Sunday, April 24, 2022

Don't Mention The War - Part 5 from Facebook

 AUSGAME 2022 - 940 J/A

Germany’s Woes Continue - a Second Very (un)lucky EOT Roll
A start of a new turn J/A – German roll a comfortable 7+2 (9) which the Allies fail to challenge – hope in the Axis camp is resurrected as they win the initiative and roll 6 for weather avoiding the dreaded 10 which would have been bad weather as there was a +2 on that first weather roll. Axis 1st Impulse, Germany declares a Land offensive led by Rundstedt (13 O-Points spent) in order to break the French front line. The two German ARTY Divs sitting on the border thunder as they are doubled for the GS phase targeting the two forward French stacks. A Stuka flies GS to the French ARM stack as insurance and a second Acft attempts a GS v the Ardennes Forest hex on the border of Belgium. Only 1 Corps on each of the front-line stacks is inverted, with none in the Ardennes Forest hex as the French AA helped distract the attacking bombers. The French ARM stack is blitzed with a TOTT roll – only just with a +13 Blitz and an ordinary roll of 10 for a 23 – 2 losses to the French as the 7 factor ARM Corps is sent to the spiral (rear areas) for repairs. No other attacks declared - German ARM and MECH advance across the border threatening to outflank the BEF in Lille. Ftrs and Stukas are also rebased forward as Rundstedt reinverts the two Arty and a 6 Ftr. This is the only attack as the German anticipates a long turn. Italy again considers its position vacillating between a DOW against France and/or the CW but remain neutral and take a no cost Combined. Japan takes a Combined as reinforcements arrive on the Chinese mainland from Japan, Chinese AA Gunners adjacent to Sian drive off the Japanese GS acft, so with no inversions Japan declines to assault the city – they have time, as more acft arrive from Japan.
Allied 1st Impulse – CW and France take Land Actions as the BEF vacates Lille to avoid being outflanked, handing over the City defence to a French 6.1 Garrison – good luck boys. The British attempt a disrupting GS against the German Advance guard of two ARM – but the Luftwaffe do what they do well, promptly shooting down both the Wellington bomber and the escorting Spitfire – rolling 16 and 4 on the +1 table – Churchill not happy and regrets sending two valuable acft to help the French out. The French rush reinforcements to the front line to attempt to hold up the German advance. Russian declares its interest in Bessarabia, and with Germany still behind in the French Campaign, Rumania with no support from Germany concedes and Russia gains a valuable buffer zone as they occupy both Chisinau and Cernauti, now Russian supply and reinforcement cities. The carve up of Rumania begins. China reinverts its AA gun defending Sian and prepares for the next onslaught.
Axis 2nd Impulse – weather roll is a 10, clouds start to form as Germany takes a Land and GS two forward hexes again, and the tactically important Ardennes Forest hex again. The ARTY and acft fail to invert any units so it is up to the Heer to do the job on the ground without any help from the Luftwaffe. Lille is assaulted from 4 hexes (66 factors), but a cheeky ground spt mission from the French Po63.1 FB, slips through the ME109’s and adds a handy +2 to the defenders, converting the +19 assault to a +13.5. The assault is launched and an ordinary 5 (18) is rolled -/1, Lille falls, no German losses but the four stacks are now fully inverted – very handy for the BEF on the coast. On the Belgium border, another French stack is blitzed as the German ARM max out their armour bonus but roll */1B as they widen their front advancing another hex closer to Paris. German HQs reinvert what they can as Ftrs and the last of their bombers redeploy forward to support the next phase – the destruction of the French Army and the capture of Paris.
Japan GS Sian again inverting 1 Corps, they manoeuvre more units to improve their odds as this is a key city and must be taken after the debacle of last months failed O-Chit assault. Units in S China move forward under the cover of the storm setting up for the Southern Campaign once the weather clears. Italy, content to watch a world descend in to chaos takes a no cost Combined.
Allied 2nd Impulse – CW takes a naval and ships a unit to Gibraltar, three units now defend the ‘Rock’ including HQ Alexander – handy for emergency supply – just in case Gib gets cut off. Malta receives a Div and Morocco 6.4 INF, actions all designed to deter a vacillating Italian. Convoys are escorted and transports in the East head out to S Africa and Australia despite the stormy weather. France takes a Combined and its transport sails from Dakar with the handy Dakar 6 INF. They readjust their line and await the next assault. Russia having secured Bessarabia at no cost, and hungry for more oil, moves units to the Iraq border under the command of Zhukov seeing another opportunity after their successful Iranian expedition.
