Axis Only. Ronnie vs Composer99.

[Centuur]

I would not ask for a reroll if the Axis lose the initiative. However, going first would be nice in China, provided the weather stays good enough. The Peking MIL is very vulnerable, sitting alone in the hex. And than, there's clear terrain to Kweiyang.

Quite a good trick is to put Yamamoto and his units closer to the weather borderline. That makes sure they have the mobility you might need when the weather becomes bad in the Northern Monsoon zone.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn.

[al] Partisan rolls:
- Korea 31.
- Malaya 67.
- NEI 86.
- Burma 37.
- India 22.
- Netherlands 83.
- Poland 17; garrison roll 3.
- Indochina 3; garrison roll 3 (uh-oh); partisan unit picks 0,6.

[al] There is a German partisan in Indochina. It's a bit of a formality asking where you want it, since I'm 99.999999..... % sure it'll occupy Hanoi (where the resource is).

[ax] Hanoi is good.

[al] Ooh, and it has combat factors. Ain't no one digging that out until the Japanese get around to it.

[al] Or it goes Vichy and hence neutral. At which point, if memory serves, the partisan disappears... maybe?

[ax] I think it switches sides? Maybe not?

[al] Entry Markers.

[al] Germany draws 2 entry markers and places them in offensive pool.

[al] Markers drawn are marker #75 (1 value) and marker #285 (3 value). This message will self-destruct. (I might even delete it in 5 minutes or so.)

[al] USSR draws 1 marker, which it places defensively. The marker's value is 1.

[al] US Entry.

[al] US draws 1 marker versus Japan.

[al] US passes no options.

[ax] Axis Preliminary Production, which will also be their final production.

[ax] Germany. 22 PPs, 17 BPs, -2 BPs Trade, 4 additional oil saved.
Italy. 6 PPs, 5 BPs, 1 additional oil saved.
Japan. 16 PPs, 16 BPs, -1 BP Trade, 1 additional oil saved.

[ax] Axis stay at sea and RTB instructions to follow.

[ax] Axis Stay at Sea and Return to Base Instructions.
1. All axis CP's currently at sea remain at sea.
2. German sub in Bay of Biscay returns to Kiel.
3. East Med. IT BB & CA in 3-box stays and drops down to 2-box.
2 CAs and FTR2 in 0-box returns to Malta.
4. Italian Coast. 2 BBs in 2-box stays and drops down to 1-box. NAV, FTR2 and both transports in 2-box return to Malta. FTR2, 2 CAs in 0-box return to Malta.
5. I think that covers everything.

[al] I'll be sure to let you know if any others come up.

[ax] Thanks.

[al] Allied Prelim Production:
China: 5 pps * 1 = 5 bps.
Commonwealth: 22 * 0.75 = 17 bps - 2 = 15 bps; 6 additional oil saved.
France: 9 pps * 0.75 = 7 bps + 2 = 9 bps; 1 additional oil saved.
USA: 40 pps * 0.25 = 10 bps + 1 = 11 bps; 1 additional oil saved.
USSR: 23 pps * 0.5 = 12 bps + 2 = 14 bps; 1 additional oil saved.

[al] Stay At Sea: Axis as per previous directions:
- Italian warships in higher boxes in It Coast and E Med drop a box to stay at sea.
- Planes, transports, subs all go home, along with anything in 0 box that isn't a convoy point.
- Axis cps stay at sea.

[al] Allied:

[al] - USSR and USA can only leave cp out at sea.
- French ships in each of the Med sea areas drop a box to stay at sea.
- French ship in Gulf of Guinea drops a box to stay at sea.
- North Atlantic: Norfolk drops to 0 box and Exeter to 3 box to stay at sea.
- Cape St Vincent: Dorsetshire drops to 0 box and Belfast to 3 box to stay at sea.
- Bay of Biscay: Southampton drops to 0 box and London to 3 box to stay at sea.
- North Sea: Gloucester drops to 2 box to stay at sea.

