Another Solo Global AAR

[markb50k]

Nov/Dec 1941

End of Turn Phase:

Situation in Morocco at end of 1941
This is looking like its possible the Allies will hold the line here. They have 2 strong units along the entire line, and have almost achieved air parity. The Axis will likely have to forego land attacks for an impulse and concentrate on a full NAV strike on the Allied fleets next turn. Could be interesting if they do, depending on who has initiative.

[markb50k]

Nov/Dec 1941

End of Turn Phase:

Situation in Egypt at end of 1941
Likely, Egypt will go as Morocco goes. The Axis can't bring overwhelming forces there until they win in Morocco. They might be able to succeed anyway, but the CW will be bringing in some reinforcement during the return to base phase, if possible. Right now, the only thing that is going to help the CW is the USSR getting involved.

[markb50k]

Nov/Dec 1941

End of Turn Phase:

Situation in India at end of 1941
The Japanese have three strong units (in comparison to the CW troops) adjacent to Calcutta, but the question looms of what is really preventing the Japanese from taking India completely. Likely that is not going to happen, as the CW can spam militia and territorials to make slogging through India too hard for the Axis, but I'm just letting my mind wander on this.

The point here is that the big boys, the US and USSR need to start making some noise and giving the Axis something to actually worry about. I think I have to be alot more agressive with them, which should be possible. As mentioned before, the USSR, now having secured Persia and Iraq, will move to war against Germany as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the US has, as I'm writing this, 4 or 5 carriers ready to start moving on Rabaul.

With multiple carriers inbound for the Americans by the end of 1942, Japan has a couple more turns of fun left before things will turn for the worse, I think (the Allied side of me hopes).

[markb50k]

One thing I realize that I didn't think through was the landing spot of the Japanese forces in India. If you notice in the pic above, Yamashita is pretty much stuck in that hex, as he has to trace supply to port. Unless the Axis takes all the hexes down the coastline to the nearest port, that is (Which is what they most likely will have to do). The 4-4 MAR unit that just conquered Ceylon will likely take this task on.

[markb50k]

Nov/Dec 1941

End of Turn Phase:

Production:
Germany (34): LND3, 2 x CVP1 (to keep gearing up), 3 x PILOT, 2 x INF, MTN, TERR (Palestine), MECH, ARTY
Italy (10): 3 x TERR, NAV2, PILOT
Japan (20): 2 x FTR2, 2 x CVP1, 2 x PILOT, CONV, TRS (finish), CVL (finish), 2 x INF DIV
CW (21): 2 x FTR2, LND3, 2 x PILOT, 5 x TERR
US (54): 2 x FTR2, LND3, 4 x CVP1, 4 x PILOT, AMPH (finish), 5 x CV (finish), 2 x CVL (finish), INF, INF DIV, MECH
USSR (17): FTR2, LND2, 2 x PILOT, ARM, ENG DIV

Conquest:
Iraq completely conquered by USSR
Ceylon completely conquered by Japan
CHINA completely conquered by Japan

Reinforcements:
US getting some high quality CVPs, Italy getting some more airpower, CW getting another fleet carrier and a good CVP fighter.

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

Beginning of Turn Phase:

Initiative:
Axis rolls a 10, Allies roll a 6. Axis lets Allies move first. Again, trying to increase the bonus for when the good weather comes around.

Weather:
Weather roll is a 3, modified to 4, resulting in Artic Snow, North Temperate Storm, South Monsoon Rain, everywhere else Fine.

Neutrality Pact:
USSR is anxious to get involved in things and would like to, ideally, break the Neutrality Pact with Germany and declare war, taking away Germany's surprise. Also, USSR has an offensive chit while Germany spent their last one on Gibraltar. From the picture below you see that Germany has been massing at the border while the USSR was keeping some room off the line. I think the USSR should now stuff the line to be able to break the pact. They'll choose LAND impulses and start moving to the border... If anyone has any comments on this I'm all ears. This is all new to me.

[Centuur]

If I look at this, it seems that Germany can terminate the pact if they want to. I would suggest the Germans to DoW the USSR the moment the garrison ratio will allow the USSR to do it, to prevent the surprise impulse.

