Axis Only. Ronnie vs Composer99.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (continued).

Production Spiral. Free France.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (continued).

Production Spiral. USA.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (continued).

Production Spiral. USSR.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (continued).

Victory Totals.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (continued).

Global Maps. Hex Control.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (continued).

Global Maps. Units.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (continued).

Global Maps. Active Axis.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (continued).

Global Maps. Active Allied.

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. (concluded).

[ax] Factory Destruction. Germany destroys blue factory at Rouen, two at Paris.

Strategic Resources.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Start of Turn.

[al] Allied Reinforcement Instructions
Nationalist China
- Kunming MIL to Kunming
- 13th Army (3-1 GARR) to Chungking
- 8th Army (3-3 INF) to Kunming

[al] Commonwealth
- Assign pilot to Spitfire ftr2; no other pilots
- Montreal and London MIL to their respective cities
- HMS Sussex and 1 cp to Liverpool
- Spitfire ftr2 to London
- 1st South African Army (5-3 INF) to Cape Town
- 1 cp to Calcutta

[al] United States
- no pilots assigned to air units
- 2 cp to Norfolk
- XXXVII Corps (5-3 INF) to San Diego
- Synthetic oil plant to Detroit

[al] Soviet Union
- 1st Army (8-6 ARM) to Kharkov
- 3rd Guards Army (6-1 GARR) to Dnepopetrovsk
- 29th Army (7-3 INF) to Stalino
- 8th Army (4-3 INF) to Vitebsk

[ax] Germany.
PIL fills Bf 109 E-3 FTR2
4-3 MIL Hanover
Rommel HQ-A & FTR2 Vienna, Austria.
No planes removed.

[ax] Italy.
Sub La Speiza.
Mtn Div, AA Div, CP Trieste.
No planes removed.

[ax] Japan.
PIL fills CVP D3A1 (Val), PIL fills A6M2 FTR2
5-3 Osaka MIL
MAN Terr Changchun
CV Shokaku w/CVP D3A, 2 CPs, 2 inf army, mech div, A6M2 (zero) FTR2 to Fukuoka.
No planes removed.

[ax] Vichy France. No units to place or planes to remove.

[al] Free France will stop lending a resource to CW.

[ax] Resource Lending.
Axis. No changes.
Free France stops lending 1 RP to CW.

{A tactical error on my part here. Vichy France has 2 disorganized HQ-I units and no oil. I should have had Germany send 1 oil to Vichy which could be used over the following two turns after receiving it this turn to reorganize them both. I failed to do that and must make note to do this next turn.}

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Resource Lending.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Start of Turn. (concluded).

[ax] Initiative. Axis=4. Allied=7+1=8.
Allies win the initiative.
Do you wish to move first?

[al] Hrm... Not really, but given the situation with the BEF in France I think I had better.

[al] So, yes, Allies will move first

{Dang! I really wanted to trap and destroy the remnants of the BEF still in occupied France. Now they will likely become a thorn in my side!}

[ax] Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Weather=3. Fine everywhere.

[ax] 07-SEP-OCT-1940-AL-01.zip game file sent.

Allied #1. Weather.

[brian brian]

minor technical point - the hexes adjacent to the 2 British units in France should be CW controlled, I believe. won't make any difference in this game as none are a port. they can move back in to supply but will flip to do so, and the Germans now hold bases on the Atlantic coast.


far more fascinating situation in Indo-China - is there a PARTisan on every city now? Or is Hue a city on the MWiF map, I forget?

If PART units hold all cities, Free French units could be placed adjacent - but would be out of supply. CW troops (better use than in Italian East Africa) would have to clear this up for the following -

It is a bit of an Allied gambit to pick Indo-China as the Free French Home Country, though there is no choice in this game, unless the MWiF map has created a capital city somewhere else (French Guiana, maybe?). If USSR is not seriously threatened, the CW can invest in a Free French Indo-China and cause a serious problem for the Japanese - they can't allow a Supply Source for US & CW units to be sitting adjacent to the South China Sea. And Free France has a perfect force pool to make it fairly difficult for the Japanese to dig them out, with a couple good GARR units and a strong ART unit to go with. MWiF map might allow defending in front of Hanoi in jungle hexes if more units available? CW has to send CPs from elsewhere to deliver BPs from India or Australia. But such a line of play can really hurt Japanese expansion when they also have to take Rabaul, Batavia, Manila, and Singapore.

nothing the Axis can do about any of that except wait & see

[brian brian]

oh and Vichy naval units outside of the Med are completely useless. as soon as the Allies DOW, they are out of supply unless they have a convoy chain into the Bay of Biscay; a convoy chain that is unlikely to survive an Allied surprise impulse. a naval unit that is out of supply can't initiate combat.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: brian brian
far more fascinating situation in Indo-China - is there a PARTisan on every city now? Or is Hue a city on the MWiF map, I forget?

Hanoi and Saigon are occupied by Italian partisans. The other two cities in FIC, Hue and Phnom Penh, aren't.

So if the Japanese declare war on Free France and then capture Hanoi, France is completely conquered?

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

ORIGINAL: brian brian
far more fascinating situation in Indo-China - is there a PARTisan on every city now? Or is Hue a city on the MWiF map, I forget?

Hanoi and Saigon are occupied by Italian partisans. The other two cities in FIC, Hue and Phnom Penh, aren't.

So if the Japanese declare war on Free France and then capture Hanoi, France is completely conquered?

