One Sided Miniature Wargaming Discourse: Don't Mention The War

AUSGAME 2022

July/August 42 – Barbarossa – Death in the Skys.

Allied 1st Impulse of the J/A 42 turn, the US and CW both take Naval actions and the Chinese and Russian Land. The combined naval forces of the CW and the US sail into the North Sea with 7 Tpts and 2 x Amphs – all loaded with intent. There are 2 x CA’s loaded with Divs which sail into the Norwegian sea, signalling their clear intent to invade either, Norway, Denmark or France in order to establish a Second Front whilst the German is significantly distracted by the early land war in Russia. The CW reinforces the plucky Greeks as an Aust MECH Corps and an INF Div arrive in Athens to cheers and plenty of ouzo and raki. Land units on the West coast of the UK, drive to the East coast ports awaiting embarkation to support the next phase of the Second Front. Russia’s exposed Southern front steps back a hex or two to straighten its line, and in the North, units are rushed forward to support the ‘victors of Kaunas’ and attempt to block the outflanking of the Baltic States. Units are railed to Tallinn and Pvosk as a reserve – just in case. Ftrs are rebased to the front to protect defenders against GS. The US in the Pacific shuffle a couple of units and rebases several air units in the Kwajalein Island group. China moves several units including Partisans – not much happening here, despite the fine weather. EOT marker advances 1.

Axis 2nd Impulse, weather roll 5 – No change, fine everywhere with a storm in N Monsoon. Germany takes a Land and Italy takes a Comb. Japan takes a Land and occupies Surabaya in Java as the empty city is occupied, a single GS against Batavia misses it target, so no attacks. Italy’s Comb sees it sail its submarine force, one search in the W Med finds and sinks the Brit Conv, but the unlucky Brin* is found by the RN escorts in the N Atlantic and promptly sunk, the attrition nature of submarine warfare is starting to bite into the Italian sub fleet. Minor disaster for the Italian in the E Med, as another sub searches for the convoy supplying Greece. The Axis and Allied air-forces both react, ending in the 1 box. Both sides roll but the CW gets a handy split and shoots down the solitary Italian Nav, losing a Brit ftr, second search round, both sides roll 1’s, both sides lose acft and several acft are aborted, 3rd round and both sides roll 2’s and again both sides lose acft and the Axis, now down to a single 4 factor Ftr, sensibly aborts to Sardinia – hot air war or what! The Allies come out on top of what was an expensive impulse where 10 acft and 5 pilots were lost, a record for the mid-war impulse, not counting CVP battles.

German Land sees some exciting opportunities lost due to ordinary/poor rolls by the German, Army Group North had a great opportunity to cut off the Russians defending Kaunas and form a Russian pocket. The Kaunas Pocket would have been achieved by attacking the two flanks, but failed GS and low rolls only saw the Russian units retreated, no losses, and no blitzes and worse, several German ‘big stacks’ fully inverted. Again, the German attempted to GS the line, another JU88 was shot out of the sky by defending Ftrs, as well as a Stuka – two valuable bombers, albeit for the cost of a Russian Ftr. The GS by the German Art also all failed, even the 5 factors which keeps rolling great attack dice of 7, 8, and 9’s. In the South, only a single attack and again, a retreat against a Russian ARM stack – which was promptly sent to the swamps by the German, but at least the line has been breached and a 3 hex salient formed.

*Brin, as an aside this Italian sub had an interesting history. When Italy declared war in June 1940, Brin was the only vessel in the 42nd Squadron of the Italian submarine fleet. At the end of 1940, Brin, captained by Luigi Longanesi-Cattani, became one of several Italian submarines that operated in the Atlantic, based in Bordeaux (BETASOM) under German command. In the early hours of 18 December 1940, she was attacked by the British sub HMS Tuna with torpedoes and gunfire in the Bay of Biscay. Brin was undamaged and escaped.

On 13 June 1941 she made three torpedo attacks on convoy SL75, succeeding in sinking two ships, the Greek Eirini Kyriakides (3,781 tons) and the British Djurdjura (3,460 tons). She performed five patrols from Bordeaux, sinking over 7,200 tons of allied shipping.

