AUSGAME 2024 NEW GAME Part 7

AUSGAME2 - Catch up report for the end of AUSGAME2

SEP/OCT 1940 (Cont) – A Surprisingly Good Turn for the Axis – Will it Last! Alas NO as the Dice Gods (weather) determine another Game.

Axis 2nd Impulse. With S/O Fine weather the Axis DOW v Greece, rolling a 2 upsetting the US Senate again and gift another chit to the ever-increasing GE/IT pool. Greece aligns with the CW and sets up both units in Athens as the invasion and para units supported by Italian SB would have attacked a single unit. The Italian ‘surprise’ GS fails to disrupt any of the Greek defenders, so the Axis land on the 4 adjacent hexes securing the city’s outskirts. Germany’s Land sees continued failure with GS failing against both British units in Lille and the French line, so the Wehrmacht mop up the 2 rearguard units in France with a +20.5 assault and a +23.8 blitz. Italy’s Comb sees them sail a Conv to tpt the Greek resource and then land Graziani HQ in Syria as a ‘peacekeeper’ after a German MIL had advanced into the hex securing the port. A Corps from Egypt rails North into Jordon deferring the conquest of Saudi Arabia. The Japanese takes a NC Land and assault another Mtn Hex guarding Chungking and roll very well (19) on a +6.8 for a TotT result, taking the hex for no loss, no inversions and dislocating the Chinese front line. EOT advances by 1.

Allied 3rd Impulse. With another important weather roll, a 9 is rolled by the French and its bad weather – a common thematic (extremes of weather 1’s and 10’s) in this game, any hope of this game continuing evaporates as the glimmer of hope of a long fine weather turn in S/O and more importantly taking Paris is extinguished, +1 on the next weather and impulse up by 2. Saving oil, all four Allied nations take NCL or NCC actions and make minor changes. The Greek Flagship Giorgios Averof sails into the W Med challenging the entire Italian Fleet in the rain – but no one finds with the Italians obviously thinking it was an Italian SCS. EOT advances by 2.

Axis 3rd Impulse – might as well passed. The Italians, now with four Corps sized units adjacent to Iraq convinces the Iraq Government, with suitable bribes and promises to align with the greater Italian empire. The US Senate is incensed by this act of betrayal and gains another chit – that is six failed chit rolls in a row for the Axis, which is a delight to the US player who is constantly reviewing his USE now multiple options. The German with few opportunities, and a best attack of a +6 Assault in rain, and anything else being worse – takes a Comb. Hoping the war at sea may reap some rewards – not his night, as the CW player returns to his old form and again rolls extremely well. The Kormoran sails from Panama into the Caribbean looking for convoys in the Caribbean and U-Boats to the Bay of Biscay and Cape St Vincent. Kormoran needing 3’s v CW needing 1’s searches with confidence but is very surprised when the CW escorts roll the 1, damaging the raider. Banking on lightning not striking twice in the same place the damaged Kormoran stays and searches again and yep, the CW escorts roll another 1, and sink the raider. Germany is shattered. Clearly the CW naval luck had returned as he needed two 1’s to find twice and sink the German CX Kormoran AND the German to roll high enough to ensure its destruction twice!

The sub in Bay of Biscay is found by the escorts who decide to guarantee it aborts, rather than chance a damage. The sub in Cape St Vincent searches and activates the Italian sub in the 4 box to damage 3 convoys and aborting the remaining 2 CW convoys – the Italian takes the credit for the only success. On land, the upright triple stacks of French units in front of Paris are too intimidating in rain and no inversions, so no land attacks are launched. Japan takes a Comb and Strat Bombs Chunking and with a nice roll of 10+1 shuts down the cities production. Minor movements as acft are rebased.

The final insult in a night to be forgotten from the German perspective and celebrated by the Allies is highlighted when the German rolls the EOT with a 1 – two fine weather impulse in the S/O turn and he still hasn’t a single hex against Paris – it is looking grim.

