER

Next, you must decide whether the marker will be offensive or defensive. If you place it as an offensive marker, its value is hidden from everyone but you. If you place it as a defensive marker, its value is visible to everyone.

You have the secrecy of offensive and defensive chits reversed. It's an easy mistake to make; if you search, you can find a post where I made the same mistake. Everyone, include the Germans, gets to know the value of the Soviet neutrality chit.

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

Defensive markers are used to increase the defensive value of the garrison and offensive ones for the offensive value. Defensive values are secret for the other side...
Germany puts one marker as offensive and one as defensive (the question: Blitzkrieg or Sitzkrieg remains unknown for the USSR at this time) and the USSR puts one marker as defensive. Let there be known to you (since you are Axis) there is a 3 in Offense and a 2 in defense. The USSR marker, well that one I will keep secret to you.

13.2.ENTRY MARKER

Next, you must decide whether the marker will be offensive or defensive. If you place it as an offensive marker, its value is hidden from everyone but you. If you place it as a defensive marker, its value is visible to everyone.

You have the secrecy of offensive and defensive chits reversed. It's an easy mistake to make; if you search, you can find a post where I made the same mistake. Everyone, include the Germans, gets to know the value of the Soviet neutrality chit.

Blast. You are right of course. I blame the flu...

[Mike Parker]

I at least would like to see more of the fight against the French before I vote on close the med or barbarossa. I think both can be on the table for now. Although I agree with your observation that the Axis should pick a strategy as early as possible and stick with it.