Courtenay's solitaire AAR

[Courtenay]

The Chinese scrap their remaining 3 point FTR.

The US lends their Buffalo to the CW, who go, "Gee, um, thanks?"
The US lends the remaining Kittyhawk to the Chinese.

Ch: 5+1: FTR-2, ART, no build points saved;
CW: 22+0: HQ-I, 2xINF, 2xFTR-2, 2xPi, CVP-1, start TRS, no build points saved;
US: 54+0: ARM, MOT XX, 2xINF, 2xFTR-2, 2xNAV-3, 4xCP-1, 7xPi, Start AMPH, Start Princeton, Finish Alabama (4), Repair HMAS Sydney, start sub, finish sub, 1 build point saved;
SU: 16+0: ARM, 3xMIL, FTR, Pi.

The Chinese really wish they had the five point Kittyhawk that went to the CW. The CW, however, thinks that they need a five point fighter that can reach the three box in the Med more than the Chinese need to defend against strat bombing. It is a very useful plane; I do not know where it belongs.

The Chinese build the Kittyhawk (str 4, range 8) and the Nationalist Chinese ART (3-2).

The CW rebuild Alexander, get a 5-3 Ind and a 6-3 Can INF, the 5 point Kittyhawk, a 5 point RSA Spitfire, and a 3-3 (size 3) Albacore, and started a range 4 TRS,

Where is the US O-chit? One can't use an O-chit until there are units to O, and right now the US doesn't have very many units. Also, an O-chit built this turn will arrive in J/F 42; even if I had one, I will not be using an O-chit in a J/F turn. What the US really regrets not building are LND bombers; however, the defensive units -- FTRs and NAVs -- are needed more.

The US builds an 8-6 white print ARM, a 1-5 MOT XX, an SBC-4 (0-3, size 1), 2xSBD 4, (4-2), SBD-5 (3-4), start start a 5 point 5-2 SUB, and finish a 3 point 5-3 SUB.

The US is not happy with its carrier planes; it wants some planes with 5 air-to-air factors.

The Russians really weren't wild about building that ARM, but they couldn't build what they really wanted -- 6 MIL units -- because of gearing limits. Unfortunately, they got the worst of their two remaining ARM units, a 6-6. For what's its worth, the Russian built the Saratov, Rostov, and Tashkent Mil. It doesn't make too much difference what MIL exactly were built, as they all will be built fairly shortly anyway.

[Courtenay]

In conquest, the Japanese conquer the Netherlands East Indies, Malaya, Papau New Guinea, and the Territory of New Guinea.

In the first significant Allied conquest of the war, Sardinia is conquered by the Commonwealth.

(Significant means ignoring Vichy territory that went to Germany in the collapse Vichy bug.)

Here are the destroyed units for the turn:

[Courtenay]

S/O 41

Somehow the French have lost all their oil. As a result, the trade from France to the USSR is cancelled, and the US announces it is trading oil to France. Also, the US cancels its trade to China, as the resource it was trading is now under Japanese control. The US trades 3 BPs to the UK.

The CW pulls a Nimrod off the map; this leaves one CV without a plane, but the CW wants to replace it with a Swordfish next turn.

The Russians pull an I-16 off the map; it will be replaced with a MiG-1 next turn.

The US is pleased to get the Hornet, with a decent CVP. The Japanese are even more pleased to put fouf CVPs on carriers that had no planes, including half the historical Pearl Harbor attack force.

Initiative: Allies 8, Axis 2.

The Axis looks at the map, and thinks that it has a much better chance of taking Gibraltar if they go first. They demand a reroll. The Axis rolls an 8, and gets excited. The Allies roll a 9. Allies go first.

[Courtenay]

S/O Allied #1: Weather: 3, Fine everywhere, impulse advance 1.

The Soviet Union declares war on Persia.

US, UK, Fr, naval; SU and China land.

The UK had a hard decision this turn -- do a combined and kill Italians in Egypt, or do a naval to better protect Gibraltar. Gibraltar is more important, so the UK picked naval.

In naval air I find that I made a mistake with the UK -- I had forgotten that the Mosquito was not a twin engined fighter, and did not land it in range of Cape St. Vincent. The CW send the Mosquito to the three box in the Western Med, and a Beaufighter to the three box of Cape St. Vincent.

