Cohen vs Enrico - AAR nr. 2

[AlbertN]

Openings of Jul / Aug 1941: the Japan at war.

With much relief from the Axis, the USA failed to gear up in May / June (They picked a too low chit and Japan pool got stuck at 33 Entry, requiring 34!).

The Japanese war plans though were already laid down - there was the strong temptation to perform a "Pearl Harbour" somewhere.
The USA moved their required fleet plus some cruisers in Pearl Harbour; and the Brits have already 3 TPS in the Seychelles, all disrupted (in May / June). Both were appetizing targets, but the Japanese are short of naval power (They still miss Shokaku, Zuikaku, and any other carrier besides the starting ones!).

Ultimately, as the "Gear Up" affair was not shown yet, in May / June the Japanese carrier fleet sailed to sit in the Arabian Sea, with order to stay at sea at the end of the turn. The plan relied (faultly) on the possible Axis initiative for the next turn. And that is where the whole castle of papers collapsed.

The Allies won the initiative, and the Brits shipped away most of their vessels of worth, and moved at sea others. They left the Dutch TPS though in port, and 3 CPs in Bombay (Which got damaged, and destroyed respectively by the Japanese port strikes).

The Japan declares war on Commonwealth and France, despite the rains in the Northern Monsoon, and fine weather in the South Monsoon.

The Japanese naval searches as they scattered cruiser task forces all around to destroy the British shipping lines from Australia or India was not exactly smooth, only 5 CPs in a total of 2 sea zones were found and sank, of many seas where the Japan sent ships.

In the relevant Arabian Sea, the Japanese (and Euro-Axis planes) did not found their desired targets, so the Kuwait supply line was safe.

In the while an amount of invasions happen:

Dutch Indies:
INF-Div lands closeby Palembang.
ENG-Div lands closeby Singapore (Which is undefended, as the Brits went to fight in Kuwait and have only 3 land units in India).
Imperial Guard MAR lands east of Batavia.
SNLF MAR lands in Surabaya.
SNLF MAR-Div lands in Trincomalee (Where 2 CW Submarines were left parked, one of them destroyed).
GAR-Div lands in Burma closeby Rangoon (But is disrupted as it rains).
SNLF MAR-Div lands in New Caledonia (on the resources, there is the French Territorial there).
INF-Div lands in Rabaul.
MNT-Div lands in Porto Vila.

The USA have still the most of their fleet in the USA - and funnily enough, their carriers are without carrier planes (When Jul / Aug started, the weather forecast gave very bad weather chances in the North Moonsoon, and expecting a potential Pearl Harbour the 2 carriers in Honolulu were sent without planes as well!).
Which means if the USA plan to retaliate somehow, it will have to be their surface fleet in the old traditional ways of gunning at other ships.
On the other hand the Japanese fleet after the initial outburst can only count of a small amount of cruisers as reaction force as some BBs were to escort the carrier fleet, and others have positioned to give support to the attack to Batavia (Which though lacks air support).

Now that the USA got really pissy, they can declare war on 30% on Euro-Axis and 40% on Japan!

[AlbertN]

Openings of Jul / Aug 1941: Chunking Fall.

The Nationalist Chinese, after the pounding of May / June have grown desperate, and in their last impulse they opted to surrender Chunking and move away in Chengtu. Simply leaving Chunking to the Japanese (A move I am not sure I'd have done - there was even the Chunking warlord coming in Jul /Aug).

Though, the Japanese had still 4-5 INF corps operational down there, the turn would have finished with 50% chance, and the Chinese was to either take the risk to leave only 1 unit in Chunking to have the space to get the Warlord in (and possibly risk it to be attacked and destroyed) or be sure to save 3 units for Chengtu defence. (Which is what they've done).
Ultimately Chengtu got a decent garrison and Chunking was occupied by the Japanese (As the turn indeed did not ended!).

In Jul / August the Japanese - strong of their SuperCombined - bombed the Chinese forces around Kumming and Chengtu with their 3 bomber squadrons and Zero escort. The air to air combat proved smooth, no losses but all bombers were cleared to Chengtu, but failed to disrupt the defenders.
At Kunming 2 out of 3 Chinese got disrupted instead.

