AUSGAME2 2023 - Germany Fails to Achieve Paris in J/A as the Dice Gods remain unfriendly!
JUL/AUG 1940 (Cont)
Allied 4th Impulse, France takes a NC Land and forms a straight defense line. CW takes a Comb and strategic bombs Berlin but is only dropping propaganda leaflets. More success on the ground as the RAF manages to GS one of the point German Corps on the front line. Convs and escorts adjusted. Searches again for the Italian CA’s are fruitless in the Monsoonal Storm as both sides roll 7+. Russia takes a NCC – rails units to Rumania and advances a CAV to the Persian port of Bandar Shapur. Allied EOT roll was so close with a 3 rolled v 2 needed, a pass would have ended the turn, Germany breaths a sigh of relief.
Axis 5th Impulse. Weather roll is a 2. Germany with few upright land units takes a Comb. Both raiders in neutral ports sail against British Convs. The CX Kormoran which was anchored in Trondheim slipped past the CW pickets and attacks the Convs off the American East Coast. A huge 1-10 split sees the BS HMS Resolution torpedoed and sunk AKA HMAS Sydney and 3 convoys aborted for no loss. The CX Hansa anchored on the Southern tip of South America sails to the Gulf of Guinea and successfully finds unescorted Convs with a soft 2-5 split, 3 CONVs are damaged and 2 aborted. On land more success as a low odds +6.8 assault is launched on forest hex SW of the Maginot and a WOW roll of 19 sees a TOTT result which shocks the German player – highest roll in all the game. Mussolini quips that maybe Germany should defer blitzkrieg attacks and focus on assaults, aka WWI, no one takes Mussolini seriously.
Italy – desert trg and Famil complete she DOW Saudi Arabia, the Senate unhappy with this event gets another chit as a 2 is rolled (4 needed), that is 4 failed USE rolls by the Axis out of the last 4 – Christmas has come early for the US. The Saudi Royal Guard defend the Capital and await the Italians arrival, Italians advance along the Southern railway and cross the border in a slow advance to the Saudi capital as they leave the European map.
Japan takes a NC Land to conserve oil and starts to set up for the Campaign in the South as their 8 factor INF is railed South. Strategic bombing fails and units shuffle to the front – military term for moving slowly when you are tired. The EOT roll of 10 emphatically continues the turn.
Allied 5th Impulse, France with HQs inverted and no acft to fly takes a NC Land and re-organises the line, stepping back leaving low grade INF as a rear guard to cover their withdrawal. The CW takes a Naval and replaces some of the lost convoys including a convoy to the Persian Gulf to collect oil from the recently aligned Saudis – a portent of the future. Russia takes a NCC and rails a unit from Iran. Russia advances their 1.5 CAV into the port of Bandar Shapur and attempts to overrun the BS Karisma Japan holds its breath and Russia rolls a 6 and the BS CAPT seeing the advances Russian Cav, escapes the harbour and high tails it back to Japan – a close call it was.
The Allies dash the Germans hope of a Paris in J/A with 4 to roll EOT (4 needed). Partisan roll a 10 – again no partisans for the Chinese – we have NOT rolled a single Chinese partisan roll in this game. Elsewhere a potential uprising in Dakar is dealt with quickly by the local French Gendarmery. Rebasing and USE – The US Senate actions finally create some tension with it approving Lend Lease to China. Production and reinforcements placed.
SEP/OCT 1940 – A Surprisingly Good Turn for the Axis – Will it Last!
An important dice off for the initiative, the French 2 is easily beaten with a decisive 10 rolled by the German – is he on a roll, no. The Allies demand a reroll and rolls a 5 which the German fails to match – Allies go first – very sad face – part 1 (Germany winning the Initiative) of Paris falling in S/O is not achieved. More important the weather roll is 6, fine weather – JUST, as the impulse marker advances 2 which will drive a short turn – the Allies will be able to start rolling EOT on their 3rd impulse on a 1 - part 2 (a long turn of fine weather) of Paris falling in S/O is not achieved. Two out of four, now up to the German to roll successful GS (part 3) and roll high (part 4).
