World in Flames - Neverending Story

1939 Played: Sep/Oct Nov/Dec

Sep/Oct

Played: 2006-08-20

6 impulses.

Imp 1: Ger DOW Pol(CW)
Imp 2: CW DOW Ger
Imp 2: Fra DOW Ger
Imp 2: Russia annex East Poland
Imp 3: Ita DOW CW
Imp 5: Jap Align Siam
Imp 5: Ger DOW Den(CW)
Imp 5: Ger DOW Hol(CW)
Imp 6: Fra Align Yug
End: Ger Conq Pol,Den,Hol

Germany begins, unexpectedly of course, with an attack against Poland and quickly surrounds the Lodz and Warsaw areas. running over the polish fighter planes and some farm boys placed along the road. Lodz is promptly conquered and in only 6 days of fighting the polish factories and resources have all been conquered. The german troops totally surrounds Warsaw and noone can enter or leave the polish capital.

France and Commonwealth promtply responds with honoring their pact with Poland and declares war on Germany and France attacks north of Zurich, killing a german corps and advancing into Germany.

England in turn completely ignores the situation and transports some fighters away from the fighting and into the Med.

In China, Japanese forces advance cautiosly towards the chinese defense lines around Chungking. Japan also strengthens the bridgehead in Canton.
After this, Europe sees worse weather conditions in ages, so Germany decides to delay the final assault against Warsaw for a month while turning the attention towards the Sea.
Submarines are sent to surround the British Isles and the German Fleet goes to North Sea.
Italy sees the british fighter transports as a provocation and declares war to launch a preemptive strike against the transport fleet when they stop in Gibraltar for refuelling. The strike however is a total failure, with the mini sub used instead entering the port of Cadiz where the crew promptly is taken into custody by spanish Harbour Police.

In China, the Japanese Army receives well needed reinforcments coming from the Japanese homeland and from Manchuria, and with this added strength, an offensive is launched, destroying two chinese corps south of Chang-Sha, this forcing the Chinese to retreat into the mountaints to keep the front intact.
When the weather clears, Britain responds with moving their fleet out of Scapa Flow and retakes the control of the Seas with a devastating blow to the German fleet in the North Sea and establishing some submarine hunters to protect their convoy routes. Meanwhile, France ventures further into Germany, threatening Munich and establishing contact with Yugoslavian representatives who gets talked into joining France in their war against Germany.
The weather gets better and better, and in the beginning of October, Germany launches a heavy attack on Warsaw, conquering it, and also declares war on Holland and Denmark who both get conquered quickly and effortlessly, all while the french troops in southern Germany retreats back into France, happy with having managed to help persuade Yugoslavia to enter the war.

Player Comments

Germany: Objective was to kill Poland in the first impulse at the possible cost of some initial french success in the west. The naval move in impulse two came from the bad weather combined with CW exposing their TRS-fleet in Gibraltar, thus causing the Italian DOW. Too bad CW rolled 1 vs my 8 on the surprise rolls in the North Sea.

Japan: Lots of running and little fighting for the Japanese army as the chinese set up primarily in the mountains, especially in the north.

France: We really wanted Yugoslavia to join our side and we sure got them...

Italy: Early DOW on England because he exposed his transport fleet making it possible to severely damage his transport capacity with a surpise port strike on Gibraltar.

US Entry: 9
USA:     11BP 2INF,1BB,1CV,1CP
Japan:   13BP 1Synth,1INF,1CV(fd)
Germany: 22BP 1FTR(3),1LND(2),2MIL,1INF,1PAR,2BP->Russia
France:       2GAR,1MIL
CW:          
Russia:       1Mech,1GAR,1BPsave
China:

[Pictures]

Nov/Dec

Played: 2006-08-27

7 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2: Ger DOW Bel
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
Imp 5: USSR DOW Persia
Imp 6:
Imp 7:
End: Ger Conq Bel, CW Conq Libya,USSR Conq Persia

Germany attacks and quickly conquers Belgium. After this Germany and France begins strengthening the front, which now looks stalemated.
CW attacks in the Med and invades Libya, easily conquering the lightly defended Tripoli. This forces Italy do move forces away from the front against Egypt, back to the harbour of Homs.
In Yugoslavia, Germany continues to build up their presence and begins moving into the mountains, closing in on Zagreb. The Yugoslavian HQ gets surrounded at the border, and is annihilated by the attackers. Yugoslavia sends a MTN towards the German border on a mission to cut off the resource shipping between Germany and Italy, and succeeds in this, but seals their own doom in the process.
In the Med, the Italian fleet keeps away from the british, but with the aid of Luftwaffe, Italy manages to stay present in eastern and central Med in the air, and manage to shoot down a CW CVP-unit.
Russia decides their oil production isn't enough, so war is declared on Persia. The unhappy persians do what little they can to stop the attack, and even before the news about the DOW has reached Europe Teheran is conquered.

Player Comments

US Entry: Intern French CV. Build chinese aircraft. 
US Entry: Japan forces closure of Burma road.
USA:     11BP 2CP,2BB(f?),1AMPH,1CVPg
Japan:   10BP 1MIL,1AMPH(fd),1LND(3)
Germany: 17BP 1NAV(3),2INF,1MOTdiv,2BP->Russia,2BP->Italy(1 failed)
Italy:    3BP 1FROG(fd),2CP
France:   6BP 1FTR(2),1GAR
CW:      10BP 1FTR(2),1CVP(3),3CP
Russia:   9BP 2GAR 1MECH  1BPsaved
China:    3BP 1CAV,1MIL

1940 Played: Jan/Feb Mar/Apr May/Jun Jul/Aug Sep/Oct Nov/Dec

Jan/Feb

Played: 2006-09-10

6 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2: USSR annexes Baltic states
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
Imp 5:
Imp 6:
End:

As one could expect, most of the turn is about bad weather. Germany disposes of one yugoslavian corps standing in the way and slowly advances in Yugoslavia, forcing the yugoslavian navy to sail out to the sea. When the time to calculate the build points gets close, Luftwaffe gets attack orders and bombs away three french BP.
In the Med, CW manage to disturb Graziani in his position in central Libya, and with Royal Navy managing to kill off the Italian convoys, Graziani is left standing on the beach without any supplies and is in trouble.
The war rages on in southern China where the weather is now fine. Japanese troops which previously took Nanning continue westwards and now threatens Kumming. The Japanese army also successfully assault Chiangs positions east of Kwei-Yang, killing all defenders.

Player Comments

US Entry: Resources to western allies.
USA:     
Japan:   14BP 1LND(3),1CV(fd),1BB(fd),1AMPH(fd),1ENG
Germany: 17BP 2FTR(2),1sub(fd),ENG,2BP->Russia,2BP->Italy,1BPsaved
Italy:    7BP FTR(2),2CP,TRS(rep)
France:   
CW:      
Russia:  
China:

[Pictures]

Mar/Apr

Played: 2006-09-10

7 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2: USSR claims Bessarabia. Rumania caves in.
Imp 3: Hungary and Bulgaria lays claims on Rum. Rumania caves in.
Imp 3: Germany aligns Rumania
Imp 4:
Imp 5: Germany aligns Hungary
Imp 6:
Imp 7:
End:

Lots of bad weather again, causing the german advance in Yugoslavia to halt.
CW is determined to keep full control over the Med and sends in more fighters through Gibraltar. Italy manage to bring the supply line to Libya back in working order, but it is constantly threatened by CW who continues the tries to disrupt it.
Russia finally has enough troops along the Rumanian border to be able to place enough muscle behind the Bessarabia claims. Noone is surprised when they get what they want.
Japan attacks and takes Kwei-Yang shattering the defenders and the Japanese army are now closing in on Chungking also from the South.
As the Kumming Militia leaves the city to make room for reinforcements, Japanese troops nearby suddenly find the city vacated of defenders for a moment. Seizing the moment, they swiftly capture the city and then move on to close in on Chungking from the south.
As the weather clears, an assault is launched on chinese positions north-east of Chungking. The dug in defenders are annihilated and the area is taken.
By the end of the turn, Germany finally gets the good weather needed and can close in on Yugoslavia and also manage to punch a small hole in the French front.