Yes. However, DoW'ing France means that the US draws an extra chit each turn and the US gets 2.8 chits drawn when you make the DoW too...

[Courtenay]

A rules question: Say that IndoChina went Vichy, with those partisans. The partisans would change to Nationalist Chinese. If Vichy had units in Indochina, could a neutral Vichy attack the partisans?

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Allied #1.

[al] Allied Impulse 1
No DoWs, etc.

Actions
China - Land
Commonwealth - Combined
Free France - Pass
United States - Combined
Soviet Union - Land

[al] No port attacks or naval air.

[al] Naval Moves
- US trs loads the XXXVII Corps (5-3 INF) in San Diego and sails to 0 box Hawaiian Islands
- HMS Belfast and Sheffield sail from Gibraltar to 4 box W Med
- Task force from Plymouth sails to 3 box North Sea

[al] Naval Combat
- RN initiates combat in W Med. Allies won't fly naval air support. Do the Axis wish to fly planes?

[ax] Negative.

[al] Search rolls are CW 4, Italy 6.

[al] Royal Navy finds with 3 surprise points.

[al] Initial damage profiles:
- CW has 6 surface vs 1 Italian ship = 1D
- It has 3 surface vs 2 CW ships = 2A

CW spends 2 surprise to reduce Italian damage to no effect.

[al] Italy has 1D to apply, and only one eligible target.
D on Zara: saving throw is 5 - she's damaged

[ax] Abort. Trieste.

[al] CW stays at sea. Zara wisely limps home to Trieste for repairs.

[al] Any CAP for strat bombing or ground strikes?

[ax] Negative.

[al] Bombing
(1) RAF Harrows are loaded with bombs rather than troops and fly strat bombing to Essen. Roll is 9 +1 = 10: 2 pp lost. CW atr3 returns to Harwich.
(2) No ground strikes.

[ax] Nice shooting.

[al] Land Stuff
- CW rails Glasgow MIL to Portsmouth. Now the Scots reservists get to complain about pisswater English beer instead of pisswater Edinburgh beer.
- British V Corps (5-4 INF) marches into Bordeaux. Being out of supply at the start of its move, it becomes disorganised.
- WIth supply restored to HQ Gort, the HQ also moves into Bordeaux, without becoming disorganised.
- Montreal MIL marches towards Quebec City.
- KMT forces in Kunming take up blocking positions southwest of the city.
- Red Army forces in Manchuria begin closing in around Harbin
- Red Army 1st Cavalry marches southeast into northern end of Korea
- Red Army forces in Europe adjust positions in Bessarabia & Belorussia
- No land moves by Communist Chinese
- US INF corps at sea disembarks into Midway

[al] No land combats.

[al] Rebases
- Soviet planes rebase to closer/better positions in Manchuria
- RAF bombers in Aden rebase to the coast of Italian Somaliland
- US naval bombers in Midway rebase to Wake Island

[al] No HQ reorg. Sending game file at HQ reorg step.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #2 PI. The Western Front.

Germany has an 8-6 mech corps underneath the 2-5 mech division (2-hexes directly south of Paris), that can reach the woods hex southeast of Bordeaux. This move will block the remnants of the BEF (Gort's HQ-I and a flipped inf corps) from reaching Bayoone. German will also move it's airborne corps and ATR in position to be able to transport the airborne corps to Bayonne in case my opponent attempts to expand the BEF bridgehead to include that port. The Luftwaffe will also move a fighter unit in position to intercept, or provide escort, in case the RN moves carrier based fighter planes into the Bay of Biscay and in position to intercept.

I plan to make a strong move towards the BEF remnants in the hopes that my opponent will evacuate Gort (the stacked inf corps is flipped) or if he doesn't then destroy both units. The CW units in Bordeaux is a festering wound which I need to deal with hard and fast so it doesn't become an out of control infection.

The 19 CW CP's in the Bay of Biscay, which are lightly defended are a most inviting target. Germany has 3 of 5 u-boats flotillas and Italy has 1 of 2 sub group that can reach the Bay of Biscay. Germany will move the other 2 u-boat units (both 2-movers) to the North Sea so that they can return to Brest at the end of turn and be in position to menace allied convoy lines in the Bay of Biscay, North Atlantic and Cape Verde Basin. The other Italian sub group (which can't reach the Bay of Biscay) can reach Cape Verde Basin with has 6 or so allied CP's operating there.

In Plymouth underneath the Can garrison is a lone RN transport. However, my opponent has carrier based fighters at sea in the North Sea. Germany will move their NAV and a fighter to Brest to threaten that transport with port strike if it doesn't move to sea next impulse (hopefully into the waiting arms of axis subs operating in the Bay of Biscay).

It looks like it'll be a combine for Germany and probably a naval for Italy.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #2 PI. The East Med.

The East Med and Libya are a lost cause. They did, however serve their purpose in that significant CW land, air and naval forces were devoted to that theater and out of the way of axis operations against France.

On an interesting note, it seems that I didn't make a mistake by not giving Vichy a German oil point. Vichy has three saved oil points in Syria which all three can be moved overland and saved in Vichy proper.

[rkr1958]

Turn 7. Sep/Oct 1940. Axis #2 PI. The Vichy Navy.

My opponent did an excellent job in moving Vichy CA's, CP's and their transport to ports that are out of supply. Also, not only are all the Vichy CP's out of supply but all but one is flipped which no obvious way of unflipping.