Courtenay's solitaire AAR

[Courtenay]

M/A 41 Production:

Ge 26+0: HQ-ARM (Manstein), INF, GAR, MIL, 2xFTR-3, 2xPi, start SUB, no BP saved;
It: 7+0: ; Repair Littorio, GAR, PI, CP, no BP saved;
Jap: 14+2: HQ-I, Finish AMPH (4), PAR, CVP-1, CVP-0, Repair Takao, save 1 BP;

The Germans are building with one eye on garrison factors. The long range fighters are essential in the Med. There is a big difference between range six and range seven. The Japanese are in a mess. They are not ready for US entry, and are not close to knocking out China. Although they have gained a lot of territory, it is not tremendously valuable territory. If they could just push a little further, China would be on the ropes, but that is easier said then done. And now they have to switch production from China to the Pacific. The Axis is in a bad position.

The Germans got a 8-4 white print INF, their 6-1 white print GAR (last GAR), the Munich MIL, both new long range fighters, and started a 5-4 sub.
The Italians got a white print 5-1 GAR; that will have to be useful someplace!

Ch 6+1: 2xINF; save 1 BP
CW 22+0: HQ-ARM (Montgomery), MIL, FI-3, NAV-3, 2xPi, finish Indominatable, repair Hobart, no BP saved.
US 30+9: start 5 Essex class, 3 Independence class, HQ-I (Clark), INF, marine ENG, AA, NAV-3, 2xCVP-1, CVP-0, 2xPi, SUB, no BP saved
SU 15+0: HQ-I (Koniev), INF, GAR, Fi-2, Pi, save 1 BP.

It might be a while before we see Stilwell again. The five largest powers each saw an HQ enter its force pool, and all thought it wise to build it immediately. The British, also, built their long range fighter.

The Chinese got lucky; they got their best two INF in the force pool, a 4-2 Nationalist and a 6-3 Communist.
The US got lucky; they built the 4-3 AA gun, which is what they wanted. They also got one of their better NAVs, a Mariner, (2-3, range 15). The fact that they built a 4-3 INF is immaterial; eventually, all the US INF will get built. The bad ones garrison Pacific islands and rear areas. The US started a 5-3 SUB. The CVP-0 was a 2-1, the two CVPs were a 2-3 size 2 and a 4-1 size 4. The carriers built were Essex, Yorktown II, Lexington II, Intrepid, Bunker Hill, Independence, Monterey, and Cowpens.
The Russians built a 5-3 white print INF, a 7-1 GAR (last GAR), and got another Mig-1 (4, range 3.)

According to my records, the US gained a build point? If so, makes up for one lost at start.

Hobart was the tenth and final ship to benefit from the Gift of Destroyers:
M/A: repair BB, CA
M/J: Finish Duke of York
J/A: Finish Howe
S/O: Finish Prince of Wales, Howe, and Anson
N/D: Finish Mauretius, Nigeria
J/F: Repair Hobart

Italy conquered British Somaliland.

Here are the next turn's reinforcements. The MIL are added by hand using paint, as MWiF provides random ones. The CW has the transport that delivered the South African fighter to Egypt return to Cape Town, on its way somewhere. It did not expect to pick up cargo! (And in fact, I might not pick up the SA MIL; it serves a purpose in South Africa; It prevents accidents from the Japanese aligning Madagascar and then conquering South Africa without fighting.

[Courtenay]

M/A 41:

Initiative: Axis roll 9, Allies 3. Axis elects to move first.

M/A 41 Axis #1: Weather 2+3 = 5; St, St, R, F, R, F, Imp adv 2, no modifier.
Just as the Germans expected. This is about the worst possible attacking weather. Not only is the weather bad, but there are no positive modifiers, making it more likely that next impulse's weather will be bad.

Ge, It naval, Ja Land.

The Germans try for a knockout blow in the storm, sending everything to the North Atlantic. The Allies rolled an eight for their search. Unfortunately, the Germans had already rolled a nine.

The Italians move to hold the Eastern and Western Med.