Player Comments

US Entry: 
USA:     
Japan:   16 BP,CVL(fd),1BB(fd),1INF,1MTN,1MAR,1TRS(fd),1CP
Germany: 17BP 1MAR,1SUB(fu),1NAV(3),2BP->Ita,2BP->Rus,2BP saved.
Italy:   
France:   
CW:      
Russia:  
China:

[Pictures]

May/Jun

Played: 2006-09-17,2006-09-24

11 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2:
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
Imp 5:
Imp 6:
Imp 7:
Imp 8:
Imp 9:
Imp 10:
Imp 11:
End Germany Conq Yugoslavia, Italy conq Sudan:

Axis wins the initiative, after having to demand a reroll.
The weather is great and Germany spends an OC to exploit the breach in the French front. The british HQ Gort is wiped out, the French ARM is shattered and the French airforce is almost non existant.
Italy sends out submarines and in a heroic effort succeeds in sinking 5 british convoy points and aborting 6 in the seas of Biscay and Cape St. Vincent.
Chinese reinforcements have arrived in Chungking, Lan-chow and Cheng-tu, which does not stop Japan from sending a MOT-div to the undefended plains north of Chungking. While the Japanese air force does not manage to disrupt the defenders anywhere, the army still assaults Chinese positions east of Chungking, killing one Chinese INF and losing two divs themselves. An attack is also made south west of Chungking where all defenders are killed. Japan now has three hexes on the city.
In bad weather, the Chinese retreat from the west to the plains east of Chungking while two communist INF units launch a counterattack on the lone Japanese MOT north of Chungking. The MOT is however supported by the Japanese air force and the two communist units are killed with no losses for Japan.
Germany and Italy sends out their airforce in the North Sea and Western Med, and the british fleet, lacking adequate air support quickly abandons these sea zones, allowing Germany to launch an invasion in eastern England.
The turn proves to be very long, with great weather all the time, allowing Germany to push on, but the advance comes to a halt again when reaching Paris, which is heavily defended and resists the attacks, attacks slightly weakened by Germany diverting troops to the invasion of England.
In the North Atlantic, a German wolfpack sinks the entire british convoy fleet present there, 7CP, and CW ends the turn relying on french convoys to ship the production resources to England.
In Africa, the Ethiopian troops invades the CW controlled Sudan.

Player Comments

Germany: The invasion was made possible when CW moved every available aircraft unit to the Med. with nothing available but possibly a CVP with fighter value 0, his fleet couldn't cope with me sending out land based planes in the 2-box.

CW: Look, I'm telling you now: it did not happen that way! There are no Germans in London. The United Kingdom controls all of the British Isles, and the German invaders are committing suicide on the beaches, the landing grounds and particularly intensively in the hills!

US Entry: 7: 
USA:     ??BP BB(fu),TRS(fd),5CP
Japan:   16BP BB(fu),2GAR,CV(fu),CVL(fd),4CP
Germany: 18BP ATR,INF,HQ-A,2SUB(fd)
Italy:   5BP  TRS(fd),1CP,SUB(fu),FROG(fu)
France:  ?
CW:      15BP MECH,INF,FTR(3),2CP
Russia:  ?
China:   ?

[Pictures]

Jul/Aug

Played: 2006-09-24,2006-10-01

9 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2:
Imp 3: Ru DOW Iraq
Imp 4: Italy DOW France
Imp 5:
Imp 6:
Imp 7:
Imp 8:
Imp 9:
End: Ru conq Iraq,Italy conq Sudan

France begins with a heroic attack headed by their arm corps, killing two German advance corps and closing the gap in the front. The german response is to send more troops to England, including an italian MTN.
Italy declares war on France. US, as always when something happens in Europe, couldn't care less. Italian air force and navy takes to the sea, and continues to cost allied CPs.
CW abandons the Med and continues moving the naval forces back to the defense of England, and succeeds in damaging the German AMPH in the North Sea, when the german air force appearently had a small slumber (search roll 3 vs 10). Meanwhile on english soil, Germany presses on, killing the London militia which CW counters with a full retreat away from all southern England, placing the units in the mountains to block access further north. Germany and Italy quickly conquers all hexes in Southern England and sets up a front, occupying Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield and destroying the factories there.
In France, Germany steadily advances, killing the odd french unit. France tries another counter attack, but this time all it accomplish is the death of two french corps. Meanwhile, Italy enters southern France and quickly conquers the mines north of Marseilles and the factories of Lyon. France still holds Paris, but things look dire.
The entire Japanese air force bombs the defenders in Chunking in two gigantic air raids while the army slowly moves into position to assault the city. With the defenders finally disrupted and with the aid of reorganized bombers and under Terauchis personal supervision, the last Nationalist city in eastern China is assaulted, sweeping the defenders. The army now commences cleanup operations against the disrupted OOS nationalists in the mountains. In the end of the month, all that remains of Nationalist China in the east is a weak GAR and a CAV, surrounded in the mountains east of Chungking.

Player Comments

CW: 10 BP! Would the New World step forth to the rescue of the Old ASAP, please?!

US Entry: 
USA:     12BP TRS(fu),AMPH(fu),1CP,INF
Japan:   17BP CV(fu),CVL(fu),FTR,2GAR,TER,AMPH(fu)
Germany: 19BP LND(2),2SUB(fu),ARM,INF,AMPH(rep)
Italy:   7BP AMPH(fu),CA(rep),1BP saved
France:  
CW:      11BP 2INF,FTR,1BP saved
Russia:       2INF,ARM,ARMdiv
China:   2BP GAR

[Pictures]

Sep/Oct

Played: 2006-10-01,2006-10-07

1 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2:
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
Imp 5:
Imp 6:
Imp 7:
END:

The axis wins the initiative with an 8 vs 3, and the allies demand a re roll, this time the axis wins with 11 vs 3, so no, the allies aren't supposed to do the first impulse.
September begins with an Axis impulse and the unhappy Axis commanders see lots and lots of rain.
Germany and Italy sends out the Wolfpacks and kills some french convoys just outside of Gibraltar, but accomplish nothing less.
Germany makes two small attacks in western France and disposes of the resistance there, opening the way to the coast and to southern France in the process.
Japan sends more or less the entire Imperial Airforce to disrupt the last remaining Nationalis Chinese resistance, preparing for the final assault.
The weather clears up for the allies, and it's not until the end of turn that the axis sees good weather.
The french army runs away and sets up a defense line in the SW, realising it is time to protect the factory stacks there from conquest. In England, both sides continue to build up the front line.
On the seas, german and italian subs kills yet more english convoys in North Atlantic, and England succeeds with yet another lucky surpise roll against the german air force in the North Sea, killing the german TRS there, so Germany sends out some CP:s to the sea zone in question in the last impulse.
In Asia, weather gets out horrible so very little happends. The Manchurian border on Russia is reinforcesd with low quality troops on the Japanese side and fast moving russian INF paired with low quality INF on the Russian side.
As the weather clears however, Japan sends its Marines and strong INF to the coast while the rest of the army turns north to face Communist China.
The last two Nationalist Chinese units in the west are disposed of easily as they are now OOS and flipped in the mountains east of Chungking.

