Courtenay's solitaire AAR

[Courtenay]

J/F 42 Allied #13: Weather 7 (5+2) Sn, Sn, St, F, St, F. Impulse advance 3, modifier +1.

CW, Fr Naval, US Comb, SU, Ch land.

The CW puts a FTR into the two box of the Arabian Sea. It wants to engage the Japanese carriers as they come home.

The CW, having finished rearranging CVPs in England, puts the Illustrious and Ark Royal into the Med. In the storms, they ignore all the air power in Cape St. Vincent. The Cyprus battle force is removed from Cyprus. The US moves the Ranger down from the 4 box to the zero box of the Western Med. Lastly, the Allies decide to take advantage of the storm in the Red Sea, and move three US cruisers, Brooklyn, Louisville, and Pensacola, and two British cruisers, Devonshire and Arethusa, to add to the Galatea in the four box, while Duke of York, Renown, and Delhi sail to the three box. The Coventry is in the two box. They engage the Kaga, Kirishima and Yura in the one box and Zuikaku, Haguro, Kumano, and Maya in the two box.

The only naval combat was in the Red Sea. The Allies rolled a 1. The Japanese rolled a 9. With no less than ten surprise points, the Allies shifted their combat column up 2, and left the Japanese column alone, saving six surprise points. The Allies got 2X, 1D, 1A on Japanese, the Japanese 1X, 1D, 2A on the Allies. The Allies spent 3 surprise points to pick their first target, the Kaga. It rolled a four, and sank with two CVPs aboard. Then the Allies spent their last three surprise points to pick their second target, the Zuikaku. It rolled a six, sinking exactly, with one CVP aboard. The Yura was then damaged and aborted. The Coventry, it turns out, rammed the Kaga, and sank. (The Allies took the X on the Coventry and rolled a 5). The D was applied to the Duke of York, which rolled a 10 and aborted. The second D was applied to the Delhi, which rolled an 8, and was damaged. The first A was applied to the Delhi, which aborted. The final A was applied to Renown, which saved.

This was one of the most disastrous naval engagements I have ever seen in WiF. If this game weren't so bad for the Axis that it is comical, I would abandon it.

The British attempt an unescorted night strat raid on Paris. The Germans intercept with a 3 point Me-110. The Germans roll a 20, and shoot down the bomber and the pilot.

The US tries to make a rush for Tunis, and instead flips its corps in the mountains in the rain. The US ARM moves a hex westward. The Chinese advance to take the hexes abandoned by the Japanese, and the Kunming MIL invades Indo-China. The Chinese threaten to put Yamamoto out of supply. Of course, they can't figure out what they would do to him, even if he is out of supply, but that is a problrm for a later day.

The Soviet Union finishes rebasing its planes back from the Middle East to the German border garrison region. The US flies a NAV to Hiva Ov. The CW flies a bomber one hex west on Sardinia from Olbia, where it was out of supply.

Turn end roll 6, turn ends.

Here is a picture of the Japanese damage screen at the debacle:

[Courtenay]

After a long break while I waited for various bugs to fixed, followed by a trip out of town, I resume the debacle.

To the Japanese's frustration, after they had spent considerable effort to clear the railroad from Hanoi to the resource, a Chinese 0-2 partisan pops up and blocks it. Here is the position in southern China after the partisan appears:

[Courtenay]

Oil:
Ge: 1
Ja: 2
It: 0

US 2. Colorado, Philidelphia, Wichita, and Marshal Floriano remain unorganized.
CW 3 Carlisle, Columbo, Neptune, and Navarra remain unorganized.
Fr 0
Ch 0
SU 1 Again, the resource that can not be saved or used is used.

[Courtenay]

Here are the destroyed units for the turn. Note the Japanese naval debacle.

[Courtenay]

Axis production:

The Japanese scrap a 5 point Zero CVP.

Ge 38+3: INF-HQ, 2XARM, INF, MTN, GAR, 2xFTR-2, LND-2, 3xPi, Start 2xSU, 1 BP saved.
It 11+0: INF-HQ, NAV-3, Pi, 1 BP saved
Ja 20+0: ARM-HQ, INF, FTR-2, 2xPI, CP, start SUB, repair SUB, none saved.

Germany builds Kesselring, a 12-5 SS and 10-6 ARM (both elite), the elite 8-4 MTN, the elite 8-4 INF, the elite 7-1 GAR, a 6 pt, 5 ground range 5 FW 190 G-3, a 6 pt range 3 BF 109, and Rudel, flying a Ju87 6, a 5 attack tank buster, range two. I wonder if there is only plane in the Rudel unit? It only needs one! The Germans ARM, MTN, INF, and GAR force pools were emptied.