In August 1942 Brin contributed to the Axis opposition to the Pedestal Conv to Malta. During the action she brought down a Sunderland NAV. While in the Mediterranean, she performed 17 patrols. When Italy surrendered, Brin was part of the Italian Fleet that surrendered to the Allies in 1943. She was subsequently used on training operations in the Indian Ocean for the remainder of the war.

Allied 2nd Impulse

The US and CW DOW against Norway, which sets up all its units in Oslo as there are plenty of US and British Paras in the UK. The CW takes a Land and the US a Comb. The US invade Denmark as do the CW Marines and 1st Para Corps but in response, the German slips through a Condor NAV on a 10 roll by the British CVP Ftrs and the 2-point hex is double to 4 points – and then then the CW rolls a 5! Almost a disaster, but the +13 attack against an empty hex in Denmark with a 5 rolled meant that was 18 -/1, there were no losses, but the Brit Para and Mar were both inverted, which will mean that future attacks in Denmark this impulse will be less likely – not a good start to their first CW Exped Operation since the BEF was forced out of France. CW forces land in the undefended ports of Trondheim and Frederikshavn taking both. US and CW Acft are rebased to Denmark.

Russia declares a Land, and withdraws from Kaunas, leaving a 7 MIL to cover the withdrawal – a lucky escape for that Russian force. In the South the front lines straighten, again as Zhukov reinverts the Arm in the Swamps and a Ftr. The Russian has few reserves, a couple of Ftrs are rebased fwd and the Russians dig in and await the next assault. China sends a 2.4 Cav to threaten the Burma oil, impulse EOT advances by 1.

Axis 3rd Impulse weather roll is a 1! Fine everywhere and finally some success on the Russian front line for the German, with only two attacks one in the North, eliminating the 7.2 Moscow MIL rear guard defending Kaunas. The second, Germany punches a hole in the Russian Southern front targeting the Russian MECH in Ukrainian. Both rolls are TOTT, no losses no inversions and the cracks in the Russian line appear. The Russian now has only one HQ and two Ftrs upright, the Russian air-force was very active in the first impulses of the turn and has now run its course. In Denmark, the Italian HQ is railed from its chateau in S France to the Denmark peninsular as is a Germ INF from central Germany – containing the Allied invasion.

Japan takes a combined and reinforces the build-up of naval assets and tpts in the S China Sea. Land units are picked up from the Philippines to assist in the invasion of Batavia, the single GS against Batavia misses it target and Japan declines to attack as more land units are arriving each impulse. The Chinese Cav threat to the Burma oil is countered as a Siamese unit flip to defend the oil. Italy takes a Combined and attempts a GS with its long range Piaggio bomber but fails, then rebases Ftr acft to Germany and Sardinia. Germany rebases a Ftr to Norway to help with its defenders. Impulse EOT advances by 1.

Summary

Slow progress on the Russian front, but the last attack on the 3rd Axis impulse showed how fragile the Russian defensive line is – a couple of ‘good rolls’ and it could collapse as there are no reserves. In the air there has been horrific losses with 16 Acft and 6 pilots shot down so far this turn, 10 in the previous single impulse. The Allies have been more successful having lost less acft and less pilots. The Allies attempt to open the Second Front has been only partially successful as they rolled a 5 on their para/invasion (18) for a full invert, thankfully no losses – but this has meant that the Denmark invasion has been easily contained. Norway looks to be conquered by the combined US/CW invasion unless the German takes a combined and reinforces Oslo with German units. The loss of Norway to the Allies will create opportunities for them to target the German Baltic convs with air and Naval assets threatening the loss of resources and shipping, another distraction that the German does not need. Next week Allied 3rd impulse, CW and Russia will take land actions and the US probably a Combined, as the rare weather roll of 1 in J/A (Fine) has opened the opportunity to invade the Kwajalein Islands port and potentially strike Japanese naval assets, even the high-risk option of the Japanese invasion fleet in the S China Sea – should be an interesting night. EOT rolls start with the next Axis turn, potentially ending on a 1 – Russia’s early Christmas present perhaps.

· TOTT – Top of the table a 23 or more

The Russian Front

AGN has culminated

AGS - the thin Russian line few reserves here - danger lurks in every die roll

The Russian potential moves in blue

The invasion of Denmark and Norway has begun - not quite a Second Front but a welcome distraction - the Brit attack rolled a 5! one job! just as well it wasn't a contested hex