World in Flames via FB - 9

 Mike's headline says it all.

1940 J/A - Germany Stopped at the gates of Paris!

The Allies 4th Impulse sees the British take a combined and port strike a single Italian CA in Tripoli, typically the Brits roll a 7 and the Italian’s roll a 2 and decide to “Have a Go” and up their AA against the two CV planes in an attempt to shoot one down – lowest 1 of 3 AA dice – potential pain for the attacking acft is luckily averted as a 1 is rolled by the Italian AA gunners and the 3 points of Nav air go through for a ‘D’ result on the CA, which is promptly saved. The W Med fleets, there are now two operating in the W Med search again for the CA Pola – 7, nothing to see here. In France, the British reinforce France, unloading an ENG and MOT Corps into the City of Rouen – this ensures that the BEF has a secure retreat path. In a speculative ‘free’ GS against the GERM point stack of an 8.6 MECH and ARMD Corps a British CV air gp attempts to invert them with a couple of ‘lucky’ 1’s, no luck for the CVPs as they return to their carrier a little disappointed. France takes a land to throw units in front of the GERM juggernaut, including a 3 factor CAV in the outskirts of Paris, tempting the GERM to declare a Land Offensive and use up O-Points if they want to overrun it. Russia and China shuffle a few units, the former to Persia and the latter, to the mountains East of Chung King where the next Japanese attack is likely to fall.

Axis 5th Impulse, another 4 rolled clear weather everywhere but the N Monsoon – rain. GERM takes a land and declares a Land offensive using Rundstedt HQ (13 O-Points used) – eight units to be doubled. They double a Mech and overrun the French CAV on the outskirts of Paris and declare three attacks against two French defending stacks North of the river Seine and the City of Lille. With the doubling effects of the land offensive and solid +10 attacks or better, they roll two 11’s against the defending stacks of French blitzing them both to the spiral, and in the assault against Lille a 14 – topping the table and Lille falls for no loss and no inversions. The way to Paris is clear as the exploiting GERM Army now has three hexes against Paris and has crossed the river Seine in the West. With Lille falling for no loss and no inversions the BEF on the coast is extremely vulnerable. In the Far East the Japanese as expected GS the Chinese line in the mountains East of Chung King and finally roll an inversion, and declared attack at +7, with an 8 rolled, for a 15 a Chinese Div is eliminated for no loss, but the Japanese are now fully inverted and have culminated so will not be able to attack again this turn. J/A has been a good turn for the Chinese, with little territorial loss and only a Mot Div lost. Italy takes a no cost combined to pick up a GERM INF which is promptly landed in Albania for Mountain training – the Greek Govt lodge a formal complaint to Berlin which is politely ignored. The GERM player refusing to aid the Allies did not end the turn on a 1!

The Allied 5th impulse – with the French Line in tatters and only a few units to manoeuvre the French and other Allies take a pass to try to end the turn on a 3 – desperate times. The BEF shuffles along the coast as they withdraw towards the city of Rouen leaving behind their BEF Arty Div, alone as it is inverted and cannot move. The Allied EOT roll is a disappointing 5, giving the Axis a crack at Paris and the capitulation of France in J/A 1940.

The Axis 6th impulse sees the now exhausted GERM army on the outskirts of Paris launch an attack with everything they had left, their HQ’s are inverted – so no plusses from them, and all but one Stuka has flown. Fate intervenes, this time on the side of the Allies, as an unlucky roll of 5 on a +12 attack the GERM’s fail to take the Capital – they needed a 9 or more – instead they lose two Divs, including their ENG for the cost of one French defending Corps – only the French HQ Georges, inverted, remains in the Capital – probably spending most of its time burning documents! The GERM second attack is against the BEF on the W Coast of France, the British BEF Arty Div is overrun and the BEF rear-guard 7-6 Mech and inverted Gort HQ is attacked and retreated to the Rouen’s peninsular port of Le Harve their war in France is over as they wait for evacuation. Italy takes a naval and sails its ‘Primo’ fleet made up of four of its latest BS into the E Med to provide shore bombardment in support of a GERM attack against Alexandria. A lucky 2 rolled on a GS gives the attackers a bonus +2 as one of the Egyptian TER is inverted. Giving the Axis a +9 attack. The GERM rolled well but the Italians support is poor (rolled a 1) with a combined roll of 8, for an assault of 17 – 1/1 with the GERM losing their Div and the CMWLTH the inverted Egyptian TER. Disappointingly for the Allies the Axis do not end the turn on a 3.

The Allied 6th impulse is somewhat muted, the British take a combined and drop the Home fleet into the W Med’s 0 box so that it can return to Portsmouth and support the evacuation of the BEF as – France is now untenable, and the BEF has to leave. She flies a lone NAV to bomb the GERM ARM that has crossed the Seine River and rolls a 1, inverting the Corps. The W Med fleets port strikes the CA in Tripoli with only 1 Nav point, but in a reversal of the previous roll, the CV plane gets the jump on the CA and gets a D which it fails – off to the repair pool you go. The fleet also search again for the CA Pola rolling a 10, another missed search – now 6 failed finds from the 4 box – truly a lucky ship. It must be configured to look like a Brit CA or something. France moves a MIL into Paris ‘just in case’ and also rails a Div as extra insurance. China shuffles a unit or two and digs in to the mountains. The EOT roll needed was 4 and the French player successfully rolled a 2 to end J/A 40 just holding onto Paris by the skin of their teeth.

Interesting turn, fundamentally GERM got quite unlucky only rolling a 5 on his +12 attack against the capital, a 9 or above would have seen the City fall – he was so close to executing an incredible come back. However, unlike last week’s average attack roll of 16, this week saw the GERM average roll drop to about a 9 – a big difference as most attacks resulted in Allied units being blitzed to return next turn (S/O) rather than being eliminated. The partisan roll was 7 with no PARTs activated – Japan has finally a reprieve from partisan acty with none turning up in China. US entry was deferred as the US player was away – this will be fixed next session. Rebases, builds and reinforcements. With the British bottled up in Rouen and the French desperate to reinforce the Paris river line, the Allies are desperate to win the initiative and go first. However, France rolls an average 6 but lady luck smiles on the GERM as he rolls a definitive 10 (+1) for an 11 – The Axis will get to go first next week – Paris is lost, it only has a defence of 8, unless the weather roll is Storm – the French hold their breath as the weather is rolled, but no, it’s a 6 for clear in the Temp and France will now fall in S/O as the GERMs will capture Paris this turn baring a low roll. The odds on Paris will be from +15 to +18 Assault, not 100% guaranteed but extremely likely. The British Dunkerque will be conducted from Rouen – hopefully if they can extricate some of the BEF – it will now depend on the Axis air and Arty GS and how effective they are in inverting the BEF – at least it is in a major city, with a factory (-1) and on the coast for shore bombardment and close to the UK so the RAF can fly air cover. The Allies will hope that the German’s will roll high for their GS and low for their attacks, the GERMs – the opposite, and then call Vichy and Barbarossa, or conquer France and go for Spain or something completely different – interesting decisions for the Axis next week.