The Japanese attack Nanning. They get another 19; killing the Chungking MIL and a newly built 4-1 GAR. at the cost of two Japanese units, an INF division and the Harbin TERR. Worse than the losses, though was what happened when the troops entered the city. Clearly enraged at their losses, they rampaged through the city, and the US public reacted in just as much outrage as at the fall of Kweiyang. (The Japanese rolled a one, and then drew a four.) The US has a 40% chance of declaring war on Germany, and a 20% against Japan. The Americans aren't going to try yet, but the fact that they could is frightening.

[Courtenay]

M/A 41 Allied #3:

CW, Fr naval, Ch land, US & SU combined

The CW took a Swordfish down to the Cape Verde Basin. Now every area reachable by the German range three shpis will have air cover over the zero box. The Allies moved out to protect the convoys for next turn, sent a strong fleet to the North Atlantic, and sent fleets to the Eastern and Western Med.

In the Western Med the Italaians flew NAVs to the zero and two boxes. The Allies found the Italians, and fought the Italian forces in the zero box. The Allies had 7 surpirse points. The Allies used four to pick surface action. Not wanting to waste an X on a convoy point, the Allies moved the Italian naval column down, to 1A. The Italians suffered 2 D and an A. The Garibaldi and the Bari were damaged. The Italian shots bounced of the Strasbourg's armor.

In the Eastern Med, the Italians flew a fighter into the zero box, and a NAV into the two box; the
Germans also sent a NAV to the two box. Both sides found each other, with a two. The British had a five point Beaufighter (twin engined) vs a 4 point fighter and two NAVs. I had not realized the Beaufighter suffered from the twin engine penalty until halfway through this combat. In the first round, the Italians rolled an 8, for no effect, while the CW rolled a 19. The Italians chose to destroy the German NAV. In the second round, the Italians again rolled an 8, and the CW a 10, clearing the Italian NAV through. In the third round, the Italians rolled their third 8, while the CW rolled a 7, aborting the Italian fighter. Rolling lowest die out of six, the CW managed to get roll a three as their lowest roll, completely negating the Italian bomber. At this point, MWiF generated a bug, ending the combat, even though both sides had forces remaining.

In the North Sea, the Germans rolled a four, just missing finding the Allies, while the Allies rolled an eight. The storm protected the Germans from Allied air power, but it also prevented them from finding anybody. In storm, they have a 30% chance of finding someone, while in clear they have a 60% chance, because of all the convoys in the North Atlantic.

The Chinese keep retreating the Peking MIL towards Nanking; not much else is happening.

[Courtenay]

I just did the next two impulses. The weather turned fair, and the Germans invaded Spain. Then the weather turned bad again.

This game appears to me to an inevitable Axis loss.

Do people want me to continue with this game, and watch the Axis be ground into nothing, or should I start a new one? Please give me your opinions.

[Centuur]

Der Reichstag in Berlin:
"Wass! Surrender the Thousand Year Reich? Jodl, who is this madman?"
"Mein Führer, he believes the war is lost because of the continuing bad weather and thinks the US will attack us very soon".
Shouting and screaming starts: "Das ist ein outrage. Das Reich isn't going to surrender at the first small things going wrong. Attack and grab Gibraltar and make sure that coward Franco is brought to Berlin to face criminal charges. Put anyone in prison who suggest these things."
Jodl: "Zu Befehl, Mein Führer!" and leaves the room...

[Klydon]

I would consider going a few more turns to save yourself some learning curve stuff later tbh. Even if you discontinue it as a AAR, I would still consider it. There are a lot of moving parts and mechanics going on in terms of trying to get things right. Playing repeatedly up to 41 and then starting over only means that at some point you get to 41 and keep going only to run into massive issues, etc. Hope this makes some sense. [:D]

[Courtenay]

Thank you for replies. We have two votes to continue, and none opposed, for a landslide victory for continuing. I appreciate the feedback.

Onward!

[Courtenay]

Gibraltar or Bust!

M/A Axis #5: Weather 8: R, F, F, F, F, F, Imp advance 2, no modifier.
When I saw the eight, I literally did not believe it for a moment. Finally, some good weather. The Germans think they are on a clock; they're arguments in favor of delaying the attack until M/J, but the sight of the sun has made the Germans giddy. Attack!

The Germans declare war on Spain. US entry 8, get one US entry chit. It is a three.

Ge O-Chit land, Rundstedt. It land, Ja land.

