Winston's Soft Underbelly -- A Dream Realized?

[rkr1958]

May/June 1943. Trade Agreements.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1943. Victory Totals.

As I mentioned in my first post I don't plan to provide a impulse by impulse account of this game. I plan to update it periodically, whether that's every turn or every few turns I don't know. But I will update at times as this game progresses.

[AlbertN]

Looks pretty much game over already if the Axis is in that shape by May / June '43.

[brian brian]

"the soft underbelly" really stretches the German land force pool - and gives Winston access to some objective hexes before the Commies can get there. but that's not very nice in a "team" game. I don't think the real Winston was interested in a team victory.

The game Allies here did just hand Goebbels a nice bump though - mandatory Sunday overtime for all German workers, a year earlier than history.

The historical Germans read the rules ahead of time and managed to ZoC all of northern Italy via Operation Alaric / Case Axis. It was a major undertaking handed to no less than Rommel, I believe.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

"the soft underbelly" really stretches the German land force pool - and gives Winston access to some objective hexes before the Commies can get there. but that's not very nice in a "team" game. I don't think the real Winston was interested in a team victory.

The game Allies here did just hand Goebbels a nice bump though - mandatory Sunday overtime for all German workers, a year earlier than history.

The historical Germans read the rules ahead of time and managed to ZoC all of northern Italy via Operation Alaric / Case Axis. It was a major undertaking handed to no less than Rommel, I believe.

Dang it! Where was Rommel when the Germans needed him. Oh ... he was in the destroyed pool. Now that explains everything. I hope he wasn't there due to anything to do with an attempted regime change. [;)]

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. Victory Totals.

Victory totals did not change from last turn (May/Jun 1943) totals. However, these unchanging totals don't mean that there wasn't action. There was and plenty of it this turn.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. Destroyed Pool.

The destroyed, and repair, pools are (in my opinion) a better indicator of the level of intensity in a turn. As you can see the Germans took it on the chin again this turn. Also, the USN took significant losses losing two new aircraft carriers and 8 carrier air units. Softening the losses for the USN a bit was that the IJN also lost two of the large aircraft carriers and 5 carrier air units.

Land Combat Breakdown: The Eastern Front: The Soviets carried out 19 land combats and the Germans 0 on the Eastern Front.

1:1B 1
2:1B 2
3:1B 3
4:1B 2
7:1B 1
3:1A 1
4:1A 2
5:1A 4
7:1A 2
Auto 1

Land Combat Breakdown: The Western Front: The Western Allies (USA & CW) conducted a total of 9 land combats and, again, the Germans launch 0.

6:1B 1
7:1B 2
4:1A 3
7:1A 1
Auto 2

Land Combat Breakdown: IJA: Japan carried out two land combats, one in China and one in the Pacific.

4:1B 1 (China)
7:1A 1 (Lae, New Guinea).

This completes the breakdown of the land combat for this turn.

Naval Action: The Atlantic

German u-boats did sortie in strength into the Faeores Gap and Bay of Biscay. However, the Western Allies successfully fought them off without loss to escorts or convoys.

Naval Action: The Pacific

The major engagement between the USN and IJN occurred in the Coral Sea. Two massive carrier fleets faced off over 4 impulses and 5 rounds of fighting. Both task force commanders made tactical errors. Because of this and the fortunate of war (i.e., luck) the strength of position for both sides ebbed and flowed during the turn.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. Repair Pool.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. The Western Front.

The Western Allies pushed forward cautiously against the Germans lines (further) into the Balkans. They also significantly reduced (i.e., eliminated) the German forces trapped in Italy. Only two German corps remain.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. The Eastern Front. North.

There was nothing cautiousness, or timid, about the Soviets push against the Germans this turn. In the north, the Soviets lifted the siege on Leningrad, push to the borders of the Baltic States and tore German Army Groups North and Center to shreds.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. The Eastern Front. South.

The Soviet push wasn't just in the North. They pushed hard in the south too. However, Soviet forces were eventually stalled due to unit disorganization. On the first impulse the Soviets saw massive numbers of units disorganized both in the south and in the north. All available Soviet HQ's were used to reorganize most of these forces. However, without an o-chit to re-organized the HQ's, this meant that further unit disorganization ended that units potential combat contribution for the turn. The Soviets did the best they could to spread those out in order to maintain their offensive momentum over the entire turn. In was in the south when things stalled first.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. The Eastern Front. Arctic.

[rkr1958]

The Coral Sea and New Guinea.

Japan continued to expand their "defensive" perimeter by a successful amphibious invasion of Lae, New Guinea and a push across the Stanley Range that cut New Guinea in half. In support of this the IJN moved a strong naval carrier force into the Coral Sea which saw the USN respond with a strong carrier force of their own. The final outcome was that the USN was able to force the IJN to retire their forces from the Coral Sea. However, this outcome was in doubt until the very last impulse. In fact, for most of the turn the IJN seemed to have the upper hand as their carrier based fighters wreaked havoc on USN bomber air crews. The naval battle of the Coral Sea was one of attrition and one in which there wasn't a decisive winner. While the majority of this naval battle was fought between carriers, there was one round of surface combat between in which IJN battleships devastated their USN and RN counterparts.

In summary, while the USN took heavier losses than the IJN, it's the USN that controls the Coral Sea area at the end of the day.

By the way, this and the following screen caps (for this turn) were taken before the return to base (RTB) phase.

P.S. Note to Bo. Notice that I'm used the Ctrl-H form.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. IJN. The Pacific Shield.

Storms in the North Monsoon for the entire turns limited action in the other Pacific Sea areas to the Solomons and the Central Pacific (next post). USN land based air power was able to drive away IJN surface patrols leaving that area to the control of t he USA.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. The Central Pacific.

The IJN sent a small carrier force into the Central Pacific to try to siphon off USN forces which could be sent to the Coral Sea. The USN didn't take the bait and sent all available forces there (i.e., to the Coral Sea). However, this ceded control of the Central Pacific to the Japanese, for this turn anyway. Again, this screen cap was taken before the RTB phase in which the lone USN ship there returned to Midway.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. Japan.

The Akagi along with a number of CVLs who lost their air squadrons in combat this turn returned to Tokyo to get replacement air squadrons.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. Reserve Pool.

If not all, most Japanese aircrews survive the loss of their air squadrons this turn. Japan has 10 pilots in reserve and way fewer air units. Japan has way more pilots than air units.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. China. North Temperate.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. China. North Monsoon.

[rkr1958]

Jul/Aug 1943. Italy.

While Italy is still in the game (i.e., incomplete conquest), they just barely exist. They have 5 land units and absolutely no economy.