Partisans roll a 4 – and finally a cheer from the Chinese as the first Chinese partisan for the game is rolled. Elsewhere the Axis curse continues as a 1 is rolled by the German in Holland, Part turns up in and another 1 is rolled by the Japanese for a Part in Korea - there seems to be something wrong with the Axis dice tonight. Rebasing and USE – The US Senate continue to create tension as it approves embargoes against Japan. Production and reinforcements for N/D 40 are placed.

Initiative rolls sees Germany rolling a 2 but France obliging with a 1. France demands a re-roll and Germany rolls a 5 but France rolls a 2, Axis gets the initiative. Drumroll …. the so, so important weather roll and there is again the dreaded 10 +1 (11) STORM on the first impulse of N/D. The slim hope of any fine weather in N/D disappear with that roll as well as the game, as it is more than likely to end after the next session with Germany unlikely to take Paris. End of session.

N/D 1940 – End of AUSGAME2

Axis 1st impulse, due to the atrocious weather, Germany takes a naval and sails everything it can. Searches in the North Sea, N Atlantic and Azanian Sea - no one finds. In the Bay of Biscay, the CW rolls a 1 and its escorts find and damage German Sub with a soft split. Italy took a Naval and the CW luck holds as the only find with a 1 rolled is also countered with another 1 rolled by the CW aborting the Italian Sub. In the W Med the brave Giorgios Averofis found by the Italian Navy, and is sunk by gunfire – the highlight of this round for the Axis. Japan takes a no cost combined to prepare for the next impulse hoping the weather will clear. EOT advances 3!

Allied 1st impulse. CW in a surprise takes a combined and sails the Royal Navy to search for the remnants of the once proud German Fleet in the North Sea – no finds. France takes a no cost land and steps back one hex SE of Paris leaving a 3.5 CAV to defend the hex. Russia builds up its border garrison forces and China patiently waits. EOT advances 3!

Axis 2nd impulse, Weather roll is a 3 (+2), modified to 5, rain in N Temp, fine in the Med and N Monsoon. Italy finally comes to the aid of the German and makes a DOW on France – surprisingly there is no interest from the US Senate – no chit. All Axis players take land actions. Germany flies three GS and fires Arty and again sees only a single CW Corps in Lille inverted – again no French units. With limited options and more than a hint of frustration, Lille is assaulted at a desperate +6 and with an attack roll of 3 (9) sees 2 German losses and a full invert. Germany needed some luck this round, but not on that roll. A 2 Hex Blitz attack SE of Paris is blitzed (+12.3) across the Seine with a roll of 10, modified to 22 to destroy the 3.5 CAV. A police action in the Netherlands eliminates a partisan unit (0) factor.

Italy’s Land with GS against Athens being unsuccessful, the focus is shifted to a combined Italian/German attack on Damascus with a TotT result, Damascus falls – Syria will be conquered, and the Iraq oil will start being railed to the Axis. Italian land units in E Africa assault French Somaliland capturing the port of Djibouti and the country but the French CA escapes the overrun and sails away. The intercepting searches in the Red and Arabian Seas both fail to find – it seems it is a charmed ship - as it flees to the port of Diego Suarez, Mauritius.

Japan GS both units in the Southern city of Kweiyang and an attack launched with an average roll costing them their ENG for the loss of both Chinese defenders Kweiyang is taken, again no interest from the US – no chit. It is looking extremely good for the Japanese at the moment as the Chinese line is stretched and the Japanese look down on Chungking from three mountain hexes, two of them with Arty – fine weather and Chungking will fall. EOT advances 2.

Allied 2nd impulse sees CW go Naval with the entire Home Fleet in the N Sea hunting the German Navy - a find by the German Navy with a soft split sees enough surprise to convert to an abort as the Kriegsmarine seeks sanctuary in Keil. France takes a no cost land and adjust its line as it defends the approaches of Paris, China moves a few units to back fill some holes – these units flip in the rain.

AND THERE IT IS – The French player rolls a 2 to end the N/D 40 turn on their first chance – END OF GAME. Germany’s morale already at a low ebb is broken as the German Government stages a Coup and replace Hitler with a moderate as they seek an armistice and an end to the misery of a second game of frankly, abysmal rolls, bad weather and again short turns.

