One Sided Miniature Wargaming Discourse: AUSGAME 2024 NEW GAME Part 4

AUSGAME2 2023 – The Weather Finally Clears

MAR/APR 1940 (Cont)

Allied 2nd impulse. CW and France both take Land actions, bombers from the UK escorted by RAF Spitfires GS two frontline stacks of Germans in Antwerp and Brussels. The Luftwaffe elects to stay on the ground as their priority is air war v the French which must be won to help the beleaguered Wehrmacht. Germany relies on the AA gun which drops the 3’s to 2’s & 1’s however extraordinary rolls by the RAF sees all 3 units in Antwerp inverted of triple 2’s – Germany just shakes his head. France also takes a land and disrupts a frontline Corps and Div (2 units) with their 3 Arty hidden in the woods. Allies move forward into the three empty Belgium hexes. China takes a NCL and moves a number of units, whilst Russia relocates another bomber to the Iranian border.

Axis 3rd Impulse, weather roll is a 6, fine in N temp. All three Axis nations take land actions. Germany with its Western Front inverted by ARTY and air GS has only 3 Corps upright so he shuffles (a new military term – defined as moving units left and right, swapping places in time to classical music) and re-inverts four units using his last HQ. An attempted GS against the French point stack sees the continuation of German bad luck as his JU88 is shot down. With a second fine weather rolled and with complete misses on its first mission, the German 5 factor Stuka again attempts another GS v Warsaw needing 5’s moderate success as it inverts a single Corps. Launching a +12.5 assault German rolls sub-average with an 8. Warsaw is finally taken for loss of a div and a half invert - Poland finally falls M/A 1940. In the Med a combined German and Italian attack on Malta is launched using the German para and a Div with a second Italian Div, supported by shore bombardment from the Regia Marina. A +18 assault is launched, a roll of 7 (another sub average roll) still sees a

result against the 1 strength Indian Div – the inverted CA HMS Gloucester is caught in the harbor and scuttled by its crew to avoid capture. Italy advances units to Jerusalem and assaults the city with an auto victory as another CW territory joins Mussolini’s Empire. Italy rebases a NAV and Ftr into Malta.

Japan’s land sees units advance to set up for next turn as both GS and Strat bombing runs fail. Some good news in the air for Japan as the Chinese Airforce is shot down, although at the cost of a pilot and a Japanese Ftr – no more pesky intercepts and the bombers, both Strat and GS will be able to fly without escorts. Patient the Japanese is. No EOT.

Allied 3rd Impulse sees all countries pass except France who attempts to the German stack in Brussels, escorted by a CVP, Germany repays a debt and shoots down the only French DB7 that attempted to GS without an escorting Ftr. Despite the passes no EOT rolled. 3 needed 6 rolled.

Axis 4th Impulse, weather roll is a 10, fine again – everyone is astounded – the German has rolled 3 fine weather impulses in a single turn MORE than the entire game so far! Germany takes a Land and attempts to GS a French INF stack with only a single French Corps being inverted. Even with an AT and a HQ in support for France, a +8.1blitz is launched and finally a

roll of 16 sees the Belgium hex taken, and the Paris and Lyon MIL eliminated, and the AT Gun spiraled. Italy takes a NCC to conserve oil and sails a Conv into the Red Sea to maintain supply. Japan takes a NCL to also conserve oil and prepares for the J/A clear weather campaigning season. The German joy is short lived as Germany rolls a 1 (3 needed) , shifting the initiative to 0 – there were glimmers of hope for the German in this turn, which were quickly extinguished by another early EOT.

