Turn 2. Sep/Oct 1939. Allied #9. In-Game Communication Log.
Note. {...} = private, AAR comments.
[al] Turn ends on a roll of '1'. The die is rolled and it's a 2.
[al] Turn continues, it's Allied impulse 9. Weather roll is 8.
[al] It's Snow in the Arctic and North Temperate - good for moving, bad for combat (unless you're the Finns or the Red Army).
[ax] Snow in arctic and north temperate, rain in the med. So not really that bad.
[al] Rain in the Med and South Monsoon.
[al] Fine in the North Monsoon and South Temperate.
[al] No DoWs or alignments.
[al] Actions:
Land - China
Naval - CW
Combined - France, USSR
Pass - USA
[ax] What's the RN up to now?
[al] No port attacks or naval air
[al] CW sails 2 cp from Liverpool to Cape St Vincent
[al] CW sails 1 cp from Liverpool to Bay of Biscay
[al] Okay, a bunch of RN and RAN cruisers are trying to sail through the Eastern Med: Kent, Canberra, Shropshire, and Australia. They're going to go one at a time. I assume you want to try to intercept them?
[ax] Yes. Intercept. Use the weakest CA in the 4-box to intercept.
[al] Okay. I will indicate each result in turn.
[al] Trieste initiates the interception attempt.
- Kent - intercept roll 3, interception succeeds; Kent joins task force in 3 box of E Med.
- Canberra - intercept roll 1, interception succeeds; Canberra joins task force in 3 box of E Med.
- Shropshire - intercept roll 9, interception fails; Shropshire sails to 3 box in Italian Coast.
- Australia - intercept roll 10, interception fails; Australia sails to 3 box in Italian Coast.
[al] Oh, didn't notice she was still organised - Liverpool will sail from Port Said as well. Intercept roll is 1, interception succeeds; Liverpool joins task force in 3 box of E Med.
[ax] I hope these successful intercepts by the RM in the East Med isn't a case of the "dog that caught the car".
[al] Well, we'll see, won't we.
[al] CW subs sail from Gibraltar to 2 box Italian Coast.
[al] CW can initiate in Bay of Biscay but won't.
[al] CW initiates in Italian Coast. Do you want to fly any aircraft?
[ax] Yes. 1 of the 2 fighters in Malta to 0-box.
[ax] The fighter with 0 TAC value.
[al] Okay. The fighter flies.
[al] CW initates with the sub flotilla but does not commit with it.
[al] Search rolls are CW 6, Italy 2. Italy 4 box finds against CW 3 box with 5 surprise.
[ax] Use 4 to avoid combat.
[al] Combat avoided.
[al] CW initiates in Eastern Med. I feel safe assuming the fighter in Malta stays put since there's already one in the 0 box.
[ax] Correct.
[al] Search rolls are CW 2, Italy 1. 🤨
[ax] Wow ... this is going to be interesting.
[al] Pretty sure Italy has 1 surprise since the Gladiator has 4 range, which is enough to push the CW stack into a higher box for surprise purposes. In any case, it's Italy 2 and 4 box vs. RN 3 box, and it'll be a naval air combat.
[al] Air combat is 3-strength Gladiator vs. 0-strength Gabbiano for CW +3/-3 It.
[ax] I would really like to shoot down that Gladiator.
[ax] It's being a major PITA!
[al] Round 1 rolls: Italy 13 (AC), CW 8 (DA). The Italian naval bombers are chased out of the skies of the Eastern Med... to Malta, I presume?
[ax] Malta's good.
[al] With neither side having any bombers, that ends the first round of naval combat. Both sides, I assume, are staying.
[ax] Yes. Italy stays.
[al] Okay. Round 2 search rolls are CW 1, Italy 3. That's going to be RN 3 box versus It 4 box, and CW has 2 surprise points.
[al] It's going to be a surface combat.