Player Comments

Japan: What killed Nationalist China (this early)? My opinion is that three things primarily killed Nationalist China.

. Luck. I (Japan) rolled about average at first. Seldon low, often enough to kill chinese units with small japanese losses. Later, I had one really good roll(about 15, resulting in 23+) when I took the mountains north east of Chungking, and one other quite good in the mountains south of the city. Also, flipping Chiang once was way more important than i thought at first (see 2)
. China defended for too long in the southern forests. Even though they did not defend the coast (=suicide), they still let Japan make 3:1 assaults. To some extent, this was due to an (un)fortunate flip of the Chinag HQ which China really did not wish to leave for the wolves to kill. The result however, was that both Chiang and another unit was killed on pretty good odds.
. Japan concentrated all of their good units including two good HQs in the south. The commies were completely ignored.

Russia: An important reason (in retrospect) was that no russian troops where placed along the Manchurian border. Had Japan been forced to place troops there, things in China would have been much harder.

US Entry: 
USA:     11BP BB(fu),CV(fu),INF,1CP
Japan:   19BP HQ-I,AMPH(fu),GAR,TER,FTR
Germany: 17BP MECH,GAR,MIL,FTR(4),TRS(fd),2SUB(fd)
Italy:    8BP HQ-I,TRS(fu)
France:  -
CW:      13BP 2MOT,1CP,FTR(2)?
Russia:  17BP 3inf,Mech,mechdiv
China:

[Pictures]

Nov/Dec

Played: 2006-10-08

7 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2:
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
Imp 5:
END:

Axis wins initiative and moves first. The weather begins in a bad mood and german and italian SUBs take to the sea, to continue the slaughter festival on british convoys.
CW contests the North Sea, and once again he manages some enormous search rolls there, killing the german naval presence. The german air force is still present though, and arrives at the place where the german convoys are sunk, and take their revenge on the small british fleet still lingering there, seriously damaging two battle ships in the process (rolling 1 on both damage rolls)
The german troops in England are left out of supply, so no movement take place there.
Germany makes up for this in France though, where the totally surrounded Paris is finally assaulted and captured, and the german troops now begin running south, to finish off the remaining french defenders who have dug in in and around Toulouse.
In Asia, strategic bombardment of the remaining chinese factory reduces Chinese production to nothing. Taking advantage of the only moment of clear weather in the turn, Japan makes an assault on the Chinese militia east of the communist city but fails miserably.
In the Med, Germany's Marine Corps makes an assault on the lightly defended Malta, and with the Italian Primo Fleet weakening the defenses with a heavy shore bombardment, the german troops can easily land and take the island.

Player Comments

Germany: Finally! Paris taken. It took a while, but there was no real need to risk units by being in too much of a hurry. I awaited the right moment. The stacks in the Pyrenees are a tougher nut to crack, though. 31 str in Toulouse is nothing one grabs just like that...
Some real annoying british luck with the search rolls in the North Sea, but him allowing us to grab Malta and me damaging two of his SCS and Italy meanwhile killing a few more of his convoys makes us stay ahead this turn anyway.
Japan: Damn this weather. Is it too much to ask for just one impuls per turn in which your strategic bombers can do their job?

US Entry: 
USA:     12BP: 2BB(fu) 1CP 1INF
Japan:   19BP: 1 CV(fu), 1 TRS(fu), 1 GAR, 1 INF, 1 FTR, 1 CVP, 1 SUB(fd)  
Germany: 21BP: 2INF,MECH,FTR(3),BB(rep),SUB(fu),CP(rep),CP
Italy:    8BP:  TRS(fu),???
France:   -
CW:       8BP: 2 MIL, 1 FTR2
Russia:  17BP: 1 MECH, 1 MECH-div, 3 INF
China:

[Pictures]

1941 Played: Jan/Feb Mar/Apr May/Jun Jul/Aug Sep/Oct Nov/Dec

Jan/Feb

Played: 2006-10-08

4 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2: Germany Aligns Bulgaria
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
END:

Axis wins initiative, but lets the allies move first. CW spends his time transporting people and setting up some convoy protection.
Germany tries to make use of the bad weather to move the entire german navy to Brest. As usual, CW gets silly amounts of luck with the search rolls and sinks a few german convoys in the process.
Weather is terrible in China so nothing happends there. Russia further reinforces the Manchurian border and Japan masses forces around Canton.

Player Comments

US Entry: 
USA:     15BP: BB(fu) AMPH(fu) 4CP INF
Japan:   19BP: 1 CV(fd), 1 BB(fu), 1 FTR-3, 1 CVP, 1 INF, 1 SUB(fu)
Germany: 25BP: NAV(4),FTR(3),GAR,HQ-A,CV(fu),2SUB(fu)
Italy:   12BP: FROG,HQ-I,ATR(3),SUB(fu)
France:  
CW:       8BP: 1 INF, 1 ART
Russia:  17BP: 1ARM, 1HQ-I, 2INF
China:

[Pictures]

Mar/Apr

Played: 2006-10-15

5 impulses.

Imp 1:
Imp 2:
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
Imp 5:
END: Germany Conquers Algeria and Tunisia

The German Marine invades Algeria with the assistance of the italian Navy and some italian militia. Meanwhile, the German airforce makes an airborne assault, creating a foothold in Tunisia, this also with eager assistance from the italian navy. This resulting in both Algeria and Tunisia being conquered by Germany.
In Asia, as the weather clears, Japanese strategic bombers hit the last remaining chinese factory, destroying one PP while artillery and other tactical bombers strike Mao's positions disrupting him. An assault is then launched east of Lan Chow. With quite some Japanese losses, the hex is taken and Japan now has three hexes on Lan Chow. Mao is not a very happy man right now.

Player Comments

US Entry: 
USA:     11BP: 2CV(fd) 2CVL(fd) TRS(fu) CVP
Japan:   20BP: 1CVL(fu), 1 FTR, 2 CVP, 1 MIL, 1 INF, 1 SUB(fd), 1 BB(rep)
Germany: 23BP: 2INF,MECH,LND(2),BB(rep),TRS(fu),SUB(rep),2BP saved
Italy:   13BP: INF,LND(2),FTR(2),SUB(fu),SUB(fd)
France:  
CW:      8 BP: 2 MOT
Russia:  17BP: 1MECH, 1ART, 2INF, 1GAR
China:

[Pictures]

May/Jun

Played: 2006-11-05

8 impulses.

