Global War AAR in Pictures

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #7. Germany. Land Combat. Nazi-Soviet Pact.

I guess one thing I shouldn't have knowledge of but do as the German player is how close the Soviet Union is to being able to break the pact. I guess the reverse also applied. However, at the beginning of this impulse the Soviet Union was only 3.5 garrison points of away from being able to break the pact. Germany used their combined to fly in enough air units to get that up to 19.5.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #7. Italy. Ground Strike. Wavell (Middle East).

Italy takes a land and uses their one air mission to ground strike Wavell's HQ. The Italians bombers went in not expecting any resistance. However, RN carrier based fighters intercepted and downed the Italian bombers. Finally, a win for the RN. A small win, but a win nevertheless.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #7. Italy. Middle East.

Italy is so close to getting 4 corps adjacent to Iraq and then being able to align them.

As a reminder, one of Italy's two transports was sunk and the other damaged. So, the only additional units the axis can transport to the Middle East are divisions and air units, until Italy's transport gets out of repair.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: Cohen

Well, by the looks now on the long term the RN will attrition down all the Italian CPs and Navy; from Malta / Gibraltar, and the Italian army in Africa will be pratically stuck OOS.

Yugoslavia should be usually aligned, not conquered. But that's another tale.

As the axis to align Yugoslavia don't you need to conquer Greece?

[AlbertN]

Yes, that you do.

To attack Greece is worthy in my eyes the moment you can get Yugoslavia certainly at your side.
Lots of units, 1 HQ too - no need to garrison the area - and 2 extra factories.

Obviously I do that once I close the Med so the CW does not get either the Greek CPs and I am certain UK cannot reinforce Greece or struggles (if it has to do it via Suez for example, it's a long, long trip).
It's part of the grand scheme of closing the Med. You get 2 Factories + 5 (well 4 as one is given out) from Hiberia.
You close the Med.
You gain Yugoslav forces later on, +2 factories (and the 2 resources needed for them). Ontop you have pretty safe Med-resources (Sardinia and Ciprus).
Any garrison you need for the Med shores you can send to Spain / Marocco for example - so it's not that you -extend- your beach garrison needs pratically!

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: Cohen

Yes, that you do.

To attack Greece is worthy in my eyes the moment you can get Yugoslavia certainly at your side.
Lots of units, 1 HQ too - no need to garrison the area - and 2 extra factories.

Obviously I do that once I close the Med so the CW does not get either the Greek CPs and I am certain UK cannot reinforce Greece or struggles (if it has to do it via Suez for example, it's a long, long trip).
It's part of the grand scheme of closing the Med. You get 2 Factories + 5 (well 4 as one is given out) from Hiberia.
You close the Med.
You gain Yugoslav forces later on, +2 factories (and the 2 resources needed for them). Ontop you have pretty safe Med-resources (Sardinia and Ciprus).
Any garrison you need for the Med shores you can send to Spain / Marocco for example - so it's not that you -extend- your beach garrison needs pratically!

I see. Since I didn't close the Med then not going for Greece was the right decision? If so, then isn't better to conquer Yugoslavia than leave it neutral?

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Sep/Oct 1940. Allied #9. CW. Port Attack. Keil, Germany.

The CW takes a land and every other allied power passes, which gives a 40% that this is the last impulse of the turn. The CW uses their remaining two organized bombers in England to port strike the German Home Fleet stationed in Kiel. The CW is excited when they roll a 9 but that excitement turns to disappointment when the German player rolls a 10. The port strike is a push.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Sep/Oct 1940. Allied #9. CW. Malta. Palestine.

The CW took the land in order to disembark two corps into Malta from the Western Med. Too bad they weren't in the Eastern Med. Wavell is looking lonely in Palestine.

End of Turn Roll. The roll is a 6, so the turn continues.

[AlbertN]

I am not sure what would have been best at that stage to be honest.
If to try to invade Greece via sea; or not.

Many variables there, how many Italian TRS do you have at avail to ship troops to Greece?
Are they badly needed to ship troops in Afrika? (Not in this case as you have pratically won the thing there)
Can you dominate for a turn the seas and have you readied the air assets for it? (Usually requires planes in Rhodes, 2 Divisions to threaten double invasion, at least 2 Italian TRS for 2 German 4 moving INFs, and the Bulgarians coming down from north.).

There is also another important tradeoff though.
As you do not have Belgrade, you do not have Romania.
It means your Barbarossa starts entirely from W.Poland; and you can align Finland and Romania at the start of Barbarossa (Yugoslavia gets enabled once you control Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece).
So whichever German unit you bring in Greece, it will have to be shipped back OR be kept in Bulgaria and will move north once you align Romania. (Which often is the first round of Barbarossa - but Finland can be a good pick as well depending on how the Soviets deploy related to Murmansk.)

Edit:
Another tip.
The Kiel Port attack.
You have 3 surprise points with Germany.
You increase the AA, from 1 dice out of 6 to 1 out of 5, the lowest.
2 Air to Sea factors.

You know anyhow the AA will roll as minimum 1. So 1 Air to Sea could go through. With 2 points of surprise you are 100% certain, that 1 point passing through would go down to 0.
With the 1 dice out of 5, you can still roll an 1, and 1 Air to Sea factor could go through; and could produce something (in this case 1 Abort I think - or something like that. Fuel cost in the end, no biggie - but as a general concept some chart study can truly help.).

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: Cohen

I am not sure what would have been best at that stage to be honest.
If to try to invade Greece via sea; or not.

