Bob Flemin's MWIF AARse V - Fat AARse

[brian brian]

I like to scrap the 2 point ART for France and Italy, as it's not likely they will ever build any ART anyway. France needs every anti-tank asset it can get, so I generally build the extras. For Italy, I'm always torn between desiring to pull the AA gun for use at La Spezia against those pesky Swordfish, or the 3 point ART for use in cracking the Alps on a surprise impulse. So I usually get the AT gun in Italy every time.

And the German Overlords cringe when their Italian air-servants junk their ATR bombers that can reach out and drop Fallschirmjaegers much farther than Aunty Ju can.



I hope the CW deployed a Blenheim or Hampden out in Suffolk...

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Yeah, I was typing that up and took too long, so it ended up just being a duplicate.

Warspite1

Happy birthday! [:)]

[composer99]

Awww thanks! [:)]

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

And the German Overlords cringe when their Italian air-servants junk their ATR bombers that can reach out and drop Fallschirmjaegers much farther than Aunty Ju can.

I like that last remark too. I always keep the two Italian ATR/LND in the pools. If I draw one of those at start, it saves me a lot of BP on the Italian ATR...

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

Right then, so Adolf Hitler having declared war on the poor Poles (Germany can make no other declarations this impulse) the CW player must set the Poles up.

The Polish units are not random, you always get the same units (I think they were in 5th Edition??) but anyway, there is no restriction on where they set up within the Polish border.

I have set the Poles up as per below for the following reasons:

1. The aircraft I place out of the way. I want these to fly to Lithuania to be interned at the earliest opportunity. This will give the CW two precious pilots when the aircraft are destroyed. I figure fighting the Luftwaffe is a forlorn hope and of course you run the risk of losing the pilots for nothing.

2. The Destroyer Flotilla and Convoy marker are placed in Danzig to await being overrun. If they are, there is a 60% chance (I believe) of sailing to the UK to carry on the fight with the RN. If the Germans forget to overrun then the Poles can attempt to destroy the German convoys in the Baltic.

3(a). The land placement is pretty simple - Poznan and Krakow are occupied to slow the German advance up. Being in cities they must be Assaulted, not Blitzed.

3(b). A unit is placed north of the Vistula to stop a German attack against Warsaw or Lodz on the first impulse (for any first (surprise) impulse, the river hexside is ignored for combat purposes).

3(c). To conquer Poland, both Lodz and Warsaw (containing factories) need to be occupied. I therefore place the best Polish troops in those two cities.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The Japanese are then asked if they want to align Siam. I decline to do so. There is a US Entry role for so doing and frankly its just not needed at this time.

The Japanese are then asked what type of action they want to choose:

- Naval
- Air
- Land
- Combined
- Pass

A neutral country can only Pass or do a Combined. Japan is not neutral as she starts the game at war against China. She is free to choose any one of these.

The action choices determine what you can do each impulse. For example if you want unlimited naval moves then you need a naval, for unlimited land moves then choose land. If you need a mixture of unit types to move then choose combined.

For the first turn I want to get reinforcements over to China quickly. I will choose a Combined.

The Germans choose a Land and the Italians, starting the war neutral choose a Combined. I could have Passed with the Italians but by choosing an action I at least can do something if I suddenly think of something that needs doing!

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The program now runs through the sequence of play for the impulse in a strict order and will ask each of the powers with the ability to do something in that phase whether they want to undertake a mission(s), starting with:

- Port Attack. The Germans have 4 air missions with a Land Action. They have no intention of using their precious air missions on attacking the Polish vessels in port.

- Naval Air. Ditto this aspect. The Italians and Japanese also decline.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The next phase is Naval Movement. The Japanese have two naval moves under a Combined. A stack of any number counts as 1 move. Submarines cannot move with surface ships without incurring another naval move.

For the Japanese, as I am not playing with the Oil Rules I can be a little less circumspect about what I do. There is a Japanese unit on the coast in Canton so he could probably do with some naval gunfire support if attacked. I have no fear of being attacked by the CW and French or the US so there is no harm putting the entire IJN into the China Sea.

I take the three TRS and one AMPH too and they pick up an HQ, a Militia and two Marine units. In a combined the Japanese get three land moves, so three of these will land later in the impulse.

The Italians have one naval move. Because they are neutral, one ship (not stack) counts as a naval move. However there is nothing for the Italian Fleet to do at this stage.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The next phase is Strategic Bombing - again, neither the Germans or the Japanese are interested in the partaking of attacking enemy production when there are enemy units to kill and only limited aircraft and air moves to do it with!

Then we come to some action - Ground Strikes!

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

There are no ground strikes for the Japanese for two reasons. At this stage they are too far from the action, but more importantly, even if the Japanese army was about to attack, the Japanese tactical factors are absolutely $%^&!