Axis 3rd Impulse – Weather, everyone expecting another 10, but a 5 is rolled. Germany takes a Land and presses on, clear weather and the French in retreat -now to make it a route. Another ineffective round of GS by the Luftwaffe as the arty and Stukas fail again. German ARM attack another fully stacked hex on the French/Belgium border for a Blitz result sending all the units to the spiral – the lack of destroyed French units is disappointing as the German rolling has been sub-average, except in the air.
With the Chinese AA out of ammo, Japan GS Sian and inverts the 2nd Corps – it’s on! led by GEN Hisaichi Terauchi, failure unacceptable launch their assault against the city on a 10.8 rolling a 15, the city falls but ill-discipline cost a chit as US reporters tell the tale of atrocities conducted by the Japanese troops – the US Senate stirs. Relief for Japan as Sian is a gateway city and has a valuable resource which is now denied to the Chinese and a bonus build for the Japanese. Italy – no cost combined, redeploys a 4.5 MOT to Sardinia. The Italians have now moved their Divs and Minisubs to Sicilian ports, and their subs have rebased to Sardinia and Sicily for ‘Training’.
Allied 3rd Impulse, with the focus on ‘saving France’ the other Allies elect to pass, with France taking a Land as she throws her final reserves into the front line, leaving two 3 factors to impose delay on the advancing German Armour. French MOT shuffle forward to meet the German advance and the 3.5 CAV on the Italian border canters N to meet the Panzers – shades of the Polish Campaign. This latest move peeks Mussolini’s interest – a single 1.1 GAR now defends the mountain pass to Lyon. With a +1 on the EOT roll the CW again attempts an EOT roll of 1 – Germany sighs with relief as this time the CW roll fails, and the German can press on.
Axis 4th Impulse, weather roll 6 fine everywhere, storm N Monsoon. Italy calls a conference with Germany – as the Italian French border has been stripped to a minimum – War or Peace – Mussolini defers and sits on his hands, obviously their devious plans remain secret. Germany takes a Land and attempts GS on the last upright French units, including the two 3 factor French rear-guard, again all the GS fail – something wrong with their bombs (fuse settings perhaps). With no additional plusses the German overwhelms the two French Corps on a +19 and +14 and exploit into the interior of France splitting the LOC between Metz and Paris – things are looking grim for France as their air-force is expended and all their HQs are inverted, as the panzers have open plains before them as they attempt to out-flank the French right flank. Both Japan and Italy take Combines with little activity as the Japanese manoeuvre their units and set up the S China for the next offensive when the Monsoon weather clears.
On the first Axis EOT Roll, and there it is – another 1!– silence in the room as all, both Axis and Allied players recognise the enormity of that roll, especially after the same EOT roll from the Allies ended the previous M/J turn on a 1 – So the Axis, the Germans principally has had two 1’s rolled in a row for the EOT rolls in the two clear weather turns of 1940 during the French Campaign. The German cannot believe his bad luck – 2 x ten percent EOT rolls – two 1’s in 1940. The German is praying for a long clear S/O otherwise France could well survive into 1941, which will make any early 1941 Russian Campaign problematic, Op Barbarossa may have to be delayed till 1942 – just gotta love those dice in WIF!
Partisan roll is a 9 – another partisan turns up in China – the Partisan pool is almost empty and they are all in China – luckily for Japan they are mostly 0 factor units. The US Senate finally stirs from its winter recess and after 6 months of inactivity takes two actions; embargoing strategic materials (1 less resources to Japan but they keep their BP) and resources to Western Allies – both generate welcome tension as a chit from each pool moves to their respective tension pool. Return to base, production and reinforcements for a very important weather and initiative roll next week.
· EOT – End of Turn
· BP - Build Point
· TOTT – Top of the table a 23 or more
· LOC – Line of Communications
· NCC - No Cost Combined – no oil used
· USE - US Entry

Western Europe - Italy still at peace, but for how long

France was about to be overwhelmed but saved by another EOT roll of 1, 
this time by the Germans, saving the French

All quite in the Western Med - but there is a clear build up of Italian naval and land assets

Egypt - happily safe and secure - for the moment

Perception and reality

Russia looks to play in the sand pit

Russia grabs Bessarabia whilst Germany is still heavily committed to the French Campaign as the carve up of Rumania begins

Partisans in the North are breading well as the Chinese line is double stacked in the mountains

General Hisaichi Terauchi leads the assault against Sian - taking the city - who needs O-Points

Japan finally has some success on the battlefield taking Sian

Japanese take Sian - US Senate gains a chit

Losses - mostly French with some British and German air casualties

French reinforcements thanks to mostly Blitz results all the early work undone by an EOT roll of 1


No comments:

Post a Comment