The Germans groundstrike Barcelona, Bilbao, and the hex southwest of Bilbao; these are the only places the Germans have two units stacked. The strikes on Barcelona and southwest of Bilbao are complete successes, flipping two units in Barcelona and three in the other hex. Against Franco in Bilbao, though, the Germans whiff completely. The one hex attack on Bilbao will not be happening this impulse.

The Japanese strat bomb Chungking with their "transport". The Chinese fighter intercepts. The bomber clears through, and the game hangs because of the hidden button problem. A retry produced the same result. So I did it again, did not intercept, and adjusted the Japanese bomb roll down one. I will have the the Chinese fighter ground strike some random hex (imposing no result) so that everything comes out right. The Japanese killed one Chinese production point.

The Italians successfully ground strike Algiers. The CW MECH there is out of supply; I had not realized that cooperating minor capitals were not secondary supply sources for friendly units. Unfortunately for the Italians they can't take immediate advantage of that because their troops are too far away.

The Japanese attack the pesky Communist CAV XX that has grabbed the northern resources. The Germans make four attacks over the Pyrenees. See below for the a picture of the combat screen. The Japanese attack did not go well, as they rolled a four, killing the CAV, but losing a territorial in the process. For the Germans, three of their attacks went perfectly. Next to Bilbao they converted a 2S result to a retreat, as the think they can kill the the flipped retreated unit. Unfortunately, they German made four attacks, and one of them was a disaster. On a +12 attack, they rolled a two. A two! This produced the dreaded 14, which killed three German units -- A MECH, a MOT, and an infantry division. The Germans were prepared to lose a unit, and even were set up to absorb the loss of two units, but were not in the least prepared to take the loss of the whole attacking stack. They did kill the Spanish unit, but it was a horrible start to the campaign.

[Courtenay]

And here is the Spanish set up and the German move:

[Courtenay]

M/A Allied #7:

CW combined, Fr naval, Ch land, SU & US combined.

The CW try to engage the Italians in the Med, and the Germans in the North Atlantic. In the North Atlantic, the CW flies the Sunderland out to the zero box. No one finds anyone. In the Wester Med, I get hit by a bug: Both sides find each other, the Italian NAV is cleared throough, the Italians (who rolled a 1 to the CW 4) shift the AA fire off the left end of the chart, and the program says that the NAV has a strength of zero! MWiF seems to be remembering the result from impulse three's AA fire. Then MWiF ended the combat immediately, not giving either side a chance for another round of combat. In the Eastern Med, no one found each other.

The CW put four corps into Spain, by four different methods. The Queens transport a MOT to Santandar. The French, with their naval move, also put a MOT into Santandar. Alexander has been waiting in Britain with a transport; however, it was the Dutch transport, which can't move into Spain, so it went into the Bay of Biscay, and Alexander walked into Santandar as a MOT moved out of Santandar and into the resource hex southeast of Santandar. Finally, an ARM was railed into Malaga. I made a mistake with the German fleet; it should have ignored the weather, and grabbed the Bay of Biscay. The British may have sunk it, but it would have been available for gunfire support.

In China, Mao moves south. More importantly, the Sian MIL slipped behind the Japanese lines in the center. Allowing this was stupidity on the part of the Japanese, combined with being overstrecthed; I think the situation has been staring me at for several impulses. This unit threatens to put the southern army out of supply; it even presents a threat of retaking an undefended Chihkiang.

[markb50k]

One piece of advice, when dealing with the hidden button issue in Air to Air combats...

Try ALT-F4 which closes windows. Many times the button is hidden but the computer actually considers the popup to be activated so by hitting ALT-F4 it closes the hidden popup and you can continue. If you have already clicked another MWIF screen then you have to play around with it a little, try this...

ALT-TAB to another open program on your computer, like your web browser or something,..
Then ALT-TAB back to MWIF, the computer will choose one of the open screens to have focus (you don't know which one)...
Try ALT-f4, one of several things will happen...
1. it will close a screen you didn't attempt to close, like the global map or the Screen Layout. This is ok, since it increases the chance that the hidden popup is selected next.
2. it will try to close the main form (asking if you want to save the game). If this happens just hit CANCEL
3. you are lucky and it closes the hidden form. and you can proceed

If 1 or 2 happens, just start again with the ALT-TAB away from MWIF and back again, and repeat. Eventually you'll close the hidden button popup.

