Global War: Japanese Aggression

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. Sea Areas.

These screen caps are post return to base after which no Japanese units remained at sea. However, the Japanese did manage to get and maintain transports in the 0-box of the South China Sea which provided supply to the starving Japanese garrisons in Canton, China and Hong Kong.

[brian brian]

Actually, the Russians can send the Chinese Communist units all over the place - they can be the garrisons in the Middle East, and you can even put Mao and the best 3 ChiComm units right in the front lines in Russia itself. But they can't ever advance into a German hex or participate in an attack on German units.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

Actually, the Russians can send the Chinese Communist units all over the place - they can be the garrisons in the Middle East, and you can even put Mao and the best 3 ChiComm units right in the front lines in Russia itself. But they can't ever advance into a German hex or participate in an attack on German units.

I've wanted to try that, but the problem I seem to have is with supply. Maybe I'm understanding that wrong, but when I railed Mao to Persia or Iraq, of course he was disorganized but I got an indication that he was out of supply so I undid the rail. Maybe that was a false indication?

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. Canton, China, Hong Kong.

With the IJN TRS in the 0-box of the South China Sea having to return to base, the Japanese garrisons in Canton and Hong Kong are now out of supply.

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. South China Sea.

Japan has plenty of oil saved in the Dutch East Indies (8 points), but no way to get at it because of the lack of naval presence in the South China Sea.

[Courtenay]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

ORIGINAL: brian brian

Actually, the Russians can send the Chinese Communist units all over the place - they can be the garrisons in the Middle East, and you can even put Mao and the best 3 ChiComm units right in the front lines in Russia itself. But they can't ever advance into a German hex or participate in an attack on German units.

I've want to try that, but the problem I seem to have is with supply. Maybe I'm understanding that wrong, but when I railed Mao to Persia or Iraq, of course he was disorganized but I got an indication that he was out of supply so I undid the rail. Maybe that was a false indication?

There is a bug in that MWiF imposes a maximum supply length that is not in the rules. I feel that this is not necessary; MWiF should have the Trans-Siberian railway hard coded in, rather than doing a general search.

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. Hisroshima, Japan. Land Combat.

The USA used an o-chit with MacArthur to double their land combat for the attack to take Hiroshima.

[Courtenay]

If I were the Russians, I know what I would be screaming:

Second Front now!

Of course, the Russians always scream this, but in this case, I think it's justified.

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. Failed USA Amphibious Invasion.

A medium risk, high gain amphibious invasion to cut off Yamashita's HQ unit failed on a roll of "4" on the 2D10 assault table.

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. Japan. China Sea. Sea of Japan.

In addition to the land combats, USA strategic bombers targeted both Japanese factories and their Synth oil facility, which is the only source of oil available to the Japanese with allied control of the China Sea. US bombers failed to take out the Synth oil but did managed to take out a Japanese factory.

The result ...

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. Economic Reports.

1. Japan was able to reorganized all their units with the 1 oil point from the Synth oil facility but had NO production.

2. With the loss of 3-oil points from Polesti and the 2 oil points from trade with the Soviet Union, Germany's oil stockpile dropped from 28 points at the end of last turn to just 12 points at the end of this turn. 6 of those were needed for full production, but regardless, Germany burned through 57% of their oil reserves this turn alone.

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. Trade.

Set at the beginning of this turn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. May/June 1943. Victory Totals.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

ORIGINAL: brian brian

Actually, the Russians can send the Chinese Communist units all over the place - they can be the garrisons in the Middle East, and you can even put Mao and the best 3 ChiComm units right in the front lines in Russia itself. But they can't ever advance into a German hex or participate in an attack on German units.

I've want to try that, but the problem I seem to have is with supply. Maybe I'm understanding that wrong, but when I railed Mao to Persia or Iraq, of course he was disorganized but I got an indication that he was out of supply so I undid the rail. Maybe that was a false indication?

There is a bug in that MWiF imposes a maximum supply length that is not in the rules. I feel that this is not necessary; MWiF should have the Trans-Siberian railway hard coded in, rather than doing a general search.

Yes they are and the Western Allies will try to accommodate them if possible, but the fight for Sardinia has been much tougher than expected giving the Western Allies a little taste of what they might expect if they try to return to Europe "on the cheap".

[rkr1958]

Turn 24. Jul/Aug 1943. Destroyed & Repair Pools.

