All out war!

[joshuamnave]

To Germany's delight, the skies clear over France. Japan and Germany take land actions, Italy takes another combined and sails a few ships carrying a division into the Central Atlantic.

Japanese bombers ground strike Sian and the mtn hex east of Changsha. 5 chances to roll a 2 or better... all miss. Italian bombers fare much better, disorganizing both defenders in Baghdad. Turkish units will attack this turn. No ground strikes in France, but Germany has a strong attack on the easternmost hex of the allied line.

The Japanese march into Hanoi and the Venezuelans take control of British Guyana. The Spanish Blue Division, riding on Italian cruisers, invades Martinique. It took 150 years, but Spain is once again a player in the Caribbean. Turkish troops assault Baghdad, German armor launches a blitz attack against the US line, and the Japanese lay siege to Sian, even without disorganizing anything.

In Martinique, the disorganized out of supply French fleet is overrun. Italy captures a battleship, a cruiser and a few CP's, and scuttles a few more ships. The rest flee to Norfolk. A Russian TB-3 flies over Baghdad, bringing the attack down to a +9.2, better than the +7.8 attack on Sian but nowhere near as good as the +18 blitz on the front line in France.

The Japanese roll well enough to kill one and shatter the other, but with nowhere to retreat both are destroyed and Japan takes Sian. The Turkish aren't quite as successful, killing just one unit, but suffering no losses. And the Germans destroy the two American militia units on the French line. The American militia aren't very strong and probably won't be rebuilt. I built them primarily to get some quick units on the board, but now that the pipeline is full, those build points can be better spent elsewhere.

The allies elect to pass in an attempt to end the turn early. The French line is as solid as it's going to be this turn and all available US units are onboard transports that can return to base in France if the turn ends. If the turn ends now, the Italians can't make a follow up attack on Baghdad and the Germans can't press the attack in France. And it pays off with a roll of 2.

During the return to base phase I discover a small flaw in my plan. The british ships carrying American troops can't land in France so they have to bring them to southern england instead.

Production -
This is the first turn in which Germany has no idle factories. That's due to losing factories in Norway and Mexico however, and their production stays the same at 29 BP's and 9 oil
Italy - 13 BPs, 3 oil
Japan - 20 BPs, 4 oil
China - 5 BPs, 0 oil
France - nothing
CW - 15 BPs, 4 oil (the US increased their donations)
US - 58 BPs, 16 oil
USSR - 14 BPs, 10 oil

Germany - 2 pilots, Lnd3, Ftr2, Sub (1st), Sub (2nd), CA (2nd), CV (2nd), AT Gun, Mech, 2 Inf
Italy - Pilot, Nav2, 2 repairs, CP, 2 Terr
Japan - 2 pilots, Lnd3, CVP, CVL (2nd), Sub (2nd), CP, 2 repairs, Inf
China - Mao
CW - Pilot, Nav2, CV (2nd), Arm HQ, CVL (1st)
USA - Force pool nearly empty... built convoys just to keep gearing up. 2 O-chits, 3 pilots, BB (2nd), Air Trn, Lnd4, 2 CVP, 3 CP's, cav div, mot div, mil The US has built all of its marines, all of its ships, all of its paras (and 2 planes for them to fly in), most of its land based air and most of its cvp's, all arm/mech corps and divisions, all inf corps/divisions, all motorized corps/divisions, most of its guns, etc.. etc.. It did some advance building in Sep/Oct, but building ahead in Nov/Dec is a waste of resources.
USSR - pilot, Lnd3, 3 Inf

Conquests
British Guyana (Germany)
Martinique (Italy)
Tanganyika (Italy)
Senegal (Italy)
French Indo-China (Japan)

[joshuamnave]

Winter arrives, with snow in the N Temp and Arctic. The allies once again take the initiative.

France and the UK take naval actions, the rest choose land.

The British fleet, including 3 transports loaded down with American hardware, sail into the North Sea. The American troops will debark in Cherbourg. A pair of British subs rebase to Kristiansand. While there, they are vulnerable to port strikes, but Germany currently has no naval air units and the rest of the German air is busy and not very adept at naval combat. Next turn they'll be basing out of Oslo where port strikes can't touch them, and then Germany will have to task an air unit to protect its convoys, or keep some ships at sea.

What's left of the French fleet sails into the Carribbean to hunt for axis convoys. They manage to destroy the Panamanian merchant marine in one round of combat. That'll take a bit out of Germany's production, and the convoy line is unlikely to be repaired at this point.

Russia extends the Dnepr river line. Each hex has at least 1 armor or mech corps in it. German armor halves their blitz bonus when attacking across a river, while the defending Russian armor gets the full benefit, so this will be a tough line for Germany to crack. And I know that's true because I read it in Pravda. Also, Nikolai Yezhov does not exist. Nikolai Yezhov has never existed.