The Italians build Balbo and a Z506B 3 point NAV.

The Japanese build Hata, a 7-3 elite IND, a BRN2 5 pt range 6 FTR, a 5 pt 5-5 SUB. They repair the 4 pt 5-4 SUB. After the naval disaster in the Red Sea, the Japanese had to make a choice -- would carriers in 1944 make any difference? The answer they came to was "Not much." Thus they are not making an attemp to rebuild thier carrier fleet. They are seeing six large Allied carriers arrive in late 1943 and early 1944, and have decided that attempting to compete with that is futile.

Here are the Axis reinforcements for M/A 42:

[Courtenay]

Allied production:

The US scraps a 4-4 and 4-5 MOT.

Ch: 4+2: INF XX, FTR-2, PI, no BPs saved.
CW: 31+0: HQ-INF, MAR, 2xFTR-2, CVP-0, 2xPi, finish TRS(4), start 2xCV, AMPH, 2xSUB
US: 62+0: HQ-ARM, INF, MOT, AA, 2xFTR-2, 5xCVP-1, 4xPi, Start 4xCV, 2xAMPH, TRS, SUB, 8 BPs saved.
Fr: 0+0:
SU: 31+1: HQ-ARM, HQ-INF, ARM, INF, GAR, 2xFTR-2, 2xPi

The Chinese build the 6 pt Kittyhawk and a 2-3 nationalist INF XX. The INF XX was built to keep up Chinese INF gearing limits. It is an inefficient use of build points -- they could build a 6-3 INF and split it into two corps -- but the Chinese don't want to leave the 6-3 out of the line that long.

The Commonwealth build Mountbatten, their 6-3 MAR, a 7 pt range 5 Spitfire VC, a 6 pt range 6 canandian Hurricane XII, a Gladiator to keep gearing limits up, started Audacious and Canada (they are big enough that CW CVPs will actually fit!), a 5-2 AMPH, and a 3 pt 6-4 SUB.

The US build Bradley, a 6-3 INF, a 7-5 white print MOT, the 5-3 AA gun, a 7 point range 12 Hellcat F6F-3 and a 5 point range 5 P-39I, two 6-1 Hellcats (again F6F-3; there must have been a special), a 5-1 F4F-4, a 5-3 SBD-5, which really looks to me like an F4Fs, not an SBD, and a 2-4 SBD-4F. The US started every CV, AMPH, and TRS in its force pool: Wasp II, Hornet II, Franklin, Bennington, a 5-4 TRS and two 5-2 AMPH, and started 3 pt 5-4 SUB. The US ran up against gearing limits this turn, bulding maximum infantry, armor, artillery, air, pilots, ships, and subs.

The Soviets build Rokossovsky, Vatutin, a 9-6 white print ARM, a 6-4 White print INF, an 8-1 white print GAR, and 6 pt and 5 pt range 4 Yaks (9M and 7B).

Here are the Allied reinforcements for M/A 42:

[Courtenay]

Japan conquered Burma and the Maldive Islands. The Rangoon MIL surrendered to the Japanese.

The Rangoon MIL cost two BPS to build. Its existence held the Burmese oil for at least one more turn for the CW, and forced the Japanese to spend real units to conquer Burma. Worse, the Japanese lost the SNLF division as the result of a bad die roll. Thus this unit got the Chinese an oil, cost the Japanese an oil, and cost the Japanese a 3 BP unit. Thus those were two BPs well spent by the CW.

I just discovered that Calcutta is empty. This is the result of a mismouse. I will not take advantage of it as the Japanese, and will move a unit back there as rapidly as possible. In a game against a human, I would ask him not to take advantage of this mistake, and if my opponent made a similar mistake and asked me not to take advantage of it, I would not. Mismouses are inevitable (at least when I am doing the mousing); I do not feel that a game should be affected by them.

[composer99]

I've never seen the term mismouse before. I take it it has something to do with mouseovers?

[Courtenay]

From the urban dictionary:

mismouse
Clicking on the wrong thing on a computer screen using a mouse or similar pointing device.

[Courtenay]

CW, US, Fr Naval, SU, Ch, land

The US puts a P-51 into Cape St. Vincent and a 4 pt Kittyhawk into the Western Med. THe CW puts a Beaufighter into Cape St. Vincent and flies the Buffalo out to Bay of Bengal. All of these planes are in the three box.

