One Sided Miniature Wargaming Discourse: World in Flames via FB

Build up in Manchuria continues. Axis conquer Egypt.

AUSGAME2000 1941 M/J (CONT) CAIRO FALLS - EGYPT CONQUERED!
Another ‘very bad day in the office’ for the CW. Allied 2nd impulse, weather a moderate 5, clear mostly with rain in the N Monsoon. The CW as predicted took a Naval so that it could reinvert the ‘Queens’ sitting in the Suez to avoid then being overrun if Suez gets captured. (As it turned out just as well - ed Note). Additional R Class BS sailed into the high box of the Red Sea to provide more shore bombardment against the expected Suez attack. A Mech on a tpt arrives in the Red Sea to be dropped off in Suez to secure the port. In the W Med, the Med fleet sails off the Italian Coast to hunt for Italian CA Gorizia escorting the Sardinian Conv – first search of the session, rolled a 10, the Brit Nav and CA in the E Med searched for the last Italian Tpt which has been left yet again at sea by the Axis - search, rolled another 10, searched in the W Med for Italian heavy surface ships, search roll a 9 – the CW not having a good start to the session, and just to add salt in the wound the subsequent Strat bombing roll on Essen, a 2! End of impulse the Queens and the Tpts in Murmansk are reinverted. Russia takes a land and rails the Timoshenko HQ to W Manchuria to supply his Cav forces operating out of Mongolia and several hexes of Manchuria are taken as the Russian inches forward towards the capital Harbin. China fires its Commie Arty again, still faulty ammo as no inverts and the Chinese line settles into a routine of inaction. The US a no cost Combined as more forces arrive in the Pacific. 

Axis 2nd impulse, Germ Land, Italy a Comb and Japan a no cost land – conserving oil. Italy and the Axis air attempt to GS the Suez defenders with 2 x unescorted Italian bombers and were intercepted by the CV xxx air-group, the ensuing A2A combat replicated last week’s exact result again, with one Italian bomber aborted and the CV Air group shot down by Italian bomber. The British have now flown three A2A intercept mission over the past weeks in defence of Egypt and every time they have been shot down for no loss to the Axis – it is now officially an ominous ‘trend’. The one bomber gets through inverts one defender – the Axis declare an all GERM Blitz attack and again risk their 9.6 ARM as there are no other Mot to take a loss if they roll is average, Again like previous Blitz attacks the GERM rolls high, a double 8 (16) plus odds, for a top of the table result taking the Suez for no loss and no inversions. The British had three units defending , 7 pts of shore bombardment and a CV escort – which got shot down. GERM rail a Para to Sardinia (target Malta) and rebase a 7 and 6 factor Ftr to the Med to support operations in Italy. Japan’s no cost land kicks off with an attempted invert on Vladivostok – no success, and several moves to bolster the defensive line against the Russian advances. 

Allied 3rd Impulse weather – no change with rain in the N Monsoon. CW takes a Comb and port strikes the minor port of Syracuse, a welcomed split and the CV air groups of the Med Fleet damages the BS Littorio (saved its X roll) and a CA. Buoyed by that success of the port strike, they also search for the Sardinian Conv and its CA escort finally breaking the 8/9/10 search rolls with a 2, the Med fleet finds and sinks both the CA Gorizia and the Italian Conv. A Ind FTR is shipped into Aden from Ceylon to cover the allied BS sitting in the zero box of the Red Sea. The subsequent strat bombing of Essen, this time using incendiaries (red dice) which work much better, with a 9 + 1 rolled for -1BP. The 7.3 INf in Murmansk is railed for some ‘time in the sun’ in Persia, and the recent arrivals of Indian Inf head towards Burma to clear the road of Partisans so that the LLease can recommence.  Russia takes a no cost land and rails another Siberian Inf to the Far East and moves units on both fronts – filling in the gaps, another bomber is rebased as they prepare for their first assault since making the DOW. China – no change.