[joshuamnave]

As is clearly evidenced by this photo. Also, General Tukhachevsky is a traitor.

[joshuamnave]

The Russian army "in the field"

[joshuamnave]

Meanwhile, back in artificial reality... American troops approach the Guatemalan border. In France, an artillery, Mech and Mot land in Cherbourg and an Arm lands in St-Nazaire. Total US presence in France is 1 HQA, 2 Arm Corps, 3 mech corps, 3 Mot corps, 1 HQI, 1 Inf corps, 1 Mtn Corps, 1 Mil, 1 Artillery, 1 mot div, 1 inf div, and 1 Lnd3. It's starting to get crowded.

Japan and Italy take naval actions, Germany wants to move her ground troops and takes a land.

Germany groundstrikes Cherbourg and the hex SE of it, hitting 4 out of 6 targets including the artillery unit.

In Africa, the Belgians reach Lagos and immediately begin sending mail to millions of people informing them that they've won the lottery and need only send a small cashiers check for a processing fee to receive their bounty. German units in France and Turkish units in Iraq do a few shuffle steps.

Germany launches an attack in France. First the air...

[joshuamnave]

Germany forces the Americans to retreat with no losses on either side. Turkish troops suffer heavy casualties (2 dead units) but march victorious into Baghdad. Von Beck reorganizes 3 of the 4 flipped German units, leaving a 2-3 inf div face down in the snow.

The weather roll gets better but in France that means the weather is worse.. storms.

The British take a land, the Yanks take a naval, nobody else really matters at the moment.

Due to a consolidation of CVP's in Pearl, the Wasp and the Lexington head back to San Diego with empty decks. On the east coast, another Mitchel is shipped over to France along with a division loaded onto a cruiser. The Ranger also heads home for a reload of carrier air. Finally, American transports in France dodge Italian patrols and slip across the Atlantic, loading up the remaining divisions and another Mech corps. They'll land in France at the end of the turn, or sooner if the US gets another naval action in.

In Scandinavia, British bombers fail to disorganize an out of supply Swede.

Russia rails the out of supply Siberian garrisoning Basra back to Tehran, where there's plenty of food to be had. For good measure, they're joined by the Irkutsk militia.

Russia also moves to defend the river line west of Leningrad.

[joshuamnave]

I like river lines. The only time I set up static defense lines in Russia is when I can hide behind a river. Other than that it's all forest/city pickets and retreat, retreat, retreat then counterattack. Float like a butterfly, sting like a T-34.

The British extend the line on the Swedish border.

[joshuamnave]

The CW may need to reclaim a transport or two to bring more units over eventually. Especially if Germany frees up some more units for defense - a very real possibility as the line in France gets shorter and shorter.

Eisenhower reorganizes a couple of American units but can't reach the troops trapped on the Cherbourg peninsula.

[joshuamnave]

Germany takes a naval action. The goal is to sink the supply lines keeping Cherbourg going, but even if they succeed they'll have to prevent the British from reestablishing them, and then get another turn, so it's unlikely. But what else are they gonna do in this weather?

A coalition of Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and German fleets head out into the North Sea. It's a fleet so rag tag that one might think they were looking for the lost colony of the 13th tribe. The Axis roll an 8 on their search roll. The Allies might have spotted the fleet, but mistook it for a couple of fishing boats. Although to be fair, fishing boats were probably more seaworthy.

Japan sends two bombers to hit the mtns east of Changsha but I'm not sure they managed to even hit the mountains, let alone the Chinese troops there. Realizing that they're never going to get the kind of air support they secretly dream of, the Japanese commanders order a banzai charge into the mountains.

Play bad, roll good. That's my motto!

[joshuamnave]

Italy brings a nav bomber up to Denmark to harass the British subs in Norway (and to protect the Baltic).

On a roll of 7 the weather gets worse. Or better, I suppose, since it's snowing again in France.

The Allies would rather the Germans not take another pot shot at the supply lines, and pass for a 50/50 shot of ending the turn. Germany pauses for a musical interlude - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJpGHR6ofus

Channeling the ghost of Frank Sinatra, the roll is a 9 and Germany gets another crack at the Americans. Germany takes a combined, Italy and Japan take land.

Italy flies a port strike against the subs in Norway, and the spirit of Frank is with them. Italy rolls a 1, the allies roll a 10. 1 sub is damaged, the other makes its defense roll. The Germans continue their lucky streak, sinking the Allied CP in the north sea, but then realize that there are transports out there as well so supply isn't cut. On round 2, British carrier air sinks 1 of Germany's pocket battleships and damages the other, also sinking 1 of the Danish ships. On round 3, the Germans knock a Baffin out of the sky, but the remaing swordfish damage the Tirpitz and sink the rest of the Danes.