Good Luck!

[Courtenay]

Also, the CW makes the first night bombing raids of the game. All German factories in range are under fighter cover, so it is time for night raids. Simultaneous raids hit Essen, Dusseldorf, and Hamburg, all covered by the same German fighter. The German fighter intercepted the CW LND-4, but cleared the bombers through. The bombers hit one production point.

Also, the CW flew their best Spitfire to Plymouth.

[Courtenay]

Thanks for the advice on how to deal with the missing button; I had used Alt-Tab, but not Alt-F4.

[Courtenay]

M/A Axis #9: Weather 10, B, B, Sn, R, St, St
The weather turns bad again.

Ge, It combined, Ja land

In the Eastern Med, the CW roll a ten, but only after Italians roll a five. No one found anyone.

In the North Atlantic, The Germans roll a two! However, they don't find the the convoys, as the Allies also roll a two. The Germans at least miss the huge pile of battleships in the two box. There are no surprise points. The CW suffers an X, a D, and 3 As. The first shot sinks the Jacob van Heemskerk, which rolled a nine to save. Any other ship in the fleet would have been fine with that roll. The rest of the fleet was disheartened; the CW rolled a 1, a 1, a 3 and a 2 for its other damage rolls. These rolls damaged HMAS Pearth, and sent Hood, Neptune, and Perth (again) back home). The Germans suffer an X, a D and 2 As. The X damages the Hipper (rolled a 7). The D sends Gneisenau back home. An A sent Hipper back home, and the last A bounced of the Bismark's armor.

In the Eastern Med, the Italians would have been insane to pick a fight. I had them initiate a naval combat, though, becuase two rounds of naval combat did not happen in this sea area because of a bug in MWiF. The results were exciting. In the first round of fighting, both side found each other, with the Allies having two surprise points. The Allies shifted the Italian air-to-air combat down. In the first round of combat, the British cleared the Italian NAV through, while the Italians aborted the CW NAV. In the second round of battle, the Beaufighter rolled a 19, shooting down the Italian fighter, and killing its pilot. The Italian fighter aborted the Beaufighter in return. The Italian NAV accomplished nothing against British AA FTR. In the second round, the Brithish found the Italians, and, after including only the zero box, had eight surprise points. The Germans had diverted a fighter to the zero box, to replace the Italian fighter. The British had a X, 2D, and 2A. They sank the Bande Nere, and sent two cruisers back home. The As had no other target but the two convoy points. The Italians had a D and 3 As. The British applied the D to the Nelson, and to their surprise, the Nelson was damaged. Two more A's went on the Nelson, and the final A bounce of battleship armor. In the next round of combat, all that was left was the Italian NAV. It found the British, with four surprise points. The Italians shifted AA to zero, and shifted their results to 2D and 3 A versus five ships. The result? Every single British ship aborted. Remember, this combat should have happened in the Allied impulse, not the German one, so if the turn ends, I will give the Axis an extra move to put new ships in this sea zone.

The Italians, fearing end of turn, strat bomb Barcelona, and knock out the factory, rolling a nine. It was a short ranged plane; if it could have hit Madrid, it would have taken out two points, but Madrid was too far.

The Germans kill the out of supply flipped Spanish unit that retreated the previous impulse. The Germans walk into Saragossa.

Turn does not end.

[Courtenay]

M/A 41 Allied #12:

CW combined, Fr naval, Chinese land, US & SU combined

Gort rails to Algiers. Now the hex is in supply.

The CW moves some more units into Spain, and sends the transport in Capetown to off the Indian shore to pick up a corps.

Not much else happens.

Turn end roll 8. Turn does not end.

[Courtenay]

M/A Axis #15: Weather 4+2; St, R, F, F, R, F.

Ge land, It combined, Ja Land.

The Italians replace their convoys in the Western Med.

The Japanese continue to move units east, while other units head for the coast. No one is ready for war with the US at the moment, on either side.