Transports move all over the place: The Queens deliver a MOT to Malta, which is immediately picked up by an AMPH that moves to the eastern Med. The CW INF XX from Sardinia joins it. Montgomery and a UK P-40 sail into Casablanca, while the ARM in Gibraltar sails for the Eastern Med. The ARM is Gibraltar is replaced by the US 8-5 Res MOT. Two US INF, a Brazilian MOT, a UK 6 point Spitfire, and an empty TRS wind up in Cape St Vincent, along with a lot of escorts, and battleships in the three box. I decide that Fiji is not the place for Clark, and move him to Auckland. A TRS moves from Pago Pago all the way back to San Diego. The UK submarines move to the Bay of Bengal, the US ones to the South China Sea. Escorts move to a great many places. Additional CPs are added to the North Atlantic route, for the BPs the US is sending to England, and for to the Carribean and Mouths of the Amazon, for the oil the US is sending to France.

In naval combat, the the UK tries to find the Japanese in the Bay of Bengal. The Japanese fly a NAV to the zero box. To everyone's astonisment, the UK rolls a 1 and the Japanese a 10. The Japanese CP is destroyed. The UK stays in the sea area, but does not commit its SUBs in the second round. In the China Sea, MWiF points out a plane that I had missed: the Japanese ATR. It flies to the three box; while a NAV flies to zero box. The US rolls a four, the Japanese a three, so one US SUB engages the Japanese ATR. The result is a damaged US sub. The US decides to be cowardly, and does not continue the fight. The Japanese are relieved that the combats were done in that order; if the US had had the British luck, the Japanese convoy system would be wrecked.

[Courtenay]

S/O Allied #1, continued:

The Russians rail MIL to the border.

The Chinese put another INF in the line, and ooze forward near Kunming. The Chinese communist start the newly arrived 1-5 CAV forward. In Persia, the main invasion force works its way down the coast of Caspian Sea (being kept in supply by the CP in the Caspian Sea that the Russians set up their at the start of the game), and the Mongolian CAV advances on Teheran from the east. Konev starts working his way slowly down the railroad. The Mongolian CAV is important, because it forces the Persians to defend Teheran itself, rather than defending in the mountains. If the Persians attempted to defend in the mountains the Mongolians would walk into the Teheran. Would you want a Mongol horde advancing into your capital city?

The Nationalist Chinese discover to their surprise that they have a partisan. It is in the Netherlands East Indies, and the Chinese inherited it when the Japanese conquered the NEI. The program is perfectly correct; the Chinese run the partisan. I am just not used to having the Nationalist Chinese control any partisans. The partisan mpves into Tarakan. The Japanese can easily destroy it; it just takes up time and effort that the Japanese would want to spend on other things, like taking Manila.

The Russians paradrop a Corps into the northernmost Persian oil resource.

The UK flies the Spitfire aboard a TRS in Cape St. Vincent to Tangiers. The Russiand fly a bomber to
within range of Teheran, with the Mongolians.

Nimitz reorganizes the Hornet two BBs that were not reorganized last turn to save oil and the Hornet. Clark reorganizes the TRS in Auckland. The empty TRS in Cape St. Vincent reorganizes the US TRS in Gibraltar. At this point WiF informs me that the AMPH in the Eastern Med is empty. Oops. I will live with the error, and use the AMPH to reorganize the Queens.

[Courtenay]

S/O 41: Axis #2

Germany and Italy declare war on Yugoslavia and Portugal; Japan also declares war on Portugal.

The Portuguese set up a GAR in the woods west of Lisbon, so that the Germans can't get to Lisbon in one turn. The Portuguese INF sets up in the Azores, with a CP, while the Portuguese SCS sets up in Lisbon.

The Yugoslavs defend Belgrade and Zagreb with two units, and the Mountains north and south of Zagreb with one unit each.

The Germans align Rumania. This may be a mistake, as it gives the Russians another resource, but it does give the Germans more units.

Ge land, It and Ja Naval.

The Germans put a 6 point FTR into the 2 box of Cape St Vincent, where it is joined by an Italian NAV.