Imp 1: Axis
Imp 2:
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
Imp 5:
Imp 6:
Imp 7:
Imp 8:
END: Germany Conquers Gibraltar, Italy conquers Libya, Germany declares Vichy,USA gears up production (entry option 22)

In the first impulse, Germany and Italy sends out their submarines to kill CW convoys, but fails miserably in finding anything. They also try YAPS (Yet Another Port Strike) against the british fleet in Belfast, but as usual, the british player gets huge amounts of surprise points and can buy no combat.
All while assembling invasion troops and bomber squadrons in northwestern Algeria as well as moving more troops towards the spanish border. CW counters with sending out ships to protect their shipping lanes, but not enough to protect against the German surface fleet who joins the fighting outside Gibraltar and Gibraltar is left out of supply. This is the moment the axis has been waiting for and a massive air armada is sent to bomb the wits out of the defenders, but someone gives them the wrong maps, because not a single bomb hits. The German Marine corps is sent out into Western Med, but gets orders to hold at the news of the failure of the bombers.
CW see the threat and sends what can be found to the area, including transport ships with supplies and no less than four aircraft carriers.
But Kriegsmarine finds and intercepts the transport ships and one of the carriers before they can unload the supplies, Now a second wave of Axis bombers files to Gibraltar. This time one squadron of long range italian LND and italitan NAV:s, supported by a german LND. And the Italians save the day, disrupting all defenders enough to allow for an invasion. CW have CV fighters available, but save those to defend against an anticipated german airborne assault, and indeed, the entire air transport unit is shot down before it can unload its paratrooper passengers, leaving the german Marine corps as the only unit to execute the attack, with the help of Kriegsmarine. The corps land on the beach and in a heroic assault with a approx 30% chance of success, Gibraltar is taken (rolled 20).
In Africa, Italy ships a MECH-corps to southern Tunisia and with this retake Tripoli and thus reconquers Libya.
In Asia, Japan seem all set to go against CW, but bad weather throughout the turn makes warmaking too hard, so nothing happens. At all. Except for USSR massing troops along the manchurian border, now confident in Germany not attacking for a long time...
By the end of the turn, Germany installs the Vichy government, and no part of France wants to keep on fighting, leaving the world with no free french around and France is completely conquered.

Player Comments

Germany: The Gibraltar assault has been my major concern for the last 2-3 turns, assembling the right troops, transports, bombers and ships and timing this with enough search rolls and weak CW defenses on his convoys to ensure OOS.
We got him OOS pretty much on schedule, but then my LND attack was catastrophic, with not a single flip (approx 10% risk of that) which allowed for CW to move new ships to Vincent. He did that all wrong, though, and with a stroke of luck, the italians flip and my fleet manage to kill off the transport giving supply. This gave us a +9-attack on Gibraltar, meaning I had to roll 12 or 14+, thus 36% chance of success, and with also a small chance my PARA would get through, in which case the assault would succeed on 7+
Knowing I could go back to plan B, conquering Spain, if this would fail, it was a chance well worth taking, as the gain of being able to align in Spain was huge compared to the possible loss, so we tried with the PARA, failed but assaulted with the MAR alone, and I rolled the perfect roll, leaving the allied players seriously demoralised...:)

Japan: 24.1% chans of never having good enough weather to press the Annihiliate Everything Remotely British-button but noooooooo. Of course not.

What should CW have done differently the last few turns to keep Gibraltar?

Put at least one WP there, possibly also a fighter. This should be a top priority once the first Axis bomber lands in Algeria or when it becomes evident that the Axis are going for Spain. CW could actually spared the units from UK right now, and a crappy TERR is almost as good at guarding beaches in Scotland as a high quality white print unit.
When Gibraltar was put OOS the first time, commit two TRS and half of the available navy to the zero box (Which was the only reachable box at the time). The smaller force should have gone on the one box, contrary to what was done. This would have required at least in total 10 surprisepoints (4+3+3) for Germany to put Gibraltar OOS again. The next impulse, when there is presence, two more TRS could have joined the 1-box, and possibly also a CP or two in the zero box. CW would swiftly have worn down the German fleet.
When moving some TRS to Cape St. Vincent, why not replace one of the crappy units there with the MECH in Gibraltar. As it were, we could actualy had afford not to flip one of the units in Gibraltar since it was just a 2-strength unit (not that this would have mattered now since we flipped both units). Also, why not bring a fighter when moving som TRS close to Gibraltar? It could have reacted to the zero box from Gibraltar and required spending 4 more surprise points for Germany.
When it is evident that Gibraltar is under attack, just a few points in shore bombardment is the difference between an impossible invasion and a success. CW actually left box 3 with one BB voluntarily now (Ok, he took a bit of a beating first there, but anyway). CW has a lot of cheap cruisers with 6 move. Use them as suicide torpedoes if needed. US can repair most of them later if needed.
Not intercepting the second bombing raid with a 3-FTR from the CV was a mistake! There would still be a 2-FTR to shoot down the unarmed ATR with the PARA? There was absolutely no need whatsoever to use both CVPs against the ATR since the fighters could not even be aborted.
CW should have kept a few cruisers in Gibraltar/Suez as raiders. Italy will probably not think it is worth it to use his frogmen against such a meagre target and a few cruisers able to go raiding in the Med is a huge difference. CW only need one abort and one pick target agaist the right stack to abort the whole invasion for one turn.
Don't allow Germany to roll a natural 20...

US Entry: (1,4,7,9,11,15) 22
USA:     21BP: 1 CV(fd), 2 CVL(fd), 1 AMPH(fu), 2 CVP, 1 INF, 4 CP
Japan:   18BP: 3MIL, 1ART, 1FTR(2),1CVL(fu),2CP
Germany: 25BP: ARM,INF,2GAR,FTR(3),CVP,SUB(fd),BB(fu)
Italy:   12BP: MTN,LND(4)
France:  What France?
CW:      8 BP: 2 GAR, 1FTR(2)
Russia:  17BP: FTR(2),MECH,ART,ENG
China:    0BP
Vichy:

[Pictures]

Jul/Aug

Played: 2006-11-12

7 impulses.

Imp 1: allies
Imp 2: Germany aligns Spain. Germany DOW Portugal
Imp 3:
Imp 4:
Imp 5:
Imp 6: Germany & Italy DOW Greece
Imp 7:
END: Germany Conquers Portugal

CW uses the turn to move ships. Naval action after naval action.
Germany and Italy continues their offensive in the med-area. Germany gives Gibraltar to Spain who quickly joins the axis and immediately declares war on Portugal where Franco shows that he too know how to do this war thing. Lisbon is conquered in the first impulse.
German invasion troops are prepared and in the third axis impulse, Greece is attacked and german land troops enter from Yugoslavia, rushing south, while an amphibious assault is made just north of Athens to secure the approach to the greek capital and an airborne assault is made to secure a harbour west of the city.
Meanwhile the german Marines make an unopposed landing on northern Cyrprus and secure the production resource there.
Axis send out aircraft into North Sea and Biscay to contest those sea zones.
In North Africa italian troops rush east through Libya to take back the ports of Tobruk and Bardia.
USSR decides that now it the time to aid our communist brothers in China against the expanding Japanese empire. Upon seeing this, the US public opinion shift significantly towards a non-intervensioninst policy.
The buildup along the Manchurian border has been quite significant on both sides and Russian forces make marginal progress the first few turns against weak Japanese territorial troops in northern Manchuria. Then suddely a breakthrough is achieved in the mountains of western Manchuria as fast Russian infantry troops assault their way throgh the mountains and a lone cavalry takes a shortcut through northern China and blocks a Manchurian resource for Japan. Meanwhile at sea, Russian submarines cause significant disturbances in the Japanese shipping routes.
Japan demands and gets Madagascar from Vichy and moves a fleet there. Some destroyers are also sent out on convoy escort duties.