Despite impressive gains by Italian and solid progress by the Japanese, German still does not have a single hex adjacent to Paris. The USE has 13 chits in its pool and 1 more to draw although it has yet to gear up. However, the US Navy is about to relocate to Pearl Harbour and with high value actions likely and even the possibility of US units arriving in France before it goes Vichy and after a very short consultation, the Axis concedes the game in favor of a new game which is hoped will be more balanced and reflective of previous games.

The Allies and Axis players shake hands and in a surprise decision the German Player elects to give it another go, in the belief that the weather rolls – and other rolls – cannot be any worse than what he has experienced. The US player having little action in the last two games with both games ending N/D 1940 due to Paris not having fallen, elects to play the CW. The Italian/Japan player will now be the US as they have had a lot of fun conquering Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, French Somaliland, aligning Iraq and about to Conquer Greece and expand into the Indian Ocean region with Subs, NAV air and SCS – oh happy days. The French/Russian player now becomes the Japanese/Italian as a reward for his stoic defence of Paris.

Our first game this year had only 21 Impulses an average of 2.6 impulses per turn, and only 8 fine weather impulses for the game. Our second game was marginally better with 23 impulses (2 more) for an average of 2.9 – almost 3. There was more fine weather impulse (12) but equally more Storms/Snow with 8 rolled. Players struggle to progress a game with these weather rolls – compounding the weather was a persistent failure by the German to be able to GS target hexes, as well as poor rolling both in the air and on the ground. Interestingly no French pilot was ever shot down, saving the French Airforce as France had only to replace their Ftrs which cycle through quickly and are competitive v the Luftwaffe. With large losses in both Acft and land units the German’s position was marginal as the opportunity to conduct a 1941 Barbarossa has again failed.

Weather and Impulse Tracker – AUSGAME2

F Fine, R Rain, St Storm, Sn Snow, IMP Impulses for the turn

1939

S/O – 3 IMP = 1st F, 2nd St, 3rd Sn, 1F

N/D – 2 IMP = 1stF, 2nd Sn, 1F

1940

J/F - 2 IMP = 1st St, 2nd St, NIL

M/A -2 IMP = 1st St, 2nd St, NIL

M/J - 4 IMP = 1st St, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, F, 3F

J/A - 5 IMP = 1st– 5th F, , 5F

S/O – 3 IMP = 1stF, 2nd F, 3rd St, 2F

N/D – 2 IMP = 1st St, 2nd R, Allies rolled EOT 2! (3 needed) NIL

Total Axis Impulses 23

FINE Weather Impulses – 12

BAD Weather Impulse - 11 – 10 being Storm or Snow – only 1 x Rain.

AUSGAME3 RESTARTED LAST WEEK AND GAME REPORT POSTED

France at the end of the game N/D 1940 - Germany has no hexes adjacent to Paris - 

France would survive till the clear weather of mid 1940 - possibly longer.

The Greater Roman Empire expanded East - India next!

Casualties bad weather and only a two-impulse turn

Sinking the Greek flagship - the highlight of the Axis N/D turn.

USE entry scary +1 chit to draw for EOT - assuming an average of 2 drawn Ger/It Pool 31 and Japan pool 33 Oil embargo or a 3 chit and it would have been CW reinforce the Pacific in J/F 1941 ! 

Tension is super low as the US failed most tension rolls.

Tiny Tanks

 

Exquisite detail

But the title did say tanks, so here are two of them.

The US got the jump on the panzers,

but immediately ran into trouble trying to capture the central village.

The US have pulled back from their thrust to get round the north of the village.

And on the southern approach the Tigers now have a new focus.

At this stage (Turn 9 of 16) the US conceded they weren't going to breakthrough.

Luckily it was just a test game :-)

Seleucid Heavy Cavalry

These figures were undercoated and partially painted for Field of Glory.  In the great studio tidy up initiated by my partner taking some long service leave, I came across them and decided their time had come.