The Italians put the bulk of thier fleet into the Eastern Med, with a substaintial force in the Italian Coast. The Western Med is left vacant.

The Japanese move Yamashita and a MECH to the Bay of Bengal, and the Tokyo MIL, a 5-3 INF, and the MAR unit to the South China Sea. The send the Kaga an some cruisers to the Red Sea, and four carriers to Polynesia. The US realizes it made a mistake putting a large fleet in a port which only touches one sea zone; the Japanese realize that they made a mistake basing their fleet in Rabaul rather than Truk; Truk is actually closer to Polynesia than Rabaul is.

Various cruisers defend sea lanes, and the Akagi goes to the China Sea, to prevent a disaster.

The Japanese send three corps to the South China Sea and Yamashita to the Bay of Bengal. The Japanese

move a Division to Bandur Shapur, Persia, to prevent the Russians from capturing more oil. The

Japanese put a division in the Solomons.

The Germans attempt to initiate combat in Cape St Vincent; another Italian NAV flies to the two box. The Germans roll an eight, and the Allies a two. The Allies abort the combat. If their Mosquito was in the three box, where it should be, the Allies would happily have accepted combat.

Both sides find each other in the Red Sea. The Japanese send HMS Bonaventure to the bottom. The CW abandons the sea zone, a cruiser and a CP head for Bombay.

The Japaneese Kwajalein based subs try to engage in Mendocino and Clarion (outside US air cover). Nobody finds anybody.

In Polynesia, again, nobody finds anyone.

In the eastern Med, the Allies try and engage the Italians. I discover that a rule has been changed on me -- a clarification has been issued about limited supply across straights, which I profoundly disagree with. Because of it, the Gemran 6 point fighter in Sicily can't trace to an oil point, and is not reorganized. In the first round, the Allies roll a 1, and are happy. The Italians roll a 2. The Allies look, and realize that the Italains have a stronger force than they do, and so pick a naval air, and then commit their CVP as a fighter, since the Italian AA is more than strong enough to stop it totally. In the second round, the Allies roll an 8. The Axis is happy. The Italians roll an 9. No combat. Next game I play, I will not use limited supply across straits.

[Courtenay]

S/O Axis 41 #2, continued:

A 4 point Stuka bombs Zagreb; it only flips one unit.

The Germans move to attack the Portuguese sacrificial unit, Belgrade, and Zagreb. The attack on the the Portuguese is automatic. That on Belgrade is almost so: +18; it succeeds without loss. (Although I forget to advance after combat. Oops There is time to take Belgrade later, so I won't worry about this.). The attack on Zagreb uses two ENGs and Manstein; this gets it up to a 12.75. The incremental odds roll succeeds, but the Germans only roll a 7, losing the ENG unit. However, without the ENGs being used for their combat effect, Zagreb would not have been taken this impuse. I realize that the Yugoslavs made a mistake in their set up -- their HQ should have been set up outside the city, so that it could have provided HQ support. I will try and remember this for later use.

The Italians rebase a bad bomber back towards Italy. The Germans fly a FTR to La Spezia, where it

covers the Italian CPs, Turin, and Milan, and can fly to the Italian Coast. The Japanese fly a NAV to

Rabaul and a Zero to Truk.

[Courtenay]

S/O Allied #3: Weather 9, St, R, R, St, F, F, Impulse advance 2, +1 modifier.

US, CW, Fr: Naval, SU, Ch land

In the Pacific, the US fleet in Pago Pago leaves port, as a group. The Japanese carrier force attempts to intercept. The Japanese roll a 6. If the Japanese had had their carrier fleet in Truk, this would have been good enough, but since they are in the three box, it missed. The US fleet moves to the Solomons, and I discover a bug -- MWiF won't let the US fleet go to separate sea boxes. I back up, and have the US move as seperate naval groups, so the carriers and escorting cruisers go to the four box, and the battleships to the two box. The Hornet, from Pearl, with its Wildcat, joins the carriers in the four box. A lesson learned: The Japanese fleet should be based in Truk, not Rabaul. The sea areas sometimes correlate strangely with real distances. Examples are the fact that Ceylon and Singapore are the same distance from Suez, and that Midway and Pearl Harbor are the same distance from the South China Sea.

