World in Flames via FB - 8

Misery on the Western Front.  The Germans are unstoppable.

1940 J/A - …and Germany finally gets their lucky STREAK!

As predicted GERM took a land as they launched multiple GS along the French and British front line, most fail except the important hex where the French Cavalerie ARMD Corps was stacked with a MIL, both Corps are inverted. One GS GERM Stuka was shot down as was a French intercepting Ftr – the GERM rolling an A2A roll of 1.1 – snake eyes! There were only two GERM attacks; the French ARMD Corps stack on a +15 Blitz and against the lonely British 2 factor DIV defending Antwerp. This +12 Aslt – the GERM interestingly allowed a 2 pt bomber from the UK to support the defenders and at only a +12 and an average or poor dice roll would have resulted in losses and the inversions. The GERM was not concerned as he promptly rolled 19 (34) v the French armour and a 16 (28) against Antwerp suffering no inversions or losses in either attack. The slightly riskier attack in Antwerp, could have cost the GERM his Eng as it was committed to the city assault and any loss would have seen the Eng eliminated as a first loss – this would have been an important loss unit for taking Paris – but Lady Luck intervened on the GERM attacks roll for a change and it survived. The French Arm stack was spiralled, Belgium was now defended by Allied troops in only one hex – on to France! Now, with no units from attack inversions, the GERM player was free to reinvert its arty and acft. The Italians took a Naval and sailed GERM reinforcements into Egypt and off the E Med – landing GERM 2 x Corps from Sicily to bolster the Italian land combat power. Naval escorts sailed into the W and E Med as well as off the Italian coast. Their subs sailed out on the hunt for easy prey with British escorts only in low boxes, but again they failed to find any convoys but neither did the Allied escorts find them. With a degree of overconfidence that should have been punished, the single Italian LND bomber in Germany attempted to GS the British HQs, flying unescorted! – typically for the turn the Italian acft was cleared through by the British intercepting Spitfire (11) – obviously, the pilot did not recognise the planes silhouette and let it through – was it French or one of theirs – oops! Luckily, its aim was poor and the British on the ground remained unscathed.

Japan with clear weather in the North attempted multiple GS as they took a Combined to increase the number of ACFT they could fly as GS and sailed into China several new INF/MIL Corps. The Japanese air-force so dependent on GS rolls of 1’s and 2’s, rolled no inversions, although for the first time in this game the much-vaunted Chinese Air-force did not shoot down a Japanese acft, the Japs reorganise their line as they don’t seem to be in a hurry to prosecute their attacks. It’s a long clear turn, and they are patient as they have more acft arriving to bomb cities. The attack on Sian is delayed whilst in the South a single MIL advances West in the Mtns towards Kunming and is flipped as it slogs its way forward in the rain.

The Allied 1st impulse and France takes a land to reorganise its line, GS from both its Arty and single LND fail to disrupt the GERM line. The British combined also flew multiple acft as GS to disrupt the GERM Mech/ARM spearheads – all failed. The British fleets sailed into the W Med and North Sea to provide Defensive Shore bombard, and in the MED search unsuccessfully for the patrolling Italian CA Pola. China sends a CAV South to cover the inverted Jap MIL – just in case. Russia pays oil for a full combined and flies 4 LND bombers to GS Tehran, managing to invert only 1 MIL Corps. Zhukov is flipped into the Mtns so that he can maintain supply to the lumbering Russian army as it commences to invest Tehran. A single Russian CAV, canters off South to secure the Persian Oil fields, finally ceasing the flow of ‘free’ oil to Japan. Not much joy for the Allies this impulse – and it only gets worse.

Axis 2nd Impulse and GERM takes its mandatory land, The GERM GS are again poor, with no successes, only a single French Corps inverted. The GERM, cautious as he has few HQ’s upright, and not wishing to attack at low odds, selects a three hex Blitz against the last French stack in Belgium – an average roll (11) and the GERM sweep (blitz) the French defenders from the field of battle as they clear Belgium of Allied units – a dark cloud descends on the Belgium population as they are occupied yet again by the GERM army. Italy take a no cost combined and redeploys acft toward Egypt. Japan takes a land, attempting to GS the Chinese front line in the North, little success and they move more units forward to threaten Si Ann. They now have enough ground units to start to cover resources and factories in occupied China in an attempt to reduce partisan acty.