Allied 1st impulse. Russia demands Bessarabia, which is conceded by Rumania AKA Germany – Germany has little option as he has not taken Paris and cannot support the Rumanian if it goes to WAR, Russia occupies Bessarabia. Zhukov is railed from Iran to Ukraine. France takes a Land and reinforces the front line with its reinforcing ARM, ARTY, AA and ATG and steps back in a couple of places to straighten the line to reduce the Germans opportunity for flanking attacks, Ftrs are dispersed to cover the line. The CW in a surprise and at the risk of his Conv’s takes a Comb. He escorts in two sea zones and several GS targeting German stacks are repelled with a British 3 LND destroyed for a cost of a Ftr and the other LND aborted. In the land phase, the BEF steps back into France, vacating Belgium and securing the French Western Flank. China does little but prepares for the next Japanese assault.
Axis 1st Impulse. Italy takes a Naval and sails the Italian Fleet out to the E Med, embarking 4 mixed Italian and German Divs the Graziani from Cyprus. The German Para is disembarked into Leros in the Dodecanese group to marry up with its ATP, in range of Athens – the Greece Govt is increasingly nervous and appeals to the CW for intervention if war is declared. Subs in the Faroes gap get a lucky find, with a good split which allows it to convert and sink 3 x Convs and abort 6 others almost cutting the convoy system, it is damaged in the combat and returns to Italy to complete repairs. Searches in the Arabian Sea and off Gibraltar are less successful – 1 out of 3, the Italian will take that. Germany flew the Nazgul the 19 Rng NAV into the Arabian Sea but fails to find the patrolling BS Barham or the Conv. Germany takes a Land and targets three French hexes for GS (part 3 of the mission to take Paris), two of the Bombers are aborted by French Ftrs and the last is reduced to a zero by French AA – not a single GS from three Bombers, worse one of the German Ftrs is shot down, for the loss of a French Ftr. Without inversions, the French point hex with its ARM+ATG and a MIL Corps is bypassed and the hex East of Paris which has just 2 x Colonial INF/MIL is blitzed at + 11.7 after spt from Guderian sees a roll of 15 with a TOTT result. The second attack in the SE is only defended by a 3 factor INF and is automatically blitzed. Two hexes of France are gained, and the French line has lost three Corps, a good start to the S/O turn.
Japan takes a Land, and successful GS sees two Chinese Corps in S China inverted and an attack at +12 led by Yamamoto, repays the debt of failure from last turn’s roll of 4 as the Japanese roll TOTT and take a second mountain hex adjacent to the Nationalist’s capital of Chunking. The Northern line has a single Corps inverted, so the Japanese set up for a second attack hoping that the fine weather will hold – it has 9 points of defenders, doubled to 18 in the mountains and will need a high roll to take it even with two inverts and HQ spt.
Allied 2ndimpulse. The important weather roll and its 1 – the Axis thank the French player, and a glimmer of hope flickers across the Germans face. The CW takes a Naval sends out its escorts and extra Convs to ship the valuable US oil to the UK. Going on the offensive Force Z, 1 x CVL 2 x BS’s and 2 x CA’s go hunting for the two Italian CA’s in the Arabian Sea, in a continuing trend this session of CW unluckiness (is that a word) fail to find but Italy rolls a 1, with a handy split sees that Italian sacrifice a CA Pola sunk (needed a 5 to save) in order to convert from air, select target and damaging the CVL HMS Eagle, giving the Axis air superiority and freedom of action in the region – a strategic win despite the loss of the CA. The CW recognizing the air threat aborts the Arabian sea and Force Z, less its CVL slinks back to Ceylon with its tail firmly wedged up its backside but celebrating some payback with the sinking of the Italian CA Pola by big British 15” guns – the only highlight for the RN this session. British and Dutch subs hunt for Italian Convs in the Med, The Dutch sub KXIV finds the Italian invasion fleet in the E Med but pops up on the surface and is sunk by massed shell fire, it damages the a CA in exchange, aborting a DIV. The Dutch Tpt sails out to the N Sea with the London MIL embarked for France, well escorted by air and a BS fleet in a higher box it may tempt the German Navy to sail but probably not, now it is fine weather – Paris is the mission. The CW Strat bombs Hanover with a full load, no interception, and a roll of 10 shuts down the city’s production.
