World in Flames via FB - 42

 S/O 43 EOT THE AXIS GET THE TRIFECTA - THE INITIATIVE, BAD WEATHER AND EOT!

As predicted last week the Axis did get the Trifecta - initiative, bad weather and the very short, 2 impulse for the Allied turn in S/O. So, the Axis elected to move rather than increase the odds of ending the turn deciding to push their luck and were amply rewarded with the Italian rolling a 3 to end the turn. Much groaning and eye rolling as the three Allied players saw the only clear weather impulse for S/O lost to lady luck! On the plus side the initiative moved up +1 for the Allied – importantly, no axis re-rolls.

Partisan roll saw another two turn up in China. Rebasing (which took a long time as the CW player had to reduce nearly all Allied conv boxes to a minimum as there were few allied escorts and several of the sea areas had been successfully hit by roving U-Boats and not restocked. If the Axis were to win the N/D initiative and take a Naval or Comb it could have been complete devastation of the Allied conv lanes as there were few escorts. Build and reinforcements with a handy German fortification being built in Rumania guarding the capital Bucharest and for a first in any of our games the Communist Yak 9M Ftr was placed.

N/D 43

Initiative roll – last chance of clear for 1943 for the Allies who are increasingly falling behind their timeline, GERM rolls a moderate 4, with Russia a 3, with the +1 modifier to 4, winning ties, the Allies take the initiative. Weather roll is a disappointing 5 for the Allies as yet again another clear weather opportunity is lost – not even snow for the Russian – just rain(mud) and Storm – not a good start for the Allies last turn for 43. The Axis are pleased as always with the bad weather and with a +2 on the impulse track, they are again looking at the prospect of another short turn. It seems that 1943 is not a year for the Allies, but at least they won the initiative and get to go first.

Allies’ 1st impulse, the CW takes a Naval to re-establish its convoy lanes back up to full shipment and escort the with 2 x CA’s in the 4 box – now they can hunt some U-Boats if they come out to play – which they most certainly will in this bad weather. The US takes a combined as this allows for 8 air missions as well as three Naval movement and a land attack or two. France takes a naval to assist with convoy protection and they have a handy transport that is doing the ‘shuttle run’ back and forth from the USA. Russia elects to take a Combined and sails its small fleet into the Baltic to search for the Axis Baltic convoys. The US fleet from Kristiansand sails into the Baltic now supported by Russian and British air, they search the Baltic but fail to find the unescorted convoys. Naval searches in the E and W Med prove more successful with the CW finally rolling a 1 in the W Med – typical though, this is the first time that the massed Axis air elected not flyout and so the only casualty was the lone Italian Conv but now Axis N Africa is OOS. In the E Med the Italian Conv is also found, but on a soft split it is only damaged – the Allies noting the Axis air did not fly in the W Med elect to abort the sea area to avoid a potential massed response during the Axis turn. On land, the Allied air-force successfully GS the GERM ARM stack in Algeria, and now, out of supply but in the mountains, it is still a hefty 14 points, the US manage a solid +14 attack and roll top of the table, finally eliminating the 9.5 3rd Panzer Corps which has been fighting in N Africa from the Suez to Algeria since France fell. A huge effort went in to eliminating this Corps which had successfully conquered Egypt (with a little Italian help) and then held up the combined Allied forces in N Africa for over a year!

China takes a paid land and launches two attacks, a Nationalist attack in the South against an inverted Japanese HQ – rolling average the Japanese having elected to take a Blitz attack, chose well as they are only retreated into the mountains for the loss of a Chinese 5.1 GAR – but importantly for the Japanese, all the Nationalist units are inverted – end of the Southern push for this turn. In the North, two fanatical Partisans goaded by the Allied players attack a single Japanese Div and roll an exchange. The Chinese step across the straits and liberate Hong Kong. Another long impulse as there was a lot to move for the CW in a naval, both Conv, escorts and transports. Axis 1st Impulse next session. Amusingly for all the German player nearly had a fit when the Japanese casually suggested that ‘he was preparing for the clear weather’ – is this a premonition for next impulse, the Allies hope so.

Summary

Well, the less said about the S/O turn from the Allies POV the better, bad weather (Storm/Rain) no land attacks by the Allies, no finds at sea and minimal losses to the Axis – units or hexes – an excellent turn for the Axis. The N/D 43 turn initiative win was helpful but again offset by the bad weather roll of 5 – no clear or snow for the Russian which is now the main game in town.

Interestingly, the Axis will be well pleased, their play aided by a lot of luck with bad weather, lack of ‘finds’ at sea and EOT rolls have seen them achieve significant 1943 milestones/KPIs; no Allied invasion of France, Italy/Sardinia or Homeland Japan. Rumania and the Suez are still in Axis hands as is Norway, Manchuria and the Borneo oil fields – it has been an excellent year for the Axis and proves that nothing is guaranteed in WIF and there is gaming value in ‘playing on’. Victory for both sides now rest in 1944 and although a win by the Allies is likely and still on the cards it is not guaranteed. If the Axis are blessed with the similar events in 44 as they have been in 43 – short, bad weather turns and manageable Axis losses, the unexpected might just occur – game on.