[al] Returns to Base - Axis:
- German subs return to Kiel.
- German ftr2 in Med returns to Malta.
- All Italian stuff returning to base returns to Malta.

[ax] Thanks!

[al] Returns to Base - Allied:
- Spare Dutch cps in E Coast return to Liverpool.
- TRS with Canadian GARR in E Coast returns to Plymouth.
- TRS with Sierra Leone TERR in Cape Verde Basin returns to Plymouth.
- Queens with Sydney MIL in Cape Naturaliste returns to Djibouti (French Somaliland).
- Warships in in N Atlantic and Bay of Biscay 0 boxes return to Liverpool.
- Warships in Cape St Vincent 0 boxes return to Gibraltar.
- Polish DD flotilla in Faeroes Gap returns to LIverpool.
- North Sea fleet not staying at sea returns to Plymouth.
- Cruisers in W Med return to Gibraltar.
- Fleet in It Coast returns to Gibraltar.
- Fleet in E Med returns to Port Said.

[al] - Oh, yes, and the ftr2 in 0 box E Med returns to Alexandria.

[al] - US TRS in Bering Sea returns to San Diego

[ax] Use Oil. Germany. Use 3 saved oil points (Prague, Hamburg, Vienna) to reorg all German units (2.9 needed).

[ax] Use Oil. Italy. Reorg all 1.1 with oil points in Rome. 1 of 2 consumed.

[ax] Use Oil. Japan. Used saved oil in Sapporo to reorg all Japanese units (0.8 needed).

[al] Axis oil spent as directed.

[al] Allied oil:
- USSR, France, and China have no units requiring oil to reorganise.
- CW spends 5 oil (Halifax, Montreal, Cairo, Calcutta, Delhi) to reorganise 4.5 oil worth of units.

[al] USA reorgs the TRS for 0.1 oil, expending 0 oil.

Use Oil. Axis.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. (continued)

[ax] Breakdown. Axis None.

[al] No Allied breakdowns either.

[ax] Production Final. Germany. 22 PP's x 0.75 = 17 BP's. 2 Sent to US. 4 Additional Oil Saved. 13 Saved in total.

[ax] Production Final. Italy. 6 PP's x 0.75 = 5 BP's. 1 additional oil saved. 2 saved in total.

[ax] Production Final. Japan. 16 PP's x 1 = 16 BP's. 1 Sent to US. 1 additional oil saved. 8 saved in total.

[al] Axis final production confirmed as per above.

[ax] Thanks.

[al] Allied Final Production:
- China: 5 pp x 1 = 5 bp; no new oil saved (1 oil total).
- Commonwealth: 22 pp x 0.75 = 17 bp - 2 (Fr) = 2 bp; 6 oil saved (15 oil total).
- France: 9 pp x 0.75 = 7 bp + 2 (CW) = 9 bp; 1 oil saved (3 oil total).
- USA: 40 pp x 0.25 = 10 bp + 1 (Ja) = 11 bp; 1 oil saved (7 oil total).
- USSR: 23 pp x 0.5 = 12 bp + 2 (Ge) = 14 bp; 1 oil saved (7 oil total).

[ax] Scrap. German. Scrap both B-109 fighters.

[al] Done.

[al] CW will scrap the Hurricane I fighters.

[ax] Production. German. 15 BP's. FTR2(2) x 2. PIL(2), Arm Div(4), Eng Div(3), Sub Repair(1) x 2.

[ax] Production. Italy. 5 BP's. CP(1), Sub Repair(1), Sub 1st(1), MTN Div(2).

[ax] Production. Japan. 15 BP's. Terr(2), Para Div(3), PIL(2), FTR(2), NAV(3), Mech Div(3).

[al] Axis production completed as directed.

[ax] Thanks.

