The Plague Diaries

[John B.]

It's September and the Allies liberated Lille and killed a German fighter unit in France as well as two of those pesky shore batteries. The main problem for the Western allies is that they don't have enough ground units to really push forward right now.

[John B.]

In Southern Russia the Soviets keep striving to cut off the Germans in the east and keep coming so close to the Black Sea short without being able to snap it shut. But, both Kiev and Dnieperpetrovsk were liberated.

FYI, I noticed this in the last game as well, but those two German heavy tank units appear to be frozen in place as they have not moved. Is it bad supply or a little glitch?

[John B.]

Things are also grim for the Axis in the north. Now it's their turn to pray for bad weather. The Soviet economy is humming along and it is starting to really crank out units.

[John B.]

Stalemate in the Med. I may have to ship some of those units out and send them to France.

[John B.]

So far the Japanese push into Burma has been hampered by bad supply. I'm not sure why that Japanese plane flew where it did. The allies want to keep the oil fields out of Japanese hands.

[John B.]

Cue ominous music as we pan over the Soviet build up in the Far East. Perhaps its time for a bit more pressure on the Empire of Japan?

[John B.]

Here's a lesson learned sports fans. Remember to save your turns. I didn't and just had to redo a move (thank you auto save!). In any event, it is December 31, 29143 and, as you can see from the loss chart, German and Japanese losses have gone up quite a bit this year. Japan has still only lost 4 CVs but the US has not lost any and its numbers continue to grow.

German morale is around 100 and Japanese morale is around 80.

[John B.]

In the Ukraine the Soviets have recaptured Odessa and are devoting forces to eliminating the German units that are behind the lines. The Soviet spearheads, no surprise, are in a tenuous supply situation so they're capturing towns to help increase their forward supply.

[John B.]

The poor supply really shows in the north. Soviet attacks have been stymied by German garrison units. There may need to be a pause that refreshes up here.

[John B.]

Meanwhile, on the western front, the Allies took Brest and consolidated. Their supply situation seems to be much better and a number of HQ are now on-site.

[John B.]

The allied strategic bombing campaign is hammering the Reich. You can see that the Ruhr is a smoking ruin and the Hague and Amsterdam have also been battered. The Allied air campaign continues to inflict serious losses on the Luftwaffe of 15 or more points per turn (the allies currently have a fighter quality edge of 3-2 and more fighter units).

[John B.]

On the other side of the globe, the americans took another island from the Japanese and their next target is going to be the Marianas. Also, I'd really like to know where that Japanese CV fleet is.

The Brits have resumed their raiding of the Japanese convoy routes in the DEI.

[John B.]

In Burma, the Indian army continues to defend the oil wells and the Japanese army is in poor supply.

[John B.]

China continues to be China. I get the sense that the Chinese are oh-so-slowly gaining the upper hand, but that's not 100% clear yet.

[John B.]

And, the Soviets have intervened and taken Harbin.

[John B.]

Ooops, forgot the Med. Stalemate in Italy and in Greece the British supply situation is a little better. The British also managed to push the German tank out of Thessalonika and to do some serious damage to a German tactical bomber.

[John B.]

It's almost the summer of 1944 and Germany is being hammered from all sides. Here, you can see that the British are holding the line in Greece while the Russians hare started to push into Romania. The loss of the Romanian oil wells would be a serious blow to Nazi production given the losses from allied strategic bombing and the loss of France.

[John B.]

Things are not much better up in the North with a number of units in pockets. The Soviets also eliminated all of the German units that had been left near Stalingrad.

Britian has also taken the opportunity to reduce its convoy to Russia from 20% to 10% of production.

[John B.]

In the West, the allied broke through and seized the Saar and are on the verge of taking Bordeaux (which I think cuts off Spanish exports to Germany). The Germans have amassed all of their fighters here but with the Strat bombers going in first the German fighters get used up (and take heavy losses) and then the allied tactical and medium bombers can go in and hit the ground troops. Germany has reinforced this front, but with the Allies already in the Saarland it's looking grim for the bad guys.

[John B.]

In Manchuria, the Russians have pushed on. There is stiff Japanese resistance but it has pulled strength away from the Chinese front. And, China is in front of the curve for MMPs and starting to rebuild an army each turn which will only serve to increase pressure on Japan.