Western Europe - its raining again - nothing new

Germans defend the approaches to Oslo - Norway still in Axis hands and winter is coming

Western Med - the Allied air-forces finally control the W Med as the Axis did not want to come and play. They were right not to as the CW finally rolled a glorious 1.

The 9.5 Arm III Corms is finally eliminated and Oran is now surrounded and OOS

E Med OOS but that will change

The Russian Front - very disappointing (for the Allies) weather roll storm

and rain Stalin not a happy man

Army Group North STORM

Army Group South MUD

The Far East

The Partisan counter attack with success on the coast - it is getting grim for Japan

Comment on Facebook post by Robert Guerrero

Honestly, without a factory or the ability to get the resources out of China, and with no objective hexes in hand, there is no reason to have any of the Japanese army in China at this point

Not pretty for Japan as her enemies start to surround her

First impulse losses

The Battle for Germany

Today Richard and I played new production of a classic SPI game.

Set up

The end.

The fascinating thing about this game is one player is the Soviet/West Front Germans and the other the Western Allies and the Eastern Front Germans.

That's a Canadian unit in Berlin.  Worth 10 VP it clinched the game for the Western Allies played by Richard.  The scores were 17 to 26.  But as berlin is worth 10, it was really quiet close.

Looking forward to playing it again.

Zhis iz notz tgaz truck

This beautiful little 3d printed model of a Gaz AAA 6x4 truck was mistaken for a ZIS truck leading to a little embarrassment when it seemed to be undersized.  The Gaz is smaller than the ZIS by design.  I should have realized when its label noted AAA, presumably like batteries, the more As, the smaller it is :-)

But disaster struck and in this wild and wintery weather we are having it was blown out of my hand to smash on the driveway when I took it over to show Richard.  Luckily we found all the parts, although it took three goes and Richard's eagle eyes.

Ouch!

This post was started 1 August, but never completed... Until now!

The comparison that caused the angst.

GAZ AAA 6x4 truck by Battlefield3d 

followed by a Zis-5 3-ton truck by Battlefront

3D beats resin any day

Found Mojo Lost Marbles

Well, I might have got my painting mojo back, but spot the blue or should I say bleu in this work in progress:

I recommenced work on these after a discussion with Simon on Wednesday had inspired me.  It was going to the cabinet where my other 6mm bases are on display (poorly I might add) that lead me to discover the damaged 30mm Guard Lancer which was the subject of a previous post.

The really stupid is thing is I do a few French lessons daily using Duolingo.  My avatar even flies the flag.  So how could I have got it so wrong? 

A Trio of BTs

August and September have been dry months for painting and modelling.  I did do some work, but nothing to completion.  The weather was bad (and my studio, while grand, is down the back of the garden) and I had other things happening in my life.  In reviewing posts from these months I see I have two relevant posts that I haven't finished, but they can wait because now I have my mojo back and completed this delightful trio of Soviet BT tanks.

The BT5 on the right is Zvedza, while the BT5 and BT2 are from Battelfield3d.

WTF Happened Here?!

Probably needed more exclamation marks etc in the title, but...

I have a display cabinet in the front room which is rarely visited.  The room is mainly used by my partner when she is working from home (which is not as frequent as I'd like).  In the cabinet, which is a gorgeous antique, but that's another story, I keep an odd mix of figures, mainly 25mm, but also a few bases of 6mm (I like the contrast).  Anyway, yesterday I had cause to go there to get one of the 6mm bases (see later post) and I find my very precious 30mm Stadden Guard Lancer bent over!

It looked like the horse's legs had softened in the heat and he had just gently lay to rest.  We had recently installed a heater in the room, but nah, that was a stupid idea!

Then I thought children!  But yes it is possible my little niece, who has a love of horses, went into the room, but to actually get to the cabinet, which is behind a few chairs and then has a difficult lock to open, ... Most unlikely!

My partner has form in breaking things and then putting then hiding them, but this was in plain sight.  Of course accusing her would take a degree of subtlety. Duly accosted she denied all knowledge.  Immediately I believed her and went on to consider other suspects, but while there are a few others that might have been in that room, the fact that it was just the one figure that was disturbed lead me to abandon that trail of thought.

It looked like something had been put on top of it, but if that had been the case the sword would have bent or snapped off.

Anyway, it's all repaired now.

And I am now resigned to the fact that I must have damaged the figure in putting things in the cabinet and being in a rush either didn't realise, left it for later or just forgot.

It will remain on of life's little mysteries.

Background on this figure can be found in this post.