Absolutely $%^& is not a term that applies to much of the Luftwaffe's ground support aircraft.
The Germans use three of their four air missions in the ground strike phase.

Two bombers head for Warsaw and one for Lodz. I put two into Warsaw because I really want to ensure the Polish HQ is disorganised and thus not able to organise polish units in the capital or the adjacent city.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

Because its the first (surprise) impulse after the invasion, the ground striking units get certain benefits. Even if the Polish fighter had been in range, it could not fly on the surprise impulse so no need to worry about requiring fighter escort for the German bombers. In addition, the attacking aircraft gets two goes at disorganising each defender. If the dice roll is equal to or less than the attackers tactical factors then the defending unit is disorganised. After a dodgy start, both Poles in Lodz are disorganised.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The attack on Warsaw is equally successful and only takes one Stuka - although he is thankful for getting two bites at the cherry.

The chances of Poland surviving the first turn suddenly took a distinct turn for the worse....

The three bombers fly back to base.

[brian brian]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

There are no ground strikes for the Japanese for two reasons. At this stage they are too far from the action, but more importantly, even if the Japanese army was about to attack, the Japanese tactical factors are absolutely $%^&!

When the Japanese have a difficult objective to attack in China, say a pair of Chinese units in mountains blocking their advance, they need the die modifiers Ground Strike can generate. A good way to get them is for the Japanese to take an air impulse, giving them multiple chances at success. They can also use an air impulse to increase the # of Strategic Bombing missions they fly to help keep Chinese production down. Long range Japanese planes based in Canton can be re-organized by Japanese lift not needed for ground troops (or to be a threat-in-being against the Russians), in addition to four planes put back in action by the Yamamoto HQ.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The next phase is Rail Movement. Rail movement is the movement any number of hexes along railway lines. A station is any city, port or hex with an HQ.An HQ is its own station.

This is good for getting units somewhere quickly - especially when turns are short and distances are long - however the unit is disorganised at the end of the movement.

At this stage of the turn there is no wish to move any units by rail for any of the three Axis powers.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

And so to land movement. The Japanese, having chosen a Combined, have just three. They save these though for the debark phase as they will be off loading the troops being transported earlier this turn.

The Germans now. First off the 11th Motorised Corps are ordered to march into an undefended Danzig to capture the Polish Navy.

The Polish vessels - a Destroyer Flotilla and a convoy counter - are caught by surprise. What is their fate? A die is rolled for each to determine whether they are captured by the Germans (throw of 1), destroyed (2-4) or get away to the UK (5-10).

The Destroyer Flotilla (5)
Convoy Counter (7)

Both successfully flee to the UK. At the end of the Conquest phase, these units will partially change colour to show their allegiance to the CW.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

For the remainder of the movement phase the German army move units into position around Poznan, Krakow and the Polish Karpaty Army north of the Vistula.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The Japanese use their three missions in the debark phase to offload troops from the China Sea to Haichow (the Japanese are to make a big commitment to Northern China in this game). The four units the IJN Transports picked up during the naval movement phase - and applicable for landing - are shown in the top left hand box.

Note: You do not have to land units in port. Subject to certain restrictions you can pick up and drop off from the sea.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

Now we come to the moment Hitler has been waiting for: Land Combat.

There are three attacks declared:

1. Poznan
2. Krakow
3. Hex on the Polish / East Prussian border north of Warsaw.

The arrows below show which units are attacking. There are two 7:1 and one Automatic victory. Let's look at these in more detail.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

I am asked if I want to use HQ Support in two of the attacks. This is essentially a mechanism whereby, if successful (the die roll needs to be equal or less than the HQ’s reorganisation factor) then the combat column is increased e.g. 3:1 becomes a 4:1.

I choose no. I should have enough firepower and anyway, if I do use HQ Support then the HQ is flipped if successful and I do not have the ability to reorganise units with that HQ.

I am then asked if I want to add ground support to any of the attacks. I can realistically get an automatic attack on Poznan by adding two bombers, but I take a chance as this would mean using up pretty much my reserve.

That brings us to combat resolution.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The attacks can be done in any order the attacker chooses. I take the Poznan attack first. The odds are 7:1 no modifiers. The attackers total is 35 (bottom left figure) and the defenders is 4 (bottom left again).

There are two combat tables – Blitzkrieg and Assault. The choice of table for this attack is with the Poles as a city is being attacked. In order to increase the chance of the Germans taking losses and being disorganised, the Poles choose the Assault Table.

The throw is a 9.

If we cross reference the 7:1 column with the 9, we get */2S. This means:

- The attacker loses no units
- The Asterix meansthe attacker is not disorganised
- The defender loses 2 units and if any remainder, they are Shattered (they either retreat or are removed from the map (and can appear as a reinforcement next turn).