[al] Allied Production:
China (5): 1 INF (3), 1 MIL (3).
Commonwealth (15): 1 CV (rep) (2), 1 CA (rep) (1), 1 cp (1), 1 pil (2), 1ftr3 (3), 1 INF (3), 1 MIL (2), 1 cvp1 (1).
France (9): 3 MIL (6), 1 ft2 (2), 1 saved bp (1) (saved in Tououlse).
USA (11): 1 BB (2nd) (3), 1 AMPH (1st) (3), 2 cp (2), 1 SUB (1st) (1), 1 TERR (2).
USSR (14): 1 ARM (6), 2 INF (6), 1 GARR (2).

[al] Germany conquers Belgium. New Belgian home country is UK.

[al] Sent game at factory destruction.

[ax] got it.

[al] I think there might be something wrong with the game file. The Belgian units in Antwerp are still there. The hex has converted to German control, as is proper, but the units are still in the hex.

[ax] Yes, I just noticed that.

[al] The units ought to have been removed from the map into the Conquered Pool.

[al] Now I come to think of it, the Brussels and Amsterdam MIL are still in the reinforcement pools, although they also ought to have been moved into the Conquered Pool.

[ax] Yikes ...

[ax] What about if you file a bug report and I edit the file to move the units to conquered pool?

[ax] I've never moved units to the conquered pool but I think I can figure it out.

[ax] This might take me a while, so do you want to pause here for tonight then.

[ax] Factory destruction. Germany. Blue factory at Rotterdam.

The Incomplete Conquest Bug and Magic Editing Fixes.

{Actually it turns out it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to move the appropriate Dutch and Belgium units to the conquered pool. Knowing the tricks to make safe edits to the game file sure makes getting through a game a lot easier. One might say necessary but that's definitely an opinion based on my lengthy experience with MWiF; especially playing games through to the bitter end.}

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Destroyed and Repair Pools.

My Luftwaffe fighter performance is going to send me to an early grave if it doesn't improve. I lost two airframes and both crews to the loss of 1 RAF airframe and no crews!

The loss of the 1st eng division I see as just the cost of doing business especially when having to dig the allies out from across a river.

The only other axis loss was an Italian CP.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Victory Totals.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Global Maps. Control and Units.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Global Maps. Active Convoys, Factories and Resources.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Strategic Tables.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Production Spiral. Germany.

Fighters, fighters and more fighters. Also, pilots to fill the fighters.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Production Spiral. Italy.

As painful as it might be Germany needs to get more resources to Italy in order to production and output of Italian units.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Production Spiral. Japan.

The long range, zero fighter once in place will allow me to go after the Chinese oil point in Chungtu escorted. And that's definitely a priority. Taking the oil point is the main objective. But shooting down the Chinese fighter is a second one.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Production Spiral. China.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Production Spiral. CW.

My opponent seems to put a priority on the RN, which at this point is fine with me. I'll keep building subs and using the Italian RM to draw Britain's focus.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Production Spiral. France.

Well, next turn kicks off Germany's push into France. I hope that I can pretty much have them taken care of by the end of turn after next (i.e., Jul/Aug 1945).

Also, there's might be an opportunity to trap, or even destroy, the BEF which I have to weigh against how much this slows me down going after France.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Production Spiral. USA.

[rkr1958]

Turn 4. Mar/Apr 1940. End of Turn. Production Spiral. USSR.

I find the Soviet armor builds interesting. My opponent is giving all the appearances that he does NOT intend to stuff the border so I guess they make sense. I wonder if he has offensive operations in mind against Japan? Especially with the two units he's rail, and has is in, Omsk. Definitely something I need to keep an eye out for.

[brian brian]

If the CW committed their ENG to Rotterdam, they might still hold the hex, or there might be a lot more dead Germans, or a bad German roll in Belgium as they attempted to take a short cut around Rotterdam ... well, what the Allies really want in France is for the Germans to use their offensive chits.