Many ships from Matla go to eastern Med; a US cruiser force, escorted by a CW carrier, goes to the four box of the Italian coast. Two US TRS with INFs move to Lisbon. The US TRS in Gibraltar moves to Cape St. Vincent, as do the Queens and another CW TRS. One CW TRS manages to sneek through Cape St. Vincent, where it moves to the Faroes Gap and picks up an ARM corps. The CW wants to land the ARM in the Eastern Med, but can't, because it is on the Spanish TRS, which move into Egypt because of foriegn troop commitment rules. The CW is a little worried about this, but not too much. What could possibly go wrong?

[Courtenay]

S/O Allied #3, continued:

The Allies try to engage the Italians in the Eastern Med. In the first round of combat, the Italians roll a 2 and the Allies a 6. This is enough surprise points against the zero box for the Italians to both pick the combat type and to select the first target. They pick the Spanish TRS. It and a CW ARM corps go to the bottom of the Mediterranean, as does HMAS Adelaide. One CW cruiser is damaged. The Itailans do not get off completely undamaged; the CL Abruzzi is damaged. In the second round, the CW rolls a 1 and the Italians an 8. The CW engages only the zero box. The Italians use an X on a CP, and also lose the Montecuccoli; the Giussano and the Cadorna are damaged. The Allies suffer one A result, and put it on the Duke of York. To their astonishment, they roll a 1, and the Duke of York is out of the fight. In the third round, the Italians again roll a 2 and the Allies a 6; the Italians decide to engage the British in the zero box. The Allies lose a CP, and two CW cruisers are damaged. In the fourth round, the Italians roll a 3, and the Allies a 5; the Italians decide to engage the zero box, which only contains a Spitfire at this point, and then cancel the combat. (Only a few Italian cruisers were in the four box; even with surprise points, they did not want to engage the Allied forces in the either the three or four boxes.

In the Italian Coast, the US rolls a 1, the Italians a 10. The US could blow up another Italian CP, but instead think that they will never get a better chance to inflict damage on the Italian fleet, and engage Bolzono, Gorizia, Pola, and Trento with Brooklyn, Louisville, Pensacola, Quincy, HMAS Australia, and ESPS Méndez Núñez. The Italians roll well on their damage rolls, and nothing is sunk. Gorizia, Pola, and Trento are damaged, while Méndez Núñez is sent back to Malta. Nobody finds anyone the second round.

In Cape St. Vincent, the Allies try and find the Axis. However, the Axis finds the Allies instead, and engages only the zero box. The Allied fighters roll nothing but 11's and 12's while the Germans roll a 16 and a 19, killing a Spitfire II and a Hurricane and their pilots. The Allied AA fire and bad weather save the Allies from taking any losses; but a TRS and the Queens are aborted. Again, no body found anyone the second round.

In the Solomons, the Japanese react a Zero and a range 14 NAV to the three box. The Japanese roll a three, and the US a two. With their two surprise points, the US reduces the Japanese air-to-air value. In air combat, the Japanese roll a 12, the US a 2. The Zero goes into the drink, but the pilot survives. The Japanese NAV pilots contemplate the six .50 Brownings on the Wildcat, and decide to leave. Two SBDs fly through to the two Japanese cruisers untouched, and inflict an X, D and 2 A. The Japanese roll remarkably well on their damage rolls, with Abukuma being damaged and sent home. The remaining cruiser then abandons the sea area. Abukuma was carrying an INF XX; it will appear in next turn's reinforcements in Japan.

In rail movement, the Russians shuffle units around; sending bad garrison units to the Far East, and pulling a 6-3 INF out of the Far East.

The rain in the Med saves Teheran from attack this turn, as the Russian invasion stack inches forward through the mountains next to the Caspian sea.

[Courtenay]

S/O 41 Axis #5:

Ge, Ja, combined, It naval.

The Italians try to get a CP through the US blocade of the Italian coast, and succeed in doing so. The Germans sail their surface fleet to Cape St. Vincent. The Japanese move a CP to the Coral Sea, and then some cruisers pick up the ENG in port Moresby (the CP was needed to get it into supply).