Backs to the light

Bathed in light

La Belle Epoque - From The Central Powers

In our third game of this diplomacy game, Richard was the Great Britain, Simon France, Jeff Russia and I was the Central Powers (Germany and Austria). Six hours of play produced some cautious play, but Russia in part thanks to an early alliance with Japan secured a win with 160 points.  Second was France with 143 due to a thriving set of colonies in Africa.  I was third with 123.  I started level with Russia but a country that shall remain nameless (but collected only 57 points) held me back.

This was the third time Great Britain has struggled to get scores. It was particularly hurt in this game by some random events that were particularly cruel.  At the same time there were events that were beneficial to Imperial Russia.

Huns versus Egyptians

Time for the Huns to face Dave's Egyptians.  I would need to be lucky and Dave unlucky, but as they say a quick game is a good game and this one was quick.

The Huns won the scouting, and the terrain was nice and open.

The plan was to mass against the chariots as if I could take them out,

the rest of the Egyptians would be at my mercy.

First turn and the Huns spread out and the Egyptians wheeled to face them.

The Huns move boldly forward.

It's looking promising for the Huns...

The Huns would have liked to have won the initiative and gone first.

Dave used his Ace in the Hole: Decisive Initiative.

He rolled three dice and scored a 7.

I rolled two and got a 7.

Reroll, this time just two dice each.

He got a 7 again, but I got an 8.

:-)

Then he remembered his free reroll.

He scored an 11.

I had a free reroll as well but wasn't going to beat 11.

So the factor six chariots got to fire first, the Hunnic light cavalry failed to evade and were ridden down.  It was not all one-sided, but the damage was done and the Hun's morale broke.  So it goes. 

Barbarossa Turn 42

Storms everywhere, but only mud in the North. Nothing's happening in the North and the effect of storms is just to make it harder to get planes into the air.

AGC mounted a few very costly attacks,

but the main thrust towards Moscow has stalled.

AGS attacks on Kiev were fruitless.

However, their attacks above the bend were more successful.

In the bend itself there was fierce fighting as the mud had left a number of encircling Axis units exposed. The Soviets even launched attacks as they can see the Axis forces are rather weak.

AGS attacks to take Odessa and break into the Crimea achieved nothing.

AGN at a standstill

AGC so close to Moscow

The area between AGC and AGS

AGS disappearing into the steppe.

Swedish Corps of the Allied Army of the North in 1813

Time for a parade.

My complete Napoleonic Swedish collection,

safely in its metal storage/transport tray.

There it all is!

And that is how it is listed for Napoleon's Battles.

The Swedish Corps of the Allied Army of the North in 1813 based on the OOB for the Leipzig scenario.

My next project is to complete the remaining units for the Army of the North.  I have the Prussians, so the Russians will be the focus, which is excellent as I have a sizeable mountain of Russian lead to sort out, except I think it is more infantry than cavalry. Doh!

Lifgrenadierregementets

The last unit needed for the Swedish Corps of the Allied Army of the North in 1813 based on the Napoleon's Battles OOB in the Leipzig scenario. There will be more on that in another post.

You're not seeing double, well you are,

I did two units of 16.

I only needed 28 but painted 32.

They look good en masse,

even with the poor light.

(Normally I photograph outside, but it is too hot).

The lighting even seems somewhat atmospheric,

I'll call it ambient dream light.

Swedish uniforms are notoriously difficult to pin down.

I went with how Old Glory had depicted the figures.

Why did I go with 32?  There are figures left over.  I could have done more, but the issue I had is Old Glory bayonets are rather fragile.  The figures I did end up painting have had their bayonets reinforced with a few coats of PVA glue.

There is one extra unit I needed, a British RHA rocket troop and it just so happened I had some appropriate second-hand figures.  I brightened them up a bit and based them.

Huns versus Numdians

This was going to be an interesting game: bow against javelin. Richard, joint winner of last year's Basic Impetus competition at the club, is trying out a Numidian army. 

On the third roll the Huns won the scouting.

The Numidian flanks are protected by broken ground.

My plan was for a quick game and just smash through the centre.

To that end I rapidly advanced hoping to get the initiative next turn.