Nanning has high strategic value and I would seize it any time it is lightly held. If the Chinese can be pushed back from the rail/road connection to it, the Indo-China RES that Japan will ultimately control can be shipped to Japan via the Sea of Japan for quite a while - the safest route. A pity the railroad doesn’t connect for moving units when needed, but the road is still valuable.


I always build the Soviet ARM early due to the construction time. ‘Stuff’ing the border is a very powerful strategy and the most overlooked one. I think I just lost a game where the Germans couldn’t attack until S/O 1941. They got 2 Fine impulses in the Arctic and killed 13 corps/army units, one of them the Zhukov HQ-A. They did not take any original USSR Home Country cities such as Minsk, Kiev, or Odessa. Now, General Winter has come. The Germans believe he has deep blue eyes, looks like a skeleton, and can re-animate the Dead to fight for him, though in Collector’s Edition rules these are called ‘cadres’. Upsides for the Axis in that one is that Japanese paratroopers just might win a foot race to Irkutsk if their flying-boat re-supply can ever make it through General Winter’s demonic ability to summon ‘Storm’ all the time, and Iranian CAV shocked the Allies with a Surprise! ride into Baku. But having the single most powerful force on the board do nothing at all for the 2 summer turns of 1941 outside of a surprise Naval impulse call is a huge victory for the Allies, well worth the cost of an HQ-A. I think I might park it in Lithuania deliberately as bait, the next time I play Uncle Joe.

[rkr1958]

Turn 5. May/June 1940. Start of Turn.

[ax] May/June 1940. Start of Turn. Place Units.

[ax] Germany.
(1) 2 PILs. Fill Bf 109 f-1. 1 PIL kept in reserve.
(2) 2 Sub flotillas to Kiel.
(3) Guderian HQ-A, 2-5 mech div, 2-4 SS mot div to Dusseldorf, Germany.
(4) Bf-109 F-1 FTR2 to Aachen, Germany.
(5) 1-3 A/B div to Karlsruhne, Germany.
(6) 4-5 Cav, 2nd Inf Div, 5th MTN Div to Frankfurt.

[ax] Italy.
(1) No additional planes deployed.
(2) Sub, BB to La Spezia.
(3) CP Tripoli, Libya
(4) No air removed (same also for Germany)

[ax] Japan.
(1) 1 PIL to A6M2 (Zero) FTR2. No PILs left.
(2) 4-2 MAN Terr to Port Arthur.
(3) Zero FTR2 to Sasebo, Japan.
(4) No air removed.

[al] Nationalist China:
- 1st Cav (3-4 CAV) to Nanning.

[al] Commonwealth:
- pilots in DB-7 (Boston I) lnd3 & Vildebeest nav2:
- Glasgow MIL to (you guessed it) Glasgow);
- V Corps (5-4 INF) to London;
- DB-7 (Boston I) to London;
- Vildebeest to Liverpool;
- HMS Illustrious (CV), HMS Queen Elizabeth (BB), HMS Fiji (CA), and TRS all to Liverpool;
- cp also to Liverpool.

(I'm really, really happy to see some land units appear on the board in the UK.)

[ax] I'm glad somebody is. 😀

[al] Oh, and CW removes the Belgian CR.42bis ftr2 in London.

[ax] copy that.

[al] France:
- pilot in MB 152 ftr2;
- Metz MIL to [56,33] southwest of Metz;
- Bordeaux MIL to Bordeaux;
- Dakar MIL to Dakar;
- MB 152 to Paris:
- VI Corps (6-1 GARR) to Paris;
- X Corps (6-3 INF) and 37 mm (aa gun) to Lille.

[ax] The French army suddenly got stronger. Really don't like the looks of that.

[al] Yeah, they really needed that shot in the arm for this turn.

[al] United States:
- pilot in PBY-1 Catalina (nav3) - leaves 2 pilots spare;
- USS North Carolina and Washington both automatically go to the Construction Pool;
- LII Corps (5-1 GARR) and PBY-1 to San Diego;
- cp to Norfolk;
- Philippines TERR to Manila.