Umezu quickly spent his reorganizing power to ready once again all of the 3 bombers.

In the while a fast moving Japanese corp is marching in French Indochina, unopposed. The next impulse it will reach Hanoi. (It was important to set a 4 moving INF there, because even with rain went in the mountains without getting disrupted, and can then cover 2 hexes in rain to seize Hanoi).

[AlbertN]

Openings of Jul / Aug 1941 - Mao's demise.

With the small forces at avail the Sian sector was much action!

After the first attack of the Commies and next counterattack of the Japanese, the Japanese attacked again (Described in previous sessions).

A chain of low odd attacks saw the Japanese attacking Mao again, who was alone, but they just claimed the hex with no losses.

In Jul / Aug - with both Mao and Yamamoto having "recovered", the Chinese counterattacked the Japanese pointe, suffering a loss as the Japanese moved away (Blitz table was chosen).

Mao daringly advances alone in the mountains, disrupted. But by then the Japanese were short of forces (Yamamoto and 2 MILs for a total of 16 combat factors!). Yet the Japanese attacked relentlessly.

Note: Here we had an evaluation mistake, the Warlord of Lanchow was spared instead of the Lanchow MIL because the Mil takes 1 turn to get back on the map. It was sorted after the combat result that the Warlord could not advance with Mao, due to distance from Lanchow. But in many cases we do that kind of distraction - for example I forgot to move the subs in the Japanese supercombined impulse. Unless it's a crippling thing that would screw one badly with certainness we just move on.

In this case it was a calculated risk - +2 for Disrupted, +2 for HQ support, and +2.x because of Combat Factor ratio.
Ideally, to erase Mao from the map means not only that China has no HQs on the map - and thus cannot lead offensives (the Commies as you see are getting fresh troops, CAV and MNT) but after the fall of Chunking they'll struggle more to replace losses (and soon Chengtu should follow, and Kunming should remain isolated once Burma falls and the Japan dominates the sea zone).
The only terribad result would be the triple loss - that would wipe Yamamoto and 2 MILs, for Mao. Otherwise I'd have merrily sacrificed 2 MILs for Mao - not just for the BPs gain which is not too relevant, but mostly to be sure the Com-China cannot attack for a while and I can only screen the place.

The luck of the roll wanted Mao destroyed (even if opting for Blitz table to scoot away) with no fee from the Japanese side.

[AlbertN]

Openings of Jul / Aug 1941 - Manchurian Fever.

If the Imperial Command of Japan is rejoycing and singing praises to the Army and Navy for their successes in China and in the conquest of the colonies of the Commonwealth and France; their victory fever is already counterenacted by the shadow of defeat in Manchuria where their armies are struggling to stop the Soviet advance.

With the start of the summer proper the Soviets attacked again the Japanese HQ that was with a TERR from Manchuria (The so called cannon fodder!) into woodlands.

The VVS launched bombing mission, and their artillery performed barrage in preparation to the attack - the Zero scrambled to intercept (Before the artillery grounds them on the spot!), engaging the enemy escorts and gunning them down (Soviet FTR2 and Pilot gone!) but one bomber is cleared to the target. The other - being of the very costy bomber type - left alone against the Zero, turns the tail and go home.

Enough though to disrupt the TERR! Both HQs provide support (Because anyway, I expect it to retreat or be eliminated. It's a +12 - that drops to +10 once the Japanese bombers provide support, the VVS has one fighter at avail but it is out of range to intercept).
The Soviets, having also a single ARM in the combat, opt to Assault (Besides they want the HQ dead) but they only inflict 1 loss and a retreat to the Japanese with half of their lot disorganized.

The Japanese arrange their line, and are in evaluation if to bring forth their armoured unit in reserve - but ultimately they decide not to. To put it short either the armour is alone, and can be obliterated by the attacking infantries of the Soviets; or it turns disrupted anyhow and if the HQ is attacked again and destroyed, a costy unit will drop to 1 combat factor, being an easy prey for the Soviets.
It will wait in the rearlines for now - soon to be in company of the shattered MECH unit that just returned into China via naval shipping.