Allied 2nd Impulse and finally a naval by the British allows them to sail escorts to protect their convs and adjust some convoys to max out the resources being shipped. Extra CVs turn up in the W Med to hunt the Italian CA Pola but fail to find again – charmed life this ship has. The British CA Birmingham sails into the E Med to hunt for the Italian convoys in a risky ‘hit and run’ mission as there are Italian Navs there, no finds by either side. The Brit 5.5 Mot on summer holiday in Navik is shipped to London while they ponder to send it to France or N Africa. In a desperate attempt to invert the GERM ARMD spearhead the Brits, fly their best long rang LND to flip the point stack, escorted by their best Spitfire – the GERM intercept and promptly roll a 20! Shooting the 14 rng bomber down in flames, with its pilot, to rub salt in their open festering wound the RAF spits roll a ‘bounce’ and the GERM Ftr shoots down the spit (17) and its pilot for no loss! The Luftwaffe seems to have improved over the winter making a ‘good show’ of it, a stark contrast to their poor 1940 efforts. France is forced to take another land as it steps back to reform its frontline – it is now dangerously stretched. Russia takes a no cost combined and moves units in Persia, and that was about it. China similarly adjusts its line awaiting the assault against Sian, fingers crossed.

Axis 3rd Impulse, GERM, another land and again attack a single hex at high odds attack, applying the policy of maxing out a single hex/atk so reducing the risk of inverting themselves. With only 1 HQ left they attack South of Lille and again roll very high, 17 for a top of the table result (31) – the French AA gun is spiralled as two French Corps (MIL and INF) are overwhelmed and the GERM punches another hole in the French Line and exploiting another hex to threaten to cut off the BEF. Italy takes a no cost combined and searches and finds the British CA Birmingham in the E Med – typical for the British they finally roll a 1 on a search but it is of no value as the single CA is defenceless against the Italian NAV air and fails both rolls of the 2D – any save would have saved the ship. The Royal Navy is struggling to achieve anything in this game – “there seems to be something wrong with our ships”, certainly our binoculars – can’t find a bloody thing! The Japanese provide the only joy for the Allies so far, as they manage to invert both Corps in Sian, launch a city assault at +9 and promptly roll a very sub-optimal 4 for an ordinary -/- 13. The Chinese would have preferred a 5 as that would have tripped the ‘squiggly’ 14 for a 3/1 result – 3 more losses to the Japs would have hurt, but the Chinese are content to still have their city, and its valuable resource and factory for another turn.

Allies 4th Impulse next week, first session of the New Year and importantly for the Allies the EOT rolls can start to occur. An excellent turn for the GERM as lady luck smiles on his attacks rolls which are currently averaging 16 - luckily he has only made four attacks! With no GERM losses and no inversions, the French line is dangerously stretched, the GERM ARMD Advance Guard is one hex from Paris - as the GERM you have to be happy with this turns results. In stark contrast the CMWLTH cannot pick up a trick, it has lost multiple acft and pilots without inflicting any loss, its Navy cannot find anything, and when it did, it sunk itself, it is not all bad news though. The important city of Sian has held, the CMWLTH Convoys remain intact and the leviathan that is the Russian Army is inextricably advancing to Tehran. The City of Alexander still remains in Egyptian (CMWLTH) hands and the Italians have yet to declare war against France and attempt to stretch the French defenders further. From the games POV, the GERM success has gone some way to redressing him back on to his campaign schedule, especially if this turn J/A is a long turn and/or S/O is fine – Paris will be threatened and potentially taken (1940), so Barbarossa 41 is still on track albeit with a reduced build and some losses. The British could also be trapped in France if they are not careful, and that would be catastrophic for the Med War and Egypt/N Africa. Thanks for reading - HAPPY NEW YEAR