Axis 3rd Impulse, Germ and Italy take a Comb, the Italian subs search for the British Convs and fail to find, as do the CW escorts who are also plagued by equally poor search rolls The Italian Nav and Primo fleet search in the W Med and find their prey and just to remind the CW player that success and failure is but one dice roll away – the British roll another 10 (six 10’s in one session – tonight – not the Royal Navy’s best work). This split  allows the Italian to convert from air, select the tgt (the CV HMS Argus) and go up two shifts to sink her with gunfire as the British fails it’s save roll. The GERM long range NAV in Suez is deterred from going after the British in the red sea by the 5 factor FTR sitting in Aden. The GERM Kreigsmarine sensing it is their time – sails the BS Bismarck and her consort, BC Deutschland out to the North Sea to attack the British patrolling squadron, in ‘one for the Royal Navy’ – HMS Nelsons 16” guns abort the Bismarck and sinks the Deutschland – extra ration of rum for Nelsons crew as she returns to Portsmouth.  GERM rails three more units to Bulgaria as the Greece campaign  build up continues.  Gen Ioannis Metaxas, PM of Greece requests Allied assistance but with little to spare and axis domination of the E Med there is little the Allies can do but offer letters of support and an invitation that their King George II comes and visit Buckingham Palace for a stay over. To reinforce that message the Axis launch a combined Italian/GERM +10 assault against Cairo – a 50/50 affair needing 9 or better to take the city and in a night that was theirs, the GERM rolls 2 x 10’s yep a 21 as they achieved their increment as well on the 2D10 table  – Cairo falls to the crying and lamentations of the Egyptian women! The Italian’s take the capital as it is now added to the list of Italian territory as part of Mussolini’s greater Empire.

Allied 4th Impulse – and a 1 is rolled for this turns bad weather roll, snow, storm and rain everywhere – the GERM player notes with a smile that he was pleased that he didn’t invade Russia – lost initiative and the worst weather – that would have hurt. CW take a Comb and finally ship a FTR to Gibraltar and searches for the 4th time for the last Italian Tpt – still at sea in the 2 box! Again, no luck as the British complains about the injustice of the dice – everyone else just laughs, we have all been there. The GERM announces that it, the Tpt would not be at sea next impulse now that the Egyptian campaign is over. With the bad weather, there is little activity by Russia and China, other than another Siberian Inf arrives in the Far-East from Persia. EOT roll is failed , 1 needed as the Axis will get another impulse.  

Having failed to end the misery of this turn – 1 needed, Axis 4th impulse next week with bad weather. An excellent turn for the Germ player, capturing Cairo without any losses and somewhat against the odds, the conquest of Egypt this turn guarantees that he is back on schedule and all those forces can now head off to Greece and other campaigns. The 2 – 10 split in the W Med and sinking the CV HMS Argus was a bonus as the failure of the British to find the last Italian tpt in the E Med - 4 impulses without it being found – 4’s were needed by the CW and not one find.  Conversely, any of the two attacks against the Suez and Cairo could easily have failed but rolling 16 (Suez) and 21 (Cairo) meant any defence by the Allies ended up being futile. At a strategic level the Allies can take some solace – certainly the GERM adventures in Egypt cost them their 1941 DOW against Russia – so probably more than a fair trade. With the Med’s back door firmly closed – well ‘slammed firmly shut’ actually. This will now allow the Axis to conquer Greece, align Yugoslavia, capture Malta and secure the W Med with their Nav air ‘wall of death’ – the game will depend very much on the results of GERM 1942 Russian Campaign. Another significant plus for the Allies is the Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO), Japan has been hurt badly by its multiple 14’s rolled against China, it is now at war with Russia , it has little oil, Partisans are turning up and the US is coming at the rapid rate. The US has geared up, already cut off the oil and is in Pearl – it only requires War Appropriations, and she can then start attempting DOW v an unprepared Japan. The clock is not only ticking but the gongs are sounding – boom, boom, boom! 

Manchuria - will be centre of both the Japanese and Russian Generals for the next few months, a distraction the Japanese can do with out at the moment