The VVS has moved closer their fighter, even if it is doubtful it will see action in these months, as all the bombers in the zone have been spent.

[AlbertN]

Openings of Jul / Aug 1941 - Desert Storm!

The Euro Axis declared war both on the neutral country of Saudi Arabia.
Alas diplomatic ouvertures failed, and more territory is needed around Kuwait City to attack it.

Guderian slurped in the Italian Supply unit, and fueled the aggression to Riyadh, the Iraqi CAV and a German MOT promptly bested the defenders; meanwhile the single MOT-Div of the Brits south of Kuwait City was easily dealt with. Now Kuwait City is surrounded, and their only aerial defence is a Gladiator Squadron from a carrier in Persian Gulf.

But the whole Italian Navy is in Aden ready to sail out - in the first impulse the Axis moved a submarine in Persian Gulf in order to negate "In the presence of the enemy" penalty for their battleships, so that they can get to the 3 box and cruisers to the 4 box.

That will bring also two seazones search rolls - of which only one is needed - for the convoy wiping to bring Kuwait City defenders out of supply.
The cherry on the cake would be that the Italian navy finds the Carrier and sink it though! That would be ace (but too much luck reliant!)

[AlbertN]

Openings of Jul / Aug 1941 - Soviet Border buildup.

The Axis forces - or better German forces - are building up their "Barbarossa" forces.

The Soviets are leaving scattered forces as road bumps, and have a main force at the Dnepr, and armoured reserves at Smolensk.

[AlbertN]

Openings of Jul / Aug 1941 - Fatherland view.

[AlbertN]

Openings of Jul / Aug 1941 - Spain & Marocco View

[AlbertN]

Jul / Aug 1941 - Production Coming in the Next Turns:

[AlbertN]

Updated Destroyed Pool - Start of Impulse #9, Allied - Jul Aug 1941.

[AlbertN]

Jul / Aug 1941 - Victory in the Desert.

Kuwait City got the Swastika Flags raising on its buildings.

The valiant effort of the Italian Navy in the Persian Gulf achieved the destruction of the convoys there present (only 1 CP admittedly) - but the British Admiralty opted to retreat their naval assets once the convoys were sunk, therefore removing the air cover on Kuwait City.

On the other hand they preserved their carrier and escort of six cruisers, when sought after by 5 BBs and a dozen of cruisers. (And the CW carrier had a Gladiator with no naval factor).

Happened that, Guderian acting as Primary Supply Source remained behind the lines - and the land forces, with heavy air cover and shore bombardment stormed Kuwait City. (There happened a thing for which the game was reloaded - in distraction the Iraq Militia attacked too - and that prevented the whole Regia Marina to Shore Bomb.).
The attack was at +19, with well 6 bomber squadrons having provided support (4 for Ground Strike and 2 for Ground Support).

The Iraqi cavalry marched in Riyadh, then seized the oil rigs on the coast and proceeded into Barhein - and now is advancing in Trucial Oman.

The Germans moved a Mechanized Corp via rail at Tabriz. (Take a note - there is a German supply unit in production above; and I can assure you, another will be produced this turn. Long in short, I can spend 3 BPs for a mobile Primary Supply Source, for 1-2 relevant turns; or I can invest like 4-5 HQs for a constant pipeline of supply from the Mediterranean conquered colonies. I opted for the Supply Unit investment.) That will force the Soviets to divert some forces as well from their main front - and the Germans can either point toward Baku or toward Turkey if not both, depending how many troops the Soviets invest.

[AlbertN]

Jul / Aug 1941 - The Arabian Sea

The Axis - and when Storm was there also the Allied - sought each other, in the attempt to smash their respective forces.

The search had alternate fortune, the Axis had some exploits with their planes, sinking a Battleship of the CW and damaging another, plus some cruisers being hit; and once in the storms their submarines and some light cruiser found their Convoys (That was actually when the CW was searching for them).

The poor CL Taranto (alone with some planes in the 4 box) was found by the naval squadron of the Royal Navy, and mercilessly sank.