Player Comments

Japan: The turn ended very unfortunately for the axis (on a one). Greek troops was reorganized just as Germany was about to hit Athens and there were still troops to rail east and searches to be made. In Manchuria, Russia succeeded perfectly with a low odds attack (17 rolled) and the situation turned from "under control" to "quite bad" very fast.

US Entry: (1,4,7,9,11,15,22) 13,27,26
USA:     21BP: 1CV(fd),2CVL(fd),1TRS(fu),1AMPH(fd),1HQ-A,1CP
Japan:   18BP: 3MIL,1TERR,1NAV(2),1CVP,3CP
Germany: 31BP: PARA,INF,MIL,ARM,LND(2),LND(3),ATR(4)
Italy:   10BP: CP,FROG(fu),?
France:  -
CW:      
Russia:  17BP: 1Mot, 1Inf, 1Cav, 1FTR(2),1sub(fu)  2BP saved
China:    0BP
Vichy:    1BP: 1saved

[Pictures]

Sep/Oct

Played: 2006-11-19

7 impulses.

Imp 1: axis,Japan DOW CW
Imp 2: allies
Imp 3: axis
Imp 4: allies
Imp 5: axis
Imp 6: allies
Imp 7: axis
END: Germany Conquers Greece. Japan conquers Mozambique, Burma, Sydafrika, Malaya (except Singapore), New Ireland, New Britain and New Hebrides.

The turn begins with the long awaited japanese declaration of war on CW and a japanese super combined where Japan lands in South Africa and seize CW assets all over the south east asian area.
Japan breaks the CW supply lines to Egypt and there is a struggle throughout the turn where CW keeps trying to keep the supply while Japan continue to break it.
In Europe, Germany quickly disposes of the greek defenders in Athens and attention is quickly moved south where Rommel enters Egypt, quickly followed by an italian mechanized corps as well as some german infantry who gets diverted there after finishing the greek campaign. Meanwhile CW evacuates some of the defenders from the area which now more and more looks like a potentially disastrous place for brittish units to be, especially so whene Germany strengthens their troops there with an armor corps as well.
In the Atlantic, italian and german submarines continues their hunt for british convoys, and just northwest of Ireland, they manage to sink a british CV trying to protect the supply paths.
Germany and Italy tries another port strike against Belfast, but someone, somewhere must have provided the Axis powers with bogus maps over Northern Ireland, as once again the port strike fails to find the port of Belfast.
The german main fleet is sent out together with the Spanish Armada to hunt for more british convoys, and indeed, a task force with Bismarck, Schanhorst and a few spanish cruisers intercept a major convoy leaving north eastern Canada. A major sea battle occurs where a spanish cruiser and a british battleship are sunk and the rest of the british escorting fleet is forced to return to port leaving Schanhorst free to wreak havoc on the convoys.
Japanese landings are made in New Ireland and Port Vila. Later in the turn, Rabaul and Espiritu Santo are also conquered without any resistance. The NEI oil is conquered by fast moving infantry divisions and Surabaya is taken by the imperial marines and a heavy infantry corps which later close in on Batavia.
Many CW convoys are also annihilated. Some are caught surprised at sea, some are portstriked by Japanese CVs in india and yet some are intercepted and sunk as they try to establish supply to Egypt once in the Arabian Sea. One transport escaping from Egypt is also sunk in the Arabian sea by the efficient Japanese CV bombers.
While the Japanese landing north east of Durban is initially sucessful, it is put in jeopardy by a CW CV bomber and a land based fighter who bomb the landing sites, shooting down a Japanese CV-fighter in the process. However, no units are disrupted and Japan can safely, albeit without supply, conquer Mozambique and South Africa.
In the Mozambique Channel however, CW manages to sink the now planeless Japanese CV after a series of succesful searches, but later runs into trouble as it seems to have run out of in-supply ports. Eventually, the fleet is relocated to St. Helena.
One raiding Russian SUB is also sunk as it is found by the Japanese navy while trying to raid the Japanese convoy chain to the US.
On the Russo-Japanese front, little happends this turn. Russia makes a failed blitz attack trying to reach Harbin and Japan sets up to kill the Russian Cavalry raiding in southern Manchuria.

Player Comments

US Entry: (1,4,7,9,11,15,22, 13,27,26) 44, 23
USA:     15BP: 2 TRS(fd), 1BB(fu), 1 HQ-I, 2BP saved
Japan:   16BP: 1 GAR, 1 MIL, 1 INF, 1 FTR, 1 CA(rep), 4 CP.
Germany: 26BP: MECH,INF,GAR,2MIL,FTR(2),LND(3),CA(fu),1BPsaved
Italy:   14BP: LND(3),CP,CV(fd),BB(fu),INF
France:  -
CW:       8BP: CA(rep),GAR,MAR
Russia:  17BP: 3MOT, save 5BP 
China:    1BP: 1BP saved
Vichy:    1BP: 1BP saved

[Pictures]

Nov/Dec

Played: 2006-11-26

8 impulses.

Imp 1: axis
Imp 2: allies
Imp 3: axis
Imp 4: allies
Imp 5: axis
Imp 6: allies
Imp 7: axis
Imp 8: allies
END: Germany conquers Egypt, Palestine, Jordan.

In the West, German and italian submarines continue to hunt british convoys, though without much luck. CW continue some minor contesting of the North Sea and Bay of Biscay, but axis naval aircraft continously chase them away.
In Africa, Rommel is reinforced with Stukas and a Panzer corps and go on the offensive, helped by german marine landings east of Wavell's positions, screening is possibilities of getting supplies through Jordan and Palestine, and the ethiopian territorials, blocking possible supply from everywhere else by capturing the port of Suez. The infantry blocking Rommel's path to central Egypt is easily disposed of with the help of italian bombers, and shortly after Wavell, as well as the defenders of Cairo is swiftly killed, leaving only a single corps of aussies holding a defense pocket at the coast, but lacking any kinds of supplies.
With Egypt secured, Rommel orders the panzer corps to take control over the rest of the british holdings in the area, making Jordan and Palestine german controlled.
In Asia/Pacific, the turn proceeds pretty much like the previous one. Japanese CV planes hit the CW convoys in the ports on the west coast of India with mixed sucess. CW meanwhile evacuate the rest of his naval forces from the vincinity of South Africa. A transport leave the threatened Suez for Aden but is there damaged by Japanese CV bombers.
Russia makes a final effort to gain some ground in Manchuria before his forces have to leave for Europe. Two consecutive attacks are made on the resource hex north west on Harbin, the second one taking the hex. A third attack is launched north west of Vladivostok, which turn out to be disastrous. The attack becomes a bloodbath, losing one unit for Japan and three of the four participating units for Russia, leaving only one disrupted unit defending Vladivostok.
The inevitable Japanese counterattack on the other hand is a brilliant success. Korean militia and territorials, supported by some regular troops, shore bombardment and aircraft from mainland Japan save the day and Vladivostok is taken. Later, the nearby resource is also taken. Japan also manage to flip and kill a lone Russian CAV which had advanced through China into southern Manchuria.
Chinese nationalist, in what has been known to the world as the long march has finally arrived in the front around Lan Chow. Japanese troops screen them but they still manage to tie up some troops that could have done better things elsewhere.
In the pacific, Japan take a few more islands with some Marine divisions and eventually transports some troops to the Marshalls as well.
Even though japaneese diplomats continue to assure the White House that the neighbourg across the Pacific is in no way hostile towards the American people, the rapid expansion of the japaneese sphere of influence does not go by unnoticed by the american people. The industry switches its production towards military products, preparing for what might come.