The Germans search for the Allies. The CW puts more fighters into the zero box. The Germans roll a three to the Allied four. The Germans decide to eliminate the Allied units not protected by air cover, sinking the Portuguese destroyer flotilla and damaging a cruiser. The second round, nobody finds anybody.

All searches fail in the Western Med.

The German make an attack on Lisbon. The US units are flipped; I had forgotten that they would be, but the program remembered. If I had remembered, the US might not have moved there. There is no German air power in range of Lisbon. Both sides provide shore bombardment, despite the rain. The Germans roll a 15, getting a 1S result, killing both units. The Germans wonder where that roll was when they attacked Gibraltar.

The Japanese invade Noumea. They thought about invading directly onto the resource, but Noumea is better, because it prevents the Allies from sailing a corps into the hex.

[Courtenay]

An unrecoverable bug means that I have to undo the turn all the way back to start of the turn. I had played all the way to the end of the turn. I could replay the turn exactly as in my records, but I am not going to do that. The Axis had one great success -- the destruction of the British ARM corps. The Allies had one great success -- the destruction of the German High Seas fleet. I will regard the restart forced by the bug as a learning experience, and try the whole turn over again. For fun's sake, I include the destroyed list from the abortive S/O 41.

[AxelNL]

You could progress again using this

[brian brian]

I think one of my favorite Russian units is the Mongol CAV. They have taken Teheran before, though it probably had a different name, and scared the bejeebus out of Eastern Europe too. Why not let history repeat itself?

Otherwise they end up building villages in the middle of the Pripets and wait for the Russian 4 engine bombers to drop supplies every night. Or terrorizing northern Finland, but Mongols just aren't that into working in the swamps, everybody knows that.

[Courtenay]

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

You could progress again using this

Thank you.

I had restarted the turn, and it was coming out completely different (the Axis won the reroll for initiative, which changed everything), but I was not enthusiastic about redoing things.

Again, thank you.

[Courtenay]

S/O 41 Allied #7: Weather 5 (=4+1), R, F, F, R, F, F, impulse advance 1, modifier zero.

US, CW combined, Fr Naval, SU, China, land

The US port strikes La Spezia and Truk. At La Spezia, the US, with two surprise points, manages to abort the defending Me 110. The US sinks an Italian CP, and aborts few ships. At Truk, the US has six surprise points, and negates the Japanese air to air fire. The US gets an X + 2D + 2A. The Japanese save against all five damage rolls; the result is that the Chikuma is damaged.

The Australian NAV flies from Brisbane to the Coral Sea.

The CW moves units into Cape St Vincent from both Gibraltar and Liverpool. This leaves the Eastern Med without a convoy point. The US sails a MAR from San Francisco, moves a convoy point to East Polynesia, and moves a cruiser in the Mediterranean. The French send their range six sub to the Italian coast.

Searches are made in Cape St. Vincent, the Italian Coast, the Western Med, and the Coral Sea. The lowest roll anyone made was six; the average was over eight. No one found anyone.

With the German fighter in Italy diverted, strat bombing raids are again made against Turin and Milan . The one on Turin hits one point, the one on Milan fails.

The CW bomber in Egypt ground strikes the Italian supply unit, and flips it. The US ART and the CW bomber in Algiers attempt to flip Graziani, next to Algiers; both fail.

The Russians make it to Teheran. The Mongol horde takes Bandar Shah. The out of supply Parachute unit moves north along the railroad. The Russians send 14 points of ground units and more than that in ground support against Teheran, and roll well, killing it without loss.

A Russian TRS reorganizes the parachute unit.

[Courtenay]

S/O 41 Axis #8:

Ge, Ja land, It combined.

The Italians take a combined so that they can make a search in Cape St. Vincent.

The Italians search in Cape St. Vincent. No one finds anyone.

The Germans send two Stukas to ground strike Gibraltar, and two Stukas to ground strike Tangiers. There are far too many German planes in range of Gibraltar for the British to contemplate flying there, so they fight at Tangiers, throwing a Spitfire, an Albacore a Beuafighter, and another CVP into the battle. The Germans respond with three 109s and a 110. The Germans start with a +1 advantage. The first round, both sides rolled an 11. The Germans clear through a 6 point Stuka. In the second round, both sides shot down the other's front fighter. Both sides elected to stay. The Germans shot down the CVP, but the Allies roll a three, and shoot down the second Stuka. With nothing left to fight for, the Allies leave. The AA gun in Gibraltar fires over Tangiers, and manages to knock off three bombing points on lowest 1 of six. In Gibraltar, the US 8-5 is flipped, while in Tangiers, the 7-4 Mot is flipped; MacArthur is not.