Also once the Brits played the trick - due to their 30+ AA - to find the Axis planes in the 4 box, and pump their AA up in the hope to destroy a Condor (That's a 6 BP if the AA got it!). Luckily enough they rolled only enough to abort one and get minor damage. (Luckily for me, the Axis player, that's it!).

The very moment the convoy line was destroyed, the Axis forces observed a mass withdrawal of the Royal Navy assets, now that Kuwait City was no more to be held in supply their ships scattered to some ports and the bulk in Diego Suarez.

Just south of there, in the Azanian Sea - the other Sunderland arrived to scour the Japanese raiding cruisers; damaging one and aborting their naval squadron entirely.

[AlbertN]

Jul / Aug 1941 - Chengtu Falls.

With Mao vanquished, the Comunists withdraw to their mountains, with the fresh units stacked with those disrupted so to not offer a too weak position, but anyhow the Japanese lack the force to pursue.

The bombardment of Chengtu has been inefficient - the Japanese send a total of 5 missions (2 planes the first round, reorganized 3 as one went to Kumming and then send all 3 over 2 impulses on Chengtu - for a total of 11 factors sent to bombard over time) to no avail. Both Chinese were fully organized.

Meanwhile their CAV unit slipped through the mountains toward Kumming, the Japanese stormed Chengtu for a bloodshed - 2 units per side were destroyed (INF and AT for Japan and 2 MIL for China). A sacrifice worth the cost I dare say, since that will be even less production for the Chinese.

The Japanese eyes are set on Kumming now (and its Red Factory), so are the worries of the remnants of the Nationalist China.
It seems that like the other game, Kumming will be turned into a fortress!

[AlbertN]

Jul / Aug 1941 - Manchurian Front

The Soviets prosecuted their offensive vehemently.

The Japanese HQ was all alone and it got jumped on by an amount of Soviets - but picking the Blitz table the HQ fled of one hex (and got in range to supply the armour unit in the Manchurian city!). Some Soviets got disrupted, but they were not content.

Three Siberian Armies attacked next the 5-3 MIL unit in the woods, a promising attack with +7! The Japanese opt to make a last stand with bayonet charge, screaming Banzai! It truly worked, as the Soviets rolled 7, went up to 14 which on the Assault Table is the magical number for 3 losses for the Attacker.

With the loss of their 3 elite armies, the Soviet advance came to a full halt (all other units are disrupted) meanwhile the Japanese are pondering if to attack with a +8 their INF in the woods. But at once if that attack too goes wrong ...

Other Happenings in the World:

Due to a Major Bug the Japanese invasions did not took hexes. We had to take an agreement that places like Rabaul, or even the oil in Dutch Indies (Tarakan) will have no Notional later on when invaded again. (Yes, Japan will miss 1 Oil this turn).

Singapore and Malay were seized, and the Japanese attacked Batavia - with no success. No losses from any side.

In French New Caledonia instead, a 2nd division arrived (From Rabaul - that admittedly remained British due to the bug of above) and with minor naval support the attacked the TERR. The two Japanese divisions proved neatly superior to the local forces armed by the French.

The USA President gathered the Congress, in order to push the nation to war, but to no avail (Failed 1 roll vs Japan and 1 rol l vs Euro-Axis , which lowered their tension neatly).

[AlbertN]

An Observation about this game.

With introspection - I believe the Kuwait defence from UK was a mistake; a risky card at least.

It has its pros if you can defend Aden as well, but Aden too can be cut in supply with enough effort (and the Axis Condors and Gabbiano still arrive at 4 in the Arabian Sea).
I choosed to send the Luftwaffe TACs there, but they could as well be over London for an amount of turns with a neat air superiority as the CW is shipping planes across the world.

I lucked with dices to an extent - but to have a plan purely based on luck is not good. If the Japan had the surprise there and rolled actually better for initiative, the CW would have been short of much more ships.
I think the British player set himself in an explosive situation there.