Player Comments

US Entry: (1,4,7,9,11,15,22, 13,27,26, 44, 23),34
USA:     23BP: 2CVL(fu), 1CV(rep), 1CVP, 1INF, 1MAR, 1ARM, 3BP
Japan:   20BP: 2TERR,1GAR,1MIL,4CP,1CVP-0,1TRS(fd),1SUB(fu),2CA(rep)
Germany: 30BP: 2MOT,GAR,MECH,OC
Italy:   11BP: 
France:  -
CW:      16BP: 
Russia:  ????: 4INF,ARM-div,CAV?
China:   
Vichy:

[Pictures]

1942 Played: Jan/Feb Mar/Apr May/Jun Jul/Aug

Jan/Feb

Played: 2006-11-26

8 impulses.

Imp 1: allies
Imp 2: axis
Imp 3: allies
Imp 4: axis. Germany DOW Yemen
Imp 5: allies
Imp 6: axis
Imp 7: allies. USA DOW Japan
Imp 8: axis
END: Germany conquers Yemen, Aden.

Russia evacuates most of his troops from the Manchurian border and evens out the front somewhat, which Japan takes advantage of later on by killing an OOS INF in the mountains east of Vladivostok. Japan also makes a daring assault on Batavia in bad weather but fails miserably, taking some losses.
Japan ferries more troops to the Marshalls and Truk
When the japaneese navy bases parts of its fleet in the Marshalls and ferries a steady stream of troops there, it is becoming clearer that the diplomatic assurances where nothing but a diversion to buy more time. The US Navy draws up plans for a preemtive attack to seize key islands, but the reality catches up with the plans. A first proposal to go to war doesn't get enough votes, but this starts a massive debate and a later war proposal sends the american people into a state of war. Most of the US fleet is sent on its way, but the lack of battle experience stops them from finishing off more than a lone japanese transport, and even this happens only because the japanese ship finds them rather than they finding it. The transport crew, not having received the news that they were at war with the americans are taken completely by surprise when they sail round an island only to find themselves in the middle of a task force opening fire on them.
CW backs some hexes in Burma to avoid being outflanked by advancing Japanese militia and territorials and the Chinese nationalists are definitely cut of from supply.
At the end of the turn, most of the Japanese navy relocate eastwards, to Canton and to Truk to meet the new threat from the US.
In Europe, nothing much happens. Germany continues to move units to the russian border, and now Italy is also seen moving units to the area. Rommel finishes off the last resistance in Egypt and the german infantry gets shipped south to make an assault on Yemen, From where the undefended port of Aden is conquered. The Italian fleet now joins the japanese in the Indian Ocean, to help protect japanese merchant shipping from french/british raiding submarines.
There continues to be some skirmishing in the Atlantic, but nothing much, except for a german attempt at disrupting CW convoys outside the Canadian Coast, which fails due to noone being able to spot the enemy in the bad weather there.

Player Comments

Japan Oups! US DOW kicked in one turn sooner than I had expeced. I had just moved the port strike fleet to sea in order for them to return to Truk at end of turn. Anyway, damages were not bad. One TRS sunk, and that was because I accidentally found him!

US Entry: (1,4,7,9,11,15,22, 13,27,26,44,23,34),DoW Japan,16
USA:     39BP: 2CVL(fu), 2CV(fu), 1CVP, 1FTR(3), 1MAR, 2ARM, 1MOT
Japan:   25BP: 2INF,1GAR,1FTR,1TRS(fd),2CP,1SUB(fu),1SUB(fd),1CV(fu),1CVL(fu)
Germany: 38BP: 2GAR,INF,HQ-I,2ARM,FTR(2),SYNTH,SUB(fu),2BPsaved
Italy:   13BP: 
France:  -
CW:      18BP: 
Russia:  ????: 3GAR,INF-HQ,GUN,ARM,MECH ?
China:   
Vichy:

[Pictures]

Mar/Apr

Played: 2006-12-03

7 impulses.

Imp 1: axis. Ge,Ita DoW US,USSR
Imp 2: allies. US align Brazil
Imp 3: axis
Imp 4: allies. US align Mexico
Imp 5: axis. Ge align Finland
Imp 6: allies. US align Central America
Imp 7: axis
END: Germany conquers Iraq, Latvia. Japan conquers NEI, China, Rhodesia, Bechwanaland. CW conquers Anglo Egyptian Sudan.

In the great weather the turn start with, Euroaxis decides to make this the World War it is supposed to be, and with the words Showtime!, war is declared on USSR and USA. Germany uses an OC to make a super combined and the full german and italian navies spread out in the Atlantic and Luftwaffe gets orders to bomb the wits out of the russian HQ:s. A german squadron of naval bombers get sent to Belfast where a US transport is damaged, and the italian frogmen finally get to do something, when they swim to Glasgow and sink a british CV in the port there.
The italo-german-spanish main fleet sails to Faroes Gap, north west of Ireland, and there they totally ignore the british air cover and use the turn to annihilate any and all convoys in the area, totally isolating England from both oil and US resources and leaving the main route from America to England guarded by an axis fleet.
German troops make amphibious landings in Persia and Riga, and in a daring raid, german paratroopers take control over Sevastopol (well, daring, it was a +18-attack :) German land troops make a few not very successful attacks against important russian defense locations and the german-russian main front is mostly a standstill throughout the turn, except for some unhappy russian road bumps getting killed. But further south Rommel rushes from egypt to Bagdad, and in Persia german troops secures all persian oil wells.
Japan sails a hidden TF and an AMPH covered by Zeroes to the Marshalls and another one to China sea. Covered in rainy skies, USA sends some old battleships out to meet them but noone seems to have brought their binoculars. Japanese portstrikes are sent against Midway (no effect) and Perl Harbour (2 CVP lost to the massive AA!!!) and the US battleships upon having seen the contents of the TF decides to leave the sea zone. Japan reinforces the Marshalls with another GAR and USA moves an INF to Pago Pago.
Losses at sea this turn in the pacific amounts to one Japanese SUB and two CP sunk, the later by a french-brittish SUB, two US SUBs and one cruiser damaged and one CP sunk.
Japan heavily reinforces the area around Batavia and assaults the city which falls with no Japanese losses and NEI and the Netherlands are completely conquered by Japan.
China also receives its final beating this turn. The communist defenders of Lan-Chow, including Mao's HQ are flipped by Japanese artillery and aircraft. The city is then successfully assaulted, again with no Japanese losses. China is thus also completely conquered by Japan, who spends the rest of the turn withdrawing troops from the Lan-Chow area towards Canton and Manchuria.
After a flanking manoeuver in the mountains east of Khabarovsk by a Korean territorial corps and some successful tactical strikes, Japan also kills two Russian corps defending around the city who suddenly find themselves out of supply. The city is taken and the few Russian forces in the area are having a hard time as reinforcements seems to go all to the western front.
Germany and Italy, now active also on the Asian map makes landfall in the oilfields in southern Persia from Aden, capturing the three oil wells there while Rommel alone captures Iraq and all its oilfields. Five oil wells lost for Russia this turn!