You might why I stubbornly refuse to abort, given there's almost no chance of sinking the 3 transports currently providing supply. I want the German navy in the North Sea to provide shore bombardment.

Bad choice on Germany's part. Round 4, the Tirpitz slips beneath the waves and the Bismark is damaged. The fleet limps home in defeat. With their air spent and their navy sent running for home, the best attack the Germans could manage is about +3 on the blitz against a 3 unit stack. Not even I'm that insane. No attacks and the turn ends.

[joshuamnave]

Production time...

Germany, 39 BPs, 7 oil
Italy, 17 BPs, 3 oil
Japan, 20 BPs, 4 oil
China, 5 BPs, 0 oil
CW, 18 BPs, 4 oil
US, 58 BPs, 16 oil
Russia, 14 BPs, 10 oil

Germany
3 pilots, Sub (2nd), Sub (1st), BB (2nd), BB (1st), 2 LND2, Ftr3, HQA, Art, 2 Inf, Mil
Italy
Pilot, repair CA, CA (1st), Sub (1st), Arm, Ftr2, 2 Terr
Japan
2 Pilots, Sub (2nd), BB (2nd), repair CA, CP, CV (1st), Nav3, CVP, Terr
China
Inf, Inf div
CW
Pilot, CV (2nd), Amph (2nd), Ftr3, CVP, BB (1st), Mot
US
clicked done before writing down... highlights are O-Chit, 4 CV (1st), 2 Lnd3, 2 Ftr2, 4 pilots, CVP, Arm, HQI, 2 INF
USSR
Pilot, Ftr3, HQI, Arm div

Incoming for next turn

[joshuamnave]

Conquests
British North Borneo (Japan)
Nigeria (Germany)
Brunei (Japan)
Iraq (liberated, Germany)

Here's the map now

[joshuamnave]

Mar/Apr '41, the Axis get the initiative and they get clear weather everywhere but the arctic, where it's raining.

Japan takes a naval, Germany takes a land, Italy takes a naval. With any luck, they could put the entire US army out of supply for an impulse.

Spanish ships in the Bay of Biscay fail to find the US CP's, but the Italians get the jump on the allies in the north atlantic, sinking 1 british cruiser and damaging 2 more. On round 2, the Italians finish off the British ships in the 0 box, and sink most of the convoys. On round 3, the rest of the convoys sink. On round 4, Italy turns its attention to the 1 box and sink 1 CA and dmg 1 CA, clearing the sea zone. The British damage 1 Italian CA as well. American units in Cherbourg are out of supply. The rest of the army has only Nantes supplying them. The Germans fly a pair of Stukas to Cherbourg. I love my dice some days...

[joshuamnave]

Of course in Nantes, a single Stuka hits 3 out of 4 targets.

Germany makes a pair of attacks. First the hex east of Nantes... I'd be happier if there weren't so many disorganized Units, but the ones that will be attacking nantes stay face up.

[joshuamnave]

Then Cherbourg...

Well.. that's war. The bright spot is that the American units had nowhere to retreat, so were destroyed.

[joshuamnave]

To add insult to injury, I realized while advancing my units that the hex I groundstruck was not Nantes - it was St Nazairre. Still, the US may soon be forced to abandon France and regroup in Britain. But not until the end of May/Jun at the earliest... no sense in freeing up Germany troops for a summer offensive in Russia.

[joshuamnave]

The British and French take naval actions while the US burns an O-chit on a super combined, Russia and China take land actions.

The US sends a marine corps and inf div out to sea in the Marshalls, planning to invade Majuro.

The Italians intercept a couple of transports bringing over American troops and the ships stop in the N Atlantic under the umbrella of the American fleet.

The French fleet finds a lone Italian cruiser in the Gulf of Mexico carrying a Spanish division and damages it. American subs sink a Japanese convoy in the Solomons, putting Majuro out of supply. In the North Atlantic, the Italian fleet finds the Americans, but scout ships flying off the USS Ranger warn the fleet in time to pull out of range.

The Americans firm up the line in France and move closer to Guatemala in Central America, then invade Majuro with an automatic +21. This gives the US 4 ports in the Marshalls and moves them a step closer to challenging Kwajalien. Macarthur reogranizes the troops in France.

The weather stays clear. As it stands now, too many German units in France are disorganized, including both HQ's, to continue the offensive this turn. If Germany uses an O-chit to reorganize, they could take another shot next impulse, but there's only a 30% chance of continued fine weather. However they also have a shot at cutting the supply lines. They decide to go for it. Germany takes a land, reorganizing both HQ's. Italy takes a combined. Japan takes a land.

Unfortunately the Italians can't find the fleets in either the North Atlantic or the Bay of Biscay.