The Germans rail a couple more units east.

The Germans shuffle units around in Spain, and start marching most of the Yugoslav invasion forces east. The Bulgarians capture the two Yugoslav resources and the rail lines needed to use them, while the Italians grab the rail line to Pola. On Cyprus, the INF XX is ordered to defend the resource hex, abandoning Nicosia. The Japanese move up to prepare for the attack on Singapore. They also finally take an undefended Hong Kong.

Rather than torture myself trying to do complex calculations, I save the game and declare attacks on Gibraltar and Singapore. I will ignore the die roll; I just want to see what the odds are are. If it weren't raining in Malaya I would certainly attack there; as it is, the rain prevented a MECH from moving next to Singapore, imposed a minus two penalty, and reduced the naval gunfire support. The Singapore attack is a plus 10. Wait for better weather or more units. Gibraltar is a +3. This is too low to bother with.

The Japanese invade Tarakan; with support from several battleships, an overwhelming attack is achieved, and the partisan is destroyed. MWiF showed why a computer is sometimes better than a human -- it remembered to flip the MIL that invaded, as it does not have enough movement points to enter the hex in the rain. I forgot this; the program didn't.

The Germans reorganize a Stuka with von Leeb.

The Japanese fly their remaining Zero down to Feni, between New Ireland and Bouganville, as this gives the most coverage. It plans to target the Australian NAV.

[Courtenay]

S/O 41 Allied #9: Weather 4, weather fair everywhere, imp advance 1, mod 0.

US, CW combined, Fr Naval, SU and China land.

The US and CW take combineds because they don't have much left.

The CW suddenly remembers the Yugoslav navy, which I had completely forgotten. It moves to sea, and the Italians attempt to intercept. They fail. The Yugoslav navy moves into the eastern Med, where it keeps the supply lines open. It is joined by a couple of very bad cruisers from Gibraltar. The US sends its remaining carriers out to the Marianas, now that there is no longer a Zero covering the area. The French and the Americans both put extra CPs in Cape St. Vincent. The Allies want convoy points other than British ones in the Med.

The CW attepts to find the Italians in the Eastern Med. The CW rolls a 3, the Italians a 5. Both sides find each other, but the Italians find only with the four cruisers in the four box. The Allies look at the forces available, and disdain an air action; they will inflict more damage with a surface action. They will take more damage, but that is acceptable. They use their surprise points to move the Italian combat column down, and suffere 2D's and an A. This damages and aborts USS San Franciso and aborts USS Philadelphia. The Italians, on the other hand, have the Fiume sunk and the Zara damaged and aborted. In the second round of combat, the CW rolls a ten. The Italians think that now is their chance for revenge, and roll a nine.

In the Italian Coast, the US rolls a 1. The Italians roll a 7. The US picks a surface action against the zero box, as this is certain to force the Italian CP out of area. The Italians decide to destroy the CP, and the Duca D'Aosta rolls a 1 against a D result and is damaged. Subsequetntly it is aborted by two A results. The Brooklyn is aborted. The US is elated -- it is now time for the CW to attack in Egypt. The CW is less elated -- they actually have to attack now, people can get killed doing things like that. The Italians now have to decide if they are sticking around. They look at the fact that they are very low on ships, and decideto pull their single cruiser back.

In Cape St. Vincent, Axis disaster. For the second time this turn, the Allies roll a 1, and the Axis a 10. It is worse, because the Axis moved all their ships to the three box, where they are not protected by air cover. There was a reason for this -- they Axis wanted to use shore bombardment -- not a good reason, but a reason. The Allies have four CW carrier planes, a US carrier plane, and the Catalinas. They reduce the Axis antiaircraft fire to lowest 1/3, from lowest one of one. The Germans roll a five, a five, and a three. The Allies increase their attack to 4X's and an A. The target is clear: the first strike goes against the Bismark, damaging it. The Germans put the second strike onto the Blucher, which goes down. The third strike goes into the damaged Bismark, putting it on the bottom of the sea. The fourth X goes for the Karlsruhe, which sinks as it rolls a one. The abort sends the Deutshchland home. In the second round of combat, no one found anyone.