The US moves an ARM and an INF to the Faeroes gap. An INF moves to Honolulu, where it replaces a GAR. That GAR and on at Hiva Ov move to the Ross Sea (!). There they are close enough to get to Australia, and too far for the Japanese to get to them. The Canadian Hurricane XII moves to Cape St. Vincent. The sailors wave to all the Axis planes sitting on airbases next to the coast; they are sure they will get a closer look later in the month. Empty US and CW transports move to the East Coast. The newly completed Iowa and newly repaired San Francisco sail from the West Coast into Pearl. The Allies reestablish convoy links to India, and put a convoy into the Red Sea, where it can pick up the otherwise undeliverable and unstorable Persian oil. ASW units move out all over. The Allied submarines move out to the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea, and the China Sea.

In the Bay of Bengal, the Japanese consider that the Allied submarines having fighter cover to be unfair, but they see that the fighters are only Buffaloes, and so send out a NAV with a three point air to air rating. Both sides roll sevens, for no combat.

In the South China Sea, the US rolls a one. They are elated. The Japanese roll a three. The Nagara engages three US SUBs. The US has three surprise points. They shift their result from 2As to a D. The Nagara rolls a 6, and is damaged; A US sub also rolls a six, and aborts. On the next round, the US rolls a 7 and the Japanese an 8. A succesful combat for the US, their first submarine success.

In the China Sea, both sides roll sixes; no one finds each other.

Submarine warfare has been reasonably successful for the Allies; they have had no great successes, but no great defeats, either, and have inflicted more losses than they have suffered.

[Courtenay]

The US artillery in Algiers conducts the ritual bombarment of Grazini, while the Chinese communist artillery bombards Ichang. The Chinese fail, but the Americans roll a 10, a 4, and a 1. To both their and the Italians amazement, the one is against Graziani, and flips him.

The Russians rail some units up to the German front. They are nowhere near being able to declare war, but will be very close in 1943.

The Chinese get a double move, and take advantage of it. Combined with the partisan that appeared southwest of Nanning, Chinese forces ooze through Japanese lines, cutting all Japanese units out of supply in southern and central China. Yamamoto is almost surrounded; if it weren't for one alpine hexside preventing an advance due east by the Kunming MIL, he would be in grave danger of being completely surrounded. The Communists also advance to aid to the confusion. The Sian MIL moves up, and the partisan in Kweilin moves out to the northeast

The Canadian Hurricane XII lands from St. Vincent, and the US moves their bomber up from Cassiblanca to Sardina.

Nimitz reorganizes a TRS, Iowa, and San Francisco.

A TRS at sea reorganizes a TRS in New York. The only point to this was to save oil. I discoverhat the Queens moved to the wrong place; oh well. This will result in the waste of 0.05 of an oil. If this is the worst mistake I make in a day, it is a very good day.

Here is the position in southern China after the Allied move:

[Courtenay]

M/A 42 Axis #2:
Ge Air, It, Ja combined.

The Germans realize that the Allies have made a mistake: Two AMPHS are in Plymouth, unprotected. The Germans take their shiny new Condors, and try and bomb them. The operative word is "try". The Allies roll a four, the Germans a nine, and the Allies cancel the combat. The Condors land near Madrid.

In naval movement, the Japanese move an AMPH, two battleships and a cruiser to the three box of the South China Sea from Singapore, picking up the 5-4 INF in Manila, and move their other AMPH and two cruisers from Truk to the zero box of the South China Sea, picking up the Nagoya MIL from Batavia. The US submarines in the South China Sea decide that this is all perfectly fine with them. The Italians had been thinking of picking up units from Africa, before they noticed that their TRS does not get finished until next turn. Oops. They then have to think hard about whether it is worth risking their remaining fleet to put the units in Africa back in supply. They decide not; the fleet will come out next turn.

The Axis flies a couple of fighters out to the eastern Med, and a fighter to the Cape St. Vincent. The Axis tries for naval combat in both places. Another fighter and literally the whole Italian airforce -- five units -- fly to join the fighter in Cape St. Vincent. The results are anticlamatic: Nobody finds anyone in Cape St. Vincent, and only the Allies find in the Western Med, and cancel the combat.

[Courtenay]

The Japanese again strat bomb Kunming, rolling a 7, killing a production point.

