Witness to World War 2.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #6.

USSR. Eastern Europe. Rail.

Another blue factory is dismantled and railed to the east.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #6.

USSR. Eastern Europe.

The Reds continue to fall back and pray, well they're communists so they hope, that this turn is a short one. At best, the axis will get one more impulse. At worse, well the Soviets don't won't to go there.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #6.

China.

The situation in China is dire also, mainly due to the impact of Japanese strategic bombing on the Chinese economy and their ability to replace their losses.

[Centuur]

I would not call the situation in China dire. They will survive 1941 and the Japanese have to pull back the necessary units to be able to conquer the NEI oil fields and the perimeter...

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #7.

Weather. The favorable weather (for the axis) continues.

Actions. Germany - land, Italy - land, Japan - land.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #7.

The Eastern Front. Germany Ground Strike.Missed. A flip, which would reduced its defense factors from 5 to 1, would mean the destruction of this infantry army.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #7.

The Eastern Front. Land Combat #1. A massive air battle, which the Soviets win, ensures prior to this land combat. However, the Wehrmacht prevails, achieves a breakthrough and captures Kiev with their blue factory intact. Well intact for now. The Germans plan to destroy it during the next factory destruction phase. Looks like the Soviets waited too long to rail the factory out.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #7.

The Eastern Front. Land Combat #2. A second massive air battle, which the Soviets also win but at some cost, ensures prior to this land combat. However, agaion the Wehrmacht prevails, achieves a breakthrough and drives their armor behind Soviet lines.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #7.

The Eastern Front. Land Combat #3. Riga falls to the Nazi's.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #7.

Japan. Northern (communist) China. Land Combat. Mao's forces defeat the Japanese blitz attack and stop the IJA cold. This battle was a critical battle for the communist. A breakthrough by the IJA (~26% chance) would have been a total disaster. Not only did the communist avert disaster but they achieved a victory though at the cost of an infantry division.

[Courtenay]

Why the Chinese left the MIL behind in the mountains, where it will eventually be destroyed?

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Axis #7.

Italian Naval Reorg.

End of turn check. Turn continues on a roll of 9 (< 2 required to end).

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #8.

Actions. Free France - naval, China - land, Great Britain - land, USA - combine, USSR - land.

USSR Rail. The blue factory at Dnepropetrovsk is dismantled and railed east.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #8.

USSR. Eastern Europe. The Red Army is getting a bit thin, especially in the Ukraine.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #8.

China.

[rkr1958]

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #8.

Great Britain. Sardinia. The British 8th army complete their total conquest of Sardinia by capturing Olbia. Corsica is next.

End of Turn Check. Much to the dismay of the allies, especially the Soviets, the turn continues on a roll of 5 (< 3 required to end).

[brian brian]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

Turn 12. Jul/Aug 1941. Allied #8.

USSR. Eastern Europe. The Red Army is getting a bit thin, especially in the Ukraine.

The Red Army should have totally pounced on the Rundstedt HQ right there. The Germans could call Blitz to help it survive, but it would at least flip on a retreat. Many ‘failed’ assault attack rolls (high attacker casualties) would still take the HQ with them. The Germans could have lost the logistical center of an entire prong of their advance - a priceless victory for the Russians, worth losing Pskov and the Estonian border easily.

The Finns blocked Zhukov from using the O-chit on such an attack, but that would have been even better.

[Centuur]

There were only two units available for an attack on von Rundstedt. The units in Pskov are both disorganised. That would mean an attack of +3 maximum. Not a very good chance of getting a result against the HQ. Having said that, it still is not a smart thing to have an HQ sitting in a hex alone within range of enemy land units. Because if I would get a +6 or more against an HQ sitting alone in a hex, I would attack regardless of possible losses...

But, to be honest, I think the USSR is doing a poor job in this game on defense too. It's poor play to allow a breakthrough into a city hex like Kiev, especially with troops sitting next to that hex doing nothing...

I think that Ronnie needs more games against human opponents...

[composer99]

Where is the Red Army? Even with USSR's anemic production, it seems like it should have had more units than this, especially since Germany didn't even go to war until July/August. I guess I should go back through the last few pages of the AAR.

But giving Germany the ability to breakthrough into Kiev and across the river (instead of forcing them to attack Kiev and the river) were definitely mis-steps by the USSR.

However, with the British possibly able to land in Italy itself this game year and China's army looking really big (even if it's all spread out), I think the Allies are still in this game.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

Why the Chinese left the MIL behind in the mountains, where it will eventually be destroyed?

The communist Sian MIL? If so, it was unable to retreat due to ZOC locks. The communist had to make a decision to either leave that MIL to its fate or risk another unit or two trying to getting it safely retreated.

ORIGINAL: brian brian
The Red Army should have totally pounced on the Rundstedt HQ right there. The Germans could call Blitz to help it survive, but it would at least flip on a retreat. Many ‘failed’ assault attack rolls (high attacker casualties) would still take the HQ with them. The Germans could have lost the logistical center of an entire prong of their advance - a priceless victory for the Russians, worth losing Pskov and the Estonian border easily.

The Finns blocked Zhukov from using the O-chit on such an attack, but that would have been even better.

As Centuur points out below, there were only two Soviet units that could have attacked. Honestly as the Germans, I would have welcomed this attack this late in the turn. But I'll defer to you and the more experience players as this wasn't a wise move.

ORIGINAL: Centuur

There were only two units available for an attack on von Rundstedt. The units in Pskov are both disorganised. That would mean an attack of +3 maximum. Not a very good chance of getting a result against the HQ. Having said that, it still is not a smart thing to have an HQ sitting in a hex alone within range of enemy land units. Because if I would get a +6 or more against an HQ sitting alone in a hex, I would attack regardless of possible losses...

Again, I'll defer to you and the more experience players on avoiding this risk in the future.

ORIGINAL: Centuur
But, to be honest, I think the USSR is doing a poor job in this game on defense too. It's poor play to allow a breakthrough into a city hex like Kiev, especially with troops sitting next to that hex doing nothing...

Yes they are and against an equally skilled player nevertheless. I'm not sure which troops are "doing nothing"? The Red army, especially in the south, is retreating east as fast as possible.

ORIGINAL: Centuur
I think that Ronnie needs more games against human opponents...

No doubt about that ... but for now I'm afraid it's solo.

ORIGINAL: composer99

Where is the Red Army? Even with USSR's anemic production, it seems like it should have had more units than this, especially since Germany didn't even go to war until July/August. I guess I should go back through the last few pages of the AAR.

But giving Germany the ability to breakthrough into Kiev and across the river (instead of forcing them to attack Kiev and the river) were definitely mis-steps by the USSR.

However, with the British possibly able to land in Italy itself this game year and China's army looking really big (even if it's all spread out), I think the Allies are still in this game.

The Soviets have 2 corps/armies and 1 division in Persia and 9 corps/armies and 1 division in Asia on the border with Manchuria, maintain the peace with Japan. These number of units were needed two turns ago when the Japanese were getting close to being able to break the pact. However, since then with the Soviets transferring a 5-chit from the Nazi-Soviet pact just before Hitler broke it and then adding two draws (1 & 2-chits) the Japanese-Soviet non-aggression pact is "overly" secure. So much so that the Soviets now want to transfer some of these 10 units to the West to help out against Hitler. However, the problem now is rail capacity, which the Soviets need 2 of 3 moves per turn to rail a blue factory to safety.

Even with all my mis-steps, I am having fun and enjoying the heck out of this game. Also, and though I must admit at times I've been tempted, I have not "cheated" once this game against myself by taking anything back once the dice have been rolled.