Turn 24 marks the 2/3 point of my planned 36 turn global war scenario. As you can see from the attached screen cap the carnage started last turn with the German "surprise" invasion of the Soviet Union continued. And like last turn, not all the carnage was on the Eastern Front. A good bit was in the Med, Atlantic and in Japan and her surrounding seas.

I wish to go off script here for just a bit to give you a few lessons that I've learned, or relearned, playing and posting this AAR. Please feel free to contribute either generically or as critique of my play.

1. It's scary how accurately MWiF simulates WW-2 at a strategic level. Not necessarily in the sense of the historical timeline like the BBC/PBS series "World at War", which would become boring very fast. But in the sense of how one can play out the strategic elements and the game results make sense from the "possibilities" of the time. What I'm trying to say is is that this game isn't "Risk" but that at a corps and fleet level, the military results from the game make sense given the "political" decisions made by the player(s). Now where one and all could argue at length is whether or not a leader or leaders of a given country, or countries, would make such political decisions. But, for me, that's the fun of this game and, in my opinion, gives this game infinite replayability. In reality I know replayability is not infinite, but is finite; however, I believe the number of interesting, and more importantly entertaining, MWiF game combinations is so large that one could not get through them all in a single lifetime, which for me is essentially infinite. OK, now I'm going to get to more specific lessons learned.

2. This game isn't "Risk" so if you do something strategically stupid then you're going to get punished for it.

3. Large scale amphibious invasions require naval and air supremacy, not just superiority.

4. The Med is a dangerous place for the Western Allies while the Italians are still in the game, unless you've achieved lesson 3.

5. Even supposedly "superior" fleets with "inadequate" air cover are vulnerable to "inferior" fleets with good air cover. A lesson the RN kept learning in the early years of the war especially off the coast of Norway, Greece / Crete and Malaya.

6. Weather complicates. Even the best planned operation can be thwarted because of weather.

7. The Western Allies must always be vigilant in the protection of their convoy lines. Even then, at times that's not enough. Also, running convoys through the Med when Italy is still in the game is a risky business.

8. A healthy wartime economy is a must. So, protection that economy is a top priority. Conversely, attacking that economy (e.g., subs, strategic bombing) can help bring an adversary to its knees.

9. Oil is everything. Without it, ships, planes and tanks don't run and a country's military collapses. Like 8, ensuring a healthy flow and stockpile of oil is also a top priority. Disrupting the enemy's flow or stockpile is an important tool in defeating them.

10. Air and naval are force multipliers. Air and naval superiority are musts to win a war.

[rkr1958]

Turn 24. Jul/Mar 1943. CP Losses.

Another brutal turn for CW merchant ships with 8 CW CPs lost and 4 aborted. CPs losses to date for the Western Allies are horrendous.

[rkr1958]

Turn 24. Jul/Aug 1943. Weather. Actions.

Another turn where the axis got to move first and the weather was fine across the globe with the exception of the North Monsoon. Like last turn, this turn ended on a roll of 2 against a 20% chance of ending. As stated last turn the cumulative chance of the turn ending on this or a previous impulse was 28%. Now the chance that BOTH turn 23 and 24 would end this soon was 7.8%, again not high but not rare.

[rkr1958]

Turn 23. Jul/Aug 1943. Geo Political Map.

[rkr1958]

Turn 24. Jul/Aug 1943. Victory Totals.

A keen eye may note that Bucharest, Rumania switched back to Germany from the USSR this turn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 24. Jul/Aug 1943. Eastern Front.

So the Eastern Front is as good as any place to start.

As the Soviet player I really did underestimate my strength versus Germany's strength. I thought "additional" years of peace with Germany and the subsequent time it gave me to build up my armed forces meant that I was safe. I thought that I would take some losses, that's with the Soviet army is for, but not to the extent that I have. A big lesson learned was that as the Soviet player I was way too aggressive with my setup which put way too many forces forward. Stuffing the border works in that it keeps the Nazi-Soviet pact enfoced, even when playing with the "break Nazi-Soviet pact" optional rule, that strategy becomes dangerous when the Germans are finally able to break the pact. As the Soviet player, striking the balance between delaying the war with Germany and saving your army in order to fight on and eventually win is something I haven't figured out yet.

By the way, the Soviets railed the factories at Odessa, Vitebsk and Kiev east into Siberia.