The Germans throw three Stukas and a FTR at Tangier, and two Stukas and the Italian ART against Gibraltar. The Allies look at the German planes, and throw every FTR they have against Tangier; the Germans respond with every plane in range of Tangier. (A 6 pt FTR is in range of Gibraltar, only). The fight starts out at Allies +1; the Allies roll a 9 (NE), while the Germans roll a 14 (DA), aborting a Mosquito. Now the Germans have a +1 advantage. The Allies roll a 15 (DA), and the Germans decide to abort a 4 point Stuka. The Germans roll a 17, and kill a South African 5 pt Spitfire. The Allies are gluttons for punishment, and decide to stick around. They are rewarded when they roll a 19 (AX PX), and decide to kill the front fighter, a 6 pt Bf 109-E7.The Germans respond with a 6, killing a the brand new Canadian Hurricane XII. That unit didn't last very long! The next two rounds of combat, both sides roll nothing but tens and elevens, clearing both Stukas through, with no cost to the Allies, either. If the bounce combat rules had been effect, things would have been deadly, though.

The Allies decide to use their AA fire against Tangier, figuring that they would not be very effective against the planes at Gibraltar. They roll 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, and 8!!!!. The Germans are astonished. So are the Allies. 2 bomber points get through, and the Germans roll a 4, a 5 and a 9, and don't hit anything. At the Gibraltar, one point is taken from the German bombers. This makes no difference, as the German bombers never get a shot off -- the Italian ART rolls 1, 1, and 3, disrupting the whole stack! However, there are still undisrupted HQs next door, and a lot of defensive shore bombardment, so the Germans aren't ready to attack yet. However, there aren't any Allied planes that can fly, while the Germans have a lot of HQs to reorganize with. The Germans killed two fighters, at the cost of a one of theirs and its pilot. In terms of build points, that is even; in terms of air superiority, it is the Germans favor. Clearly, more fighters are in order for the Allies.

[Courtenay]

The Germans rail two fighters and a Stuka down to Spain. The Italians rail a MOT from Rome to Valencia. In a solitaire game, it is amazing how well one side can sometimes figure out weak spots the other side has noticed. [:)]

The Italians move three units adjacent to the annoying French partisan on the resource. They do not attack because I make a rules mistake -- the Italians are worried that the US bomber can give the partisan ground support. This is not legal, though, because partisans do not cooperate with other countries besides there own. I think I did not remember this rule because historically the US airforce cooperated very well with French partisans, using the Free French as spotters for aircraft attacks. Oh well.

The Japanese retreat the Indo-Chinese TERR, opening a supply line to Yamamoto, and land the two units from the South China Sea adjacent to the Chinese partisan. The two units attack at 10:1 odds for a +20. They do not roll well (6), but it doesn't matter, as they had an autokill. This reopens the supply lines to the central Japanese forces.

The Japanese put the two new FTRs into China, while the Zero that was there flies to Rangoon. The Germans reorganize their home defense system, and get a fighter into range of the French partisan. The Italians get their only FTR into range of the partisan, also.

The Germans use two HQs and their air transport to reorganize six air units. While doing so, I discovered that one Allied plane based in Tangier did not fly into the big air battle. Instead, it sat their peacefully, looking at the Allied AA fire chase German planes away.

[Courtenay]

M/A 42 Allied #3: Weather 8: R, F, F, F, F, F; Impulse advance 2, no modifier. Surprisingly good weather for M/A.

SU, Ch, CW Land, US, Fr, Comb

The US moves the Saratoga and a TRS from Hawaii to the West Coast, and moves the Ranger and the Wasp (who have both changed their planes) as far along the African coast as they can get.

The Chinese bombard with their new ART, the CW and the US both bomb the lone Italian INF SE of Graziani, and the Blenheim tries to repeat its early success against the trapped Italians. The three planes roll four fours, the Chinese roll a ten. Everyone misses.

The CW rails a unit back into Calcutta (where it should never have left in the first place), and belatedly rails the Montreal MIL to Boston, where the Fr TRS is waiting to transport it. (Sudden worry about foreign troop commitment, but no, a MIL is not a TERR; the Canadians and the French actually cooperate.)

The Chinese continue oozing around Yamamoto, again putting him out of supply, while the Chinese communists send the Sian MIL adjacent to Kweilin, which their 2-2 partisan reoccupies. The Sian MIL is in a forest, so it thinks itself reasonably safe from air attack. It is threatening to take Henyang, although the Japanese can defend Henyang, and unless the Japanese make a low odds attack, it is certain to be able to take Kweilin, at the cost of flipping.

[Courtenay]

A US AMR drives overland into Tunisia, while an INF marches through Tunis to Sousse. CW units converge on Graziani's position. Units start marching from India towards Burma. Not very good units, but units. Another division is added to the attack on the cut off Italians. The French partisan abandons the resource hex, and moves one hex west.

