Shannon versus Z

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Russia

What I would have done with another impulse would have been to rail 3 armor/Mech to Rumania. Those additional 23 combat factors, plus the 9-4 already there with Rundstedt (railed in during the second Axis impulse of the last turn), would have total 39 German combat factors in Rumania at the start of May/Jun. Throw in a Rumanian and the automatic 42:4 attack on the 4-3 Inf would have blown open the Ukrainian front. Russia is getting one Inf (5-3) as a reinforcement.

However, most of the German air force has arrived in the east. There are 4 more slow movers huddled around Pozan, which will be gradually rebased to help take Minsk and Vitebsk. One fighter is heading to defend the Rumanian oil fields from the Russian 11 range TB3 - which hasn't arrived from Manchuria yet. I am coming around to the opinion that using 2 air units from ground strikes and rebasing 2 others closer to the front is a good rule of thumb for use of the 4 Air Activities available in a Land Action. Ground Support doesn't require an Air Activity, so they can be considered 'free'.

It is going to be much harder to get things moving with the armor arriving disorganized in May/Jun.[:(]

A successful ground strike on the 7-6 Mech all alone in fields of the Ukraine would doom it to being cut off from supply and overrun sometime in the next turn.

Meanwhile, Z has occupied Pskov with a Cav and the Eng is slogging its way west, stacked with the 7-2 Moscow Militia.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Finland

Nothing much happening here. The USSR got a couple of partisans which are the primary defenders against the Finns. A good Mech is stuck in Leningrad, but it helps double the defense there.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Manchuria

The USSR is rolling along here with two bombers and a fighter to help out. There are also a couple of artillery units, although they are a ways away from the front at the moment.

Next turn Z is going to be wishing he had most of these units in European Russia.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Northern China

Japan is doing well, with the Communist Chinese huddled in the mountains and the mass of the Japanese army ready to take on the Nationalists. Sian is captured but not producing because of the Chinese ZOC on the rail line.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Southern China

All is quiet here. The Japanese cut the Burma Road (diplomatically) but because French Indochina still belongs to France, resources can be shipped through there to Chinese factories.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Destroyed Pool

This is what happens when the Axis only gets 2 impulses and weather is so bad they can't move any land units.

All these kills were in Manchuria at the instigation of the USSR. The two territorials will be reanimated and return to the frontline at the start of the next turn [part of the Axis agreement was for the Germans to provide Tokyo with the processes perfected by Dr. Frankenstein].

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

So I thought I would run through the Force Pools to show what each major power might build over the rest of 1940.

I'll start with Germany - this is BEFORE the builds in Mar/Apr 1940. For the other major powers, the Force Pools I'll be showing are AFTER that turn.

Germany gets about 15 BPs a turn, so I built 3 INF, 2 2-factor fighters, and the last Art.

One of the Inf was the SS 6-3 (on the map near Minsk and broken down into the two SS Inf Divisions to take losses in that area).

I have several pilots available because Germany has been retiring minor country air units from the game. Those pilots will be used to put the fighters in Germany to defend against strategic bombardment attacks. Nevertheless the British and French will be able to conduct strategic bombardment, but at less juicy targets. Sometimes the targets will require extended range, reducing the effectiveness of the bombers.

The 5-factor Art will be used to defend against a possible DOW by the French on Belgium.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Since I just mentioned the Reserve Pool, here it is.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Italian Force Pool (AFTER the turn's builds).

Notice that the Italians have run out of INF and are down to 2 militia and 1 garrison. The Axis needs warm bodies to garrison against Partisans in Poland and the USSR.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Japanese Force Pool (AFTER the turn's builds).

The Japanese are completely out of INF, militia, and garrison units. Again, partisans are a worry in China, Manchuria, and Korea. They also are fighting a defensive battle against the USSR, which infantry units do best.

Look at all those wonderful naval units they would like to be building! Sigh.[:(]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Chinese Force Pool (AFTER the turn's builds).

China is low on infantry too. Not taking any losses in the last turn (or two?) has helped create that 'problem'.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

France's Force Pool (AFTER the turn's builds).

France wants to build offensive units. But, ...

The bombers and fighter-bomber are expensive (3 BPs minimum).
De Gaulle would be nice but costs 8 BPs and take a long time.
The Marine would also be nice but is costly and takes a long time.
The cost and delay for the AMPHs is even worst.

Look at all the land units: De Gaulle is the only 6 factor attacker and the Dakar militia is the only 5 factor. This group is simply not capable of generating a large attack force from 1 hex.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

Commonwealth's Force Pool (AFTER the turn's builds).

