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Pekkavilamoura wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2026 11:07 pm

Taifun wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2026 8:31 pm

firsteds wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2026 1:36 pm New ELO game started:

Firsteds (Axis) v Umeu (Allies). Usual rules. Let's go!

Great game! Great you are back for a game Umeu

The Idol is back!! Great news for the community! Have a good game and good luck firsteds, you'll need it

London has fallen.

These three words shocked the globe, British high-command first among them. They had cracked the German code for operation Sealion upon conception, months in advance of its implementation. They had devised a counterplan which could not fail, the German operation was doomed before it had even started, or so they believed. When the inept German generals bumbled their way through Belgium and France, taking enormous losses, the British generals threw a party and went on holiday. The politicians decided there was no more need for an army as the Germans were practically defeated, and instead money was invested in naval and industrial technology instead of buying a third Anti-Air battery and preparing another corps for the defense of Britain.

This decision of impeccable Tory hubris damn near scuttled the Allied campaign.

The Germans, well aware that their code had been broken, doubled down on their folly. A joint Italo-German venture turned London into a Gothic adaptation of Dante's inferno, while bombs as well as little green men fell from the sky. It was followed by the Divine (or Satanic) comedy. The RAF, supported by Royal Navy Carriers, proved to be toothless in the skies, outskilled and outdared by the Luftwaffe. The veteran core of strategic and carrier bomber pilots was torn out of the heart of the RAF/RN command in a desperate attempt to put render the London harbor inoperable. With despair the British High command saw their plans turns sour as the garrisons placed in defense of strategic towns and cities were mopped up with little resistance, and wave after wave of amphibious assaults washed upon British shores. When the tanks arrived, it all seemed lost.

The 7th Armoured arrived in Manchester in the nick of time. Lord Gort VC was sacked and Monty assumed command. The 10th Armoured and BEF army were en route from Egypt and France respectively, after a foolish Italian probe stirred the Americans into action. It turned out, they were not needed. Monty's miracle, they called it. The 1st BEF corps, withdrawn after the fall of France, stunned the German panzers, though they suffered immense losses. The 7th Armoured came in to break the panther's back, and the 2nd BEF Corps provided the coup de grace. England was saved, but the road to London would prove long and arduous, and full of unforeseen obstacles.

Maybe if the German High Command had sent more panzers to the British shores, things would have gone different. Monty's miracle had decimated the offensive capacity of the British army. The RAF was grounded after horrendous losses in the Battle for Britain's skies. But the Germans had lost many panzers in France, and were perhaps too hesitant to commit more. Instead, they poured their resources into diplomacy. The fall of London enticed Madrid and Istanbul to listen to the twisted lies of German diplomats. Franco mobilized his forces, the Turks followed soon after. With British prestige and wealth greatly diminished as a result of the fall of London, there was naught the Empire could do to stop it. Even the puny Yugoslavs could not be persuaded to rise in revolt, and instead, their craven king joined the Germans too.

Malta fell. Gibraltar was assaulted by Franco's forces. The Royal Navy sent enough stuka bombers into the straight to build a bridge from Gibraltar to Morocco, but it did not matter. Maritime bombers from Germany and Italy arrived and forced the Royal Navy to retreat, leaving behind the Long-Range Desert Group, which had walked over water from Alexandria to Gibraltar in a heroic yet ill-advised attempt to delay the fall of Gibraltar. They held out for two months, much shorter than they had believed they were capable of. The German power in the air proved decisive yet again. Rumor has it that last remnants went underground, spirited away by SOE agents, ready to wreak havoc upon German supply lines come winter.

The last man out of Gibraltar was Admiral Edward-Collins, keeping the ports open long enough for the Royal Navy to refuel en route to calmer seas.

Will they return for another round with the Luftwaffe over London skies? Or are they eastbound, to face the Kido Buntai in the Bay of Bengal?

Elsewhere, things did not go much better for the British Empire. The WDF executed a textbook Triple Tripoli, but suffered unexpected losses on route to Tobruk, where fierce fighting took place until the stronghold finally surrendered. The British dominions, supported by the Crown of India, also suffered heavier casualties than planned in the vast expanses of East Africa. Overall, the British war-effort is in tatters. The army battered, the navy scattered, morale shattered. Forgot the RAF you say? Well, they never mattered.

Perhaps the only reason the British High Command is not the global laughingstock, is because arguably the Japanese campaign in China has been even more disastrous. A poorly executed advance into Northern China turned into a rout of the South as the Chinese forces surgically decapitated the viper's head at Tientsin, south of Beijing. Their forces poured in, cutting off supply, and never let go. Without the railroad from Seoul, the Japanese evacuated most of their forces in Southern China, clinging only to slivers of land around Shanghai and Nanjing. Despite Japan pushing China back to their initial positions around Chengchow, a stalemate occurred because the mountains around Suchow remained firmly in Chinese hands.

With the USA and USSR alarmed and well-prepared after the fall of London, the German-Italo alliance high on steroids after their string of victories, and the Japanese war effort in disarray after the loss of much of mainland China, nobody knows which way the dust shall settle, only that the storm is far from dying down.

London has fallen.

firsteds wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 8:49 am

London has fallen.

Thanks Umeu it's been an epic game already. It's now April 1941 and the Axis still cling on to London although the Allies will probably retake it next turn. The Axis is generally scrambling to prep for Barbarossa and Pearl Harbor. The clock is ticking because USSR and USA mobilisation is very high. Turkey, Spain and Yugoslavia have joined the Axis so MPPs are high, but there are a lot of units to strengthen and upgrade. Turkey can threaten the Caucasus which is a bonus.

I am quite proud of my Sealion in this game. Massive risk to try it against a top player who was prepared for Sealion from the very start (thanks Forum!). It works best as a surprise. Anyway, Sealion has done its job, bringing in Spain and Turkey and helping to take Malta and Gibraltar. I will lose an HQ soon and I have already lost one Panzer unit near Cambridge. But I think there is no doubt that I will face further suffering in this game as Umeu is a fantastic player and when we have clashed on other fronts I have been soundly beaten. I fight hard. He fights smart. I have lots to learn.

Much depends on Stalin...