Player Comments

Japan Happy, happy, rejoice, rejoice. Two major chokepoints (China and NEI) disposed of in one turn. More corps available for new adventures all over the world. This is not to mention the unexpected success around Khabarovsk. It almost makes up for the failed portstrikes and miserable search rolls against the USA.
Germany There was an important hex in the front which, if I had successfully blitzed it, would have devastated the russian front, but I rolled bad dice, so instead I got flipped and the russian troops could safely retreat. I guess that was payback for the enormous ground strikes and naval search rolls I made in the turn. The turn became yet another monster long turn, which allowed for Rommel's rushing to Iraq to get there before the end of turn, We denied Russia 3 oil and got them ourselves, and combine that with CW only being able to build 6BP due to our fantastic success in Faroes Gap and also him not being able to unflip his CPs and planes due to lack of oil and I'd say this turn was a huge success, especially with Japan putting China out of her misery.

US Entry: total war.
USA:     48BP: 1CV(fu),1CV(fd),1CVL(fu),2TRS(fu),1TRS(rep),3FTR,2CVP,10CP
Japan:   28BP: 1CA(rep),2CV(fu),1TRS(fu),1TRS(fd),1SUB(fd),2GAR,1ART,1CVP(0),1FTR,3BP save
Germany: 43BP: 2MECH,1ARMd,GAR,INF,2MTN,FTR(2),LND(2),CA(fu),SUB(rep),GUN,1save
Italy:   13BP: FROG(fd),CA(fu),2GAR,LND(3)
France:  -
CW:      6BP:  NAV(2),4CA(rep)
Russia:  34BP: 8MIL,3INF,1MECH,1GUN
China:   -
Vichy:

[Pictures]

May/Jun

Played: 2006-12-10

6 impulses.

Imp 1: allies.
Imp 2: axis
Imp 3: allies.
Imp 4: axis.
Imp 5: allies.
Imp 6: axis.Ge DoW Saudi Arabia
END:

CW and USA decides to contest the sea zone of Faroes Gap. The fighting results in the loss of a german long range FTR and the sinking of the US CV Enterprise.
When the turn ends, the axis fleet decides to go home. Axis does some succesful raiding in North Atlantic, but not much else happens. Russian fleet in Baltic annihilates the german convoys there, despite a german Condor being present, searching the every corner of the sea zone, but either the Condor crew were blind or heavily bribed.
On the eastern front, Germany makes several attempts att punching holes in the russian lines, but several bad dice rolls prevent breakthroughs, despite initial succes with flipping the russian units in ground strikes.
The binoculars-impaired battle of the pacific continues between the navies of Japan and USA. Only once does an actual battle occur, resulting in one downed fighter and one damaged battleship for the US. One minor victory is recorded for Japan as an invading garrison corps captures Wake Island. More fighters, NAVs and CVs are rebased towards Truk and the Marshalls from Japan mainland.
At the end of the turn, a US fleet loaded with a MAR rebases to Brisbane. While supplies are abundant ther, oil however is not and the fleet is not reorganized.
Japan makes landfall on Legaspi in the Philippines and reinforces this beachhead and the front on Singapore with some infantry divisions. Artillery and aircraft starts shelling Singapore with some success. A fast moving INF takes the mountains in eastern India without resistance.
In Africa, the glorious South African territorials capture Southern Rhodesia. The local leaders rush to greet the liberating Japanese controlled armies. The British governor of Lusaka is awarded 5 lashes for every year of opression and is then sent home to London in shame, only to discover that the statue of Lord Nelson has been replaces by a mighty monument of Otto von Bismark, that Big Ben has been renamed to Grosse Friedrich and that The Tower of London has been deconstructed piece by piece and rebuilt to serve as Mussolinis summer residence some 30 kilometers south of Rome.

Player Comments

Germany:
The dice decided to punish me for my enormous search rolls in the atlantic. With the Condor in the 4-box and a russian convoy in the Baltic, I would succeed on 1-6. For some reason, the dice decided this was a good time to roll 7,10 and 10 on the search rolls I made in that sea zone, and later on another 7. And then it continued with my land attacks in southern Russia. Rolling 3 and 5 doesn't really make big holes in the russian lines. And to finish things off, the turn ended too early. Had I had one more impulse, the russians could have taken quite a beating, being flipped and with my armor far inside. Instead, I now have one of my best armor units in quite a predicament. Though he gets full air cover, so he isn't all that easy to kill, and a russian attack on him does run the risk of flipping lots of nice russian units, leaving me able to save me many air missions I would otherwise have to use on doing that.
Japan:
Japan: Suddenly, I find myself having too many units to move due to the facts that the Russian front is much shorter now, that China mysteriously died and that all Japanese non-oil dependant land units are on the map.
Perhaps it is time for the trip to India after all. or Australia. Or to just build fortress Japan. Som many questions, so little time before the monstruous gigant of an American and his massively evil CV fleet starts making my life a living hell.

US Entry: total war.
USA:     53BP:2CV(fu),TRS(fu),5CP,2CVP,4FTR(4),1INF,1CV(rep),2BB(rep),2CA(rep)
Japan:   28BP:MAR,2TERR,FTR(?),CVP-2,1CVP,2CVL(fu),1TRS(fd), 1MECH, 1CP
Germany: 39BP: 3FTR(3),MECH,MOT,MIL,MOTdiv,ARMdiv,MECHdiv,4CP
Italy:   13BP: 
France:  -
CW:      6BP: 1FTR(2), 4SCS(rep)
Russia: 34BP: 1CAV, 1MECH, 3INF, 3GAR, 1MOT, 1MTN, 2MOTdiv
China:   -
Vichy:

[Pictures]

Jul/Aug

Played: 2006-12-17

6 impulses.

Imp 1: allies.
Imp 2: axis
Imp 3: allies.
Imp 4: axis.
Imp 5: allies.
Imp 6: axis.Ge
END: (Game ended before end of turn)

The Allies wins initiative and decides it is time to take action. One American AMPH and one TRS enters North Sea together with what fleet CW can muster. There they transport the British Royal Marines and a british Motorised Infantry corps to the beaches on the english south coast. Germany sends a huge amount of NAV:s into the sea zone to try to stop the ships, but fails to find the enemy who attempts a naval landing. There Germany sends in bombers to help defend the beach, along with some fighters to protect the bombers, but british CV fighters from the North Sea fleet manage to force the german planes back, and with the help of british shore bombardment, the landing is a success, and CW has finally made a comeback in southern England.
CW also makes an attempt in Bay of Biscay to cut the german supply lines, but fails, and when a italian NAV arrives there, the british takes a beating and can accomplish no more there.