In the Marianas, the Allied luck continues, as the US finds the Japanese and the Japanese don't find the Americans. Four allied CVPs (on two carriers) attack. The Japanese, on lowest one of five, manage to roll a four. The US gets an X and a coupld of A's. They have to decide whether to go for the cruiser or to sink a CP. They decide to get rid of the cruiser, and the Jintsu goes to the bottom. They Americans are hoping that Tanaka went down with his flagship. The CP aborted to Legaspi.

All in all, a tremendously lucky turn for the Allies, who did not need the luck. The Axis did not out roll them once, and the Allies found the Axis in four different sea areas. The odds of that happening are less than one in 16.

[Courtenay]

S/O 41 Allied #9, continued:


No air operations.

The US rails a 5-3 INF into Algiers, and the Russians rail a 1-5 CAV XX all the way from the far east to L'vov. The CW rails the Kenyan Ter from Calcuta to Nagpur, to leave room for the INF coming next turn.

The US moves Eisenhower to Tangiers, as the CW pulls a MOT out. The CW moves its artillery from Tangiers to one hex east, where it won't be hit by Axis ground support. The CW moves its MOT out of Cagliari onto the resource hex. Cagliari is reserved for a different nationality. The Russians move the out-of-supply parachutist up the railroad, where it is met by the Mongolian horde; this connects the oil to the Russian rail network, via the CP in the Caspian Sea. The Teheran attack force moves west as far as it can., with the two infantry units flipping to do so. Hmm. I wonder where they are going?

The CW attacks! Wavell, a MOT ENG, and a MOT Corps attack. Both sides put in maximum naval gunfire, so the final odds are completely unaffected. Wavell provides HQ support. The attack goes in a +13.5, and the Allies make the incremental odds roll. They then proceed to roll a 5, getting a 1/B result. This is not what the Allies wanted; they have the Italians stay on the map. The one good thing from the Allied perspective is that they captured the Italian supply unit. Balbo and the Italian MoT are retreated inland from the desert. Getting them back in supply will be very, very hard for the Italians. The Allied ENG dies. The UK is upset; the only rolls where they would have taken a casualty were two and five. They UK remains very, very dubious about the whole "attack" concept.

[Courtenay]

S/O 41 Axis #10:

Ge Land, It, Ja combined.

The Japanese move their Zero into the Coral Sea.

The Japanese are running out of uncommitted ships. They evacuate Truk, except for the disorganized Kongo, as they don't want to suffer another port strike, and send a single cruiser to fight two in the Arabian Sea. The Italians decide that they don't want to abandon the eastern Med, as they would have to get through the Italian Coast in the zero box.

In the Coral Sea, the Japanese attempt to find the CW NAv. They fail; the CW NAV doesn't find anything either.

