Courtenay's solitaire AAR

[Courtenay]

Strategic bombing: A Formosa based B-29 bombs Shanghai. Rolls 5+1 = 6, exactly getting a hit. Plane lands in Manchuria, just in range of Fukuoka.

[Courtenay]

Ground strike results:
Helsinki: Il-10 (4 (AT)) [37, 48]: 5, 7, 10, 2: MECH disorganized, SKI, MOT unaffected;
Leipzig: Soviet ART (3) [52, 38]: 3, 2 INF, GAR disorganized;
Karlsruhe: 2 US ART, P-63A, P40N, P51B (6, 3, 3, 3, 5, halved, forest) [54, 35]: 1, 6, 1, 6, 1, 1, 5, 6, 10, 5, 10: 2 FW-200 Condor, SM. 84, and Model disorganized; GAR unaffected;
E Karlsruhe: 8" ART, B25-C (5, 3, halved, forest) [54, 36]: 1, 3: von Bock and Balbo both disorganized. The Black Dragons roar! (I don't care if the counter say 8". There is no 240mm counter, which was a much better, more widely used gun. Besides, which other artillery piece had a nickname as good as "Black Dragon"?);
Stuttgart: Brazilian FTR, B-26C, B-26B, A-30, P-47D. P-39Q (4, 5, 4, 4, 2, 3, all halved, forest) [55, 35]: 5, 5, 10, 8, 2, 3, 7, 3, 5, 6, 1, 8, 6, 10: Bf-110D, 2xINF, AT disorganized, Ju-86G unaffected;
Munich: Amiot 357, B17-G, P-38H (5, 3, 3, halved, forest) [57, 37]: 1, 8, 1, 9, 2, 6, 3, 4, 7: Bf 109G-6, Ju 87D, Munich MIL
disorganized; Kesselring and Ju 87R unaffected;
SW Munich: Tu-2, IL-2M3 (6, 6) [58, 38]: 9, 7. 1, 3: INF, Graziani disorganized;
N China: Chinese A-20G (5) [77, 139]: 5: INF disorganized;
Osaka: SBD-4 (2): [77, 164]: 5, 7: INF, GAR unaffected;
Cheju: SBD-3 (1): [78, 155]: 6, Ki-71 unaffected;
Fukuoka: SBD-5 (2): [78, 159]: 2, 5, 10: INF disorganized; Hata, MOT XX unaffected;
S China: B17-G (4): [86, 138]: 4, INF disorganized.

The expected number of disorganized units is 16.63; the actual number of disorganized units was 21. For once, the Allies can not complain about their ground strikes.

[Courtenay]

The US rails their best LND-4 in Germany from Liege to Port Arthur. The Russians rail Timoshenko to the Chinese border.

The Chinese communists move to attack the flipped, out-of-supply unit in the mountains, and a Japanese INF that had been the end of the line. They send their AT gun forward to capture Chengchow and Kaoting. Their CAV unit reverses direction, and moves west from Taiyan, threatening Paoting and Peking.

The Russians move newly arrived units forward in Manchuria. The Japanese note that Russians now have enough units close to the border to break the neutrality pact formed when the Japanese imposed a mandatory peace at the end of the first Russian invasion. They also note that none of those Russian units are any good. They finally note that the Japanese don't have much to oppose the Russians.

[Courtenay]

The Americans unload a division in the Philippines and a GAR into Honolulu.

The Allies make no less than five invasions. One adjacent to Palembang, one into Balikpapan, one adjacent to Surabaya, one into Tokushima and one into the forest hex on the west end of Shikoku.

[Courtenay]

The Russians declare attacks on Leipzig, the hex west of Munich, and the hex northwest of Helsinki. The Americans and CW attack the hex northwest of Stuttgart. The Chinese Communists attack two surrounded units.

The CW puts a Spitfire as ground support against the attack NW of Stuttgart, and the Russians put two FTRs and two bombers into the attack west of Munich.