The Italians creep foward toward Algiers,

The Germans get what feels like their first break of the game. They look at an attack on Madrid, but it is only +5, attacking with two good corp only -- an invitation to disaster. Instead, they look at Barcelona, sunny Barcelona. They throw everything they can against Barcelona, including a paradrop. Rommel provides HQ support. Three Stukas provide 16 points of ground support. The Italian NAV chased the British battleships out of the seazone, saving a lot of naval gunfire support. The attack went in at +13, and the Germans rolled high, killing both Spanish units in the hex at no cost to the Germans. Suddenly the invasion of Spain looks doable.

Turn end 4, turn ends. Initiative moves to +0; this will be the first time this game the Allies have a chance to reroll.

[Courtenay]

The allies were not expecting the possibility of a double move; the Germans can put the northern British force out of supply; they are already out of position. The Allies did not expect Barcelona to fall so easily. Next turn's initiative will be crucial.

[Courtenay]

The first good partisan of the game appears, in China, a 2-1. Rather than just blocking a resource,

the Chinese put it on the Chihkiang road.

The British move a corps into Singapore. A bad corps, but a corps. The US garrisons Midway.

The British used six oil, the French one.
The German used three, the Italians two, and Japanese a couple.

Here are the destroyed units for the turn:

[Courtenay]

I forgot to mention: The Spanish fighter was interned in Portugal.

Production:

Ge 25+0: MECH, 2xINF, MIL, Fi-2, 2xLND-2, 2xPi, Finish 2 Sub; No BP saved
It 8+0; INF, Repair Calio Dulia, Garibaldi, Pola
Ja 15+0: ENG, 2xTER, 2xCVP, Pi, Finish Junyo, Hiyo Repair Atago No BP saved

Germans build 7-4 white print INF, 6-3 INF, Hamburg MIL 6 pt rng 4 and 4 pt rng 6 Ju 97 D & R (last land 2s), 6 pt rng 3 ftr (Bf109 F04), 10-5 SS white print MECH, 5 pt 5-3 Sub and 3 pt 6-3 Sub;
Italians build 5-4 INF (last INF);
Japanese build Harbin and Souel TER, and 1-4 ENG, 3-5 size 4 CVP and 3-2 size 2 CVP.

Ch: 5+1; 2xGAR, CAV XX, save one BP;
CW: 25+0: 2xMOT, 2xFi-2, NAV-4, 3xPi, complete Implacable;
US: 31+0; INF, GAR, FI-2, CVP-1, 2xPi, Finish AMPH, Finish Iowa, Repair Nelson, Repair Perth, Start 2xTRS, CVL, Finish 2 Sub;
SU: 16+0; ARM, INF (last INF), ENG, Fi-2, Pi.

Chinese build 4-1 GAR and 5-1 Com GAR (last GAR), and 1-5 CAV XX
CW build 7-5 MOT and 6-4 NZ MOT, 6 pt range 5 Spitfire VB and 5 pt range 6 Hurricane IIC, and a Sunderland
US builds 5-3 INF and 6-1 GAR (last GAR), 4 pt P39D. (Can you say reserve pool for the rest of the game? Yes!), 3-4 size five SBD-5. It will shrink in 1942. Subs were 4 pt 5-2 and 2 pt 6-3. TRSs were 4-3 and 5-4 Transport, last TRS. CVL was the Belleau Wood.
SU built 9-5 white print ARM, 6-3 white print INF (last INF), and 5 pt range 3 MIG-1. At least its a fighter that belongs in the same sky as the German ones.

Allies support Spain! US entry roll 4; a two is added to the Ge/It entry pool.

Ge/It entry 46; Ge/It Tension 21; Chance of DOW 50%
Ja entry 41; Ja Tension 30; Chance of DOW 20% (but will go to 40% when US gets fleet in Pearl.)

Here are next turn's reinforcements:

[Courtenay]

I was clearly tired last night when I wrote the last AAR; I left out the most important part.

The US put another four in the Ja entry pool. They then picked "Relocate Fleet to Pearl Harbor. They rolled a 6 for tension, just low enough to move a chit. The chit that moved was the four! They then picked "Resources to USSR", which was probably a mistake, but they got away with it, rolling a ten, for no chit move. Only at this point did I take a good look at the "It's War" chart, and did not make another pick. The US wants a little more tension in the Ge/IT pools, but absolutely does not in the Japanese pool. The Axis was lucky that big chit moved into the Japanese tension pool.