[al] Profiles and damage results are:
- Royal Navy 45 attack vs 5 ships (2X)
- Regia Marina 17 attack vs 11 ships (X, D)
[al] I'll boost damage against Italy to 2X, D, A.
{graphic 01}
[ax] I thought you might.
[ax] There's a lot of steel flying in the East Med this turn.
[ax] X on CA Pola, X on CA Gorizia, D on Trieste and A on any surviving damaged CA.
[al] X on Pola: saving throw is 5; Pola is sunk.
X on Gorizia: saving throw is 10; Gorizia is damaged.
D on Trieste: saving throw is 4; Trieste is damaged.
[al] Any preference for who gets aborted?
[ax] Goriza.
[al] A on Gorizia: saving throw is 7; Gorizia stays in the sea area.
[al] Okay, on to RN damage.
X on HMS Warspite: saving throw is 9; Warspite is damaged.
D on HMS Warspite (yes I'm tempting fate): saving throw is 4 (tempted fate too far); Warspite is sunk.
[al] Royal Navy is staying, what about the RM?
[ax] RM aborts. All to Malta.
[ax] I know someone on the forum who isn't going to be very happy with you sinking the warspite.
[al] She died doing what she loved: laying waste to the enemy. What better way to go down is there for a warship?
[al] At least Churchill has a win to report to the House of Commons - a nice Christmas present.
[ax] Is he still first lord of the admiralty or is he PM yet?
[al] Probably still First Lord. The war at sea hasn't been great, but it hasn't quite risen to a government-toppling debacle.
[al] But there's still one more naval combat to fight, possibly, so who knows? That could change in a moment.
[al] The Axis can initiate a combat in the Bay of Biscay.
[ax] Initiate.
[al] With a NAV already at sea, the CW doesn't send any more aircraft. Axis commit their subs, and the search rolls are...
[al] CW 1, Axis 4
[ax] Both find?
[al] I thought the Axis had enough to find, but they just fell short according to MWiF.
[ax] Isn't there a sub in the 3 box?
[ax] And 16 cw cps?
[al] No, it's in the 2 box.
[ax] Then no find by German sub is correct.
[ax] In snow.
[al] CW 4 box finds and picks Ge subs in 2 box with, by my reckoning, 5 surprise.
[ax] Sounds right.
[al] Hrm. I ought to have sailed a 3-strength cruiser for this. Oh, well.
[al] Surface combat, Ge does no damage because subs have 1 less attack factor in surface combats, and RN damage is boosted to 1D.
[al] D on sub by default: saving throw is 2, and the sub flotilla is damaged.
[al] The CW is, as you might imagine, staying. What about the subs?
[ax] Subs stay and continue the fight
[al] Search rolls are CW 5, Axis 10, ending the combat.
[al] The damaged sub aborts to Kiel and hence to the repair pool.
[al] Do you want to CAP for strat bombing?
[ax] Negative.
[al] Allied raids:
- RAF bombers fly to Berlin; die roll is 6+1 = 7; no effect.
- French bombers fly to Prague; die roll is 5+1 = 6; no effect.
(Apart, perhaps, from damaged housing stock or something like that.)
[al] No ground strikes.
[al] Land Stuff:
- No rail moves;
- USSR 4th Army (6-6 MECH) and at gun detachment adjust positions along the Rumanian frontier;
- KMT HQ Chiang and at gun detatchment advance southeast out of Chihkiang;
- KMT formations in the mountains west of Hengyang withdraw southwest, meeting up with 14th Army advancing out of Kweilin, leaving the disorganised 20th Reserve Army in place.
{see graphic02}
[ax] If you want you're welcome to roll for end of turn .
[al] Will do.
[ax] The French XLII Corps advances to the coast of British Palestine, and is now on the frontier of the Sinai.
[al] No land combats.
[al] Rebases:
- Fairey Battle lnd2 from Plymouth to Bristol.
[al] Turn ends on a roll of 3 or less. End of turn roll is 10.