The Germans decide to use their airforce against the Russians, rather than having it bombed on the ground. Calling the Luftwaffe an "air force" at this point is pushing the limits of vocabulary. "Air unit" would be a better description. A single Stuka tries to fly in defense of the city. Two Russian FTRs intercept. The result is as expected with the Stuka having died, although the pilot bailed out.

[Courtenay]

The Allies start with the automatic combats.

First up is the invasion east of Palembang. The Allies use a 13 here.

[Courtenay]

Next is the invasion east of Surabaya. The Allies waste a 12.

[Courtenay]

The last automatic attack is against Balikpapan. Here the Allies are happy to see a 4 used up. They just hope that the dice roll trend doesn't continue. The US captured a saved oil point.

[Courtenay]

Next is the invasion of Japan. First against Tokushima. The US rolls a 9 on a +11 attack. One MAR XX dies, and a MAR corps is disorganized, but Nimitz walks ashore unaffected.

[Courtenay]

The other half of the invasion, on the other end of Shikoku, is much less fraught, even if a smaller force is doing the attacking. The Allies get a +18. They need all of that, as they roll a 3, getting ashore with no loss. The use of amphibious tanks here was invaluable. If one looks at the combat, one notices that there was a bug, since fixed; the US did not get a +0.25 from the tanks.

[Courtenay]

The Communists attack a surrounded Japanese INF southwest of Nanyang. They attack at +13.2, fail the fractional odds roll (.829), but overwhelm the hapless Japanese with a roll of 19.

[Courtenay]

The Communists also attack the unit the Nationlists' plane flipped. It is almost automatic, at +18. The Communists try to make it not automatic by rolling a 6, but that is still good enough to obliterate an INF. The Communists' propaganda makes no mention of any aircraft while crowing about this victory.

[Courtenay]

Next is the Russians attacking a Finnish speed bump. It is a +16 attack, and the Russians roll a 13. The Helsinki MIL was obliterated.

[Courtenay]

The last three attacks are even better. First the Western Allies attack the two flipped HQs in the forest at +18.8 Blitz. After making the fractional odds roll (.615) the HQs die on a 15.

[Courtenay]

The Russians attack Leipzig at +19.833, making the fractional odds roll (.695) and then rolling a 16. An INF and a GAR die.

[Courtenay]

The Russians finish things off with a +19.273 against the hex east of Munich. After missing the fractional odds roll (.281) the Russians roll a 20! If they had known they were going to roll that well, they would not have needed to spend an O-chit. A MOT and an Italian MTN die.

[Courtenay]

The US uses Hodges to reorganize two strat bombers in Manchuria. This wastes a reorganization point, but best to do this when air reorganizations only cost one. The US might take an air later in the turn, but it might not. The Russians use Konev to reorganize two six point bombers. The French use Billotte to reorganize a 5 pt French bomber.

[Courtenay]

Axis J/A #2:
Ja combined, Ge, It land
The Japanese have to get their unsupplied aircraft back in supply, and have to keep the Americans on Shikoku, thus a combined.

[Courtenay]

The Germans Port Attack a CW TRS in La Spezia. Two CW FTRs intercept. The Allies roll a 2 for surprise, the Germans an 8. The Allies cancel the combat. No reason to risk the air-to-air combat, even though it was greatly in the Allied favor; the Allies expect Germany to be completely conquered by the end of the turn.

[Courtenay]

The Japanese add many planes to the China Sea.

The Japanese try and get three ships through the South China Sea, including a TRS and a CP. The Americans attempt to intercept, and do so, rolling a 3. A single US SUB finds the Japanese, who decide to try and fight through. The Japanese roll a 7. The Americans pick a SUB combat, and increase their combat result by two, to D + 2A, and pick the Japanese TRS as the target of the D. This ensures that the both the CP and the TRS will be aborted.