But the Numidians had Decisive Initiative and went first.

Luckily for the Huns their missile fire was largely ineffective.

The Huns did better and charged.

The Huns won the next initiative and smashed up enough of the Numidians to make them concede.

AUSGAME 2024 NEW GAME Part 6

 AUSGAME2 2023 - Germany Fails to Achieve Paris in J/A as the Dice Gods remain unfriendly!

JUL/AUG 1940 (Cont)

Allied 4th Impulse, France takes a NC Land and forms a straight defense line. CW takes a Comb and strategic bombs Berlin but is only dropping propaganda leaflets. More success on the ground as the RAF manages to GS one of the point German Corps on the front line. Convs and escorts adjusted. Searches again for the Italian CA’s are fruitless in the Monsoonal Storm as both sides roll 7+. Russia takes a NCC – rails units to Rumania and advances a CAV to the Persian port of Bandar Shapur. Allied EOT roll was so close with a 3 rolled v 2 needed, a pass would have ended the turn, Germany breaths a sigh of relief.

Axis 5th Impulse. Weather roll is a 2. Germany with few upright land units takes a Comb. Both raiders in neutral ports sail against British Convs. The CX Kormoran which was anchored in Trondheim slipped past the CW pickets and attacks the Convs off the American East Coast. A huge 1-10 split sees the BS HMS Resolution torpedoed and sunk AKA HMAS Sydney and 3 convoys aborted for no loss. The CX Hansa anchored on the Southern tip of South America sails to the Gulf of Guinea and successfully finds unescorted Convs with a soft 2-5 split, 3 CONVs are damaged and 2 aborted. On land more success as a low odds +6.8 assault is launched on forest hex SW of the Maginot and a WOW roll of 19 sees a TOTT result which shocks the German player – highest roll in all the game. Mussolini quips that maybe Germany should defer blitzkrieg attacks and focus on assaults, aka WWI, no one takes Mussolini seriously.

Italy – desert trg and Famil complete she DOW Saudi Arabia, the Senate unhappy with this event gets another chit as a 2 is rolled (4 needed), that is 4 failed USE rolls by the Axis out of the last 4 – Christmas has come early for the US. The Saudi Royal Guard defend the Capital and await the Italians arrival, Italians advance along the Southern railway and cross the border in a slow advance to the Saudi capital as they leave the European map.

Japan takes a NC Land to conserve oil and starts to set up for the Campaign in the South as their 8 factor INF is railed South. Strategic bombing fails and units shuffle to the front – military term for moving slowly when you are tired. The EOT roll of 10 emphatically continues the turn.

Allied 5th Impulse, France with HQs inverted and no acft to fly takes a NC Land and re-organises the line, stepping back leaving low grade INF as a rear guard to cover their withdrawal. The CW takes a Naval and replaces some of the lost convoys including a convoy to the Persian Gulf to collect oil from the recently aligned Saudis – a portent of the future. Russia takes a NCC and rails a unit from Iran. Russia advances their 1.5 CAV into the port of Bandar Shapur and attempts to overrun the BS Karisma Japan holds its breath and Russia rolls a 6 and the BS CAPT seeing the advances Russian Cav, escapes the harbour and high tails it back to Japan – a close call it was.

The Allies dash the Germans hope of a Paris in J/A with 4 to roll EOT (4 needed). Partisan roll a 10 – again no partisans for the Chinese – we have NOT rolled a single Chinese partisan roll in this game. Elsewhere a potential uprising in Dakar is dealt with quickly by the local French Gendarmery. Rebasing and USE – The US Senate actions finally create some tension with it approving Lend Lease to China. Production and reinforcements placed.

SEP/OCT 1940 – A Surprisingly Good Turn for the Axis – Will it Last!

An important dice off for the initiative, the French 2 is easily beaten with a decisive 10 rolled by the German – is he on a roll, no. The Allies demand a reroll and rolls a 5 which the German fails to match – Allies go first – very sad face – part 1 (Germany winning the Initiative) of Paris falling in S/O is not achieved. More important the weather roll is 6, fine weather – JUST, as the impulse marker advances 2 which will drive a short turn – the Allies will be able to start rolling EOT on their 3rd impulse on a 1 - part 2 (a long turn of fine weather) of Paris falling in S/O is not achieved. Two out of four, now up to the German to roll successful GS (part 3) and roll high (part 4).