In the Axis impulse Italy sends a ship and a NAV into the sea zone to help the Luftwaffe in their search for the british/american fleet, and the search is a total success. The landing fleet is annihilated, the CV planes in the zone shot down and the landing party is now out of supply.
Italy also sends their FROG to Glasgow and there they sink a british CV and some convoy ships in a very succesful raid.
CW moves a TRS into the sea zone and uses this to ship Eisenhower to the beach head. The shipping is succesful, but once again, the Axis manage to kill off the transport ships when Germany moves their Kiel based fleet into the North Sea (Tirpitz and Deutchland together with an AMPH and a TRS) From North Sea Coast, Germany ships transports two infantry corps into England while Italy ships in a Mechanised corps. Germany also diverts corps from the Scottish front and moves troops internally in Southern England, and with this all british and american troops are attacked. The Rumanian mountaineers together with a newly arrived garrison corps supported by Tirpitz guns attacks Eisenhower while the bulk of the troops attack the british landing troops. The attacks are a stunning success and the beachead is cleard of all british and american troops, leaving the Allies with nothing accomplished while having payed for the attempt with now being virtually withouth any invading capacity and halved tranporting capacity in the Atlantic. With Germany weakinging the front to the north, CW makes a final attempt to break through the line and take Liverpool. Indeed the german defenders there are killed, but CW takes too much losses and can not enter Liverpool, allowing Germany to strenghten the lines again.
On the eastern front, Germany make two succesful attacks and advances slightly. The invasion in England takes most of the attention which allows Russia to strenghten their lines.
As USA's attention is diverted to Europe, little happends at first in the Pacific. The OOS US fleet in Australia is targeted by numerous japanese CV-based portstrikes. One TRS is sunk and one is damaged, along with some cruisers. USA makes his first landfall in the Pacific as one of the Eastern Elice Islands (CW-controlled) is taken by an INF. Meanwhile, Japan continues to flood the pacific islands with troops. Port Villa, Guadalcanal and Saipan among others receive a garrison and Rabaul's and Truk's defences are strengthened.
In a stroke of luck, two Japanese submarines heavily surprise another US TRS just outside Perl Harbour. The air cover is evaded, the TRS and a CP are sunk and the submarines fade into the ocean waiting for the next target to appear.
Some more troops are also landed around Manila where US territorials and an HQ still holds the city. Singapore is assaulted as the weather clears but losses are only one corps on each side.
On the mainland, little happends. Russia abandons the forests in northern Manchuria and reformes the defenses. Japanese troops just fill the gap, hampered by the lack of directions from the high command (did naval and combined moves). An INF corps which has slithered through the CW defenses in eastern India takes Dacca unopposed while a cavalry divisions takes Tibet and joins the country to the glorious Japanese Empire. Celebrations are reported in the streets of Lhasa.
All in all, this turn was a heavy turn for the western allies. In Europe, One CV+CVP and one CVP was lost. Also two TRS and one AMPH was lost there while in the pacific two TRS was lost. CW lost their marine corps and USA lost Eisenhower, all while the Axis troops in England were untouched and the Axis defense of the seazones even strengthened. All this made it clear that CW+USA had no chance to reattempt an invasion in England until sometime in 1943, and no real chance to enter the continent, leaving Russia alone in the land war against Germany for the rest of the game. With Japan fighting a very weakened CW in Asia, China being conquered and the japanese-russian war having come to a stand still with Japan as the succesful side meant that USA would have a hard time reaching the amount of success needed there. So the allied side surrendered, and Axis won a overwhelming victory in July 1942.

Player Comments

Germany: Well, the Allies finally tried, and failed miserably. My eastern campaign has been lots of failed dice rolls, but the dice seem to have overcompensated me on the western front, and now finally when fighting back against the US/CW invasion in southern England.
But why did they fail? My opinion is that the attack came either too late or too early. This was not the turn for it. It should have come earlier to make the difference it needed, or later when it was enough prepared. They now had one TRS with a MAR and one AMPH with a MOT. Sure, enough fleet to ensure the landing, but then what? There was ONE TRS available in Canada with enough range available to send in the second wave. There should have been three, or at least two, so they should have been placed in England. There was ONE CV along with the invasion fleet, making it very vunerable to the german fighters and NAVs in North Sea. This move was so critical for the outcome of the war, so I would have commited at least one more CV, to increase the protection.
It should have been better prepared with a LND or two ready to help. As it was now there was no aircraft helping the troops once on shore.
So, a better prepared invasion would have had four land units on shore in the second impulse instead of the three. And there should have been a FTR rebased to the beachhead and a LND available to give the troops extra defensive power.
Well, at least that's my opinion.
What's for sure is that this invasion failure was a grand show stopper.

Japan: The show did not have to go on. The total failure of the allied invasion in England paired with heavy losses for both CW and the USA all over the world made the allies finally (and understandably) loose their morale.
Russia was mostly intact and would have proven a very hard nut to crack for Garmany. I doubt that he could have managed to get very far beyond Kiev but it would probably not be until late 1943 that the Russiands could have started counterattacking for real as the luftwaffe bomber force was incredibly strong in the east. Russias moderate losses of land in the east would have been difficult to retake, mostly because of the loss of supply sources there, since this would have required Russia to divert at least two HQs to the Japanese front in order to get anything done there. Also Japan was quite strong on the mainland due to the conquest of China and could actually afford to build a small mechanized army as well. Russia could probably have retaken the lost land before 1945 but not much more than that is my guess, and this would probably have cost him some advancement in Europe.
CW was severely crippled in this game already, and it could have gotten even more ugly in the next few turns. Scottland would have been very hard to take obviously, but India was quite open to both Japanese troops who already had a foothold inside the country, and to Germans and Italians who were ready to invade from the west. CW loosing South Africa probably did not matter much since he did not anyway have the factories to use the now lost resources and for the rest of the game, he could have used saved oil in his factories instead of resources.
USA was, as always on the move in 1942 when the game ended. However, I think that he would have had a very hard time on both maps. In Europe, The Atlantic was far from safe and every troop transport would have been at risk of being intercepted. Also, the number of available airfields for dominating any other zone than the North sea or the Faeroes gap was very few, and Germany also had pretty good air cover at least in the North Sea. The allies were already far behind schedule and with the only Marine in Europe killed and only one AMPH and a PARA-division to invade with, they would have lagged even farther behind. My guess is that this would have made an efficient invasion of France close to impossible since the German and Italian factories were producing coastal defenses at full speed.
The US had quite severe problems in the pacific as well. The loss of three transports there this turn (2 sunk, 1 damaged) was costly in terms of time to get the American pacific steamroller going. Also, it bought Japan even more time to garrison important harbours and islands, which were already pretty impressive by 1942 standards as lack of troops was no real issue to me.
My next plans were pretty much defensive against the US. More people (TERR and WP) would have reinforced the Marshalls, Port Moresby, Menado and other Harbours while more long range fighters would have been rebased to the proximity of Truk. Short range fighters would have been based in Japan (invasion protection) and the Marshalls (protection from tactical strikes). My plan was to build all 1943 fighters on turn 1 and 2 of 1943 and then start building 1944 fighters ahead.
Philippines and Singapore was on the brink of falling and I still had enough troops (including HQs) to stage a real invasion of India which would have been difficult to counter for CW with no ability to reinforce India from either Australia, South Africa or the home land.
Given that the US would have continued to fight in both Europe and Asia, my intuitive guess is that the US would probably have been able to come as far as the Bismarck sea until 1945. This is because he would have had to fight very hard for pretty much every small Harbour along the way which makes staging invasions costly in terms of action limits and risky in terms of loosing key units such as Marines.

US Entry: total war.
USA:     
Japan:   
Germany: 
Italy:   
France:  
CW:      
Russia: 
China:   -
Vichy:

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