[Orm]

I would wait for a while with moving forward. It can spell disaster to move towards the border and get half the troops to it just to see Germny declare war on USSR and massacre those troops. Wait until part of the summer has passed to move forward so that it is to late for Germany to do a '42 Barbarossa.

But I would at once begin to change defensive chits to offensive.

[markb50k]

Sounds like a smart move, thanks!

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

ALLIED 1st Impulse:

Actions:
USSR - Land
CW - Naval
France - Naval
US - Combined

Naval Air:
US and CW move NAV aircraft to the 3 box of the Coral Sea.

Naval Moves:
CW takes a Naval impulse and moves their main CV fleet to Cape St Vincent and assists the US out by picking up units and air from the US East Coast. They also move their SUBs towards the Pacific to harass the Japanese.

The Americans decide to make a show of strength in the Coral Sea, sending their Pacific CV fleet with NAV support into the Coral Sea. It's time to start moving forward on retaking Rabaul and neutralizing the Japanese CV fleet operating out of Rabaul, or at the least forcing it to withdraw.

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

ALLIED 1st Impulse:

Naval Combat:
Allies attempt to start Naval Combat in S. China Sea but Japan brings in NAVs in all sea boxes, so they don't commit.

Japan attempts to find the Allied ships in the Tasman Sea, but no successful search.

Ground Strikes:
The Allies are starting to see the problems with the Axis setup in Morocco. The Axis land units are stretching too far south and are out of aircover, so the CW launches a ground strike with their DB7 Tactical bomber on one of the southern hexes of the Axis line. The Axis can only intercept with their twin engined fighters and the CW escorts with a normal FTR. The Allies have the advantage with a +1/0 odds rolls.

1st round, Axis rolls a 7, no effect. Allies roll a 14 forcing the Axis fighter to abort. CW bomber is passed through.

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

ALLIED 1st Impulse:

Ground Strikes (continued):
Unfortunately, the CW bomber rolls a 8 and 6, missing both. 3 Allied air disorganized to 1 Axis air. Funny how the actual end results of the mission change the opinion of the decisions made beforehand.

[micheljq]

Western allies should concentrate on Spain, and retaking Gibraltar, then smash Italy out of the war.

The supply route for Germany in Spain is long, Axis will have to watch northern Spain and southern France to not risk losing supply. Allied invasion there can be terrible for Axis, lot of coast to check. Bringing 4-5 NAVs in Spain to smash any fleet which would try to supply Axis's troops in Spain from Med. or trying to supply Gibraltar. Eventually allies will have spanish bases near Med to threaten Axis shipping.

I did face that situation playing Commonwealth/USA and was able to force Axis out of Spain end of 1942/beginning of 1943.

Michel.

[markb50k]

ORIGINAL: micheljq

Western allies should concentrate on Spain, and retaking Gibraltar, then smash Italy out of the war.

The supply route for Germany in Spain is long, Axis will have to watch northern Spain and southern France to not risk losing supply. Allied invasion there can be terrible for Axis, lot of coast to check. Bringing 4-5 NAVs in Spain to smash any fleet which would try to supply Axis's troops in Spain from Med. or trying to supply Gibraltar. Eventually allies will have spanish bases near Med to threaten Axis shipping.

I did face that situation playing Commonwealth/USA and was able to force Axis out of Spain end of 1942/beginning of 1943.

Michel.

Yeah, the Axis definitely feels a bit overexposed, and with the Allies seemingly able to hold the line in Morocco, Axis may need to just pull back and play keep-away now (ala "sitzkrieg"). Thanks for the comment!

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

ALLIED 1st Impulse:

Land Moves:
USSR decides that it is too risky to move the troops up to the border, so they will work on changing defensive chits to offensive chits and will, at the minimum, force Germany to DOW, whether they wanted to or not.

For the CW, they use a needed naval move so hopefully their troops can hold out in India while the US starts to make noise in the Pacific.