Allied 1st impulse. Russia demands Bessarabia, which is conceded by Rumania AKA Germany – Germany has little option as he has not taken Paris and cannot support the Rumanian if it goes to WAR, Russia occupies Bessarabia. Zhukov is railed from Iran to Ukraine. France takes a Land and reinforces the front line with its reinforcing ARM, ARTY, AA and ATG and steps back in a couple of places to straighten the line to reduce the Germans opportunity for flanking attacks, Ftrs are dispersed to cover the line. The CW in a surprise and at the risk of his Conv’s takes a Comb. He escorts in two sea zones and several GS targeting German stacks are repelled with a British 3 LND destroyed for a cost of a Ftr and the other LND aborted. In the land phase, the BEF steps back into France, vacating Belgium and securing the French Western Flank. China does little but prepares for the next Japanese assault.

Axis 1st Impulse. Italy takes a Naval and sails the Italian Fleet out to the E Med, embarking 4 mixed Italian and German Divs the Graziani from Cyprus. The German Para is disembarked into Leros in the Dodecanese group to marry up with its ATP, in range of Athens – the Greece Govt is increasingly nervous and appeals to the CW for intervention if war is declared. Subs in the Faroes gap get a lucky find, with a good split which allows it to convert and sink 3 x Convs and abort 6 others almost cutting the convoy system, it is damaged in the combat and returns to Italy to complete repairs. Searches in the Arabian Sea and off Gibraltar are less successful – 1 out of 3, the Italian will take that. Germany flew the Nazgul the 19 Rng NAV into the Arabian Sea but fails to find the patrolling BS Barham or the Conv. Germany takes a Land and targets three French hexes for GS (part 3 of the mission to take Paris), two of the Bombers are aborted by French Ftrs and the last is reduced to a zero by French AA – not a single GS from three Bombers, worse one of the German Ftrs is shot down, for the loss of a French Ftr. Without inversions, the French point hex with its ARM+ATG and a MIL Corps is bypassed and the hex East of Paris which has just 2 x Colonial INF/MIL is blitzed at + 11.7 after spt from Guderian sees a roll of 15 with a TOTT result. The second attack in the SE is only defended by a 3 factor INF and is automatically blitzed. Two hexes of France are gained, and the French line has lost three Corps, a good start to the S/O turn.

Japan takes a Land, and successful GS sees two Chinese Corps in S China inverted and an attack at +12 led by Yamamoto, repays the debt of failure from last turn’s roll of 4 as the Japanese roll TOTT and take a second mountain hex adjacent to the Nationalist’s capital of Chunking. The Northern line has a single Corps inverted, so the Japanese set up for a second attack hoping that the fine weather will hold – it has 9 points of defenders, doubled to 18 in the mountains and will need a high roll to take it even with two inverts and HQ spt.

Allied 2ndimpulse. The important weather roll and its 1 – the Axis thank the French player, and a glimmer of hope flickers across the Germans face. The CW takes a Naval sends out its escorts and extra Convs to ship the valuable US oil to the UK. Going on the offensive Force Z, 1 x CVL 2 x BS’s and 2 x CA’s go hunting for the two Italian CA’s in the Arabian Sea, in a continuing trend this session of CW unluckiness (is that a word) fail to find but Italy rolls a 1, with a handy split sees that Italian sacrifice a CA Pola sunk (needed a 5 to save) in order to convert from air, select target and damaging the CVL HMS Eagle, giving the Axis air superiority and freedom of action in the region – a strategic win despite the loss of the CA. The CW recognizing the air threat aborts the Arabian sea and Force Z, less its CVL slinks back to Ceylon with its tail firmly wedged up its backside but celebrating some payback with the sinking of the Italian CA Pola by big British 15” guns – the only highlight for the RN this session. British and Dutch subs hunt for Italian Convs in the Med, The Dutch sub KXIV finds the Italian invasion fleet in the E Med but pops up on the surface and is sunk by massed shell fire, it damages the a CA in exchange, aborting a DIV. The Dutch Tpt sails out to the N Sea with the London MIL embarked for France, well escorted by air and a BS fleet in a higher box it may tempt the German Navy to sail but probably not, now it is fine weather – Paris is the mission. The CW Strat bombs Hanover with a full load, no interception, and a roll of 10 shuts down the city’s production.