[al]Soviet Union:
- Chapayev automatically goes to Construction pool;
- 17th Army (2-1 GARR) to Chita;
- Voroshilov to Vladivostok.

[al] USSR will remove from the map any plane it has that is in a city. That's:
- TB-3 and TB-7/Pe-8 (two lnd4);
- I-153 and I-16 (17) (two ftr2);
- Pe-2 and IL-4/DB-3 (two lnd3).

[al] That leaves another IL-4 just northwest of Odessa.

[ax] copy that. 5 Soviet planes and PIL's removed.

Communist China:
- Sian MIL and 2nd Army (4-3 INF) to Sian.

Manchuria/Korea. Soviet Asia.
{What is the world are the Soviets up to? Garrison deployed to Chita and ship to Vladivostok. Are the Soviets worried about Japan? Or, should Japan be worried about the Soviets? I'm perplexed}

[rkr1958]

Turn 5. May/June 1940. Start of Turn. (continued).

[ax] Resource Lending. Any changes for the allies?

[ax] Resource Lending. Axis make no changes.
Germany continues 2 non-oil RP's to Italy (only non-mandatory).

[al] Allied Lending:
- with the Burma Road closed, the CW and US will cancel their lending to China:
- CW will flip its lending to France from 1 resource, 2 build points to 2 resources (both non-oil) and 1 build point.

Resource Lending.

[rkr1958]

Turn 5. May/June 1940. Axis #1.

[ax] Initiative. Axis=8+1=9. Allied=6.
Axis win the initiative (no allied re-roll possible).

[ax] Axis elect to move first.

[ax] Turn 5. May/June 1941. Axis #1. Weather D10=5. Fine everywhere except for rain in the north monsoon. Impulse advance 1, no roll modifier (for next weather roll).

[al] Ay caramba!

[al] (I tried a bit, but couldn't replicate the upside-down exclamation mark.)

[ax] I definitely got what I wanted. Now I've got to figure out how to execute and not waste it. 🤨

[al] I have the bad feeling that 15 build points worth of pain are about to be dished out on the Western Front... but I guess we'll see.

[ax] Yes, the BEF is definitely my target.

[ax] My only decision is do I want to play an O-chit now to better the odds or wait and take my chances.

[ax] I need to do some "wargaming" on this.

[ax] By the way, do you wish to fly CAP over Gort against a potential ground strike?

[al] Yes, thanks for asking.

[ax] I think I've figured out what I'm going to do. It's aggressive.

[al] Sounds like that will be fun to watch go down, whether it goes well or badly.

[ax] Well, I guess I'm following the old saying of go big or go home.

[al] It's definitely in-character for Germany. All-in!

[ax] DOW. Italy declares war on France.
USE=5, 1 chit added to Ge/It entry.
Chit[0,365]=109=1-val.

[ax] Alignments. None.
Special Actions. None.

[ax] Axis Actions.
Japan - land.
Germany - land w/O-chit & Guderian.
Italy - naval.

[ax] Port Attack. None.

[ax] Naval Air. IT NAV2 to 4-box of West Med.

[ax] Italian RM Moves.

[ax] Cape St. Vincent.
2 sub groups to 2-box.

[ax] West Med.
BB Littorio, Sub group to 4-box.
Joins NAV2 air group there.

[ax] Italian Coast.
BB Biulio Ceasre & BB Contre Di Davour moves down to 0-box.
CA Abruzzi & Eugenio Di Savoia to 4-box.
CA San Giorgio & 2 Transports to 1-box.

[ax] East Med.
BB Vittorio & CA Zara move down to 0-box (from 2-box).
CA Bolzano, Fiume & Tirento to 4-box.

[ax] Naval Combat. Cape St. Vincent.
Italian subs initiate.
No RAF/RN air in position to react.
Search. Italy=10, RN=6. Nobody finds.
In fact, I'm not sure the Italian subs are even there!

Cape St. Vincent.