[Courtenay]

The CW attacks the surrounded Italian units in Egypt at +10 (4.5:1, +2 for a flipped unit, -2 for ARM, -3 for defending AT and MECH.) They roll a 19! The Germans look at that roll enviously. The CW did not attack the Italian INF southwest of Graziani; more units will arrive next impulse, and there should be some more bombing, so the odds are good something would happen.

[Courtenay]

The Chinese had an opportunity to attacked a flipped, out of supplied territorial. What more could one ask for? Well, it is in the mountains, behind a river, there is a point of air support available, and most importantly, there is an HQ that can provide emergency HQ supply. I have never seen the need for the Chinese attack weakness rule; the Chinese are already too weak to attack.

MacArthur reorganizes the MECH and the MOT in Gibraltar.

A TRS in the East Coast reorganizes the Montreal MIL, in Boston.

[Courtenay]

M/A 42 Axis #5:
Ge, Ja, Land, It Comb

The Italians put out a single CP, unescorted, into the Western Med, as they realize that they have to get Graziani back in supply if they are going to get him out.

The Axis again searches for the Allies in Cape St. Vincent; as usual, nobody finds anyone one.

The results are very different in the western Med. The first round, the Allies rolled a 3, Germans a 2. The Germans shot down a US P-40 with a roll of 15, but the pilot survived. The remaining CVP aborted the air to air combat. The second round, the Allies rolled a 2 and the Germans a three, giving the Allies three surprise points; they used them to lower the German air-to-air value. This was important, as the Germans rolled a 7, which would have killed the CVP if the combat value had not been lowered; as it was, they Germans inflicted an AA. The third round, the Allies rolled a 5 and the Germans a 10. The Allies exactly found the CP. Their battleships proceeded to reduce the CP to scrap metal before it sank. The fourth round, the Allies again rolled a 5, the Germans a 4. Both these rolls were exactly one too high to find the other (there being no Italian CP any more.) The Americans lost another Allied FTR; the Italians a CP. The Italians are down to a single remaining CP. If the Italians had put their fleet out to escort the convoy point, they would have been hammered.

The Luftwaffe swoops down on undefended Tangier and Gibraltar, sending a 6 point and a 5 point Stuka to both places. The results were not good. One Allied corps was missed in Gibraltar, and only the supply unit was disorganized in Tangier, the Germans rolling an 8 and a 6 against Eisenhower. (Did not record the rolls against Gibraltar.) If all the Allied units were flipped, the Germans had a reasonable attack on Gibraltar. With a unit unflipped and Eisenhower available to provide support, there is very little point to an attack.

The Japanese pull back a little in China.

The Italians kill the French partisan, rolling a 10 on a +13 attack, and the Japanese kill the pesky 0-3 partisan, rolling an 11 on a +18 attack.

The Japanese rebase a FTR to Rabaul.

[Courtenay]

M/A 42 Allied #7: Weather 9, R, F, F, F, F, F. Imp advance 1, modifier 0.
In a 1941 Barbarossa, this sort of weather destroys the Soviet Union.

US, CW, SU, Ch: Land, Fr Naval.

The CW tries a night bombing raid on Lille. The Germans intercept with a six point fighter, and the new 6 point Spitfire flies escort. The German roll an 8, which night turns into NE, and the CW rolls a 5, aborting the German FTR. If the CW had known they were going to roll that, they would have flown during the day! After the air battle, the CW rolls a 1 and misses Lille completely. Arras, Maubeugue, Calais? Who knows where those bombs landed. The Spitfire lands in range of Plymouth, so that the AMPHs there have figther cover.

The CW Harrow attempts to ground strike the Italan INF east of Algiers, and doesn't come close.

A US INF takes Gabes, putting a US ARM in supply. The ARM then proceeds to drive adjacent to Tripoli from the West. In Egypt, the victorious forces advance, with three units getting adjacent to Tobruk. Around Algeirs, the British move up for an assault on the 4-3 INF east of Algiers.

The Chinese cut Yamamoto off from supply. The Japanese will have to attack to open a supply line to him. The Kunming MIL had to flip itself to pull this off; but it is supplied and in Mountains. The Japanese have a choice of several possible attacks; but worrying about that can wait for the Axis turn. There might not even be an Axis turn.

In Burma, CW forces creep forwards towards the oil resource. Without any HQs on either side in this theater, fighting around Mandalay is hard.

Here is the position in China after the Allied move: