Invasion Amerika - US player vs PO

[gwgardner]

In Canada, Quebec fell, but Montreal, Ottowa and Toronto are firmly in Canadian control. HOWEVER, the Canadians have zero reserves.

One Canadian advantage is terrain, and the fact that the AXIS apparently has no major ferry capability. If the few river crossings can be held, the enemy is stymied - unless it brings up more troops in towards Toronto.

[gwgardner]

On the Southest Front, three US divisions have routed the invading Mexican force, and are driving on central Mexico.

[gwgardner]

The rebellion in the Yucatan has certainly been a boon to the US, drawing an entire Mexican division to the south.

[gwgardner]

in the news:

[gwgardner]

Turn 25, Oct. 22

[player's note: I think the scenario needs to be revised to make sure AXIS PO objectve vectors don't go through the Delmarva Peninsula. I've had to insert new objectives for several of the AXIS divisions to keep them from getting trapped there.]

Montreal, Baltimore, Toronto and Pittsburg still hold, but all are under pressure, and the AXIS is driving on or around them. After a couple of months standoff north of Baltimore, Rommel is pushing through western Maryland and south into Virginia, to flank the defense.

Similarly, the enemy is making an attempt to cut off the Canadian forces from their western rail lines.

The Canadian government has said that it is do or die, in Quebec/Eastern Ontario, so there will be no withdrawal. [not to mention that there are 10 victory points in Montreal]

[gwgardner]

Mexico City is invested, but has fought off two attempts by the 4th Army to enter the city proper. 4th Armored Div has been directed southeast along the coast to Veracruz and Tobasco, in an effort to link up with the Zapatista rebels. The rebels have withstood almost continuous assaults by the 1st Mexican Army, but reports are that the rebels are losing cohesion.

High Command in Denver considered attempting a marine landing either in Panama or the Yucatan, but instead was forced to release the 2nd Marine Division to the battle around Jacksonville, in the east, while the 1st Marine Division remains on standby near Los Angeles.

[gwgardner]

Early November, two more divisions will be ready.

[gwgardner]

Turn 31, Dec 3

In the news (the public has not yet been told that the German 28th Inf broke through the last line of Pittsburg's defense overnight, and that followed just hours later by a coordinated fall-back under intense pressure, of the Baltimore defenders):

[gwgardner]

The situation in Canada has been static for two months. When the intense cold hit in late November, the Canadian Highlander Div led an attack out of the Toronto lines, followed by the US 35th and 44th Divisions. They smashed through the German siege forces, but the enemy quickly regrouped and conterattacked, with the North Dakota Natl Guard taking the brunt of the German assault and falling back in some disorder.

The fighting continues, with the Allied objective being to entrap and shatter the German 26th Div to the north, where it will be met by the Canadian Guards Div., and to the east, where the rest of the German 26th is backed up against the river.

[gwgardner]

Farther south, the situation has become much more fluid, with the enemy apparently redirecting their main push away from the Baltimore/Washington axis, towards the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania. The US front line has been shattered, and with Pittsburg now in enemy hands, a pullback to a better defensive line will be necessary - UNLESS the panzers have extended themselves too far.

Nevertheless, the AXIS besiegers north of Baltimore have put on a relentless, week by week blunt-force assault, combined with repeated efforts to flank the position to the west. Up until Dec 2, 6th Army has pushed back every attempt, but has finally been pushed out of Baltimore.

[gwgardner]

In the South, US forces are on the offensive, with the intent to completely cut off the enemy's supply lines by taking Savannah and Charleston, with Wilmington to follow.

It has been a blood fest, with General Guderian apparently leading from the front in central Georgia, around Macon. Each American advance has been met by a counter-assault. However, with the arrival of the fresh US 5th Armored division, 6th Army thinks the end is nigh for the AXIS southern front.

The AXIS cause there is not helped by the fact that its northern flank near Macon is held by Vichy French forces - intelligence reports that those units have mixed loyalty and elan.

[gwgardner]

In Mexico, the soldiers of the Mexican 1st Army have refused to acknowledge their government's surrender, and are backed up on the coast southeast of Veracruz, with scattered forces in Chiapas.