In Cape St. Vincent, the Axis gives it one last try. The Allies put their last fighters into the zero box. The result is another Axis naval disaster: Allied search 2, Axis 9. Again there is a major air assault on the German fleet. The Allies shift the German column, to -1/3. The Germans knock two points off the Allied strength. The Allies adjust their attack three columns up. They inflict 3X, D, 2A. The first X goes against the Scharnhorst, and damages it. The Germans are sick of losing cruisers, and put the second X on the Gneisenau. Mistake. They roll a 1, and the Gneisenau sinks. The third X sinks the Scharnhorst. A D goes on the Admrial Scheer, which damages it. The Allies put an A on the Graf Spee, which leaves; then the Germans put an A on the Scheer, which stays. The Germans were hoping the Scheer would leave, too. In the second round of combat, the Germans finally find the Allies, rolling a 5, while the Allies don't find the Germans, also rolling a five. The only reason the Germans found the Allies is because the Allies put too many CPs in Cape St. Vincent. The Germans include only the zero box, giving themselves two surprise points. The Germans reduce the Allies air-to-air value. In the first combat round the Allies got a DA. The Germans put it on the front Italian LND. The Germans then shot down another Hurricane; the pilot survived. All the Allies had left in the fight was a Beaufighter, which would have had to shoot at minus -2 air to air and with a twin engine penalty. It decided to leave. The Allies roll well on the anti-air table, and the Italians only inflict a D and an A. The D goes against the TRS carrying the Brazilian MOT, the A on a US TRS. The TRS contains the Brazilians saves, the other one fails, so both abort. In the third round of combat, both sides find each other. Another air battle ensues. Several Allied CVPs are designated as fighters, rather than bombers. They aren't very good fighters, but they help, and they aren't needed as bombers. The first round, with Axis at +0 and Allies at -1, the Allies roll a DA, and the Germans abort the lead Italian NAV. The Germans roll a DC, and the Allies clear the Catalina through. In the second round, the Allies roll very low, getting an AX, and kill the He 100. The Germans respond by killing getting an AX of their own, and kill the front Allied fighter, a Hurricane IIC. Only a Me 110 is left for the Germans, while the Allies still have real fighters available, so the Germans decide to end the combat. The Germans get lowest of three again, and roll a 4, an 8 and 10. Good, but not good enough; the Allies get a single X which sends the Scheer to the bottom. The Germans abandon the sea area. The German high Seas fleet has been essentially destroyed. The Germans should have kept the fleet covered by air power, even in a lower sea box. They also should not have rolled a ten and a nine while the Allies were rolling a one and a two.
I find correcting the first error easier than correcting the second error. Not having to worry about the German surface ships will free most CW BBs to deal with the Italians and free up ships to go to the Indian Ocean.

In the Arabian Sea, one Japanese cruiser engages two British ones. Both sides find each other, with the British having a two point surprise advantage. They inflict a D, at the cost of 2 As. The Japanese save, and both CW cruisers don't save. The result of the battle is that everyone goes home.

The Axis ground strikes Gibraltar and Tangiers. The only effect is to flip MacArthur; Eisenhower remains unflipped. An attack on Gibraltar would be at most +2, and maybe as little as +0. This is not good enough.

The Italians rail an INF to Palermo. The Germans shuffle units around, sending some units to the East, and a good infantry unit to Spain.

THe Japanese move up to assault Singapore. In China, they move Umezu out of the Northern Temperate and into the Northern Monsoon, to prepare for the onset of winter. The Germans keep moving the Yugoslav invasion force east, leaving the Bulgarians to guard the resource hexes, and sending the Berlin MIL to guard the coast.

The Japanese attack Singapore, and overwhelm it. Manila is the only Allied outpost left inside Allied lines. It will not last long. Burma next after that.

[Courtenay]

Turn end roll 10. Turn continues.

S/O 41 Allied #11: Weather 10, St, R, R, St, R, F, imp advance 2, +2 modifier.

My computer shut down unexpectedly, and I lost the record of Allied #11 and Axis #13. I will try to reconstruct, but there may be mistakes and omissions. I know I should save frequently, but sometimes I forget.

The CW evacuates their ARM from the Faroes gap to Cisneros, Spanish Sahara. They would have liked to get it inside the Med, but all ports either had other nations ships in them or were filled to capacity.(the Eastern Med was too far.) Here is where not picking up a unit from Malta in the AMPH impulse one hurt. The CW adds a couple of ships to zero box of the North Atlantic.The Brazilians add a ship to the zero box in the Cape Verde Basin. The US puts cruisers in the four box of Mendocino and Clarion.

In the Eastern Med, the Allies find the Italians. They call for an air action. On lowest one of three, the Italians roll an 8, a 10, and a 6. This shows why it is good to have land based air in sea battles; rather than having a CVP and pilot shot down, the Wildebeast is aborted. The Guiulio Cesare is damaged, and the Andrea Doria is aborted. The Andrea Doria attempts to make it back to Italy. The Allies in the Italian Coast attempt to intecept, and fail. The Italians don't want to run through the Italian Coast, so elect to stay at sea. To their relief, no one finds anyone in the second round.

The US moves their ARM out of Algiers, to leave room for another unit to come in.

The CW does not attempt to invade Cyprus, as the rain provides protection against invasion.

Turn end roll high, turn continues.