But mostly has opened another front for Russia - which I was not even considering. To seize the Kuwait there are so many Germans there that to ship them back in useful time is pratically not a viable option. It's just easier to ship in Supply Units for when the time comes than to ship back an army of 6-8 units.
I got myself in a situation - which I managed to handle and emerge victorious (at quite a cost for the counterpart since a Supply Unit and CL Taranto are all the losses I suffered, ontop of an ITA CP destroyed and a ITA SUB damaged). I could have handled better Japan - but heck we both are still new.

All I know is that if my Iraq cavalry would have just walked in Kuwait City, all these Germans would be in Poland, and we'd be having maybe a Battle for Britain (depending on the Fighter ratio, since I'd lose pilots and he'd not).

Probably it was just better to try to fight for Egypt then - so that the Axis had to truly wait for Japan to cut the supply line if they were not able to deal with the forces in Egypt.
Aden could have been defended better, that much is true, but the CW is short of production for everything they need (and they had left Malay entirely empty already).

Long in short for now all the UK ventures to stop the Axis here or there have been a failure.
World in Flames is a game of masses - how the combat is shaped you need a huge superiority to get somewhere, and get somewhere fast. That is how the Axis has to play, to commit half arsed somewhere leads to little or no gains. In fact at the start I was simply thinking if to fortify the single hexside giving in to Kuwait City - but then the W.Allies could as well DoW Saudi Arabia and get around it. It's a minor with a weak unit - and once US is in game they've no more brakes pratically to DoW anywhere they need.

So with insight - I believe once you surrender Egypt, leave Kuwait as well be. Because I doubt the UK could have pulled more units around - they've some in Canarias and Spanish Sahara but if they leave them empty the Axis has still enough punch, and the Royal Navy can be very strong anywhere the Axis cannot put land based planes. But give a sea where the Axis can swarm with NAVs and fighters, and sooner or later the disaster will happen.

[rkr1958]

Thanks for doing this AAR. I'm thourghly enjoying it and I'm learning a lot. Great game by the way. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

[AlbertN]

The Road to the End of 1941 (We got to start of Nov / Dec 1941!)

Roosevelt and the Congress did not seemed too keen to go to war and neither arm up for war!
Incredible unluck for my opponent, the USA streak was a "failed" gear up in May / June, having Japan get to 33 but not 34 Entry (But that was his mistake).

A double failure in Declaring War (At 40 and 30 Percent) on the Axis deprived USA of Tension - still lacking the latest gear up.

In Jul / Aug the DoW failed.

In Sept / Oct the USA simply watched things happen, impotent and unable to do anything due to how Entry and Tension were; and due to the double failure in DoW the tension was still too low to Gear Up.

In Nov / Dec that we are to play - the USA will be able to finally gear up. They can DoW at 40 and 30 Percent again - but wisdom suggests to wait and ensure the gear up this time.

Funnily enough USA claimed Northern Ireland - a USA factory has a better multiplier than an UK one on the longer run! (And UK atm is short of resources due to Australia connection not being safe).

[AlbertN]

The Road to the End of 1941 - Battle for Arabian Sea

The campaign for the control of the Arabian Sea started well before; with -a lot- of hard decisions to make from both sides.

We have gone through the assault on Aden - to the storming of Kuwait City - and other Axis accomplishments, but now that the Allies received reinforcements in terms of aereo-naval assets the scale started to even out.

In Jul / Aug the Brits managed to get a convoy point to link up India, and the Axis failed to find it!

In Sept / Oct the Brits seized the initiative and sent convoys and escorts to claim the whole of the Indian resources. Eventually a calculated trap. Italy sails with only the cruisers from Aden, placing them in the 4 box. It was Storm, so no planes.
No findings.
When it's the 2nd Impulse of the Brits, their fleet daringly get there, in fine weather: 3 Carriers, 1 Sunderland, and lots of cruisers and 2 BBS in the 3 box; 3 FTR2 in the 0 box with 2 Cruisers and 2 CPs. None find each other.

That is where the technical problem comes. Japan needs a land impulse for invasions and whatnot, so they cannot send their fleet out. Italy on the other hand takes a combined and sends its BBs, along with the Axis planes, in the sea. So almost the whole of the Regia Marina is at 4 with 2 Condors, the Falco FTR and Gabbiano NAV at 2, and a CR42 biplane at 1.