Many variables there, how many Italian TRS do you have at avail to ship troops to Greece?
Are they badly needed to ship troops in Afrika? (Not in this case as you have pratically won the thing there)
Can you dominate for a turn the seas and have you readied the air assets for it? (Usually requires planes in Rhodes, 2 Divisions to threaten double invasion, at least 2 Italian TRS for 2 German 4 moving INFs, and the Bulgarians coming down from north.).

Unfortunately for the Italians, the RN in the East Med got very lucky and managed a surface combat where they have enough point to select both transports. They had a chance to sink both transports but only managed to sink one and damage the second. So the CW has no lift other than SCS with divisions at this point.

ORIGINAL: Cohen

Edit:
Another tip.
The Kiel Port attack.
You have 3 surprise points with Germany.
You increase the AA, from 1 dice out of 6 to 1 out of 5, the lowest.
2 Air to Sea factors.

You know anyhow the AA will roll as minimum 1. So 1 Air to Sea could go through. With 2 points of surprise you are 100% certain, that 1 point passing through would go down to 0.
With the 1 dice out of 5, you can still roll an 1, and 1 Air to Sea factor could go through; and could produce something (in this case 1 Abort I think - or something like that. Fuel cost in the end, no biggie - but as a general concept some chart study can truly help.).

Thanks. I have to admit that both the air and naval combat tables are still bit of a mystery to me. So far I've learned them more by feel. I do indeed need to study them more and understand how the odds work.

[AlbertN]

Anyhow in general to raise AA is not a good option unless you can sensibly destroy (or abort at situational need) one enemy airplane.

The cross referencing of tables is how much you could eventually roll; and how many columns your AA fire can shift leftward the attacker.
In general - unless as stated you can gun down an enemy plane - it is better to shrink damage than increase AA fire.

The higher is the naval air value, the stronger that rule turns.
If you look at the table, the first columns are one value only (1 is a column, 2 is another column, etc) and once you get higher the intervals are much wider (Therefore your AA turns less efficient, albeit you'd roll more dices because of more bombers).

That's how I see it - I never went down to do some math though!

But AA is a gamble (in the end even your 1 single AA dice can be rolled as 1, after you spent 6 surprise points to pump it); meanwhile to shrink damage is a certainnees.
As it is a certainness if you roll AA dices, you'll lower the enemy bombing factor by at least 1.

[Centuur]

Agreed. Only if you can reduce AA fire to nothing, one might use surprise points (especially if one has only 1 or 2 air-to-sea factors attacking). Otherwise, using them during AA fire isn't wise.

And on Greece: if one goes for a Barbarossa 1941, it isn't wise to attack Greece at all. Those 10 CP are just to many to give to the CW. A neutral Greece is a danger to the Euroaxis, because of the possibility that the Allies might be able to align Yugoslavia, by attacking Greece. So it's better to take Yugoslavia out first. Now, I would choose to attack Yugoslavia in the second Axis impulse of S/O 1939, thus preventing the USSR from demanding Bessarabia if I wanted to go for a Barbarossa 1941, but it isn't unusual to see the capture of Yugoslavia happening after the fall of France. Also, being at war with Yugoslavia is enough to align Rumania, before war starts with the USSR.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #11. Weather.

German takes a combined, Italy a land and Japan a land. There's a 50% chance that this is the last impulse of the turn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #11. Germany. North Atlantic.

German uses the combine to send Bismarck and two heavy cruisers into the North Atlantic to link up with German u-boats operating there. German initiates combat but both sides fail to find the other.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #11. Germany. Naval. East Med. Naval Combat, Round 1.

Unfortunately I lost two screen caps associated with round 1. I'll do my best to explain with the cap I have.

German sends a He 112 into the East Med which allows them to initiate combat. Germany successful finds and surprises the Brits. The use the surprise to isolate sea box 4 which contains the British aircraft carrier Glorious. In air to air they have two fighters to the Swordfish, which is flying as a fighter. The RN rolls well and splashes the German NAV (He 115C) and killing the pilot. The axis air to air has no effect. So round 1 ends as either side has any bombers to attack the other side naval forces.

Both the Italians and the Germans have lost their NAV to excellent RN air to air rolls. Back luck for the axis, but great luck (or shooting) for the Brits.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #11. Germany. Naval. East Med. Naval Combat, Round 2.

Both sides stay. The Italian RM again surprise the British RN. They isolate sea box 2 and use their surprise points to force a surface combat in the hopes of targeting and sinking the CVL Eagle. However, after forcing the surface the Italians only have 2 surprise points left with they use to increase their effectiveness.

The Italian battleship Andrea Doria faces off against three RN battleships forcing all three to abort. However, the Andrea Doria is damaged in return. Since none of the three RN BBs aborted were damaged I'd have to score this a minor victory for the RN.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #11. Italy. The Middle East.

The Italians now have four in-supply corps in Jordan and adjacent to Iraq. This means that Iraq should align with Italy next impulse.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #11. Japan. China.

No combat, but through maneuver alone the IJA is threatening to outflank Mao and his communist army.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Allied #13. China.

Fearing that the communist could get outflanked in northern China if the turn didn't end (10% chance if all pass) or more likely, the axis win the initiative, the Soviets take a combine and the Chinese take a land. All other axis (CW, Free France and USA) pass. This reduces the chance of the turn ending after this impulse to 70%.

Mao and his army fall back in order not to be (potentially) outflanked by the IJA.

The allies, who are ready for the turn to end, are glad to see an end of turn roll of 1. This turn ends.

[AlbertN]

Italy though are risking to lose 4 BPs - the Gun left on its own is a combat factor 1 unit!
Wavell can easily blitz it, and round up with some extra shore bombardment to ensure it's a safe win!