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ORIGINAL: brian brian
The Allies have to be nice to their opponent during the game. Because at the end, their opponent might very well pick who wins…...

Hum.

I don't play it that way.
For me, the axis plays as well against any opponent.
In any case, the Commonwealth is well placed for winning the game!
They have 20, the USA 13 and the USSR 11.

But in the board game, you don't count like that because you first have to claim the victory level you think you'll achieve.

Yves

Germany still has teeth in air to air combat!

But this will not prevent the 5 other ground strikes from succeeding wildly.

I have had the worst turn ever.

Two land units out of three took about 15 seconds to move...
Well...

Anyway, Germany attempts to protect its troops by some ground support. While it succeeds well again the Commonwealth, it fails against the Russians.

The USA will have need of some air bases near Tokyo for short range bombers.
Time to prepare for that.

With the help of paratroopers just disembarked, the US at last captures Fukuoka.
This is a city with a factory.
An nice success.

It will give more space for aircrafts which are coming en masse.

Despite good ground support provided by aircrafts, the British succeed quite well in their attack.

And that's one more oil that goes away!

Near Poznan, Zhukov almost meets with defeat. It was good that the German ground support failed here!

In Graz, the assault is difficult but should be considered as a success since it opens the way to bypassing the fortifications.

And the nationalists are right to take their time!
In Hangchow, their victory has the taste of defeat.

On the other side of the straight, the Americans don't have such troubles: the island is empty of troops and cut from Japan. Their landing succeed with no serious opposition.

In Japan, the small invasion has taken enormous proportions within just one impulse.
Two HQ have arrived, and four army corps have landed, among them elite armored.
Not to forget the first paratrooper, and the first marine.
Other troops are en route, and should be there for the next turn, most notably another marine unit as well as another paratrooper.

These special troops will be in great demand very soon on the difficult Japanese terrain.

Should I regret not moving troops to try and close the straights ? hardly, because the bad weather and short turns (one impulse each of the two previous turns) would have not permitted it.

Also notice the arrival of numerous heavy bombers. 6 are already there, more are coming. Not sure the British will make it in time: they do not have enough air moves, and do not have the economy to support buying that many offensive chits!

In Germany, allied troops leak from everywhere.

One can hardly now speak of a line: West, it is definitively broken by the British, who have taken the weight of the offensive on Germnay on their shoulders from the very beginning.

East, it is clearly dismantled by the Russians.

Incredibly enough, Germany still finds enouh troops to plug most holes.
These holes that remain are not important, because they face disorganized enemy units which cannot exploit them.

However, the allies now mostly face one hex deep lines, which should be easier and easier to break.
But Germnay still has airplanes that can derail plans.

In Japan, the fleet made an attepmt to try an begin cut supplies to the American army.
But the task is daunting: supplies can flow from Russia through Vladivostok (Japan sea), through China and Russia using the port of Tientsin. So cutting suppies first means getting rid of the american convoy in the Japan sea (were there is no fleet protection), and then try and chase the American fleet in the China sea (fleet that is twice the strength of the Japanese one!)

Trying to do things in good order, the japanese move a ship in the Japan sea, but fail to locate the convoys... Oh well... Good that the fleet did not move this time in the China sea!
And let us not forget that now, most fleet moves won't happen again: no oil = no reorganization!

For the second allied impulse, the weather is still good.
Hodges, Alexander and Koniev each prepare to crack the nut.

Meanwhile, the allies focus on the important oil resources: Germany loses the second of its three oil resources.

And since the third one, a synthetic oil plant, is the target of the Russian offensive, there is now a good likehood that Germnay won't have any oil at all to reorganize at the end of the turn; that would indeed mean the end: the German army has too many oil dependant units to be able to live without it!

Just as a note: these lousy Sunderland are worth their weight in gold ; since the start of the game, they have done serious damage to the german production, thanks to their 20 range which lets them reach unprotected areas, in addition to having been good convoy protectors when needed ; and they were even occasionaly used to reorg units...

The Luftwaffe can still be impressively effective, unlike the utterly outclassed Japanese air force.

but this doesn't always hold.
And German fighters are just absent from the too fast moving East Front.

Even through good anti-aircraft fire, that Tu-2 fullfills correctly its mission.
Since the disorganized unit is motorized, it likely won't move till the end of the war, for lack of oil...

Kesselring gets bombarded too.
Thats bad for him since he his the target of the US offensive. The US have too long be held in check there.

Sometimes, the Luftwaffe is just not up to the task.

But in Metz, it will succeed.

In Metz, the Americans are twarthed again.

Note: I did not actually double the attacker to simulate the presence of the fortified hexes.

But in Essen, Alexander does good with bad luck and the city is captured.