World in Flames via FB - 41

A lot of nothing :-(

S/O 43 AXIS NEARLY GET THE TRIFECTA - THE INITIATIVE, BAD WEATHER AND EOT

The Allied first impulse of what is trending to be an “all Axis show” was the CW and Russia taking Air Actions, China a paid Land and the US a combined. With few options for land combat, except in N Africa the multiple air actions was for the Russian an attempt to push low odds GS in rain and rebase and reinvert the bulk of his air-force. The CW elected an air to continue the air war in the W Med, fly protective air cover in the N Sea, Baltic and like the Russian, fly low odds GS in rain against GERM targets in Norway. Naval searches in the Baltic, W and E Med followed last sessions trend with three rolls of 7’s – no finds – all missed, needing 3’s and 4’s the subsequent GS in Norway also all missed, Russia’s attempt to strike the line was similarly poor, made slightly worse with the loss of his best Sturmovik and its pilot. In N Africa the CW had better success with ‘the’ big ARM (9.6) stack in Algeria becoming all inverted and in Egypt, a lucky 2 rolled inverted the Italian HQ. A long range strat bomber from the UK ranged hundred on miles to bomb Milan and rolled a 10! Disrupting the entire cities production – 3 factories – the city must have left its lights on – don’t they know there is a war on. With Russia and the CW taking air actions, no land attacks, just rebases and reinversions using HQ’s and air transports. The US naval moves saw the CV Hornet, a Tpt and 2 x CA’s dynamic move to the newly captured Norwegian port of Kristiansand and also sail a Tpt into the N Sea to guarantee supply to the Norwegian expedition. Two CV’s the Hornet II, its paint still wet and the Wasp arrive from Washington into the Azores to support the ‘Europe First’ policy that has been agreed by the Allies. In the Far East, with bad weather there is little action as speculative GS by Chinese Arty and Acft, again in rain fail in their attempt to invert OOS Japanese units – only a single Div is inverted – no attacks. Impulse marker goes up 2.

Axis 2nd impulse, and Lady luck continues to offer a helping hand to the Axis cause, favouring them again with another bad weather roll - 8 (7+1) - same weather as the 1st impulse - rain and storm. The Axis players are pleased as the 50% chance of clear weather that was on the cards has been avoided twice and now the Allies have a chance to end the turn on their 2nd impulse. Germany takes a land, Italy and Japan take combines. Japanese CVs sail into the zero box and attempt GS against Vladivostok with no success, the CA Kinugasa sails into the Marianas hunting a conv but fails to find its quarry in the storm. In S China, in an attempt to shorten its line in the South, the Japanese Army vacate Canton and march North back into supply. Italy sails a small fleet, escorting a Tpt into the W Med loaded with pasta and vino to supply the beleaguered forces in Egypt – the Allies search and roll another 7 - disappointingly consistent – now 4 searches of 7 in a row for the Allies, so no finds – the Axis are delighted. GERM 

Allied 2nd Impulse and potential EOT. The US takes a Naval recognising it may be its last impulse and ships Acft from the US and rebases SCS/CV’s in the Pacific. The Tpt now becomes a Service Squadron which flips over and upgrades the port of Kristiansand – now holds 14 ships. Searches in the Baltic fail again with another 7, in the E Med a 9 and the French CA in the W Med rolls a 6 – all fail! Now 7 searches and 7 fails – the Allies are becoming quite frustrated as with out the finds on the supposedly tenuous supply lines, attacking the ‘in supply’ land units significantly increase the loss potential and gives the Axis manoeuvre options. CW takes a Comb and sails the Home Fleet into the N Sea and drops off another Mot Corps and advance units to occupy Trondheim and several Mountain hexes vacated by the withdrawing Germ army of Norway. Aircraft are rebased to react to a search by the GERM in the N Sea as this is now becoming an important Theatre of Operations. Little action in China, as the continuing poor weather limits attack opportunities. Russia takes a land to strategic move several important land units before the EOT and attempts further GS to ‘shake the tree’ some minor success but the only attack opportunity is well covered by massed Axis air so no Allied attacks. Allies roll for the EOT and roll a 9, sighs emanate from the Allied commanders, Impulse marker advances another 2. 

Session ends with the Axis 3rd impulse weather roll and it’s a 1! Clear weather everywhere! The EOT roll is a 3, with a possible 5 for the Axis if they all pass next week which will give the Axis the Trifecta - initiative, bad weather and a very short, 2 impulse turn. The only issue for the Axis is that the GERM has only the minimum of forces in Norway – just enough Corps to form a single double stacked line hinged on Oslo. If the Axis fail to roll the EOT then the Allies will pick off several Corps in the clear weather and the Axis will lose this last opportunity to withdraw in good order and form that double stacked ‘Oslo line’ in Norway (see pictures). In addition, the Italians may want to send a Conv to the E Med to keep Egypt in supply rather than risk leaving out its last Tpt, which will have to drop down to the 1 box. So, it will be more than likely that the Axis will move and push their luck on rolling a 3 or less to end the turn with the Allies desperately hoping they don’t so that can get to some action in what has been frankly an abysmal turn for the Allies, which conversely means an excellent turn for the Axis.

The Norwegian Campaign

The Oslo Line = Germany has just enough units to double stack this line if they move this impulse

Western Med - just cannot find those Italian Convoys

Eastern Med - just cannot find those Italian Transports

Russian Front - Mud and Mud - no change to the Jul/Aug positions

Storm and Rain - little is happening here although the Japanese, desperate to shorten its front line against mounting pressure evacuate Canton

Minimal losses with the weather and failure to cut Axis sea supply lines has meant that have been no land attacks - frustrating the Allies