France’s Land sees her withdrawing to surround Paris and leaving low-quality rear-guard units in the line to soak up another impulse. The French, starting to feel the loss of land units (10 Corps last turn and 3 in S/O) withdraws from the Italian border – tempting a French declaration. The French ARTY inverts a Corps in the German front line. France reinverts his AA and Arty, declines to reinvert a 2nd Ftr. Russia rebases acft West and starts to arrange his garrisons.

Summary

An interesting session with the CW naval luck running out and his empire under pressure from the aggressive Italian. Some joy for the German this session, both at sea and on the land, his push to Paris - well almost, he said with a wry smile. Germany needed and was due a long turn but again it was cut short with the Allies ending the turn on their 5th impulse with an EOT roll of 4 – good rolling for them. But J/A was the key turn for our game, and with the Allies winning the S/O initiative it allowed the French to reform their line with the mass of reinforcements that arrived that turn – MIL, Arty, AA, ATG and ARM as well as 3 x Ftrs! The fine weather roll of 6 was welcomed but tarnished as it also advanced the turn by 2, so the chance of an EOT roll is now even more likely. The USE chits are being generously given by the Axis (early Christmas for the US player) as the Axis continues to fail nearly all of the USE tests. The only joy for the Axis is that the US has struggled to roll tension, with only 4 chits in the tension pool. The grind will continue as we play through to the 1940 Christmas and see if little Hitler gets his Christmas wish granted – fingers crossed that he does. The next impulse should see Germany clear the blocking units but still not be adjacent to Paris with the allies starting the EOT rolls. Germany will need a lot of luck to have a chance to take Paris in 1940.

Next session Axis 2nd impulse, a likely DOW v Greece, conquest of Saudi Arabia and assault by the Japanese to take the last Mountain Hex guarding Chungking and hopefully breaking the back of the Chinese. For the Allies they will sweating on a bad weather roll and an early EOT roll on their next impulse – either guaranteeing Paris stays in Allied hands.

· Acft – Aircraft

· Conv – Convoy(s)

· EOT – End of Turn

· NCC – No Cost Combined action – no oil used

· OOS – Out of Supply

· Rng - Range

· TOTT – Top of the table a 23 or more

· USE – US entry rolls/chits

J/A Casualties - French 10 Corps and 3 Ftrs but all pilots survived, all get a brand new acft thanks to good planning by the French in his builds. German ARM/MECH losses are expensive - rolling 4's will do that. Same, Same for the Japanese 3/1 loss on a +10 with a 4 rolled - expensive impulse for the Axis.

France under pressure as the French lose more Corps - but time is on their side as the weather can turn on a dice in S/O. The BEF providing Flank security but for how long?

Italian invasion forces - all within striking distance of Athens

Italian advance towards Saudia Arabia

China under pressure as a TOTT roll makes up for last week's squiggly 14 - another Chinese mountain hex taken

S/O casualties - 3 more French Corps, two more this Axis impulse will be 5 this turn but at a cost 2 x German Ftrs - CW loses an expensive bomber

HMS Resolution surprised by the Raider Kormoran - got too close and was torpedoed and sunk.

Battleship Killer the Raider Kormoran - pride of the German Navy.

One less R Class BS to contend with as she slips beneath the waves - huge PR win for the Axis in a time of need.

USE - pleased that the US tension is small - it's now all about the numbers. US has struggled to gain tension. Yet to gear up which pleases the Japanese.

Despite escorts the CW Conv system is under pressure as recent losses reduce the CW Convs to 75. Barely enough to keep up the resources and oil to the UK.