The first encounter wants both groups finding each other, wholly and fully (except the Brit FTR2 which are all 3 at the 0!).
The Brits have a Sunderland and a Swordfish as bombers, the Axis 2 Condors and Gabbiano. The Brits had 3 + 2 + 2 as FTRs (Carrier Planes), against 4 + 4 as Italian FTRs.
Despite the odds favoring the Axis, all the Axis bombers are sent home (except Gabbiano that is shot down), and same fate is for their fighters. With no losses from Allied side!

The Italian Navy is suddenly without air cover in absolute terms, but their strong AA repel entirely the attack of the enemy airplanes.

Both sides stay, the Italians find the prey, elect Surface combat and to pick a target by spending their surprise points.
The Brits immolate an amount of not very good cruisers, meanwhile a Carrier with 2 Carrier Planes is picked as target and sinks. The Italian cruisers are mauled though.

Both sides stay, the Italians find again, this time opting to crack the enemy CPs and their escorts. Clearing from ships the 0 box of the Allies.

Both sides stay - in awareness that the Commonwealth will try to bring more CPs later on.

But this time the Commonwealth finds Italy, though having lost a carrier and with the Sunderland aborted, they call for Surface Combat.

The losses were heavy from both sides. (UK got 1 more CA damaged, Italy 4 CA damaged).

Ultimately, with a few BBs aborted, cruisers damaged and in general seeing the UK as losing not very good cruisers, the Italians withdrew to Aden. The Japanese did not even got there in time (Turn was 3 impulses and due to the "bug" of hex ownership not changing on Invasion, Japan needed an extra Land impulse).

The Royal Navy is left to rule the waves, but their strong squadron withdraws at the end of the Turn to get back at Diego Suarez, where the Ark Royal, freshly repaired, arrived loaded with modern Fulmars.

Italy will surely struggle to replace the cruisers; meanwhile UK has still aplenty, and the Japanese Carrier Fleet could soon be needed elsewhere.

[AlbertN]

Start of Nov / Dec 1941 - Caucasus Situation:

Stalin is scrambling fresh troops, including the Soviet best tank army, in the Caucasus front to shield that borderline from the German massing in Persia.

Though bad weather have slowed the "Supply Units" of Germany in the Alps, and they're still in the mainland Europe, not even in the ports of Italy they're meant to reach! That is an immense logistic delay! (Bad weather rolls and a short Sept / Oct!)

[AlbertN]

7th December 1941 - Pearl Harbour

The Japanese waited enough, (the USA were anyhow to do their gear up, and declare war the next turn) and sent their Kido Butai to have a cruise just off the Hawaian Islands.

The USA attempted earlier again to declare war, and failed (40%), and upon realizing the imminent threat they tried again (This second time at 30%).
It was a risky move by Japan, since they could have got on the wrong side of the "surprise effect", with all their carriers lined up to be gunned by vintage battleships. The USA though failed again to DoW, but they were still above the treshold required for the gear up.
Failed the DOW the USA quickly move out of Pearl Harbour 1 BB and the 2 CV thereby present.

So, in the surprise impulse the Japan had to take an Air Action (yes, the OChit was used for the Brits earlier on, who had much more islands to take on the jump), and unleash their carrier air on Pearl Harbour.

I admit, the result was quite disappointing. I could have misused the Surprise Points truth be told as I used them to lower the enemy AA to an extent (8 Surprise Points for that); and only 2 Points to up the damage done.
The AA gave only a measly result (reduced to lowest of 2 dices, both dices rolled 3) - I did not want to lose a plane but probably it's what I should have gone for.
The damage done, on the paper 5 Destroyed, 1 Damaged, and 2 or 3 Aborted (non relevant) in the end got heavily mitigated by the save rolls of the BBs, and the USA-Picks of their old type CLs (Those with 6 movement, 3 range).

With 1 BB sank, 1 BB bottomed and 2 cruisers damaged it can hardly be considered a success - for the fielded forces.

As additional note, 2 Carriers though were bringing fighters, as they "returned" from the Indian Ocean at Singapore, and there was the need of air cover against the Spitfires and Hurricanes.