Jan/Feb 1942

AXIS 1st Impulse:

Actions:
Germany - Land
Italy - Naval
Japan - Naval. They want to reinforce their troops in India. A knockout blow quickly here can allow them to move forces South to face the Americans.

Naval Moves:
Italy moves the fleet to the Eastern Med, and picks up a couple of corps for transfer to Palestine. Axis wants to take out Syria this turn if possible.

In the Pacific, with a large American fleet in the Coral Sea (5 CVs, 6 CVPs), the Japanese realize their carriers are too spread out: Currently they have 2 in Rabaul, 2 in Singapore, and 6 at the Home Islands. With no Allied air present in India, the Americans are obviously the biggest threat. Japan will leave some slow BBs in the Bay of Bengal to assist with land operations there, but will start focusing their CV power towards the Americans. As such, they move all of their speed 5+ carriers to the Bismarck Sea for air-regrouping and safety in numbers. Also, their smaller CVs are moved to the China Sea for convoy protection, and TRSs are used to bring the 4-4 MAR and another 5-4 MTN unit to the Bay of Bengal.

Here is the main Japanese fleet sitting off Rabaul. They will be consolidating CVPs during the coming air rebase phase to make room for more..

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

AXIS 1st Impulse:

Ground Strikes:
The massive air wings on both sides are brought to bear again in Morocco. The Axis launches 3 ground strikes, 1 in Egypt that isn't contested, and 2 in Morocco that are.

The 1st strike is on the 2 Allied units at the northern end of the Allied line, in this one the Axis has a significant advantage because the Allies concentrated their best fighters intercepting the other strike against two of their HQs. Here the Axis has a 7.9 to 6.2 ratio for a +2/-2 odds.

1st round, the Allies roll a 7, and the Axis aborts their front fighter (they have plenty). The Axis rolls a 6 destroying the front Allied fighter, a Hurricane IIC. Odds stay at +2/-2 for Axis. Both sides stay.

2nd round, the Allies roll a 11, Axis clears the Stuka. Axis rolls a 12, no effect. Both sides stay.

3rd round, the Allies roll a 13, clearing the last Axis bomber. Axis also rolls a 13, aborting the Albacore CVP. Allies abort the combat.

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

AXIS 1st Impulse:

Ground Strikes (continued):
results of ground strike is the Italian bomber missed both, but the Stuka hit both. Both Allied units disorganized.

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

AXIS 1st Impulse:

Ground Strikes (continued):
The 2nd strike is one hex down the line, on the two Allied HQs, Gort and Clark. The Allies put the bulk of their interceptors on this one, as do the Axis. Axis puts up more at a 10.1 to 8.8, for a +1/-1. This will be close..

1st round, the Allies rolls a 9, Axis clears a Stuka. Axis rolls a 6 (again!), destroying the lead Spitfire II. Both sides stay, although the odds increase to +2/-2.

2nd round, the Allies rolls a 8, no result. Sheesh. Axis rolls a 7, aborting the US P47B Thunderbolt. Things are getting worse for the allies, odds increasing to +3/-3!!! Allies will take 1 more bad roll, then leave, but for now they stay!

3rd round, unbelievably, the Allies roll a SIXTEEN, but with the odds and a Twin Engined FTR, its reduced to NO EFFECT. Ugh. And as expected, the Axis hot rolling continues, and they roll a 15, killing the lead fighter, a Beaufighter. Two losses already, and ratio getting silly, the Allies need to abort to save some airframes.

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

AXIS 1st Impulse:

Ground Strikes (continued):
Results of the strike on the HQs is the Italian bomber misses all three (uh oh), the 6pt Stuka only hits the Engineer DIV (UH OH), but the 5pt Stuka hits BOTH HQs (wow). All 3 units disorganized.

[markb50k]

Jan/Feb 1942

AXIS 1st Impulse:

Ground Strikes (continued):
The 3rd Strike has a 5pt Stuka and a 3 strength Italian ARTY strike Wavell in his hex. Weird results abound as the Stuka misses everything, but the ARTY hits 2 of 3. Fortunately for the CW, Wavell is missed.

Overall, bad impulse for the Allies in the air war. Wow.