Like the French, the Commonwealth would like to be attacking the Axis to relieve the pressure on the USSR.

And the have the land units in their force pool to do that. Few of those units are colored blue though - which means they will arrive all over the map and require transports to haul their sorry butts to where the action is. No marines!

The bombers would generate a more immediate threat, arriving in England. They're costly units without a whole lot of tactical punch though. Wonderful strategic bombing capability, at 4 BPs each plus 2 BPs for a pilot.

Even the 5-factor fighters would arrive in South Africa. Such is the aggravation of playing the Commonwealth.

Perhaps some AMPHs?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn

USSR's Force Pool (AFTER the turn's builds).

Now here is a land army to be proud of.

9 INF, 15 militia, 4 garrison, and even an INF HQ (cheap for only 5 BPs). Gearing is the main problem.

Z has been building the maximum INF each turn. You might argue for build militia because they arrive faster. But they are weaker and half of them will arrive far, far away from the frontline.

Rail moves? Not really available since the USSR wants to spend 2 rail moves each turn evacuating a factory. Or all 3 railing a corps back from Manchuria.

Each major power in World in Flames has its own set of difficulties when it comes to choosing which units to build. I haven't shown the US, since they are not in the war yet and unlikely to be any time soon. All their builds have to do with their long range planning.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May/Jun 1940 Reinforcements.

The Axis is getting the Rumanian HQ and a reserve for 'free'. The Cernauti reserve will be delayed because that city is still held by the USSR.
The two German Armor HQs will be useful in the late summer.
Look at the lovely USSR reinforcements for Jul/Aug: 34 attack combat factors! They'll be desperately needed.

That's all for now. The game is currently in Jul/Aug 1940, Impulse 6, with the Allies to move. Once that turn is over, I'll most likely do a summary of May/Jun 1940. I want to keep this as an AAR, not an In-progress Report.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Picking this up at the start of the Maj/June 1940 turn, ...

I thought I would do something a little different and go through all the impulses in this turn looking at four sections of western Russia, centered on:
1 - Novgorod,
2 - Minsk,
3 - Lvov, and
4 - Rumania.

As a quick review:

In Jan/Feb 1940

- Germany was able to break the Nazi-Soviet Pact. That was followed immediately by a DOW on the USSR by both Germany and Italy. There were a couple of easy kills around Brest-Litovsk and not much else in the way of a German advance.

- However, there were very few Axis units to take advantage and the weather was awful (Jan/Feb).

- My plan for the Axis was to occupy all of Poland, take out the Baltic States (which the USSR had not claimed) and be very, very careful to never leave an in-supply Axis unit in USSR proper. And obviously no attacks into the USSR. Either of those would increase the USSR production multiple by 0.25.

- The Axis railed an HQ to East Prussia. It got a couple of air units for support.

- The turn ended a little early (50% chance).

In Mar/Apr 1940

- The Allies won the initiative and went first (the Axis was +1 but lost the first roll and the reroll).

- The weather was awful for the first 2 impulses so very few units moved during the land movement phases (for either side).

- Nonetheless, Germany DOW'd Lithuania and Aligned Rumania.

- The Axis took a Combined to deal with problems in the Baltic Sea and railed a Militia to Warsaw to be used against partisans in future turns.

- But I noticed that the USSR had only built 1 Inf, despite being permitted to have unlimited gearing because of the Axis DOWs. So I air rebased 6 air units to Lithuania and Rumania.

- The second weather roll was even worse than the first. Germany took a Land action for the 3 rail moves and put the 2 remaining HQ and the 9-4 Inf on the eastern front. I air rebased another 4 air unit east.

- The weather turned excellent with the 3rd weather roll but then the Allies ended the turn.

Starting Maj/June 1940

- The Allies won the initiative despite the Axis being +1 and asking for a reroll.

- The Allies moved first and the weather was excellent.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

The next 7 posts show Novgorod troops movements.

Impulse 1 - Allies to move.

The Finns aren't much of a threat, but the Allies are too weak to attack. Leaving Leningrad would be a bad idea.

Notice that the Finns that came in last turn (in Helsinki) were only able to move once, and that was in Rain/Blizzard.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Impulse 2 - Axis to move.

The Cavalry in Pskov has moved to Litovsk and the Partisans have taken up blocking positions to keep the FInnish HQ away from Novgorod.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Impulse 3 - Allies to move.

The Finns moved forward (the weather was Fine when they moved).

Because the weather is Snow, the HQ could move through/to the Swamp hex.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Impulse 5 - Axis to move.

The way through to Novgorod is open for the HQ but if it moves it becomes disorganized.

Note the Ski unit is now in supply and this is his kind of weather.