Partisan roll was a 9, with no partisans turning up in China again – Japan celebrates giving the Chinese population an extra rice ration. Rebase and production. USE – with the recent additions of 5 chits to the USE pools in one turn, again well against the expected probability, the US Senate wakes up from its winter recess and declares three actions; it embargoes strategic materials, Gives the CW 50 old destroyers and enlists Edward Morrow to report on the English war effort – surprisingly none of these actions create tension – sems no one cares in the diplomatic circle. Japan closes the Burma Road as it attempts to reduce the Chinese build, especially now that Sian has been captured – China is down to the focus will be the Nationalist’s capital as that is the key to unlocking Chinas defeat and reducing its build to less than two BPs + Cadres. It will then be able to reorientate and focus on Russia and the impending war against the Western Allies.

J/A 40 – THE CLOCK IS TICKING – TIK TOK; Germany has to make substantial progress this turn.

Probably the most important initiative roll other than the one that will launch OP BARBAROSSA. It was hotly contested and came at a cost to the Germany. Germany rolled an 8 as did the French which meant initially that the Allies had won the first roll with a tie. Germany desperate for the first fine weather impulse of J/A demanded a re-roll and followed up with a 10 v an Allied 5 – great call – although the initiative now moves to the +1 Allies. Germany and Japan both take land actions, and Italy Naval. Italy sailed subs out to the Bay of Biscay and North Sea hoping to find the British convoys in fine weather and put the BEF OOS, no finds for the Italian subs, but the RN rolled a 2 and aborted one Italian sub ensuring that the BEF gets its tea and jam. Italian fleets sail into the E Med embarking a HQ and 3 x Divs – potential invasion of Greece looms. Two Italian CAs sail from their new port of Suez into the Bay of Bengal searching for the British Convs and again fail – all Italian search fail this turn.

Germany’s land sees it launch a massed GS with 4 LND and 2 x Art ground strikes against the French defenders. Excellent work by the Luftwaffe sees rolls that destroy 2 French Ftrs for no loss, their pilots however parachute to safety on the French line. However solid AA rolls (lowest number was a 3) sees the 2 French HQ’s that were targeted by the GS avoiding disruption. A CW MECH in Antwerp and only a single French Corps are flipped, a very poor result for the Germans GS effort of four acft and two Arty – not the start the German was looking for. A single three hex armored attack on the French point stack which included the French ARM Corps was launched including HQ support from Rundstedt. A +12.6 blitz, with a roll of 9+1 sees a 1B result and most importantly for the German, his units remaining upright. The French 6 INF is destroyed, and the ARM and AT gun are spiraled. French units have now been kicked out of Belgium and the CW units are stretched out in a line along the Northern coastal flank.

Japan’s Comb saw it launch another Strat bombing raid (tenth one) and another 1 rolled – Ten misses, gret for the Chinese production but disappointing for the Japanese. However, the GS were excellent with the Nationalist HQ and MIL in Chunking both inverted as well as two other Corps. Two more units arrive in China and the Japan sets up for several land attacks next impulse.

Summary

This is a key turn for our game, the German has only this turn and the next two turns – none of which are guaranteed to be fine (he is owed some fine weather BIG TIME) to capture Paris before the end of 1940. Germany has had the worst weather of any game we have experienced, he is in a similar position than he was in our last game and will need some long, fine weather with some high combat rolls to take Paris and declare Vichy before the end of 1940. One big issue for the German/Axis now is that the initiative marker as at the +1 Allies as Germany started and ended last turn and demanded a reroll for the J/A start. It will make winning the next turn S/O more of a challenge. The Italian position is strong having captured Malta and taken the Suez and threatening the Indian Ocean, The CW has been distracted with Conv protection and BEF (Heavy) in France. Japan is patiently attriting the Chinese who have been lucky they have not lost production to the persistent Japanese Strategic bombing but equally unlucky with not a single Chinese partisan rolled in the entire go so far – swings and roundabouts. The USE is ominously large, with the only advantage being little tension, but that is early days having lots of chits is always a good thing for the US/Allied Camp and this can translate to a lot of actions being taken by the US and an early gear up and war entry depending on the chits value. This game like the previous is now in the hands of the German and the weather Gods and can go either way.

· Acft – Aircraft

· Conv – Convoys

· 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