Once they are dealt with, US forces will resupply and refit, in readiness for a push towards Panama. The current position of Brazilian forces is not completely clear.

[gwgardner]

turn 37, Jan 14

With the AXIS fortunes on the East Coast and Mexico taking a decided turn for the worse, Japan has apparently decided to intervene. Perhaps too little too late, and the full extent of its participation is as yet unknown.

All that is known is that while the Hornet Carrier Group was in port at San Diego, having lost a good part of its air complement to Mexican land-based air forces, reports came in of a sighting of Japanese carriers 150 miles off the coast of San Francisco.

With land-based fighter cover, Hornet launched an attack. The Japanese countered, with heavy losses on both sides.

The Japanese lost 2/3 of their fighters and took heavy losses to at least one carrier, but the US lost a carrier.

[gwgardner]

To counter a landing by the Japanese, the US is fairly well prepared. Two armored, two infantry, and one marine divisions are either guarding west-coast anchorages or based inland near Denver.

Another infantry division in Mexico is being held there pending an assessment of Brazilian strength in Central America.

Until the southern lodgment of AXIS forces has been eliminated, there is little that 6th Army in the east can spare for the west.

However, it is known that the Japanese have the capability to land forces from deep water anywhere along the coast.

[gwgardner]

[player's note: I've played the next two or three turns several times, including taking control of the AXIS. The Japanese PO track sends the invading forces in at San Francisco. Every unit gets destroyed as it passes the point into the bay, from the fixed battery there. I then tried landing from a deep sea hex onto a beach that is not an anchorage and could not get that to work. So I don't know if it's a difference between earlier versions of TOAW or ... what.

I guess my only option is to arbitrarily pull my forces away from the coast and allow a landing, and go from there. Dorky, but the only way to continue? (Maybe High Command thinks that hitting the Japanese after the landing is the best tactic.)]

[later: Here's what I did for the Japanese - pulled back from San Francisco. I guess I'll do the same in LA and Seattle, because I have not looked at the rest of the Japanese tracks - it's the only way to keep playing the game and to give the PO a chance. After pulling back, the Japanese landed.]

[gwgardner]

[player's note: The other thing I've done over the last ten turns is:

1) given the PO a +2 advantage;
2) redone the tracks in the east that were crossing the Delvarma Penninsula, where the units were getting trapped due to the geography. I figure the AI/PO was way behing where it should have been because of this penninsular black hole. Since redirecting, the PO has done much better in pushing against Baltimore/Washington, and into the Ohio Valley.

To sum up, if anyone wanted to play the scenario against the AXIS PO, there should be a reworking of the map to keep units from going into the penninsula, and to figure out if the Japanese can do landings from deep sea hexes to somewhere not an anchorage, as the scenario notes imply.]

[gwgardner]

[player's note, again: Seems I was wrong about the Japanese not being able to land anywhere except anchorages, as I found this in the forum:

sPzAbt653
Generally, you can land at an anchorage immediately. Generally, you can land at any other hex [terrain allowing] by moving an embarked unit next to it, then next turn you can disembark and move inland. Where you will get supply from, in either case, is up to where friendly supply points are placed. ]

[John B.]

This is a very interesting AAR and scenario. Thanks for posting it! Go USA, beat the Nazis!

[gwgardner]

Thanks. I wish I had given the PO a +2 advantage from the start.

[gwgardner]

Turn 38, Jan 21

Even though the southern invasion area has been a disaster for the AXIS, the redirection of its forces in the north, and the +2 advantage starting in the last few turns, has infused renewed momentum in the north.

6th Army misjudged the strength of the AXIS offensive in the Baltimore/Washington area, and allowed the enemy to flank the defense of the nation's erstwhile capitol. Now the Army HQ is nearly surrounded, and command of the whole eastern front is transitioning temporarily to Natl Command, in Denver.

The Ohio Valley defense has pretty much completely collapsed, with the loss of Cleveland and Columbus. Only weak local militias stand in the way, in Cincinnatti, and Indianapolis. The 9th Inf east of Toledo has to hold until the 2nd Mtn Inf comes up from Illinois.

The US offensive near Buffalo is now in question - it's more a matter of holding now, than advancing.