France’s Land sees her withdrawing to surround Paris and leaving low-quality rear-guard units in the line to soak up another impulse. The French, starting to feel the loss of land units (10 Corps last turn and 3 in S/O) withdraws from the Italian border – tempting a French declaration. The French ARTY inverts a Corps in the German front line. France reinverts his AA and Arty, declines to reinvert a 2nd Ftr. Russia rebases acft West and starts to arrange his garrisons.
Summary
An interesting session with the CW naval luck running out and his empire under pressure from the aggressive Italian. Some joy for the German this session, both at sea and on the land, his push to Paris - well almost, he said with a wry smile. Germany needed and was due a long turn but again it was cut short with the Allies ending the turn on their 5th impulse with an EOT roll of 4 – good rolling for them. But J/A was the key turn for our game, and with the Allies winning the S/O initiative it allowed the French to reform their line with the mass of reinforcements that arrived that turn – MIL, Arty, AA, ATG and ARM as well as 3 x Ftrs! The fine weather roll of 6 was welcomed but tarnished as it also advanced the turn by 2, so the chance of an EOT roll is now even more likely. The USE chits are being generously given by the Axis (early Christmas for the US player) as the Axis continues to fail nearly all of the USE tests. The only joy for the Axis is that the US has struggled to roll tension, with only 4 chits in the tension pool. The grind will continue as we play through to the 1940 Christmas and see if little Hitler gets his Christmas wish granted – fingers crossed that he does. The next impulse should see Germany clear the blocking units but still not be adjacent to Paris with the allies starting the EOT rolls. Germany will need a lot of luck to have a chance to take Paris in 1940.
Next session Axis 2nd impulse, a likely DOW v Greece, conquest of Saudi Arabia and assault by the Japanese to take the last Mountain Hex guarding Chungking and hopefully breaking the back of the Chinese. For the Allies they will sweating on a bad weather roll and an early EOT roll on their next impulse – either guaranteeing Paris stays in Allied hands.
· Acft – Aircraft
· Conv – Convoy(s)
· 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
J/A Casualties - French 10 Corps and 3 Ftrs but all pilots survived, all get a brand new acft thanks to good planning by the French in his builds. German ARM/MECH losses are expensive - rolling 4's will do that. Same, Same for the Japanese 3/1 loss on a +10 with a 4 rolled - expensive impulse for the Axis.
France under pressure as the French lose more Corps - but time is on their side as the weather can turn on a dice in S/O. The BEF providing Flank security but for how long?
Italian invasion forces - all within striking distance of Athens
Italian advance towards Saudia Arabia
China under pressure as a TOTT roll makes up for last week's squiggly 14 - another Chinese mountain hex taken
S/O casualties - 3 more French Corps, two more this Axis impulse will be 5 this turn but at a cost 2 x German Ftrs - CW loses an expensive bomber
HMS Resolution surprised by the Raider Kormoran - got too close and was torpedoed and sunk.
Battleship Killer the Raider Kormoran - pride of the German Navy.
One less R Class BS to contend with as she slips beneath the waves - huge PR win for the Axis in a time of need.
USE - pleased that the US tension is small - it's now all about the numbers. US has struggled to gain tension. Yet to gear up which pleases the Japanese.
Despite escorts the CW Conv system is under pressure as recent losses reduce the CW Convs to 75. Barely enough to keep up the resources and oil to the UK.
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