The Japanese send two bombers to groundstrike Changsha. Nobody is more surprised than the pilots when they hit both corps and 2 fighters. China hadn't bothered to intercept figuring there was a better chance of staying organized by letting the Japanese planes through than by scrambling to intercept, and facing 2 wings of Japanese Zeros. Ooops.

The Japanese and Chinese fly a 3 round air to air battle over Changsha. 3 rounds of +3/-3, and the Japanese don't so much as abort a Chinese plane. Not that it's relevant, both Japanese bombers cleared through. It's just kinda funny. Chinese AA aborts one of the Japanese bombers by rolling 5 dices all 5 or higher. Two attacks... a +7.4 in the mountains east of Tianshui and +9.1 on Changsha.

Japan rolls a 16 and a 17 respectively. Tell me the dice don't have a sense of humor!

German HQ's reorg most of the troops in France, but Axis air support is still mostly spent.

On their half of the impulse, everyone but Britain takes land actions. The CW still has some naval moves to make and takes a naval.

In the South China sea, the allied sub commander sends a sub up to periscope depth right in the middle of the entire Japanese navy. Ooops. Japanese carrier air sink 3 subs, 2 US and 1 British. The convoys from the NEI are starting to feel a lot more secure.

China abandons its position in the Changsha valley and moves behind the Hsiang river line. Yes, it gives Japan the resource without a fight, but I've found that once China loses Changsha, it's too easy for Japan to form 3+ hex attacks on the Chinese units in open terrain. China needs to conserve its units now that Sian and Changsha have fallen. Japan has accomplished the two main goals in the first part of the China campaign.

[joshuamnave]

In Central America, the first US troops cross into Guatemala. Panamanian troops recently moved into the mountains on the west side of the canal. On a side note, I played a board game earlier tonight called Panamax, which deals with operations in the Panama Canal. Fun game. Learned that when crossing through the canal, the Atlantic ocean is actually to the west of the Pacific ocean, due to the bend in Panama at that point.

The Allies catch a break on the new impulse as a storm front moves in over France (and the rest of the N Temp zone). Japan and Italy take land actions, Germany decides this is a good time to move the fleet a bit.

In the North Sea, German subs find and sink the Allied convoy point providing supply to the Scandinavian front (and one supply route to France). In the Bay of Biscay, Germany triggers a naval search with a fighter and the Spanish manage to destroy the CP there. However, Nantes keeps the US troops in supply for now.

The Allies are forced with a terrible choice. Pass and try to end the turn before the weather clears up, but leave the Bay of Biscay and the North Sea w/out supply lines, or let the CW move some CP's into place but increase the chance of giving Germany another crack at the US troops. Given that passing only takes it up to a 40% chance to end, and leaving the supply lines down could be devestating, the British take a naval and everyone else passes for a 30% shot at ending the turn.

The convoys are restored without incident. Britain also establishes a backup convoy through the Norwegian Sea. The turn ends on a roll of 2. The German O-chit was essentially wasted. Neither side can be completely happy with the turn... The US lost 3 units in France and the loss of the US convoy points in the North Atlantic sent some lend lease BP's to the bottom of the sea. The US doesn't have the CP's in the Atlantic to replace them so Britain will have to do without US BP's for a few turns. China lost Changsha. But Germany wasted an O-Chit and is now facing a virtual wall in France. It will take their other chit to have much chance of clearing France in time for a summer offensive in Russia.

Here's the damages for the turn.

[joshuamnave]

When switching from the stay at sea phase to the RTB phase, the game hit a non recoverable error. Fortunately, reloading seems to have fixed it.

Production
Germany 39 BPs, 7 oil
Italy 18 BPs, 3 oil
Japan 20 BPs, 4 oil
China 5 BPs, 0 oil
CW 18 BPs, 5 oil
US 58 BPs, 16 oil
Russia 14 BPs, 10 oil

Germany
2 pilots, CVP, 2 LND2, Ftr2, Sub (1st), Sub (2nd), BB (1st), BB (2nd), CV (1st), AT Gun, Arm, 2 Inf
Italy
pilot, Lnd4, repair CA, Sub (1st), CP, CA (1st), Marine, Inf
Japan
2 pilots, CV (2nd), sub (1st), repair sub, Lnd3, 2 CVP, BB (1st), HQI
China
Pilot, Ftr2, 1 saved
CW
2 pilots, CV (2nd), BB (2nd), Lnd3, CVP, Ftr3, Mil
US
3 pilots, CV (1st), BB (1st), Amph (2nd), Tran (2nd), CV (2nd), repair sub, Sub (1st), 3 CVP, Ftr2, Lnd3, Mech, Mot, Eng div
USSR
Pilot, Ftr2, Arm, Mil, Mil

Incoming reinforcements

[joshuamnave]

Conquests
Dahomey (Germany)
Togo (Germany)
Sarawak (Japan)